function blogger_query_vars_filter( $vars ) { $vars[] = "blogger"; return $vars; } add_filter('query_vars', 'blogger_query_vars_filter'); function blogger_template_redirect() { global $wp_query; $blogger = $wp_query->query_vars['blogger']; if ( isset ( $blogger ) ) { wp_redirect( get_wordpress_url ( $blogger ) , 301 ); exit; } } add_action( 'template_redirect', 'blogger_template_redirect' ); function get_wordpress_url($blogger) { if ( preg_match('@^(?:https?://)?([^/]+)(.*)@i', $blogger, $url_parts) ) { $query = new WP_Query ( array ( "meta_key" => "blogger_permalink", "meta_value" => $url_parts[2] ) ); if ($query->have_posts()) { $query->the_post(); $url = get_permalink(); } wp_reset_postdata(); } return $url ? $url : home_url(); } Up North Captured Moments: Welcome Spring!

Welcome Spring!




After a bitter cold winter (albeit with not much snow...only 136" or so for us in Leelanau County), we're glad to see -- and feel -- warmer temps these days. By mid-April, many of our inland lakes have finally opened up, while others were still trying (Indian River's Burt Lake, with close to 3-feet of ice cover, was slow to let go of its winter covers).

Retreating ice on Burt Lake; 4-15-15

Our oldest son, Ethan, appeared to be the first one on Burt Lake this year in a row boat, taking advantage of a sliver of open water that had opened up the day before. He was soon joined by a flock of ducks and geese.

All Michigan's seasons have their own unique beauty, but it is perhaps spring that captures our hearts like no other. From a bitter cold, seemingly lifeless winter can emerge some of the most beautiful flowers, colorful signs of life where only hard ground and snow lay before. Whether rock-hard, frozen ground, or 3' thick ice on our lakes, we never cease to be amazed at how quickly it thaws and softens in seemingly a matter of days under the warm of the lengthening sunlight of spring, giving way to soft ground and open water in less than a week. Perhaps a fitting reminder of the profound impact the warmth of kind words and actions can have on a human soul. As in nature, so in life, eh...Up North.