Parade Day

It seems that nearly every small town has it's signature festival, on Mackinac it's the Lilac Festival.

Mackinac lilacs are special; our very favorable growing conditions allow very, old, large, fragrant bushes, trees really! Lilac Festival has evolved into a ten day long celebration, culminating in a parade on the final day. Being Mackinac, of course no cars are allowed, but we manage quite nicely without them.

The parade traditionally begins with "Duck"Andress (a descendant of Chief Mackinac) in the lead, carrying the flag:

We have a variety of bands:

Including this bunch of clowns - the Scottsville Clown Band, whose signature piece includes a bump and grind.

Lots of horses, of course:

or bartenders pretending to be horses!

Beauty queens are always a part of the parade, here's the Northern Michigan Beach Queens:

And the King!

It was great fun, as always and another parade to look forward to next year.

Let's Eat

At the peak of the season, we have upwards of 300 teams of draft horses working on the Island and they work hard, hauling people, freight and even their own feed and manure. Just like us, they have a work schedule - so much time in harness, time in the barn and according to schedule a full 24 hours in the open paddock.

During their day off, they act a lot like us, relaxing, playing and EATING!

A Walk on the Wild Side

The woods are just overwhelming beautiful right now, the cool and rainy weather has extended our spring wildflower season and the mosses and ferns are just lush. Everywhere the eye can see is a new life. On my last walk I spotted four different types of violets, forget-me-not's, trillium, smooth solomon's seal, Jack -in-the-pulpit, foamflower, blue bead lilyand white baneberry, as well as many different types of fern.



Enjoy some details from my "walk on the wild side".

Don't Call Him a Worm - Le Luxe Caterpillar

This little guy was my submission for this week's challenge at the Thursday Sweet Treat, "Then Suddenly It Came To Life..."

We were challenged to interpret our favorite children's book. I choose The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. I have fond memories of reading it with my son nearly every night for years, even after he was somewhat too old for it - we just couldn't give it up!

The caterpillar is formed on a base of tubular netting with extravagant embellishment and even tiny fringed feet.

It seemed appropriate to have him pose on the front porch of our library; luckily, the beautiful planters had just been put in place, giving him some tropical plants to crawl upon.

A Cozy Home

They were right there, hiding in plain sight, perfectly camouflaged unless one was looking very closely. And I was, trying to find a suitable botanical background to use for photographing a beaded piece.

Snugged tightly into their nest, sheltered from the wind, both their coloration and home blending right into the huge bittersweet vine which hasn't yet managed to put forth leaves (is it EVER going to warm up this year?)

Mama bird must have been out hunting, so I was able to quickly shoot a couple photos of these soon to fledge robins without disturbing them too much, a brief moment that made my day.

A Wildflower Discovery

Well, a new discovery for me anyways!

I encountered this little beauty on a walk along Scott's Trail; one I had never seen before:

After a bit of research, I could identify it - Polygala paucifolia or the common name, Gay-wings.

It is one of the more curious-looking local wildflowers. It emerges from the forest floor in the month of May. This low growing plant of dry, rich woods, has unusual orchid-like flowers, and is known by several common names including Flowering Wintergreen and Fringed Polygala. The blossoms are pink to rose-purple in color, about 1-1.7 cm long, and usually found growing singly in the axils of the upper leaves. When in full bloom, two prominent sepals flare out from the corolla, framing a whimsically fringed petal at the center.

Gay-wings is not an orchid but is actually one of over 60 members of the genus Polygala that occur in the US. Polygalas make up a large part of the Milkwort family (Polygalaceae), the name stemming from the Greek for ‘much’ (poly) and ‘milk’ (gala). This is because eating milkworts was believed to increase lactation in mammals such as cows and even humans.

Gay-wings is an endangered species in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, but it is secure throughout the rest of its range from central and eastern Canada down the east coast to Georgia and is thriving here on Mackinac.

Queen of the Spring: Trillium

Trillium graceful, Trillium white, Star of the woodland, lady of light .....Milena Mateska

The trillium is truly the Queen of the Spring, with triple petals, sepals and leaves, startling white on the woodland floor.

Trillium have served as inspiration for the following Etsy artists, enjoy!


This is an incredible linocut from GwenOttingerArtworks, many of her pieces are botanically inspired.

This tile, from northfirestudio is a very graphic representation of the triple petals and leaves.




Here's a whimsical representation from GentleSuds- as soap!




And finally, a magnificent serigraph from HarmstonArts.