Scenes From the Beach

Our family joined two others at a friend's lake house this past weekend in Harbert, Michigan. We could not have been luckier with the weather - 85 degrees and sunny each day. Lake Michigan, as always, was freezing, but the kids, and some of the braver adults, jumped in. For a few seconds, anyway.

Nature abounds along the lake; and I had some time to snap a few photos.

The Harbert, MI coastline

I didn't know our native columbine (aqualegia canadensis)
could grow in sun and sand.

Dune grass lines steep steps

A yellow swallowtail butterfly takes minerals from the sand

Native milweed provides an egg-laying site and
food source for Monarch butterflies.

Hubby took this picture of bird nests built right in the sand dunes.