Thank you for all the wonderful happy birthday messages.
I was delighted to read each one.
We had a very relaxing and refreshing birthday/wedding anniversary trip to the north shore of Lake Superior. Our cozy cabin had a wood-burning fireplace next to patio doors to the deck overlooking the lake.
We had fires In the morning and fires in the evening…and enjoyed watching the lake with its many moods. On Tuesday the lake was churning with huge waves crashing against the rocky shore. The other days it was much calmer.
Mesmerizing Lake.
All our attention goes there,
It’s restorative.
However, we did bring along our cross-county skis, snowshoes, and Yaktrax to get out for fresh air and exercise.
Our hikes kept us close to the lake, but cross- county skiing took us inland.
We usually ask locals for recommendations. Our resort owner told us about Korkki Nordic.
In the morning, the sun was shining and it was a decent temperature so off we went to ski this trail. Next to the warming house (a nice touch to this trailhead) was a guy standing near a snowmobile with trail grooming apparatus hitched on the back. We started a conversation and found out he is the regular trail groomer. Mark lives on the property and grooms four ski trails.
The ski season is, of course, winding down – it was the first day of spring after all- so he was not planning to groom many more times this year. During our conversation, we mentioned it was my birthday. He was a jovial sort and said, as a gift to me for my birthday, he would go ahead of us and groom the trail. It would make skiing much easier for us.
And so he did, and we followed about three minutes behind him, and the skiing was great.
That is one of the more unusual gifts I’ve received for my birthday. It was a random act of kindness and we were grateful.
The question always is will March come in like a lamb or a lion? Of course, the questions refers to the weather…
For me, either way, March comes in with mixed emotions. There are several significant anniversaries for me in the month of March:
March 7, my father died in 1974
March 9, my mother died in 2009
March 16, our first grandson was born 2016
March 19, our second grandson was born in 2020
March 20, I was born in 1953
March 25, Gary and I were married in 1978
My mother died on this date in 2009. I created an album with items from her funeral and her last days.
Then, during the next 10+ years, I kept stuffing bits and pieces into the album as a safe place to put something significant related to her. It needed to be re-organized, so I took the album off the shelf to work on it during a recent snowstorm. I enjoyed going through the journal entries, the funeral program, and looking at the pictures. The hymns sung at her funeral were printed out, and included On Eagle’s Wings, an uplifting song (no pun intended!).
Chorus:
And He will raise you up on eagles' wings
Bear you on the breath of dawn
Make you to shine like the sun
And hold you in the palm of His hand
We recently took a day trip to the National Eagle Center, in Wabasha.
Columbia and Angel are resident eagles there, because of injuries. Both are female, and both in their “20’s”. Such majesty, beauty, power.
We tallied 14 eagle sightings en route to Wabahsa, on that pleasant March day. They are a magnificent sight. But I digress…
Back to momentous March dates…
My father passed away on March 7, 1974. He was only 55 years old. I have accumulated pictures and written history information from our recent trip to Norway with intentions to compile them in an album. I plan to do so during the upcoming predicted snowstorm this week. Another 2-3 inches…downgraded from 7-8 inches.
Then, on to warmer spring days, and happier celebrations of births and marriage.
Uncle Bob (my dad’s younger brother) and his bride, Aunt Joyce…married 71 years ago today. I’m grateful for their testimony of much love and support for each other.
Gary and I celebrated our 42nd anniversary today. Celebrations are just not the same during this pandemic when we have to stay at home and keep social distancing. But we made it a fun day.
Gary bought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers but we decided to make cards for each other instead of buying them, since I am not going into any stores at this time. That ended up to be a fun experience, resulting in memorable cards. We may have started a new tradition.
We made a lovely dinner together, and ate by candlelight.