It snowed in northern Minnesota yesterday — so it seems OK now to kiss the summer of 2018 goodbye. Here are some of my favorite moments from my unintentional summer vacation.
MAY
Dense fog forms as the dew point rises faster than the temperatures.
Gibbs Farm Museum looks like a literal ghost town, shrouded in the mist.
But the poor visibility doesn’t impede the sheep’s eyesight in the least. I am so excited as they gallop toward me: Many wet sheep will be pet this day!
Alas, it wasn’t me they were after, but food — and I have none. Many wet sheep will be disappointed this day.
A couple of weeks later I go morel hunting with my friend Pam and our mutual pals David and Marie. Now it’s almost 100 degrees — 37 Celsius — so we don’t spot a single mushroom. But David is intrepid enough to knock on the door of the long-abandoned Locust Lodge (as Pam eggs him on).
I am relieved no one answers; everything on this property seems dead.
We are not disappointed to leave without mushrooms, though, after last year’s unexpected bounty in a most unexpected place.
The flowers are blooming in earnest now — peonies and moss everywhere, and hybrid lady slippers.
The bugs are blooming, too! See if you can spot the cloud of larval mosquitoes enjoying the lovely sunset.
And see if you can spot the hairs on this frisky, friendly fly.
The sudden cornucopia of bugs inspires me to deface the quotes on my teabag tags — like this one, which reimagines Lord Byron’s immortal words, had he lived in Minnesota.
Well, that’s about it for May. I’ll be back soon with June and July …
HeideBlog 
Beautiful Photos Heide. I can’t believe it snowed ! OMG! that’s not fair.
That sheep was a bit hungry – I think i would have run, but then they would all chase ! lol.
I hope that yesterdays snow was just a blip and that you are blessed with a mild autum.
It did indeed snow, Bella … but I’m not going to complain too much, because it was BEAUTIFUL. (I’ll show you photos in a few days.) Nevertheless, I join you in wishing for a mild autumn! I’m not ready to let go of the warm sunshine just yet. 😉 Thank you so much for stopping by! xx
你是谁?—————— 原始邮件 ——————
发件人: “HeideBlog”
发送时间: 2018年10月6日(星期六) 晚上8:09
收件人: “2302623337”;
主题: [New post] Where my summer went (1)
Heide posted: “It snowed in northern Minnesota yesterday — so it seems OK now to kiss the summer of 2018 goodbye. Here are some of my favorite moments from my unintentional summer vacation. MAY Dense fog forms as the dew point rises faster than the temperatures. Gi”
我是一个作家和摄影师在明尼苏达州, 在美国北部。
Here in our small part of the UK we still have to kiss summer goodbye and yet to welcome autumn….for October that is unusual. Climate change or just a plip…who knows 🙂
Climate change … or just a plip? That is the question indeed, David. Well shall see. In the meantime, thank you for stopping by!
You obviously don’t live in the north west 😉
Nope. Alas, not even close. 😉
Ha, I meant the British chap!
I figured that out after I replied. DOH. 🙂
Bang in the middle of England…for better or worse! 🙂
Better, let us hope. Fingers crossed! 😉
Obviously I think for worse 😉 but it could be even worse! Seriously, there are always wonderful places to explore everywhere in England if you just look and even I like some places in the middle 🙂
Great set of images, love the sheep.
Thank you kindly! I loved the sheep too, even if they were too stinky and wet to pet. 😉
A farm girl at heart! Great pics.
All those years of going to the State Fair must have rubbed off on me, Tom. 😉
Such evocative pictures Heide. Thanks for the tromp through May 😊💐
And thank YOU for the pleasure of your company! xx
Always a pleasure!”
Incredible images. Love the sheep (and commentary). The sunset with flocking birds is delightful also.
Thank you, VJ! Thank you for stopping by, and for your kind words.
Heide, I very much enjoy your blogs! It has been far too long since the last one. That shot of the pile of morels literally made my mouth water 🙂 May I put you on my irregular email newsletter list? Promise not to spam nor share 🙂 http://www.royinmanphotos.com/
I’m honored you liked my post, Roy … thank you so much for stopping by! If I had any of those morels left I would send them to you in a heartbeat (because I believe in sharing the wealth). And absolutely, please put me on your newsletter list. In fact, I’ve just saved you the trouble by signing up myself. Very much look forward to following your work …
Como siempre, original y ameno. Y fotos maravillosas!
Muchas gracias, Paloma! Aprecio mucho tu visita y tu lindo comentario. xx
It has been awhile since I’ve seen a “What IDid Last Summer” report. I was going to give it an A, but perhaps with more to come an incomplete might be more appropriate. 😀
Do morels grow in abandoned houses? I guess we will not find out, at least this year.
