These photographs were taken at Hidden Lake Gardens and I don’t know what flower it is. What was striking was that one plant had three different phases of the flowering process. It also offered fun opportunities for post processing.
I like attitude, and I can cop an attitude as good as the best of them. Today I drove over to Pudding Stone Farm & Nursery to take some pictures of the animals. They raise a lot of different kinds and love to have people come to see them.
When I got there no one was around – at least not of the human variety. There was a lot of rooster racket so I went into the barn to see what was up and to see if there were any animals there. Everything was pretty quiet except for the roosters and hens. I saw some dolled up roosters who had attitude.
Listen up!
Practicing the latest dance step.
Do these feathers make my butt look big?
I beg your pardon?
I mentioned that I like attitude. What I really like is the attitude that comes from being self confident combined with having respect for all people. What I don’t like is attitude that is self-centered and mean spirited. As I have gotten older I have felt more confident in voicing my opinion when I think it will make a situation better, especially when a wrong will be righted. The trick is knowing when my two cents will make things better, and when it will make things worse.
I also find that I am more vocal when things don’t go right for me – frequently letting naughty words slip out – not really foul but just not lady-like. I guess I’ve always had difficulty being lady-like, like being refined. Hubby lovingly says I’m sometimes a little rough around the edges. I’m trying to clean up my act because I would like to be seen as gracious and a gentlewoman. Maybe not – it doesn’t sound like much fun.
Weeping European Beech
This is a tree with a surprise. It doesn’t look like anything special, and the first tree we saw wasn’t as nicely shaped as this one so we almost didn’t notice it when we were photographing blossoming fruit trees at Hidden Lake Gardens. Julie happened to look at it as she was passing and noticed the inside of the tree.
Peek inside.
Inside was a secret room with branches spreading out and a tent of green letting dappled light filter in. It is the type of space where we create secret clubhouses. It is the type of space where we escape from the world because no one can see us or hear us when we enter. It is a place for pretending.
The Secret Room
When we grow up we can take our new love there to steal a kiss within the protection of our secret place. But don’t tell anyone.
Love Proclaimed
Frizz is up to Tagged T and this tree with a secret meets this challenge to a “T”. You can find more interpretations and submit your own “T” without trepidation at:
http://flickrcomments.wordpress.com/2013/05/14/tagged-t/
I got a little behind this past week because I escaped to the Upper Pennisula of Michigan with a friend. I think this post also is a good interpretation for “escape”. If you feel like escaping, you can find more about this Word Press Weekly Photo Challenge at:
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/photo-challenge-escape/
I have forgotten the name of this (Jake from Jakesprinter provided the name – a pedestal stereoscope) but I haven’t forgotten the wonder that I felt when I first peered through these windows. This particular one was at the Palm Cottage Museum in Naples Florida but they are like the ones my grandma had. This is how I got my first glimpse of far-away places. Not just pictures of far-away places but pictures that looked real – where there was depth. It felt like I was really there.
I was so very intrigued. On a very hazy level I learned that there were places other than my neighborhood. I wasn’t old enough to understand it but I know it opened a window of wonder about other worlds. The people in my family didn’t travel much – unless you count my grandparents emigrating from Poland when they were in their late teens. I didn’t understand emigration, they were just different in a familiar sort of way.
It has become fun reflecting on my life – maybe because I am gaining a lot of life to reflect on. I am intrigued with how different threads of interest and talent became woven together to form my tapestry, my life history. Seeing the bigger world through these 3-D windows didn’t lead to a life commitment to “travel to exotic places.” No, it wasn’t that conscious, but I think a combination of my personality and quirky fate repeatedly came together to guide my path through life. It was impossible to see when it was happening but now I’m beginning to see it more clearly.
What is interesting is that as I understand my life more clearly, I also have more questions. Did God have a plan for my life even before I was born? What role did self-determination play if there was a plan? If God already had my life planned does it mean that I am delusional to believe that I made choices along the way? Is there a God who is involved with each individual to this extent – to the extent that a 3-D viewfinder was placed where I needed it to open the window of interest? I can’t get my mind around that one. Do I think too much? 
If you want to see other windows or to post your own interpretation of this theme, go to:
http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/2013/05/19/sunday-post-window/
We were driving through a city park the other evening when I noticed a couple of families of geese on the shore of the lagoon. I couldn’t resist stopping for a family photo shoot. I slowly walked closer, stopping every couple of steps to take some shots. I sat on a picnic table and took some more. I decided to get even closer – with papa goose watching me closely.
