January Prep - I Need Your Input

Jumping the Gun with Post Images

Being a January Capricorn, January is my month. As I wrote in the last No Internet, No Safety Net, outdoor activity in this cold dark month is something I love. Skiing and hiking is on deck over the next couple months. And the long drives to get to those slopes gives me plenty of time to think.

But I need you help, I can’t decide what the main image should be for the month. Any suggestions? As this is shaking out, it’s a binary choice between sunrise or moonrise. I have photos from hikes, but they look pretty much like the December images, pretty drab with brown and greys.

Here are the candidates.

Charlevoix Sunset

This was taken January of 2022 at sunset outside of Charlevoix, Michigan. There is a story to this, as my wife took this one because I was out of commission. I’m sharing that in the January edition of No Safety Net, No Internet. This is from a ski trip we had planned after the December outing, that was when the freaky photo of my son’s visor mirroring my daughter and I on the slopes. Yeah, this is a teaser but I promise you’ll be surprised by this month’s follow up.

Moonrise Over Cadillac

The camera on my phone is not equipped for night photos, and I lament each time I’m out and can’t capture amazing moon shadows. I took this last year in January as I was headed back from a solo skiing trip up at Caber Fae peaks near Cadillac Michigan. I think it was around 7 PM. Striking to see, and I got really lucky with it. This really captures the cold that January brings, and there have been several ski trips that I’ve taken with my son. Cold and remote, something Capricorns are accused of those characteristics themselves :)

Starting At Sun Rise

I took this New Years Day 2017 when we headed out from my parents home to return to Michigan. We had an eleven hour trip ahead of us, and the first moments embarking after a holiday with my family and my parents it’s usually quiet as they kids would settle back down and sleep and I would lament inwardly about have left the Catskills and not being able to move my family back. I didn’t stay in Bedford Falls, in some ways I chose the Sam Wainwright route. Each time I leave those first few moments are hard, as is returning to Detroit after Christmas. I pulled over, just shot from my phone through the windshield.

Creek At Seven Lakes

Seven Lakes State Park is one of the retreats without a Hollywood style launch just to get out of the urban area to recharge. If you have seen Sunday Nights Radio or Severed Conscience you may recognize some of homemade B-roll imagery. Seven Lakes is my destination in winter because no one else goes out and I pretty much have the trails to myself. Suki, my pittie comes along with me. It’s pretty amazing how on Saturdays she anticipates getting into the car to leave. When I head out to the farmer’s market Sat morning she senses the plans I have, won’t leave me alone until I get the knapsack ready to take her out.

Caber Fae

Caber Fae is where I head when I go up North. The region reminds me somewhat of where I grew up, and my son and I have spent a lot of time skiing here. I don’t like ski resorts. Too many are set up to funnel you to a bar or a restaurant and amazingly there is not fire place. How else are you to dry off while eating? And most don’t allow you to bring in your own food.

Ski lodges and ski centers do. I know I may be making up the distinction, but not much is geared toward family, not in the sense that you bring your gear along with crock pots and supplies for huge subs, venison chili or homemade soup. Part of our ritual with the Boy Scout troop was to ski Saturday, and if you were too tired, too bad, you had duties to cook a turkey dinner that evening. One of the scout masters had a cabin in Mesick and would start the bird, and the young bloods had to help cook the rest. So no one could complain about being too tired. After dinner the boys had to make turkey soup that we’d bring in the next day. Nothing tasted more delicious than coming in from -5 F to fresh made turkey soup. Trust me, we never threw any way either.

I took this driving up 131 last year, as we say in Michigan Midland is the where the tree line changes and you get the pine and birch.

What Does January Entail for Cultural Courage?

There are a few things in the works. I have been spending some time with different AI tools, and will be publishing more on that later. It is interesting because the hype and reality are sometimes fairly divergent, and other times the hype is not too much of a stretch. Depending on the application, the technology is impressive. But there things we give up in exchange.

I sadly missed the deadline for Demi at Starfire Codes writing contest, but I’m wrapping up a conclusion to the fiction piece I wrote in November. I’m considering making that another narrated video, but I have things I want to get done first.

I have big history related project that I’ve been completing, something I think people will enjoy. Announcement will coming soon. It’s been a busy December, and we need a surprise for January.

Let Me Know Your Feedback

Hit me up if you have a preference of banners. And I would love to hear from you regarding topics for Cultural Courage, OZFest Morning Mission or Sunday Nights Radio. Let me know.