Autumn Wildflowers in the U.P. !

We often take pictures of wild flowers as they bloom throughout the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) of Michigan.
When autumn descends upon us, the amount of wildflowers and number of species are less than spring and summer, but still delightful.

Today, we took a short ride into the woods and found some nice chickory, and asters. The asters are usually the latest variety of wildflower we see, often sticking up from our first snowfall, which around here usually happens sometime in October.

Here are some of the photos I took today;

Chickory

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



chickory stem

 

 

Aster grouping

Single delicate Aster

 

 

 

Aster in its Glory

 

 

I hope you are enjoying the beginning of autumn...the leaves here are beginning to change colors and I can't wait to capture some of the golden, orange and red leaves soon to occur here.

 



Pictured Rocks! in Munising, Michigan in the wonderful Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Hi everyone!
I haven't posted in quite a while again, but we took a trip to the magnificent Pictured Rocks in Munising, Michigan and I had to post some photos of our trip out on the water. These wonderful colored cliffs are due to the iron and minerals in our wonderful Upper Peninsula (U.P.) of Michigan and sit on the shores of Lake Superior. If you ever come to our area, make sure and make sure you take a tour of them!

I took a ton of photos there, this is just the tip of the iceburg!  So, if anyone wants to see more or order some prints of the Pictured Rocks, in Munising, just get ahold of me!

Hope you are enjoying the beginning of autumn...it is the busiest time of year for me as the colors up here are magnificent to photograph.
 

More Spring Flowers (which are hiding in our part of the country right now!)

Still here...

still waiting....

for

the snow to melt

and

reveal spring flowers.

 

I have been seeing everyone else's posts on Facebook

showing

daffodils and tulips.

Sigh.

This morning, here...it was 16 degrees BELOW zero...

and we have at least two feet of snow

which doesn't look as it will melt for many weeks yet.

 

I am trying to be patient.

 

Anyone have the definition for patient?

 

I decided I needed to get my eyes on some spring flowers today, so went back in my archives to last year's treasures....and am posting them for you (and ME!) today.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Beauties:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hillside of Blood Root:

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Spring Beauties:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blood root by the old log:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trout lilies!:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trout Lillies with spring beauties on the forest floor:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring beauties by the mushroomed log:

 

 

The Spring Beauties, Trout Lilies and Bloodroot are the first few wood wildflowers that show up here when the snow melts, followed by Trilliums.

 

I will be going through some more of my wildflower photos and will be posting some Trilliums soon for you!

 

Happy Spring Everyone, and I am happy for those of you wayyyyy ahead of us in your blooms!



Signs of Spring!! (Last YEAR!!...we are in a BLIZZARD here today~!)

All I could think of to stay sane today was to post-process some pictures I took last May.....

You see, the U.P. is having a blizzard today in our part of Michigan.  Already have gotten another 4 inches of snow and it doesn't look like it is slowing down anytime soon.

 

I always have a ton of images that I haven't had time to post process, so that was I decided I would do today....pick some wonderfully happy, gloriously warm past days that I captured with my lens and think SPRING as much as possible.

 

 

These shots were taken in May last year...just after the snow melted here and the first few spring flowers broke through the forest floor.

 

 

 

Spring Beauties:





 

 

 

 

 

 

I found a mushroom on a log that formed a perfect rose!:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dutchman's Britches beside a spring waterfall:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blue Indigo bird on spring branches:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring waterfall in the emerging green wood:

 

 

 

 

Single Trout Lily:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Beauties growing on the rock wall:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trout Lilies by the tree:

 

 

 

There, now I feel a little bit better....

How about YOU?

 

It is supposed to continue to snow for two more days in a row.

I am not sure I can take it.

 

So, be prepared for more spring pictures soon.

 

It's therapy...........................



A Little Tropical? How about Flamingos?

Boy, it has been some time since I posted here!  But, I just don't want to close down my blog. It has sent a lot of people to me regarding my photography, for which I am thrilled.  I have gotten to sell some of my prints or donate them to organizations with little money, but who do great things regarding nature.

For that reason, I just can't close it down.

So, forgive me for not posting regularly like so many other devoted bloggers. I am just too busy with doing photography and being on many, many community boards. 

So much for retirement in a rocking chair wondering what to do with one's time, right? 

This winter has been very brutal in the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) of Michigan.

Beyond brutal!

