A Time for Memories on Memorial Day

It's been tradition for awhile now to gather at our place on the river for Memorial Day for any relatives who can make it. Younger brother JJ and family have been consistent about that for as long as my memory can remember. Since brother Bear has moved here from AK, he's joined in, this his second year. We usually take a day to work on "the never quite done sauna", but with the weather, we didn't, so now we are a year behind.

Saturday was gorgeous, so we had to get out on the boat. Sunday was overcast, rainy and chilly. So work wasn't gonna work that day, so we headed over to the Bear's for the day. Monday the Bear and Company came to our place to cook up a great brunch.

Memorial Day was not memorable because we did lots of exciting things by the normal definition. It was memorable because it is the first weekend of summer, loved ones come to visit, it is relaxing, with lots of good food, conversation, and sprinkled with a lot of love....and memories. Sumer time, and the livin' is easy.

Saturday was gorgeous. Perfect for a boat ride. When we took a look to see how much gas we had, we see a baby loon on the prop. Now an interesting challenge. What to do, can't start the motor. JJ thinks he should take the canoe out, capture the tyke and set it in the water toward where we think the nest is. I call my eldest daughter who seems to know of such things. She says that birds are not offended by human touch, but doubted we would catch it, that it would probably flee. She also felt the parents would call for the chick and the chick would be fine. I called the local park naturalist, and he confirmed Kimberly's assessment.

Upon lowering the motor, the chick floated under the boat and headed toward the suspected nest. And all was well.
A former railroad trestle, now a trail for walkers and bikers...and by golly a diving dock for swimmers. On a hot day, one will always see teenagers swimming off this bridge that spans the Mississippi just as one enters Lake Bemidji. They climb up on the "down river" side.
The teens jump from the "up river" side of the bridge. They are always friendly and having a good time. Forty years ago I would have joined them. One of the benefits of living in Minnesota's Great North Woods.

It's surprising how much memory is built around things unnoticed at the time. ~Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams
This was only the second trip out on the boat, and the boat tune-up guys forgot to top off the gas tank, or my memory failed to remember to tell them not to forget. So we hit the beach at Ruttger's lodge for gas. The higher price is off-set by the convenience and the opportunity to sit on a sand beach for awhile. You can also have a refreshment, or even lunch or dinner.
Barbie sit in the shade while others hit the sand. The temp is in the 80's, perfect start for summer.

Pleasure is the flower that passes; remembrance, the lasting perfume. ~Jean de Boufflers
The 3rd generation leads the second followed by the first off the beach. Time to return to the boat for a ride on choppy waters.

To look backward for a while is to refresh the eye, to restore it, and to render it the more fit for its prime function of looking forward. ~Margaret Fairless Barber, The Roadmender

What is late Springtime without baby robins on the window sill. They are so close to the back door that mama and papa robin don't dare come near while there is human activity in the area. This is at the Bear's TLake home. They've discovered lots of wild flora and fauna this year upon their lands, including the tasty morel mushroom.

One need not be a chamber to be haunted;

One need not be a house;

The brain has corridors surpassing

Material place. ~Emily Dickinson, "Time and Eternity"

A little cool out on Sunday, we spend a bit of time inside playing games and relaxing. Here Barbie relaxes with the visiting Jack the dog.

“No amount of time can erase the memory of a good cat, and no amount of masking tape can ever totally remove his fur from your couch.” ~Leo F. Buscaglia

I'm a bit chilled, so brother Bear brings out a sweater jacket I haven't seen in a long time. It belonged to our father, a career soldier. Dad used to wear this on cool summer nights in the woods. A memory that brings a sad smile. Coincidently, there is a loon on the front. He'd enjoy that serendipity. I try to look like my father with limited success while Sister C mugs for the camera.

The leaves of memory seemed to make

A mournful rustling in the dark. ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

A good grandpa reads to his grand granddaughter, amusing Barb.

Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose. ~From the television show The Wonder Years
"Grandpa, can we go down to the beach and look for shells?" Fathers can't say no to their daughters, goes for granddaughters too, only maybe more so. Grandfathers are all about creating memories for their granddaughters.

I am a miser of my memories of you

And will not spend them. ~Witter Bynner, "Coins"

Memorial Day and Bear and Bride cook up some flap jacks, with real maple syrup boiled and packaged by a friend named Solaris.

The existence of forgetting has never been proved: We only know that some things don't come to mind when we want them. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
The youngest of the next generation gather at the round table to chow down.

“Remember that you have only one soul; that you have only one death to die; that you have only one life. . . . If you do this, there will be many things about which you care nothing.” ~St. Teresa of Avila

And another memorable Memorial Day at end, Grandpa and Granddaughter search for more sea shells and memories. Nature lends itself to reflection and spirituality does it not? Lots of good memories to add to lots of good memories of many Memorial Days.

“In solitude we give passionate attention to our lives, to our memories, to the details around us.” ~Virginia Woolf