Gunflint Trail, USA When your 88-year-old friend and his youthful 81-year-old wife reach out to tell you that they've been cooped up in their tiny apartment for seven months, and furthermore there is a decent amount of failing health to contend with and worry over, and that really, all said friend would like is one... Continue Reading →
Catching up, and A Plea
Wow. So I totally left ya' hangin' there. With the COVID. Sincere apologies. We are still alive. Not to worry. Test #2 was still negativo, and not a one of us got sick. Three cheers for masking and distancing and wiping down All The Things! Even if we weren't doing it perfectly, we survived hours... Continue Reading →
Fish fry, COVID, and Torticollis
The youngest and I trucked up to Grand Marais last weekend, to check in on her older sisters. 'Twas a glorious trip, on the verge of peak season for the North Shore. This weekend was full-on peak, and we will be up there again next weekend. So we're missing it by a week on BOTH... Continue Reading →
R&R at The Four Seasons
121. Is that too many pictures of one vacation for one blog post? 121? I mean, a full 10 of them are of lichen, and there are at least two snowmen in there. I think it's good, right? Commence photojournalism spree... First of all, ya'll can rest your minds from working out that kid rotation... Continue Reading →
Growing up
So anyway, back to that Boundary Waters trip… Most notable, with the exception of the mutilated lip, was the marked absence of mosquitoes. I dunno if y’all have spent any time up there, but if you have, at least in the summer, you might note how remarkable that statement is. In point of fact, our... Continue Reading →
The Warm-up
Boundary Waters 2020 Put-In is less than 3 weeks away. It'll be a small party this year, the hubs and I and the youngest two goombahs, Will and Sarah. We'll mostly be covering territory we've traveled before. Nothing overly exciting. I won't even try to express how much I'm looking forward to it. What with... Continue Reading →
Pieces of Home
The other night, Wednesday I believe, we were out at Picnic Flow enjoying the waves on the basalt and the dancing moon in the ‘tide’pools. The Flow is this amazing tilt of lavarock, just shoving out into Lake Superior, and a favorite place of ours at Gooseberry Falls. We're especially drawn out there at night,... Continue Reading →
An Early Homecoming
A gorgeous jaunt on the North Shore, if a bit short. First, a photo essay: That pretty well sums it up. Except I didn't manage to take any pictures whilst vehemently scrubbing my face Thursday night, when the wind and the cold conspired against my headlight and it exploded to drip battery acid on my... Continue Reading →
Gooseberry. Here. Now.
We’re headed to the North Shore tomorrow. To our beloved Gooseberry. Life’s thrown some sucker punches our way this year, and the enthusiasm is tempered, but still, deep down, it is there: the primordial pull towards the mighty Gitchi Gummi. I’ve got a plethora of reasons that this trip will inevitably be bittersweet, but also... Continue Reading →
Book Review: The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich My rating: 5 of 5 stars I think that The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse has been on my to-read shelf for almost a decade. Back in the days when my super-reader-friends were just introducing me to good... Continue Reading →
About that thing…
So... About that thing I whined about for an entire month, and then never even talked about after it happened... Observant readers may have noticed that December's Truth Be Told event wasn't the end of me. Truth be told, I thought it might be. There was a bit of complaining. And whining. Lemme' just look back...... Continue Reading →
Milk and miracles and fairy godmothers
I had to make a clandestine run for breast milk this morning. One of the kiddos, who shall remain nameless, appears to have contracted pinkeye over the weekend, and for those who don't know, breast milk is the single best cure for pinkeye. Scoff if you must, but don't cry to me about your goop.... Continue Reading →
