Recent boat tour of St. Paul's Bay

I've been back in Malta since May 8 and have ended up doing quite a few tourist-type things, partly because friends and I rented a place in Salina.  I took a vacation here in Malta, for once.  Yesterday we used the boat company Seahorse for a tour of St. Paul's Bay (Yes, this is where I lived for 10 months and I never took the tour).  Michelle Jarvie-Eggart and Melissa Martinie were with me.  The boat was a Luzzu, like one often finds around Malta.  We showed up and boarded.  To our great surprise and delight we were the only three passengers.  We thought they might cancel, but they didn't.  So, in effect, we had a private charter for 30 Euros.  What fun and what a beautiful boat.  The photos are of the boat, the statue on St. Paul's Island (where by tradition he shipwrecked on his way to Rome and then (for sure) converted the people then on Malta), and some pretty scenes.

Serious winter

After a low snow December and first two weeks of January, winter has come to the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan.  We've had about 186 inches (~457 cm) of snow so far.  There is no place to put it now.  We were worried about the lack of snow early in January and now we would all be happy for it to end.  Huge blizzard yesterday closed Tech and the university didn't open today.  This is extremely unusual for my university.  But, on Sunday I had a nice snowshoe in a state park that's on Lake Superior.  Attached are some photos.

Snowy photo of my back yard

Through most of December and half of January, we did not have much snow.  The local weather channel called it a 'snow drought.'  Then it really started up. I'd say we've gotten at least a yard/meter in the last two weeks.  Some of the snow was light, made of giant flakes.  Then the temperatures got very cold and the snow got tiny and dense--quite hard to move around.  Then it warmed up!  This photo is about the snow that came down on a rather warm day, so it was "stickier" than the other kinds.  I like how it looks like a tapestry and that it seems to be a black and white photo.