Always breaks my heart to see someone throw away a perfectly good squirrel.
Author: John Winkelman
Night Photos of the Grand River
Ice hanging from a tree stuck on the edge of the Sixth Street Bridge dam, near the fish ladder.
30 second exposure.
Ice on a rock in the middle of the Grand River, near the Sixth Street Bridge dam.
60 second exposure.
Looking East at the medical mile from the fish ladder.
15 second exposure.
Looking East at the medical mile from the fish ladder. The line of lights across the sky is a plane approaching the airport.
30 second exposure.
Looking East at the medical mile from the fish ladder.
15 second exposure.
Flowing Water 1
First run at a simulation of water flowing through terrain. Instructions are to the left of the image.
Morning Fog
Pickerel Lake, 22 November, 2009
Yes: that is a turtle basking in the sun, in West Michigan, on November 22 – less than a month before the winter solstice.
Click here for a slide show of the rest of the photos in this set.
Squash
What started as this grotesque thing ended up as food enough to feed a large family for a day, or a small one for several days. The best part? A gallon of soup, the recipe for which follows:
Ingredients
6 ½ pounds Hubbard squash, cut into 1-2” cubes
3 medium tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1 large white or yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1” ginger root, peeled and grated
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried thyme
1 small hot pepper (optional) finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp olive oil
1-2 limes
enough stock (vegetable or chicken) to cover all vegetables
Directions
Grind the rosemary and thyme in a mortar and pestle.
Pour oil into a large pot, heat, and add onions, garlic and ginger. Saute for a few minutes, until onions begin to turn translucent.
Add tomatoes and saute, constantly stirring, for another couple of minutes.
Begin adding squash, a handful of cubes at a time, stirring all the while, until all of the squash is in the pot.
Add the stock, bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer. Cook until the squash is tender. This will take about half an hour.
Remove from heat and let the soup cool. Once it can be handled safely, puree everything with a blender. This will probably have to be done in three or four batches.
Return the soup to the pot, and add salt and pepper, and stir in the juice of 1-2 limes, adjusted for taste.
I documented the whole process. You can see the rest of the photos here.
Celebration on the Grand
It isn’t often that you can look straight out – or down, even – at fireworks, but that is exactly what I did this past Friday, thanks to the generosity of the amazing Skip and Sarah. Click here to see the rest of the Celebration on the Grand fireworks photos.
A Tragedy Which Affects Us All
Due to budget cutbacks, the City of Grand Rapids has had to remove the lighthouse beacons from the Grand River at the base of the Sixth Street Bridge Dam. This has had disastrous consequences.
TURTLES have been RUNNING AGROUND on the ROCKS!!!! Without beacons marking the deeper channels, turtles can’t avoid the rocks as they build up speed to leap the dam on their annual migrations northward.
Please: Think of the Turtles.
A Three Day Trip to the Upper Peninsula
Manistee National Forest
Click here to see the rest of the photos from this set.