Fall Break

Paddling on the Mississippi River

I had a fall break this past week. It was quite enjoyable. I was wishing for a little bit more fall colors, but I still greatly enjoyed my time.
A couple of highlights:

• Canning adventures with friends and Erik. We made Apple Cider Jelly and Erik's Grandma Lois' Pickled Beets.
• Paddling with my neighbor on the windy Mississippi River, in his beautiful handcrafted cedar strip kayaks. 
• Father Hennepin State Park. I wanted to see some albino deer and we didn't but we did see some cool caterpillars.
• 5th Anniversary - we had crab legs for dinner and then had desert from Pardon My French by the bonfire with some port. It was lovely. 
• Enjoying Sunday around Minneapolis and St. Paul with my parents, cheering on my sister, Katie, who completed her first marathon! So completely impressed!

Willow was in the water within minutes of pulling up to the cabin

Katie in the Twin Cities Marathon (photo by: Dad)

Coffee - a.k.a. no sugar vanilla soy latte - has seen me through some days of burning the candle at both ends lately. The ladybug that came with this delight in a cup just made the day even that much better!

I think this Wednesday was the blast winter had, or at least I'm hoping that is the case. I know that last winter ended a bit early at this latitude, but what a different spring we are having. Last year Erik and I were moving about this time and the apple trees were blooming and the tulips were up and open. I have daffodils and the tulip foliage is there but no buds yet.


Last year I missed the blood root blooming, but this year we've had a beautiful show of the white flowers. Willow likes them too.
Today was a rainy day around these parts, but I'm hoping for a better weather day tomorrow. If we get the some sun tomorrow I suspect that things will really green up after a drizzly day like today. Yesterday was cool but dry and Erik and I did some yard work and had our first fire in the backyard. Erik put in some really nice steps for us between the house and the garage to the backyard. It had been more like a mud slick beforehand.

Costco thinks I should buy one of these and I do too...

I want the snow to go away! I'm not sure Willow would agree.


I wonder how long it will be until we can see the pond. Yesterday you could see some of the spring bulbs popping up from the ground. I'm so very ready for spring!

Happy March!

Spring will be here soon! One of my favorite things to look forward to at the beginning of each month is a phenology put out by Jim Gilbert with the Wild Bird Store. March's phenology can be found here.

Erik and I went on a get away further north, to Bayfield, Wisconsin. We had planned to cross country ski and snowshoe, but quickly realized the snow we had left at home was much better than further north and were out of luck for both winter activities. We found other things to do. We went to Little Sand Bay and Meyers Beach, both part of the Apostle Islands National Park. I lived at Little Sand Bay for a summer so it was fun to be back there, although very much different without the carpet of forget-me-nots. We had wanted to hike out to the caves via the ice, but the ice was gone from the last warm spell. We heard that January was a better month to try to get out to them, or the summer when you can kayak to them.

We decided to drive over to Michigan. It was our first time in Michigan for each of us. We hiked around the Black River National Forest and saw some powerful waterfalls. It was pretty cool. I'd definitely like to go back in the summer or fall.

We ate at some good places: breakfast at the Egg Toss in Bayfield, Good Thyme, just outside of Washburn, South Shore Brewery in Ashland, WI, and on our way to Michigan we stopped in Washburn for some wonderful pasteries and coffee at Coco.


We ended our trip with a stop in Duluth for some Fitger's beer and walk amongst the ice on the north shore. It was refreshing to have a little time away.

The best way to predict the future is to invent it. - Alan Kay

I loved my sister's post recently and in particular, one sentence... "Maybe I spend my train ride home trying to architect a night that uses every minute perfectly." I think that is a terrific perspective. I don't want to waste any of my time but enjoy every moment even when doing things that are less than enjoyable (cleaning the bathroom). That doesn't mean I need to be super busy, but just make the most of my time.


We had a bit of a snow storm here last Sunday and Monday. Willow loved the snow! We had just lost a bunch of snow to melting and then this storm brought us 18 inches more. The table was completely free of snow. Again I can not see over the snow piles next to the driveway. It is very pretty though.

During the snow, Erik took on most of the shoveling - very much appreciated. I warmed the house by making blood orange marmalade and a lemon vanilla sauce.