old north

Pictures from a family album I hadn't seen before.  My grandfather, John Anton, ca. 1920, on a Minnesota lake.  A picture of my grandmother as a young woman in Bessemer, Michigan, ca. 1920, before she married. There aren't many pictures of her.  The farm in Bessemer was on a high bluff, and Lake Superior could be seen from there.

up north

Along the trail to the falls, birch, scraffiti, no mosquitoes.  The Kawishiwi Falls flow north, all the way  to Hudson Bay. I'd like to go there, to the far north.

at the lake

 

 Now we are home from a visit to my parents at the lake up in Ely. We had a few swims and a sauna,  hiked a trail, drank some beer, and looked at the lake.  My mother has woven a pretty new rug in wool, with a violet stripe and some black and white checks.  She said,  "I wanted to let that violet wool be the star of this rug."

The design of this rug is so good.  She knows how to use plaids to good  effect, avoiding  dizzying optical effects, and creating a simple and clear graphic quality.  My mother has also been stacking in her winter wood supply for her weaving shop, which has only a woodstove for heat. Minnesota winters can be -40 degrees, and the snows are deep.

The pine woods smelled sweet in the mornings.   After the sauna, the lake water felt so  soft and silky on our skin.  The feeling is exquisite, and something  I look forward to  all summer.  The two ancient yellow folding chairs by the lake shore haven't collapsed yet!