When will it be summer?

Summer is definitely not here yet! Yesterday when I went out for a morning walk, it was 31 degrees and there was snow-cone like ice on the edge of the lake so I donned a headband, gloves and polar fleece and set out! I decided to walk to the west - all the way down Frostbite Road. No one else is "at the lake" yet except for two house of "year-round" folks so it's quiet - just me and the birds, squirrels and waterfowl. On my walk, I spotted crows & a wood thrush - same family as the robin - so the birds want it to be spring too!



In the afternoon, the sun finally decided to appear so I went down to the lake to start a fire while I had the chance. I knew Becky would be disappointed if the whole week went by without one fire! For some reason, there is a blanket of pine needles from the front door of the cabin to the lakeshore. So I raked an area about 5 ft around the fire circle and piled them in the middle with a couple of logs on top and I got a great blaze going- Beckster, you would be proud of me! And I sat for a solo happy hour by the lake with the fire - very peaceful! Knowing I would need prrof of my work, I decided to take a few photos with the auto-shoot function on my camera. Many of you know I have wonderful photos of snow or trees or just a blur from my various adventures - but the current digital cameras are wonderful! So the photo at the beginning of this post is one of my first happy hour fire by the lake - summer or not!



The lake is not sure what to do - the wind shifts are confusing and the showers sprinkle throughout the day. I decided today to got to town to check the mail and pay the property taxes - both important tasks in their own right! While I was gone, our friend Tom Rosch played "dock fairy" and got the little dock rolled in so I can tether my kayak; and the Fed Ex guy brought the boxes shipped from the law school and from Allen. What a treat to get back from town to find files of work and a 4-pack of wine from Georgia!

Phone calls from my Aunt Barb (in Kalamazoo) and Ann (neighbor at the lake but stranded by work in Mpls.) to let me know about plans to visit and to check up on how I am doing were the highlight of my evening. It doesn't take much to make my day!


But to top it all off, I saw a rose breasted grosbeak at the feeder and the mergansers swam around the point while I was on the phone. I forgot to mention that Ann's cousin & our long-time friend, Dean Mikkelson, stopped by this morning on his way to a campsite in the Chippewa National Forest. There are so many good folks who share the history of this place that we call The Point! And it has changed so much in the nearly 15 years we have had it! But here's the view from where I sit . . . till my next post!