Sunrise over Sea of Sand

An eerie, weak, wintry sun rises over a dune. This one is from the archives. We haven't had snow yet.

The weather's been kind.   

Lily Pad Flower

The inner workings of a lily pad flower are quite interesting--- don't you think? Who could imagine such a thing? A whole dance floor for frogs!

This picture from my archives this morning, was taken on a warm summer day. May it warm your heart.

The Prince

From the archives on this dark and dreary late fall day...a princely frog on a summer day to you.

Bird Trap

It's heartbreaking to see a wild bird crippled, dead, or dying because of garbage that makes its way to the beach. One odd thing that seems to make it to beaches everywhere are balloons and the ribbons that are attached to them. I have miles of ribbons that were collected off of a few square yards of beach at the Indiana Dunes.

This item, though, I couldn't clean up and carry out. And I fear this piece of snow fence that blew in from somewhere will provide a trap for some unsuspecting sea bird.  

Fairy Land

Francis Thompson (1859–1907)

Know you what it is to be a child? It is to be something very different from the man of to-day.


 It is to have a spirit yet streaming from the waters of baptism; it is to believe in love, to believe in loveliness, to believe in belief; it is to be so little that the elves can reach to whisper in your ear; it is to turn pumpkins into coaches, and mice into horses, lowness into loftiness, and nothing into everything, for each child has its fairy godmother in its own soul; it is to live in a nutshell and to count yourself the king of infinite space; it is

        To see a world in a grain of sand,

        And a Heaven in a wild flower,

        Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

        And eternity in an hour;

it is to know not as yet that you are under sentence of life, nor petition that it be commuted into death.

Far Away From the Cares of the City

Seeing across Lake Michigan from the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore doesn't always call for a clear day---more often than not the view is better when it is cloudy and cold.

The Dunes are full of peace; making the Chicago view even better.

Late Fall on Sugar Creek

Sugar Creek is a fine stream to canoe in the summer. I also like to visit in the fall and winter. This year it is as high as I've seen it---with areas of rapids.

The beauty of this Indiana stream flows through the seasons of the year. Even in December's peace the joyful splash of the water's flow feeds the soul.