A Winter Saturday............

I had wanted to get the basement bedrooms painted this weekend but it was such a nice day on Saturday. Gabby has found her own place and moved out, so now its just me and he........lots to do before Winter sets in for good. We had so much snow after so much rain that we just had to make the most of the sun. I am sure Gerry thought it the better of two choices haha. So off we went, still snow to make it pretty but clear roads. Suttons Bay first to avoid back roads just in case.



Those Pine trees that are yellow, well they are not really "Pine" trees, although the same family they lose their needles. When I first came here I thought so many pines were dying and had never heard of pines shedding like that. Well come to find out they are Tamaracks and as far as I know I had never seen them in England. Anyway, they are so pretty and I am happy to know they will live on next year.
We stopped in Lake Leelanau for Coffee and goodies at the Peddling Bean. We got chocolate muffins and a couple of Almond Pastries for later. White chocolate Mocha is now Gerry's favourite and we almost always stop for one. On to Leland. Fishtown has not quite sunk yet and everything much calmer. A couple there fishing and catching Coho Salmon.





It's still in danger though and so iconic that we just can't lose it. I went down to the beach but could not get down, the snow and the sand banks made a drop that with my knees and my eye sight I was not willing to negotiate. It was very tempting because the water was so calm and so many stones I now wish I had tried. I could have sat and dropped down but getting back up........well I just decided not to.




We continued on to Port Oneida but couldn't stop at the boardwalk at Narada Lake there was nowhere to pull over and so we just carried on. We had to stop for a Possum crossing the road, a very fat possum. He looked like Bodi our poodle and I wish I could have got a good picture. We had the girls in for hair cuts and apparently Bodi's tail was matted because it was shaved so even more like the Possum. It stopped and was thinking of climbing a tree, so peeped around to see if we were still there, we just laughed because his face looked even more like Bodi than his butt did. He took off into the woods.


On to Port Oneida, amazing how many leaves still on the trees.The Beavers apparently still at work.





Not much to see, I did go down the steps to the beach but again could not negotiate the drop down from the bottom step so not good shots there.



Before we got there I forgot to say we took a side trip to Shalda Creek, I knew it would be lovely. We daren't walk in the woods, lots of hunters out parked along the roads.









All this time and the only thing we saw was the Possum. So next we stopped at Glen Haven just to look and saw two deer. Woo Hoo, its hunting season so they are smart enough to know where it's safe. They were not hanging around and I didn't get a picture but we just knew maybe in Empire we might be lucky so headed that way. This lady was in someones garden

We know where to look and were rewarded with some pretty pictures. I eventually got out of the car to get better shots. Three deer were heading out and walked so close to me, it was lovely. The lead lady stamped her foot a couple of times before deciding I was harmless. I was actually trying to get a good picture of a hawk sitting in a tree when the deer came up from the stream.





I live for the wildlife moments. I want to see a bear so much and there have been so many sightings around the area. In fact the next day someone posted pictures of two bears right where we had been on Saturday. Missed them. Dang. Some day maybe. I will keep trying and Gerry has explicit orders to get pictures should I get chased and don't let them blame the bear............I am joking but....well.....sigh. I want to see a bear.