Different Things

This year, while at the lake, Kathie and I have been enjoying a number of new experiences, attractions, and sights in this region of northern Wisconsin. Outdoor adventures have included a (fun, but unsuccessful) Musky fishing experience on the Chippewa River with Dick, sharing Copper Falls State Park with Betsy and her family, our first trip to Pattison State Park with Peg and Rolland, the hikes to Morgan Falls and St. Peter's Dome with David and Robert, and the canoe trip down the Namekagon River, also with David and Robert. I have previously posted stories of most of these activities.

Kathie has also recently been having fun with a group of women who do regular walks (and sometimes an added kayak outing). I think they refer to themselves as Women of the Woods and Water (or something like that)––for all I know, they may even have a secret handshake. This is a shot of the group when they did a hike near Ghost Lake a couple of weeks ago.

What I want to share with you most today, though, are a couple of the fun and interesting times we have had at The Park Center in Hayward.

When The Park downtown movie theater fell on hard times, it was vacant for awhile until a group of civic-minded individuals arranged to purchase the building and to remodel it as a community entertainment and arts venue. They host events nearly every week. Many of the events are musical groups, but there are other types of things too. Click here for information about the center and its schedule of events.

A couple of weeks ago, we attended a very entertaining show featuring Michael Perry. I had previously read one of Perry's NYT best-selling books entitled Truck, which I recommend. Perry is a humorist, sometimes musician, and a radio personality on Wisconsin Public Radio (I wish Iowa Public Radio carried his shows). You might think of him as being like the Garrison Keillor of Wisconsin. His stories are often funny and always heart-felt. His books are similarly fun. I just finished reading his newest book entitled The Jesus Cow, which I also recommend. You can read more about Perry at his web site, which is entitled SneezingCow.com. This name comes from one of his punch lines, "Seriously! Never stand behind a sneezing cow!" This is something a farm boy like me understands well.

Last night we attended an event at The Park Center called Manhattan Short. Click here for more information. This was a screening of ten short films from all around the world. Manhattan Short is a competition each year. After entries are winnowed down to a select few (ten this year out of almost 700 entries), the films are presented in venues all around the world, and viewers are given the chance to vote for the best film and favorite actor. If a prior year's entries have been screened in Iowa City in the past, we have failed to take notice––seems like a natural event for a city like ours. If you go to the web site, take a look at the 2015 finalists (or click here). These are the films we saw last night, and all were excellent. Some were difficult to watch because of the subject matter dealing with conflict and hardship; others were quite funny. All of them were stimulating, interesting and thought-provoking. Each one gave us an opportunity to reflect on the world we live in and to maybe better appreciate and understand cultures and situations different from our own. If you have a way to view any of these films in the future or to find them available for streaming, we encourage you to give them a look. If you look at the schedule of venues at their web site, you will see that they are being shown in West Burlington at several times through October 1st. It wouldn't be a wasted trip to travel there to see them.

There are a few more things we may try to do before we return to Iowa in a couple of weeks. Among these are a local cranberry festival in Stone Lake and the apple festival near Bayfield.

Namekagon Canoe Trip

For years, I have been fascinated with the idea of the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway (click here for information). The map below shows the full extent of this natural wonder, which is managed by the National Park Service. You can click on the map to see a larger image. Press your ESC key to come back here. A good portion of the St. Croix River defines much of the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin. Upper portions extend eastward into Wisconsin.

The Namekagon River, which is near us and which passes through Hayward Lake in town, is part of the riverway. Below is a more detailed map showing the portion of the Namekagon above Hayward. You can see that there are several canoe landing sites at points along the river.

Having driven along sections of the St. Croix and the Namekagon frequently during the years we have had our cabin, I have dreamt of doing a canoe trip on some portion of the riverway. Yesterday, the four of us decided (or maybe I decided for us) to attempt the section from Larsen Landing down to the Hayward Landing. This was advertised to be a 3+ hour paddle, depending on how much stopping you might do along the way. As the crow flies, the distance between the landings is about nine miles; with the meandering of the river taken into account, it is probably an 11 or 12 mile paddle. I checked about the water level of the river before we departed, and it was said to be normal with an approximate 3 mph current. The day was perfect, with mild autumn temperatures at about 72º, sunshine, and emerging fall colors.

