Our mini getaway to Minnesota’s north shore happened to fall over unusual and spectacular days in March… temperatures were in the high 50’s with bright sunshine and clear blue skies on one of the days.
The sunrise on the first day.
We did what we normally do up on the north shore…walk the rocks, hike, relax at the cabin, and enjoy the outdoors.
A row of cabins along the lake.
I read a story about someone claiming a large, old beautiful tree in his backyard sent him a silent sermon, or a blessing, each time he looked at the tree. I feel Lake Superior sends me a silent sermon each time I look at it. Lake Superior blesses me each time I stand in awe looking at it. I am drawn to it, and it blesses me.
From our cabin deck…the line in the corner of the photo is plexiglass…used for the deck railing. It is a wonderful feature of the cabin that sits so near the water’s edge.
Happy to be up at the cabin on the shore of Lake Superior.
This 58 degrees day in March also blessed me. It was unusual to have such wonderful weather this time of year. It was a gift. Our time was short, but sweet. Here are a few more photos.
The fun fishing hut we discovered.
An inland trail we hiked. It was a very pleasant walk through the snowy woods.
Towards sunset off Stony Point Road.
At dusk.Beautiful lighting as we looked out from the deck towards evening. First morning light the second day.
There was some snow on the edge of the lake in places…not many places though.
Ice shards in the Duluth Harbor.This bear greeted us as we entered the cabin. Such a whimsical touch. I loved it.
Our recent trip to the north shore was short but sweet. We rented a cabin for two nights and made the most of it. Arriving early afternoon, we unpacked, made some hot chocolate and enjoyed settling in. Next, we went for a walk on a scenic drive near the cabin. This area of the north shore is fairly new to us…we haven’t explored much of the Two Harbors area until recently, so there is a lot to discover. The first, for this trip, being a small fishing hut on the shores of Lake Superior. Our host told us to look for it when I mentioned we were going to go for a walk.
Our first glimpse of the fishing hut.
As we walked along the curvy, Stony Point Road we crested a hill and there it was. The all- encompassing, exquisite scene of a fishing hut between pine trees and along the water’s edge – immediately reminding us both of Norway! It was picturesque, charming and old-world. Our host told us this old fishing house, built extremely well and tight, was used by fishermen to store their fishing nets and supplies.
I loved this little hut on the shores of Lake Superior.
Many Scandinavian immigrants made a living by fishing Lake Superior in those early years. There is a North Shore Fishing Museum in Tofte, MN that shares stories and the history of commerical fishing on the north shore. I will plan to revisit that museum next fall.
A picture taken the next day, on a crystal-clear winter day.
We were delighted to see this lone hut sitting on the shores of the great Gichi-Gami (Ojibwe for great sea). From now on, this may become a short jaunt off our usual route when we drive up Highway 61 along the north shore.
Back at the cabin…
Exploring new areas is fun, especially when one has a warm and cozy cabin to return to!
An unusual jet vapor trail, or a cloud? Either way…it was fun to watch.
My husband says it a jet vapor trail, I say it’s a cloud, but whatever it is, it made for beautiful sky art this morning over Lake Superior.
A sliver of the moon is visible too, but not captured on camera. Actually at 5 am I woke up and the yellow/orange sliver was shining brightly and reflecting on the waters of Lake Superior.
The sunrise from our deck, on this Monday morning in March, at our cozy cabin on Lake Superior. A high of 48 degrees today.
For me, one positive impact from the pandemic was learning about the communication app Zoom. I’m grateful for the Zoom business to allow me free access to family members across the country, and close to home, during the restrictions of meeting in person.
Grandma enjoys reading the library books.
One result has been a weekly story time over Zoom with my grandchildren who live in Colorado. At each session we; visit, read books, and then sometimes, they read to me. Lately, our oldest granddaughter is attending in-person kindergarten, so it’s just me and Ezra…and Grandpa joins in occasionally.
Grandpa reads a book.
A favorite memory from when my boys were little was reading to them. And now, I love reading to my grandchildren. I have always enjoyed children’s books, and have several on our bookshelves around the house. One sweet gift a daughter-in-love gave to me, early on in our relationship, was a children’s book. I treasure that thoughtful gift.
Ezra reads/tells a story.
During our weekly story time I lay out books and let the kids choose which ones they want me to read. Zoom has yet to cut us off at the free forty minutes deadline…we typically go for an hour so we get to read several books. I love the children’s books I own, but it is always good to find new ones at the library to add to the mix.
Read first, then…
I go to the Northfield Library to look for new catchy titles and book covers. At my last visit to the library the children’s librarian, who presents the library’s children’s story time each week (pre-Covid), was there. I asked her for suggestions and she was very helpful. She actually remembered Zoey & Ezra from our weekly visits to her story time when they lived with us. Even now, when the kids come to visit they still want to go to story time at the library. YAY
…show the pictures…
The interaction I had with the children’s librarian that day was extra special. She told me of a book she really liked about “an overnight at grandmas”. The library copy was checked out so she went and retrieved a copy from her story time materials. When I went to the automatic checkout I noticed the book didn’t have a bar code, so I went and asked her about it and she told me this was her own personal copy and “just return it when you’re done.”
