The town that fooled the British

Saint Michaels, Maryland. This is where Anne's folks, Chandler and Edith live, on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake. An historic small town with rippled brick walkways that connect the neighborhood charm. They foiled the Brits plans by hanging lanterns in the trees so the cannonballs overshot the actual houses during a night attack.
There is a wonderful Maritime Museum, a crab house out over the water you can motor (yes, in a boat) up to in the town harbor. Chan & Edie's house sit on a small channel, with it's own dock and davits for lowering the mahogany speedboat "Sputnik" into the water. This is a sailing family though, with several different small craft and most everybody knows how to use them.
Welcome to the family center. We (now 20) have been meeting at either July 4 or Xmas for the fifteen years that Anne and I have been married. And we're at it again, with everybody rolling in over the weekend.
We plan on having a very merry Christmas, and wish you good health and Light for you and your families.

The Red Lion Inn

We stayed with Natalie Shiras, an old friend of Anne's last week in Lee, Massachusetts while she did her three day interim ministry training. This is the Berkshires, lovely rolling hills and their towns and Congregational churches ( one of which Nat is the minister).
Snow was predicted for the day we were leaving, but we didn't expect 14"! We got an hour down the road (we were going to mosey along through the hilltowns on a two lane road) to Stockbridge, because I wanted to show Anne the great old hotel I found a few days earlier, The Red Lion Inn. Since 1773, it is the longest continuously running hotel in the country. We got there and realized we would be foolish to continue our trek. Snow was coming down like, well, look at the photos. All the merrier for us. I played piano with a guitar player in the tavern and we were safe and cozy for the night. We took off the following day in fine weather and returned to DC.

Beef

See Aunt Wendy in the pretty red jacket. See Rex the Wonder Dog in white and Bull, in brown. That's one of the family herd of artisanal beef cows. Actually the name is Bull Run or, technically, First Bull Run. Or, if you're north of the Mason Dixon line, First Manassas. Get where this is going? Yes, yes, they're named after civil war battles! Many battles were named differently on both sides. You might spy Chantilly, one of other calves (there are three now, and more on the way....to fill out the list of battles of course). We say beef "cows" because the herd is all impregnated cows, with the male calves sent off after a year to be fattened for.....
All this at Charlie & Wendy's 93 acre farm in Virginia. They live in DC and have a wonderful couple who take care of the property and the herd, living in a space above the barn. The farm "house" is a lovely renovated building, in the Tuscan/Appalachian style, with a fabulous pool. So, a few of us went out for the night, tucking into turkey leftovers and various libations. Back to DC and on to St. Michaels.

C

five degrees.....

Yes, that was the temp at the cabin on the day we left. Froze the water the day before. I mean our pipes, not the river although the river was halfway there too. The plumbers were able to come in a few days later, after the cold front passed and drain the system properly.
In fact, it was a fairly wild ride all the way to Michigan, along the south shore of Lake Superior. Seventeen inches of heavy snow had just fallen in the area and not only created white-out driving conditions, but was bending and breaking the young white pines along the road. Volvo's are nice. Our various stops in Michigan and Washington, DC were fun. We just simply adore our big, fat family.
Here on the Eastern Shore (we'll tell more) it is almost seventy degrees as a WARM front moves through, bringing rain now after a lovely sunny day yesterday.

C

Snowin' and BLOWIN'

It's always somthing here at the cabin! We awoke to high winds this morning, having struggled with quite a bit of smoke from the woodstove through the blustery night, and could see steady flurries of tiny snowflakes outside. Fortunately, the electricity stayed on and we had felled several large, dead pines next to the cabin in early October. Chris decided to head down to town to meet a new friend from the UCC church for lunch (who will be with us on the delegation from that congregation heading to Chiapas, Mexico in February). Chirs then returned 3 minutes later, announcing there was a tree down across the road. Of course, we have no gas for the chain-saw (live and learn), so we went out and sawed it up with Frank Gillis' old "swedish saw" and dragged the pieces into the woods. See photo for details!
We are now just a week away from leaving Grand Marais, returning mid-May after daughter Marcella graduates from American University in Washington, DC. How in the world do I figure out what to take with me for the next 6 months! Well, for starters, there is the file for '05 taxes, my alb and stole, files marked "weddings" and "funerals," (who knows what pastoral functions I might be invited to perform?!), photos and northshore gifts to take to mission partners in Chiapas, Christmas gifts for family, winter clothes, summer clothes, my pillow, books for my first interim ministry training in December, files for my American Association of Pastoral Counselors meetings in January and April....oh, yes, and all the emergency supplies one needs to drive in winter storms through isolated regions like the Upper Peninsula of MI (flashlight, down sleeping bag, food, water...). This list is getting ridiculous...
I am really falling in love with the whole North Shore, and this remote yet lively community. It's difficult to be leaving right now, yet the temperatures are dropping, the cabin is NOT winterized, family is waiting for us and new advertures are just around the bend! Stay tuned....
-Anne

Downtown Grand Marais!

