Glen Arbor Sun

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June 17, 2004

River, lake water levels high as cats’ backs

By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor

The Leelanau County rain gods were generous last month, bestowing gifts on the Glen Lakes and the Crystal River for all to enjoy. As a result, for the first time in years canoers and kayakers were actually able to shoot through the culverts under the county roads on the Crystal River’s path to Lake Michigan when this issue of the Glen Arbor Sun went to press.

“We’re certainly happy about the high water levels this spring,” says Matt Wiesen, who now owns the Crystal River Outfitters, located next to Riverfront Pizza in Glen Arbor. “None of our customers have dragged bottom like they have in past years.” Wiesen confirms that current water levels are high enough to carry boats through the narrow pipes under the roads, yet his outfitter business doesn’t allow it because of the potential dangers involved.

According to figures supplied by Stephen Blumer, Chief of Network Operations for the Department of the Interior’s United States Geological Survey based in Lansing, the water level of the Glen Lakes rose from 0.58 to 0.97 feet above the survey’s fixed gage level between May 10 and 24, thus reaching its highest level in May since 2001.

The high water levels are especially good news for the Dam Committee, which regulates how much water will flow through the new hi-tech dam near the corner of 675 and Dunn’s Farm Road, from the fragile Glen Lakes into the Crystal River — an unenviable task during a drought.

“I wouldn’t say we’re high, I’d say the water levels are just right,” says Mike Sutherland one of four members of the Dam Committee, which is divided evenly between residents who live on the Glen Lakes and residents on the river. “We have the perfect amount of water for going into the high summer season.”

Sutherland raves about the new dam: a set of iron gates on a cement spillway that are controlled by a cable and can tweak the amount of water flowing through them by as little as a quarter of an inch. The Dam Committee used to rely on a series of 4x4-foot boards that it would insert or remove to control water flow into the Crystal River.

Two years ago when the rain gods hardly shed a tear all summer, the Committee had to survive a high-wire balancing act, trying to please, or appease, hundreds of boat owners and sunbathers living on the Glen Lakes as well as those who enjoy the river. The Pandora’s Box led to bad blood in our little town, and prompted a court order ensuring that the surface of the lakes remain 596.75 feet above sea level

But, as Sutherland says, the court order has never spoken to the river, and only seeks to maintain the height of the Glen Lakes. “If we keep the lakes at a certain level and it doesn’t rain for a week, the river will suffer,” he says.

On the other hand, too much water could spell disaster. “If we take the lakes up to our comfort level and it rains another inch of water that night, people could lose their yards,” Sutherland added. Ditto for the river. “Too much water in the Crystal for two days would have the larval fish population just barely hanging on along the shoreline or washing into Lake Michigan. You try to avoid those big changes so things don’t get washed away.”

Luckily, these problems haven’t arisen, thus far, in 2004.

“With this new dam we’re able to manage things. But the long and short of it is that Mother Nature controls the lake level. If doesn’t rain for a week, everything will be low and both the lakes and the river will have to suffer.”

Posted by editor at 11:39 PM | Comments (0)

Le Bear awakens as an eager staff welcomes guests

By Norm Wheeler
Sun editor

The colossal Le Bear Luxury Residential Club & Spa is welcoming owners/guests into their new “digs” at the end of Lake Street on Sleeping Bear Bay. Peggy Whiting, Director of Member Services and Chief Concierge, reports that 6 residences along the north side of the new resort are completed and furnished. There will be 14 residences in all, each roomy at 2,400 square feet, and each stretching from the back of the building to the front so that each has a view of the Bay, the Dunes, and the Manitou Islands. “The middle units are a bit wider and not as long, and they should be ready by July,” Peggy adds. “We expect to be using the pool (it’s heated and surrounded by a radiant heat deck) by late-June, the indoor pool by the Fourth of July, and the south units by September.”

Interior work will continue throughout the summer, and as Peggy explains, “Each interior is opulent, warm, and comfortable, and each is created and decorated with exquisite taste. Granite kitchens, Viking and Sub Zero appliances, slate floors, steam showers, and jetted tubs are a few of the highlights.” Work also continues on the restaurant, with an opening date in 2005 as the goal. “Our vision for the restaurant is of an inviting, friendly, and elegant dining experience with the best chefs and the freshest food,” promises Peggy.

