• Odds 'n Ends January 21 - 10:49 am

On our left we're passing a pristine white church framed by colorfully turning leaves, on our way through Rockland, courtesy of Z-Man. Uncertain of which church this is, I'm going to have to rely on someone chiming in with a few more details. There are several details about the second picture, though, of which I'm aware. It's at Victoria Falls, with Z-Man on the rocks, doing what he does best, captured by Donn de Yampert. In addition, a little birdie told me that it's Z-Man's birthday this weekend and he's turning 21 (AGAIN!). It's nice to see the folks behind those cameras, too bad we can't quite see his face, kind of like the guy over the fence on Home Improvement.

Good Morning.

Lucky yoopers with snow in the forecast.

First post. Good Morning from Ill.

Good morning. Is that the new church in Rockland?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE ZMAN! Thanks for all the great pictures!

2 days to the U.P. - Yeah

Second posting? Where is everyone this fine cool morning? Have a blessed day.

You've done it again! My boyfriend and I were just in Rockland last weekend. We did a little sight-seeing on saturday while visiting my parents in Bessemer and I remember looking at this beautiful church.

I always feel so homesick every time I visit this site, but I must be a glutton for punishment because I keep coming back...........

Good morning and have a great weekend everyone!

I'm not even a Native Yooper and this site makes me homesick. My oldest girl has always felt something pulling her north, but never knew why. During our weeklong drive-by vacation in the UP, she found out why. Now she's as homesick for it as I am.

Though I must admit, I won't be a truly "blooded" Yooper 'till I've survived a winter there . . .

And I'm still trying to find out if Doug Smith in Wixom is originally from Gingleville . . . Does anyone know?

Yep It's color season in the Keweenaw! ;-)

WHITE

Saturday: A chance of rain and snow showers between 7am and noon.

Could get interesting with the winds forcast to be gusting to 40 mph out of the north.

Thank you for this picture.

Nat'l Weather Service sez 44 to 52 degrees next 4 days - looks like we're going back to May and June weather!

It looks like Shawn's in Laurium is being turned into an Irish pub. And they've pretty much finished fixing the highway between Calumet and Laurium, and north of Calumet. You late-season visitors should enjoy the peninsula better.

Good morning from arlington,tx starting to cool down & it sure is nice. Beautiful picture z-man bet that church would look grand in any season. I'd like to wish my oldest son (Erik) a very happy 31st birthday today. You all make my day every day thank you so much. Wish we could be there for the color season, but not the snow. Have a great day & god bless all.

Good morning! Here is to a wonderful weekend. Good morning to my husband who is in the hospital recovering from successful surgery for prostate cancer. Found early and no sign of spreading. This mornings picture makes me thankful to be alive and living in the USA!! Thanks again for all the great conversations and pictures on this site. You all are inspiring and love the laughs I can always count on.

I look in every day for the beautiful photos. We bought land up there and I have yet to see it. Stephen, it's your birthday! Have a wonderful day.

Beautiful photos. Rain and sleet in the forecast for tomorrow. Sure wish I could get back up to Keweenaw now that the trees are coloring.

I shouldn't feel wistful about being here instead of Copper Harbor, as the road here through Pleasantview Valley (just south of the Swamp) is on all the fall color tours in downstate papers. With good reason: lots of hard maple, red maple, a few ash, oaks and lots of red pine, and aspen in the cleared areas, plus rolling hills, hay fields and corn, sunflowers by the acre, fine views across the valley and sleepy rivers. All edged in the blue waters of Lk Michigan. Too many bloody golf courses, but you can't have everything.

*sigh* why did the nice weather string have to break THIS weekend? Right now I'm about 4 hours away till I leave for Tahquamenon falls, and it looks like I'll have to pack the trailer with sweatshirts instead of T's. :p Oh well, I guess a bad weather weekend up there is still better than most of the weekends down here.:)
Nice pics by the way, good composition on the church photo. Kinda wondering in the 2nd photo if they caught the guy's best side or not.;)

Oh how I wish we were up there right now! We had to cut our vacation short due to car trouble. RATS!! We so wanted to go up Brockway Mountain. I wanted to get more pictures of the face in the mountain. Well, We'll try again next year. Suzanne in WI, my best to you and your husband. My dad is facing the prospect of prostate surgery soon. He sees the doctor Tuesday to find out what the next step will be.

Suzanne- Great to hear that your husband is doing well!

