Ducks and Dusk and gorgeous colors!

Today, some random photos from late summer

and early autumn!

Enjoy!

Merganser ducks!

Moon rising!:

Looking down the lake from us:

The moon above the shoreline and islands on our lake:

Lake Alberta, in autumn splendor! This lake is about 25 miles from our house.

Lake Alberta shoreline in color:

Red leaves of autumn:

I am finally "caught up" with most of my

late summer photos to share with you..

and

over the next few blogposts,

I will be sharing some of my autumn colors

photos too.

I know it is New Year's time and snow is with most people...

but I have to get caught up, people! LOL

Besides, we could all use some color in our lives this time of year, no???

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Today is the LAST day to send in your

December 2011

FREE PHOTO CONTEST

photo!!!

The theme is:

The Epitomy of the Holidays!!!

Send me your photo by midnight tonight!!!!!

You can DO IT!!!!

Lake Splendor!

Before the change of the leaves...

before the snow....

before Christmas....

there was late summer.

And it went out in splendor!

Sunset and the moon rising....

Dusk over a small lake near where we live....

A HUGE "plate" mushroom on a wood's tree:

Wagner Falls, in September:

A migrating duck on our lake near sunset:

Dusk on our Lake Michigamme:

That cool white house on the cliff is right directly across the lake from our house...

I have always loved it.

And with ducks in front of it?

Heaven!:

A lone goose in the water:

Heading home on the boat at dusk on our lake:

One of our lake's islands at sunset...

when the golden "civil twilight" brings out the beauty

in everything it washes:

Now..if I could just make or invent

makeup for our skin

to do what the  setting sun does

for nature...

I'd be a millionaire!!!!

Let's talk Turkey!!!

Now that Thanksgiving

and

Christmas

have passed...

I thought it was safe to post my photos

of the adorable turkey family

we ran across

when out for a drive one day.....

There were so many babies, I couldn't count them because they were running across the road so fast.

Just look at the babies!!:



The "crossing guards" checking the road to see if it was safe for

the "kids" to cross....

These two looked so different! I think they were both males? But maybe it was Mom and Dad?:

Taking "Junior" out on the road!:

Whew!!!  MADE it to the other side!!:

Next group! Headem' up..roll 'em out!:

You can see by the color of the GREEN grass that this was late, late summer

even before the leaves changed colors:

"Ooooo, Awwwww, that pavement is HOOOOOOTTTT!":

"Hurry up, kids....and quit arguing whose turn it is to go first...we're talkin' possible

Semi-trucks here...let's MOVE IT!":

And, Junior...to answer your question...

No, I don't know what Stove Top dressing is....

but I don't have a good feeling about it......

and I heard those humans over there talking about having a

NEW YEAR's dinner....

not EVERYONE makes Prime Rib you know!!!

****************************************************************

Hurry up People!!

You only have a few more days to enter the monthly

FREE PHOTO CONTEST!!!!

December 2011's theme is:

The Epitomy of the Holidays!!!

Send me your winning photo no later than midnight, on Dec. 31st

following

THESE RULES!

You don't have to be a Blogger to enter!

And remember....in January...we choose the WINNER OF THE YEAR...

all the monthly winners for Jan. thru Dec. 2011 get posted

and ONE yearly winner for the BEST PHOTO of 2011

will be chosen.

You still have a chance to get in the yearly drawing if you haven't won yet and win December's photo contest....

(And you other monthly winners can have more than ONE chance if you win in December too!)

so get GOING

and send me your photo!!!!!!!

Don't you want the WINNING widget on YOUR BLOG

that you won December's contest???????....

or even better:

the 2011's BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR??????

Merry Christmas from the U.P. !!!

Merry Christmas!!!

from

the Upper Peninsula of

Michigan!

I wish you peace, love and happiness

today and always....

Please enjoy some pictures today

that I took in our little town

of Michigamme Michigan.....showing you

some free winter sleigh rides

that were provided

last week.

Enjoy your day

and a huge thank you is being sent to

every single person and to all the Blogger friends

that visit my blog

and make my life that much more enriched.

I hope your Christmas was all you hoped it would be.

I know that all the presents I need are family around me
and the gratefulness and love that I have with my family and friends.
(That means YOU too!)
xxoo

Lake, River and Falls!

Continuing today with some more water pictures.

I know your days are full of hectic holiday things

and I thought

the viewing of water might help calm you today.

Take a steaming cup of coffee, put your feet up

and

listen to the water.

Can you hear it????

A windy Lake Superior day!:

A tiny drop in the river makes for a mini-waterfall!:

 

Waterfalls like liquid silver!:

 

Miner's Falls: A long, long way down!:

The bottom of Munising Falls, where there are colorful rock formations:

To show you how tall these Miner's falls are,

look at the bottom of these falls

where you can see

a fellow photographer

in a blue coat taking pictures:

A view of the top of the Munising falls!:

 

I hope these helped calm you down and make you feel relaxed today.

I hope that you are surrounded by loved ones, and if not, know that your fellow Bloggers

love you...me included!

Hoping your holidays give you refreshed spirit

and that the new, upcoming year is one of promise, good (or better) health

and continuing happiness.

Beautiful Falls and a Buck!!

On Sept. 5th,

(which just so  happened to be my birthday!)

I had the opportunity

to go to Munising, Michigan

along with a well-known photographer

for lessons on

how to photograph waterfalls.

He took us to 5 different waterfalls that day

and it was such fun!

I learned a LOT !

Although the weather was a bit chilly, it was overcast most of the day

(which makes for the BEST photos of waterfalls, as sun tends to "wash them out".)

Today, I will share some of the photos I captured on

my "lesson" with the group.

This is Alger Falls, which sits right beside a busy highway!:

Right beside Alger Falls!:

The path was extremely muddy as it had just rained before we got there!:

The falls (below) turned out to be my most successful shots.

When we first got there, the sun burst out and the main waterfall was too bright

to do many good shots.

But over in the corner of the falls, there was some water falling over

gorgeous rocks and it looked somewhat shaded, so me and my tripod

headed there instead.

I was so glad I did!:

This is part of Au Train Falls:

A buck that we happened to run across too!:

Later that week, we went out into the wilderness of Baraga county

and found

this little waterfall in the woods.

It was so quiet and beautiful out that day!:

So, now I am more in love with waterfalls

than ever before!!

I plan on getting out this winter to capture some of the winter falls for you...

but probably more near Spring

when they begin to melt down

so I have open water/falls along

with the snowbanks and ice formations....

So, stay tuned!!

**********************************************************************

Don't forget to enter my

FREE PHOTO CONTEST!!!!

December's theme is:

The Epitomy of the Holidays!

Be sure to get your photo in

no later than midnight on Dec. 31st, 2011

following

THESE RULES.

You don't have to be a Blogger to enter!