Wawatam Lighthouse

 The Wawatam lighthouse is in Saint Ignace, Michigan, just across the Mackinac Bridge from Mackinaw City.  And its history is a little bit less auspicious than the other lighthouses we visited.

From wikipedia:  The current lighthouse was originally built in 1998 as an architectural folly at the Monroe Welcome Center on Interstate 75 in the southeastern corner of the state near the Ohio border. It was a functional lighthouse structure that was constructed far away from navigational waters as an element of the tourist heritage of the state. In 2004, the Welcome Center was renovated, and the lighthouse determined to be obsolete.  St. Ignace civic leaders applied to be the location of the small tower, and the lighthouse was trucked more than 330 miles to East Moran Bay in St. Ignace.  

After reassembly, the Wawatam Lighthouse was relit on August 20, 2006. The lighthouse is now an official United States Coast Guard privately maintained aid to navigation.

The tower is 52 feet tall, but rated it as 62 feet tall from the water.

Here's a snip from Google Earth, showing where the lighthouse and the passage light are  (not my photo!):

Round Island Lighthouse

 

The Round Island Lighthouse sits just 0.40 miles south of the Round Island Passage Light, the 

From wikipedia:  The Round Island Light, also known as the "Old Round Island Point Lighthouse" is a lighthouse located on the west shore of Round Island in the shipping lanes of the Straits of Mackinac. It was deemed necessary because the island is a significant hazard to navigation in the straits, and was seen as an effective complement to the other lights in the area. Because of its color scheme and form — red stone base and wood tower — it has been likened to an old-fashioned schoolhouse.  Ferries regularly pass it on their way to (and from) Mackinac Island, and it is a recognizable icon of the upper Great Lakes.

Round Island Lighthouse was constructed in 1895. The beacon was automated in 1924 and became the responsibility of the United States Coast Guard in 1939, when the Coast Guard took over all of the nation's lighthouses. To support World War II efforts, most of the original machinery on the first floor was removed for scrap.  The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1947, when the Round Island Passage Light was automated, and was transferred to Hiawatha National Forest in 1958.  

I thought it was really interesting that this lighthouse sits on a tiny island, about 500' from land.  But subsequent research reveals that the "island" effect id due to high water in the lakes.  It's even a high water emergency.

Here's a snip from Google Earth, showing where the lighthouse and the passage light are  (not my photo!):

Round Island Passage Light

 

Just outside the north breakwater at Mackinac Island, Round Island Passage Light is an automated, unmanned lighthouse located in the Round Island Channel in the Straits of Mackinac, Michigan.  Built in 1948 to mark the northern side of the navigable channel.  According to Wikipedia, the Passage Light was one of the last lights to be constructed on the Great Lakes, and was relighted as a private aid to navigation in 1996.

Still from wikipedia:  The Round Island Passage Light is constructed on a timber crib foundation which is 56 feet square. The timber crib has perimeter cells filled with concrete, and internal cells filled with rock. Atop the crib is a concrete superstructure with a 41-foot square reinforced concrete deck. The superstructure is octagonal, with four vertical and four sloping sides.  Atop the tower's concrete deck is a red-painted enclosure, 11-feet high.  Above the enclosure is a five-story octagonal steel tower, 41-1/2 feet high and 12 feet across. Each side of the tower contains a four-foot bronze relief Indian head, commemorating the fact that Mackinac Island was a sacred spot for Native American tribes. The light originally had a 47-foot steel antenna atop the tower, but it was removed in the early 2000s.

Here's a snip from Google Earth, showing where the lighthouse is.  (not my photo!):

Mission Point Lighthouse

Mission Point Lighthouse sits on the end of a peninsula between the East arm and West arm of Grand Traverse Bay.  In Traverse City Michigan.

From the lighthouse's web site:  During the 1860’s a large ship hit a shallow reef and sank just in front of where Mission Point Lighthouse now sits. At this point that Congress set aside funds for the construction of the lighthouse. However, it wasn’t completed until 1870 due to the Civil War. From 1870 through 1933, Mission Point’s light kept the waters at the end of Old Mission Peninsula safe for mariners. It was in 1933 that the lighthouse was decommissioned and later replaced with an automatic buoy light just offshore.