Happy Friday everyone!!!!!! We are getting cooler weather here too! I actually can turn the ceiling fan off at night in my bedroom! In the 60's at night, BRRRR. HA HA HA HA HA

hey, I swear I remember an earlier pict of Zman--an older man (than this guy) with a dark beard? Was that pict a joke, actually Toivo?

Happy Birthday Z-Man! We have seen his face before though..not like the Home Improvement guy.

OK, why is this Zman dark bearded and the one above blonde?

Maybe Z-Man is dark bearded in the above photo due to the lack of abundant sunshine here in the wintertime. And lighter in the top photo because of being out in the summer sun shooting photos?
Just a thought.

I just read about Mt St Helens Volcano about to blow in Washington & this link to the Live Volcano webcam...

http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/

could be some interesting shots in the coming days, if she really does blows her top!

I am so glad to see that no one has taken the bait to get into the debate issue here this am. I'd rather talk about life and times in the UP. When I am up there I can forget about all the rhetoric flying about on the airwaves and in the papers. keep up the great photos!!

It makes me feel better when other peaple talk about being homesick for somewhere they have never lived. I have only vacationed in the UP and yet it always feels like home.

21 eh? Guess I don't look so bad for 50 then.

Looks like the new Methodist church in Rockland.Great little town. If your hungry while passing through stop at Henry's, They feed you well and it's good, that is if they are still there. It's been a little while since I was there.

Good morning everyone!
Mt. St. Helens is still rumbling. I went to school at New Mexico Tech with a couple of guys who work at the Cascades Volcano Observatory. Today they are going to use some thermal imaging equipment to see look for any heat anomalies on the mountain (which can indicate how close magma is to the surface). Sometimes I miss being a field geologist climbing those volcanoes.

Six days and I'll be in Houghton! Sounds like I better be ready for some of the white stuff :)

Good morning from San Jose. I'm homesick for the UP, and in my lifetime I've spent a total of 3 weeks there.

yahoo in flatland - thanks for the Mt. St. Helen's link.

yooperwannabe - I'm with you on that one!

Barb, GR - I feel exactly the same way.

Thank goodness for this site!

Probably dyes his hair

Was up Rockland way about three weeks ago heading up to Lake Superior and the colors were just starting here and there. Stopped at the "honey" man just down the road. The new church was just completed not to long ago to replace the one that burnt down a few years back.

Thanks for moving the off subject comments on yesterdays memorial page to separet odds and ends page.

Such a beautiful day yesterday that we picked wild cranberries. Stopped at a park before Gay to have a bite to eat. Sept. was above average temps for a new record. Temps will be back near 60 by Tuesday. Maybe we can get out on the lake. Still trying to catch those salmon but the water temps are still high.

Beautiful pictures today and sure am enjoying this site. My husband is always wondering what I'm laughing at.

One week to go and starting the countdown right now. 8 days away from the city and traffic and all that. Hope the colors are peaking then. UP here I come!

this ole grandma is bundling up in her winter underwear, turtleneck,jeans, mittens boots,plastic cape and leggings to go to her grandson's football game tonight in Kingsford. It's supposed to rain mixed with snow. So I'm prepared. If it doesn't happen I'll just peel everything off.LOL It's his senior year so can't miss it ya know.Besides us yoopers are TOUGH!!!! I'll be able to handle it. GOOD LUCK MARQUETTE REDMEN!!!!!!!

Enjoy the game Cheryl, Good luck to your Grandson and Marquette.

Cheryl,

I remember trying to squeeze as much clothing underneath my band uniform as I could fit to play at the half-time shows for the Speedboys! At least we got to move around to keep warm.....

Good luck tonight!

I have a football game to go to tonight also, hope I'll be warm enough, its only going to be in the 80's! HA HA HA HA I'm sure its gonna be rough. :)

Oh Shelly, you poor thing :-)

Good luck to the Gladstone Braves tonight vs. Alpena.

MT.ST.HELENS JUST BLEW ABOUT FOURTY MINUTES AGO MOSTLY STEAM AND ASH BUT IT MAY NOT BE OVER WITH A LITTLE SCARY HERE IN THE PORTLAND AREA BUT IN SOME WAYS A LITTLE EXCITING ALSO

Jeff Portland, OR
I just saw all the steam from that link someone supplied further on up. Really something! Hope you are out of harmsway.

shelly, that can't be hard to take. Sniffle sniffle. But then again what's a football game without cold miserable weather? We're used to it in the UP.

