photo

2009 Traverse City Film Festival Opening Ceremony

Posted on July 29, 2009July 29, 2009 by Michigan in Pictures

All week long I’m covering the 5th Annual Traverse City Film Festival in Traverse City for Absolute Michigan: On Location (check the TCFF posts if you’re coming to this after the festival!). It’s a great celebration of film and filmmaking with a healthy dose of Michigan.

Check this out bigger in the 2009 Traverse City Film Festival slideshow (or view the set).

You can get a ton more Michigan film goodness through the Flickr, YouTube, Twitter and blog feeds at Traverse City Film Festival 2009!

Detroit Exposed … by Exposure.Detroit

Posted on July 28, 2009July 28, 2009 by Michigan in Pictures

Light of Hope, photo by vigo74.

The next Exposure.Detroit show opens Friday, August 7 from 7-10 PM at the Bean & Leaf Cafe in Royal Oak. The theme is Detroit Exposed and the intent is to promote the city as a place to go and do things. Each photo will have a narrative that will not only educate the viewer, but also inspire them to go to the city and see these things for themselves.

This photo is of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (aka MOCAD) on Woodward Avenue one from the show and you can see it bigger in vigo74’s Detroit slideshow.

Check out lots more of the Motor City in the Exposure.Detroit “Detroit” slideshow.

Michigan Blues: Blueberries that is!

Posted on July 27, 2009July 27, 2009 by Michigan in Pictures

38.5 pounds of love, photo by sethrt.

Every week, Taste the Local Difference posts an article with facts, lore and recipes for foods that grow in Northern Michigan. As a bonus, they have many posts from previous years in their Ready to Pick archive so that folks downstate who are already picking (I’m looking at you, Edward Vielmetti) what’s not yet ready to pick up north.

Blueberries are coming on strong in Michigan, and here’s what their blueberry page has to say about these blue marvels!

Over 18,000 acres of blueberries are grown in Michigan, the largest blueberry-producing state in the U.S.
More than 20 varieties of blueberries are grown in Michigan. The Jersey variety is the most planted blueberry bush in the state.
Blueberries are one of the few truly blue foods on earth.
Blueberries are considered a super food! They are the fruit that is highest in antioxidants.
Each blueberry grows from a different white blossom on the bush. Growers can tell how good their crop will be by counting the blossoms.

More about blueberries from the the Blueberry People (aka the Michigan Blueberry Growers Association) and also Eat Local: Michigan Blueberries from Absolute Michigan.

Be sure to check this amazing haul of blue gold out bigger and check out the blueberry slideshow from the Absolute Michigan pool on Flickr!

Michigan’s tart cherries take their time in ’09

Posted on July 25, 2009July 25, 2009 by farlane

Untitled, photo by CourtneyCraven

I read that this year is one of the latest tart cherry harvests, but these look just about ready.

See it bigger in Courtney’s Sleeping Bear Dunes set (slideshow) and check out cherries in the Absolute Michigan pool on Flickr.

Grand Haven Coast Guard Festival and Coast Guard Cutters Mackinaw

Posted on July 24, 2009July 24, 2009 by farlane

Old USCG Mackinaw and New USCG Cutter Mackinaw, photos by Bass Dude

On an average day, the Coast Guard will conduct 109 search & rescue operations, saving 10 lives and assisting 192 people in distress. The Grand Haven Coast Guard Festival is the nation’s largest festival that honors the men and women of the US Coast Guard. It takes place July 24 – August 2 in Grand Haven and features nightly entertainment at Waterfront Stadium, arts & crafts, downtown carnival, parades, ship tours and the world’s largest musical fountain with spectacular fireworks. This year is the 85th annual occurrence of the festival which unofficially began in 1924 as a Coast Guard personnel only picnic and has grown to attract over 350,000 people including the nation’s highest ranking Coast Guard dignitaries.

The Coast Guard Cutters Bristol Bay and Mackinaw will be in Grand Haven for the festival and offering tours. The 290 feet long old Mackinaw (WAGB 83) was built in Toledo, Ohio and commissioned in December 1944 and decommissioned June 10, 2006. It is now the Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum in Mackinaw City (here’s a tour of the Mackinaw).

