Another helping

I know lately I've posted alot of pics that are similar to each other, but I do try to vary the content to prevent boredom.  But, lately that's just the way the pics have come in.  Tonight is another spider web shot taken in the early morning hours this last weekend.  I really like shooting these webs but its weird.  I'll go the longest time without seeing one(and I do look for them), and then, all of a sudden, I see them everywhere.  And I've shot alot of them that will never be seen by anyone.  There are tricks to shooting them properly that I'm learning as I go.

Rock on

It wasn't until I started going through all my pics from last weeks trip that I realized how many shots included rocks.  They do make a nice object to focus on in landscape photography and when buildings and people aren't present at the time, but, wow, I shot alot of rocks.  Tonight I'll post the remaining shots of rocks that I think might be worth it. I think the 3rd shot is close to being the one of the best shots I ever captured.  No more rocks for awhile.............We'll see.

5 star Restaurant to some

Not much to say about this except I'm sure the menu here gets pretty exciting at times.

I got a feeling.....

.....that summers coming to an end.  Nights have gotten cooler, one of the two beaches at the lake is closed for the season, and,........schools have opened.  Here's some shots of my young "scholars" on their first day back to school.

Can you see me now?

One of the best parts of being up north in the summer is the cool mornings that create fog over the open water.  Here's an example:

Go Fish

I wish these pics tonight would be of stringers of fish.  Unfortunately, the only thing we accomplished was to give free meals to the small fish populating this part of the lake.  Actually, that's not true.  On the way up I was telling my children all the fun stuff we could do while camping.  The number one thing he remembered me saying was that we could go fishing.  We got to the campground on Friday and within an hour he was asking to go fishing.  I said we would go later, after dinner.  Well, other things came up and we didn't get to go fishing that night.  The next morning, the same thing.  "Can we go fishing now?"  I said later, after dinner when the fish are hungry. The same question came up several more times during the day.  Finally, after dinner, I said "Let's go".  I didn't have to say it twice.  We went for a walk to several spots I fished when I was his age.  Alot of bites, but no fish pulled into shore.  It didn't really matter, though.  I know for me the big thing was walking with my 6 year old and talking about all the things that are on a 6 year old's mind, answering questions that really have no answers, appreciating the different environment that we were living in for the weekend.  Just two guys on an immaterial mission.  My son's take on it probably wasn't that reflective, but, I like to think its just one more building block to future talks, questions without any concrete answers, and appreciation for what we have in life.  And, even if he didn't get all that, I really enjoyed our fishing time together.

Fresh Air

Back from our 3 day camping trip to the Great Northwoods of Wisconsin.  Headed up Friday morning early with the 2 kids in my house that keep calling me daddy and met my folks at a campground we've camped at since we were little kids, about 6 hours north of home, Langlade County Veterans Memorial Park.  Great lake for swimming, camping, hiking, fishing, you name it.  We pitched our little 3 person tent next to my folks camper, threw an air mattress in it, and called it home for the next two nights.  Weather cooperated beautifully except for a few storms that came through early Friday evening.  If anything, it let me test the tent for waterproofness.  It passed. On the menu for Friday was fresh walleye and perch pan fried, (caught by others), cutup garlic potatoes over the fire, and sweet corn on the cob cooked over coals.  Saturday my sister and her family came over from Green Bay and spent the day.  Saturday night's menu called for homemade spaghetti from my mother(the best in the world), a big pan of Lasagna from my sister, and once again, sweet corn on the cob over coals.  Just because we were camping and "roughing" it, doesn't mean you shouldn't eat right.  Both nights included the biggest, most hugest, marshmallows I have ever seen, cooked over the fire.  Saturday night, my son and I did some fishing, but we mostly just ended up feeding all the baby fish in the lake our worms.  My son was happy about that.  The biggest deal of the trip was for my daughter who heard my stories about how you could swim in the lake at any time of the day.  You see, here at the beach, the lifeguards blow their whistles the first second the sun dips below the tree horizon line.  This means "Beach closed".  At this lake, there are no lifeguards and the beach is open 24/7.  My daughter was intrigued with my stories of swimming when it was pitch black out and how you could hear your voice a mile away due to the echo over the lake.  She could not fathom such a thing.  I don't care if that lake had frozen over between our arrival and Saturday night.  She was going swimming in the dark and she did.  My son did, too. Kinda.  After wading in up to his waist, the darkness of the sky and water made him think twice.  Oh yeah, a couple of bats grabbing mosquitoes did also.  Sunday was a big breakfast of sausage, eggs, and pancakes and then off to the beach one more day.  The kids and I rented a canoe for awhile and explored the lake.  A sunken rowboat was the highlight and of course led me into a story of all the people who died on that rowboat on that stormy night on the lake and how they now haunt the woods surrounding us.(Kids are great).  Soon enough, though, it was time to pack up and head south.  After a busy weekend of fun, I think everyone was ready to hit the road and get back to our house and see mommy.  I didn't do alot of shooting since we were usually at the beah or at the campsite and you can only shoot those areas so much and they aren't always that exciting.  I did manage to get some super early morning shots on Sunday.  Remember, the air mattress for two that was for all three of us?  Come around 4:30 a.m. Sunday I had enough of fighting for position so I got up and started snapping down at the  beach.  Got some nice shots and I will be posting some shots from the whole weekend in the upcoming days.  Here's one of the 4:30 a.m. shots: