Soon this poem “She Runs” will be published in my new book, Between Sweetwater and Sand 

She Runs

She runs filled with sun

she runs in the rays

and runs in the wind

and roaring waves.

So fast she runs her feet

play the shore

of singing sands

of ringing quartz sands—

her watery reflection runs

beside her.

Sandpiper swift

She runs.

‘There’s a world that was meant for our eyes to see.’ – Lord Huron

H = Lake Huron (It has the largest shore line length of any of the Great Lakes, counting its 30,000 islands. Who knew?!)

O = Lake Ontario (It’s the outlet to the Atlantic Ocean via the St. Lawrence River. Fancy!)

M = Lake Michigan (Did you know it’s the only of the Great Lakes located entirely in the United States?)

E = Lake Erie (Enough geography already…Tara grew up on Lake Erie in her hometown of Erie, PA. Give it up for Erie!)

S = Lake Superior (It’s the largest, thus…Superior.)

Spring is in full bloom on Michigan Avenue! (P.S. Thanks to our amazing volunteer photographer!)

]]> http://jgalleriephoto.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/doh/ Fri, 03 May 2013 20:54:31 +0000 jgallerie http://jgalleriephoto.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/doh/

Nikon D600 24-85mm lens
1/50 sec at f/13 Focal length 29mm
ISO 100 (could have bumped this up a bit had I been thinking)
Lightroom, Define, Viveza, Color Efex Pro

There is nothing worse than having everything come together for a great shot and reaching into your gear bag to discover you don’t have that one thing you need to bring it all together. Well, that was me last night. I am sure there are many of us that get into the habit of knowing right where to reach to grab something and being in the habit of it always being there without having to double check before you head out.

The problem with that is, even the best of us fail to put things back in their place once in a while. Take last night for example. I rarely run into unmedicated people that are more OCD than me. I live by the a place for everything and everything in its place mantra, but when transferring over to a new gear bag this week I set my tripod head aside pondering on the best location for its new home and well, needless to say, I never moved it in.

So there I was last night, the perfect mix of sunset and impending storm. Desperately in need of at least an f/22, but not enough light to handhold at such a small aperture. My faithful tripod was right there waiting, but with no way to attach the camera to it. I considered an improvised bean bag using a towel and a pile of sand, but the wind was howling, the beach sand was blowing hither and yon and the rain was due at any moment. So, I opted for the picture above rather than what would possibly have been a far more impressive shot, but would have put the life my beloved equipment in a substantial amount of risk. I just couldn’t bear the thought of the potential damage all that sand and moisture could inflict, and the, YIKES, repair/replacement costs.

I will probably always wish I had been able to get the shot I wanted, but I do like the shot I got. I also like the valuable lesson it taught me. Next time I see awesome clouds rolling in the sky right before sunset, I will certainly stop and check my gear bag before dashing out the door!

Being a Reservation Agent at a local resort has its perks and fun moments.  If you work in the customer service arena like me, you understand and I don’t need to explain any further.  There is that 10, maybe 15, percent of people I’d rather hang up on or pretend to loose the connection.  They are a total buzz kill.  There are times I wanna scream into the headset, “Yo, Dude, I’m not the weatherman.”  As well educated as meteorologists are, Lake Michigan screws with the forecast just as randomly as a two year old pitchin’ a fit in a toy store.  The wind current, temperature of the water, and Mother Nature’s twisted sense of humor all play a big role in our weather.  Wanna make a local laugh; ask what the thermometer will read next year or even three months away.  I’ve experienced 10 degrees in March and in 2012 it was in the 70-80’s for two weeks following a snow storm that buried us under two to three feet of snow overnight.  If you don’t know how to entertain yourself or children when it rains (or is too hot, or too cold, or too windy), you have larger issues than what’s happening outside.

So, with that being said… For now on I am going to express my sassy, rebellious and at times rather ornery attitude freely.  I am blessed to work in an office in which each person possesses the strong sense of teamwork; humor and chocolate are our fix-all of choice.  The more we talk about ‘icky’ callers, the more I am compelled (for entertainment purposes only) to point out how much they suck.  Some of it you will find funny or downright rude, other times you’ll question if you bumped into the same person on the sidewalk.  Sorry if you disagree or are offended, but this is who I am.  A simple solution if you don’t like it, click the ‘x’ with the mouse and close the page.   I am writing how I feel, baby.

