no words. just images.

have i mentioned how much i love lake superior?

my sister helen and i went to great sand bay one afternoon to take pictures. the water seemed astonishingly warm. i don’t recall that side of the lake ever getting warm in all the years i lived there. i only remember icy waters. not that lake superior ever really got that warm anywhere – i was much tougher skinned then and could actually swim in cold water – but that was definitely one of the colder sections.

(the thought of icy waters reminds me of a time i jumped into devil’s washtub, down the way from great sand bay, one fourth of july. i don’t know a good way to describe devil’s washtub, except to say that it’s on a rocky cliff side of the lake and there is a hole, surrounded by rock, with an opening near the bottom where the lake comes in and out. that day, i jumped in without checking the water temperature first. it was so cold that when i hit the water, i couldn’t breathe, and i bobbed up and down in the water, slightly panicking and trying desperately to catch my breath so i could climb out again.)

it’s a warm april afternoon in marrakech.

helen and i are sitting at an outdoor table near the main square, our suitcases and bags piled all around us, eating lunch before our flight. our table is on an outside corner, next to the main street and a small side street.

i look up from my meal to see two peacocks in a bike basket right next to me.

i am so astonished that it feels a little surreal and i keep staring, as if to assure myself that they really are peacocks.

the peacocks are sitting in a basket on the back of the bike. they are facing the back and their feathers are stretched across the bike seat and over the handlebars.

there is a little old man in a rumpled suit, holding the bicycle upright and talking to two policeman. i have no idea what any of them are saying but the policeman look rather astonished themselves.

the peacocks look remarkably calm, given that they are sitting on the back of a bicycle and there are people and noise and commotion all around them. they do not, however, look very happy.

as the man leaves the policemen and walks around the corner with his bicycle, some children stop him to look at the peacocks. as he walks off again, they look a little ruffled (the peacocks, not the children), and i see the man reach his hand back and gently, lovingly, absentmindedly pet them as he walks off with his precious cargo.

it was the most unexpectedly delightful scene.

i’m sorry i don’t have a picture, but you can see why i might have forgotten to pull my iphone out. it’s not every day that you look up from your lunch to see peacocks in a bicycle basket.

i love my little niece so much i can hardly stand it.

i wish she lived here. i would take her to story hour and to the children’s museum and she could chase atlas all around the house and pull his tail. sniffle.

i made up a song for her: “oh, savannah, oh don’t you cry for me, for i’ve come from portland, oregon, to hold you on my knee.”

i also have a new nephew, who i met, but i forgot to ask his mom if she cared if i posted a picture of him. i did start a story for him, though. it is the story of prince lars, who went out one day with a very large sword to hunt dragons but somehow came home with one instead because it was so cute. he let his dragon light the fire in his fireplace every night with his fiery breath. (at that point, i had to stop the story, because that was not where i thought it was going at all and i was very confused.)

savannah also has her own story. in case you’ve forgotten, it is the story of queen savannah, who rode her pony named mustard around the island of molasses every morning and decreed that all the little girls on the island would be princesses. people came from all over the world to see the herd of princesses on ponies following queen savannah and mustard around the island and they even ended up as a feature article in national geographic.

did i mention that i love love love her?

i am not so good about sharing pictures of me anywhere. i have been trying to be better about it this year, at least on facebook.

it’s partly because people pictures are not my forte. it’s partly because i don’t take pictures of myself. it’s partly because – as is probably true of many people – i am too hard on myself and do not really like pictures of me. happily, i notice that as i grow older and wiser and kinder, i am less and less critical of myself in all ways, including in pictures.

just for fun, i thought i would share some today. i do know that it’s nice to see more of the person behind the blog and offerings. both photos were taken by my sister helen. (you can click on them to see the larger size.)

i picked these ones because the stories behind them made me laugh.

in the first photo, we were playing at being models. my sisters margaret and helen and i went to walk along a lake superior beach one afternoon because it was too chilly to swim. while we were walking, we passed my camera back and forth. at one point, we decided to play the model game. first, helen took pictures while margaret and i modeled. then, margaret took pictures while helen and i modeled. poor helen was getting very frustrated because she wanted us to keep a straight face – unsmiling – but margaret couldn’t do it without either laughing or looking strange. finally, helen gave in and let margaret smile. i liked those ones the best.

in the second photo, helen was trying to prove a point. i have tried to take a few photos of her from that same angle. i think i read somewhere that it’s a good one. whenever she could tell that that was the angle i was aiming for, she’d complain and make me stop. this was her attempt to show me why it didn’t work. unfortunately for her, i didn’t mind the photo so her plan was foiled.

(as a side note, modeling is hard work. the second photo was from another set where helen was making me model for her. she’d take a picture and then holler, “change your pose!” after maybe two poses, i had run out of ideas and could only do something random and awkward. it was pretty funny.)

(as another side note, this post was inspired by liz lamoreux’s latest adventures in creative self-care newsletter. are you signed up?)

i have a feeling that no matter where i roam, lake superior will always be my favorite body of water. i lived a few miles away from it for about half my life.

on thursday night, one of my sisters and i went to mclain state park to run on the trails and jump in the lake as the sun dropped below the horizon. on saturday night, i went back with another sister to take pictures of the sunset.

it was so lovely. i look at these pictures and i feel so lucky to have experienced such beauty while growing up. i also know why i am drawn to the cold and wild and seemingly infinite pacific.

isn’t it lovely!

i am hoping to get some new photos because i have been wanting to make a “wish you were here” card set for either the upper peninsula or lake superior since i started my shop. maybe this will be the year it finally happens.

speaking of cards, i want to remind anyone who’s interested that the end of summer sale on everything in my etsy shop ends on monday.

enter endofsummer as the coupon code at checkout for 17% off your purchase.

click here to visit the shop!

in other news, if you like art and stories and mail, i have a new offering! it’s called the world of story and it begins in october. (in case you are keeping track of such things, i did introduce the world of story earlier this summer, but i had an inspired idea last week and changed it up a little.)

i was thinking about my grandparents’ farm in michigan and i remembered this photo.

clearly atlas has a long history of picking his own fruit.

maybe we could go to an apple orchard this fall and he could pick apples while i sit on a picnic bench and drink cider and eat cinnamon sugar doughnuts and supervise.

somewhat impulsively, i am off to michigan next week. i am so very excited because i get to spend time with my niece savannah! also other people. also lake superior. but also savannah! almost a whole year has gone by since i saw her. i miss her.

i know conventional wisdom says that prices generally go up, not down.

apparently i am living in the land of opposites because instead, i just had a flash of inspiration to lower my price for the pause – a way to rest and recharge and renew.

i am not entirely sure why i feel so inspired; mostly it just feels like a lovely thing to do. so, as of today, the price is $62.

if you (or someone you know) are looking for a way to retreat from the chaos of daily life for a while, all in the comfort of your own home, maybe a pause would be right for you.

(if you haven’t noticed, i am fond of numbers that add up to 8. i like the number 8. it reminds me of infinity and the interplay between giving and receiving.)