I’ve wanted to post this photo for a couple of weeks. I just haven’t had the time. This is the view of Lake Erie from the top of the Marble Head Light house. I really like this area and never thought that I would visit it twice in the same year but I did!

Vermilion is a really sweet coastal town. I’ve photographed its lighthouse in the dead of winter when it was mind-numbing cold. This time the temperatures were at the opposite extreme—the high 90′s. I discovered pretty fast that people who live up north usually don’t mix well with heat. Air conditioners were running with great fury or “full tilt” as my grandmother would have said. And no one was willing to tell me just how low the settings were. It was freezing in all the buildings and houses!

One afternoon, we ended up in this little coffee shop where all of us enjoyed the atmosphere, the conversation, and the espresso! I came a way with a half pound of Pirate’s Blend. Thus, continuing my “Pirate” theme, which I have no clue where it came from this summer.

And then there is this soda shop. Eating here and drinking a cherry coke is becoming a tradition.

Here’s one for my former newspaper editor. The guy would always run a snow photo on the front page of the newspaper on the hottest day of summer. I confess that I’m torn. I’m so hot that I wish it was cooler but not this cold. I think when I took this photo it was around 18 degrees, and I was standing on the edge of a rocky gorge in northwest PA! The evening wind was whipping around my neck and my feet were frozen from being outside most of the day doing photography. . . . Extremes. Wonder why we always seem to be dealing with extremes?

The last morning we were in western PA, we woke to freshly fallen snow, and as I drank a cup of coffee and gazed out the windows at the sight before me, I couldn’t help but wish that I could stay. The week had been relaxing, fun, and energizing. I even said (out loud), “I could stay another day or two. After all, I don’t need to be back in the office for another three days.” Reluctantly, I got up and finished packing my suitcase. We drove to the airport in near silence. Everyone was rethinking all we had seen—the meals we had shared and the photos that we had taken with our hearts.

Later, at the Pittsburg airport, I watched a parade of snow plows race down a nearby runway and listened to the person next to me talk about the “major snow storm” that was bearing down on the part of the state where I had vacationed. “Maybe, it is best that I’m leaving,” I mused.

Then yesterday, I received an email from the friends that had journeyed with me around Lake Erie saying they had not been able to venture out of their home since I left due to the amount of snow that had fallen. “It is a good thing you came when you did and left, ” they said. “Otherwise, we would have been stuck.

“Stuck,”  I wondered . . . “Stuck in Vermilion or Fairport, or maybe some place overlooking the Allegheny River?” . . . .  No, I really don’t think we would have been stuck at all.

By the time we reached the Conneaut lighthouse, which is located on the shore of Lake Erie in northeast Ohio, we were braving very cold weather and some light sleet. Still, I made a dumb comment: “The weather up here is wimpy,” I said, “And I really don’t think it is going to snow at all.” The only sound I heard in reply was sort of a “uhh” with a smile added. It is the kind of reply that makes you feel very foolish. The next morning we woke to several inches of snow, icy temperatures, and a forecast that promised more of the same. I was really grateful we were not still trekking around Lake Erie. Instead we were in a warm and cozy home (thanks to newly unwrapped plush cover-ups). And we didn’t venture outside until it was time to meet friends for lunch at 1 o’ clock.

I traveled back to Atlanta at the end of last week but as far as I can tell from watching the Weather Channel, it is still snowing where my friends live! Later this week, the forecast for northeast Georgia includes a light dusting of snow . . . now that is pretty wimpy, don’t you agree?