When the bear rolls over in his den…

A husky. Not a bear...

Let’s still talk about the Heikinpaiva celebration up in Hancock this weekend.  Remember what “Heikinpaiva” means?  It means when the bear rolls over in his (or her) den.  What it really means is that the bear is snoozing in his den, half-asleep.  Suddenly he senses that the winter is half over.  Time to roll over on the other side.  That is, unless the bear is a mama nursing cubs.  If that’s the case, I’ll bet she doesn’t roll over.  The poor little cubs would be crushed. 

Here is a link to a real mama bear hovering over her cubs in a den.  You won’t see much action.  Usually when I check in she’s lying like a lump of black fur over her cubs. 

Clomp, clomp, clomp. Horses clomp by outside the car window.

Let’s put it another way:  we’re rolling over in our Upper Peninsula dens, convinced that this is the Midwinter Point.  Groundhog’s day approaches on Tuesday.  This is the hump.  We won’t be freezing much longer.  Spring is just…we’re sure…around the corner.  

Kick sledding

Thus a celebration is required!  Study all these photos carefully.  You will notice a husky at the Polar Plunge.  (See yesterday’s post.)  A couple of horses plod along a busy Hancock street.  I caught the duo through the window of our Buick.  They pulled a wagon filled with children and parents along the traffic-laden road.  The following photos show the fine art of kick-sledding.  Finnish kids played on kicksleds for years, I am sure.  Look at the fun the children are experiencing!  

Triple kicksled action

  

Even the baby is having fun.  Heikinpaiva is that kind of celebration. It appeals to all ages.   

Hi baby. You like Heikkinpaiva too?

As I mentioned yesterday, we failed to witness the Wife Carrying event.  I am sorry to report.  I wonder if there were any wives carrying husbands.  I wonder if it looks like a barbaric cave-man scene.  I really want to view the wife carrying game one of these years.  If we could figure out what time they haul one another around the playing field.

Be sure to see the wife carrying competition...

  

Of course we couldn’t simply attend the Heikinpaiva celebration in Hancock and return home.  We love eating out!  This time we visited Joey’s Seafood Restaurant in Houghton.  Barry ate the three-piece fish and chips.  I sampled the Jambalaya with garlic bread.  I am discovering that my photographic eye never turns off these days.  You can be spooning Jambalaya into your mouth and your eye is gauging the next photograph.  It’s getting kind of crazy.  I explained it to Barry:

“It’s like my eye keeps scanning everywhere, looking for a good photograph.  Scan, scan, scan.  No, no, no, no, YES! ”  It never seems to stop. 

And then we have to undergo photographic discussions.  I can’t seem to shut up these days, talking about shots and angles and possibilities. It’s good to have a photographer-husband. 

Inside Joey's Seafood Restaurant in Houghton. B&W ambiance...

   

It’s also interesting how the review on the camera often turns out differently than the review on the computer screen.  You can think you have a wonderful photograph scrolling through the camera.  Then you upload it and sigh.  Not quite.  Almost, but not quite.  

Neon fish in the aquarium at Joey's

 My ice-fishing husband loves fish.  Eating fish, looking at fish. I decided to attempt to photograph the wiggly creatures.  Look at those green neon stripes!  Amazing…

Hope you all enjoy your week.  Just think!  Winter is half over!  The bear says so.  He just rolled over in his den.