Sail Away

It's time to sail back to the boat club and then return to Detroit for a day before flying home tomorrow evening. The rain started in the wee hours of the morning but thankfully slowed down and then stopped about the time we set sail. The sun was still hidden behind the clouds for the entire "3 hour tour" today but at least the rain stayed away for our journey. I love looking up at the lines on the boat and the wind in the sails while sailing. The colors are muted due to the weather, but it's still a beautiful view.

Heron

On Mackinac Island, you'll see a lot of horses and seagulls and of course, other wildlife. Last night, we saw a night heron but were unable to get any pictures as it was very nearly pitch black. Today, on the tour of the island, I have seen a caterpillar, otters and this heron. He was down through some brush along the water's edge and standing still until I came close to see both him and the three otters that were playing nearby.

A spider's life for me

A marina is full of spiders, they weave their webs like magic on all kinds of boats each night.  Every morning, the spiders have beautiful new webs and unless you want to share your boat with them, you have to throw them overboard and they sometimes become fish food. They win the war however, as you can not possibly find them all and the next morning, some will be back. The spider's life on a boat can't be beat though, spinning webs over night, catching large amounts of small bugs blown around in the wind and the beautiful views. This spider had the view from the back of the boat, beautiful, isn't it?

Boat Dog

Nori is a labrador retriever, known for their swimming abilities. She is above and beyond the "average" dog, as she spends weekends on a sailboat and swimming and rock hunting in Lake Huron. She also has a swimming pool at home for when she can't be at the lake :)
We headed straight from the airport up to the boat today and after getting unpacked, we took Nori out for a swim. The water is so clear and the sun shining, a perfect day to play in the lake, and she posed so nicely for a picture!

Good Morning

I went out this morning and found this spider had created a strange sort of web across the front yard. It stretched from the tree to the truck and then had circles formed in the top half but the spider  was hanging from what would be the center and was the very bottom part of his web. It was definitely an incomplete web, however, as you can see, it seemed to work just fine as he caught himself a June Bug. Of course, then it was time to move the car and thus the web was going to collapse, so the June Bug may have gotten a reprieve. Then I went out back and saw this grasshopper moving across the yard. I got in close and you could see the dew on his back. It was a fun morning here at the house for bugs.

More bugs...

Again this afternoon it looked like a storm was coming through, the clouds came over and there was some distant thunder but we didn't get any rain. It made for some cooler weather and I went outside to take advantage of it and got this shot.  I have an abundance of this guy around my garden. I have taken several pictures of them but they move so quickly from flower to flower that it is hard to get a clear and balanced photo. I got lucky today with this one. He was hanging from the flower instead of nestled into the bush and his wings are nicely posed.

Summer Storm

The sky this evening was beautiful, shades of oranges and pinks and thunder clouds coming in without being too dark. The colors were more vivid in real life but you can see slight shades of color and the depth of the clouds in the photo. This is the precursor to a storm but one of the prettiest incoming storms I've seen. It was another hot summer day, so we could use a cooling storm and a bit of rain.