Photos Around the OMP – Coyotes, Fox, Norte, Maritime Talk & More

Here are a few photos from around the OMP neighborhood – some from me and some from readers. Thanks for sending along these great photos (ok, I grabbed Curt’s coyote pic from Facebook – I know he’s ok with that).

If you have clear, hi-res photos of animals or birds or events happening around the OMP, feel free to email them to me any time, [email protected].

The photo at the top of this story is from Jack Olson, who lives north of me on Bluff Road and sent along these stunning photos of our friendly neighborhood fox after I posted mine a while back. Absolutely amazing photos, Jack – thanks for sending them along! Here are a few more…

The photo below is my attempt to capture the “Wolf Moon” that happened on Jan. 10, 2020. Tim and I wandered around the Peninsula that night looking for a good place to shoot it, and landed at The Hogsback. According to this story on Space.com, “The January full moon is often called the Wolf Moon … and the name may date back to Native American tribes and early colonial times when wolves would howl outside villages.” The Ojibwe (or Anishinaabe) peoples called it Mnido Giizis, the Spirit Moon, marking a time of prayer and contemplation.

This photo is courtesy of Curt Peterson, who lives off of Peninsula Drive near Buchan’s Blueberry Hill. He took this photo of a coyote outside his window. Bring in your small kids and animals!

Last night, Rear Admiral Jerry Achenbach, superintendent of the Great Lakes Maritime Academy, gave a presentation of the history of the Academy at the regular meeting of the Old Mission Peninsula Historical Society. After driving by the Academy for decades, it was really interesting to learn about its beginnings. He wrote a book on the subject, with a chapter on female cadets written by Historical Society member Ann Swaney. If you’d like a copy of the book, contact the Great Lakes Maritime Academy or email Ann Swaney, who has copies, [email protected]. Here’s a photo of Jerry at the presentation and the book below.

Here’s a photo I took eons ago when I was at the new Peninsula Community Library for an event. It’s a really cool piece of stained glass artwork by Darcy Schlitt that shows Martha and Roger Myer’s barn just to the north of the library. Just beautiful, Darcy.

Here’s a couple of photos that OMP resident Maggie Smith sent along. I love the first one as much for the sunset as the subject – if you look close, you’ll see a snowy owl on the telephone pole. The second photo is a closer look. I’m not sure where the pic was taken, but I’m going to guess it’s looking west from the intersection of Center Road and Eiman Road. If that’s the locale, it’s likely the same Snowy Owl I took a pic of a couple weeks ago. Thanks, Maggie!

And last but not least, the featured speaker at the January meeting of the Old Mission Women’s Club was Ty Schmidt, executive director of Norte, the nonprofit in Traverse City that’s doing great work at promoting bicycles and kids on bikes. Here’s Ty, along with the cute cupcake table decoration that the ladies put together.