6 Years...

...of blips, & most of them taken in my home state of Wisconsin. So in honor of the occasion I decided on a collage, featuring the 4 distinct and beautiful seasons we have here, and I've included some interesting & fun facts about my state. :))
-To give you an idea of size: 1 Wisconsin equals 1.5 England
-We are bordered on the East by Lake Michigan (3rd largest of the 5  Great Lakes); to the North by Lake Superior (largest of the Great Lakes)  and to the West, by the Great Mississippi River. 
-Due to the glaciers that moved through this area thousands of years  ago, Wisconsin is full of rolling hills, valleys, prairies, fertile farmland & 15,081 lakes (not counting the two "Great" ones).
-Although known as "America's Dairyland", Wisconsin is also the leading producer of ginseng in the U.S., and leads the nation in exports of cranberries, whey, ginger root and sweet corn.
-There are 800,000 deer roaming our woods (I wonder who counted?)
-Northern Wisconsin has the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, with pristine old growth trees, covering more than a million and a half acres.
-People outside of the state frequently pronounce it as WIS-consin  (accent on the WIS), but it's actually pronounced WisCONsin(accent on  the CON)
-We call our drinking fountains "bubblers"
-We call our traffic lights "stop and go lights"
-We've been told that we have a weird way of pronouncing "Bag" &   "Bagel", & are told so every time we leave the state. (We pronounce it as  "bay-g" or "bay-gle".) But it doesn't bother us, as we know we're correct  and everyone else is wrong! :)))
-If you ask someone here what they're doing for vacation and they   answer they're going "up north", they don't mean Canada. They're  referring to any area in northern Wisconsin where they camp, rent or  own a cottage so that they can swim, jet ski, pontoon, fish, etc. 
-We have an unnatural hatred for gophers, cubs, bears and cardinals--  not the actual animals, but we just enjoy disliking our sports rivals! Haha

I enjoy Blip even more now than I did when I first started. It's a
totally unique site--one where we can connect with each other from all around the world. We get to see and learn about places we've never seen before, get insight into other cultures, & Tom frequently jokes that I know what's happening in other parts of the world before it hits the news. I think it's a shining example that it IS possible for people to learn from each other, to expand their thinking (along with their photography), & to get along.....in peace and understanding.  :))