Last night we moved our Casita trailer to the back of the farm. As we stopped the pick-up truck, an antlered buck came charging toward us at full speed. Apparently the truck lights blinded him; about 20 feet away, he veered and disappeared into the soybean field. We thought we were going to be assaulted!
Stars came out one by one and a new moon appeared. Coyotes howled nearby. In the cool breeze, we seemed hundreds of miles away from home instead of a couple of miles down the road. A good night to escape Wall Street worries, political campaigns, local courtroom dramas.
We awoke to the sound of cows by the nearby pasture fence curiously observing us. A retreat that renewed the soul.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Are we there yet?
Clear Lake
White Cloud
Little Otter Creek
Knife River
Sawtooth Mountain
Two Harbors
Beaver Bay
Timberlane Cabins
Grand Marais
Bluewater Cafe
Grand Portage
Gunflint Trail
Boundary Waters
Thunder Bay
Armstrong Ontario
Caribou Lake
Forrest Lodge
. . .Fishing!
For more than 30 years my husband and friends have canoed and camped up north where the roads end. Last year they discovered a lovely camp with cabins and invited
wives. A new experience for me. So cold I wore everything I brought in my suitcase the first day and kept warm in spite of driving rain while my boat pilot was lost on the lake for more than an hour during a storm. Surprisingly, I got back in the boat again, and I developed a taste for being outdoors all day long in the weather. Nature seeps inside your soul and crowds out all the mental baggage one carries around. I have learned that Canada trips are not about the fish!
White Cloud
Little Otter Creek
Knife River
Sawtooth Mountain
Two Harbors
Beaver Bay
Timberlane Cabins
Grand Marais
Bluewater Cafe
Grand Portage
Gunflint Trail
Boundary Waters
Thunder Bay
Armstrong Ontario
Caribou Lake
Forrest Lodge
. . .Fishing!
For more than 30 years my husband and friends have canoed and camped up north where the roads end. Last year they discovered a lovely camp with cabins and invited
wives. A new experience for me. So cold I wore everything I brought in my suitcase the first day and kept warm in spite of driving rain while my boat pilot was lost on the lake for more than an hour during a storm. Surprisingly, I got back in the boat again, and I developed a taste for being outdoors all day long in the weather. Nature seeps inside your soul and crowds out all the mental baggage one carries around. I have learned that Canada trips are not about the fish!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Summertime
Between June 1 and September 1, 2008, I was in the presence of grandchildren in one combination or another for 68 days! Time well-spent and a great privilege. . .
From traveling with a 14 year old grandson to listening to a two year old enlarge his vocabulary, it was a great joy. Richard and I have been greatly blessed with family experiences this summer - fishing in the farm pond, riding in the back of the pick-up in the pasture checking the cow herd, chaperoning horse rides, wading in creeks--the fun goes on and on!
From traveling with a 14 year old grandson to listening to a two year old enlarge his vocabulary, it was a great joy. Richard and I have been greatly blessed with family experiences this summer - fishing in the farm pond, riding in the back of the pick-up in the pasture checking the cow herd, chaperoning horse rides, wading in creeks--the fun goes on and on!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Twinkle Twinkle Little Shoe
Twinkle, twinkle little shoe
How I wonder how you do
Neon sparkles at each step
Pounding energy and pep
Don't you tire of constant shine
Busy children tarnish mine!
In honor of a small tennis shoe, recently through the washing machine cycle,
that flashes relentlessly 24 hours a day regardless of whether occupied by a little foot!
How I wonder how you do
Neon sparkles at each step
Pounding energy and pep
Don't you tire of constant shine
Busy children tarnish mine!
In honor of a small tennis shoe, recently through the washing machine cycle,
that flashes relentlessly 24 hours a day regardless of whether occupied by a little foot!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
More about increased food prices -
I feel vindicated. See entry from London, July 17. The President's Office of Economic Development has made the estimate that about 3% of the 40% rise in food prices world-wide is due to the production of ethanol from corn. The most outrageous statement I heard is when movie theatres in the Southwest raised the price of their super-large boxes of popcorn to $5 because of the biofuel production from corn. Folks--ethanol is not made from popcorn!
The cornfields seem to be thriving on the rain forest climate we have had this summer. Many rural roads are closed from overflowing creeks at present. We have seen seven crop-dusters at work almost daily for a couple of weeks now as it is too wet to get into the fields to spray. Enough planes to make it sound like the Blitz!
The cornfields seem to be thriving on the rain forest climate we have had this summer. Many rural roads are closed from overflowing creeks at present. We have seen seven crop-dusters at work almost daily for a couple of weeks now as it is too wet to get into the fields to spray. Enough planes to make it sound like the Blitz!
Friday, July 25, 2008
Home again. . .
Pardon a little old-fashioned sentimentality. . .
So it's home again, and home again, America for me!
My heart is turning home again and there I long to be,
In the land of youth and freedom, beyond the ocean bars,
Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars.
Henry Van Dyke 1909
So it's home again, and home again, America for me!
My heart is turning home again and there I long to be,
In the land of youth and freedom, beyond the ocean bars,
Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars.
Henry Van Dyke 1909
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
London Newspapers
Less American news than usual while I have been here, however, I have read articles about several current issues which have clarified for me what is going on, and British reporters have expressed approval of the direction we are moving. Example: the Boeing, Northrup, EAD aircraft contract. As usual, there is overall friendliness to the USA in spite of cynicism. People will cross a crowded room to visit when they hear an American drawl in your voice!
From Gerard Baker in the July 18, 2008 issue of The Times: What people dislike about President Bush is what they think they know about America--its' ignorance, its' arrogance, its' narrow-mindedness--all caricatures fed by the media coverage of the country and its' politics and culture. But there was, it is true, always the other side to the ambivalence of the world's thoughts
about America. The rise of Senator Obama is a reminder of what the rest of the world still admires--sometimes grudgingly--about America: a constant capacity to renew itself.
From Gerard Baker in the July 18, 2008 issue of The Times: What people dislike about President Bush is what they think they know about America--its' ignorance, its' arrogance, its' narrow-mindedness--all caricatures fed by the media coverage of the country and its' politics and culture. But there was, it is true, always the other side to the ambivalence of the world's thoughts
about America. The rise of Senator Obama is a reminder of what the rest of the world still admires--sometimes grudgingly--about America: a constant capacity to renew itself.
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