Taken while visiting my beloved homeland of Michigan. The Grand Haven Lighthouse can be found on the shore of Lake Michigan and is someplace I ALWAYS stop when visiting friends in the area.

South Haven is a favorite vacation spot when in Michigan. These pictures were taken from the Van Buren State Beach & Dunes. I was too busy having fun to take a ton of pictures. Now I wish I had taken more! Running up and down huge sand dunes is the best exercise you could ever have.

Thar she blows! (Photo by Jessica Hromas/Getty Images)

Sometimes the world needs something a little different or a little pick-me-up. Strangers having a bad day yearn for something to put a smile on their faces, to help them forget their worries – no matter how briefly.

I would love to see this happen more often somehow!

Conceptual artist Florentijn Hofman created a larger-than-life inflatable rubber ducky, which towers at 6 stories high, and let it set sail into Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor. How awesome is that?!

I didn’t realize until I read about it that this rubber ducky has traveled to 13 different cities in nine countries from places like Brazil to Australia since 2007. I think it’s continuing its journey around the world. I’d love to see it come by my neck of the woods, even if I have to drive to Chicago or Lake Michigan to see it happen (you won’t hear me complaining! )!

What do you think about this cool rubber ducky? I don’t know about you, but it definitely put a big ol’ smile on my face. ^_^

Michigan is the Great Lakes State.  For those of you reading this from afar, the Great Lakes are not normal sized lakes.  There are 5 lakes in the Great Lake system and combined they cover almost 94,000 surface miles.  Long story short, think about unsalted oceans like enormous bathtubs and thank the glaciers.

I live on one side of one of the largest big bathtubs and my dear friend lives on the other side.  I know this friend from years ago when we lived in Hawaii, thank the volcanos.  The only thing that stands in our way of spending time together is the busy lives we lead as family gals, husbands and six kids.  And the often joked about “pond” that is Lake Michigan.

This weekend, it was time to cross the “pond” for some much needed girl time, hugs and to hear her laugh.  Her laugh is the best I have ever heard, she even refers to it as the “foghorn.”  Storms throughout the week had caused a somewhat bumpy ride over, waves 3 to 5 feet, but a couple of motion sickness pills about 3 hours on the ferry, I arrived with no issues.

But the storm raged and the bathtub churned over the weekend.  Gale force winds and 12 foot waves easily cleared the ferry schedule for 2 days.  The ferry I was booked on was the first to brave the bathtub after the storm.  The waves and winds were on their way down, but 5 to 8 foot waves were still rolling through.  I didn’t give the waves much more thought than to take a couple of motion sickness pills and board the boat along with countless passengers, about 49 cars and a few motorcycles.

I quickly went to my favorite place to sit, outside, back of the boat and waited for departure.  To say the next 4 hours were a horrible experience, is an understatement. I noticed the Coast Guard cutter leaving the harbor slightly before us, was it an ominous sign?  Let’s be clear, this was no “Ferry” tale or a dream come true.  In the first 5 minutes I was in a shear panic, the waves lifting the boat out of the water and crashing us back into the mass of water seemed to be hitting us from all angles and were never ending.  I noticed the first of “team vomit” emerging 10 minutes in, I tried to tell myself they were weak but had deep concerns.  Shortly after I gladly accepted a “just in case gray bag” from a member of the crew asking the nice man if it was a 1 bag trip and he said, maybe it would be a 2 bag trip.  Someone urgently snatched my bag away to assist another passenger who was seconds away from projectile puking on the cars below.  Thankfully, a fresh replacement bag quickly arrived.  You know, burping is never a good sign of things to come and soon enough I joined “team vomit” in our Great Lakes salute.  Unfortunately, in my haste I had not sealed the bag close enough to my gaping mouth and 80% of event number 1 went down the inside front of my shirt, nice.  Under closer inspection of the disaster, was that my Dramamine lodge inside my bra?  Gratefully, the water that was collecting on the upper observation deck started pouring over us with a force great enough to drop a small elephant to the deck.  I was relieved for the brief spin cycle somewhat took care of my shirt and I think I mentioned to the 70 year old broad next to me that the wet t-shirt contest was ON!  As the lake and my stomach raged I tried to maintain some sense of composure and I am sure I wasn’t the only one who thought they wet their pants during the violent puking.  Is it bad to want your Mommy when you are 44 years old?

