Soon.....soon, please soon........

As the snow is falling yet again.....




I think ahead to what it was like last Spring. First off here is a map.......it shows Traverse City, where I live, between the two Bays in Grand Traverse Bay on Lake Michigan. The red trail is showing Leelanau County.

The area around Traverse City, in Leelanau County is where we go the most. Although there is not a wrong direction to take when looking for beauty. It abounds. For today though I will show Springtime around the Leelanau Peninsula.
Its supposed to be Spring this week. Actually my wedding anniversary is the first day of Spring. From what it looks like out there today, I am not hopeful. So a few pictures from a local web site that has photographers who take wonderful pictures. Glen Arbor web site you can find on Facebook...........

Wild flowers on the Dunes....above are so pretty but the Trillium is my favourite and is found in the woods.

Walking in the woods is one of the first things we do. Its calming, its fresh and no hunters to be concerned about. The wildflowers are beautiful. Pink or yellow Lady slippers, granny bonnets, violets, Dutch Mans Britches, Iris. So many lovely flowers. The woods full of bird song and deer. If I am lucky I see a fawn nestled in the grass waiting for mum to come back. Never touch these little ones, they are not abandoned and have no scent for predators to catch.....leave them be she is watching you.




The Dunes and Bluffs are beautiful and to walk there before the summer tourists arrive is the best. Solitude. Its quiet and you seldom see anyone. That's what I enjoy. I don't care if there is still a bite in the air, if we are lucky it may be warm at least. After the woodlands the beaches are my favourite places. We don't go often once the summer people come but even so, its possible then to find our secret places and enjoy them still.


The ghost forest up on the sleeping bear, shows how the drifting sands have taken out woodlands before and will again as it shifts and moves.



The arts and craft fairs begin as soon as Memorial day is over with, that's the official start to summer (May) so a way off yet but I sure look forwards to that as well.


Old logging trails and railroad beds scar the woodlands and make some great paths to walk on through the forest. We have Black Bear and they say Cougar and Wolf live here too these days. Rare... but they are here now. They are smart and stay away from tourists too. We have to take care though in the less traveled seasons. Common sense must rule, a mum with cubs........back off slowly and don't run. She doesn't want to hurt you and the big ol' pussy cat you wont even see. This lady was in our neighborhood before being escorted some 50 miles off to a nice home in the forest.

You may see deer though and you could see raccoon's, possum and skunks. Heck we see those in our back yard often enough. Not to worry, its their home as well as ours. So be careful and enjoy and let them live in peace.
This next picture is a pond at the bottom of the Dune climb we look for Heron there. The sand is not as high as it was when we first saw it in the 1970s when they still had sand buggies drive up there and across to lake Michigan. They stopped that back then and just in time. This is all National Park land now. The farms have been bought up and fixed up.


Wont be long till its Mushroom hunting season, then the woods are full of a different kind of hunter...........people do not share their secret places either.

One day I will do a post on the history of this area........but not today. I will leave this instead with Blossom Time taken from the Old Mission Peninsula in Traverse City


I am sharing this with


and also with Create with Joy Inspire me Monday......with thanks to those who share their time with us by doing these parties.