Driving around Cook County this week you can’t help but notice all the creeks, streams, and rivers. It is as if someone opened gates further on up the waterways, and now all the water from the winter’s stockpile of snow can flow to lakes big and small. Eventually, we know, all the snow and ice will be gone, and the... READ MORE >
Most times when ordering coffee you’ll be asked, “Do you want cream with your coffee?” My answer sometimes surprises me, “No thanks. Well, yes, please.” Then I laugh and say something like, “I think it depends on the day.” That same phrase came out in another conversation recently, but without the laughter. A gentleman traveling through Hovland stopped in at... READ MORE >
Maybe you know the 1972 movie, Deliverance. It portrayed those who lived in wooded areas as dangerous, scary, eager to inflict fear, damage and injury. I was in my early 20s, but already loved going alone to our family cabin hidden deep in the Minnesota woods. It had no neighbors for a mile, a long driveway off the gravel road,... READ MORE >
“Now what would someone from Hovland know about chalk on a sidewalk?” you might be asking. After all, Hovland doesn’t have much for sidewalk— perhaps only the small stretch in front of the post office. Other than that, it would seem there is hardly any sidewalk for chalk art by children! But—creativity being a gift from God, the children of... READ MORE >
Maybe you’ve had one of those short adventure trips where you hitch up the boat, jump in the car, and head out for a couple of days scouting new lakeshores, fishing new waters. It doesn’t mean you’ll have “catching” success, but it might give a new appreciation of other inlets, bays, islands. Of course, unless you hitch up the boat,... READ MORE >
A quilt hangs in my living room—made by a trio of my dad’s aunts. “The great aunts,” we called them, meaning both “great” by being sister to our grandmother, and “great” by being marvelous and even, somehow “cool.” Each had separate lives and stories, but when I was a child and teenager, they were back living together again in a... READ MORE >
Are you like me? Checking again and again to see how things are in Boston, in Texas, in Chicago with its flooding, in China after an earthquake. Different kinds of turmoil and sadness, loss of life, fear—all real. Meanwhile, in Cook County, we face thick April snowstorms, with Januarytype announcements: “When traveling, have a survival kit ready-at-hand.” Our snow will... READ MORE >
Dr. David Morrison answers science questions on the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) website. Asked why he is working so hard to expose the effect of rumors about December 21, 2012 he answered: The increase in questions about the mistaken idea that ancient Mayans predicted it to be the “end of time.” Modern Mayan peoples dispute that misrepresentation of... READ MORE >
It is autumn; it is Cook County. People are looking for a hint of gold…golden leaves, golden tamarack, golden hues along hillsides, golden pumpkins, noticing autumn’s slant of the sun that gives gold hues, a variation from the high sun of summer. Maybe you’ve begun commenting that hints of gold will soon be here, maybe you’ve begun hoping to come... READ MORE >
Several years ago, large sailing ships spent a week in Duluth, open for tours. I went just to look at ships…and learned lots. Sails, lines, hulls, decks and all the paraphernalia can be made with ancient or modern materials, but vessels old and new still share much. My favorite quip of insight was this: You can tell when the pilot... READ MORE >
