Driving around Harbor Springs, MI: Part One

Last week, Mark and I moved from beautiful Athens, Ohio, to beautiful Harbor Springs, Michigan. After 13 years of enjoying the hills, trees, caves, lakes, and architecture of central and southern Ohio, I have opened my camera bag 500+ miles to the north and found hills, trees, a much bigger lake, and interesting architecture that delight me with slight differences, perhaps due to sand and exposure to cold and lake air and the cultural influences of this northern region.

Oh dear...it is early in the morning, I'm still tired from unpacking, so I'll just get to the good part... photos!

This was my first trip out of the house as a resident of Harbor Springs. I drove down to the edge of Lake Michigan and saw this scene above, which I thought was quite lovely. I got out of the car, zipping up my jacket, and heard the sound of little wild things, I'm not sure if they were frogs or insects or what, but while this photo looks serene, the atmosphere and audio were humming. I wish I knew the names of trees (and birds and bugs and insects), but it is enough for me to love the look of them, the color and shape, the way they move in the wind and change with the seasons.

I was about to get back in my car, when I noticed something through the trees. Here is a little rock structure, above! 

Here is a view, slightly farther down the road, looking back toward the marina at Harbor Springs.

I think this tree is quite wonderful, living as it does on the edge of a Great Lake and weathering everything Mother Nature sends its way. Here is a close-up, below.

I love big, old, beautiful houses. Not to heat! Not to clean! But to gaze at from a distance, to imagine the lives within and to photograph. Right now (late April) the homes along the water's edge are mostly still closed up for winter, still empty of their warm-weather inhabitants. But all around were signs of the coming "Season." Workmen, gardeners, and their various vehicles lined the streets and signs of "getting ready" abounded.

Certainly the most important feature on these houses is the front porch, with windows being a close second!

My son, Bryce, loves yellow. I took this photo above with him in mind.

This house, above, had a sign on it called "Pillars." It reminded me of the beautiful homes in the Garden District in New Orleans. (Here is a link to my photos of those homes.)

This house, above, has an pleasing symmetry...but it can't wait, I think, for its owners to arrive.

I love all things blue, so of course had to take the photos above and below.

The house above, with its beautiful rocks, seemed like a storybook setting to me.

This modern house suffers from no self-esteem issues, standing as it does amongst the "old-fashioned" houses.

I liked this tree.

I am not sure what this structure is, but I will go with church-turned-house until I find out otherwise!

Here's a little park area with the wonderful birch trees so prevalent here.

These boats want to be set free for summer!

I left the center of Harbor Springs and headed along the hilly, winding, wooded road home. And look what I found in a tree as I was driving by!

And then, I saw this house. After seeing the beautiful houses along the lake and the care they received, well, I felt very sad for this house. Situated, I think, at a high elevation, I wondered what had happened to it. Tornado? Fire? Poor, sad red house...

Home!

And look who is inside our home...

On top of the chair is Tyler, our Pekingese. Tyler just turned 11 years old in February. Front left is our Chihuahua, Jackie, who will be 9 in May (see illustrations of her at this link). Farley, on the chair seat, is a mixed breed dog who will be 10 in May. This is Jackie's fifth house, and Tyler and Farley's fourth house. They are very adaptable dogs!

For a New Beginning, Some Things Must Change

Winter: a slow freezing, dripping, hiding, melting. Cold air, cold feet. Deer and ice. Coats and hats.
Spring: already here…lavender, lime green, blue sky, birds sing, thick grass.


Last summer, Mark and I went to Petoskey, Michigan, on vacation. We loved it there. It was August and I got to wear a sweatshirt! There was a beach right on the shores of Lake Michigan. Petoskey is located in Little Traverse Bay, on the north edge of the lake, about an hour from the Mackinac Bridge. See location of purple pin (disregard blue dot).


The air was so fresh and, just like their tagline, "Pure Michigan." I could breath there in a way that I find difficult in August in Ohio (or Florida, where I lived for from 1981-1999). So, we returned home, with memories of the beach at Petoskey State Park...

And the lovely flowers, and the comfortable Bay View Inn…

We kidded each other that when we retired we'd move to Petoskey, or Harbor Springs, it's close-by neighbor around the bay. Here is a photo of the marina at Harbor Springs…

Well, one thing led to another, and it was determined moving to a cooler climate by the lake would be very good for me, for us. We figured out a way to do it and made a drive up to Harbor Springs in February to look at houses. We were there during the state junior ski championship and a nice little snowstorm came through, which I didn't mind at all. (I got a good tree photo, after all.)

We found a house we fell in love with (it was one of our top two choices from our internet search). So, we came home, discussed it further and step-by-step the house became our house. We move in nine days!


I started Appalachian Morning creativity blog in July of 2008, the month that we moved to Athens, Ohio, from a Columbus, Ohio suburb. (I'd moved from Sarasota, FL to the Columbus area in 1999, a year after starting my business.) I was so excited to be in Southern Ohio, to be in the foothills of Appalachia, to be near the caves and to have acres of woods… I have loved living here and found it to be the friendliest place I have ever lived. I will miss the friends I've made in the last four years here; but I will be back, often, to visit. We still have ties here and so will look forward to many visits back throughout the year.


Throughout this excitement, I have had some work excitement as well. The two children's books I've worked on have gone to print. One is back and I will share information on it soon. The other will be able to be talked about in May. And, I've been working on wonderful CarolAnn Garratt's third book, Upon Silver Wings III: People and Places around the World. 


CarolAnn is an "Earthrounder" (times three). She flies her small plane, a Mooney, around the world to raise money for ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) research and to raise awareness. We are just about done with this third book and it is wonderful--wonderful to read about her experiences going to place and meeting people that most readers can only dream about…and imagining what it is like to cross the Pacific ocean by yourself in a small plane… Learn more about Dash for a Cure and CarolAnn at this link.


In case you were wondering… yes, I will still be working from a home office in Harbor Springs. In fact, I will have a bigger office and an art room connected to it and both will look out onto woods, just like I have here. We will be in a very wooded area about five miles from Lake Michigan, high up in the hills above the lake. I will be redoing my website before too long and posting more illustrations. And, of course taking a lot of photos and sharing them with you.

But what should I do about Appalachian Morning creativity blog? Should I keep it as is and just put something about where I live now in the subtitle? Or, should I put it to rest and open a blog under a new name? Can Appalachian Morning be an attitude?