The vision for Le Bear comes from the Moceri family who developed the resort. “The Moceris are a very close family and they love being up here in Glen Arbor as members of a real community,” Peggy continues. “They want to share their love of this county by providing Le Bear. It’s beautiful and intimate and done with sensitivity to the environment. Along the beach there is a large protected area for the endangered Pitcher Thistle.”

Members of the Glen Arbor Chamber of Commerce attended an open house on June 2 and were treated to tours and refreshments by Peggy Whiting, Phyllis Foley Wanroy, and Fran Marie Munaco. It was the consensus that the residences are indeed luxurious, tasteful, and comfortable.

But for the members of the Club & Spa as well as for the members of the Glen Arbor community, it will be the warmth, the diligence, and the personalities of Peggy, Phyllis, and Fran Marie that guarantee the richness of the experience. “My job has everything to do with getting the people of the community together with our guests,” Peggy says. “We know our members/guests personally, so we try to take care of everything ahead of time — meal arrangements, activities, the best places to go for breakfast, for pizza, or even to find raspberries!” Peggy emphasizes that in all respects they are trying to stay local with the services they provide and recommend. “We will have delivery services through [Anderson’s Market] and other local businesses, for example,” Peggy explains. “All of the spa services are independent contractors who live locally. This isn’t just a seasonal visit for our members. This will be their second home for 6 weeks of the year!” Originally from Des Moines, Iowa, Peggy has degrees in Anthropology and Religious Studies from Iowa State University, and she lives in Lake Leelanau with her husband Brian, an airline captain of a 737 for American Trans Air. Newcomers to Glen Arbor should have no trouble picking up on Peggy’s enthusiasm for this area. “It has been great fun to research the county and to pass on all that is special about it,” Peggy grins.

Phyllis Foley Wanroy is already a “local.” She and husband Rich own The Cove in Leland, live in Suttons Bay, and have two children, Sean, a student in the aviation program at Northwest Michigan College, and Chris, a student at Suttons Bay High School. Having married into the restaurant business, Phyllis is used to planning winery tours for customers or for recommending the best areas to find morels. “I love taking care of people,” Phyllis smiles, “and it’s easy to share the love of an area as beautiful as this one.” As well as having been concierge at The Cove, Phyllis has served as a long-time volunteer at the Hospitality House at Munson Manor in Traverse City. Like Peggy, Phyllis is a people’s person who enjoys working with the residents of Le Bear and with the people of Glen Arbor.

Fran Marie Munaco is the youngest member of the concierge staff, but she is no less eager to please. The niece of Dominic and Maria Moceri, Fran Marie just graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Psychology. “This is my first real job!” Fran Marie beams, “I passed up a corporate job in Connecticut because I don’t have to sit in a cubicle here, I get to see the water and the sunsets all the time!” Fran Marie has a dazzling smile to go with her energetic and helpful attitude, just like Peggy and Phyllis, so she fits right into the trio of can-do concierges at Le Bear.

Le Bear Luxury Residential Club & Spa will be part of the Parade of Homes June 18 — 29. Peggy says, “The public is welcome to come and satisfy their curiosity, to stop by and see the vision and the view!” Go to LeBearResort.com, call Peggy, Phyllis, or Fran at 231-334-2502, or get hold of Steve or Suzy Netherton at Glen Arbor Realty for more information.

Posted by editor at 10:43 PM | Comments (0)

The Leelanau School to celebrate 75th Anniversary

From staff reports

A seventy-five year-old wise man full of lessons for its many children, yet still boasting ageless enthusiasm.

The Leelanau School, the fine institute of learning, located on quite possibly the most beautiful campus in the world, is celebrating its 75th Anniversary this year on the banks of Sleeping Bear Bay, one mile north of Glen Arbor.

This year’s birthday bash will culminate on campus during Alumni Weekend 2004, June 25-27, when Helen Huey and the late Tom Hilton will be inducted into Leelanau’s Hall of Fame. Helen and her late husband, Art “Major”, were stalwarts in the school’s early history, and oversaw its separation from what is now the booming Homestead Resort next door (as chronicled in the August 15, 2002 issue of the Glen Arbor Sun) Helen and Tom will be honored for their many years of service to The Leelanau School in a ceremony that will take place on Saturday evening, June 26th.

Leelanau alumni, as well as members of the community interested in the school and the role it has played in Glen Arbor’s history are welcome. To make reservations for this event, please contact Fiffy Petty in the alumni office at 334-5848.

