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

Flower Power

Flower power means something totally different today than yesterday. Over the past couple years, the Gardner here at Black Birch Estates (I'm the Steward) has developed some pretty nice flower gardens and other avenues to display flowers e.g. hanging baskets, whiskey barrels, and other fun things. We must have a half dozen gardens of various sizes now; the triangle, the birdbath, the southern deck, the back deck, St. Francis, and more.

The Gardner has always enjoyed - well, gardening - but last year she stepped it up a notch and this year another notch yet, and let me tell ya, it looks pretty lush and colorful around here. We've lived here now over 20 years, so things like lilacs and flowering crabs, willows, and other trees have reached nice maturity and things look really good. A canopy of leafy branches hovers over our 500 foot drive, and upon entering, one feels like you're headed down a living tunnel into the woods. The unique setting we have here on four acres, a peninsula jutting into the Father of Waters, actually makes us feel somewhat isolated...not being able to hear or see a neighbor. It's wonderful, with wild flora and fauna in abundance. Not often enough we take pause, take a deep breath, and are truly thankful for how we have been blessed with this wonderful place in the woods. A home we built with our own hands, with a lot of help from our friends.

Our place was voted the coolest place to deliver food by nine out of ten pizza delivery drivers thirteen years running now, or since they started keeping statistics for such things.

Well Barbara is not shy about asking for help with gardens and flowers. Our friend Rachelle has the credentials to be a Master Gardner but doesn't have to go to all those darn old meetings. And she just loves to help. And she did help...spend lots of money on both annuals and perennials this year. She gets as excited as Barb does - so it's wonderful, and the place is just beautiful.

Now I know nothing of flowers, but the women around me do. Daughters, nieces, sisters-in-law and women friends have been raving about the gardens here this year. So I'm just going to post photos because there is only one flower I know the name of, lilac. Man, I do love the scent of lilacs. More flowers than garden photos, but that's because a good share of the photos were taken by Rachelle's daughter Ashley, an excellent photographer by the way, who appreciates the intricacies of flora.

I do appreciate gardens as nature and know how that affects me in a spiritual sense, but rather than embarrass myself, I will let poets and others speak my thoughts. So here's to flowers and the women who love them.
The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for him there. ~George Bernard Shaw
Don't wear perfume in the garden - unless you want to be pollinated by bees. ~Anne Raver
Science, or para-science, tells us that geraniums bloom better if they are spoken to. But a kind word every now and then is really quite enough. Too much attention, like too much feeding, and weeding and hoeing, inhibits and embarrasses them. ~Victoria Glendinning

In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful. ~Abram L. Urban

God made rainy days so gardeners could get the housework done. ~Author Unknown

There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling. ~Mirabel Osler

Happy gardeners Barbara and Ashley pose for a photo while taking a break from the soil.

When one of my plants dies, I die a little inside, too. ~Linda Solegato
Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty, and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity. ~Lindley Karstens

The Gardner from Black Birch Estates being photographed by the Steward.

Ashley, such a pleasant young woman. She's digs right in. Not shy a bit when it comes to planting or photography.

Rachelle, a wonderful friend who gets so giddy when working in gardens you'd think they were her own. Wanna know the names of flowers and read about it? Check out Rachelle's blog at http://www.rachelleann41.blogspot.com/

The Sentinel. Benson the dog, a Llasa Apso, that's his job...to keep the critters away from Barbie's salads.

I know that if odour were visible, as colour is, I'd see the summer garden in rainbow clouds. ~Robert Bridges, "Testament of Beauty"

You can bury a lot of troubles digging in the dirt. ~Author Unknown
Garden writing is often very tame, a real waste when you think how opinionated, inquisitive, irreverent and lascivious gardeners themselves tend to be. Nobody talks much about the muscular limbs, dark, swollen buds, strip-tease trees and unholy beauty that have made us all slaves of the Goddess Flora. ~Ketzel Levine
I think that if ever a mortal heard the voice of God it would be in a garden at the cool of the day. ~F. Frankfort Moore, A Garden of Peace

The gardeners work the bird bath garden. Man you should see it now. More photos later perhaps.

Barbara shows her thanks and affection for her garden helper and teacher, Rachelle.

Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed.

~Walt Whitman
Why try to explain miracles to your kids when you can just have them plant a garden. ~Robert Brault

Barb did a lot of unusual things this year to take up space and add variety to compliment the flowers. There are milk cans, step stools, old time tricycles, bird houses. Here's a stepping stone to peace. I'll bet you were wondering where that was, perhaps we should send it to Washington.

Gardens take your breath away, especially when they are well done. Here's a stepping stone with a reminder to breath.

All done planting and such happy faces. Great job, I didn't do much,

but I am an excellent cheer leader.

The best fertilizer is the gardener's shadow. ~Author Unknown
I appreciate the misunderstanding I have had with Nature over my perennial border. I think it is a flower garden; she thinks it is a meadow lacking grass, and tries to correct the error. ~Sara Stein
Gardening is civil and social, but it wants the vigor and freedom of the forest and the outlaw. ~Henry David Thoreau
Gardens... should be like lovely, well-shaped girls: all curves, secret corners, unexpected deviations, seductive surprises and then still more curves. ~H.E. Bates, A Love of Flowers
It pleases me to take amateur photographs of my garden, and it pleases my garden to make my photographs look professional. ~Robert Brault

The kiss of the sun for pardon,

The song of the birds for mirth,

One is nearer God's heart in a garden

Than anywhere else on earth.

