Satellite picture of the Great Lakes

From a satellite the Great Lakes waters are easily seen from space.

These freshwater seas support an amazing array of life from the prehistoric looking sturgeon to recently planted fish such as Pacific salmon: chinook and coho.

Read more in The Dynamic Great Lakes available at Barnes and Noble as well as Amazon.com and many other online stores such as Schulerbooksand music.

Sports on the Great Lakes

Fishing from the pier in Grand Haven that marks the Grand River that flows into Lake Michigan is popular as is fishing from boats.  Charters take sports fishers out and often come back with a catch of coho and king salmon, Pacific salmon that were planted in the Great Lakes. Yesterday the governor caught a nice steelhead, a lake run rainbow trout, on a charter.  Sometimes football sized brown trout are caught.  The fish are biting now that cooler water has moved in.

Sailing, surf boarding, kite boarding, and paddle boarding are all popular sports on the Great Lakes.  Some like to fly kites or play volley ball on the beach and some just like to gaze.  Sunsets are spectacular.

Boating & Fishing on Lake Michigan

All  sorts of water sports make Grand Haven on Lake Michigan a lively place in the summer.  People love to stroll on the pier where the Grand River flows into Lake Michigan.  Fishing from the pier or from boats is popular as is sailing.

Read more about the Great Lakes and what lies under the water in my book, The Dynamic Great Lakes.
I will be at the Norton Shores, Michigan Barnes & Noble store on July 23 at 11 a.m. to chat about our wonderful Great Lakes and sign books.

Lake Superior's Agawa Paintings

Rock paintings found on Lake Superior's shore. I found this youtube video fascinating.
http://youtu.be/ShyHwMzEI_E

Beach Combing

Beach combing

1 goose, 5 crows, 2 gulls

2 dead perch, 1 dead carp, 1 dead salmon         

1 brown dog with yellow eyes.

1 blue heron with long toes

Walked miles in the sand.

I found a Waboba bobbing in the lake.

I found two long sticks to prop up

My big moonflowers.

Waves say hush, hush, hush.

Summer Storms: Summer's Horses

Summer's Horses

Rain and hail shake my window pane

Summer’s horses in a dead heat

Slam dunk torrents of rain.

Black horses thunder again and again

From dark storms spawned in the west

Rain and hail shake my window pane.

Whinnies, heavy hooves  beat--

And insane sums of rain

Summer’s horses in a dead heat.

Who could save us from the rain

And the cruel blasting hail?

Rain and hail shake my window pane.

If the weather man’s warning fail

Summer’s horses in a dead heat

Will destroy us with wind and hail.

Global warming envelopes the earth

Strange changes devastate life

Rain and hail shake my window pane

Summer’s horses in a dead heat.

--Barbara Spring

Summer is in full swing on the Great Lakes.  People are enjoying the sunshine, sandy beaches and fresh air.  To learn more about the freshwater seas, their fishes, their features and their ecology, The Dynamic Great Lakes is informative, yet easy to read.  Order from Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com or find it in your favorite bookstore.

watercolor by Barbara Spring

The Fourth of July at the Lake

The Fourth of July

A songbird ripples still air

In still water salmon and trout lie deep

A skateboard boy rolls

down the steep road.

Mourning doves flutter

To the nest they built

under my window.

I guess I’ll get up.

It’s the fourth of July.

                           --Barbara Spring