There is a blur of time sometime between hour 2 and 3.  I do remember things coming back into focus and gripping 4 vomit bags for dear life.  Gratefully, I was able to not use ALL of them.  Somewhere after hour 3 the waves decreased in size enough for us all to emerge from the veil of vomit and humiliation.  As we began to perk up, a few smiles and laughs were exchanged as we recounted the bathtub passage.  I shared my dry fleece with the tiny German woman sitting next to me.   She was completely soaked and shivering.  She told me her husband and 3 kids were inside the cabin along with her parents but she was so sick that she couldn’t imagine going inside to assist them.

To disembark, we had to walk through the main cabin.  If you ever think you have a bad job, be happy you aren’t a ferry employee trying to clean up for the next passage that would be boarding in 15 minutes.  The place was a crime scene, I had to look away.  As I walked off the ferry, I scanned the impatient crowd waiting to board.  They were a bit late because of our long passage and looked a little too eager to get on the boat.  Have a nice voyage, Suckers.

To my dear friend on the other side of the pond, tag…you’re it….you might want to take the train.

Took a picture of this Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore posey along the Pierce Stocking Drive Scenic Route near Empire, Michigan while on my honeymoon last summer. Michigan is my homeland, and Lake Michigan will always be my first love.

Spring on Good Harbor Bay, photo by Eric Raymond

Good Harbor is located on the northern edge of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore at the Lake Michigan end of County Road 651. Today only evidence of the vanished village are the pilings of what was once a 500′ dock that could load 4 schooners at a time. The Good Harbor page from the Lakeshore explains that logging in the area began in 1863 to supply cordwood fuel for  steamers, leading to the founding of a village in the 1870s.

Shortly after 1880 (Henry) Schomberg bought out Schwartz’s interest and built a big sawmill which had a capacity of 30,000 feet in a 10-hour day.

…The Schomberg Lumber Company ran a hotel, two stores which became a shopping center for the local farmers, and a saloon. The township line between Centerville and Cleveland townships ran down the middle of Main Street in Good Harbor. Centerville did not allow saloons, so Good Harbor’s saloon was built on the Cleveland township side of the street … At the height of the lumber business, the mill worked day and night during the winter and during the day in the summer. As many as 75 teams of horses were used hauling logs to the mill, lumber to the dock, and supplies to the camps. The lumber company owned some of the teams and the rest were owned by local farmers and rented to the lumber company. At its peak, the mill cut 8,000,000 board feet of lumber per year.

The schooners were loaded by farmers who were called to work at the dock when the ships arrived. Good Harbor had no protection from storms with a northwest wind, so ships had to leave the dock and sail to the Manitou Islands for protection when a storm would come up. Sometimes storms would come up too fast and the ships were driven aground.

You can read on for more and also see some of the wrecks in the area in the Manitou Passage Underwater Preserve.

Check this out bigger and see more great photos from the Sleeping Bear and Leelanau Peninsula (including another shot of the pilings by Terry Clark) on Eric’s Leelanau County Facebook page.

Good evening Friends, Family, and fellow Cougars!

Our second day at camp has been filled with sunshine and energy. We started out with breakfast, mail call, and a bus trip to the Lake Michigan Dunes. We were relieved to hear that we would have a sunny day and were looking forward to using our new sunglasses. That’s right! We were going on a safari with “camo” glasses! Landon said, out of the blue, “We sure have beautiful weather today, don’t we Ms. Demaray?” I smiled. And so began the day, our first hike.

I had heard that our fellow Cumberland students were also going on a field trip to MSU.  They were heading to exercise. It was ACES day. Do you know what that means? It stands for All Children Exercising Simultaneously! Kids from all over Michigan were exercising at the same time. Well, I am happy to share.  We did our part!

