Love these summer days!

Thanks to some huge geomagnetic storm that occurred on the sun yesterday, we were able to enjoy the Aurora Borealis last night, and maybe tonight, too.  The northern lights were out in the sky along with the lightning bugs near the land, so we were very entertained.  No pictures though...I've tried taking pictures of northern lights in the past, pretty unsuccessfully, so no cameras this time.

We made a quick trip to Duluth today and didn't even have a doctor's appointment or a prescription to pick up.  Yes!  But on the way home we came upon this little "gaze" of baby raccoons.  Yes, I just looked it up.  A group of raccoons is called a "gaze."  There was no sign of Mom so no idea what happened to them after we passed by.  Pretty cute though!

We got home with lots of time to mow most of the lawn.  With almost 2 acres to mow, we sometimes have to take it in stages.  If we were smart we would cut down on how much we mow, but we can't decide what to let go.  And anyway, we like it!

After mowing we took a tour of our trails in Cammie and once again, the fields of daisies got my attention.  The grass up there is growing like crazy, so we'll soon have to get that under control, too.  This time of year it's not the best idea to hike through that tall grass.  Wood ticks!  After living here for a few years I've heard of so many people who have had Lyme disease, and it really doesn't sound like a good time!  So, more to mow!

Time to go out and check the skies!  Happy summer!

The other side of the Solstice

At this time of the summer, now that it is officially summer, I feel the need to slow down the clock!  There isn't a day that goes by, no matter what season, that I don't marvel that I actually get to live up here.  But these recent days have been so beautiful--blue skies, temps 75-80˚, few mosquitoes--perfect!  I keep thinking, "if only every day could be like today."

Here's our field out in front with Jessie's horses up in the background.  At the end of May this is a field of yellow dandelions and now it's full of white daisies, yellow buttercups, and orange hawkweed.  That hawkweed is actually an invasive weed, but we like it anyway.  Soon our other neighbor will come to cut this into hay and bale it up, but for now it feels like Little House on the Prairie.

We did have some needed rain today and there were some storms to the west and south.  But that left us with a beautiful rainbow tonight and some weird cloud formation.

The last time I wrote about Quarry Beach was right after all the snow and built-up ice melted leaving very little beach.  Now a couple months later some of the beach has returned but the stretch of sandy beach is certainly not as wide as in other years.  At least the 4-foot drop has evened out so you can get down to the water.

Here's Quarry Beach in the other direction with some of the remaining rock formations that used to be the quarry.  It's a great place!

And these are two of the four geese families that are currently growing up in the marina area.  These two families are of different hatchings--one set is pretty big now and the other babies still have a hint of yellow fluff on them.  It was good to see so many this year because I don't think there were any last year.

And, yes, there was one day recently that was NOT so beautiful.  For some reason, the third Saturday (and sometimes Sunday) in June--the days of the Lions Club Fishing Contest are often TERRIBLE!  Last year it was practically snowing and the wind was howling!  Here are Brooks & John this year staffing the contest headquarters in their winter gear!  The anglers still showed up even though it was hard to see the lake sometimes because of the fog.

Beautiful days bring nice gardens, so stay tuned!