Last March (2020) when Covid-19 started infiltrating our world and we began to isolate ourselves, I decided it might be a good time to start knitting a prayer shawl. I didn’t have a specific person in mind as I started knitting. The finished shawl would go to our care pastor at church, to give to someone as needed.
I used yarn a friend had given to me. The yarn created a unique pattern. It made for an interesting prayer shawl that I hope will lift someone’s spirits.
Interesting yarn pattern.
As it turned out, knitting ended up not being something I was inclined to work on a lot during the pandemic. But, after almost a year, I finished the prayer shawl.
Years ago, I knit several prayer shawls…some for specific people, others for the pastor to give out. At that time, when there were several people knitting prayer shawls, a man from our congregation joined in knitting shawls. He happened to be my son’s mentor through a church program, and he gave a prayer shawl he had knitted to my son. It was a special blessing. I also received a prayer shawl when my mother died.
An old article from a Seventeen Magazine.
I don’t remember anyone showing me how to knit. I think I learned from a magazine article, when I was a teenager. I believe the magazine was titled Seventeen but I can’t find the magazine’s name (or date) anywhere on the article to confirm this. I still have this article in my knitting bag and sometimes refer to its simplistic instructions for knitting.
A brochure for Praying with a Prayer Shawl.
The brochure that used to be handed out with a prayer shawl (and maybe still is) begins; “A prayer shawl is intended to be a reminder of God’s ever-present love which is as near to you as your own body is to your sprit. It is a fit for every time and every occasion – joyful or sorrowful, for every season and circumstance of life – chose or unchosen, when you are weeping or when you are celebrating”…
It includes this scripture and a special prayer:
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139
I hope the finished prayer shawl will be a blessing to someone who needs some encouragement these days.
Literally, within minutes, we got dressed in our winter gear, drove to the upper arb in Northfield, just a few blocks away from our house, buckled on our snowshoes and started walking in the woods in the early morning after a lovely snow fall the day before.
This photo of the colorful sunrise was sent by a friend (used with permission). We had seen a portion of this sunrise from our window which enticed us to get outside and snowshoe.
We went “off trail” and followed deer tracks and had a delightful time while getting exercise and fresh air. The sun was rising and it was very calm and peaceful. A great way to start the day.
We had fun following fresh tracks in the newly fallen snow.
An evergreen tree among pin oaks.
And we were back home an hour later. It’s wonderful to have the Carleton Arboretum so close and available.
The upper arb at Carleton College.
The campus of Carleton College is also a great place to walk in the winter – without snowshoes. Carleton keeps their sidewalks clear and safe and there are lots of places to roam and get in a good walk, while weaving in-between the beautiful buildings and green spaces – well- white spaces in winter! We tend to go there often.
Clear ice forms this Carleton College logo ice sculpture.
The other day we were treated with ice sculptures. We don’t know who made them, we assume some Carleton students. We found three.
Mamma and baby penguin ice sculpture.
Olaf!
It was a delightful addition to our winter walk that day on Carleton’s campus.
Our small statue of “Cristo Redentor” – Christ the Redeemer.
Our church offered a drive-thru, what they termed, “Imposition of Ashes”. Because our church is still closed due to the pandemic this was offered to the congregation (and community) as the start of the Lenten season. You simply drove up to the church entrance. Our pastor met us at our car, applied the ashes, and sent us on our way with this scripture and prayer.
Psalm 51:10-12
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
O God, Give me stillness to recognize your presence. Give me quiet to hear your voice. Holy Spirit, I ask you to fill my heart with your peace, your love and your ways. Restore me and my spirit with Your strength to turn and follow you. Amen.
As our pastor marked our foreheads with the ashes he said, in part, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return. Now turn and follow Jesus.”
With temperatures predicted to dip way below zero (15 to 25 degrees below) over the weekend we decided it might be a good time to find a project to work on inside our warm house.
The one that came to mind was…photos! The ever-looming photos, a project we kept saying we’ll work on when we retire – even after we were retired.
But, at last, the timing felt right.
Our photo work area.
Since 1982 (when our first son was born) I dutifully put photos in albums in chronological order. I have several mismatched albums of all different sizes, one for each year, through the kids high school years. Then digital cameras became the norm and now photos are stored on the computer.
Piles of photos on the floor.
But still we had a few photos printed, plus my mom had duplicates of our sons that she gave back to us, and Gary’s sister gave us back all the photos we gave her of the kids when they were growing up, and there were stray photos for various reasons in different areas of the house and some old, framed photos to take out of the frame, some very old black and white photos that date way back etc., etc., etc. We had a lot of organizing to do.