Every time I moved or took a couple of steps closer, papa would give me a warning with a mighty hiss.
We slowly reached a compromise with me getting quite close but also respecting his family. Although we really don’t need more geese in the park, these are so cute who can complain (my hubby did).
There were two families and one seemed a little old as they wandered a little farther away from the shore and ate more grass. The goslings were also a bit bigger and the parents less protective.
This post is for all you city-slickers out there. All of you who get great joy out of living where the action is, where you can walk the busy city streets and get wonderful cityscape shots. Of course, the other half (you know there are always two kinds of people) will be drawn into my post just because you feel it; you feel the pure joy of driving in the country in the spring past all those wonderful working farms.
Mike, over at Mike’s Look at Life told me he can never pass up a good barn. I too have had a long-time fascination with barns. Maybe it was because I spent so much time with my grandparents who were small-time farmers. Grandpa taught me how to drive on a Farmall Cub when I was 13. He let me drive it all by myself, on the road, from his plot at Ready’s farm on Portage Lake, to their cottage about a mile away. I still remember, at a younger age, feeling the warm, fine, black muck between my toes as I put the potatoes in holes grandpa dug. It was important work and we were a good team. Grandma sat in the shade of the big oak tree cutting the potatoes so there was an eye on each piece.
My very favorite memory is swaying on a swing hung from that very big oak tree, teaching the rows of vegetable plants how to sing. I don’t sing (they didn’t do so good either) but I am a teacher at heart – and an introvert and love the quiet solitude of the country. It makes me wonder if these early experiences formed where I found joy throughout my life or whether there is a genetic predisposition that pulls me to these things.
I grew up in small towns and then moved to the suburbs when I was just entering my teens. The school I started in 7th grade was a new district formed by consolidating a large number of one-room schools. It was called Northwest Agricultural School. They didn’t teach agriculture but they did have a Future Farmers Association. The odds were pretty great that I would marry a farmer – but I didn’t. As a teen, I have very fond memories of visiting my friend Sally and playing in their barn. I learned to love the smell of cows when I visited the dairy farm of my friend Phyllis.
Now I live in a suburban neighborhood, but surrounded by fields. I can hear the tractors plowing the fields close by. In the evening I can hear cows baying (I think that is what it would be called). One of my greatest joys is driving down my country roads and seeing the softly rolling hills of farmland, with the crops changing through the seasons.
I’ve done a couple of other posts on barns here and here. Friend Julie and I have spent a couple mornings wandering around some barns. She has a very interesting image of a barn window that you can see by clicking on this link. Julie is just entering the blogging community so give her a warm welcome! I also suggest you follow her because her photos will be worth seeing and she has the soul of a philosopher.
Julie and I went to HIdden Lake Gardens again this week – especially to see the lilacs that are blooming in southern Michigan. We saw a whole lot more – another 4 hours more. But when I saw Cee’s challenge this week is spring – I had to do the lilacs. Daffodils and tulips also mean spring – but it has snowed on daffodils and tulips many times. I have never seen snow on lilacs so that means lilac season is really spring.
The flowering trees and shrubs are spectacular this year so I couldn’t resist a walk around the neighborhood. Three of the photos in this post are compliment of neighbors.
I first posted this barn as a part of the Lingering Look at Windows – they really stand out because they are new and bright and shiny.
Here are photos of some of the architectural details that give this barn, and a couple of other out buildings, that character so many of you said you love.
Chicken Coop?
I hope I am aging with character instead of just falling apart. But this got me thinking about what differentiates the two. When I look at this barn, I find character in the many details. There are many details in the design – which is probably also true of people. The more interests we have created and the life paths we have followed create character as they accumulate and form our life tapestry. They add richness to our life story. This applies to our emotional life as well as our physical. We need to care deeply, even if it means getting hurt sometimes. Do our loves and hurts show up as character in our face, especially our eyes? When we look at people with character we begin to wonder about where they have been and what they have seen and what life music they heard through the years.
These sliding doors are salvaged for home use.