The new US Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw (WLBB 30) is the only heavy icebreaker assigned to the Great Lakes. It was commissioned June 10, 2006 and is powered by 3 Caterpillar 3612 Turbocharged V-12 engines – 3360 KW each. Prolusion comes from 2 ABB azimuthing electric propulsion drives where the propulsion motor is installed inside a submerged azimuthing (unlimited 360 degrees) pod and coupled directly to an extremely short propeller shaft. In addition to heavy icebreaking, the Mackinaw has state of the art systems and multi-mission capabilities that include servicing buoys, search & rescue, law enforcement and the ability to deploy an oil skimming system to respond to oil spill situations.

Check out this 360° tour of the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw and these photos from the Mackinaw’s launch via Boatnerd.

Be sure to check these photos out bigger (old and new) or in Skip’s Boats set (slideshow).

Pellston, Icebox of the Nation

Posted on July 23, 2009 by farlane

Brrr!, photo by loungelistener

The Icebox of the North page on the city of Pellston web site says that since Pellston recorded the State of Michigan’s record low temperature of -53° F. in 1933, it has been known as the Icebox (disclaimer: The Federal Trademark “Icebox of the Nation” is held by International Falls, MN).

With temperatures in Pellston well below zero for an average of around 40 days each winter, and beginning each November averaging the coldest temperatures in the state, it continues to be one of the coldest places in the nation. Many people nationwide hear the name of Pellston on their local weather each morning in the winter, along with towns like Big Piney, Wyoming, Fraser, Colorado and International Falls, Minnesota, it is continually called out as one of the coldest spots.

The record lows and the continuous cold streaks in Pellston are caused by a unique geography, as the village sits in a basin of sand between two vast semi-circular hill ranges. As the Maple River passes thru the basin, evaporation causes dense daytime cloud-cover, reflecting much of the suns heat away from the valley. As night falls and the air cools, those low-level clouds disperse allowing most of the remaining heat to radiate up and out of the basin.

If you grew up in Pellston, there’s a Facebook group for you.

Check this sign and many (many) more out bigger in Gary’s Michigan, My Michigan slideshow.

Bones … and barns

Posted on July 22, 2009July 22, 2009 by Michigan in Pictures

Bones, photo by Cherie S..

Be sure to check this out bigger or in Cherie’s Rural Explorations set (slideshow).

If you’re interested in helping old barns like this, consider joining the Michigan Barn Preservation Network.

International Caribbean Festival and Parade in Detroit

Posted on July 21, 2009 by farlane

The 2009 International Caribbean Festival and Parade will be held as a joint venture with African World Festival on August 14, 15, & 16 at Hart Plaza. The Parade will be staged from Woodward and Mack to Hart Plaza on Saturday, August 15, 2009, beginning at 11:00 a.m. The featured country this year is Jamaica.

Be sure to visit Detroit Bike Blog for more photos from last year’s parade.

Calico Pennant Dragonfly

Posted on July 20, 2009July 20, 2009 by Michigan in Pictures

Calico Pennant Dragonfly, photo by jbnuthatch.

Wikipedia doesn’t have much to say about the Calico (or Elisa) Pennant, Celithemis elisa. The Calico Pennant Dragonfly – Celithemis elisa page at North American Insects and Spiders says that Calico Pennants are of the order Odonates and that:

Dragonflies have excellent eyesight. Their compound eyes have up to 30,000 facets, each of which is a separate light-sensing organ or ommatidium, arranged to give nearly a 360° field of vision, important for taking prey on the wing, as has done the female shown above. Odonates are completely harmless – they do not sting or bite. Indeed, they are beneficial in the same respect spiders and other predators are beneficial – they keep the burgeoning insect population in check..

Dragonflies are among the most ancient of living creatures. Fossil records, clearly recognizable as the ancestors of our present day odonates, go back to Carboniferous times which means that the insects were flying more than 300 million years ago, predating dinosaurs by over 100 million years and birds by some 150 million…

Dragonflies are the world’s fastest insects and, although estimates of their speed vary wildly, most credible authorities say they are capable of reaching speeds of between 30 and 60 km/h (19 to 38 mph). A study showed that dragonflies can travel as much as 85 miles in one day.

Here’s some more general information about dragonflies.

Check this photo out bigger or in John’s Critterz set (slideshow).