Piglet, photo by Aaron Fortin
Aaron took this photo of the newborn piglet at the Miracle of Life Exhibit at this summer’s Michigan State Fair. You can see it bigger in his Pets & Animals slideshow (full set).
The next Exposure.Detroit show opens tomorrow night (Friday, November 14) from 7-10 PM at the Bean and Leaf Cafe in Royal Oak. In addition to Aaron, the photographers are:
Rebecca Gutierrez (Luna’s Eyes)
Poster designed by Ajit.
Untitled, photo by metroDevious.
Check out the Detroit gallery at metroDevious.com or his mDv DETROIT slideshow on Flickr.
Yow!
holly 107, photo by jmbarclay.
Today is Veterans Day and I hope everyone gets a chance to to take some time to remember those who have served and are serving our nation.
I’m pretty sure this photo is from the Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly, Michigan. The Holly cemetery is the second national cemetery in Michigan. Michigan’s other national cemetery is the Fort Custer National Cemetery.
Michigan Veterans and Veterans Day on Absolute Michigan has a lot of good information and resources and you can get some good photos & articles about veterans on Michigan in Pictures.
You can view this photo larger in Jim’s Art slideshow and see more veterans photos in the Absolute Michigan pool.
Fall floating away, photo by ahannink.
Snow fell across the state yesterday, and it looks like our long, glorious run of fall weather is coming to a close.
View it larger in ahannink’s Nature set slideshow.
Rain on My Sunset, photo by yooper1949.
Take a trip to Isle Royale National Park with yooper1949 (slideshow) and be sure to check this beauty out bigger.
Isle Royale National Park is one of our state’s true treasures. You can see more photos from this beautiful Michigan island in the Isle Royale National park group. Two cool ways to explore the pics is through this group slideshow and the Isle Royale group Flickriver.
Hope you all have a happy weekend wherever you may be.
The Owl on the Roof, photo by .jowo..
Joel writes:
When Joan opened the curtains this morning she found this fella sitting on the telephone pole. An hour or so later, it moved to the top of the house, where it stayed for a couple more hours.
This shot from the back yard. The bird kept its eye on me, but obviously wasn’t concerned about me. Never had an owl in our yard before. Very impressive.
Be sure to check it out bigger, this other view and Joel’s Birds slideshow.
The Owl Pages’ page for the Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) has great info on the Snowy Owl, which was classified in 1758 by famed Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus (the guy who laid the foundations for taxonomy & ecology). The “scandiacas” is a Latinised word referring to Scandinavia. Other names include Arctic Owl, Great White Owl, Ghost Owl, Ermine Owl, Tundra Ghost, Ookpik and (my personal favorite) White Terror of the North. The average female weighs 5 pounds and is 26″ tall with a 50-60″ wingspan, making it one of the larger owls.
The Call of the Wild Museum page on snowy owls says:
The Snowy Owl is a beautiful, majestic Bird of Prey. It is one of the most
recognized birds to visit Michigan in the winter – they actually fly south
from Northern Canada and Alaska in October and November, then fly back
north in March and April – just as it starts to warm up. Only the males will
be completely white, the females are generally larger, but their feathers
are white with dark spotting or barring. These large white, tuftless owls
are found primarily in wide open inland spaces – this includes farmlands,
marshlands and even airports! Any of these habitats in Michigan resemble
their northern tundra homes.Being a bird of open land, some of their favorite resting spots are on the
ground, a lamp post, or a rooftop; they hardly ever sit up in a tree. In their
breeding grounds, found far north, the lemming are their primary food
source. When the lemming population is on a decline in the tundra, the
snowy owl flies further south to supplement their hunger. This leads to an
occasional influx in the number of birds in Michigan, in fact studies have
shown that this happens every 4 -5 years. the most recent invasion
happened during the winter of 1991-92. More than 100 owls were reported
seen from over half of Michigan’s 83 counties!
Also see the Snowy Owl from All About Birds (has some sounds of the snowy owl too), Nyctea scandiaca (snowy owl) from Animal Diversity Web and Wikipedia’s Snowy Owl entry.
Finally, here’s a cool YouTube video of a snowy owl in Wayne County!
n2c_101-0545, photo by sgowtham.
Gowtham writes that thanks to not so good winter, scorching summer and lack of rains, water level in Portage Canal (near the dredge) was observably low (without that, he probably wouldn’t have gotten this picture).
Wikipedia says that The Keweenaw Waterway:
… is a partly natural, partly manmade waterway which cuts across the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan. Parts of the waterway are variously known as the Keweenaw Waterway, Portage Canal, Portage Lake Canal, Portage River, Lily Pond, and Portage Lake. The waterway connects to Lake Superior at its north and south entries with sections known as Portage Lake and Torch Lake in between. The primary tributary to Portage Lake is the Sturgeon River.
Originally a small river used by natives for transportation and fishing, the waterway was dredged and extended in the 1860s in a joint venture between the United States Government and several mining corporations. The expanded canal allowed freighters to haul copper from the rich copper mines of the Keweenaw Peninsula out through Lake Superior to larger cities. It also enabled supply boats and freighters to reach the cities of Houghton and Hancock, which supplied goods to most of Michigan’s copper region. The local mines’ stamp mills dumped large quantities of stamp sand (containing traces of copper and chemical leaching agents) into the waterway, causing significant environmental damage near the sand dumps.
It’s part of the Keweenaw Water Trail.
He has many more great photos at sgowtham.net and you can also check out his Flickriver.
Broken Alley, photo by Kcjacoby.
The photo is part of Ken’s Packard Plant set (slideshow) and you should check it out bigger right here. Please feel free to deluge him with comments asking him to post the other photos from his trip to the plant faster. ;)
The next Exposure.Detroit show opens next Friday (November 14) from 7-10 PM at the Bean and Leaf Cafe in Royal Oak. In addition to Ken Jacoby, the photographers are:
Rebecca Gutierrez (Luna’s Eyes)
Poster designed by Ajit.
A War Worth Waging – HFM, photo by MikeRyu
View it bigger on black and see more photos in Mike’s Henry Ford Museum set (slideshow).
Seeing this photo and realizing it’s been less than 100 years that women have enjoyed the right to vote made me think about how tirelessly they worked to secure the right to vote. Here’s a snapshot of women’s suffrage in Michigan courtesy the H-Net Chronology of Michigan Women’s History:
1849 A Senate committee, led by Senator Rix Robinson of Ada, proposes a universal suffrage amendment but it is not acted upon because of the “unusualness” and “needlessness” of the franchise for women.
1866 The state’s first bill on woman suffrage is defeated by one vote.
1867 The Michigan Legislature grants women taxpayers the right to vote for school trustees but rejects total woman suffrage.
1912 Governor Charles S. Osborn successfully urges the Michigan State Legislature to put the suffrage question before the all-male electorate in November. Clara B. Arthur of Detroit leads the campaign and the proposal appears to win. However, the opposition steals the election under suspicious circumstances.
1917 Governor Albert E. Sleeper signs a bill on May 8, granting Michigan women the right to vote in presidential elections.
1918 Michigan male voters approve a state constitutional amendment granting suffrage to Michigan women.
1919 Michigan women vote for statewide offices for the first time.
1920 The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting the vote to women, becomes law on August 26. Women vote for the first time in the presidential election on November 2.
It also made me wonder how something (each of our rights to vote) that has been bought and paid for time and again with far, far too much blood, sweat and tears can be treated with such disdain by many.
Your vote is your voice, please speak up today.
More about voting in Michigan from Absolute Michigan.
Michigan in Pictures 