Cheers to the New Year

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Cheers to a great day

Cheers to a great day, photo by Kathy~.

Kathy took this photo this summer, but it seems appropriate as the sun sets on another year. If you click her photo, you can see the link to her incredible photo of the Town of Monterosso al mare, Italy in a wine glass!

Two years ago Michigan in Pictures was brand new, and I’m continually astonished by what it has become. I’d like to thank all the photographers who have let me share their pictures and helped to brighten my mornings as I travel around Michigan through their photos. I’d also like to thank everyone who visits – especially those to take time to share a story or word of praise.

In my admittedly biased opinion, this web site is one of the coolest things I’ve ever been a part of. I know that it’s due to all of you great people who share a love for this wonderful state.

I hope you all have a fun and safe evening tonight! (if you’re wondering what to do tonight – check out the New Years Eve event listing from Absolute Michigan.

Norrie Park Road

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Norrie Park Road

Norrie Park Road, photo by siskokid.

With what a mess yesterday’s snow made of the lower parts of the state, I thought maybe an appropriate antidote would be a shot from near Ironwood in the Upper Peninsula, where heaping mountains of snow are simply expected.

Jim says that in many ways, winter is his favorite part of year. He has more photos of the season in his Winter photos set (slideshow).

I hope you get a chance to have a little fun in the snow this weekend!

Winter sparkles

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Untitled, photo by jenny murray.

Jenny writes that beautiful, frosty mornings when everything sparkles in the winter are a reason she couldn’t ever live in a warm state.

Wonderland at Camp Miniwanca

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Wonderland

Wonderland, photo by SpringChick.

SpringChick (Deb) says that she works at Camp Miniwanca, located on Lake Michigan and also on Stony Lake near Shelby, MI. She has a great set of photos from Miniwanca (slideshow) and you can learn more about the camp at the American Youth Foundation’s Miniwanca pages.

Happy Merry Joyous

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Wreath

Wreath, photo by rckrawczykjr.

I suspect that it doesn’t matter as much what we celebrate as how.

May your time be spent with those you love in happiness, health and bounty.

Into the Sun

Posted on by farlane

Into the Sun by J.E.T.

Into the Sun, photo by J.E.T.

If you’re looking to capture a little of the magic and fun of being young and outside in Michigan, I can’t think of a better place to start than with Jessie’s photos of snow (slideshow).

Here’s hoping you get to spend a little quality time this week with the ones you love and several billion snowflakes.

long (overdue) exposures from Grand Rapids

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

first impressions

first impressions, photo by powerbooktrance.

This photo that Terry took of Grand Rapids last night was one of the first I saw this morning.

There’s a lot of people who are featured on Michigan in Pictures who really could have their own photo blog. Because this blog is all about views from everywhere in Michigan, I try to make sure that I don’t feature photos from my favorite photographers too often. That said, I do want to make sure that readers see their work, so I was stunned to find that I’d apparently never posted one of Terry’s photos here.

You can see more of his great long exposures of Grand Rapids and elsewhere (slideshow) including one of my favorites: Moon Patrol.

Plaid snow

Posted on by farlane

Plaid snow, photo by loungelistener

Plaid snow, photo by loungelistener

Gary recently related that he is not at all fond of winter, so it may be that whatever forces look after such things brought him this amazing scene.

Abbott Road Park … but what about Theophilus Capen Abbot?

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Abbot Park

Abbot Park, photo by jstealth03.

Abbot Road Park is one of the City of East Lansing’s 24 neighborhood parks. It’s located north of Lake Lansing Road and designated as a hiking and cross-country ski trails natural area with access to the Northern Tier Trail.

The city can’t seem to settle on a name for the park. Their web page calls it “Abbot Park” but the road is “Abbott Rd”. The city’s park & facilities map (pdf) lists it as “Abbot Road Park” so that’s probably correct. However, there’s the matter of Abbot Hall, about which Kevin Forsyth’s fabulous History of East Lansing says:

The hall was named for Theophilus Capen Abbot (1826-1892). Dr. Abbot joined M.A.C. as Professor of English from 1858 to 1866. He then became acting Secretary of the Board of Agriculture, a position he effectively held until 1871. Concurrently — and most importantly — he was third President of the College from 1862 until 1884. During his long and distinguished tenure, he guided the growth of the school through difficult times, and “showed an eye single to the grand object for which the College was established. Nothing could swerve him from a course which should ever keep in view the aid and promotion of agriculture.”

In any case, I’ve added a marker for Abbott Road Park to our Absolute Michigan map of Michigan and requested some sort of clarification from Mr. Forsyth – if you have anything to add to my confusion or the discussion, please post it in the comments!

December snow in SE Michigan

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

December snow in SE Michigan

December snow in SE Michigan, photo by oakwood.

Oakwood writes 8 inches of snow fell in our area today – lots of blowing and drifting. Pretty isn’t it!

The word of the week this week over on Absolute Michigan is “snow“, and if you’re tired from digging out, maybe you should grab a cup of cocoa and explore the happier side of snow!

Also check out photos of “Michigan snow” from the last couple days.