It’s been an extended and lovely fall season here in the North. The trees took on their autumn colors and glowed in the sunshine and the unusual warmth. It’s been a time of “oohs” and “aahs” as we’ve taken in the glorious colors – golds, yellows, reds, oranges, and all the shades imaginable.
With a night or two of temperatures below freezing, the colors began to loose their luster. The brightness dimmed and the leaves began to loosen their grip. Down they fluttered (or seemingly slammed if the wind was gusting) and covered the ground. Rakes and leaf blowers have been brought back to life from the deep reaches of the sheds and garages. Now as you walk outside there is a crunch under your footsteps – a signal to the seasonal change to winter.
And as we enjoy 60s and 70s today, there’s even a forecast of snow in two days! Each year we marvel and appreciate the fall colors, and each year we say how much we enjoy them and wish they’d last longer. But Mother Nature is always on her own schedule. She has given us an autumn show that’s been spectacular, and for that I am grateful.
The air hung unusually warm for a mid-September evening. So warm that the bugs and mosquitos were following me as I waited on the shoreline. But the wind had died down and the lake was calm. Slowly the full moon rose over the opposite shore. Peering between the branches and leaves, it cleared the tree tops. It was clothed in a pink veil but as it rose higher the color changed to a shade of orange and then to a golden glow.
As I marveled at this harvest moon I could hear an owl in the distance. Was it too watching this nightly ritual? And what of all the people that have stood on this shoreline and watched this very same moon rise into the sky? Those that once ventured north to a lovely small resort on this lake? Those that might have hunted in the woods nearby and fished these same waters?
The moon slipped behind some clouds as I was pondering these questions, and then it slowly inched past the threads of clouds and shone down brightly, glistening off the water’s surface.
As we near the end of August and the traditional three months of summer, I wanted to share an image that represents this warm and special season to me – blue skies, and the bright yellow faces found in a field of sunflowers. Enjoy and soak up all that’s left of summer!
The land of big sky, big trees, big rocks, and big lakes – we’ve just returned from a camping trip to Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota. This park is unique as it’s a water-based park, and all campsites are boat-in. Lakes stretch 55 miles creating the northern boundary between the U.S. and Canada, and were traversed by the French-Canadian voyageurs during the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. Prior to that there were 18 American Indian tribes associated with these lands and waters.
We departed from the Ash River Visitors Center with our 16-foot Lund fishing boat packed with camping gear and food. Reading lake navigational maps (a first for me!) we motored from Kabetogama Lake to Namakan Lake and found our campsite – a beautiful point on an island facing the southwest. The sunrises and sunsets are immense and envelop you from all sides. And here the rocks and trees go right down into the lake – part of the ruggedness of this area.
We explored an old logging camp in Hoist Bay that operated between 1913 and 1929. At the time, a railroad trestle extended out into the bay so timber logs could be floated to the trestle and loaded onto the railroad cars for inland transport to the mills. After the camp closed the area was turned into a resort, welcoming guests from 1939 to 1973. We wandered another island, amazed at the I. W. Stevens Pine Cove Resort which was opened in 1937 and operated for 22 years. Stevens purchased the island in 1932 and called it home until 1979. His house and cabins remain to give setting to his amazing story.
Another day we pointed our boat north and motored to the eastern tip of the roadless Kabetogama Peninsula to Kettle Falls. Here we marveled at the dam that was built in 1914, allowing enough water to move the timber industry’s logs to the mills and also supply water for paper production. We enjoyed lunch at the historic Kettle Falls Hotel, serving customers since l9l3. And no stop at the Kettle Falls Hotel is complete without a visit to the bar with its famous sloping floor. When the hotel was constructed the foundation was built on clay soil. Not the best for a long-term choice as it can sink over time, which it did. In the 1970’s when the National Park Service renovated the hotel they kept the bar room floor at its old slope, only raising the pool table so it would be level.
We returned with an appreciation for the history of this area and an admiration of the lives of the people who worked and lived here. And I have a great gratitude for the rugged beauty and wildness of this unique part of northern Minnesota, and the calmness that can be found here.
Summer is usually filled with bright and vivid colors – the deep blue of the sky, the lightest whites in the clouds overhead, the bold red geraniums, the intense orange tiger lilies, and the vibrant gold of sunflowers. Yet this morning when I stepped out into the garden I noticed a welcome softness. Maybe it was the cooler temperatures or the haziness of the sky blocking some of the sun’s rays. The purple cornflowers were the same color they had been yesterday but there seemed to be a touch of delicateness in the garden – a softer light that spoke to me more than the primary colors of summer. It was as if it was telling to me to breathe deeply, and to enjoy the summer and this very moment.
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