On Saturday morning Miss Sadie, the Cowboy and I were up early. At dawn the full moon would set over Grand Traverse Bay just as the sun rose over the drumlins, and we would be there. We gathered our provisions and trotted across the road. Would there be too much cloud cover? No, there would not.
We had seen prettier moonsets at dawn. Once there had been a much larger moon, with wispy clouds draped across it like scarves, and a pinker sunrise lighting it. No camera, of course. Perhaps all our peak experiences are doomed to be unrecorded except in memory. We waited to see how this moonset would ripen. We heard loons.
We saw birds. I cannot swear that the birds we saw were the loons that called. These loons might be ducks, or mergansers. Miss Sadie, the Cowboy and I are unreliable in these matters. As the sun rose higher, the gulls arrived, swooping and tumbling. We are sure of the gulls.
The image reminds me of the sappy illustrations in some of the children’s books I read a hundred years ago. The illustrations were meant to be inspirational, but I have since thought how much better it would have been to see reproductions of Turner or Constable. On the other hand, this image has the advantage of recording something I actually saw, and will serve to remind me of the morning with its loons and gulls and dogs and misty light.
We came home the long way. One of the best things about living here is spending a lot of time outdoors in every season and at every time of day and night. When you do that, you are pretty much guaranteed to see something beautiful. No matter what else is going on in your life, you cannot help but notice the beauty, and take comfort from it.
Dutchmen’s breeches are drying on their tiny clotheslines amid the wild leeks. The first cowslips bloom along the creeks. Buds are swelling on the trilliums. Each year, rising out of the loam, out of all that we have lost, comes new life. Happy Springtime.
Torch Lake Views 
shoreacres
April 8, 2012
Beautiful photos – and I’ve never seen Dutchmen’s breeches before! They are beautiful.
I’m sure you know you captured the Belt of Venus in that third photo. The dark band along the horizon is the earth’s shadow. It’s one of my favorite astronomical phenomenon. I captured a good one a couple of years ago off my balcony during the perigee moon.
It can’t have been an easy couple of weeks up there. Happy Easter, and Happy Spring!
Gerry
April 8, 2012
Thank you. Dutchmen’s breeches are among my favorite flowers. They arrive early and bounce along in a very cheerful way.
I had never heard of the Belt of Venus and had to go look it up. Aha. Apparently the rosy band is the Belt of Venus, and the blue beneath it earth’s shadow. (The barely discernible dark band below that, right at the horizon, is . . . the Leelanau Peninsula.) I liked your perigee moon. Babs Young took a most wonderful picture of the one that rose over Torch Lake in March, 2011. (Rising moons are her job. Setting moons are mine.)
Indeed it has not been an easy couple of weeks. But we have our hopes, and it is springtime.
Martha
April 8, 2012
Your woodsy things are ahead of our woodsy things. I’ll post some spring plants of the woods when I can. Congrats on the beauty that whirls around you.
Gerry
April 8, 2012
Our woodsy things are all over the place – and who knows, we could have another blizzard. I look forward to your woodsy things. You always find good ways to bring us to your home grounds. I would accept the congrats except that I had absolutely nothing to do with the beauty that swirls around me. I’m just grateful for it.
Heather
April 8, 2012
“Goodnight Moon”
Your photos are very relaxing. I wish I could identify a loon by either sight or sound. In time.
Gerry
April 8, 2012
I have a really good suggestion for you. Two of them. Visit Grass River Natural Area east of Bellaire and go on one of the loon lookout pontoon trips with naturalist Arleen Westhoven (aka “Arloon”). You will love it.
You can hear a variety of loon calls on, of all places, a science blog by Michael Dupras from The Post-Standard in Syracuse (Audio: Hear the Calls of the Common Loon). You will love that too.
Sybil
April 8, 2012
Still trying to “see” the belt of Venus … Love the breeches … I’m gonna have to keep an eye out for them.
Your spring is a bit farther advanced than ours — I’m jealous.
Gerry
April 8, 2012
I hope you find lots of Dutchmen’s breeches in your woods. They are often near wild leeks, trout lilies, and trilliums. But not always. Always would be boring. You can always come down here for a dose of our spring. Keep in mind that it would not be unusual for that to include a snowstorm. If you come please bring a little package of butter tarts. I am fond of butter tarts.
Joss
April 9, 2012
I’ve said before that much is the same over your way. The flora, however, is very different, as is the bird life. I’ve never heard of Dutchmen’s breeches before and I think I’d remember if I’d seen them. Neither do we have loons. These are all things that can not be sent via a satellite or along a cable. Vive la difference!
Gerry
April 9, 2012
I like to be in a place that is “the same but different.” One where I understand enough of the place to keep from stumbling into disaster, yet one that reminds me, no matter where I look, that I am Not In Kansas Anymore. (It occurs to me that when I go to Kansas I will have to find a different metaphor.) I’m glad to share the Dutchmen’s breeches and the loons with you, and the sameness too.
tootlepedal
April 9, 2012
Well worth being up and about to get such fine pictures.
Gerry
April 9, 2012
Thank you. I can’t help but think that Certain People would have managed much finer pictures. It’s very nice to be down on the beach at dawn just as the birds are beginning to stir.
dmarks
April 9, 2012
Really nice photos.
Remember, always carry a camera. But even then, it might not help unless it is always ready. I saw a bald eagle on Saturday and it was gone by the time i got the camera out.
Gerry
April 9, 2012
Thank you. I do nearly always carry a camera now, although every now and then I decide to go naked into the world to look at it with my own eyes. I’m sorry you didn’t get a picture of the eagle, but I’m glad you saw it. They’re pretty wonderful creatures. There’s one that hunts along the bay in the late afternoon. One day I’m going to be down there with a camera and without the Duo. I’m going to lie on the sand and watch the eagle and get its picture.
Dawn
April 9, 2012
Lovely. So peaceful. Oh wait! I can’t be peaceful..I’m on my way to WORK! Love the gentle colors of these…love the flowers too…you remind me to go look for the trillium here. Hope the next two weeks are easier up there.
Gerry
April 9, 2012
Thank you . . . wait, wait – why can’t you carry a little peace with you as far as the door to The Office? This part of the morning is yours.
I’ll bet Katie finds a trillium.
WOL
April 10, 2012
I may poetry on that first picture. It just begs for some. If I post it, you’ll get the photocredit.
Gerry
April 10, 2012
Well that would be most interesting. I look forward to reading it.
Nye
April 10, 2012
I can’t believe I missed the full moon again, and I do love your version and its reflection in the water.
Gerry
April 10, 2012
Thank you. You can make plans now for the Super Perigee Moon on May 5. There’s a NASA video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OKD8dQ9dUk
Robin
April 12, 2012
Your images are very peaceful. I enjoyed them. I’ve never seen Dutchmen’s breeches before this past day or two, when they’ve appeared at some of my favorite blogs.
Gerry
April 12, 2012
The little rascals are popping up all over the Freshwater Nation. There is probably a perfectly good scientific name for them . . . OK, I just went and looked it up. Dicentra cucullaria.