We strapped our two canoes onto the small boat trailer we normally use for our little jon boat. Robert left their rental car at Hayward Landing, and we all drove north to Larsen Landing, where we unloaded the canoes and parked the pickup and trailer for the afternoon. (At the end of our trip, David drove me back to the landing to retrieve them.) This is us unloading the canoes.

Below is a view upstream from Larsen Landing. In most places, the river is nearly crystal clear. It is said to be a prime fishing river, with both native Rainbow and Brook Trout plus Bass, Walleye and some Musky. Kathie and I are going to have to try fishing this river next year. In fact, I may have to get my fly rod out and try for trout next year!

And we're off! The river moved along rapidly in most places, so usually the paddling was not difficult––mostly just navigating to find the deeper channels.

Unfortunately, the water level turned out to be a little low here and there, and particularly from Larsen Landing to Phipps Landing, we scraped on rocks frequently and got hung up from time to time. This then required getting out to push the canoes to deeper water. Part of the fun, but also a little tiring for our no-longer-so-young bodies.

Along the way, we enjoyed lots of bird sightings, including Bald Eagles, Herons, Kingfishers, and lots of ducks and geese. The section from Phipps Landing to Trout Run Landing passes through the Phipps Flowage, where the water is generally much deeper. Here we saw lots of fish below us, some quite large, although identifying the species was difficult. Phipps Flowage ends at a very small dam, and we chose to use the short portage there, which also gave us a chance for a little break. I was tempted to try paddling over the dam, because it really only created a rapids. One brochure says, "The white water chute is runable right into the small waves at the bottom or you can portage on the right." We'll save that for another day.

Some of the red leaves are starting to show, although it is still a bit early.

When it was all said and done, we were quite tired. Those of you who know me well know that I tend to bite off bigger chunks rather than work up to things. (So far, Robert and David have not threatened to disown me.) We probably should have started at a landing or two closer to Hayward and made the day a little shorter, since none of us had done any canoeing recently. Having to work over shallow areas added some work, and then the finish was across Hayward Lake, which required more serious paddling and dealing with some headwind. Still, it was very pretty out there, and now I can check off paddling part of this National Scenic Riverway from my so-called bucket list. For me, though, I intend for this not to have been a one-time experience. I definitely want to paddle some other parts of the river, maybe the section below Hayward, or to do this section again, and fishing the Namekagon sounds like good fun too.

D&R Visit With Trip to Morgan Falls and St. Peter's Dome

We always enjoy our opportunities to spend time with David and Robert, who we have not seen since we were together in Italy just one year ago. They are here with us this week at the lake. So, it is time to report on events to date. With David and Robert, culinary delights are a standard part of our time together. Kathie made gazpacho one evening, and no, she is not slicing her palm open here.

Robert has been trying to progress a little farther each day through our Perplexus Epic.

So far, we have watched that amazing Hawkeye football game together, sporting events being something David and Robert typically do not care about. We also had an outing on our lake, with lunch over at The Landing. Then yesterday, we drove up into the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest to visit Morgan Falls and St. Peter's Dome. These two natural features are bonus parts of a hiking trail in the forest. Here is everyone but me as we depart from the parking area at the start of our 5 miles of hiking and site seeing.

Morgan Falls was the easy part to reach. It is a gorgeous 70-foot tall falls that cascades down from a high point at the end of a little box canyon. The granite rocks all around created this very cool, almost cold, spot in the woods.

This little guy was enjoying the water near the pool at the base of the falls.

And there were beautiful mosses growing on the rocks.

Trees struggled to claim a hold on the sides of the cliffs.

Eventually, we left Morgan Falls and began the hike to St. Peter's Dome––a 3.6 mile round trip over terrain that is quite rugged with steep, rocky sections that must be managed.

Yet, it was quite pretty all along the way. For example, I found these fungi near the trail.

