the sky's the limit

Blue skies I'll remember from bike trips in September as we slide into October.

a contemporary art gallery called 'Swan Song'
Maiden rock, Wisconsin

orthodox onion spires
Thunder Bay, Ontario

Visit more skies from unlikely places all over the globe @ Skywatch Friday.

wax not, wane not

Autumn is sneaking around trying to act inconspicuous and though leaves are turning, Cosmos are as hardy as ever. I caught these in Maiden Rock, Wisconsin yesterday under a pure blue sky. Take that, Fall!

Stop in the virtual flower shop Today's Flowers for a nice start to your week.

up before the birds

This is the view from my deck this morning facing east as the sun came up through scattered grey clouds.

Across the street, facing west, was that same sun shining on the tops of trees. At first glance they appear to be autumn-kissed but, in fact, are still very green.

Visit Skywatch Friday and be dazzled by skies from all over our planet.

Winter is an etching,

spring a watercolor,

summer an oil painting

and autumn a mosaic of them all.  

 Stanley Horowitz

life's a mystery

ABC Wednesday's letter du jour is J--as in James, my dad. He was born last century in 1910 at home in his mother's kitchen and lived to be 83.

The story goes that his given name was Vincenzo. When his Italian mother called him home to dinner, Vinnie sounded like Jimmy. So he became a James. I don't quite buy it, and now all of his siblings are gone too, so I guess Jimmy it is. A moot point.
More J words, mysterious or not, here.

I found these lovely sweet peas growing in the 'parking lot garden' at the Duluth Grill, an organic, homemade-food diner where the wait staff can be seen wearing t-shirts that say: organic food from our parking lot.

My favorite shade of red too. More favorite reds at Mary's meme Ruby Tuesday.

praying for rain

September's full moon floating over Lake Superior last Saturday--a peaceful sky view from Grand Portage Chippewa Reservation, Minnesota near the Canada border.

The next day as we rode back to the Twin Cities I took this [shaky] photo from the motorcycle of the sky approaching Duluth. The clouds were full of smoke from the wildfires burning in the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area near Ely and the sun was fiery amber.  What a contrast with the North shore's blue skies and beautiful sunsets. The fires are still burning.

See more skies of note @ Skywatch Friday. 

ice, its not just in cubes anymore

You will never know how hard it was for me to download this collage showing winter's many sides. I can't even say the word winter without shuddering. But, art elevates and I'm willing to sacrifice!
Noteworthy are the Olympic ice skating trials at the Oval in Roseville, Minnesota a few years back, Pashka's frozen pawprint, an auger used for ice fishing, Bean dreaming of summer and a child's book illustration of Dutch ice skater.

Mrs Nesbitt has challenged us to post I's today for ABC Wednesday. Her wish is my command.

summer sees red

I saw red all weekend in the Lake Superior Northshore woods where the leaves have barely started to turn. Rose hips and berries look ripe and ready to sustain the forest diners too. See more autumnal reds  @ RubyTuesday.                       


But even alone it was beautiful and he fed the fire to cut the night chill. There it is again, he thought, that late summer chill to the air, the smell of fall.
from Gary Paulsen's novel Hatchet.                              

from the land of sky blue water

More blue skies, from Wisconsin this time. We visited Crex Meadows in Grantsburg where we saw fields full of feasting Sand Hill Cranes as well as ducks sailing around the wild rice paddies, above.

This level prairie terrain was once a glacial lake bed. The water that was once diverted for settlers and industry has been reclaimed here making it a perfect wild place with big, open skies.

Visit Skywatch Friday for more beauty.

Oh Happy Day

Its Wednesday and this is my 700th post [I know! can't shut up] thus the fair spotted one happily leaping along. I'd like to think in joy, but I know better.

Another great H-word is represented by this guy I captured at Como Lake on a walk this weekend. Two other great blue herons were just leaving, disgruntled and barking like dogs, when I came around the bend to see this guy, no worse for wear, holding his/her ground.
More happy @ ABC Wednesday.

We still have flowers in bloom in spite of the cool evenings. Morning rains have kept them well hydrated. I found this Datura on a walk this morning.

Goldenrod is now in full bloom in Minnesota. Though I pay a price later for tromping through the woods full of their pollen, last week I hit the jackpot--can you see who is hiding lounging in the tall grass? 

Labor Day links for Today's Flowers and Camera Critters. Thanks to all the workers, those of us relaxing and those who will be working on Monday!

Skywatch Friday: take it easy

Behold, my kinda' sky: blue, calm, nicely tinting the lake below it.  September on one of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes has a melancholy aspect that maybe only I can see, but. . .

Ernest Hemingway mentions the contrast between spring and fall he experienced in Paris in   

 A Moveable Feast:

With so many trees in the city, you could see the spring coming each day until a night of warm wind would bring it suddenly in one morning. Sometimes the heavy cold rains would beat it back so that it would seem that it would never come and that you were losing a season out of your life. This is the only truly sad time in Paris because it was unnatural. You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintry light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen...

Visit more skies @ Skywatch Friday, after which I hope you'll set down your burdens and enjoy the Labor Day weekend with my best wishes!