Good morning to all on this cloudy cooler Saturday morning in our Upper Peninsula woods. Just wanting to post some photos of our recent drive out to Point Abbaye which juts out into Lake Superior like a finger pointing toward Canada.
We drove out over a week ago, as Barry wanted to take some pictures and write a column for our local weekly newspaper.
I decided to bring my camera as well and share some of the beauty of our area with you. (Please click on Page 2 link to continue reading.)
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Lake Superior Spirit 
How lovely. I can almost feel the water on my toes (and the flies on my legs)!
I walk the same route around my neighborhood almost every morning, and I have so many memories of encounters with neighbors both human and non-human. As the years pass, I feel more and more that the place where I live also lives in me.
I hope those flies weren’t biting you, Larissa! Imagining you on your neighborhood walk, and loving that sentence about feeling more and more that the place where I live also lives in me. Yes!
We have deer flies here. They mostly go for the back of your head. And black flies, which mostly only bite if you stand still. I am pretty good at avoiding fly bites, but I still get enough to remember what they feel like!
Could you pass along your fly-avoidance magic, Larissa? I would like some of that, please!
I have a hat with wooden beads hanging from the brim to keep the flies out of my ears, and a strip of very sticky double-sided tape on the back that the flies mistake for my neck. Also, I spray my skirts (I almost always wear a skirt) and shoes with permethrin.
Thank you–good fly tips!
Memories – the good memories – do dance into our being, shaping our experiences into delight, as your Point does. For me? Many memories of walking thousands of times on a path along the S.F. Bay, talking with the pelicans while walking the dog (sometimes the pelicans talked back, particularly at dawn). Many memories of walking a path hundreds of times over the past 15 years along a cliff in Kauai, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, where I talked with the whales. And sometimes the whales talked back (particularly at dusk). And oh, all the memories of looking out at the small forested land with pine, oak, ash through my window right here, from my computer writing desk, where I sometimes talk to the woodpecker and the cardinal and even the hummingbird, who sometimes talk back, particularly when I’m in my creative haze. ❤
I love, my friend, how your walking memories in special places involve talking with the pelicans, whales, woodpeckers and hummingbirds. I even love more that your memories include them talking back. What better joy than to listen to the creatures of your beloved landscapes? May your creative hazes keep a’coming…
My family is a worried that my creative hazes may never leave… 🤓😛
LOL, you crack me up!!
🙂 xo
I really enjoy your blog. It inspires me to do more with mine once I have access to a real computer again and can add lots of visual effects.
Glad to hear your have a real computer again–many blessings in your endeavor to expand on your own blog! Happy to hear I’m providing some inspiration for you.
Did I make it sound like I have a real computer? Goodness me. Phones can do wonders but they won’t post pictures for me. Stay safe.
Oops, I thought you already had one! Hope you get one soon. Phones are a bit hard to blog with.
Oh what a wonderful magical place to make memories! I love the photos but especially your thoughts.
Dor, I read Barry your comment a while ago as it came in. He said, “She knows the way to your heart”. Smile. Thank you! I loved writing this.
What a beautiful place. I so much want to be up there this summer. Or any summer, fall, spring, and MAYBE winter, for that matter. Do many people go out there each day or are you usually alone there? The place I have poignent memories from is Muskegon State Park, because we used to camp there every summer when we were little, in a big old green army tent that smelled. We always chose a site right up against the big sand dune and the four of us kids played on that dune all day, coming back at night totally covered in sand. Sand in our hair, in our ears, everywhere. I’ve only been back as an adult twice, each time drove through what remains of the campground (the dunes are covering it up) looking for remnents of our family, sometimes seeing them in other families camped. Always makes me feel a bit sad. Same with a local orchard around here. When I go to pick I’m always looking for our family. I think they’re going to be around that next fruit tree. Lots of memories for me in a lot of special places in Michigan.
I am surprised you never found your way out to Point Abbaye during the years you lived here, Dawn. But it is a long way from the Copper Country, so that makes sense. Quite often we’ve been alone on our ventures out there, but we must have seen a dozen vehicles out thattaway when we went this time. The UP is crawling with tourists everywhere this summer! There’s a picture of a woman and little boy swimming in the lake–they were visiting from Muskegon and one man in their party has been coming here for 30 years. Love the sweet and nostalgic story of your sand dune camping. Could almost smell that old green army tent–such a distinctive smell they had. And thinking of your local orchard and looking to see your family around the next fruit tree. I agree–there are a lot of places in Michigan filled with memories…
Fun to remember the “olden days” and the stories of a place you love. Your photos show a unique land formation at the edge of the lake. I can see it’s a place that would draw you back to it. For the past 30 years, I’ve traversed trails in the National Forest behind our house. I feel a sense of belonging in the forest and a need to observe keenly as Nature changes day by day. I read the signs wildlife leaves – paw prints, scratches on trees, gnawed bark. In the winter when snow covers the ground, I can easily see what has passed before me. I think the forest is a part of my spirit now, and even if I should have to leave here, it will stay with me for the rest of my days.
Barb, I love that you have your National Forest behind your house that has nurtured you so steadily over the years. So many walks, so many teachings by nature. What a rich life! Yes, it’s true, the landscape can become part of our spirit as time goes by. It’s not like we’re separate anymore. And yes, when and if you have to leave, it will always be with you. Precious.
Oh, aren’t such memories the best? The kind that you’re making but don’t know it at the time?
