black cherry ice cream

black cherry ice cream

black cherry ice cream, photo by jenny murray.

Sometimes I feel guilty about just reposting someone’s excellent photo and words without adding anything, but I guess there’s times when there’s really not that much to add. I also feel guilty sometimes when I eat a whole big bowl of ice cream. Anyway, here’s Jenny:

So there was this recipe in the July issue of Traverse magazine for black cherry ice cream, one of the most delightful things ever created, in my humble opinion. The coolest thing about the recipe is that it’s super easy.

Black Cherry Ice Cream

2 cups ripe black cherries, pitted
2/3 granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups heavy cream, whipped
fresh lemon juice (i used lemon zest, but i like lemon-y things)

Mash cherries slightly with the sugar in a bowl.
Fold in whipped cream and add just a squeeze of lemon juice — more if you like your ice cream a little less sweet. P
our the mixture into a container (metal bowl works).
Cover and freeze until firm, beating by hand after 1 1/2 hours.
Let freeze at least 4 hours total.

Yum.

Grandfather Beech and the celebration of trees

Grandfather Winter Grandfather Spring
Grandfather Summer Grandfather Fall

Grandfather Beech (4 photos), by Eye See 360

I am pretty sure that the above photos are by Betsy Lewis , whose work is featured at the Tahquamenon Area Library in Newberry. The Mining Journal has an article on the exhibit. They had planned around an arts grant from the state (which was cut), but they are still holding an amateur photo contest. It’s the 4th annual and the theme is Trees. You can get more information about the contest right here, but even if you don’t enter, consider what Betsy has to say about trees:

Our economy, our recreation, our lives are dependent on trees. They build our homes, provide fuel, jobs, clean the air, provide respite for us and are home to many creatures besides us. They provide roots, they are flexible, they bend, they break, they change. They surround us and uplift us and inspire us to reach for the sky.

Kalamazoo, Michigan

Looking Down, Kalamazoo, MI by chicalookate

Looking Down, photo by chicalookate

After spending an hour yesterday afternoon exploring Kalamazoo video for our Absolute Michigan station on chime.tv, I decided to check out the slideshow of 10,000+ photos tagged “kalamazoo” on Flickr. After spending entirely too long with some really amazing photos and photographers, I have the following to report:

Michigan History magazine needs your photos!

Untitled, photo by jacalynsnana.

Christine Schwerin is a photo editor looking for a good venue to find specific images from Michigan photographers on a regular basis to be used in Michigan History magazine. She’s hoping to find photographers interested in joining an email list to receive a monthly list of images they’re looking for. If you are, send her an email!

Christine says that the first photo they’re looking for is a nice scenic picture – river, meadow, whatever, so long as it is in the Huron National Forest. Do you have one? Let her know!

A quick review of the Huron National Forest (part of the Huron-Manistee National Forests) tells me that we’ll have to return for an extended visit another day.

The above photo is of one of the world’s premier trout streams, the Au Sable River – a large portion of which winds through the Huron National Forest.

Bracing Against The Wind at Saugatuck Dunes State Park

Bracing Against The Wind

Bracing Against The Wind, photo by josiah.keen.

2 months and only 60 miles? Looks like this Michigan shoreline tour might take more than just a summer (or a year) since I insist on pulling the car over at every state park along the way.

Josiah says the park is near his hometown of Holland and a frequent retreat. These pics are part of his great set of photos of Saugatuck Dunes State Park (view slideshow).

With the exception of a link to the interesting looking Felt Mansion (of which I suspect there will be more heard about here in the future), Wikipedia’s entry for Saugatuck Dunes State Park is pretty sparse, so we turn to the official Saugatuck Dunes State Park site which explains:

View Josiah's Saugatuck Dunes slideshow

A day-use park along a secluded strip of Lake Michigan shoreline, Saugatuck Dunes State Park offers 1,000 acres of land with 2.5 miles of shore line. The Lake Michigan beach is a 0.6 mile hike from the picnic parking area. In addition, the park has fresh water coastal dunes that are over 200 feet tall. The park’s terrain varies from steep slopes to rolling hills. The park, located in Allegan County, is relatively undeveloped. The land for Saugatuck Dunes was acquired in 1971 from the Augustinian Order, who used the buildings as a seminary. When the state took ownership, the structures were used as a prison and state police offices.The park’s major attractions are the long sandy beaches and the 300-acre natural area, which contains a coastal dune system, as well as three endangered plant species. Nature enthusiasts, birdwatchers and hikers are the predominant day users.