Gee, I can't even get the volcano link. It says to check back in a few minutes. Is it because of all the activity going on? My two boys live about an hour away from Mt. St. Helens. I want to know whats going on.

Be patient, I had to wait to see it too. Eventually you will get through.

There are some reports of smoke and ash from Mt. St. Helens on CNN. I haven't gotten into the live webcam either.

beautiful church, i should go up and see it some time!

YEEE HAAA!!! in 15 hours I will be on the road to the UP! Save some pasties for me please.

I'll tell you that some of my friends down here think its cold weather when its in the 60's!! I have lived here 3 years now, and only turned the heater on twice! And that was only because it got below freezing and I was worried about the pipes busting! I was raised in Gaylord for 30 years, so I have had my fair share of cold winters! :)

Mount St Helen's blew about 12 noon or so today.
Just thought you should know.

The eruption of Mt. St. Helens was small, as the folks up at Cascades Volcano Observatory predicted. It sounds like it is what we call a phreatic eruption, one that is mostly steam. A bit of ash was erupted as well, but nothing even close to what occurred in 1980.
What I am now waiting to see is if this was an isolated eruption or if more will follow.

Oh.
Just got an image via said link, 1354 PDT, and it looks perfectly peaceful to me - absolute ignorant on volcanoes that I am. So, what looks grey in the picture is ashes?

Ah. Dr. Nat already explained it. Should post faster, I guess;)
Anyway, thnx for info & link!

The area around the mountain is usually grey-- that's volcanic ash left from the 1980 eruption. When I looked at the cam a little while ago, there was still some white steam being carried by the wind towards the left of the picture. I assume that it looks peaceful now because the steam and ash that erupted has already been carried away.

Just outside of Rockland is the Irish Hollow Cemetery. An interesting place just off the road that still looks visited and must have a story. Does anyone know the "story"?

The name of the church is St Paul's Methodist, as seen on this link to Rockland, Michigan....
http://www.rocklandmi.org/

Acyne, you can't possibly have a 31 year old! we've only been out of school a few years...and Roger, say hi to your mother-in-law for me when you visit!

https://www.pasty.com/pcam/Z-man The first five pictures were taken in the Rockland/Victoria area last weekend. One of which is from the Irish Hollow Cemetary. Enjoy

Z-Man... your "On the First Date" shot is amazing! How did you DO that??

Candy- You are oh so right I'm not a day over 30 myself-LOL. For Roger we made a trip home over the summer & really enjoyed it, hope you have a great time. It's been awhile since I've seen either of you,but I'm sure we all look just like the day we left Calumet High!!! Have a great evening.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Let peace be amongst us throughout this great land. Enjoy the fall colors and the great moonlight. A fire in the fireplace, or a walk in
the crispness of the cool air.

The pre-game is on the air over at Pasty.NET, as Gwinn invades Calumet tonight in High School Football, with play-by-play from K-Bear 102.3

Tomorrow afternoon Lake Linden takes on Wakefield at 1:15 pm, which again will be broadcast throughout the U.S. on Pasty.NET.

Our live audio coverage of High School sports has expanded to include Girl's Basketball on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, beginning at 7:20pm. WMPL-AM 920 in Hancock originates the stream, and Pasty.NET brings it to the Web.

Audrey, How did you DO that?? A technique called panning and some Luck. [:-)>

90 degrees in tampa natures own sauna 30 days to da up and a wake up

Here is best shot from the VolcanoCam...

http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/images/mshvolcanocam79.jpg

I don't know how to post the image, so use this link to the archive.

Z-Man:

Do you digitally enhance the images once you record them with your camera, or do you rely on getting the image attributes pretty much "on" with the camera's settings?

Very nice job, either way.

Z-Man-

Great shot!

Happy Birthday to ya.. I am going to be 21 too...lol

Cheryl,mi - In this case does LOL mean 'lots of layers' or 'laughing out loud'? :>)

TLM, Digitally Enhanced? With the exception of adding a frame, changing to black/white, creating a sketch the answer is no. I shoot with a professional grade camera (Olympus E-1) which I have control of all settings. I use three different lens with a range of 28mm to 566mm. Where do we draw the line of being digitally altered? If the data is in the original negative then I say no. If the data was not in the original and added I would say we crossed the line.

