I finally got a pretty good shot of a hummingbird in flight!
Ruby Throated Humminbird
7.25.6
Went over to the Torch River yesterday and took some pictures of the 1939 Gar Wood runabout. The most interesting picture is one I took at night of the boathouse from across the lagoon. I used the ‘painting with light’ technique to see what I could get.
7.18.6
Drove from Alden over to Cedar Lake at the base of the Leelenau Peninsula near Traverse City. It’s also right next to the West Bay. The drive was a good chance to visit some old memories.
I’ve found a 1939 Gar Wood speed boat to shoot— just completely restored! A really magnificent job. And it has a new boathouse to go with it right on the Torch River. Hoping for good light tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I’ve become obsessed with getting a close shot of a hummingbird in flight. There’s a hummingbird feeder that I’ve moved close to the door outside Jeff’s old trailer. I’ve set up a halo of strobe light for the birds to fly through on their way to the feeder. At first they were spooked by the big flash, but now they’ve gotten used to it.
I should be writing, but I’m watching the birds instead. This is the first time I’ve ever really done any bird watching.
7.6.6
The Hill Beautiful
When I was a kid, my parents bought an old farm near Eastport. The view was amazing: all the way down Torch Lake to the south; Old Mission Point was plainly visible in the S.W.; to the NW was Grand Traverse Point jutting from Leelenau. To the east lay miles of visible farm land. On the 4th of July, we’d sit on the front porch of the old house (it burned down in 1958) and watch the fireworks across the Bay in Northport. Though only 3 & 4, I remember it well.
About a mile away, just over the hill to the north, was my great Uncle Henry and Aunt Mable’s farm. Mable was my Grandmother’s (Mom’s Mom’s) older sister. A few miles away, my mother’s sister and her husband (Nels Nelson) had a dairy farm near Ellsworth. A few miles the other way by Central Lake, my mother’s youngest sister’s husband grew up on a farm that was still in their family. Everyday we kids were loaded and station wagoned to one of the local swimming holes or over to the county park on the Bay. Everyone had big gardens. Harvest time meant big family work parties that turned into feasts usually followed by a campfire, song, and hand turning homemade ice cream compliments of Uncle Nels’ dairy cows.
Originally, the plan was for my father to transfer in the phone company to Traverse City, but that never happened. After the old house burned and a new one was started, my parents sold the place to my Grandmother and her husband, Sid Grassmid. Grandpa Sid was an old carpenter. Not only did he finish the house, but he built the new church in Atwood (even though he liked the old one better). The wind blew constantly up on the hill and finally the winters were too much. Grandpa Sid built a new little house down in Central Lake, and the farm which he had called *The Hill Beautiful* in Dutch, passed from the family.
Grandpa Sid didn’t live long in the new Central Lake house. Shortly after moving there he had a stroke and died. A couple years later, Grandma had also had a stroke, but she didn’t die. Grandma spent her last 15 years in a nice nursing home in Bellaire. The folks that bought the farm tore down our work and built a new structure that didn’t have any windows toward the view! Cherry trees were planted on the Torch Lake side and big pines were planted on the Bay side. I stopped there 4 years ago and the view is completely gone— blocked in every direction; I just can’t fathom it… I guess they had to do everything they could to block the view.
My grandparents are buried in a little cemetery overlooking the east side of Torch Lake, about 2 miles from the Hill Beautiful. I was there yesterday. Grandma’s been gone 20 years. Is it OK to still miss them?
Today Joe and Jeff Porter and I went up to Eastport to an orchard on a hill from where our old farm could be seen off in the west. We picked $100 worth of Cherries at $1.25/lb. I ate cherries like it was the first time I ever had food! I can’t remember if anything else ever tasted so good. The rest of the cherries are going to be canned, dried, pickled, pied— anything you can think of doing with cherries. It will be a work party among friends.
Joe is headed south tomorrow (Fri) and plans to come back up before my birthday. He wants me to stick around here and watch his toys ’til he gets back, then do some more adventuring with him. Joe has taken up shuffleboard. Yesterday, he announced that he was no longer going to let me beat him. I winked and told him when that happens, I’ll start throwing right-handed!
The stars are big in the sky tonight. The moon is half full and both Mars and Jupiter look to be hovering. A rumbling from across the lake reminds me that folks are still enjoying private fireworks and the smell of a distant campfire carries in the light air. Sorry you aren’t able to share in it…