Northern Light

A little over a year ago, I posted about my son-in-law's main hobby and passion, the annual snowmobile race at the Soo.  They do other races too of course, but this is the big deal for the year.



I mentioned very briefly in that post that a film crew had been taping them and another racing family for over a year, making a documentary about snowmobile racing. The mention was so brief that I think most of my friends missed it and were surprised recently when I posted a link on Facebook about a funding effort to raise the final amount needed to finish the film. You can see the trailer for the film by clicking the link on the left.


The funds are being raised on Kickstarter, a site for raising money for all kinds of creative projects. The twist  here is that the goal must be met, or the project gets none of the money pledged.



Most of these pics didn't make it into the original blog post, but I thought it would be fun to show the crew, mostly Nick, following, (or running after!), Ike and Emily getting footage of them before and during the race.


     



 

 



 

While it is certainly exciting to think that my daughter and son-in-law will be in a movie, the bonus is that we have made some great new friends in Nick and Lisa, and their photographer, Anna.



               

                             

                                           

                                                           

                         

            

Normally I would crop a photo taken from this far away, but I love the Where's Waldo look of it. Can you find Nick?

Afternoon light

This will be our fourth full summer in this house, and the plants are finally looking much more established this year.  A busy work schedule has kept me away from much gardening the last couple years, so anything we plant must be able to stand some ( well a lot actually ) neglect. These I think are doing just fine. Afternoon light can be wonderful for shooting outdoors, and I love the way the light is shining through the Iris petals.


                                                                   

                               

                                                                                           

                                                         

Playin' hooky

Working 10 days straight can do a number on your brain, not to mention your body. And here in northern Michigan, the weather can be temperamental this time of year (well any time to be truthful), so when the forecast for Friday afternoon was beautiful, we quit work early and headed out for a ride. But where to go? Well. my first choice is always to head towards water, and there is a state park nearby on Lake Michigan we hadn't been to yet. Plus we bought that new park pass for the bike so off we went to Fisherman's Island State Park, just south of Charlevoix.


                                     
                                                                          
                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                           

                                             
           
                 Just look how clear that water is. 

It was a good choice; other than the swarms of gnats that have hatched from the recent warm weather, we had a great time. Just being out in the sun and wind was a much needed break from work.

  

                                                                                                             
                                                                         



The park is named for a small island just offshore, which, due to falling lake levels is now actually a peninsula that you can walk out to. But I didn't know this when we were there, and in any case, we probably didn't have time as it was very late afternoon, and I'm not a fan of riding after dark.

 
Fisherman's Island

 

                                       

   

We had dinner on the way home at the excellent, but pricey, Rowe Inn in Ellsworth. Great food and vino, but I fear it will not be on the list of regular places to eat dinner out.  All in all, a great end to the week.

The lake

Our family has a lake cottage that my Dad built way back in 1953, before I was born. So you could say I grew up there, in and out of the water. My parents sold our childhood home the year my older daughter was born, and even the house my husband and I built as young marrieds and raised our kids in is no longer ours. (Though we do still get to visit as the older daughter and her husband live there now.) So this place is really the last link to my childhood and it is always like going home. We stopped in on Easter Sunday on our way home from visiting family downstate and were greeted with this.



You can't see the sun set from our side of the lake, but sometimes, like on this day, the show in the other direction is just as nice. Dad used to call it the afterglow.

In the summer, when the boats are in, we often go out on the lake to see the sunset, and if we are very lucky, we also see loons. But I also love the way it is right now, when you can really see the lake, without all the boats and docks lining the shore. Except this one that is in very early, no doubt due to the 80 degree weather we had two weeks ago.