lake effect

It is difficult to make a daily update during this time of year. We made a crazy rock-star type tour to visit all of our families this Christmas. We were at each of their homes barely for 24 hours. It was great to see everyone even though it seemed as if we left as soon as we arrived. I was sick and was less than 100 percent, regardless my family was happy, I was happy, and it was the best Christmas I have had in years. This was created at sunset on Christmas Day in southern Wisconsin many miles away from Lake Superior and the northwoods. I was drawn to this tree. It caught my eye for many reasons. It is a hardwood. It is all alone. It is in a field. It is not a part of a forest. It has a vast rugged shape. This tree is a silent everlasting connection between where the sky touches the earth. I am glad that we were able to be with our families this holiday season.

There is an area of Lighthouse Point in Two Harbors where some people decided it was acceptable to tear around as fast as they can on their snowmobiles despite the signs that say no unauthorized motor vehicles in park. The area is all turned over and compacted from the snowmobiles. The sounds of the lake meeting the land in this normally tranquil area are interrupted by the piercing sounds of revving high performance two-cycle engines. The fresh smell of Lake Superior is overcome by an odor of rich oily exhaust.  Before the snow it was a favorite feeding spot for the white-tailed deer. Since then I have not seen a deer in the area. I am surprised that I was able to find this undisturbed piece in such chaos. I wonder what else would be here if the snowmobiles and their owners decided to play by the rules.

I made this photo from one of the higher areas of Lighthouse Point. I feel that the snow and ice is a blanket that allows certain areas of our planet to rest. This is one of those little areas. Currently it is simply too hazardous to trek down there with no reason. I am thrilled by the fact that there is no evidence of human traffic in this area since the snow and ice came. I hope this area sleeps well this winter.

I had a freelance assignment today near Esko, Minn. As I traveled up the hill out of the west side of Duluth the sun broke though the clouds. Past Thomson Hill all the trees were coated in a heavy layer of frost. The sky shifted to blue with no clouds and it was awesome. I needed to get to the photo shoot so I kept driving and hoping that the sun was not too warm and that the frost would hold. An hour and 15 minutes later there was plenty of frost left on the trees.

After all of the cold weather we have had in the past few weeks I am surprised to see that Lake Superior is still open with very little ice cover. There are plenty of other telltale signs of the frigid weather on the shore of the lake. This shrub entombed in ice glowing in the late day sun made me wonder if all that ice hurts the plant or does it act like a protective layer? I guess I will have to wait until spring to find out.

I was up on the Iron Range today. The range is not that far from Lake Superior yet it is such a different landscape. There are huge industrial taconite processing plants growing out of bogs that seem to create their own weather and clouds. This is more exaggerated on a cold day like today. Driving around the range you can tell where there is a taconite  plant by the huge plums of steam that drift skyward. I was driving back to Duluth on St. Louis County Highway 7 when I noticed these clouds on the horizon. It is a Burlington Northern train full of pellets fresh out of the kiln waiting for a ride to an ore dock to be loaded into a laker. Even though the landscape differs between the lake and the range, I can feel the symbiotic relationship that exists between the two, especially when I am on the Iron Range.

I took a week off to work on our house. My dad was visiting and helping me with the remodeling upstairs. I did not take any photos during this time because I was focusing on the work that I had to do on the house. It was nice to change focus to something completely different for a while. I feel like it was the best vacation that I have had in a long time. We really got a bunch of stuff done on the house. I was away from work, and no one from work called or anything. I was in Duluth only one day for a few hours. Towards the end of my vacation I was feeling refreshed and I started seeing images that I wanted to make but I forced myself not to, to see if I could do it. It was a good exercise that allowed certain areas of my brain to rest. I feel like it worked. I feel refreshed. I hope the feeling lasts.

This ice formation was hanging on one of the cables that forms the hand rail on the Two Harbors breakwall. The waves that were created by the last storm coated the wire with this beard of ice. It was lightly snowing when I walked out to the formation which was about 100 feet out on the wall. It was a rather treacherous walk, actually shuffle, out to where I made the photo. The same ice that coated the cable also coated the top of the wall. That coupled with the light snow made it very slick. I am bummed because my days of walking out to the lighthouse at the end of the wall are over until it warms up.

I finally finished tweaking on the new snowblower that we bought Friday and decided to take a walk near dusk. The wind was blowing and snow was flying. There was about four to five inches on the ground at this point. It was not too bad when I started to walk because the wind was at my back. On the way home it felt like someone was throwing sand in my face. I wonder what the wind was like at the top of this tall tree.

Last night as I was in the middle of finishing the day’s post my web hosting service (dreamhost.com) decided to shut down the server I was on for over eight hours for maintenance so it was impossible to finish the post until now. Bummer, I really liked the image of the cold lake. It is there now. Enjoy.