We’ve been in southern Michigan a long time and haven’t spent any time at the cabin in the north, so yesterday we packed up and headed north. It was an easy drive and we took the opportunity to stop at several places to look for favorite plants and animals. First we stopped at the restContinue reading “Heading to Whitefish Point, Michigan”
Author Archives: makielb
A nice garden visitor
Our garden is often visited by a variety of insects. This is important as they pollinate the plants. The most common visitors are bees and wasps. But there are also pests that eat the plants. Well, yesterday we had an unexpected visitor – a European mantis, aka Preying mantis/Praying mantis. We have these large insectsContinue reading “A nice garden visitor”
Garden produce – August, 2026
We were sitting on the deck eating breakfast and I was thinking about how much we have been getting from our garden. Every day we have a variety of tomatoes. Most of the cherry tomatoes go into salads or are just eaten from a bowl. We’re getting about a dozen in the morning and againContinue reading “Garden produce – August, 2026”
Orange-fringed Orchid
We made our annual visit to Bishops Bog, in Portage, south of Kalamazoo to look for Orange-fringed Orchids. We were able to locate 27 this year, along with two species of sundews. We were with our friends Mike and Linda and had a great time.
August, 2026
July was a busy month. It has taken me a long time to clear out memory space on this site to be able to post pictures again. Additionally we spent two weeks with our daughter and grandkids visiting. So, we have been quite busy. One of the highlights of the visit was going to theContinue reading “August, 2026”
Busy week with family
We have been quite busy with our daughter and grandchildren this past two weeks. They’re visiting from Oregon. Our days have been quite full of games, visits to the Ann Arbor Art Fairs, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Detroit Zoo and so much more. We’ve even managed to watch a bunch of animated moviesContinue reading “Busy week with family”
An interesting week
With the situation with the US/Israeli invasion of Iran, to tariffs and the disaster of the FIFA World Cup match in the US it’s clear how the US is affecting Americans and the World. Since I can’t upload images any longer I guess I’ll just write. The invasion of Iran has been embarrassing and hasContinue reading “An interesting week”
Imperial Moth
Yesterday we were able to go and see an Imperial moth that our friend Audra found on a sycamore tree in her yard. I’ve only seen two before this this one, one in 2023 and one in the early 1990s. So it’s quite special in my opinion. This beast when fully “puffed” up will measureContinue reading “Imperial Moth”
Whitefish Point moths
On the day that we left Whitefish Point going back to Ann Arbor we had a great morning with moths. Here are a few of them. Button slug moth on the left, White-dotted prominent on the right. Blinded sphinx. Azalea sphinx. Polyphemus moth, upper wing view. Polyphemus moth, underwing view. Luna moth, one of myContinue reading “Whitefish Point moths”
Looking for a rare bird
We spent yesterday at Seney National Wildlife Refuge in Schoolcraft County, Michigan looking for a very rare nesting bird. In the course of our visit we managed to find many nice insects. Two nice damselflies. Boreal Bluet on the left, Tule Bluet on the right. Dusky clubtail, a dragonfly. A monarch caterpillar on milkweed. OurContinue reading “Looking for a rare bird”
Michael's Place 