Life: Through the Lens

 Happy New Year! On this cold January night, the moon shines brightly on the snow, creating a special kind of light.  It is a little mesmerizing.  Of course, I take it in from the comfort of my cozy room, with a fire burning in the grate (okay, maybe it's a gas fireplace).  It's a perfect night to sort photos and think about the opportunities a new year brings.  Where will we go this year?  What adventures might we have?  Will we stray far afield, or stay close to home?  Time will tell. Tonight I am doing a preliminary sort of some of the photos on my computer, thinking which to keep, which to put into book form, which to discard...and which to move to my external hard drive.  But I keep getting waylaid in the memories  of my experiences!  I know I have at least 8 photos of each of the locations above, but I like parts of each!  Sigh.  It's so hard to be cut-throat in hitting "delete." I use a Canon digital SLR, Daryl uses...

The Mad Hatter Bistro, on Old Woodward Ave. Jumping down the rabbit hole and appearing at the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, in the town of your childhood, is an incredibly surreal experience. I traveled to Birmingham with a friend today, to have a real "tea party" at the Mad Hatter's Bistro.  We had seen it advertised on Facebook and it seemed like just the ticket to escape the doldrums of a mid-Michigan winter.  Birmingham is also the city I grew up in, yet it was nothing like the town I remembered.   The Birmingham Theatre, where I first saw the opening of Romeo & Juliet in October 1968! That's not all bad.  It was a bustling environment, with lots to see and do.  We worked hard to find a parking spot, went in and out of shops, had our tea party, and scouted the old neighborhood.  What a treat this adventure was. The house where I grew up - with the addition of a bay window which we used to talk about putting in, but never did. But wait...

We are so fortunate to have a group of friends who share our love of photography, and sense of adventure.  This fall we have had two weekends to explore our beautiful state, reconnecting with old friends and stretching our skills.  Here is a recap of our first weekend away this October. Day 1 - Mackinaw City First stop - the Icebreaker Mackinaw.  We loved touring the ship and seeing and hearing the history of this important part of the Great Lakes story.  The last stop on the tour was the gift shop, of course, and we were delighted to see Tyler Benson's series about Onyx, the Coastguard dog.  Such a great series of books for kids. We do not tire of visiting the beach and lighthouse, getting that familiar view of the bridge. Attempts at night photography met with mixed results, but it was so much fun watching the sunset, and seeing the stars appear in the crisp night air. I captured the big dipper, though it wasn't dar...

The Nina, left, and Pinta, moored in the marina. Remember the day of the eclipse?   It happened to be the day we finally had a chance to get out of town and spend some time adventuring.  We packed up Kaycee, a cooler, and headed to Traverse City to see the hand-built replicas of the Nina and Pinta. The Nina was built using only adzes, axes, hand saws and chisels, in addition to naturally-shaped  timbers from the local forest. She stands 65' long, 18' across the beam, with a draft of 7'. The sail area is 1, 919 sq. feet.  She took 32 months to build. Both ships are exact replicas of those sailed in 1492, and they are called the Columbus Ships.  They were built in Valenca, Brazil by eighth generation Portuguese shipwrights.  There is no home port for these ships, as they are moving 11 months of the year, providing educational opportunities to everyone.  There is no Santa Maria because she never made it back to Europe, she is too big to mak...