The Gifts of The Season

As I look outside, just after Christmas, I realize what a huge gift it is to have even a small amount of snow. Most of the state survived the brown Christmas (although some were grumpy, I've been told), while we are blessed with just enough to make it white outside my window. Six to seven inches of snow looks and feels like a lot when there is none everywhere else. Some folks have taken the skis out, and have gone on the Lonely Lake trail, or some of the other trails. While it isn't the best skiing, it is still skiing---it is being out there on those two boards, sliding and moving along. That is good.

Sledding, too, has been possible. Our hill doesn't require much snow, as it is nicely clear of rocks and roots. Addie actually started the sledding season a couple of weeks ago, pulling out her favorite Torpedo, and carving a run down the hill. More folks have been sledding since then, and now it is nicely packed, and lots of fun.

Saturday night, we went to Okontoe and had a sleigh ride, another gift of the season of winter. Just enough snow for the Belgian horses and sleigh, just enough cold weather to keep that snow from melting and crusting up, and more than enough stars for us to enjoy in the sky while we glided along. Songs and carols filled the night as our able drivers steered the horses along the lantern-lit trail. Afterwards, it was time for the wonderful hot chocolate that only the Patten family can make that good, served inside their warm, cozy log cabin. Rosy cheeks, steaming cocoa, and lots of laughs and chatter filled the room.

On Christmas Eve morning, a Sunday this year, Greg, Paul, Addie and I were driving in to church. Four miles from home, two deer ran across the trail in front of us. This is a very common sight now, as the deer seem to have spread out their territory. But another animal sighting just a bit further along was a new one for me. Two otters were beginning to make their way across the road, until we came along and interrupted them. The first one continued on its way, leaping and hopping, as they do, then wiggled its way up the hill on the other side. The second one was scared back a bit, and stayed put. I like to think that the two caught up to each other a few minutes after we passed. The only water in the area was from the two swamps on either side of the road. Loon Lake was the nearest "big water", so I surmised that the pair was on a holiday sojourn to visit someone.

Early on Christmas morning, Greg went out the back door to retrieve something from his truck. He was greeted by our neighborhood fox, who had come by for his own gift. We had left out some food destined for the compost pile, and the fox wasn't content to wait for it to get there. Instead, he was helping himself to it, right from the stainless steel bowl. This fox is quite tame, and he must have thought that we had put out a dish full of food just for him. Greg said that he looked like he was trying to take the whole bowl away with him to stash somewhere. Not wanting to lose our bowl, Greg brought it inside to loosen up the remaining frozen food to toss back out to the fox. Mr. (or Mrs.?) Fox patiently waited until he tossed the chunk out the door, happily scooped it up in its mouth and headed off into the woods.

Finally, a long awaited moment arrived-----the lake froze Christmas night, and we think that it may stay frozen this time. A few days ago, it was ice-covered in the morning, with what seemed to be a fragile and tentative covering. It held until the next morning, when the wind came up and tore it to pieces, opening up a large lead on the Canadian side, and clearing all of the ice at the west end of the lake. The temperatures were climbing and the wind was blowing, so no ice was forming. That night, though, the thermometer started to head in the right direction, the wind calmed, and the lake started to make those wonderful ice-making noises---groans, squeaks, and grunts. In the morning, we could see that the open water was again covered, and we are hopeful that it will stay that way, and make more ice. Greg ventured down near shore, and he thought that it looked to be about two inches. We'll listen for more sounds tonight, and if it continues to talk to us, it may mean that we could try some ice skating after more cold days and nights. We are always very cautious, however, when it comes to being out on the ice. We wait and wait and wait until we are satisfied that the ice is thick enough and safe enough.

The best gift this season? Celebrating Grandma Peggy's 94th birthday, a few days before Christmas. Grandma has been living in the Care Center in Grand Marais, for a little over a year now. It is a wonderful place to live, with many caring staff members, ongoing activities, and plenty of action. During the day, Grandma's favorite spot to be is in the main room, sitting in an easy chair next to the aviary. As she has all her life wherever she lived, Grandma enjoys watching the birds, and saying hello to all of the folks who pass by. We are all blessed to have Peggy.

We would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year. May this new year bring good health and hope to all. Thank you for all that you do for us and for being a part of our lives.

A Rare New Year's Eve Vacancy

Though I try not to advertise too much on my blog, I am making an exception today. I wanted to let you know that we have a rare opening for New Year's Eve this year. I say "rare", because someone once told me that they heard that if you wanted to get in to Heston's on that particular holiday, you had to wait for somebody to die! Most fortunately, that is not the case this time. Rather, our longtime friends and guests, Eric and Caroline, have moved on to new adventures in Washington, and won't be joining us this year. They have been coming up for over twenty years! It is very hard to say good-bye, and we will definitely miss them around our table.

As a result, we have an opening in our cabin Tamarack. It is a three-bedroom cabin with full kitchen, bath, and fireplace/woodstove in the living room. It is one of our vintage cabins, because we think that it was built in the late 1920's. It is a log cabin in the wonderful old tradition.