Old buildings with character don’t have changes for cosmetic reasons. They may be maintained but changes aren’t made to make them appear as what they aren’t. The windows on this barn stand out because they don’t fit – they aren’t authentic. For us humans, in our culture that worships youth, it is hard to stay authentic to what we are. We are pulled to cosmetic surgery, to dye our hair, and dress in young fashions to keep ourselves looking young. I want to age with integrity – but sometimes I waver. I remember a conversation with my friend Trudy, who is long deceased. She was bemoaning the fact that her hands were ugly, all spotted and veined. I had been noticing how beautiful they were, how much character they had. Now as my hands are aging and I sometimes fret, I think of Trudy’s hands. I hope that someday my hands will be as beautifully aged as hers.
Old buildings with character are used buildings. They show the signs of use. They have nicks and dings and warn spots – kind of like the Velveteen Rabbit. Have you ever noticed the difference between new furniture that is made to look warn and authentically warn furniture? The warn-through-use furniture has character. We need to use our human bodies for them to develop character. I work hard to protect my body and to respect it but I also can’t live on a shelf. I want to do things and go places. I need to live on the edge – within the reasonable bounds of what my body can do. We can tell when people lived too hard a life and their bodies age prematurely. I don’t want that but I also need to continue to get out there if I’m going to have the nicks, dings, and warn spots that says this is a life well lived.
Julie has a very interesting image of this barn that you can see by clicking on this link. Julie is just entering the blogging community so give her a warm welcome! I also suggest you follow her because her photos will be worth seeing and she has the soul of a philosopher.
Hidden Lake Gardens is a 755 acre botanical garden and arboretum owned by Michigan State University. MSU is the Michigan land grant college and they truly do fulfill their mission of preserving and developing landscapes that exhibit plant collections for education and enjoyment of the public. They do an outstanding job of arranging the many wonders that God created for us to behold – not their words because they are a state-supported university.
My friend Julie and I spent 4 hours there last week enjoying (and photographing) the solitude and beauty of Michigan spring. My goal was to practice landscape photography because I haven’t been especially excited with many of my previous sweeping vistas. What I came away with are images of not-so-sweeping vistas because of the nature of the steeply rolling hills and woods. This is the type of landscape photography I could get excited about. Come along with me.
The Hidden Lake
Hidden Lakes Garden is located in the Irish Hills section of southern Michigan. This is where the glacier stopped as the ice age started warming and the glacier started to recede. This is where the glacier shoved and dumped huge piles of dirt and rocks resulting in beautiful hills and lots of small to medium lakes. And lots of rocks.
Hilly hosta rock garden.
Our first stop was the Hosta Hillside. The hosta leaves are a few inches high and haven’t unfurled yet but there are lots of other flowers in bloom. I have already posted some of these here and here and Julie has a post here, – we will be posting more. What was so striking about the landscape was how it was planted to maintain a natural feel but better.
One of many places to sit and view the lake.
Evergreens, flowering shrubs and trees form a backdrop for hostas, daffodils, bluebells, and tulips. The horticulturalists also seem to encourage nature to establish it’s own naturally occurring plants around their plantings.
We lingered, and wandered off, and beckoned each other to see new beauty. Our attention was constantly pulled from the garden close by, to the vistas across the lake, and back again. We circled back and forth, up and down, two, three times and where-ever we walked again we saw new beauty, new wonders.
Bright yellow-green of the weeping willow across the lake.
Eventually the road ahead beckoned us.
Road along the lake.
There are over 6 miles of paved roads for cars and bikes. There are also 5 miles of marked hiking trails of various lengths. We took the Woodland Drive that winds through an oak and hickory forest. There weren’t many people in the park so we were able to stop often on the road to enjoy the woods.
Naturalized daffodils along winding roads.
Stone retaining wall along road we had climbed.
The allure of a forbidden path.
Leaving the forest, we entered the open, sunny part of the garden. We stopped in the parking area where the walking trail begins to the Glacial Kettlehole – but didn’t do the hike. Our goal was to capture the flowering fruit trees, but we became engrossed within the canopy of an amazing tree that deserves a post all its own. Then we moved on to the conifers.
Collection of conifers on Juniper Hill.
The educational mission of the gardens is evident in the mature displays of conifers, over 500 specimens that are enjoyed year around. There is also a display of Dwarf and Rare Conifers.
We were getting hungry and could see the conservatory and visitor center from this overlook.
Overlooking raised beds that will be planted with summer annuals.
As we passed the picnic area we bemoaned the fact that we didn’t pack a picnic. There wasn’t food at the conservatory or visitor center, but we were soon distracted from our hunger by the plants in the conservatory and the grounds surrounding these buildings.
Can you hear the low, gentle tones of the wind chime?
