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Notre Dame - August 202 Notre Dame du Lac University (Our Lady of the Lake) is best known for the Fighting Irish. It is second best known for the “Golden Dome.” A lot of people think the golden dome is on the basilica, but it’s not. It is on the old main building. The first image shows the classic view of the golden dome. Image two is a quarter-side image of the old main building. Many of the buildings at Notre Dame are this yellow-gray color because that is what the local clays create. All of these bricks were made and fired locally here at Notre Dame. Images three, four, and five are closeups of the statue of Mary which is atop the dome. She is standing on a snake and a crushed, horned helmet symbolizing her defeat of sin and Satan. The point on the top of her head is not symbolic. It is a lightning rod. It is tradition to have your picture taken in front of the golden dome so the guide took everyone’s pictures with their cameras. The last image is Kathy and I posing with the dome in the background. MWM

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Ducks - August 2025 These ducks were eating grass beneath the water alongside the shoreline of Fiddler Pond in Goshen, Indiana. The first image is the one I was trying for. Images two, three, and four are there just to show how frustrating it is trying to capture a good image of a duck near the shore. 75% of the time, you end up with “duck butts” sticking up out of the water. Those are interesting, but don’t really make for good images. MWM

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Fiddler Pond - August 2025 This really beautiful pond is in Goshen, Indiana where Kathy and I went for a F.R.O.G. rally. That is Forest River Owners Group. There are many, many great bicycle paths in Goshen. And a great pond with a really nice path around it. The brown section in the water in this image is not pollution, it is the bottom of the lake. This is an unbelievably clear lake, I mean pond. I guess in Northern Indiana with the Great Lakes so close, you have to be a really big pond to be called a lake. MWM

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Hot Rod - July 2025 I saw this hot rod and was very impressed with the paint scheme. Usually when someone flames out a paint job like this they use reds, yellows, and oranges. In this case everything is blue. It is more like it is waved out than flamed out. I really liked it. MWM

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Squirrel - July 2025 Yes, I take and post many images of squirrels. In this case, I was intrigued by what this particular squirrel was eating. There were no nuts on the ground near him. I really couldn’t see what he was holding between his paws. I think he is eating the clover flowers or whatever. All that would make me take the photo. I’m posting it because the pose of the squirrel, the various shades of green surrounding him, and the light and shadow work together to create a really nice image. MWM

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Pipe Springs - October 2023 I included this image from the Kaibab Paiute Pipe Spring Reservation because it is the opposite of Alaska. There is a very good RV park at Pipe Spring and a somewhat large area which campers are allowed to explore. But it is desert with the flora and fauna adapted to hot desert weather. I could not identify this particular blooming bush. My plant app Seek, says it is a Butterfly Milkweed, but it looks nothing like the milkweed plants I am used to in the Midwest. Whatever it is, it is a nice contrast to the dry desert trail. MWM

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Farmland - September 2023 I took this image from a viewpoint between Leavenworth, Washington and Baker City, Oregon. After 90 days in the far north, this patchwork of various farm fields took on a new majesty. MWM

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Tunnel - September 2023 On our way back, between Hat Creek, British Columbia, and Blaine, Washington, there is a very interesting curved highway tunnel. There was no traffic in front of us or behind us so I was able to capture this very interesting image of the light at the end of the tunnel. MWM

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Drive to Salmon Glacier - September 2023 While in Seward, Alaska, we drove all the way up to Salmon Glacier. As with many trips, it was not just the destination, it was the journey. This was one of many wonderful views on the way up to the glacier. MWM

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Grizzley - August 2023 I’ve always thought of grizzly bears as brown, but as I learned on our tour of Denali National Park and Preserve, many of the mature grizzlies have gray backs. It is the grizzled nature of the gray hairs which give the bears their name. MWM

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State Bird - August 2023 The willow ptarmigan is the state bird of Alaska. It is supposedly common throughout the state, but I saw only a few of them. This one was in the Denali National Park and Preserve. Any schoolchild in Alaska could immediately tell that this image was taken in the summertime. The willow ptarmigan turns almost totally white in the wintertime. MWM

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The King - August 2023 While in Seward, Alaska, we visited the Alaska SeaLife Center. I had never seen a King Crab before. I’ve eaten king crab legs, which I knew were rather large, but I was not prepared for how large… and ugly… the king crab actually is. Luckily this huge specimen was on the other side of the aquarium glass. MWM

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Shimmering Seas - August 2023 At first glance, the image of light shimmering on the surface of the bay at Homer, Alaska, may seem to have been taken in the early morning or late evening. It was, however, taken a little after noon. Light is different at the high latitude of Alaska MWM

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Hay - August 2023 Between Kenai, Alaska, and Homer, Alaska, was a rest stop next to a farm field. It was a small field that evidently grew some sort of hay. The green of the field accented by the dried rolls of hay was an interesting image, but when you added the almost ghostly background of water, clouds, and mountains it becomes a great image. MWM

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August 04, 8:00 am Low Tide - August 2023 I had no desire to wade out into the water at Kenai, Alaska, but I did stop and walk out a little ways on the beach at low tide. The very flat nature of Cook Inlet caused a wide area to be exposed at low tide making for interesting images. MWM

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Valdez Harbor - August 2023 While in Valdez we took a cruise on the Glacier Spirit which showed us the harbor and then went out to the outflow of a local glacier. The glaciers were impressive, but so was the way the local trees adapted to the stormy and icy environment. The ground is eroded by the waves of the summer storms, the tides, and the ice of winter, but directly above the erosion line is a thick growth of trees and other vegetation. The green waters and green trees with that band of reddish-brown soil creates and interesting composition for an image. MWM

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The Betty Lee - August 2023 This beautiful boat in Valdez with the cloud encircled mountains in the background made a very vibrant image. I didn’t recognize what type of boat the Betty Lee was and looked up the name and registration number. The official records were no help. They listed her only as “Non-trawler,” so evidently it is not a fishing boat. It looks more like a repair boat of some sort. In any case it is a truly impressive sight on the water. MWM