Without the Color

Because it was the silhouettes 

that I found entrancing.

Back Road Views

 

Revisiting the Past (Again)

 

Looking back or ahead? Hard to tell sometimes, isn't it?

Sunny Juliet and I didn't start out looking for times before she came into the world. We were content in a little park on Lake Leelanau, where morning sun gleamed on glassy waters. 

Would you have led off with this image instead of the rearview mirror?

But we had time before my first appointment of the day, and I felt called south to one of the few remaining (or so it seems) unpaved county roads.

Such magic in these old roads, sinking with time deeper into the earth!

Every now and then, a magic window opens to the distance.

Why this one? Do you wonder?

The apple tree, its branches heavy with fruit, wasn't the reason I stopped here. Do you see the two big old cedars behind it? Once an old log cabin stood here. "That's where Fred's grandmother was born," I told Sunny. "Or was it his mother?" Fred is gone now, along with his mother and grandmother, so there's no one left to ask, but they were immigrants from France, the cabin built in a style no doubt common in French Canada. When my husband and I drove this road thirty and forty years ago -- always very slowly, with many stops -- we would get out here and poke around the remains of the cabin. Now I don't go back to the cedars to see if any logs remain, but I stop and look at the trees and remember. 

Coming out of the woods, back to the present

When we came out of the second stretch of woods, a place I remembered walking a long-ago dog, Sunny let me know she would appreciate a chance to stretch her legs, and we walked a little way in the sun. Not a bright, blazing sun, but we are accustomed to clouds and don't let them keep us under the covers.

Back to the Creek ... to the Meadow ... to the Big Lake

 

This is not the beginning.

Deciding which photo to put at the top of this post gave me pause. Finally I decided against chronological order for the opening image, because this view of Lake Michigan, with sun breaking through the clouds and creating a shining path across the water, seemed the most striking of my images. But Shalda Creek crossing Bohemian Road was really the beginning -- or the beginning of our (Sunny's and my) arrival at my chosen destination after I woke from a dreadful nightmare and needed the creek, the meadow, and the lake.

Shalda Creek coming from its road crossing...

...and continuing to Lake Michigan.

Queen Anne's-lace against out-of-focus running water was a contender for top image.

Sun filtered through trees this morning on Lake Michigan Road.

Is it one tree or two? Either way, bonded for life....

The old road through the meadow --

Reindeer moss, a lichen, thrives on poor soil and pure air.

Northern Michigan wants to be forest again

Sunny leads the way along the fading two-track.

A clearing in the distance catches the sun.

A glimpse of Shell Lake --

Muddy, narrow old access to Shell Lake --

Back on beautiful Lake Michigan Road, we are greeted by the sun.

Don't you love signs like this?

Do you see Sunny Juliet's ear?

There is the whole dog!

Bigger waves than we saw the last time --

She had to think it over....

We retreated briefly to consider our options.

But she decided to be a brave girl!

The excitement made her frisky! She did a balance beam act!

She really did walk the log its full length. She is a natural athlete and has the balance of youth. 

We were both wet and sandy and windblown and happy. Taking a morning vacation was a very good idea! The only thing that would have made it better would have been not being leash-bound -- but leash is the rule at the Lakeshore.

On the way home, coming back down to ordinary time and life, I stopped for a moment by the pond on Alpers Road, a spot David and I almost never drove by without stopping, and told Sunny once more how much her daddy and I loved that place.