It was here, as we were each wandering in our own worlds of wonder, that we laughed about how we have different ways of approaching our subjects. We haven’t photographed together before so it will be fun to see how each of us captured the Hidden Lake Gardens with our lens. Julie just (this week) retired from university teaching and we have a date next Tuesday to return to see the lilacs in bloom. I hope we will also visit the places we missed because of hunger – I think I’ll pack a picnic lunch.
On this trip we had a great lunch at Jus’ Bad Food in the nearby village of Brooklyn and then stopped off for wine tasting at a small vineyard close by. A perfect ending to a perfect morning.
Ailsa has her backpack on and headed for the beaches of Seattle. I though I would do the opposite coast and picked some of my favorites from the Maritime Provinces of Canada. Hope the jet lag doesn’t hit too hard.
Here are some patterns That are found naturally – in nature. Succulents at the Hidden Lake Gardens in the Irish Hills of Michigan.
You can find more interpretations of patterns or add your own at:
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/weekly-photo-challenge-pattern/
A friend and I were on our way to Hidden Lake Gardens with time to spare before it opened. We were driving along a country two-lane highway, one of those that has a lot of interesting things to look at along the way.
And there it was! This old barn with the morning sun shining on it so beautifully. It had character, the kind of character we get when we get old. Anyway, back to the barn. Julie put on the breaks and I found a drive that would take us to it. We then spent a delightful half an hour walking around taking lots of photos of the barn’s character and the other out buildings.
What was fascinating was that this very old barn, in disrepair, next to a house that looked empty and was for sale, has new windows. See them along the front?
If you like windows and have some photos of interesting ones in your files – or there is one you have been meaning to capture, you can join the fun by peeking in at the following blog:
http://lingeringvisions.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/thursday-lingering-look-at-windows-week-17/
I’m intoxicated with Spring and yesterday my friend Julie and I went to Hidden Lake Gardens to try to capture the beauty of Spring as it is unfolding. We talked about how difficult it is to capture the beauty that we see with our eyes and soul. What we end up with on the computer screen frequently doesn’t have that “wow” we felt at the time. I think I will forever be searching for better ways to capture the beauty of God’s creation through my lens. Here are three little beauties.
Wildflower – Trilium
My favorite daffodil of the day.
I love Tchaikovsky’s ballet, Swan Lake. Beautiful music, beautiful costumes, and exquisite dancing. Here is my version, Swan Pond. It has a nice ring, don’t you think – although it will be without dancing and music. Feel free to make your own music. You can hum out loud, I won’t mind. Rest assured the costumes are authentic and so is the pond.
You can swim (or dance) over to see Frizz who I hear doesn’t look too bad in a tutu (maybe that will be his post for next week’s tag T). He wanted the lead roll this week but you can understand why I had to give it to the guys in the slide show. Anyway, here is where you will find lots of other interesting interpretations of “S”.
Skinnywench has posted her “Word a Week Challenge” as orange. I’m in a gentle frame of mind – and most shades of orange aren’t my favorite. Orange is such a hot color that it usually doesn’t facilitate a gentle frame of mind – it excites us. As I am thinking about this, I look around and realize that I have used quite a bit of orange in my living room – as accent color for my very gentle, quiet, green public living areas. But they are gentle oranges.
So my challenge this morning was to go through my files and find oranges that fit my gentle-frame-of-mind mood. I wanted to use photos I haven’t posted before, which means that they were photos that I had passed over because they were orange – and well orange isn’t usually the color I enjoy working with. Here are some oranges that maintain my gentle-frame-of-mind mood.
Spring has exploded in southern Michigan any my camera has being used a lot. May these images of spring bring a smile to your face, joy to your heart, and a spring to your step.
Click on any photo to see as a slide show. Blessings.
I saw a pair of swans when I went to pick up a friend the other afternoon, swimming in a pond in the front yard of a house. I went back the other morning so I could take advantage of some good light. I took lots of photos and I’ve been having great fun tweaking them in Lightroom. Here are two that stimulate my senses and imagination because of the reflections.
Mirror, mirror.
Fractured Reflections
How convenient that next week is “S” so I’m saving some swans for then. In the mean time you can visit Frizz for more reflections on the letter R.
http://flickrcomments.wordpress.com/2013/04/30/tagged-r/
Sunbathers on beach at Meat Cove
Looking down on the beach at Meat Cove on the northern shore of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia Canada.
You can see more takes on “From Above” at:
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/weekly-photo-challenge-from-above/
