WE ARE A CLOSE-KNIT family here at the Pine Point cabin, and this weekend we lost one of our dear ones. Sweet Simon, our eldercat, who had been with us through thick and thin, companion to Scooter and Sugar and Koda, who loved nothing more than to cuddle with Kathy in the evening, and would sit and stare at her
ALL WEEK THE KIDS and grandkids have been at the island. Boating and swimming and knee-boarding and tubing and fishing (10lb northern! 23” walleye! Six-year-old’s first perch!!!) A new grand-dog bounding and bouncing around the island (No leash! I can go wherever I want!! Cats!!!) Board games and visiting and joking and laughing. Good night and good morning hugs. It
SCENES from an afternoon island nap. Even though I was mostly in charge of Paddy for the first 4-6 weeks, he soon bonded with Kathy much more strongly. I didn’t mind—just glad to see him safe and happy. But this last week on the island Paddy and I have had a breakthrough. So very nice. We have discovered/decided that the
A RAINY, but green and lovely day, in the Pine Point woods. The kitchen window left open for the comings and goings of Koda-the-Forest-Kitten. The hush of a soft, slow rain falling. The high ‘r-e-e-e-p’ of a great crested flycatcher from a distant tree-top. The brilliant notes of a Baltimore oriole, the scarlet notes of Sparky-the-Cardinal. The far-off calling of
LAST EVENING’S STORMS sweeping across Minnesota caused us some problems here at Pine Point. Hiding in the basement for half an hour with kitties Simon and Koda; upon emergence some limbs and branches down, but no big trees! No power for about 14 hours. (Now back). But after the passing of the storms, we were treated to a fantastic sky
TODAY WE MADE the drive up from Pine Point to Rainy Lake, a trip we’ve made many, many times. Fawn Island was calling, but nature was calling too, if you get my drift. So we stopped at a lttle gas station on a country corner in west-central Minnesota, about 35 miles from anywhere. Except the next-door bar. Never stopped there
AFTER a busy, busy, busy winter and spring, just finished with a second Road Scholar trip and Kathy’s end-of-year piano recital, it feels wonderful to be back at Fawn Island, our retreat on Rainy Lake. Here in what one friend describes as the Dear Old Cabin (100 years old next year) we snuggle in and hide after crossing the big
IT IS A FINE DAY in the Pine Point woods, as two of our favorite migrants among the passeriformes—perching birds—have returned. The little yellow-rumped (Myrtle) warblers have traveled from the southern US and Mexico, on their way to the North Woods of northeastern Minnesota and Canada. They are usually the first of the warbler tribe to push the boundaries of
GOOD FRIDAY OR HOLY FRIDAY is remembered and honored as a reminder of many things. Of the universality of suffering, and the ubiquity of death. Of the power yet stupidity of evil. Of the feeing of hopes and expectations dashed. Of the pain of mourning. But it is also the day for Christians that symbolizes the Divine taking human form,
YESTERDAY WAS a banner day for mid-March in Minnesota. So after the day’s chores I decided to take the motorcycle out for the first spin of the year. I stopped on a bluff across the river and was immediately struck by the view. Through the bare deciduous branches of shrubs and oaks, I was able to look straight down the