The park has also been a site of tension between preservation and development. In 2001, Concerned Citizens for Saugatuck Dunes State Park was founded in response to proposals to use the park for a water treatment plant. Recently, they and other groups formed the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance. Check them both out for background and also this video slideshow.

Check out the Flickr photo map and also explore the area at Saugatuck Dunes State Park on our Absolute Michigan map.

Tahquamenon Falls

Tahquamenon Falls

Tahquamenon Falls, photo by A. Runyon.

Well, about a month ago I blogged this photo of the Mackinac Bridge.

Apparently, Amanda found this on the other side. She has another equally amazing photo right here, and you can read more about the Tahquamenon Falls on Michigan in Pictures.

I have to add that it’s a beautiful thing when someone makes a photo like this available in “background size”. ;)

Taste the Local Raspberries!

Jam,wine or Just off the Vine

Jam,wine or Just off the Vine, photo by taterfalls.

According to ancient Greek myth, all raspberries were once white. But one day, when the god Jupiter was in an angry rage, the Nymph Ida picked some wild raspberries to calm him. While she was picking the berries, she pricked her finger on the thorns of a raspberry bush. Legend states that from then on, her blood stained all raspberries a bright red color.

That’s just one of the many “drupelets” of information about raspberries available in Ready to Pick: Raspberries from Taste the Local Difference: everything from tips that raspberries are best picked in the morning and won’t ripen after picking to the fact that raspberries are rich in Vitamin C, antioxidants and ellagic acid (an anti-carcinogenic compound) to an explanation that raspberries are actually a cluster of many small individual fruits, called drupelets, each containing its own seed.

Like all the others in their weekly Ready to Pick series, it also includes links to Northern Michigan farms & farm markets with raspberries, a profile of the famed Tapawingo restaurant in Ellsworth and recipes for Raspberry and Lemon Thyme Ice, Tapawingo’s Raspberry-Chocolate Tart in Almond Pastry and Raspberry Pancakes. (I think I better go get breakfast now).

Tate says that these raspberries were sooo good, so I’m sure you can be forgiven if your raspberries never make it home from picking!

supersampler: Watermelon umbrella

Watermelon umbrella

Watermelon umbrella, photo by caterpillars.

The Lomographic Society International presents the Queen of All Multi-Lensed Cameras, the Supersampler

Who doesn’t want the Lomographic Society International’s Queen of All Multi-Lensed Cameras, the Supersampler?

View caterpillars’ supersampler slideshow.

Wilfred Sykes

Wilfred Sykes

Wilfred Sykes, photo by jowo.

I think that Joel can pretty much handle today’s post:

Pretty boat. Leaving the harbor at Muskegon, Michigan.

While I’ve seen, and photographed, most currently active lakes boats, this one had somehow escaped me until yesterday afternoon. We’d gone to Muskegon to walk the beach, and suddenly there she was, leaving the harbor.

Sykes was the first American lakes boat completed after World War II, and was launched shortly after I was born. In many ways she’s the prototype for a generation of lakers. And just plain gorgeous! Glad I finally found her.

You may enjoy Joel’s Lakers slideshow and you’ll probably also like the Wilfred Sykes photo gallery from boatnerd.com Joel links to above.

a temple in detroit

a temple in detroit

a temple in detroit, photo by artsy_T.

The other day when I blogged the exposure.detroit Selective Focus photography show (this Friday, July 20), I was pretty shocked to see that I had never blogged a photo from Tina (aka artsy T) to Michigan in Pictures.

She’s been a regular contributor to Absolute Michigan and (in addition to being one heck of an art teacher) she has a great eye for the yellows and reds and azures that surround us.

She has some cool socks too.