Nature! It's awesome!

For my nature observation, I sat on the beach of Lake Superior behind the Superior Dome on Lakeshore Boulevard.  It's a nice, quiet, private beach, protected from the road by beach grasses, shrubbery, and tall, spindly trees.  The soft and fine beach sand descends toward the water, morphing into colorful pebbles of all sizes and colors. Green, orange, red, pink, blue...and pieces of beach glass here and there.  As I sit there, I think of the beautiful craft projects that could be made with these gorgeous jems: jewelry, lamps, and picture frames to name a few. However, I don't dare remove these ornaments from their natural home.

The small waves of the blue lake quietly proceeded towards shore, spraying the pebbles with water, revealing their colors and patterns in full bloom.  The day was slightly overcast, but the sun poked it's light through the gray every now and again when the wind parted the clouds.  Seagulls soared through the sky, landing on the beach sand, not too far from me, to pick at the debris left from previous beach-goers, hoping to find something to eat.  One walked as close to me as possible within in its comfort zone, and watched me...I presume he was hoping I had a snack for him.  After a few short moments, he waddled off, and eventually took flight to a southern part of the beach.  This day, like many of my days spent outdoors in Marquette, left me in awe.  What a naturally beautiful place! This beach is a perfect blend of earths' biogeochemical cycles and formations.   With the breeze blowing around me and through my hair, I sat in the sand, celebrating this wonderful, natural piece of artwork.