Like many other lighthouses, whale oil (and later kerosene) was used to light the 5th Order Fresnel lens that refracted and magnified its modest light source into an intense beam that could be seen up to 13 miles away. The building was only one and one half stories tall. However, its placement on a sand bank 14 feet above the lake's surface created a lens focal plane of 47 feet. 

During our visit, the lighthouse tower was closed, but they have a small museum and gift shop which were open.  There are steps in front of the lighthouse down the dune to a small beach area.

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Here's a snip from Google Earth, showing where the lighthouse and the passage light are  (not my photo!):

Point Betsie Lighthouse

Continuing the review of lighthouses from our recent trip to northern Michigan.  Today we'll look at Point Betsie Lighthouse, in Mackinaw City, Michigan.

Point Betsie Light is located on the northeast shore of Lake Michigan — at the southern entrance to the Manitou Passage.  Established in 1858, it was automated in 1983.  The lighthouse sits on a dune, with a concrete "seawall" in front.  The tower is 39' tall, and the high base, the light could be seen for 24 nautical miles.

This oldest standing structure in Benzie County, built in 1858, it marks the all-important entrance to southern end of the Manitou Passage, a once-vital maritime shipping channel. Although the lane is no longer used by large commercial vessels, the operating light signal remains a US Coast Guard aid to navigation to this day, and the site shines as a treasured landmark to mariners and landlubbers alike. 

The building and immdeiate grounds were close when we were there, but we were able to wander around the area, including the public beach immediately to the south of the lighthouse.

Here's a snip from Google Earth, showing where the lighthouse is.  (not my photo!):

Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse

 Continuing the review of lighthouses from our recent trip to northern Michigan.  Today we'll look at Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse, in Mackinaw City, Michigan.

Located at the northern tip of the main part of Michigan (not UP!), the Mackinac Point Lighthouse sits on the south side of the Straits Of Mackinac, between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.  Built in 1889, the lighthouse was active until 1957, when the Mackinac Bridge (with its light) opened.    It's now a historic site.

We arrived in Mackinaw City as the sun was setting, and decided to try and catch the last rays (above).  The lighthouse is obviously in the center, the building on the right is the Fog Signal building, and the Warehouse is on the left.  You can see the low part of the Mackinac Bridge between the buildings...

Another photo in the fading light...

The next day we took the Ferry to Mackinac Island, and s able to see the lighthouse from the strais:

Here's a snip from Google Earth, showing where the lighthouse is.  (not my photo!):

Ludington Breakwater Lighthouse

One of the goals of our recent trip to Northern Michigan (not UP!) was to visit some of the lighthouses long the shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.  I thought I'd post them here, with a short explanation:

Ludington Breakwater Lighthouse, Ludington, MI

This was the last lighthouse we visited before heading home.  It sits t the end of the northern breakwater protecting the entrance to Pere Marquette Harbor, in Ludington, Michigan.  Built in 1924, automated in 1972, and still You can walk out the breakwater (about 0.5 mi) to the lighthouse, but we chose not to, as it was threatening to rain.

I first saw this lighthouse from Ludington State Park, where we did a short explore of the dunes.  We did NOT make it to the Big Sabel Lighthouse there, as it was a 2 mile walk, and cost monet to enter that part of the park.  That did fit this trip (especially the 4 mile walk when we had 700 miles of driving in front of us).  Anyway, the dunes are cool.

Below is a shot from about 3 miles north of the Luddington Lighthouse, from the state park:

Here's a snip from Google Earth, showing where the lighthouse is.  (not my photo!):

August 1970

 Fifty years ago this month, what what happening on the music charts?

Well, during the 5 weeks of August 1970, there were 58 songs that spent time in the Top 40. Lots of great stuff.

Three (3) songs made the Top spot: The Carpenters' "Close To You" topped the charts for the first 3 weeks (completing a run of 4 weeks atop the charts).  Bread took the top for a week with "Make It With You", and Edwin Star's "War" was #1 at month's end.