The gala on June 26th follows a year of festivities celebrating the school’s diamond anniversary. Over 200 guests from surrounding communities attended an open house at Leelanau on Saturday, May 8th. Guests and prospective students were entertained by music, drama and storytelling performances throughout the afternoon. Other events included campus and observatory tours, a student art show, a voyageur canoe display, an international food fair, a bio-diesel fuel production and auto demonstration, a bottle rocket construction and launching, and the climbing wall demonstration. Guest musician Michael Gould performed throughout the day on Zen flutes from Japan.

At the end of the festivities, alumnus Willis Hawkins, from the first graduation class in 1932, cut the anniversary cakes. The two cakes (shaped as a ‘7’ and ‘5’) weighed over 300 pounds and were 6 feet x 2 feet each. Needless to say, there was enough cake for all to enjoy.

The Leelanau School was founded by Cora and William “Skipper” Beals of St. Louis, Missouri, and opened its doors on September 16, 1929 with 15 boys in grades 7-10. Today, Leelanau is a private, college-preparatory, boarding and day school for both boys and girls in grades 9-12.

Posted by editor at 09:52 PM | Comments (0)

Hotdogs are Ripe in the Land of the Sleeping Bear

By Norm Wheeler
Sun editor

Hungry? My, oh my, did you come to the right town! Now just let yer’ belt out a notch, sit yer’self down, and check out these comestibles, my friends. Hot Dogs? Yeah, we got ‘em. You gotch’er hot dog special down at Bear Paw Pizza and Subs, just look at this picture! He quaffed that weinie in jist’ about one bite!

Or ‘round the corner next to the T’nT Video, Bill Thompson set up his Dune Dogs wagon and serves Genuine Chicago Style Hotdogs with tomatoes, picalilly, onions, peppers, mustard, a pickle and a secret ingredient Bill won’t divulge till his last dyin’ breath! Vienna style, poppyseed buns, the works! (And the hot dog is excellent, too!) They’ve also got kiddy hotdogs on the corner at Boonedocks. And Bob Ewing says their specialty Boonedocks Backyard Burgers are a hit this summer, lots’a choices of styles and sauces. He serves up some fine marinated pork chips, too, and steaks, and try an order of Axe-Handles, breaded sourdough sticks stuffed with mozzarella. They got live music in the evenings there, too. Across the street the Good Harbor Grill is known fer’ their sandwiches and chilis, but especially fruit & cheddar salad, and a healthy Italian seafood soup called Cioppino, great salad and bread, and if yer’ up early they got Crab Cake Benedict for breakfast. You’ll be walkin’ outta there sideways with a smile on YER’ face.

What about Art’s, you say? His burger specials are also notoriously special, along with whitefish burgers and whitefish dip (no need to go to Leland for whitefish, friends, none.) And Wednesdays are Chicken Jalapeno Soup Day at Art’s, and hardly anybody misses that. Oh, I forgot to tell ya’ that the Bear Paw’s got pizza and subs besides hotdogs, too. Along with the usual Supreme there’s the Carnivora for the meat freaks and the Hula Bear with a Hawaiian touch. Or subs like the Teeth Clicker (Italian) or the Bear Club, it’s wide and ample and guaranteed to lead to either hibernation or at least an afternoon nap.

Then there’s the Western Avenue Grill, fine dining and lots’a choices too, just look at the menu in their ad in this paper. Why a family jist’ cain’t go wrong at the WAG! On up the street from there is Snuffy’s, with chicken or seafood in or out, dinners, buckets, orders large and small, Shrimp, Clams, Cod, Smelt, they got a weinie and fries fer’ less than two bucks, and hand-dipped onion rings people can’t git’ enough of! Across from there is Riverfront, where the two Sue’s have outstanding roll-ups and salads for lunch, and Tim throws some dough and makes super supper pizzas — I’m kinda partial to the Greek, myself, with arty’choke hearts and olives and feta and pine nuts, I tell’ya, just order a large so there’ll be extra for zappini for breakfast in the toaster oven the next couple days!

Speakiní of breakfast, cruise around the lake on 616 to the Foothills Restaurant, a breakfast/lunch specialty shop open 7 — 3 all but Monday. Don’s got new Southern Omelettes to go with the leviticously and deuteronomously popular Eggs Benedict, and he says he sells a ton of Reubens, too!