~Dorothy Frances Gurney

Shhhh, Ke-Bab

Well, it wasn't really a secret cooking on our new grill, but thought that if I could be punny with the title, I wouldn't have to be so witty in the post. Shish ke-bab I believe is Turkisk for skewer meat or something like that. So we had ourselves an old Weber charcoal grill that really needed replacing. Our grill was so old, we couldn't buy briquets we had to make them in a kiln. I've always thought a shelf or counter would be handy when grilling, so we decided to spend a little more and get an upgrade from the usual grill. Gas under pressure kind of spooks me so we decided to stick to the old ways. Besides I like the taste better, I know most say it tastes the same, but I don't think so.

On the Ides of May we invited three generations of women friends over to help us break in the Weber. We probably didn't need to do that, but it was required with the old grills for luck and I believe in the tradition of the "Grill Girls". Now me...I'm a burger and hot dog guy, but the women think vegetables are important in a diet so we tried ke-bab as a happy medium. Decent compromise I guess as long as we have lots of beef. May was wonderful weather here in Minnesota's Great North Woods and so was this particular evening.
Three women and a poor soul sole man. Connie, Barb, Ashley and Rachelle skewer the vegies and I do the meat. Way too much color here.

“Vegetables are interesting but lack a sense of purpose when unaccompanied by a good cut of meat”. ~Fran LebowitzFilling up the grill, be a bit more room for meat if we got rid of all that color. Oh well. One of the funny things about women? They order salads all the time and keep chocolate bars in their desks. Men are more honest...in my view.

“A vegetable garden in the beginning looks so promising and then after all little by little it grows nothing but vegetables, nothing, nothing but vegetables.” ~Gertrude Stein

Benson the Llasa Apso boy dog patiently waits. He happens to agree with me and prefers meat to vegies. Doesn't give a darn about color. Nope, he's color blind like me.

“Dogs have not the power of comparing. A dog will take a small piece of meat as readily as a large, when both are before him.” ~Samuel Johnson

Too many cooks on the grill...well standing near it.

"That outdoor grilling is a manly pursuit has long been beyond question. If this wasn't firmly understood, you'd never get grown men to put on those aprons with pictures of dancing wienies and things on the front and messages like 'Come 'n' Get It'". ~William Geist, 'New York Times Magazine'Aha! Arrg, snort, snort. I have a stringer of pineapple and peppers. Ooooo, ish ke-bab. Where's the beef? See, it's starting to look silly to you too isn't it?
Ashley thinks my hand puppet is really hot, or cool. Somehow to her those two words are synonymous. What's up with that?

“I hate turkeys. If you stand in the meat section at the grocery store long enough, you start to get mad a turkeys. There's turkey ham, turkey bologna, turkey pastromi,.Some one needs to tell the turkey, man, just be yourself.” ~Mitch HedbergConnie listens as I tell her about me stalking the wild asparagus, skewing it, and tying it to the hood of my Mustang pick-up.
The new brick red weber charcoal grill. It has a working area and a place to put a 20 pound bad bag of charcoal. Sorry, no crisper drawer.
Another meat eater, Queen Emma.
The humming birds visit for sugar, which would be my second choice after meat and long before vegies. My youngest daughter always called them honey birds, appropriate moniker don't you think?
Now ya know I just had to order these cute little salt and pepper shakers if for nothing else a conversation piece. Now what does one use these condiments for? Color? Hardly. It's black and white.
Now through eating, we retire to the screen porch where Barbara points out how big I'l get if I don't add vegies to my diet.

“I'm an old-fashioned guy... I want to be an old man with a beer belly sitting on a porch, looking at a lake or something.” ~Johnny DeppBenson gets his ears scratched. For awhile I thought I might eat more vegies if I got mine scratched, but I've noticed that it hasn't worked for Benson. So I was wrong there too.

“The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch swing with, never say a word, then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation that you ever had.” ~Unknown
Near the campfire, Rachelle pins daughter Ashley's arms down being overly protective or hoping she won't get away. But I've got bad news, she will in a couple more years.

“Even in a time of elephantine vanity and greed, one never has to look far to see the campfires of gentle people.” ~Garrison Keillor

Me and the girls and the most fascinating thing to look at is the fire. Ablazing? Amazing.

“Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.” ~Bruce Lee

Sun down over the mighty Mississippi, but here rather calm and calming.

“When I admire the wonder of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in worship of the Creator”. ~Mahatma GandhiMakwa the Tomcat must be after a drink as I'm sure the birds have gone to bed having been good little birdies and eaten their vegetables.

Now that could be the moon or the Cheshire Cat.

“See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...we need silence to be able to touch souls.” ~Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Alice: You've gone quite mangy, cat... but your grin's a comfort.

Cheshire Cat: And you've picked up a bit of an attitude, still curious and willing to learn, I hope.