After a several day respite at home in Minneapolis I’m back up in the north woods near Ely, MN. It was good to be home with my sweet and ever lovin’ Jon and cat Gracie. I miss them when I’m up north. I also got to spend time with the grandkids, spent time with both of our daughters and our son-in-law, had a lovely massage, saw some friends at my Artist Way Group, and got rested up.

I’m glad to be back up north. When I arrived here I went through the usual re-entry feelings of not quite being certain I wanted to be here, but because I’ve done this before I knew it would just take a while to fully re-immerse myself in the alone-ness of this place. I told myself, “This is re-entry. It’s OK and I will feel more at home soon.” Sure enough by the next morning I was back into the creative flow and working on images. It helped that I immediately went out for a hike with my camera as soon as I got here.

Is Spring Springing in the North Woods?

The mild weather of the past week has created a major snow melt up here. Is spring springing in the north woods? I hope so! Spring makes everything better. It’s my favorite season of the year.

“She turned to the sunlight
    And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbor:
    “Winter is dead.”
― A.A. Milne, When We Were Very Young

With most of the snow and ice gone from the trails I am super excited about getting out for more explorations and hikes. Yesterday I headed into the woods and then up a rocky steep slope to explore a trail I’ve not been on before. The slope was so steep and rocky that I thought twice before heading up but it was worth the climb.

I brought one more foam pad for my bed when I came back to Ely, and I think I’ve finally got the bed to the right level of comfort for my weird pain issues. I feel a bit like the Princess in The Princess and the Pea but I’m sleeping the best I’ve slept since I’ve been up here which is wonderful! This is a major relief as it frees up my energy for my work and explorations up here.

Yesterday on my hike I took only my 50 mm f /1.8 lens and 1 extension tube for macro photographs. It was such fun making images with my “nifty 50” (it’s a plastic lens and pretty inexpensive but quite good—hence the nickname “nifty 50”).

Later this afternoon I’ll head out on a different trail with a different lens on my camera. I like to travel light when I hike and I find that I get more creative when I limit myself to a single lens on a photo outing. Each time I head out I make a conscious decision about which lens to use, put the lens on the camera and head out to make photographs. Every time I do this I am pleasantly surprised by how perfect the lens is for the images that I choose to make.

When you’re creating have you tried limiting yourself as a way to dig deeper and learn new things?

May you walk in beauty.

Leaves and pine needles in puddle of water

Lichens on a tree trunk

Burntside River view