To keep our sanity, we took two trips to the tropics. In January, we went to Ixtapa, Mexico and in February we went to the island of Cozumel in Mexico.  To be honest, the best photos I took were a bunch of sunsets in Ixtapa, which I hope to post here another time.

But our last trip to Cozumel was at the Iberostar Resort and on their property were a bunch of awesome flamingos and iquanas.

The property was lush and green and warm and looked like a tropical park and it was wonderful to get out of the frozen tundra and just enjoy the sun, beach and tropical green along with being able to see these awesome creatures.

So, for this post, I am going to share some of the Flamingos we saw. Hopefully I can post some of the iguana soon on another post, and then get to those gorgeous Ixtapa sunsets!

 As always, my images are not to be copied or printed without permission, all rights reserved. If you are ever interested in having them, please contact me directly instead.  Thanks so much!

Who doesn't like some Flamingos???

Flamingo party!:



Flamingos under the bridge:

 

 

 

 

What do you think the flamingo on the right is saying to the fluffed up flamingo?:



Looking for supper:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Skimming his nose on the water, looking for more to eat: 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flexibility!!:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Splish, splash:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let's shake it off!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fluffy flamingo feathers!: (I am deeply smitten)

 

 

They are the most majestic, gorgeous birds on this planet. I could have spent my entire vacation just sitting beside that pond and watching them......

What on Earth Have I Been Up To????....

For you regular readers....(who I am surprised have hung in there with my blog all this time!)...I again issue a huge apology.  I am an awful Blogger in that I go months at a time and not post a single new blogpost.

It never used to be that way....

But then things got busy!

I have been blessed in that I am now doing photography on a regular basis and actually selling some of it! 

When I am not out hiking to take the photos out in wonderful nature, I am post processing them and selling them. 

Oh, did I tell you I also make stone jewelry and sell that too?? 

So, that is what is I have been "up to"....

And?

I am enjoying every moment of it.

So much for retirement, eh?  (She says with a happy twinkle in her eye).

So, today, I just stopped in to say hi and tell everyone I miss them terribly and think of so many of you, so often.

Here are just a few shots of where we have been over the last few days, capturing with my lens.

Enjoy, my friends!  I hope I can stop by this winter and read your blogs again. I have missed that terribly! 

If you'd like....you can "friend" me on Facebook, I tend to publish pictures more frequently on there. But only if  you want to hear about the other funny things in my life.  Just ask to friend Joan Haara.
And if you do, when you request to be my friend, remind me that you are a blogger and your blog name in a message attached to your friend request. Otherwise, I may refuse your request. (You'd be surprised how many people try and be your friend with devious reasons).  Also message me here attached to this blogpost to let me know you will be asking to friend me on Facebook, so I know it's coming).

Thanks, and hope to talk to you again soon!  Have a wonderful autumn.  I know mine will be CRAZY as it is the most beautiful season of the year here in the U.P. of Michigan and the time when I am out almost every day, all day, taking photos.....

BLLLRRGGGGGHHH!....STILL snowing here!.....

I know you probably get sick of hearing me complain

about our slow spring this year...

but I gotta VENT!

 

Today, April 19th we are in the middle of yet ANOTHER blizzard, folks!

 

And, we have not had the pleasure of ANY of this past winter's snow

even melting yet...

so that means we have YET to see bare ground since last OCTOBER!!!

 

Count them: 7 months (going on EIGHT) with all white on our ground.

 

 

Luckily in a week, I am heading to another tropical vacation to get away from it!

My nephew is having a destination wedding in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

and

I can't TELL you how badly I need to be at the beach for a week.

 

So, today, again....I will delve back into my files from last April/May

to remember what real spring is like.

 

My only hope is that by the time we get back the snow will have melted during our absence!

 

Last Spring's images:

 

 

 

 

 

Yellow trout lily:



Cherry blossoms:

Ogemaw Falls in Baraga County, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, early spring:



New spring growth:

Side falls in early spring next to Ogemaw Falls:

Side view of Ogemaw Falls:

Little side falls between the mossy rocks:

I so look forward to getting out into our woods again

and finding the spring wildflowers

and

high flowing waterfalls!

 

Hope with me that by the second week in May

we thaw out enough

here for us to do so!

 

I love this part of the country with ALL my heart, but I am getting

SO IMPATIENT!!!!!!