In these parts it’s an overcast and windy Sunday morning; maybe a craft or game day? Yesterday it was gorgeous and I convinced everyone to join in a boat ride through the cut-through over to adjacent Little Pickerel lake.

That was great till something in my backup gas tank caused the vintage Johnson engine to stall. Some rowing, then the engine started up, stalled, rowed, and restarted, then more rowing after it stalled again. Finally I switched tanks and whatever it was cleared and off we went – home!

Never did get onto Little Pickerel.

Derek and Kellen were by then totally convinced they should have stayed back to watch the remaining episodes of Arrested Development. Yup, we’ve been binge watching that show – all THREE seasons.

”The storm starts, when the drops start dropping; When the drops stop dropping then the storm starts stopping” ~ Dr. Seuss

Rock Candy Mountain – it’s an annual tradition to climb the mountain. Years ago it was done by scaling the ‘slide’ alongside the cliff itself, these days it’s a hike up through the woods.

Last year our group had Vince with us (he’d been doing this since before the kids were born) and loved the view. This year we missed him dearly and the moment was more poignant than ever.

I want to believe that the White Admiral butterfly which circled and then landed on Kirstin’s backpack where it sat for some time and then did the same with the fanny-pack I was wearing had some meaning.

Agawa Canyon tour – The whole gang took a train ride of over a hundred miles into the northern wilderness of the Algoma area to the Agawa Canyon park. Passing by waterfalls and a myriad of lakes kept us moving from side to side to capture that one perfect shot. It was wonderful – even the 350-stairs climb to gain an amazing lookout view of the area.

In this area? We all agreed that this train tour is worth your while.

Animal Life – It seems as if every day something new flies in or pops out of the woods. All to the delight of everyone.

New this week were both some Goldfinches and Cedar Waxwings – I started putting out some food for them in our little feeders.

And, to you who’ve been following the adventures of our resident Tree Swallows, their little ones have hatched and have begun to peek out into that big world which they’ll soon be exploring.

Finis –Adrianne, Tevita, Vai, and Vili, after a three day two night travel excursion are home safe and sound – just a little tired and coping with a 17-hour time differential.

The caterpillar ‘event’ has eased. People who’ve been in these parts for nearly 30 years claim they had never seen such an event.

Congratulations to Tevita who’ll enjoy a birthday this coming week.

Make it a great week everybody. We are losing our visitors on Tuesday when Kirstin, Derek, and Kellen head home. Aside from putting some life into the old cabin, spending extended time with them is just what the doctor ordered for us, the two old fogeys, who’ll stay behind. Love you guys!

Cheers.
Dirk

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