Haha, JP! What a wonderful sense of humor you have. Well, I fully admit I deserve an incomplete — especially for failing to investigate what grows inside abandoned houses. Maybe next year we’ll screw up the courage to look inside. 😉
I love that second picture so much. Actually, all the pictures are great, but I LOVE that second one. You’ve definitely got an eye and skills to back that up.
You are always so kind, Anthony. Thank you! You sure know how to make a gal’s day. 🙂
Those mosquitos look remarkably like bats heading out for the night! Also remarkable…… snow up north so soon! Or perhaps that’s not really so remarkable, I dunno. This summer I lobbied for us to move to Duluth. We spent a couple days there as part of a tour into the upper peninsula of Michigan and I was quite smitten with the town. However, the boys’ mother insisted I wouldn’t last one week in the cold, come December.
Great pictures, Heide.
Great observation about the mosquitoes! Hadn’t thought of it that way, but you’re absolutely right. Which is fantastic, because now those swarms are going to freak me out even more, haha.
And how cool that you spent a couple of days in Duluth! It really is a cool town, surprisingly rich in both culture and history. But the boys’ mother does have a point about the cold: Even lifelong Minnesotans are afraid of Duluth in the winter! Still … maybe you could summer there, and then spend winter in the Twin Cities? I know of at least one resident who would be THRILLED to have you as a neighbor. 🙂
The rest of my comments I will withhold for another venue, but suffice it to say I am happy and grateful you stopped by.
Just curious, but is that resident in Twin Cities you?
Yes indeed. 🙂
I love it that our seasons are polarised, with you heading into winter and us staggering hesitantly towards summer. There is a certain fearful symmetry to it all. But I’m not so keen on your mosquitoes though. Even if there was only one of them it would find me. That’s why I prefer our mild winters to our fraught and seemingly endless summers. But what intrigued me most in your ramble was that ‘abandoned lodge.’ The town where I grew up in Scotland had an abandoned lodge and as kids we used to intrepidly break into it, convinced that it was haunted by the ghosts of the prisoners held there during WWII. Thank you for invoking those (now happy, and much less fearful) memories. 🙂
Fearful symmetry? I think it’s a WONDERFUL symmetry … or at least I find it comforting to think about you getting a sunburn when I’m buried under a bundle of snow. 🙂 And what a wonderful symmetry, too, that you have memories of breaking into an abandoned old lodge as a kid. My sisters and I did the same in Peru — though I’m glad we escaped with nothing more than a few invented ghost stories. So many of our childhood adventures seem a bit risky, in hindsight, don’t you think?
Will I just thought that, since you were messing with Byron on your tea bag tags, I’d take the liberty of channeling Blake. No harm intended. 🙂
AH! Sorry I completely missed the reference. Clearly it’s time to abandon the tea-bag reading and return to the classics. 😉
Loved how you changed the quote at the end! Ha ha! That place looked beautiful! Where do the sheep come from? Yes, I spotted the mozzies and the hairs on the fly. You have a knack with photography.
The sheep are part of Gibbs Farm, which is now technically a historical museum — but where they keep livestock still to show kids what it was like to be a pioneer on the prairie way back when. And thank you for the kind words about my photography! It’s my favorite hobby. 🙂
Oh, right. I bet the children enjoy that and I think it’s cool!
The children do seem to enjoy it very much, Racheal! For a lot of the city kids it’s the first time they’ve seen a working farm — so they’re learning about how much work it takes to raise and care for animals, in addition to the historic component of the museum. It’s wonderful.
Cool!
Ah, what would have happened if the door had opened by no one was standing there. Minnesota ghosts often need a trip to a lodge to recharge their plasma. 🙂 🙂 And they love holey fungi. They are not so fond of lamb.
I heard that it snowed in Crookston where I grew up. Way too early even for there, though I do remember snow on Halloween once or twice. Waiting to see June and July.
What would have happened if the door had opened, but no one was there? I think my friends and I would likely have broken the world record for the 100-yard dash, Marie. Good thing we didn’t disturb the local ghosts so they could recharge on holy fungi. 🙂
And yes … I agree with you that it’s way too early for snow, even way up north. It passed quickly though, and we were still blessed with a lovely stroll yesterday through some spectacular fall color. But first: June and July, coming up tomorrow! Thank you so much for stopping by.
82 degrees and muggy here in the DC area today. 🙂
Ooof! Hope the A/C is keeping up.
what I like these foggy mornings and all the atmosphere felt watching beautiful photographs.
Your nature photographs are all absolutely fantastic and I enjoy watching them
Merci infiniment! As a big fan of yours, I am honored that you like my photos, Yoshimi.
Looks like a great start to your summer, even with the ticks!
