Rick's brother has a condo over in Muskegon, a stone's throw from Lake Michigan. Yes, last week, Lake Huron. This week, Lake Michigan. Maybe I'll get to all five this summer! Much of the time Rick and two of his brothers spent down at the water, getting brother Tim's boat ready for a sail north with other brother Dan. So Tim's wife Kim and I took a walk on the beach.
I am a sucker for lighthouses, so to see three simply by turning my head was fun. There was this one...
...and this one...
...and the one we got to see up close and personal.
You can't go inside but it was a magnificently tall structure.
I loved seeing the gull perched on top.
Have I mentioned I love my zoom?
I think Kim may have been bemused at my fascination with taking tight shots of the graffiti on the lighthouse.
But don't you think they'd make good collage paper backgrounds?
Feel free to click, enlarge and save if you are so inclined! (And there's more where that came from!)
I found the color, texture, rust and shapes of this lighthouse to be visually intriguing! I couldn't resist overshooting.
Or shooting this magnificent sailboat coming in.
There was a sand soccer tourney going on with kids from across the state. I'd never heard of sand soccer before but running in that soft sand strikes me as being difficult!
Back at the condo, I couldn't help but admire Kim's hydrangeas! They were dazzling.
Two of Tim's kids and three grands joined us for dinner. I learned a new card game which I have unfortunately forgotten the name of and details to! But then lots of family pics.
Rick and I left the next morning and that night was his birthday. We dined out with friends and then returned to their house for cake. I made Ina Garten's sheet cake and I messed it up royally. It's a white cake but Rick likes chocolate so I subbed a half cup cocoa for a half cup flour and it ended up being very dry. (Her frosting didn't work, either and that wasn't my fault!) Disappointing because Ina's recipes usually do.
Then back home for presents!
In any language, a red letter day!
45 comments:
Your lighthouse photos are fabulous!
best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Great photos, as always. Over the next few years, I want to really visit parts of Michigan I haven't been to and see as many lighthouses as possible.
Love that first lighthouse! And you're right, the texture is wonderful as a backdrop.
what a great time you had!!!
My favourite of course is the American Herring Gull.
Love these views, Jeanie. Is that Jonathan Livingston Seagull? ;-)
Three lighthouses and a birthday. What a treat!
You certainly had a fantastic trip, thanks for sharing the wonderful photos. I love those grungy ones and will gladly save them, thanks a lot. Hugs, Valerie
There isn´t much better than lighthouses and especially seagulls!
Freedom, summer, ahhhh, the life!
Looking forward to what you do with the graffiti shots!
And... there is no overshooting! :-)
A belated happy birthday from here! It´s not the actual cake that counts (though I understand your disappointment).
But what is a a red letter day?
You do get around. I've been to Muskegon many times but my favorite place on that lake is Saugatuck. But any day that includes lighthouses and cake is a wonderful day.
Would you believe I have a close up photograph in my bathroom of a panel on rusty gas pump that is very much like your red photos above. Your photographer's eye is very similar to what my husband had.
I have always loved lighthouses. A great idea to use the photos as background paper. They are perfect for that.
I couldn't help but notice that the sailors coming in off of the lake were bundled up in wet gear. I have sailed on Lake Ontario many times and it is probably still cold out there, not to mention the cold spray. It felt like home.
A great post, Jeanie and happy birthday to Rick. He looks too young to have nine candles on his cake. (I'm counting one per decade. I don't think he is 9-years-old.)
This is certainly turning into a summer to remember. Beautiful shots from your camera. I wish I made digital art. Those are incredible shots from the lighthouse and would make fabulous backgrounds.
Marvelous lighthouses!
What a wonderful time you have been having, Jeanie! I love that you have such sweet family memories.
Those light houses are amazing, aren't they? They have always fascinated me, too. Great pic of you in front of the red one and the graffiti pictures are wonderful! xo Diana
I drove across Michigan to Muskegon years ago. Interesting post - I like all the details you photographed.
I've only seen Lake Michigan from Chicago so I must say it is really beautiful once you get away from the city. Those lighthouses are great. And those peely paint photos, be still my heart Jeanie. You took some amazing photos, and it looks like Rick had a nice and very happy birthday. It looks like you are having a fabulous summer so far. Hugs-Erika
Oh I want to go somewhere where there is a lighthouse. Was asking a friend in NJ if they had any around him since I am hoping to get there in the fall....have not heard back yet. LOVE the pics. Looks like you had a blast!
That looks like a very special day, indeed.
Lighthouses have such an old fashioned mystique about them. We saw a beautiful old lighthouse when we were in California. The history was so interesting.
Great photos!
Great photos of lighthouses I see up close and personal . . . often.
Loved the graffiti collage art piece! Nice . . .
Hope Rick enjoyed his birthday, dried cake and all!
Like your idea/goal . . . all five of the lakes . . . two down already . . .
Happy birthday Rick!! the cake looks great! I love all your lighthouse pictures, and yes, I do like to look at/photograph old paint, flaking chipping paint on walls, shutters, etc.--so I really like these pictures. Looks like y'all had a fun time and sounds like a fun card game. I love the zoom shot you got way up on top of the lighthouse! I often mess those up, ha ha LOL Hope you have a great weekend my friend!
