Summer's end

Today I was looking through my apps and was reminded that I have a blog that I have maintained since 2014, the year that I retired. Hard to believe that 6 years have elapsed since then until I notice my knees, hips and thinning hair. Yes, my hair is getting even thinner and I have even looked up ways to slow that down though I haven’t done anything yet except stop blowing it dry. At least then, I have less hair blowing around my bathroom to clean up. It would be so nice if that was the biggest thing to worry about. My hips and knees have served me well allowing me to hike and dance my way through the last 6 years. Now I need to respect them and keep them healthy so I can continue to do those activities though maybe not so intensely. Andalusia, Jett and Edith.... because I always post their pictures.

What to write about. Most of you know the things I worry about so I don’t need to write about any of that stuff. I’m waiting for my absentee ballot to get here from Texas so I can get it in the mail and cast my ballot. I don’t think I need to remind anyone who might be reading this about how important it is to get your vote in and counted this year. Yesterday, Greg and Peggy hosted a very nice socially distant taco bar in their back yard. It was one of those beautiful fall days here in Minnesota with perfect weather and yellow and orange trees in the background. I have been staying at my sister, Kay’s house helping her out after some surgery (nothing really serious and expecting full recovery). So she and I went. Don met us there along with Ludwig, niece Kelsey and Niece-in law Lori who was there getting some of Peggy’s irises. Ludwig brought some chocolate chip cookies and I gave him some curtains for his basement work room that he had asked for. I got to see Edie who is now Edith and spent a little time talking to her. I again questioned our decision to not allow any physical contact. She is only doing distance learning and not in a classroom. Her mother works from home and probably has less contact with the outside world than I do. Her father, however is a mail carrier and until recently the majority of the people who work in his mail sorting room were not wearing masks. What the hell!! It is because of that that they don’t want me to hug my granddaughter. Anger and then sadness. Last week, Jean came down from Duluth where she is living now to stay with Kay while Don and I went “up north” which is a thing you do in Minnesota. We stayed in the Scamp next to Mark’s garage for 3 nights. While we were there, we went fishing 3 times. Once in South Long Lake which is the lake near which I spent my childhood. The next day we went to Black Hoof Lake up by Ironton where we caught a few bass and sunfish which we cleaned and put in the Scamp’s freezer. Then we went to Gilbert Lake in Brainerd where I caught and almost landed a big walleye. I blame my lack of experience at landing a big fish and poor coaching on the part of my fishing guide for this failure. The next day we took the Scamp up to Duluth where we spent the night at the Duluth Boat Basin RV Park.

The last time we were there we were in the motorhome which was noted by the guy that checked us in. We enjoyed a lovely but chilly dinner outside with nieces Pam and Deb at Fitger’s Brewhouse. I highly recommend their fish tacos. The next day we headed up the north shore but not before going to a brake shop where we had a new rotor put on the rear driver’s side. We took our time enjoying the scenery along the lake shore stopping at Great Lake’s Candy for a caramel apple and ice cream bar. We had driven almost to Canada before we found an available RV site at Grand Marais Campground and Marina where we found a perfect spot for the Scamp. We stayed there for 2 nights before heading home.

We took a day trip up to Grand Portage where learned a little history of the fur trade and drove by the border crossing to see absolutely no activity. So then we came back down the shore and enjoyed the fall scenery from that direction, stopping at Lutsen to see a spectacular show of color on the ski hill. One of the highlights this summer was Elaine’s wedding

which took place in the park a couple of blocks from where we lived in Brainerd. She invited 20 of us for prime rib or walleye dinner at Wings Airport Café which may have been the riskiest thing we’ve done this summer. We ate maskless at a table with someone we had never met before from Charlotte, North Carolina. We enjoyed dinner with Jerry’s daughter Toni.