A fog bank rolls in from the lake near Grand Marais, MN.

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

[Bene Gesserit Litany]

Paddlewheel boat doing acrobatics on the St. Croix River, near Still(brown)water, MN.

Guided tour of the Duluth old trains museum.

Light is a subjective value. We wander through our lives selfishly assuming that the universe is actually like we see it. But our eyes are merely giving us a single rendering of its multiple faces. There probably are as many versions of the world as there are species out there able to perceive it (not to mention the fact that we can’t even seem to agree upon a single reality within our own species...)

Nighttime, for instance, must be completely different seen through the sensitive eyes of a cat. Some light remains at night, invisible to us, but present nonetheless.

To illustrate this, compare the following pictures; the first was shot on a dark evening but still before sunset, and was underexposed a touch to simulate the human blindness as darkness falls over our eyes and heart.

The next, on the other hand, was taken just before midnight, with a 15 seconds exposure time, giving the scene this late afternoon look. Surprising, isn’t it? The light is there even if we don’t see it. But the camera does. And so must the cats.

Hard to believe this is the same lake, isnt it? Yet east of Duluth, a long sand bar makes for surf and brownish colors, while the north shore is rocky and has spectacularly clear waters.

En avril, ne te découvre pas d’un fil. En mai, fait ce qu’il te plaît. Well, I can’t wait to do ce qu’il me plaît, but for the moment, Minnesota is unleashing its worse possible weather on Duluth. This morning at 9:00, it was 43ºF and raining, the lake covered with white caps as always. Hard to believe this is mid-May. But there are still warm places to be found, as the inside of the Split Rock lighthouse below.