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