Here's the top 10 songs of the month, ranked by average chart position over the 4 weeks of the month:

• (They Long To Be) Close To You - Carpenters - 1.6
• Make It With You - Bread - 1.8
• Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours - Stevie Wonder - 4.6
• Spill The Wine - Eric Burdon And War - 4.6
• War - Edwin Starr - 6.8
• Band Of Gold - Freda Payne - 7.4
• In The Summertime - Mungo Jerry - 9.6
• Tighter, Tighter - Alive & Kicking - 10.0
• Mama Told Me (Not To Come) - Three Dog Night - 11.8
• I Just Can't Help Believing - B.J. Thomas - 12.6

I made a Spotify playlist of the Top 10, if anybody wants to listen:  August 1970

A whopping 26 songs made their Top 40 debut, here they are (listed by entering position):

• Lookin' Out My Back Door - Creedence Clearwater Revival - 23 
• Don't Play That Song - Aretha Franklin with The Dixie Flyers - 23
• Hi-De-Ho - Blood, Sweat & Tears - 25
• Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross 26
• Overture From Tommy (A Rock Opera) - The Assembled Multitude - 28
• Patches - Clarence Carter - 29 
• I (Who Have Nothing) - Tom Jones - 29
• Get Up (I Feel Like Being Like A) Sex Machine (Part 1) - James Brown - 30 
• Big Yellow Taxi - The Neighborhood - 30
• Summertime Blues - The Who - 33 
• Candida - Dawn - 33
• The Sly, Slick, And The Wicked - The Lost Generation - 34 
• Solitary Man - Neil Diamond - 34
• Hand Me Down World - The Guess Who - 35 
• I've Lost You/The Next Step Is Love - Elvis Presley - 36 
• Rubber Duckie - Ernie (Jim Henson) - 36
• Everybody's Got The Right To Love - The Supremes - 37
• (I Know) I'm Losing You - Rare Earth - 37
• 25 Or 6 To 4 - Chicago - 38 
• Julie, Do Ya Love Me - Bobby Sherman - 38 
• Snowbird - Anne Murray - 38
• I Want To Take You Higher - Ike & Tina Turner & The Ikettes - 38
• Do You See My Love (For You Growing) - Jr. Walker & The All Stars - 39
• Groovy Situation - Gene Chandler - 40
• It's A Shame - The Spinners - 40
• Cracklin' Rosie - Neil Diamond - 40

I went Away For A While...

 But I'm back now!

Sorry folks, been a bit crazy, a bit unfocused....  and perhaps a bit lazy.  Time to make it up!

We took a quick (well, quick-ish) trip to northern Michigan recently, on the Quilt Shops and Photo Ops side of things.  You can look at that blog for more details...  Anyway, between being on the road, and wading though over 300 images, I'm overloaded.  

But have no fear, folk.  I have no plans to cut back here.  

The photo above is from the ferry crossing the Straits of Mackinac on one of the ferries to Mackinac Island.  I was trying to capture the sense of motion, how'd I do?

Heinz Chapel

 I was doing some clean-up of my phone's photo library, and came across this photo from July 2018.  I don't see any evidence that I ever did anything with it.  This was on the front end of a pretty busy time, too many good photos in too short a window.

Anyway, I decided to resurrect this one, and post it over at my Instagram site.  This is Heinz Chapel on the University of Pittsburgh campus.  Taken about 10 minutes before sunset.  This would've been when we dropped our son off at Pitt for his Business School pre-semester class.

You knew I had an Instagram site, right?

Throwback Thursday

From way back... way WAY back.

This is from the summer of 1981, between Junior and Senior year of college. One of my friends, who I haven't seen in over 30 years.

Taken with my trusty Canon TX 35mm SLR, using Kodak Tri-X film. Which I would've developed in a makeshift darkroom in my apartment's bathroom. (My roommate sure hated when I was darkrooming!).

Back in 2013 I bought an inexpensive slide/negative scanner, this scan has been sitting around on my hard drive since then. Until tonight!

