Sunsets on Lake Michigan are always very beautiful.
Our winter is a bit strange, it’s cold, but as you see no snow yet.
I hope you are all having a good week.
Photography: The perfect sunset…
Tag Lake Michigan
Exercise… Chicago – 30°F, gotta walk and surfers have to surf!
This morning, I was determined to get my walk done. I knew it was cold outside. I opened the door to see “how cold” it really was. About 30 degrees Fahrenheit, for sure, I needed a hat.
Walking at 7:15 AM, my hands were cold. Note to self, gloves not working. Scarf, hat, leggings – all good, but need to prepare for colder temps. Quite a few people walking or running, so I was not alone. Motivation for the next few days.
Imagine my surprise when I saw surfers out on Lake Michigan. I would have LOVED to ask them how they felt when they came out. How warm do wet suits keep them, but it was TOO COLD to wait around. Next time, I will ask.
I did get lovely photographs of the icicles — AMAZING!
Proud of myself, got my walk in. Got to walk rain, snow or shine, right! Otherwise, with COVID we will gain more than the estimated 15 lbs. Don’t want that!
I hope to go sledding this year. Stay tuned for that. I’d be happy if snow didn’t come until February. These temperatures are just right for walking — not tooooo cold.
Happy Exercising Everyone! (I hope I guilted you into walking today…)
Photography: Two photos, 5 minutes apart…
I went walking this morning.
On the left, I had this beautiful view of Lake Michigan. It was so bright and cheerful that I thought I’ll go closer to the Lake, get an even better photo.
Imagine my surprise when second photo on right, within 5 minutes of clouds coming in, looked much darker. Still beautiful, but different.
As photographers know, timing is everything.
Oh… with this BLOCK editor, the photos are side by side. To see each one more clearly, you have to click on those arrows in the middle of photo and slide to left and right.
YES, this post is interactive.
Have a wonderful Friday!
Chicago dreaming…
Time to visit Chicago. Look how beautiful the view is. We’ve had a mild winter (knock on wood); however, that is about to change. Temperatures have dropped and tomorrow we are supposed to have snow.
When I see this view I think Harry Potter is going to be flying by soon.
A perfect view to spark a writer’s creative thoughts!
Imagine in July when the Blue Angels are flying by. It’s spectacular!
Can you tell I am getting ready for Spring?
Summer – A Yacht on Lake Michigan?
Yesterday I was walking and looking at all the boats on Lake Michigan.
Then I saw this BIG one.
What do you think…
Yacht or tourist boat?
Chicago to Mackinac Island – Sailboat race starts tomorrow…
The race from Chicago to Mackinac Island starts tomorrow (Saturday, July 21, 2018). If you are in the area, head down to Navy Pier. It’s exciting and beautiful to see all the boats lining up to take off. They have different sized boats, so they leave at different times to make the race fair.
The reason this is exciting is because this is the oldest freshwater race in the world, it started in 1898. If you enjoy sailing, you might like to see this online tracking of the race. If you click on the “online tracking link,” you can see a picture of Lake Michigan with a line showing you how they will sail from Chicago to Mackinac Island. They sail nonstop, so they use spotlights at night. I believe there are about 340 boats and approximately 3,000 sailors.
Weather forecast not looking so good, rain and high winds.
So, you see, Chicago is known for a little bit more than just “Al Capone / gangsters.” Ah, I’m kidding, but did you know that Walt Disney was born in Chicago, 1901, and grew up here? He studied drawing at the Institute of Fine Arts. I leave you with Frank Sinatra’s song, “My Kind of Town (Chicago is)!” AND The Blues Brothers with “Sweet Home Chicago.”
Let the race begin!
Are there any sharks? Boating in Wilmington, NC.
I grew up swimming in Lake Michigan. Swimming in a Lake is carefree. You might run into some minnows, or step on a big brick – YES, there are bricks at the bottom of the Lake, but you would never run into a shark.
So, when I get to an ocean, my first instinct is to dive right in UNTIL a warning sound goes off in my brain that says, “WAIT, are there any sharks?” That’s what happened on my trip to Wilmington, North Carlolina. I soon overcame any fears as my friend jumped in without hesitation and started bobbing up and down in the waves looking like a fish. I followed.
As I was diving into the water, I was reminded of a time I was diving into the Lake with my brother. We had found a red brick at the bottom of the Lake in the sand bar area. My brother had picked it up and brought it to the service, PROUD of what he had found. We decided to play a game. We would throw the brick in the water and BOTH of us would dive in the water after the brick. Whoever got to the brick FIRST would be the one to throw it in again.
Well, this game was working out well until my brother, being extremely fast, dove in just in time for the brick to come crashing on his head. Luckily, this was not a bolder, but still, he came up out of the water with blood on his forehead. We immediately went out of the water. My mother was horrified and off to the emergency room we went for him to get stitches. So ended our fun brick game.
We also did a lot of boating on Lake Michigan, but I was not prepared for the boating they do in Wilmington. Wow – we went out on Saturday and there were boats everywhere. It’s “the” thing to do on the weekend. I felt like we were on a busy water freeway. The boats were very orderly, just like on a normal road, staying in their lane. Of course, there are always the “hot rods” even on the water.
There were the party looking boats with a lot of young people. They were doing water skiing and water tubing. There was a little island with a palm tree. As the day went on and the water started rising it covered the little island. We drove by a red Tow Boat, and later in the day hurried to dock the boat as we could see a storm coming in.
There have been a lot of thunder storms this summer. That day we could see the dark clouds coming in over the Atlantic Ocean. The lightning looked like fireworks in the sky, similar to this photo. Every few minutes behind the clouds we would see a flash of pink and silver. The thunder was incredible, so loud too. When I lived in California we had rain storms, but no thunder or lightening.
If you haven’t been boating or swimming in a while, it’s great fun, GO DO IT! Be careful of those BIG waves though, they can knock you out… seriously, they can.
When a thunder storm comes…
When I was a child growing up, we lived for the beach. We especially enjoyed thunder storms, which came without much warning. Suddenly the sky would become dark, the thunder, lightening and wind would start howling. We were on read alert for tornadoes.
As you can see in the first photo, the storm was coming in strong the other day. After watching the movie, “The Wizard of Oz,” I think we all kept looking for that tornado that might come over Lake Michigan, but we never saw one. However, we did stay glued to the window watching and listening to the thunder/lightening. When we were children, my Italian mother would say that Zeus was upset at mortals and was throwing lightening bolts from heaven. She loved Greek Mythology.
I thought it was amazing that the Lake could look so different after ONLY two hours. When the storm passed, the Lake became this beautiful blue color with the fantastic sunset.
And FINALLY, a little hazy, the view of the Chicago skyline.
If you have an interesting storm photo, would love to see it!
Brilliant Viewpoint 