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
THIS MORNING the Pine Point Woods and the old cabin are coated with a strange substance. It appears to have fallen from the sky, although that is uncertain. In any case, the fluffy coating—not seen much this winter—is lovely, and makes it possible to track some of our friends of the forest. This morning we see evidence of the nighttime
LAST NIGHT it rained here on Pine Point. In February! Despite the misplaced timing there was a certain satisfaction in awakening at 3:00am and hearing the soft moaning of trees and the steady rhythm of raindrops on the old cabin roof. As I lay there I was reminded of the many nights I have fallen asleep to the lullaby of
WHEN WE FIRST CAME TO PINE POINT and the old cabin, the forest was choked with buckthorn. Had to literally fight and chop my way through it. Bought a machete! Along with chain saws, brush cutters, weed wrenches, etc. Even the main lot under the century white pines was bad, and the red pine lots nearly impenetrable. Better now. These
WHEN I WAS a little boy, I spent a lot of time with my grandmother and grandad. And loved every minute of it. They lived in a small house in a deep but narrow lot, on a green and leafy street in Alton, Illinois. It was my favorite place in the world. And my favorite part of my favorite place
AT THE CHURCH O THE PINES it is a Sunday morn, and the members of our humble woodland congregation—ranging from snow fleas to eagles—strive for even greater levels virtue and moral rectitude than is normally the case. Although in truth I can tell no difference. The sun has arisen in the east, as is its wont, and shines brightly on
AT THE CHURCH O THE PINES CABIN, it has been a cold stretch. The storm door has been frosted over in white. Today, with a change in temp and wind direction, the white frost is transformed into translucent wheat shocks. Lovely. It doesn’t hurt the picture to have black kitten/Koda on the other side of the glass.
AND SO THE BIG DAY finally arrived at the Church O’The Pines. The day that Junior—the baby Bald Eagle from the nesting tree 150 feet from our Caretakers’ Cabin—after much squawking and debating, and should I or shouldn’t I, and maybe,maybe not—Junior decided. It was time. Time to fledge, to leave the safety and security of the only place he/she
SO THIS MORNING Koda, our little adopted stray kitten/wild man, was tearing around the cabin—up and down the stairs, through the living room, through the kitchen, up and over furniture, playing with his foil ball, playing with string, terrorizing older cat Simon… I decided to make my morning coffee and poured some beans into the small grinder and started it
HERE AT THE PINE POINT CABIN at the Church O’ The Pines, the sweet black kitten who came meowing out of the woods one cold and snowy night is becoming a cat. Koda is doing so with style and panache, seemingly growing every day. He trills and chirps as he dashes up the log staircase, leaps onto the living room