Speaking of traditions, we are planning a community dinner on New Year's Eve, here at the lodge. Greek food, a la Northwoods style, is on the menu, and we invite all of our cabin folks to join us as our guests. Most likely the bread oven will be fired up to help us out in the cooking tasks. After dinner, we will have some various musical events here in the lodge, and we usually have a bonfire at midnight. It is a wonderful evening, and you are welcome to join us for all or part of it.

Call us with any questions that you might have. We are asking for a three-night minimum for that weekend. We look forward to hearing from you!

Instant Winter---Just Add Snow

Wooo--hooo! Six and a half inches of snow...and suddenly it's winter! We rose early yesterday morning to make the drive down the Trail for the annual Northwoods Fiber Arts Holiday Sale. Addie and I were scheduled to run the project table, and we both had a few items that we wanted to put into the sale. It was snowing lightly when we left at 7:30, and about two inches were already on the ground. It continued to snow, and by the time we reached the Lullaby Creek area, things were getting pretty thick on the road. Two plows passed us, headed up the trail, so I knew that I would have better driving on the way home. It took us an hour and twenty-five minutes to make it in, and by then it was snowing really hard. I was bummed, because it looked like it must be lake effect snow, and I figured that we probably weren't getting the same at home.

The sale went well, despite the fact that it continued to snow all day. I saw a few trail folks, and Barb Young from Boundary Country Trekking told me that they had received several inches on Poplar Lake. My hopes rose a bit, and once we were finished with our errands, we headed up the big hill. It was just like driving into a snow globe. I told the kids that it felt like someone had shaken up our little globe, and plop, a bunch of snow kept falling (like way more than those globes can ever hold!). The driving was still soupy, as the plows were done and back to town before the snow quit. It continued to snow after we got home, and now everything is white and fresh, and the tree branches are laden. I love instant winter. I especially love instant winter when it isn't in the forecast, and even after we have three inches on the ground, they are still predicting flurries and one inch.

The temperature this morning was about 4 degrees when I got up. The lake was again steaming, as it had a few days ago. Magnetic Lake is frozen, and one of the bays at the west end of the lake is frozen, also. The cold temperatures that are predicted for the upcoming week should go a long way toward continuing the cool down process necessary for the lake to freeze. Both Greg and I could hear ice-making noises the other day, so it is coming along.

On Wednesday, Greg and I were gingerly driving in to Grand Marais to take care of errands. I say gingerly, because on Tuesday, we had had a spell of rain, with the temp hovering right around thirty-two. He was driving, and keeping a close eye on the road right in front of the car. I happened to look up from my knitting just at the right moment, and further ahead on the trail, I saw an animal cross the road that I couldn't immediately identify. But my mind quickly put the clues together---longer back legs than front legs, no tail---and I realized that it was a lynx. Greg slowed down when we got to the crossing spot, but the lynx must have blended in immediately, because we couldn't see any sign of it.

Now that winter is back, we hope to be hearing and seeing the wolves again soon. I saw one cross the road last week near Poplar Lake. That was exciting, but not nearly as much as seeing them here on Gunflint Lake. I'll be writing again about our encounters with them, so stay tuned.

The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker.....

But not quite in that order!

The Thanksgiving weekend was a busy one, with lots of folks, food and fun. Though snow did not make an appearance, plenty of outdoor activities were happening. The weather was quite mild, unlike any Thanksgiving in my recent memory. This made for great hiking, as the trails have recently been cleared for the upcoming winter. Getting out into the woods was a good thing to do, following the many fine meals that we all enjoyed over the course of the weekend.

We fired up the bread oven on Friday and made a batch of ciabatta, and some potato bread with leftover mashed potatoes. Some of our guests made oatmeal bread, too, and it all turned out very well. The only challenge with the bread oven right now is how quickly it gets dark outside. Night falls so fast, we have to use flashlights to finish the baking. Pizza baking outside is on hiatus until next May. In the meantime, we will be making pizza inside with a large piece of slate as our "rock hearth". This works very well, especially if it is first heated to 500 degrees for an hour.

On Saturday, I pulled out the wax and pots, and we had an excellent day of candle-dipping. It is an all-day process, as it takes some hours to melt the wax in order to begin. I started at about eight, and by eleven, we were ready to go. In a kitchen filled with steam ( the wax needs to be melted in a double-boiler) and the smell of beeswax and honey, we cut wicks and patiently dipped until the candles were about an inch thick on the bottom. Several of the cabin guests and lots of the neighborhood kids joined us throughout the day to make their own batches. We went through at least ten pounds of beeswax and five pounds of paraffin, and we had lots of fun doing it. On Sunday afternoon, Addie and I finished up the project when we made several pairs of candles ourselves, some for gifts and some to sell at our Fiber Guild Holiday Sale next weekend.

We still had one deer to process, after a successful hunting season for Greg and Paul. So on Sunday, we sharpened the knives and set to work on butchering the meat. This is a necessary job, one that always takes me back to my anatomy class in high school. The two biggest challenges are keeping the knives sharp and keeping our hands warm. It took us about two hours, and then we were ready to package and label the meat, and put it in to the freezer. The bounty will keep us fed on good, natural meat for the next year. Some of it will be made in to jerky, but most of it will be cooked up for dinners.

Time passes so quickly this time of year....the holidays that we wait and plan for finally arrive, and then they are suddenly gone.