Stripped Away

There are few leaves left on the trees here in Petoskey. A stiff northern wind has made sure of that. For many, it is a depressing time of the year. The colors are gone and the snow has yet to brighten the landscape. And I have to admit that I end up spending more time indoors than is typical — a good time to catch up on my blog.
But I do relish a weather challenge and Sunday afternoon was perfect — rain, hail, thunder, lightening, and occasionally the sun broke through. I headed just a mile down the road to a nature conservancy. Deep into the woods, the trail became a boardwalk as it crossed soft ground near a stream. Plastered to the walk were leaves in various patterns. Most folks would overlook them but I enjoyed the intensity of the wet, earthy, colors and the simplicity of their interaction on the easel of the boardwalk. As I worked on my images Sunday evening I was reminded of a story my pastor had used the previous Sunday. He talked about the experiences of a family in German occupied Netherlands in WW2. Their incredible story was made known through a book written by Corrie ten Boom called The Hiding Place. Corrie and most of her family ended up spending time in German concentration camps for being part of the underground and hiding Jews in their home. Four of the ten Booms died in the camps but Corrie survived. As you can imagine her return home at the war's end was bittersweet — very happy to be home but missing her family. One would think that on looking back at her time in the camps Corrie would have nothing but feelings of horror and despair but that was not the case. There was a part of her experience in the camps that she actually missed. In the camps, life was minimal — barely enough of the essentials to survive. But in that place where life was stripped down to almost nothing, there was a moment by moment reliance on God. The spiritual life in the camp was very strong.
So now, when I see a bare tree and a few decaying leaves on the ground I think of what is really important in life — certainly not my things — not even my camera or computer :) — it's my walk with my Savior and my God.

Alligator Hill

I was able to stop at Sleeping Bear on my way back from downstate on Saturday. It was your typical change-in-seasons day in Michigan — a driving rain one minute — a burst of sunshine the next. I headed down the road to my automatic first stop on any Sleeping Bear visit — Sleeping Bear Point, but halfway there I did an about face and decided that I'd take the stroll up Alligator Hill — something I hadn't done in several years. As I pulled in the trailhead parking lot the clouds parted and I couldn't get on my hike fast enough.
Autumn seems to be the hardest time of year for me to photograph. It's like there is so much going on that it's hard to distill my thoughts about what I'm experiencing. I took lots of pics on my hike but the couple I chose to display here are the most successful at capturing the day.

Hunting Camp

I got lost in the woods and I must have ended up on someone's private property so forgive me, whoever you are, if this is your special place in the woods, but I couldn't resist taking some pics of this metalic beauty in this natural setting. I didn't disturb anything — I promise.

Autumn Light

Autumn colors are near their peak here in Northern Michigan. Maybe I find the display overwhelming so I avoid the woods. But I also think that there is a special light to Autumn that gets lost, and that light takes center stage where the colors are less intense. So I'm at the beach again. I guess I'll come up with any excuse to walk the beach.