Keep on goin’ round the lake and you come to Burdickville, where two of the most elegant inns of evening eatery anywhere are almost adjacent: La Becasse and Trattoria Funistrada. The legendary La Becasse features fine French country style culinary delights like a Portabello Timbale with Shiitake Mushroom sauce as an appetizer, earthy and delectable entrees like Sauteed Escalapes of Veal with Lemon Caper Sauce, Grilled Tenderloin of Lamb with Basil Sauce, or Grilled Filet Mignon of Beef with Roquefort Demi-glace. There is an extensive wine list, and a dessert made by Peachy herself of White Chocolate Mousse with Raspberry Sauce that ought’ta be illegal for anyone not yet sexually active! Better get a reservation.

You’ll also need a reservation for Trattoria Funistrada, with contemporary Italian cuisine creatively contrived by Tom and Holly Reay. Try the asparagus spears wrapped in prosciutto to start with, or the steamed and liberally garlicked mussels. Then move on to some amazing pasta concoctions with melon or sardine or clam highlights in winey and creamy sauces, pepper encrusted steak filets, fresh off the pier sea bass, all washed down with a bold, flamboyant Chianti, and save room for the Panicotta for dessert, a creamy concoction so good itís just plain naughty. Tom and Holly make food my Italian friend Joan from New Jersey says is just “To Die Foah!”

You might be thinkin’ to go to the Glen Lake Narrows for ice cream for dessert, and you still can get it at Little Bear, but know that they have genuine original Broasted Chicken there too, and a Cherry Chicken Salad that may be magnetized it brings folks in from so far away, and subs and sandwiches, too, and breakfast if, like I said, you get up early enough. They’ll cater parties and have rotisserie chickens hot and ready every afternoon!

Gotch’er mouth to waterin’, did I? Good. You came to the right town, a town where you can eat out every meal of every day you stay here and never be dissatisfied. And when you do, please mention this article, so that when I’m penniless and hungry next winter I’ll have a little leverage! Much obliged.

Posted by editor at 08:54 PM | Comments (0)

Suzanne’s van: the gift that keeps on giving

By Jacob R. Wheeler
Sun editor

It began with a simple proposition: “If you can get her running, she’s yours,” were the words the late Suzanne Wilson offered Crispin Campbell, setting the stage for his memorable west coast road trip 11 years ago in her 1979 Dodge Extended MaxiVan — affectionately known around northern Michigan as “Suzanne’s Van.” Campbell, a cello instructor at the Interlochen Arts Academy and former director of the Glen Arbor Art Association’s Manitou Music Festival, was one of many locals lucky enough to borrow Suzanne’s great white stallion before her artist friend David Grath of Leland purchased it two years ago.

Suzanne passed on last winter, but the legacy she left in this area will be with us for eternity. Part of that legacy are the memories and joys her friends have from borrowing that van over the years and setting out on the open road in search of adventures — a quality that anyone who knew Suzanne would agree fits her like a glove.

The speedometer may not have worked; the brakes may have squeaked; mice may have lived in the floorboards; and the gas mileage may have equaled that of a Hummer. But Suzanne’s van was a thrill. Shakespeare festivals in Oregon, art tours in Florida, baseball pilgrimages in the Midwest, camping in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula — you name it, and Suzanne’s van has probably been there.

To most it was a fun mobile: a classy way to get from point A to point B, even if that meant traveling thousands of miles. But to Suzanne, the van was just-as-often a place of rest when the glamorous, if not hectic, lifestyle of a world-renowned artist became too much.

Her daughter Allison says Suzanne bought it sometime in the late 1980’s for around $2,000 because she thought she’d like to live in it while painting and traveling to art fairs. “But she only did one art fair — the Castle Farms fair in Charlevoix — and sold only one book for $10,” Allison remembers. “After sleeping in a farmer’s field outside of town we packed up and left early on Sunday morning. After that she decided she didn’t like art fairs, so that was the end of the van as a hotel.”

Later on, after Suzanne had helped put the Glen Arbor art scene on the map and bring the crowds to northern Michigan, Allison remembers “she would sometimes sneak into the van and take a nap when things got too crazy in the summer.” Suzanne’s visitors (or daughters) would often sleep in the van in lieu of throwing down money for a hotel or a bed & breakfast. Allison remembers a cozy and inviting setting: “It had carpeting and a wood panel interior, two comfortable cushion beds, a spice cabinet, refrigerator, small stove and sink, and you could stand up inside. The van was comfortable to sleep in because it had three windows and screens covering the windows, so it wouldn’t get hot at night.”