We hiked over 3 miles today! We hiked through the forest, up the dune, down the dune, back through the forest, to the outhouse, to lunch, back through the forest, up the hill, down the hill, up the dune, down the dune, to Lake Michigan…I think you get the picture! It was gorgeous, warm, inviting, and a bit exhausting. But, the faces on the kids as they saw Lake Michigan for the first time, took my breath away. It was worth it!
While at Lake Michigan, we played in the water and enjoyed beach fun. Our kids learned about Glaciers, the Great Lakes, Michigan history, and Dune wildlife. We dug sand holes, threw the football, and Ms. Trew spent her time building a kite. Unfortunately, she built it backwards! Maybe, we’ll fly it tomorrow. She showed us what it’s like to not give up!

Oh, here’s a fun story. Logan lost a tooth at lunch, which is a good thing. But, he lost the tooth after lunch, which isn’t a good thing. So, being the creative and thoughtful boy he is, he wrote a letter to the tooth fairy.

Dear Tooth Fairy,

I cannot find my tooth. But, it is around the benches when you go to Lake Michigan.

Your tooth looser,

Logan

I can’t wait to hear what the tooth fairy brings Logan! How about you?

The day ended with a movie and popcorn get together. The kids enjoyed watching “The Lion King” and making connections to our Safari unit. I talked with them about the character trait of “endurance”. We all had endured the hikes, which took energy, stamina, and positive thinking to complete. We had endured a challenge.

We had made it to the top.

The top of our mountain.

The Lake Michigan Dunes.

Enjoy our beautiful pictures from our day!

To celebrate the beautiful weather, Matthew and I had a day-long date! ♥

We stopped by Annette’s (in Lincoln Park) for some Italian ice before making our way to the lakefront~

It was soooooooooo windy. My hair was braided, but that was quickly undone by the wind

I felt lucky to be in the city. The lake is so pretty (although the wind nearby is quite violent O_O) and I am really enjoying my carefree student life in Chicago haha~

But exams are next week so I’ll have to live on this memory until summer break REALLY begins!

LOVE♥FANNY

PS-I also spammed the internet with all my Instagrams. So if you don’t already, follow me: fannehsm!

Fun fact:  The huge fountain located downtown in Grant Park by the lake is also used in the opening to the 90′s TV show ‘Married With Children’

4377 Winterwood Shores, Whitehall
Incredible waterfront opportunity. Offering 170′ of pristine beach front on Lake Michigan, the home sits in the exclusive Winterwood Shores development. A gated community with six high end homes and just a short walk from Duck Lake State Park. This amazing home offers a possible 6 bedrooms and 3 full baths with a flexible layout that is ideal for entertaining.

http://www.platinumlakeshore.com/local_detail.php?id=213394

Call 231.773.4300 for your personal showing today!

Image from Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust.

We at Good for Business are delighted to share with you some ‘fresh’ creative work. We were selected by the recently created Fund for Lake Michigan to develop a communications blueprint, logo, tagline, identity package and website. The Fund for Lake Michigan is focused on making a profound impact on the health of Lake Michigan and its communities. They are here to help ensure the Lake continues to be both an economic powerhouse and an environmental treasure to the citizens of Wisconsin and the Midwest. They do this by investing in projects that benefit local communities and the environment; by embracing a high standard of openness about what they support and the criteria that drives our decision-making; and by rigorously evaluating results. They aim to leverage the investments of other key Lake Michigan donors, pursue partnerships and use the Fund’s power as a convener to promote collaboration. Their grants focus on projects that achieve tangible near-term and long-term results such as protecting critical natural habitats and making water resources more swimmable, fishable and drinkable. Their Oversight Committee of Trustees manages the Fund, establishes grant making priorities and guidelines, and makes funding decisions. Trustees include representatives from Madison Gas & Electric, Wisconsin Electric Power Company, Wisconsin Public Power, Inc., Clean Wisconsin, the Sierra Club, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. We invite you to learn more about the Fund for Lake Michigan is clearly making a deep impact by visiting the newly launched web site: http://www.fundforlakemichigan.org/

[Mary Ann Starus is a gardener, cartoonist, and English major who is not afraid of the semi-colon; she loves animals, especially cats, way too much.]

