Photo Journal

Walking Into Winter

This is the solstice, the still point of the sun, its cusp and midnight, the year's threshold and unlocking, where the past lets go of and becomes the future; the place of caught breath.

Margaret Atwood

Winter Sun

Beneath heavy clouds

blazing brilliant light it dropped

then fell out of sight

Saturday -a beautiful expanse of dune grass blew gently in the wind. (Saugatuck Dunes)

Sunday over ripe berries hung from a bare branch…but those looked like tiny buds below them.

Monday, a dark-eyed Junco sat still for a moment looking right at the camera

Tuesday, a neighbors Hydrangeas; blossoms dried, faded and gone to seed…delicate as paper

Wednesday in the garden, a dried up rhododendron blossom that Dr. Seuss could have drawn.

And on the beach, a pair of pigeon’s prints in the sand by Lake Michigan - as if he just stood there, looking over the water and then flew off

Today - Winter Solstice, the sun was muted by cloud cover but still came through - looking more like the moon.

Movement is good for the body. Stillness is good for the mind.

Sakyong Mipham

This is a time of year that often gets me down, so I did a lot of walking and looking for little signs of light and life. A little color, a little sun, some flowering plants with seeds and buds waiting for spring, a couple of footprints in the sand, the stars in the morning, the cold crisp air and crunchy frost-covered grass under my feet - all these things get me outside of my mind as well as my house and those are both good things. And today the days begin to grow longer again! Happy winter solstice- and Merry Christmas if you celebrate!

Thank you so much for being here! I will see you next week!

The morning sky on the shortest day. Within the darkness, there is the promise of light to come.

Celebrating a Year with Wally - A Toy Walrus

The most simple things can bring the most happiness.

Izabella Scorupco

January 13, 2023 - Wally on his own Tiny Planet- Ferndale, Michigan

January 13, 2023

This past week, while I was back in Michigan, I decided to play around with my camera, and my toy Walrus, Wally. I found him almost exactly a year ago at a rest area in Florida while on a road trip. I’ve been taking him everywhere since then. He’s very photogenic. There’s something oddly soulful in his expression. I hope the pictures make you smile; I had fun taking them.

January 14, 2023 - Wally finds an ice cave - Fennville, Michigan

January 14, 2023. The lake does magical things in winter - like this little ice cave which I imagine was created when water filled with sand flowed over the rock and somehow froze in a hollow shell. Later, when it got warmer, some icicles formed. It was almost as if it was custom made for Wally.

January 15, 2023 - Resting on the frozen driftwood

January 15, 2023. Posed Wally on a dark piece of driftwood covered in ice at the edge of Lake Michigan. This cold weather is just right for a Walrus. He’s in his element.

January 15, 2023 - Looking out from a soft moss bed - Pier Cove, Michigan

January 15, 2023. Took Wally on my long run to the Pier Cove Trail. I let him take a break in the soft moss by the edge of the trail mid-run. It turned out to be a beautiful sunny winter day.

January 15, 2023 - Wally gazing wistfully over the lake at sunset.

January 15, 2023. The perfect end to a beautiful sunny January day. Tired and happy, I took Wally down to watch the sunset.

January 16, 2023 - Wally reflecting on the shore of Lake Michigan.

January 17, 2023. Wally and me. Look at those eyes.

Here’s one from last year - not long after I found him. Wally stopping to smell the roses on Miami Beach. I’m thinking about doing an entire book of his adventures. Just for fun.

The true object of all human life is play. Earth is a task garden; heaven is a playground.

Gilbert K. Chesterton