The Gulf Coast holds those memories for me. Memories of childhood, memories of young adulthood. Then life took me hither and yon, then voilà! I was back again building moments with the next generation.
Ah, life. XOXO
EXACTLY, Stacy! We don’t have any idea we’re making memories at the time–and wa la–they appear! The Gulf Coast sounds like a lovely place to be. I have a few, a very few, memories of that place as well. It sounds like your precious one is living down there these days. I am so glad you have been able to spend time with her recently. Voila!
Thank you for sharing your memories – 40 yrs is a long time. I love how much respect you have for the land. We need more of that in the world.
I do have respect for the land. It feels like we humans might help the planet a bit more if we expand our horizons beyond our own heads. 🙂
Totally agree with you. Not just the planet but each other, too.
A beautiful place to instill memories that have lasted a life time. You and Barry indeed have a playground, virtualy at your finger tips or to be more precise, down a 30 some odd minute drive or so much beauty.
Yvonne, you are right–and we do have a marvelous playground all around us. Yet it’s easy to get caught in “everyday” and forget to go enjoy some of nature’s gifts. It’s always good when a person remembers–and then goes.
I enjoyed very much your ramble down memory lane. And I remember the post on the killer flies. It still gives me the creeps, but at least you can see them. Ticks and viruses are much harder to spot. (Mind is wandering…) It’s good you have so many stories to tell. I suppose it is our beach that is filled with memories for me. My “baby” is almost 40 but I still remember her at the beach, toddling around after her big brothers. The time the gull pooped on our umbrella and my friend and I laughed hysterically watching our helpful little daughters dragging it up to the outdoor shower to try to wash it off. (It never came off…) Watching the fireworks, the tall ship parades… The time my father snuck his six-pack of beer in for a cookout and we couldn’t explain to the kids why we let Grandpa get away with it… Oh my!
What a lot of lovely and funny memories at your beach, Barbara. Lots of laughter and good times… Smiling thinking of all your fun. But am amazed you remember the killer fly post. Kudos on your memory! Ticks and viruses are, indeed, more challenging…they might not hurt as much in the short-term, but they win for long-term possible problems.
I enjoyed reading your memories and seeing the majesty of nature through your lens. I imagined that water so far north is too cold to swim, but then I saw the photo of those two immersed in it.
The only place I can think of that we visited frequently for several memories, is St. Augustine, Florida. One memory from there was the time we went in December and it snowed . . . in Florida! Not all over the state, just in St. Augustine and the immediate surrounding area. Of course, it didn’t stick.
I have never been to St. Augustine, but it sounds like a really cool place to visit many times. (One of my friends up here has traveled there with her family multiple times over the years.) Snowing in Florida! Have never heard of such a thing. 🙂 As for swimming in Lake Superior…that is usually reserved for the young, the adventurous, the foolhardy. I was once all of the above…not anymore.
And I thought Australian flies were the worst – at least they don’t attack!
But oh, what a beautiful place to visit! I’m sure the happy memories override the, um, flies.
For my family, I think collectively our most precious memories would be at Noosa, a town on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. When my kids talk about our holidays in Noosa, one of them always starts a “remember the time …” session. One of our more recent special memories took place just over three years ago, when my eldest daughter was married there. So many happy memories … ❤
How wonderful that your daughter could be married in that special place you all loved! Noosa sounds like a wonderful place, Joanne. My kids have now reminded me that we have another place nearby where we all have even more memories. May have to write about that one of these days! (There are biting flies out thattaway, too…)
I love Point Abbaye! and I love the pictures you can get out there! I do believe we might be kindred souls 🙂
We may indeed be kindred souls, Sherry! ❤ Point Abbaye is a wonderful place, and I am glad you enjoy her, too.
I forgot about the biting flies until you mentioned them here. Your photos however show a lovely relaxing scene that calls to me– minus the flies.
[You get endless hits on “biting flies” while I get hits on “do deer eat pansies” which tells me that we need to write more often about nature’s annoyances.]
I am smiling at your comment! You are right–nature’s annoyances seem to be what draws our readers in repeatedly. Glad you understand. 🙂
Right now I want to click an ‘adore’ button, as that’s how I felt travelling alongside you in this post. Your blog is so magical, do you know that? Thank you!
Most of my memories of special places are to do with holidays (vacations) with my sister and parents when I was a small child. They’re the ones I write about sometimes on my Sandie Seashore blog. But the last time I was back there was about thirty years ago, so I can only relive them now in my memory.
Wow, that is the coolest thing to say, Val–thank you sincerely. Wow. I will have to check out your Sandie Seashore blog. Did not even know you had a blog–besides your colouring one–until this afternoon!
You’re welcome, Kathy. I’ve two other blogs, there are links to them in my current post in my colouring blog (which, by the way, I’ll be making private for a few weeks from Saturday). x
I think I found and commented on one of your blog posts yesterday. Will have to find your other one soon. Blessings!
My boyfriend grew up spending a lot of time on the Lawrence River. When I see pictures of the river or any of the lakes I am so amazed. Even the biggest lakes I have seen, which are probably those in Maine, you could see the other side clearly. I can’t believe there are these bodies of water that are so big. I do plan on visiting them one day!
Oh I hope you can see one of the big lakes where the horizon stretches forever into nothing and beyond! Thanks for visiting, and may you be able to travel into your dreams some day soon.