Around The Thumb -- Two

From Bay Port we headed up the shoreline to Caseville where it was the week after Caseville's big Cheeseburger festival. The streets were busy, but not as crowded as during festival time in early August. The steeple at Caseville United Methodist church, a distinctive landmark, stands tall and still guides small craft into the harbor. We didn't drive out to the beach along Saginaw Bay. It is a gem, with sandy shore and park facilities and a Dairy Queen close by.

Lots of parks, from two state parks to county parks with camping to roadside parks, are located along M-25 on the Saginaw Bay side. We pulled off at Jenks Park, a day use roadside park with wooded roads and a sandy beach. A stroll to the beach brought us within sight of Lake Huron's soothing waters.

It was late afternoon by the time we reached Port Austin at the top of the Thumb. Their famous Saturday Farmer's Market draws huge crowds on Saturday mornings. Restaurants and yet another harbor draw tourists and weekend visitors. Because Huron County is so far off the beaten path (we are a long way from an interstate!) we always like to say that people are not "just passing through," but have made a conscious decision to visit the county.

A layer of low clouds hung over the lake. You can see the scuddy clouds in this photo of the boardwalk at Bird Creek County Park, another great place to spend some time along Lake Huron. Temperatures along the shoreline are usually five to ten degrees lower than inland as the huge body of water has a cooling effect during the summer.

From Port Austin, M-25 crosses the top of the Thumb and actually runs east and west for a few miles. Then the road turns south and east along Lake Huron.

Next post: Grindstone and Pte. Aux Barques Lighthouse

Around the Thumb -- One

Sometimes you just have to do a little road trip. That's what Ed and I decided late in the morning one Saturday in August. It was too late to drive to Ontario to see the windfarms near Goderich, another trip that we like, so we decided to drive all of the Huron County shoreline.

We started out from our lake house in the early afternoon with the idea of having a late lunch at Lefty's Drive In in Bay Port. So we drove Atwater and Sebewaing Roads across the county to M-25 in Sebewaing where we turned south. Tummies growling, we headed toward Unionville and did a U turn. We had to make the full loop around the county, so we touched base at Huron Line Road, just north of Unionville which is in Tuscola County.

Sugar beet piling rig at the Michigan Sugar plant in Sebewaing

That turn put us back on the roads heading north through Sebewaing. We drove the back road (Liken Road) into Sebewaing and out of Sebewaing (Ridge to Weale) and then continued on up M-25 through Bay Port.

Our destination and first stop was Lefty's where I ordered a burger and onion rings, the best onion rings of the summer. Lefty's Drive In is on the curve heading north out of Bay Port on M-25. The buildings have a retro aqua paint job (same colors they have always had) so you can't miss this stop.

Tomorrow: Through Caseville, after the Cheesey Time

Yellow Light

For a few weeks in September, maybe two, maybe three, the dry bean fields will be ripening. The bean plants begin to yellow in stages. It doesn't happen by rows, or by some sort of north-south rules. Each plant seems to know when it is time to release the chlorophyll from its leaves and begin the ripening process.

As a result, the fields turn into smooth carpets of gold yellow and viridian green. Tones of luscious color twine across the landscape.

In the evening, these marbled fields dance with golden light as the low sunlight picks up the yellow and reflects it on the wind turbines and into the clouds. For only a few weeks, and only in the early morning and late evening, the earth is lit with yellow light.

Happenstance Grasshopper

By happenstance and in my effort to keep fresh daylilies on the dining room table, I brought a grasshopper into the kitchen today. Clinging to an unopened bud, this green guy was ready to explore.

Check out the ends of the legs, with a pincer type structure that must allow him to latch onto surfaces. He used his long antennae to check out a surface before he moved. One antenna, then another, would sweep over an area and check it out. Then he would move. He hopped to the top of the kitchen cupboards, so I went to the garage and got out a pond net that our grandchildren use to catch minnows and assorted critters.

He was easy to catch in the pond net, so I moved him to a clump of parsley, just outside the kitchen window. In a jump, he was gone.

Unlikely Bouquet

Somewhere, probably in a gardening magazine, I got the idea of using dill and fennel blossoms in bouquets. This is the first year that I have grown fennel. With a slightly greener yellow in the bloom, fennel seems stubbier and sturdier than dill. 

Both are classified as simple umbels, a botanical designation for a flower head that forms a dome or or disc shape, and that branches only once before producing flowers. 

This bouquet uses fennel and large marigolds together. The soft yellow lacy fennel contrasts with the dark green foliage and orange blossom of the marigold. It's an unlikely combination for a late summer bouquet. 

Evening Glow

Shortly after sunset, a mellow glow stained the eastern sky along the Lake Huron shoreline. The Harbor Beach Lighthouse stood white against the blue rim of the horizon.

A calm night and cool air brings thoughts of autumn as the first quarter moon rises high in the evening sky. I took this photo on my way down the shoreline after playing my best round of golf for the summer at Bird Creek in Port Austin. Great sky. Great score. Nice night.

Almost Last Daylily

Turning the calendar page to September usually spells the end of the daylily blossoms. Several clumps didn't get the "it's the end of the season" memo yet. With their big luscious colors and festive petals, they just keep putting out flower after flower. 

Even three inches of rain within the last four days has not deterred the final showy blossoms of the final daylilies of 2014.