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Douglass Houghton Falls

Posted on April 16, 2010April 16, 2010 by Michigan in Pictures

Douglass Houghton Falls, photo by We Are CS.

These falls are located on private property. Kyle writes that after nearly 10 years in Houghton, he was finally able to visit Douglass Houghton Falls with permission from the land-owner.

The page on Douglass Houghton Falls from Waterfalls of the Keweenaw Area says:

Extremely impressive waterfall, with the water dropping from grassy plains over a hundred feet into a deep, wooded gorge. Falls are almost a true plunge with the a spike of rock splitting the water into two falls halfway down. Smaller drops directly upstream and downstream.

Be sure to check it out bigger and see more in his Douglass Houghton Falls set (slideshow).

Many more Michigan waterfalls on Michigan in Pictures!

hey honey bee: are you enjoying the early cherry blossoms?

Posted on April 15, 2010April 15, 2010 by Michigan in Pictures

hey honey bee, photo by ashley.justine.

On our Leelanau.com web site, we get a lot of requests about when the cherry blossoms will be out. Almost every year, it’s the second week of May. In 2010, however, the warm weather and sunshine have everything well in advance of normal, with cherry blossoms beginning right now! The April 13 report from the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station says:

Pears are at green cluster, and apples are at early tight cluster here at the NWMHRS. Montmorency trees are at early bud burst, and Balatons are at bud burst. There is some variation in different sweet cherry cultivars: bud burst in Hedelfingen, late bud burst in Golds, and early white bud in Napoleon. We expect to be in bloom in sweet cherries by the weekend, and growers are placing bees into sweet cherry blocks at this time. Chardonnay vines at the station are at early bud swell, plums are at green cluster, and apricots are at first bloom.

The blossoms are so far in advance that Leelanau County’s annual Cherry Blossom Tour has been canceled for 2010! If things progress with no killing frost and a normal summer in terms of temperature and sunshine, 2010 could be an amazing year for fruit in Michigan!

Check it out bigger or Ashley’s Spring Fever set (slideshow).

Grand Rapids Founding Day Parade, May 1, 2010

Posted on April 14, 2010April 29, 2010 by farlane

NOTE: This event has been CANCELLED!

Grand Rapids, 1915, photo by Kenneth Spencer

Grand Rapids cruise director Rob Bliss has launched the latest in a series of events, the Grand Rapids Founding Day Parade (view poster). The first annual of this event happens May 1, 2010 and he writes:

May 1st will be the 160th Anniversary of the Founding of Grand Rapids, and to mark that day I am putting on a large scale parade and celebration. Floats, marching bands, and retro cars will all be involved in making this day great.

$5,000 Float Competition: $5,000 will be given away to the best float, decided by a public vote. Anyone can enter a float and be in the parade and possibly win this prize, and there is no entry fee. All floats must have some connection to the greater Grand Rapids area (includes lowell, caledonia, etc.) but are very open ended. A local band playing local music on a float stage would apply! Dance party on the blue pedestrian bridge as a float would work. Whatever idea you have will most likely work.

…This parade is decided by a public vote, with paper voting taking place at the end of the parade, near the Grand Rapids Library and Veterans Memorial. Mayor Heartwell will be speaking to the crowd following the event.

This exciting new community event works to celebrate and to continue to push our city forward. Very few citizens know when their hometown was founded; come downtown and help celebrate our community.

This photo from the Library of Congress is available as a stunning panorama which I hope you get a chance to see. You may also want to explore the photographic history of Grand Rapids through the photographs from the Grand Rapids Historical Commission’s online archive!

Jimmy Howard looks ready for the Coyotes … are YOU?

Posted on April 12, 2010 by farlane

Detroit Red Wings Goalie Jimmy Howard, photo by radiospike photography

Canadian hockey broadcaster Bob McKenzie has said that perhaps playoff hockey should be renamed “goalie.” If that’s the case, then we better hope that the man above, Red Wings rookie goalie Jimmy Howard – named the NHL’s second star for March – is up for the task. Jimmy Howard finishes the season 4th in the NHL in save percentage and is considered a candidate for Rookie of the Year. ESPN says that beyond that, Howard is playing himself into the Hart Trophy debate:

With each passing day, it becomes crystal clear Detroit netminder Jimmy Howard isn’t just the obvious candidate for rookie of the year, but he has also played himself into consideration for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender.

…Now the storyline surrounding the Wings is whether Howard can become the first Red Wings netminder to capture rookie of the year honors since Roger Crozier in 1964-65, and how he will react to the pressures of being a playoff goalie in Detroit.