Good morning! Welcome to Tom Eckels fishhouse. Right behind the Angry Trout Cafe (now closed for the season along with many business'). You wanna fish sandwich? Come on in! And yes, that's herring "caviar" in the bucket.
Things are winding down for us as we finish the last few chores around the cabin before we leave next Thursday the 17th. We head for 3 stops in Michigan visiting family on both sides and then to Washington for Thanksgiving with most of our close family. We will be in St. Michaels, Maryland with Anne's folks until Feb. 1 when we fly to Puerto Escondido, Mexico.
Blog posts may be a little more sporadic as we move around. And the camera seems to be acting up a little. We've already had the new Powerbook laptop go back to the factory under warranty. A ghost in every machine it seems. Next post from me should have some shots of the trio in the tavern. We're there this Fri. and Sat. for the fourth time this fall.

Chris

Blog This!

You know, I've tried for some time now to photograph the dozens (yes) of eagles who are still floating past the cabin every hour (so it seems) or so and then write a really cool story. Or...waiting for a shot of the local fishouse when they just got in a load of herring ( that are all destined for a plant in Wisconsin to be processed for gelfiltefish....then shipped to the EAST coast.) But, it's been some weeks now and I can't seem to capture it all.
So, hell with it, I offer you something to consider without the camera running. My three new piano students. Boys... nine, twelve and fifteen. Willy, Kirin and Bradley. The community heard I was in town and parents have called them all in. And I'm having a ball. They are all gifted and hungry. They all want the WORLD on a platter ( and by God... I think I can give it to them!). It's only a matter of scales and arpeggios. The same thing that kicked my ass when I was their age. They don't like it. But I must, I MUST deliver it to them with a spoonful of sugar somehow. Otherwise...they don't KNOW music. Who else will "give" it to them?
Forget about a photo and instead...imagine my students. Hungry to get what you have to offer. Wow. For once, a thousand words might be worth a few pictures.



Chris

Frost on the Deck and Grass

Temps drop into the 30's at night now, and skies have been overcast for a few days. All the red maple leaves are gone now, as are most of the golden birch and poplar, leaving only the deep blue-green of the spruce, pines and cedar. Several of you have asked what I have been reading. I move between relaxing with novels and not reading newspapers (except the local Cook County Herald) which is odd because I come from a family of newspaper readers and I always "eat" the paper with my breakfast. We find we are "channeling" our parents, and are into a nightly habit of early evening news before supper and then late night wrap-up with the BBC. Fiction-wise, I found that reading both Marilyanne Robinson's "Gilead" and Alice Hoffman's "Blue Diary" have pushed me to think in new ways about forgiveness....about premature or unrealistic forgiveness and the difference between admitting/confession and real repentance (Hoffman), as well as forgiveness when the offence is once-removed from oneself (Robinson). Interesting stuff, and got me thinking about our IPC program on forgiveness with Fred Luskin (probably our most popular forum). I've also been plowing through my required reading for my first interim ministry training in December, which has alot to do with helping congregations in transition (which invariably involves all different levels of confession and forgiveness, now that I think of it). One of my Yale Div School classmates in Minneapolis loaned me the funny and poignant "Children of God Go Bowling" which I enjoyed. When I want to just drift a bit, I read cookbooks and have re-discovered a great receipe for a six-onion soup (can you guess what they are?) from "The Silver Palate Cookbook" which tasted delicious. Grey October days make great soup weather, as the evening darkens sooner and we stuff more logs in the woodstove.

-Anne

99 Pieces of Wood on the Ground...

I have been working on this pile of maple for several weeks now. Actually, "pile" does not quite cover the magnitude of my task. We're talking 1 and 1/2 cords of green maple dumped in our driveway, and that stuff is HEAVY! I'm stacking it up in our woodshed, where it will be ready for fall '06. I am learning that dried maple is the heart of a good fire in the woodstove, which can last all night at low temps if you pack it right. While I have always prided myself on my fire-making ability, having won a prize in my Girl Scout troop in Coronado for "fastest lit and biggest fire from wood shavings and two matches" in 4th grade, I have alot to learn about woodstoves. Kindling, then pine and birch for starters, then the maple. Over-identified with the need to feel productive at this stage of my sabbatical, I actually count the number of logs I stack each day, usually going for a nice round "100." So, who needs a local "Curves" when you can build your biceps (and strain your back if you're not pretty careful!) with daily wood-stacking! And we haven't even gotten to the wood-splitting part of this operation yet.....well, first things first and let's get this pile OUT of the driveway!

