Things had been pretty quiet around Pasty Central for several weeks.  Oh, we had the regular email about various Pasty Cam shots which struck a chord and brought back memories of "up north".  But then... Jonathan, our main picture taker, snapped this cool picture of mud on the volleyball court at Tech.  Boy, did we hear from our visitors!  It rivaled the feedback when Elmo's tower fell or Hans the Hacker invaded pasty.com.

It had been very dry here in the U.P. in April and early May, which caused the mud to have a certain texture, and made for the unique shot.  Unfortunately, that dry period also resulted in some extensive forest fires, especially in the Marquette area.  An unusual thing happens, though, when the smoke from such a wide area dissipates into the atmosphere... We are treated to some pretty interesting sunsets.  This, of course, made it on the Pasty Cam as well.  Guess there is an upside and downside to a lot of things in life.  By the way, the remainder of May has seen an abundance of rain, reversing the fire danger out in the woods.

The Pasty Cam has made us look a lot more closely at the beauty which surrounds us here in the Copper Country, even little things like mud.  Our main focus is this tiny peninsula, this corner of the world known as the Keweenaw.  The best part is that we can share it with people around the world because of the Internet.  Thanks for all the wonderful notes we receive, letting us know where you want us to point the Pasty Cam.  We try to shoot as many of the requested spots as possible... from L'Anse to Ontonagon to Copper Harbor... and sometimes even far away lands like Saint Ignace or Marquette.

...but don't be surprised if every now and then it's simply a down-to-earth look at the path ahead.

Charlie Hopper
Administrator
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