So we set up our six-foot folding table in a downstairs room, unfolded two folding chairs, found archival pens, extra envelopes, a scissors, notepad and pen, and started in. We brought everything to the central work station. working diligently for several hours the first day. We stopped for lunch and a quick walk in the subzero temperatures, and then back at it. (Won’t the kids be glad someday!)
Our mismatched photo albums in chronological order.
The next day we started in again and did get the organizing done, cleaned off the shelf area in the closet where the albums are kept, and put the albums back in place.
Our next step is to go through each album and weed out the unwanted/not-so-good pictures…and who knows, maybe even combine a few albums together?
More photos.
The next steps may be more enjoyable. However, there are still many hours left on this project…but the weather forecast is for continued cold temperatures for a few more days, so that will be a helpful motivator.
I mentioned the special trip my son gave me as a birthday gift one year, before either of my sons were married. It was a significant birthday and my oldest son said he’d like to take me to London. I had been there once before, when we visited him after his semester studying at Oxford University. I enjoyed London a lot and was excited to be going back. This was a wonderful, thoughtful gift. What I didn’t know is I was in for another amazing gift, and a great big surprise while in London.
An enchanting evening…the London Eye under the full moon, a photo from a page in my album.
Michael and I had spent a lovely, long day in Oxford the day before so we were having a leisurely breakfast the next morning. It was a traditional English breakfast, buffet style, at our hotel. After our first trip to the breakfast bar my son said he wanted another bowl of muesli and I got another cup of coffee. A while later he said he wanted a third bowl of muesli so I had another cup of coffee.
Little did I know he was stalling….and during that third bowl of muesli in comes my younger son. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Tim was living in Mozambique, Africa at the time and in he walks, up to our breakfast table in the London hotel, to surprise me… and I was 100% totally surprised!!! What a moment. I started to cry and then laugh and then excitedly I settled down to visit (my husband had known all about this rendezvous and managed to keep their secret).
Wonderful breakfast surprise.
My two sons and I spent a few more days together in London and some very special memories were made for this mom, that I will never forget and always treasure. My heart was full.
As the temperatures dipped below zero, I decided to spend the day reading a book in front of our fireplace. Finding Mrs. Lewis, tells of the love story between Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis. As I settled in little did I know I would be transported back to Oxford, England that afternoon.
An interesting love story.
C. S. Lewis is well-known for many things including writing his beloved children’s series entitled The Chronicles of Narnia and a popular, classic Christian apologetics book, Mere Christianity.
C.S. Lewis held academic positions in English literature at Magdalen College at Oxford University (Oxford is made up of 35 separate colleges) and he lived on the outskirts of Oxford for many years, with his brother. C.S. Lewis was great friends with novelist J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy. These two great writers, C.S.Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien along with other writers, were in a writing group together that met every Tuesday at The Eagle and Child, a pub on St. Giles Street in Oxford. They called themselves the Inklings.
An ordinary pub on St. GIles Street in Oxford, that has become famous because of its patrons.
I was captivated by the love story between Joy and Clive (the C in C.S.). At one point in the book the setting changed from New York City to England. While reading several chapters of Joy’s time in Oxford it was exciting for me torecognize the places described in the book. Suddenly, I was back in Oxford as I visualized The Eagle and Child and the table where the Inklings met every Tuesday.
A more colorful view of this pub where C.S. Lewis met with his writing group.
I could see the magnificent University buildings and spires of Oxford. I remembered shopping at Blackwell’s Book Store, touring part of Christ’s Church, and the lovely, pastoral landscape surrounding the town. I had been to these places mentioned in the book and it made the story come alive and more interesting.
Christ Church in Oxford, a photo of a page in my photo album.
It prompted me to take a break from reading the book and dig out my vacation journal to read about my own two trips to Oxford. The first time our family went to meet up with our son who had finished one semester of college at Oxford University (Keeble College). What a joy to walk around this city of spires and very old, very ornate, beautiful, magnificent buildings. We went to see Keeble College, and where our son lived while attending, and where he studied – the Bodleian Library (only students allowed inside).
A postcard with a partial view of The University of Oxford with the Bodlien Library in the center
I was in Oxford for the second time when my son took me on a trip to London for a special birthday. What a guy! (I will expand on that in Part II.) Of course, we took the train to Oxford for a day to reminisce his rich experiences there. We came to a resolution at the beginning of our time to write one haiku each day of our trip. I created a photo book, along with the haikus, of that wonderful experience, so I pulled that album out too, and spent time remembering our fun adventures.
Keeble College.
(We were in London a third time to attend our youngest son’s graduation from the University of London with a master’s degree in public health. And though we didn’t go to Oxford on that trip, we had a great time in London with our youngest son and his family.)
So as I sat near the warm fireplace on a very frigid afternoon reading an interesting book, I escaped reality and went on a mini-holiday to an enchanting place in the confines of my own home.
