A field of jagged ice on Lake Superior
If you’re shivering and cold here on this winter day, you might choose to visit another blog.
I am aiming to show you some photos of jagged ice on Lake Superior here in Aura, Michigan. At the foot of Saari Road, just in case some of you locals might care to bring your camera and visit the ice field.
Dawn shadows on snow, deer tracks
On some January mornings the sun rises and casts lemon shadows against the blue-shadowed snow.
In the night deer nibble spruce branches and bed beneath them during this dark phase of the moon.
Sunrise, sunset. Swiftly fly the years…
I have received such wonderful comments and emails lately asking such questions as, “When are you returning to blogging? When are you coming back to Facebook? Where the heck ARE you, anyway?”
Dear friends, I don’t know how to answer that question.
On one hand my heart leaps in joy to hear that you are missing the words and photos here on Lake Superior Spirit.
On the other hand, I am so enjoying this time *mostly* off the computer. It feels right. It feels warm and nurturing and healing.
After writing–oh goodness knows, how many posts–it must be over 1,400 now if you count all the blogs since Day 1 on several different sites–something inside has gone very, very quiet. It doesn’t want to engage in the same way. It wants to chop wood, do laundry. It wants to feed the woodstove, go to work at our little two-room school, to shovel snow. It wants to delight in tatsoi, the new veggie we found in the co-op recently (think: a cross between swiss chard and bok choy in the shape of a wreath) and to figure out four different recipes to use it in.
Wings from our calendar
Dear friends,
Wishing you well this fine November day, however the day finds you.
Just wanting to let you know that–even though I am not blogging lately–all is well in our Little House in the Big Woods.
We’re almost prepared for winter. Everything battened down, harvested, caulked, put away in shed and garage and house.
On Friday it snowed. Not a lot, mind you, but enough to admire (or decry) on Halloween. The witches and goblins laughed hysterically. Almost an inch remained on the ground Saturday morning. Almost four inches tarried up in the hill country. Today it’s 50 degrees (10 C) and melted.
I made sweet squash pie in an oat-walnut crust yesterday. When you eat a bite or six, the maple syrup tastes like the sap of trees, sweet trees, ever-rising.
Sand shadows
Today I shall tell you the story of one bright shining magical yellow leaf.
Before that tale births, may I share other stories of waves, sand, trees, autumn colors, and who knows what else?
Sideways sand shadows along Lake Superior
Last weekend we drove east and north through the woods, past the two-classroom school where I work, down gravel roads, past brilliant autumn colors, into the magic of a cloistered road. Our car wound toward the Mouth of the Huron, a remote beach perhaps 25 miles from our house.
We’ve been getting out of our patch of woods to enjoy the nip of fall lately.
“We should do this every weekend,” I say. We nod. We’ve said this before.
Gray wolf (photo courtesy Keweenaw Bay Indian Community game cameras)
Wolf pauses by the gravel roadside, erect, regal. His fur coat gleams in autumn. He looks neither left nor right, yet seems to sense everything in his world.
I creep forward in the car, mesmerized by this creature of the deep woods. His companions increase yearly and some Michigan voters want to ban the wolf hunt. Others desire to manage the creatures, culling the herd, attempting to make sure wolf teeth don’t bite into small dogs.
This one may be a lone wolf. Or his pack might linger just behind the hemlock trees. He might be an alpha, a dominant one, or perhaps one of the male youths. He may be a she. I know little of wolf gender, culture or politics.
Last night around dusk the woods erupted in howls. Dog, coyote, or wolf? We listened intently. Barry thought coyote. I voted for dog and coyote. Dog barks punctuated the swell of yipping voices.
Kinder on the couch
This morning I would like to show you some photos of the grandcats. Last summer I introduced them in their precious kittenhood with this blog post: Did I forget to tell you I’m a grandma now? Or you may have seen Updates and videos of the grandkits written at the end of September a full year ago.
Hard to believe a year has passed, isn’t it? In the life of cats (and I suppose humans) a year is a big deal. Our two furry grandchildren–one named Mango who lives in San Diego with our son and daughter-in-law and one named Kinder who lives in New York City with our daughter–are now about one-and-a-half years old.
Mango on the couch
A couple of blog readers asked me recently: Hey, are you ever going to show pictures of your grandcats again? Obviously, it was time. I emailed the kids and requested said photos. They complied. I also asked for stories.
