Marquette

I’m not Catholic, nor a religious person, but I couldn’t help but to be curious about the final resting place of Bishop Baraga in Marquette, Michigan. The Bishop, a Roman Catholic missionary to the Upper Peninsula, chose the site for St. Peter’s Cathedral way back in 1853.

Baraga taught the Ojibway Indians, while protecting their rights and learning from them at the same time. He even put together a dictionary of their language.

Baraga served throughout the UP, often traveling between communities on snow shoes during the harsh winters. He died in Marquette and is buried in St. Peter’s Cathedral, where a beautiful room with stained-glass windows show some of the works that he did.

To record our visit, and some of the beautiful details of the cathedral, I created this page. The one at the top is the left side, with a pocket to hold the pamphlet from the church. The page above is the right side. I used the arch die repeatedly across the two pages … repeating elements makes for an attractive layout, but it also helps the two pages blend into one layout.

I’ve been working on what I love … home decor, upcycling and mixed-media, but I still found time to do what I love most — scrapbooking. Here are a few of the pages I completed from my recent trip to the Upper Peninsula. The page above is of the Lumberjack Tavern in Big Bay, Michigan. This is the site of the murder the story and movie, “Anatomy of a Murder,” was based on. We were the only ones in the bar and the self-proclaimed town drunk, and bartender, filled our heads with all sorts of details about the murder and the filming of the movie. It’s a really cool place — and is currently for sale, if you’re interested in owning a piece of history in a very small town.

I was excited to finally use this paper collection from Bo Bunny … I’ve been holding onto it for at least three years! We camped on the shores of Lake Superior.

Two of the trails we explored … one was all boardwalk. The other was through a sandy woods along the lake. It used to be a beach. There was something really strange about being in a forest and hearing the waves lap along the shore! By the way, if you know what this lichen or fungus or whatever it is in these photos, please tell me. It is beautiful! I spent an hour online, but couldn’t identify it. It seemed to occur only in areas that had recently burned.

A highlight of our trip … this was the cutest Sasquatch I have ever had the privilege to meet. The sculpture was extremely well done.

We found this pottery in Marquette. I fell in love. We talked to one of the artists for quite some time and she let me take a few photos. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen on a piece of pottery!