-Anne

Like Yellow Confetti

I am amazed at how the fall colors are lingering, and the locals comment on the mild temperatures and drawn-out autumn we are having. All this vibrant beauty is such a contrast to the awful news from far away, where more and more regions throughout the world are overwhelmed with new natural disasters. On my way down the hill to worship at the local Congregational Church (UCC) this morning, I was listening to the NPR program "Speaking of Faith" with host Krista Tippett interviewing Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen about the powerlessness we feel in face of an increasingly hurting world. "Heal the world that touches you," Remen said. I've found myself pondering this all day.....what of the world, that I touch right now, needs healing? During announcements at church, a member stood to talk about their congregation's mission partners down in Chiapas, Mexico, where they have been helping financially empower women with literacy groups and a craft co-op. Hurricane Stan (of which we have heard little up here) has heavily impacted both southern Chiapas and Guatemala, with hundreds of thousands of people displaced in the flooding. Chris and I have talked of visiting this region in our winter/spring travels, and are glad for Grand Marais contacts who can help us plan. I'm already grateful that this small, remote, UCC congregation is already helping me see and "touch" new parts of the world.

-Anne

Old rocks

You're looking with me at an exposed portion of the North American Precambrian Shield. That's a geological formation. You say, "a rock is a rock", but I say, "yeah but these are 2500 million years old, dude."
This stuff creeps out of the roadside about a mile from the border as Anne and I passed on our way to Thunder Bay, Ontario. We drove around a very dismal waterfont that must have been a couple million years old itself, and decided to head home after ancient hamburgers and a visit to the "Charity Casino" (don't ask...we didn't) .
This blog post is dedicated to my brother-in-law, Pete, a hydrogeologist who would've reveled with me in the rubble. And who could have filled us all in about the subtle details of the shield. The Precambrian shield. Remeber? jeez.

C

FISH

A town icon, the Beaver House, was here when I arrived as a 10 year old kid. The giant carved walleyed pike (fish) was not. It was created in the eighties by an old buddy from Chicago named Jim Korf who , in time, became a sort of town icon himself. His legacy of backroad rambling (sometimes by horse and wagon) and quite nice oil painting (often of fairies in the wood) still resounds in the community. Had a stroke a couple years back and lives somewhere in Duluth.
At the Beaver House, you can purchase several different sizes of minnow for use as live bait to lure several species of fish. Also, leeches by the pound. Live leeches are really good for the big walleye on the bottom ( of a many an inland lake) as it is their natural fare.
I am trying terribly hard not to put every little detail in parentheses but there is so much to cover for the novitiate here. Who would know that The Beaver House has little or nothing to do with beavers? And the salient point of course...where ARE these fish?
On that note, I would invite you to visit us and stay at our little studio condo abvout 50 feet behind this glorified bait shop. And talk to Tom, the owner, about fish issues and/or maybe local politics. You could learn a lot.

Chris

Hiking the Oberg Mountain Trail

While much of Minnesota is quite flat, the north shore is hilly with numerous mountain ranges rich with iron ore. The view at the beginning of our blog was taken from the top of Oberg Mountain, which is covered in bright foliage this time of year. As much as I have loved the Monterey Peninsula, I always felt strangely unsettled in September and October. With the coastal fog gone, all the warm weather and mostly green trees, I missed the color and crispness of a New England autumn. I would drive around town, searching for trees that were changing, always relieved to see the big sycamores along Pacific Street finally "go off" yellow around Thanksgiving. Here on the north shore, our cabin road is lined with golden birch and scattered with yellow poplar leaves as I do my daily racewalk in "laps" back and forth from the mailbox. And scattered throughout our 2 acres, are flaming red maples, carefully planted by Chris' dad years ago. Frank, an ethnomusicologist and jazz pianist by profession, loved these woods and was an avid gardener. He and I used to compare cooking notes on the use of fresh herbs and the status of his potted basil each summer I would visit. Although his vegetable garden has long since gone to seed, I still find his green chives spread throughout the property and marvel at the maples splash of scarlet against the green pines. Thanks, Frank.

Harbor View from Java Moose

I took this photo from the deck of our local coffee joint, the Java Moose, several days ago under sunny skies. The sky and Lake Superior change daily, sometimes hourly. We can get a panoramic view of the lakshore and endless expanse of water as we decend the Gunflint Trail which is the long hill road into town. Today, as we headed down to the post office, hardware store and grocery, the overcast sky blended into the horizon of the lake. A full, wide swath of pearly light, and we could not really tell where the lake ended and the sky began. The trees along the trail are a mix of golden poplar and birch with a few bright red maples at this point. As we rounded the curve, with the lake spread below us and seagulls wheeling overhead, I was reminded of the wide open Pacific....and our home on the Monterey Peninsula. I truly am happiest when I am near the water, and feel grateful for this mysterious, deep new lake in my life. -Anne

Gettin' set up here

A lovely, warm day up at the cabin. Annie is off walking down on the lake and I am stacking wood and doing chores. I'll let A. fill you in more later.

Chris