“He’s a guy that’s done a good job for us. He’s gotten us to the point we’re at. The test of time is what he’s got to survive,” Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “There’s been lots of goalies that have come into the league and some even won the rookie of the year and then you don’t keep it going. That’s up to him.

The Wings open the 2010 playoffs at Phoenix on Wednesday at 10 PM.

See this photo bigger in Spike’s Red Wings slideshow, stay tuned to his photostream through the playoffs for more shots and let’s go Wings!

Morning view

Posted on April 10, 2010April 10, 2010 by Michigan in Pictures

Morning view, photo by Mike Lanzetta.

Top of the morning to you.

Mike says Yup, no photoshop, she really was right there. See it bigger along with more from this shoot in his slideshow.

Happy Ernie Harwell Day!

Posted on April 9, 2010April 9, 2010 by Michigan in Pictures

George Kell Ernie Harwell 1961, photo by doctor_gogol.

For, lo, the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of the singing of birds is come,
and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land
~Ernie Harwell quoting the Song of Solomon (listen)

The Detroit Free Press notes that today is not just the Detroit Tigers home opener against the Cleveland Indians, but also that April 9 is now Ernie Harwell Day by decree of the Michigan Senate.

The Detroit News Rearview Mirror on Ernie Harwell writes that the Baseball Hall of Fame and longtime Detroit Tigers announcer was born on January 25, 1918 in Washington, Georgia, was so tongue-tied as a youngster that kids made fun of him and became the only broadcaster ever traded when the minor league Atlanta Crackers traded him to the Brooklyn Dodgers for farmhand Cliff Draper.

In 1950 Harwell was lured to the rival New York Giants, where one year later he broadcast the debut of Willie Mays. From 1954 to 1959, Harwell was the voice of the Baltimore Orioles.

George Kell was finishing his Hall of Fame career as a player with the Orioles, and one day Ernie invited him into the radio booth. Kell later landed a job with the Detroit Tigers and in 1960 the Detroit club signed Harwell to become Kell’s partner. “It’s the best move I ever made,” Ernie said. “I’ve been very happy in Detroit.”

…Baseball author Bruce Shlain reflects: “Somehow he brings the proper pitch and phrasing to a whole season, with a rhythm and pacing that only a select few have ever commanded. In many ways a Harwell broadcast is profoundly musical, as befits a man who has published 55 songs with composers such as Johnny Mercer. Many an announcer has aspired to sounding as if talking to a friend in his living room, but Harwell effortlessly establishes the same rapport on the air as he does in person.”

Be sure to check out this shot of Ernie & George Kell out bigger and see more in Doctor Gogol’s Stadium Workers set. In honor of Ernie and the home opener, I suggest you settle back and watch the Tiger Briggs Stadium Detroit slideshow.

Check out more Detroit Tiger features on Michigan in Pictures and play ball!

Thank you for flying with Great Blue Heron Airlines

Posted on April 7, 2010March 21, 2016 by farlane

photo removed by photogapher :(

Great Blue Heron, photo by leonb47

Feel free to move about the cabin…

Check this out background bigtomic or in Leon’s Birds slideshow. For more on Ardea herodias see Know Your Michigan Birds: Great Blue Heron.

Even little blue ones are early…

Posted on April 6, 2010April 6, 2010 by Michigan in Pictures

Untitled, photo by *Alysa*.

Anyone know what these little flowers are called? They’ve always been a sign of spring for me and like daffodils and everything else in 2010, they’re out early.

Check this out bigger in her YIP 2010 slideshow.

Play Ball! Detroit Tigers Opening Day 2010

Posted on April 5, 2010April 5, 2010 by Michigan in Pictures

have a seat in my time machine, photo by 1ManWithACamera.

The Detroit Tigers open the 2010 baseball season in Kansas City at 4:10 PM today. The Baseball Almanac says that since 1901, the Detroit Tigers are 58-50 on Opening Day. On April 26, 1992 when Larry took his nephew Aaron to his first Tiger game, the Bengals came up short to the Blue Jays, 2-4. Here’s hoping that the boxscore in 2010 looks more like the 15-2 crushdown that the Tigers laid on the Texas Rangers last year.

Over on Absolute Michigan we have our Detroit Tigers Opening Day 2010 Blog Roundup. More at absolutemichigan.com/Tigers and from Michigan in Pictures.

Check this out big as a ballpark and see more in Larry’s Detroit Tigers and their ballparks set (slideshow).