Happy belated birthday to Rick! I love all the lighthouses, very pretty collection. Your art work is pretty. Love the hydrangeas, lovely blooms. Gulls always pose so nicely. It would be neat to visit all the lakes. Great post and photos. Enjoy your day and weekend!
Magnifique mon amie!
I love the painting..did you do it? Charming! And I see many more paintings in your future w/ this series:):):)Happy Bday to your dear Rick!
You're so good at the "artsy" photograph! That looks like a fun gathering. Shame about the cake, but it likely wasn't as bad as you, the cook, thought it was! I can't quite tell what the smarties spell out on the top. A big Happy Birthday to Rick! -Jenn
Totally cool. I will ask Acerules to make you something with two of your lighthouse pics I snaffled.
Jeanie, summer suits you so well - you look radiant in that photo in front of the lighthouse! Great shots, love your zoom lens in action. Happy Birthday to Rick!
Lots going on. Belated Happy BDay to Rick.
Loved the lighthouse pictures. Nice one of you by the way.
Glad you enjoyed;)
I love all that red chippy goodness on the lighthouse. It is a lake kind of summer for you!
Lovely photos Jeanie. You look like you are thoroughly enjoying the summer. Good for you. Happy belated birthday to Rick. I'm sure he appreciated your cake baking efforsts :-)
I love your pictures of the lake and the lighthouses. I've never been to any of the Great Lakes, and didn't realize they had lighthouses. That's interesting.
The hydrangeas are gorgeous! I love the pink. We have white ones, but I want to add some more colorful ones too.
The cake looked nice at least. Isn't it disappointing when you try a new recipe and it just flops? I don't like chocolate, so I can't personally vouch for it, but I always make the Hershey's chocolate cake from the recipe on the Hershey's tin, and everyone seems to love it. The recipe has boiling water, which fascinates me for some reason, so I enjoy making it. Anyway, that might be worth trying next time you need a chocolate cake.
Happy belated birthday to Rick!
Your photos are beautiful!! Looks like you've been having an amazing summer! Hope you're having a great weekend as well. 😊
xo, Sarah
Hustla, baby.
The lighthouses are wonderful and I also love the detail pictures. They would make great collage backgrounds indeed. What a shame that the cake didn't turn out as expected but it looks like Rick had a great birthday nevertheless.
Busy, but fun by the sound of it!
Happy birthday to Rick.
Jeanie, I love all three of the lighthouses, and can never take enough photos of them. Happy belated birthday to Rick. You both pack a lot of fun into your lives. Happy Sunday!
fabulous photos Jeanie! When I first saw the graffiti shots, before I read the post, I thought they were modern art canvases!! Very cool!
Jenna
Perfect shot of the seagull...my favorite bird.
What a fun week - so much family! Our family is SO small, it's like a joke. I have a few cousins somewhere (well, I know where they are LOL but I haven't seen them in - 40-50 years), a mother, a sister, and a spouse. That's it. No other blood relations living and no in-laws. Sigh. Only one inheritance to go for the rest of my life :P.
Great photographs - love your gull close-up - my camera would never get that clear a shot.
Your birthday cake story reminds me of why I thank goodness our city has several good French bakeries.
I agree that peeling paint buildings with graffiti make wonderful collage backgrounds! I spend so much time making canvases or pieces of paper look like substrates that people would scrape clean in real life. LOL
Thanks for sharing your week - I had a very quiet one - working on an art 'swap' which I somehow, in a moment of weakness, said okay to participate in...making 31 Hallowe'en ATC's. 31 Facebook artists got asked to participate and I thought it sounded like fun ... until I actually got started making 31 of the same thing. I never was one for factory assembly line work.
Have a great week!
A Happy belated birthday to Rick.
I love hydrangeas and those are gorgeous. Lighthouses are so romantic. My niece has several pictures in her house. She loves them. Maryland maintained their lighthouses. Virginia allowed theirs to rot. Only the concrete bases remain. It's shameful!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RICK!!!
That was me! Up there!
The post title, Here, There, and Everywhere, made me smile because that was the song Phil and I danced to for our first dance at our wedding! Now I'm singing it in my head. :)
Those lighthouses are beautiful! There is something so eerily beautiful for lighthouses. I'm a sucker for them as well.
Bummer about the cake not turning out as well as you'd hoped! I hate when that happens! That's how much of my GF baking turned out before I started to exclusively use the America's Test Kitchen GF cookbook. It's so disappointing to put work into them and then feel 'meh' about how it tastes!
I adore lighthouses too. What fun that red metal would be for a photoshop layer. And celebrations are always so important to mark special steps in a persons life. Love the pink hydrangeas too.
What a fun and busy week you had! I adore visiting lighthouses, Jeanie, so I really enjoyed seeing the ones on Lake Michigan. Happy birthday to Rick! Sometimes a scoop of ice cream can rescue a dry cake--hope you thought of that!
I love lighthouses, too! Your pictures are beautiful! Thanks for sharing :)
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