A midsummer’s dream

Campbell’s trek to the Pacific Ocean and then back out east in the summer of 1993 has the distinction of being the longest trip Suzanne’s van has even taken. The vehicle that would help him bond with his two daughters, Elara and Maya, eventually planted the seeds for a budding relationship between Campbell and Carol Navarro, now his wife. After spending $250 to fix the brakes and wiring, Campbell cruised around Lake Michigan and picked up his daughters in Madison, WI. “They kind of dug it,” he remembers. “To them it was a symbol of flower-power, and eventually it dawned on them that maybe their old dad was a hipster after all.”

The three Campbells took I-90 West, stopping off to see the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD as well as the Badlands, and were caught in a snowstorm while camping in Yellowstone National Park. They slept on bunks in the van and used the propane gas stove in a futile attempt to stay warm. “We froze our butts off,” Crispin remembers. By the time they reached Boise, ID, the van was so low on fuel that rust had clogged the gas lines and it wouldn’t start. To improve karma they bought a cassette tape of oldies while waiting for repairs, and entered the picturesque Columbia Gorge in Oregon singing 50’s tunes as the sun set toward the Pacific Ocean.

After visiting Uncle Bruce on the Oregon coast, Campbell treated the girls to “their first quality Shakespeare”, as they saw Midsummer Night’s Dream at the festival in Ashland, OR, before heading south to visit his parents in Santa Rosa, CA — smack dab in the middle of good wine country. Besides the Boise debacle, the only other mishap Campbell encountered before driving Suzanne’s van all the way back across the country to a music camp in Ithaca, NY, was when he accidentally backed her into a light pole in the parking lot in Santa Rosa where his brother-in-law Albert was playing in a slow-pitch softball game. “It mangled up the spare tire holder on the tailgate, and also pretty well deconstructed the ladder going up to the roof,” Campbell remembers. “But other than that it ran great. I have real fond memories of that trip with my kids.”

A rose by any other name

Campbell had so much fun with Suzanne’s van in the summer of ’93 that he borrowed her again the following year for a baseball pilgrimage with the Wheeler and Nargis boys. Instead of navigating Chicago’s turnpikes they put the van on the Ludington car ferry and sailed across Lake Michigan for Manitowoc, WI. The boys of summer rendezvoused with Campbell’s daughters at County Stadium in Milwaukee and grilled out in the parking lot before watching a 13-inning affair between the Brewers and Detroit Tigers.

Motown’s aging shortstop Alan Trammell saved the game when he backhanded a groundball deep in the hole to his right and put enough on the throw to nail Brewer speedster Jody Reed with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 12th, and the Tigers won the game the following inning. The happy Michigan entourage didn’t arrive at Dave Early’s doorstep in Lake Forest, IL until long after midnight.

They saw a White Sox game on Chicago’s south side the following day and then headed home. Hours after Suzanne’s van arrived back in northern Michigan the Wheelers held a staining party for the exterior of their house. It was there, on that day, as Campbell tells it, that sparks began flying between him and his now-wife Carol Navarro.

A state of bliss

My own memories of the van are plenty. Every summer I would find Suzanne busy painting in the shade at the Lake Street Studios, and ask if she would let my gang of rambunctious 20-somethings and I take her van up to Bliss Fest — a weekend-long music and camping extravaganza near Harbor Springs. The answer was always an afterthought: “Yes, of course, just as long as you can keep her running. You know, she could die at any second,” was Suzanne’s answer.

So off we’d go, stocking up the van with bread from the Good Harbor Grill, Bell’s beer and granola and fruit from Oryana Co-op in Traverse City, with hackey-sacks, Frisbees and tents in tow.

One year the van became the center of a pow-pow in the Back 40 acres for festival-going friends of ours from all over Leelanau County. Eight cars surrounded Suzanne’s van, and we formed a drum circle around her and danced like crazed warriors with the great white beast as our focal point.

Foreign territory

No car story would be complete without anecdotes of her breaking down in the most random of places. Jason Nargis, a Michigander by birth who now lives in San Jose, CA, remembers a road trip to the Wheeler-Nargis-Oomen-Early property on Peanut Lake in the middle of the Upper Peninsula.

