IN THE CARETAKER’S CABIN at the Church O’ The Pines, it is first light. The parson is awakened by the chesty challenge of a great horned owl from the forest, echoing within the fine acoustics of cabin walls. This is soon followed by the sweet sound of two grandchild voices from downstairs. It is time to rise, make coffee—perhaps a
JANUARY. SATURDAY AFTERNOON. 9 degrees. Sunshine. Grandchildren visiting for the weekend. The tallest hill anywhere around. With about 3 dozen kids between the ages of 6 and 18 traipsing up the slope and careening down, laughing and screaming all the way. My two grandchildren, of course, did the most aesthetic and athletic runs of all—every time, hitting the little homemade
I’VE HAD A NUMBER of questions as to how the Church O’ The Pines bonsais are doing over the winter. They are doing well. In these photos you can see them in their winter home—a small, very light plastic greenhouse in the unheated carriage house garage. With a small space heater I am able to keep the greenhouse temps between
THE OTHER DAY I posted some photos from the old log cabin with Christmas decorations down and things back to ‘normal.’ I mentioned that soon Kathy would welcome a new decorative day for this time of year—the day when she takes out the old family quilts and hangs them to be admired for a spell. Many readers responded, asking that
PINE POINT AND The Church O’ The Pines are all about—you guessed it—pines. I have always—since the age of seven and a first trip to the great North Woods—loved pines. Now I live beneath and among them, many in our old stand 125 years of age or more. I have often wished that Aldo Leopoldo had not written it first
AT THE CHURCH O’ THE PINES, the late afternoon sun spreads butter on the limbs of the old deacons. Chickadees and blue jays grab a final bite before dark. The sun sets in golden halos, the air is still and cold. It is January in Minnesota, beside the Father of Waters, and perhaps it will not hit 25 below tonight.
TODAY MARKS THE END of Christmas vacation for my Kathy Ann—two weeks off from piano teaching and the daily schedule. After 35 plus years of public school teaching, Kathy ‘retired’ several years ago, only to open her own home piano studio, where she teaches about 20 students. She teaches them well—very well—with a combination of skill, heart, patience, care, and
HERE IS A LITTLE STORY for folks who: love the Boundary Waters or Minnesota’s outdoors; love the iconic artwork of F. Lee Jaques; love the writing of his wife Florence Page Jaques (Canoe Country, Snowshoe Country) remember the wonderful photography of J. Arnold Bolz; or, just like a good story, from a warmer time of year. Years ago, I was
FROM THE CHURCH O ‘ THE PINES by the Father of Waters, as the Earth begins another 12 month journey around the sun, as the chickadees gossip in the pine boughs, as the mercury plunges to 20 below zero, as we continue on this fascinating journey of life, we wish you a happy, blessed New Year.
AT OUR PINE POINT CABIN HOME, we live at the end of a long and winding lane. It is my job to keep this lane cleared in the winter. Monday morning I went out to do my job, but found that the 27 year-old-but-like-new-mostly snowblower was broken. Being that I am not really the mechanical sort, that description will have