Jake and Mikayla - Framed

So, I finally got around to framing my autographed copies of Jake Hoult's and Mikayla Joy's recent CD releases.  I ordered from their web site the day they came out (what with social distancing and all).  The next time I saw them, I twisted their arms to sign.  But it took me a while to get around to cutting the mat.  Now hanging in my music room, along with other cool music stuff... 

I'd like to say that I made some artistic decision to use dark blue matting, but the reality is that I had a scrap the right size.  But I do think it turned out well!

Check out Jake and Mikayla and be sure to support local artists!

NOTE:  Sorry for the distortion in the image, the mat cutting is actually straight.  I took the photo at an angle to avoid reflections, then did a quick adjustment to Photoshop Elements to "square it up".  I didn't notice till later that it's all wonky, and the lower left corner looks mis-cut.  Trust me, it's fine.

Making Something From Nothing?

Not an especially dramatic photo, but I'll go with the term "subtle"...

This was taken at Columbia Bottom Conservation Area.  It was overcast, around 50% chance of rain, unseasonably cool (70's) and a bit breezy.  But we had the grandkids for the weekend, and decided to take a chance to show them the sunflower fields.  Anyway, once we arrived, I decided to grab a shot of the open bottomlands, with the low clouds skating along.  I was even deliberate about setting my zoom to get a 50mm equivalent, just because....  But I realized the "straight out of camera" probably wouldn't meet my expectations, and that notable post-processing would be needed.

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There's actually a fair amount of work here.  Starting with a slight leveling, and the normal brightness / contrast adjustments (Levels). Then adjusting white balance.  I had the camera set to "Daylight", and there was a distinct blue cast.  Then I decided to crop from the starting 4x6 ratio to a panorama ratio.  This is 2.44:1, "standard" seems to be 3:1.  Oh well!

Once I settled all that, it was time to take the big swing with effects.  I use Topaz Simplify for range percentage of my photos, because I like the suite of controls.  I usually either tuen off the simplify filter, or tur it way down.  It has great ability to to work with dynamics, structure, saturation, etc.

In this case, I couldn't get happy with a single version where the sky and the field suited me.  So I did a separate edit for the sky, and combined them in Photoshop (Elements).

Anyway, here's the "Straight From Camera" version:

SO:  was it worth it?

For The Record

I decided to do another record clock, it's been a rather long time since my last one which is long gone.

The record is "On Tour With The Glen Miller Orchestra" a 1959 record from the New Glen Miller Orchestra.  This is one of the records from the Free box I picked up last fall at Jerry's Records in Pittsburgh.  I picked it for the clock because I like the RCA Victor label, and Glenn Miller is cool.

Side 2 is facing, because side 1 had a sticker on it.

The clock movement came from Amazon, $9.99 + free shipping.

I'm so crafty!

Blue Highways

There was a book, "Blue Highways", by William Least Heat-Moon, first published in 1982.  As summarized at Wikipedia:

"In 1978, after separating from his wife and losing his job as a teacher, Heat-Moon, 38 at the time, took an extended road trip in a circular route around the United States, sticking to only the "Blue Highways". He had coined the term to refer to small, forgotten, out-of-the-way roads connecting rural America (which were drawn in blue on the old style Rand McNally road atlas). ... The book chronicles the 13,000 mile journey and the people he meets along the way, as he steers clear of cities and interstates, avoiding fast food and exploring local American culture."

This is the kind of book that I really enjoy, along with things like A Walk Across America and The The Cannibal Queen or A Walk In The Woods.   Y;all can talk among yourselves about what that quartet of books says about me, but that's not really the point of this post.

The point of this post is about "Blue Highways", the small, forgotten, out-of-the-way roads connecting rural America.  In my travels through the years, I enjoy getting off  the main roads and finding interesting spots.  Conflicting with, of course, the desire to get  from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible.

Sometimes this leads to some cool photo ops.  Sometimes, it is just a break from the monochrome of the interstate highways.  Below are just a few images from these' side trips:

Smoking Barns, near Guthrie, KY

Sugar Creek Covered Bridge, Glenarm, IL 

Embarrass River, near Greenup, IL

Ohio River, near Leavonworth, OH

Cloverdale, IN (I think)