Our Neebish Island Issue!
WELCOME TO THE FIFTH ISSUE OF "The NewsFEATHER"!
Volume 1, Number 5
A CALL FOR NEW SUBSCRIBERS!
We have big things coming up for fall and winter! If you know someone who loves the outdoors, enjoys birds or animals, takes photographs, or who grooves on art and photography with a naturalist bent, DO THEM A FAVOR AND FORWARD THE NewsFEATHER TO THEM! To be honest, we'd consider it a favor, too -- it's really hard for us to keep quiet with such wonderful nature art in the pipeline! LV
IN THIS ISSUE
This Is Our Neebish Island Issue!
The Island, The Wildlife, and The St. Marys River
More News, More Fun!
This is a veryspecial NewsFEATHER for us! We've included more photos and more copy, because we want you to have a taste of Neebish as soon as possible. We are going to be coding day and night at the studio to get these wonderful photos into the gallery, and new articles onto the web pages. So please enjoy this issue and check the website galleries again soon. (...maybe give us a week...) LV
DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO WOULD ENJOY THE NewsFEATHER?
Please forward the NewsFEATHER to a friend, a family member, or a curious kid! There's no cost to subscribe, and the more you share with others, the more we grow!
COMING SOON!
Emerging soon from all this northwoods island inspiration will be both handbound and downloadable books. And of course, more photographs in the galleries. Many many more!
Remember: The NewsFEATHER has one aim: to use the gift of art-making to nourish that most fundamental of connections -- the bond between ourselves and the created world.
SUBSCRIBE FREE
so you can continue to receive The NewsFEATHER.
Yours,
Linda, and The Flock at Snowbird Arts
More photos like the ones in this NewsFEATHER will be coming soon to new galleries on the website -- check the Snowbird Arts Weblog for the latest (but give us a few days, ok?)
Neebish Island, Michigan
The NewsFEATHER is always delayed for a good reason. This issue's Good Reason: Linda spent the previous week on Little Neebish Island, Michigan. The Vining family has owned a a cabin there since 1904, and spending as much of the summer as possible at Neebish is a family tradition.
Neebish is one of the four 'big' islands in the Saint Marys River, the short freshwater passage that connects Lakes Huron and Superior. Amongst the four (the three others are Drummond Island and Sugar Island, MI and St. Joseph's Island, Ontario), Neebish Island is the smallest. Smaller still is Little Neebish, sometimes called Raines Island, which is nestled like a puzzle piece into the east side of Big Neebish.
A trip to Neebish involves a drive up through Lower Michigan, across the towering Mackinaw Bridge, to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. From there, it is an additional hour's drive to the tiny town of Barbeau on the northeastern edge of the U.P., where you can catch the ferry to Neebish. (If you are on time -- otherwise, you can wait for an hour or two, or even until the next morning to catch the ferry.) The ferry will carry you across the downbound channel of the Saint Marys, and from the Neebish ferry dock you can begin your drive on mostly dirt roads across Big Neebish to Little Neebish.
Sounds remote? Oh, it is, exquisitely remote, and the whole place is one remarkable photograph after another.
[return to top]
The Island, The Wildlife, and The St. Marys River
Riverscapes, botanicals, and wildlife all present photographic and artistic opportunities here. Both sky and river have flamboyantly dramatic moods. And there is a phenomenon that I call "northwoods bonsai" -- tough but delicate plants that grow dwarfed but vigorous in the tiny shelters of boulders or logs. The fierce winters scour the forest floor of all but the hardiest and luckiest specimens.
This year, we discovered a porcupine living under the cabin, but I did not have the opportunity to photograph him. Our shoreline neighbor found him dead in the woods between the cabins and one of the dirt roads -- shot by some new visitor to the island who apparently did not know better.
And the sandhill cranes... They had been gone from the island for decades -- none of the older people speak of seeing them for themselves. Several years ago, I was fortunate to be the first person on the island to see the first nesting pair to return there in many, many years. I was without my camera, and no one believed me until the second season, when others began to return as well. Now they stride in pairs amongst the newly mown hayfields on Big Neebish, taking their cue from the smaller birds that forage there for disturbed insects and voles. LV
The Freighters
Last, but hardly least, there are the freighters. Little Neebish fronts on the upbound channel of the river, and the ships glide by barely 50 yards off the ends of our docks. It's a special pleasure to see the expression on the face of a Neebish guest who sees their first freighter emerging from the cedars that conceal the river's entry at Johnson's Point. It's roughly the expression you might see on someone who has spotted a skyscraper slowly rising up from behind their backyard hedges. The freighters are enormous -- some are 1000 feet long. Most are US and Canadian ore carriers, but there are also cement boats, and "salties". Salties are ocean-going freighters, often foreign ships with strange ports of registry lettered on their sterns.
It's usual for all the children (and most of the adults) on the shore to run down to their docks, waving to the captains and calling for a salute. Nearly all the ships will give one -- one long blast and two shorts -- causing everyone on shore to jump and wave and yell their thanks. A few ship lines will not salute, and the occasional foreign ship does not understand what the kids are calling for. But their crews line the rail, waving their caps and calling back. LV
[return to top]
More News, More Fun At Snowbird Arts
We hope you will have as much fun as we've had, adding new features to the studio's Fun Pages. It took a long time, because we kept stopping to play the games. Games like these are naturally good for your spirit and your brain, as well as your mood! Come waste a little time with us! Even your boss won't mind, as long as you send her the link and invite her to join us! In addition to online jigsaw puzzles, you'll now find my favorite online versions of two classic games, Mancala and Chinese Checkers.
Click here to see new additions to our delightful time-wasters!
Did someone else forward The NewsFEATHER to you? Please click the following link to get your own subscription.
[Click here to subscribe FREE]
Can't see the images? Please re-set your Email options to accept the display of HTML, OR, click on the link at the end of this NewsFEATHER to read it on a separate webpage.
<
[return to top]
|