I always hoped for a blinking red neon arrow, pointing me in the direction to take in life. I haven’t actually seen the arrow yet, but the closest I came to it was my move to Duluth, MN, in November 2000.

I am embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know Duluth existed before 1999. Even when I lived in Sault Ste. Marie. MI, for two years, I apparently never looked at the west end of Lake Superior on a map to see what was there. Back in Illinois, when I saw in the Chicago Sunday Tribune a full page review of the book Cold Comfort by Barton Sutter, I was intrigued. The cover photo of the lift bridge looked so cold and mysterious. I bought the hardcover book, something I rarely do.

He writes:

I’m not expecting company. But I would be pleased if this book not only entertained you, restless reader, but pointed the way to some odd, forsaken place that makes the tuning fork beneath your breastbone hum.

Well, I was a restless reader, and Duluth sounded like the right forsaken place for me.

That was 1999. I was working as a paralegal at the Environmental Protection Agency in downtown Chicago, and living in Villa Park, an older suburb twenty miles from the city. My commute took about one hour and twenty minutes each way, by car-train-walking. To get to Lake Michigan I had to walk the gauntlet of many blocks of downtown Chicago, pretty intense when it was 90° and high humidity.

I had a vague goal “to move to the country” by the time I was fifty–the end of that year. I was hoping that a vague intention would work as well as the successful detailed lists some of my friends had made to get jobs or relationships.

One day at work, I saw an article on an EPA lab in Duluth. I didn’t have much to do with the EPA labs, but I wrote to a scientist whose name was mentioned anyway and told him I would like to transfer to Duluth. He replied that the lab didn’t need any paralegals but that I could write to HR and see if any admin positions were available.

I impressed the Duluth EPA boss when I visited in summer of 1999. He wanted to hire me, saying that the lab needed more generalists, but there was a hiring freeze. He gave me an assignment–to rewrite the lab’s web pages so “ordinary” people (that is, non-scientists) could understand them–and told me “this is not a test” (yeah, right!)

October 16, 2000: Back in Chicago, I visited Lake Michigan at lunchtime.

She said: “Say hello to Lake Superior for me.”

When I got back to the office, the new boss had called: I had the job! No red blinking arrow–but a strong, calm feeling I should go.

I had a month to get ready and move. I said goodbye to the crows in my backyard: “You’ll have to get food from someone else, but I’ll be feeding your Duluth relatives.”

November 17, 2000: My red Honda civic hatchback loaded with stuff, two cats on Valium in carriers in the back, headed for Duluth on the eve of the Wisconsin deer-hunting opener–trucks passing me with “Buck or Bust” on the rear window and huge coolers strapped to the back.

Where the heck am I going?

It got colder and colder as I went farther and farther north. I listened to Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon stories on tape–a real “multimedia experience.”

I got to the rented house–really cold–and my air mattress would not blow up. The cats were walking around making weird moaning sounds. I called Walmart and got complicated instructions from my neighborhood (Lakeside) to the store eleven miles away and managed to get there in the freezing rain. Once there, I got a second wind of energy and shopped–shower curtain, logs for fireplace… and a new air mattress.

That first night I slept on the living room floor, fire burning, cats finally quiet on the mattress with me. Where am I?

No more than 150 feet from the lake! I can hear waves!

Lake Superior used to be an intimidating goddess to me. I always felt awe in her presence. A total vacation destination, except for my two years in the Soo. Since I have been living so close to the lake for twelve years now, she is more like a really good friend who usually feels familiar and comfortable, but who occasionally blows me away with her brilliance and can reduce me to tears by her beauty.

Now I’m here. I’m very calm. My daily commute is very short. I see the lake from my home and office. It’s not as cold as I expected. My cats are really happy and aren’t afraid of the lake anymore. I’ve met some really great people, most wearing those “practical, unfashionable clothes,” as Bart put it in the book that started it all.