The ‘Big Lake’ and finding simple beauty

First, let me state what I mean by big lake. I’ve lived here my entire life, fourth generation, and the Big Lake’ is always a reference to Lake Michigan, or the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) word mishigami, meaning big lake. I bring this up because I have done much reading of the indigenous peoples and I felt it needed to be mentioned.

Also, because I just finished a wonderful book, a history of early inhabitants before and during the European colonizing. The book is by local author Bob Downes called Raw Deal. The title kind of lets you know where the bent of the book is going. Well worth the read. The book brought about a mental pause for me. Just how far have we come through history in treating fellow human beings with dignity. A French journalist in the early 1800’s coined the phrase, “the more things change the more they stay the same”. If you read history and keep up on current news, you’ll have to agree with this 200 year old adage.

Renee and I spent last weekend at a dear friend’s cottage, our ‘home away from home’. It’s a special place on the ‘Big Lake’. We were able to kayak the big lake, it started calm and then got rough, no surprise there. There were hikes along the shore looking for beach glass and taking in the power and beauty of this huge body of water.

This special place inspires me to think, absorb the natural world, read and to write this journal entry. The cottage is a long way from the shoreline with a natural sand bluff built by moving sand about 200’ from the shore. During high water the sand bluff serves as a natural barrier to the 30-year cycle of high water/low water. Between the bluff and the cottage is an untouched community of plants. Dune grass is the primary stabilizer with its waving buff colored seed heads this time of year. There is willow, sand cherry, bearberry, an occasional juniper and the forbs that love to show-off throughout the summer, just to say with their colorful flowers, I’m here. This time the Aster is blooming, only four clumps in this vast landscape, but they were sure to show-off. Summertime it’s tickseed, harebell and puccoon. Never in abundance but always there.

To circle back to the reason for this entry is the subtle beauty of this very harsh environment. This is a plant community that has evolved over many millennia. Growing on moving sand, no fertility, harsh winds, suffering the vagaries of nature’s rainfall, some years abundant others very scant. The subtleties during the seasons give it a simple beauty. It feels like all the plants need each other giving the community wholeness.

My adult life has been spent designing client’s gardens with the intent to bringing in alot of color and texture through the summer, the bolder the better. I’m not being critical of this design concept. I’m just glad I can visit natures garden and thoroughly absorb the simply beauty knowing how difficult survival is for the plant community living there.

The ‘Big Lake’ will always touch my soul. So many people will never be able to witness it’s power, it’s beauty and the simplicity of it’s every changing shoreline.