It was indeed great, Patti — especially since (to my knowledge) I didn’t get a single tick. Guess it was worth tucking the pants into my socks and looking like a dork. 🙂
Looks like you generally had a good summer.
Yes indeed. Thank you for stopping by!
Ticks are a terrible nuisance, Heide!!! Enjoyed your post very much even though you reproved with Lord Byron 🙂
Do you have ticks in your woods also, Hanna? I felt lucky not to see any this year, but they really are a nuisance — especially with all of the new scary diseases they’re carrying. Fortunately a few precautions (like tucking your pants into your socks) can help deter them. Thank you so much for your comment!
We are well-stocked, Heide! 🙂
The worst ticks are nymphs because they are easy to overlook.
Hanna xx
You are a tick expert, Hanna — you’re absolutely right about the nymphs! That’s why I always say “I didn’t see any ticks (that I know of)” … because some of them are almost invisible. Sigh. 🙂
🙂 🙂
These pictures are stunning! Even the ones of the fog are gorgeous! ❤
Thank you! Fog is so rare in these parts that it’s pretty exciting, from a photographic perspective. 🙂
Awesome photographs. Summer goes so quickly.
Yes indeed! In fact, it may be over here: We’re hovering in the 40s now and haven’t seen the sun in days. No complaints, though. I’d get bored if it were always the same!
Summer flew by way too fast this year. Lovely photos.
Didn’t it fly by, though? I sure wasn’t ready for the snow on the North Shore last Friday!
nice
Thank you!
Those morels, those wet sheep running with your running commentary, that soulless but still beautiful house, the fauna and flora, the bugs and whatnot – the silence and the busy moments – I love what you see and feel and show…. Thank You
Oh, Kiki … your kind comment warms my heart! Thank you so much. I’m honored that you love what I see and feel and show. I really am. Thank you! xx
I’m now catching up on blog reading after my break 😉 Lovely photos. I especially love the mist and the fog. And the sheep!
Thank you so much! I especially like the sheep, myself. I was thinking this morning that I should volunteer to help care for them (and their cousins, the goats). You know, since I’m over there a couple of times a week talking to them anyway! 😉
LOL…not to ticks but thinking of you getting up to find a pen to change the tea tag to a giggle ! You are a wonder. So may look mighty green in Minnesota ! We barely have leaves on the trees and this year, I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a spring at all. We went from cold and snow to summer sometime in June.
All your forest photo’s are breath taking. Enjoyed the moss, shrumes, interesting tree scapes and even the haunted house. Ohhh, you know it is…I mean, snap, ringing doorbells? Doesn’t he watch horror movies? I’d be watching for curtains to move :0 I don’t have to outrun the evil entity, I just have to outrun any of you three, LOL. It’s always the one at the end of the line they get 😀
Poor sheep x K
Doesn’t *everyone* get up to fin a pen so they can deface their tea bag? Ha ha. Yes … I know I’m a quirky one, but thank you so much for indulging me. ❤️
And yes indeed, May be mighty green in Minnesota … and June was a veritable explosion of color. (Though not literally, thank goodness, because imagine the mess.)
But what the Dickens is going on in YOUR corner of the world? Did it not green up at all this summer? Gosh … I hope that’s not the beginning of a trend. 😦
As for that (presumably) haunted house: David is a news photographer, and has run toward fires before and car crashes and all other kinds of mayhem, so ringing a doorbell didn’t much seem to intimidate him. Yours truly here *did* watch the windows for signs of movement, though, and was well-prepared to run. Like you say: I only have to outrun my friends! LOL.
Thank you for making my day with your sweet comments. xx
Glad nothing exploded in June, lololol…yes what a mess that’d be 😀 Clarification: yep, it finally greened up late, due to long winter and super dry spring. The tree’s here were all stressed. Then, September 4th it snowed. I think people think of Canada as having short summers, this year we lived up to the stereo type. David sounds fun 😀 Nutty, but fun 😀 Cheers dear xo K
Very interesting
Photograph to watch man
Thank you!
You had a great summer. Fog and the animals go hand-in-hand. Nice.
For me, pretty much EVERYTHING and animals go hand-in-hand. 😉 Thank you for stopping by!
It’s always interesting to see the sights in your part of the world. Hmm, sheep that don’t run away from people approach! They must truly have been hungry. 🙂
I’m guessing you know your mushrooms very well. If it’s not in a grocery store or on my plate, I’m not touching them!
I do believe those sheep must have been very hungry — and i felt terrible for having nothing on offer. But they’re back this summer and much more standoffish, so it seems they’re being well cared for.
As for the mushrooms: There are only a couple I can identify with 100% certainty. I’m with you on the rest: I’m not touching them. (Because I’d like a more interesting obituary than “died from bad mushrooms,” thank you very much. 🙂