Kite Boards on a Windy Day

On this last day of September the kite boarders are are making the most of the beautiful windy day on Lake Michigan. I took this photo in Grand Haven above the city beach. I don't know who won the contest, but I enjoyed the beauty of the event.

Sturgeon in the Great Lakes

Excerpt from The Dynamic Great Lakes "The largest and most primitive fish in the Great Lakes is the Sturgeon. Cruising along on bottoms of the lakes, they remind us of dinosaurs that roamed planet Earth in earlier epochs. Their huge bodies are supported by cartilage as well as bone. They can weigh up to 300 pounds, and like some dinosaurs, they have rows of plates along their heads and bodies to protect them. When all of the lakes and their tributary rivers were cleaner than they are now, and when there were no dams to block their way, these great fish would spawn by running up rivers. In Lake Superior, they still run up the Sturgeon River in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to spawn and may be seen surfacing like submarines, sticking their snouts above the water in pools below waterfalls. The Sturgeon has been living in the Great Lakes ever since the last glaciers retreated and fish entered the lakes through crystal clear tributary streams. Sturgeon’s eggs (roe) are a delicacy known as caviar when processed for human food. In 1974 the Sturgeon was included on a list of threatened species. These ancient fish cruise the lake bottom feeding upon crayfish, insect larvae, clams and bottom plants. This is their ecological niche where they use their long shovel shaped snout with a sucker-like mouth underneath to feed. Two whisker-like barbels near their mouths help them to feel their way along the bottom. The Sturgeon is slow to mature; it may not spawn until it is 14 to 22 years old."

Kiteboards on Lake Michigan Sept. 22

It's a windy autumn afternoon and the kiteboards on Lake Michigan are making the most of it. Read about the Great Lakes in my book, The Dynamic Great Lakes, a critically acclaimed non-fiction book about all five Great Lakes and their connecting waters.

Rainbow Over Lake Michigan

I snapped this photo this a.m. There was rain and then the sun popped out and this glorious rainbow appeared over Lake Michigan. Unforgettable.

On the Door Peninsula

Ancient saltwater seas once covered what are now sweetwater lakes. The saltwater seas deposited limestone in layers. In the photo you can see how the limestone was formed over time in layer after layer. I took this photo on the Door Peninsula of Wisconsin. It juts out into Lake Michigan in such a way that sailors called it Death's Door due to hazardous conditions. Now it is simply called the Door Peninsula.

Read more about the Great Lakes in my book, The Dynamic Great Lakes
with information about how these lakes were formed and what lies around and under the water.

The book is widely available on the www and in bookstores.

Marram Grass


Roots of marram grass weave fine
webs under the sands as
a network expands
thousands of feet.
Stalks bow down to west winds
and multiply season after season
until the tasseled dune
waves with green grace.
Each year the dunes grow higher
in tasseled grasses
in marram grasses’
loving embrace.
--Barbara Spring
Excerpted from Sophia's Lost and Found: Poems of Above and Below