Just after crossing the Mackinac Bridge the treads began peeling off the tires of Suzanne’s vans. After an hour of hugging the shoulder of the highway at 30 miles per hour as the tread flopped on the pavement like a metronome, she finally tore off, leaving the tires naked as a newborn baby. The entourage was forced to pull over at the Airport Motel & Grill near Newberry, the seediest joint any of them can remember. Cockroaches dotted the linoleum floor, and the locals cast dangerously suspicious stares when the visitors went next door to the bar to play billiards.

A muddy affair

The freelance landscape/homebuilder couple Cre Woodard and Mark Ringlever will never forget their trip in Suzanne’s van through the U.P. en route to Ely, MN, which is about as far north as you can go in the continental United States. They stopped to hear the Texan guitar master Chris Smither in concert before Mark backed the van into mud so deep that one couldn’t see the tires, Woodard remembers. They had to jimmy it out with boards and plywood the next morning after the mud froze solid.

Ever since then Ringlever has felt a certain allegiance to the van. He passed it coming the other way on the middle of the Mackinac Bridge once with Suzanne at the driver’s seat and artist Melanie Park by her side. Ringlever tried in vain to flag it down, just to say hello.

Passing on

Two years ago Suzanne sold her van to its current owner David Grath when, as he says, “she sensed that it should have a place in the life of another artist.” Grath had previously run in to Suzanne with her van on painting trips to the Southwest, the Upper Peninsula and Florida, and he knew it was the ideal vehicle for him. Both showing a flare for the unique, $999.99 was the price on which they agreed. Since the van was looking a little roughed up, as Grath says, he made some improvements and modifications, re-carpeting it, straightening out the interior to make extra storage space for his own painting equipment and buying it a new set of hubcaps.

Suzanne died on December 9 — the very day that Grath planned to drive down to Elberta, near Frankfort, where Suzanne lived her final days, and show her the van and possibly take her for a ride. Instead, he has taken it upon himself to keep the van functioning and in prime condition in order to pass it along to the next artist some day. “It should spend its life on the road, taking people from one painting to the next,” Grath says, “in Suzanne’s spirit.”

The Dodge MaxiVan reached 100,000 miles somewhere near Sarasota, Fla. in March of this year, by the way, and shows no signs of calling it quits. “I feel like I’m in a dream vehicle as I drive down the road with my wife beside me and the dog stretched out between us, knowing this van is carrying some of Suzanne’s solid vibes embedded in the paneling, curtains and seats.”

Have your own anecdotes or memories of Suzanne’s van that you’d like to share? The Glen Arbor Sun welcomes letters to the editor. Send them to P.O. Box 615 / Glen Arbor, MI 49636 or email gasun@mikeshouse.us. We’ll continue reminiscing about Suzanne’s van in our next issue, June 17.

Posted by editor at 07:57 PM | Comments (0)

Digital Wonders

By Jane Greiner
Sun staff writer

Sometimes I am startled by the advances in technology that have become available to ordinary folk like us. My new digital camera is an example. I am in awe of the power this moderately priced piece of equipment has put into my hands.

Take a look at the Rose Breasted Grosbeak photo above: That picture was taken out of my open window as I sat at my desk with the bird about 15 feet away. I had no tripod, but held the camera in my hands. Look at the sharp picture the camera produced on automatic settings. You can see the heavy beak (hence the name grosbeak), his individual feathers, color patterns, his eye and even the small spots on his breast.

The reason I could get such a beautiful picture is the 10-power optical zoom on the new camera (equal or stronger than a typical pair of binoculars) combined with its internal image stabilizing circuitry. The stabilizer compensates for the natural shakiness of your hands which when magnified 10-fold would otherwise translate into fuzzy images.

This new camera has already allowed me to get bird close-ups, a raccoon in our tree, a ship out near the South Manitou, wildflower close-ups without me getting down on the ground and some nice candid photos of friends.

Why am I so enamored of this new gadget? Because, unlike most new technology, it brings the natural world closer. I love being able to capture and share the images of wild things without disturbing them in any way. What a boon to the amateur naturalist.

I hope in future issues of the Sun to share many more outdoor photos, which I would never have been able to capture with my old camera. I am looking forward to a summer of "shooting and sharing."
For those interested, the camera is a Canon Super Shot S1 IS. The "IS" stands for image stabilization.

Posted by editor at 06:06 PM | Comments (0)