Photoshop is a technological tool that can be mis-used like any other. It just replaces conventional darkroom technology because it is simply easier to achieve the same results and it gives more tools to work with, and more control over those tools.

I am trying to share the beauty and wonders of the U.P. thru my eyes. :-)

Z-Man:
Why are you dark haired and bearded in one picture and blonde in the other? Are both really you?

Mary says: Both pictures are REALLY Z-Man. The difference in the hair color could have to do with the lighting and if our photog is out in the sun taking lots of shots, the sun may have lightened it! Only his hairdresser knows for sure! ;-)

Z-Man, you do a great job of sharing the beauty and wonders of the U.P. thru your eyes. You have the power of photography! Thank you for believing in it...

Z-Man:

You wrote: "Where do we draw the line of being digitally altered? If the data is in the original negative then I say no. If the data was not in the original and added I would say we crossed the line"

I agree with you. By enhanced, I meant tweaking the original image with tools to balance the color or using a histogram to change the "exposure" in an effort to make the image appear more pleasing. In that sense, isn't one is still only using the original data? (Perhaps the answer is based on the values of the photographer. A purist might look at any manipulation of the image as being deceitful I guess.)

By the way, it's funny how a great application as Adobe Photoshop's name has now been used by some as a label of discorn; I've read/heard countless times where a questionable image is referred to as having been "Photoshopped".

Thanks for sharing your talent. Always look forward to viewing your images.

The value of a photograph, camera, methodology, purchase price, etc... will always be with each individual. The value of an Ivy League education versus a State University depends on how the educated individual uses it. This is the same as what my brother Z-Man has inferred. Digital technology has now caught up with 35mm imagery and is advancing into the medium format field and is here to stay.

The sematics of Digital Photography verses Film Photography differ in the production. The Film format requires camera settings to be the focus of the photographers attention, with the resultant image being transferred to the "development" stage for final results.
The Digital format utilises the technique of capturing the image in the best possible format to be sent to the "developer"...the photoshop. The artist then has to decide what is "Real", and what is "Enhanced". This decision is different for each artist, and situation. (is removing "redeye" from a bride "enhancing" a photo?) As for the "enhancement"...sometimes Natures Glory cannot be depicted without later work. Her Majesty is extremely elusive, and it is difficult to transfer the true emotion felt to film. Consider the waterfall...is the TRUE glory in the water, as it cascades over the rocks...is it in the background where the rocks form the water into it's myriad flows... or is in the setting? The desired result is a dynamic photo that depicts the feelings flowing through the artist at the moment the image is taken. Anything else is just a tool. Having been to many of these waterfalls with the Z Man, I can tell you his pictures come from a lot of work, and the best you can do is reliant on Mother Nature helping you.....patience.....and a heap of luck.

The original English/Protestant church where the mine
managers, etc in Rockland worshipped was up on top of the
hill east of town. The Irish/Catholic workers worshipped
and were buried down in the hollow below. Segregation at
its finest!

The "Indian" (Rose Hill?) cemetary is really old with some
Native Americans buried there.

The Z-Man probably had a birthday he will remember and I heard from a little birdie that his birthday is today Oct. 3!

This arrived in my email box today, from Keren:

The Photograph is of the newly rebuilt St. Paul's United Methodist Church. The 99 year old original building burned to the ground on April 15, 2002 and through the love faith and dedication of the Church family, the community and numerous others this building was built. A sign has not been placed at the site yet as we were waiting until all of the interior and exterior work was completed.

Hope this answers your query regarding the denominaation of the Church.

Thanks, Keren!

Another arrival in my inbox today, pertaining to the above church. This one from Lucy Seid, who also sent along a picture of the first church ablaze and the only items saved from the fire, in the second shot.

Lucy added: "The Church in question is the St. Paul's Methodist Church located in Rockland, Mi. As you come over National Hill our Church meant "home" to many and was completely destroyed by fire on April 15,2002. It has since been rebuilt; however we had ordered a sign and it was delayed so did not get put in place, but will be as soon as we once again have "Spring" . I have enclosed a picture of the only items saved. The bell was restored by Clint Roberts after being dug out of the burnt timbers."

It's sad when a House of God is lost, but I'm glad it was rebuilt
and the old church's bell and Cross were preserved. But even
between the old church's loss and the completion of the new
church, that church is still alive in spirit, within the Christian
people who worship and glorify God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.