Today is my last day here in this tiny piece of northern bliss.  As I was talking to my sister, watching the turquoise and navy lake bounce along in the sunshine the bald eagle made his second appearance of my stay.  He casually sailed south down the beach, out just beyond the ridge.  I got to watch him for a good long moment, so happy to see him once again before I leave.

Later in the morning I saw a huge ore carrier out on the lake.  Red and white, it was sailing closer to me than the ships generally do, so I had a great view of it, though it still was too far away for the camera to capture.  In fact, it’s in the photo above, do you see the small (tiny) white dot on the horizon?   I was watching it using the binoculars and wished you all could see it and the lake the same way when I thought…why not try?

Pretty cool ey?  Though not as clear as I could see just using the binoculars, putting the camera lens up next to the binocular lens did give me a pretty interesting image.  And now you can see the ship as well!

I went out this afternoon to take pictures of a few last barns.  Pretty afternoon, but being on the road made me all the more ready to get on the road for real, headed home.  Tomorrow morning I’ll be on my way home to my husband and my Katie-girl.  In many ways I can’t wait.  In other ways I don’t want to leave.  This hasn’t been the most successful retreat.  I didn’t figure out the meaning of my life.  I didn’t write an epic novel.  I didn’t paint that masterpiece.  I didn’t even lose any weight!

But I’m glad I came, and I’ve really thankful to the owner of this piece of heaven for sharing it, and her lovely cat, with me.

It’s time for maple syrup up here in the north.  The trees were tapped when I got here three weeks ago, but I haven’t made time to share the photos with you.  So since it’s my first rainy day here, and I’m inside baking cookies and reading a really good book, recommended to me by my “host” family, I’ll pause and let you see a couple of them.

The first pictures are from  just up the road, taken when I went for my walk into the quiet woods.

I loved the way the sun shone through the red buckets.

And these are from further away.  I noticed them during a drive with my husband and went back with the camera.

It seemed like there were acres of trees with white buckets.

I’d like to find someone actually cooking the syrup so I could see how that works.  But so far I haven’t worked up enough courage to ask a stranger if I can watch, and I’ve only seen a couple places where I thought that might be happening.

Bloggers need more courage to investigate interesting places.  Otherwise how can we share it all with you?

This morning I headed down the Lake Michigan coast to Frankfort.  Along the way I passed orchards and farms, rolling hills and beautiful lakes.  I saw lots of things that would make good photos, but I only stopped to take pictures of a few of them.

There were lots of beautiful farms.

And even more interesting old barns.

Frankfort is south of the Sleeping Bear Dunes, big beautiful white sand dunes that we used to visit when we were children.  Though I didn’t stop there, I did stop at Point Betsie, one of my parents’ favorite places.  It’s where they camped on their honeymoon, and where they revisited on their fiftieth wedding anniversary.  It’s where my favorite picture of my mother was taken by my dad.  It’s a place I can almost feel them.

It’s tucked away into the dunes.

Pulling into the small parking area I noticed an older woman sitting on a bench watching the waves.  She reminded me of my mother.  A lot.  Do you see her?

Once I got to Frankfort I parked at the beach.  What a beautiful day!

There were high school kids playing in the water.  I remember when I was that age and swam in our lake on my birthday (in April) each year, just to prove I could.  I’m older and wiser and warmer now.

Driving back north from Frankfort I traveled through more farms and steeper hills.  When I saw this movie drive-in I just had to stop for a picture.  If I lived around here I would so go to the movies at the drive-in!  Wouldn’t you?

One thing I’ve figured out; it’s really hard to photograph orchards when you’re on the same level as the trees.  No matter what you do you can’t express in photos the endless symmetry of the rows and rows of  trees.  But I can try!

It was a wonderful 6 hour round trip.  The cat was very happy to see me when I got back to the house.  I think she thought her second Mama had abandoned her!  Silly girl, I was just out on an adventure!

Now I’m sitting with her in my lap, windows open so we can listen to the waves on the beach and thinking about working on a painting I started last night.  Bliss.

Couldn’t resit showing you tonight’s sunset.

It was incredibly beautiful,

…then faded into gentle pastels…

Enjoy!

Sharing my temporary space with you.

It’s all absolutely beautiful.