The payoff was this very high granite outcropping, which sits at 1,565 feet above sea level. The trees here are not yet at their peak, but the colors in the forest below were emerging. To the north, you can see all the way to Lake Superior, and with the binoculars I took along, I could make out Ashland, Bayfield, and parts of the Apostle Islands.

Her new knees are working well, but we were all warm and tired after the climb up there, so some resting was in order before heading back down.

Here is Kathie after we returned to the fork in the trail that offers access to these two natural wonders.

We were all appropriately tired at the end of the day, but it was a good tired!

Better Berry Buckle

Remember that Berry Buckle I bombed back two postings ago? (I'm tempted to get into some serious alliteration here!) Well, I tried again, and this one looks like it might just be OK. Good thing too, because it is meant as a birthday treat for a good friend who will be arriving today for a visit! In that earlier posting, I mentioned that daughter Jessica suggested wine when things didn't go well while cooking. Another friend, Margaret, suggested that more wine before cooking might be an even better way to proceed. Maybe those tips had something to do with my possible success this time!

25 Years and Counting

Today, September 16th, is our 25th wedding anniversary! (Please do not send silver stuff to us––we have everything we need!)

We were married on a beautiful autumn day in the lobby of the University of Iowa Theater Building along the banks of the Iowa River. Seeing plays at the theater had always been one of our favorite things to do, and because we were both long time employees of the university, we wanted to be married somewhere on campus. The setting was perfect.

My bride wore a gorgeous dress. (Happy Anniversary, sweetheart!) We were happy. We are happy.

Here is our newly blended family. When we reached 21 years, Kathie made a special card for me from a piece of birch bark (special because of our enjoying trips to the Boundary Waters). On it she wrote that our love is so big that it takes two families and two houses to hold it. These five children are all so special to us, and now there are delightful spouses and grandchildren to add to the fun.

Kathie's side of the family was fully represented, with her mom and dad, aunt, and her sister and her family all there.

My side of the family was well represented too. Among those present were my father, my sister and her family, aunts and an uncle, and cousins.

Lots of friends were present too. One sang for us. A jazz combo, including a good friend, played for us during the reception. Another good friend drove us from the wedding to our home so that we could enjoy some champagne along the way. Yet another friend conducted the ceremony. Good friends and our children joined us in a circle of commitment and blessing for our marriage.

The 25 years since have passed so quickly and are absolutely full of good memories and happiness. We are very lucky, and we thank all of you (all of you!) who continue to make our life a joy.

Berry Buckle Bust

OK, so I'm going to share a story about one of my many failings, though this one can be corrected. I am a digital subscriber to the New York Times, and along with that subscription, I receive periodic emails with highlights from various sections of the Times. One that I receive comes from the cooking section, and I get lots of interesting ideas about cooking and access to many interesting recipes. Recently, I saw there a recipe by Melissa Clark for a Summer Berry Buckle. You can find the recipe by clicking here, and there is also a video of Melissa preparing and baking one of these goodies. Here is what it is supposed to look like–full of nice berries.

So, I thought it didn't look too hard to do, and I love all kinds of crisps and buckles and similar things. I measured all my dry ingredients, blended them, and set them aside. Then I mixed the sugars and butter and eggs. After that, I'm moving right along and blend my 4½ cups of nice raspberries and blueberries into the mixture and put it in the oven. Forty minutes later (out of a suggested 50 minutes), I gasped with realization that I had not stirred in the dry ingredients. I pulled the baking pan from the oven and saw that all I had was a soupy blend of berries, butter, sugar, and eggs. I was seriously bummed, but Kathie suggested that rather than waste it all I mix in the dry ingredients and resume baking. That is how I came up with the following purple disaster.

It was marginally edible and didn't really taste too bad, but it had a very heavy texture. Jessica always says that when you are cooking and discover an error like this, it is time to open the wine before proceeding to attempt a remedy. I should have had more wine.

I'm ready to try again, and this time I'll endeavor not to forget an important step. I can do better, I think. If I indeed do better, maybe I'll let you know.