Up North

 

May 3, 2021.

We are back in Minnesota and now I have my detached keyboard and mouse connected to my laptop and so writing becomes much easier. I found the USB thingy that goes with my Texas keyboard and mouse exactly where I left it carefully wrapped up to take back to Texas with me. Still have some adjustments to make with this going back and forth thing. Some things shouldn’t have to be listed…. They should be automatic. Such as my secret password book and the little blue tooth speaker that makes music sound so much better. Don suggested that I get another password book. That sounds like a bad idea to me. I’m confused enough already.

We drove through driving rain most of our first day and intermittent rain on the way to Don’s sister’s in Ottawa, KS where we stayed for a couple of days. Then we swung over to see Max Ellmaker at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. We had one beautiful sunny day with Max. Max took us to see Ha Ha Tonka State Park where we walked around an old castle overlooking the Ha Ha Tonka SpringsaHH. The redbud and dogwoods were in full bloom and we enjoyed the best that springtime has to offer in the middle of the country.
We traveled with my brother Dick with his Scamp as far as Ottawa but when we headed for the middle of Missouri, he decided to go straight back to Rochester where he lives. Max is doing as well as can be expected and it was good to spend some time with her. Her husband Lee who was a good friend of ours died from cancer in early March so she is still in the early stages of adjusting to that loss and doing well at it.  Max is descended from Italian immigrants, the Vassanellis, who came to Pennsylvania in the early part of the last century and were coal miners. From Ashes to Song by Hilary Hauck is a recently published novel based on Max’s grandparent’s arrival and settlement in this country. I purchased the book and enjoyed reading it.

The Redbud with snow

September 8, 2021

 I wrote the above 2 paragraphs on May 3, a few days after we returned to Minnesota. I had plans to add another paragraph and post it but then the summer got away from me. May turned out to be a busy month. We bought new carpet for an upstairs bedroom. I spent a few days with my sisters, Kay and Jean, at Jean’s new house up in Duluth. We enjoyed some good food, solved some puzzles, mowed her grass and picked rhubarb. She has a neat little house up on the hill and her daughters are regular visitors. Then we had about 15 of my brothers, sister, nieces and nephews over for a fish fry compliments of my brother Mark, who caught the fish last winter and volunteered to cook. Folks brought lovely side dishes and we had way more food than we needed.

Today, I am sitting in the Scamp camper up at my brother Mark’s rural Crow Wing County home about 10 miles from where I grew up. The place has similarities to what was our family farm. There is an old dairy barn here-long since retired, a neat garden shed, a garage and an old farm house where Mark lives. He lets us store the camper here next to his garage. Don and Mark are out fishing and I’m getting some rest and taking it easy. This easily lets me transition into writing about how the summer went. I still haven’t completely recovered from the breakthrough COVID that I came down with on July 11. I got a positive test on July 13. I figured I’d get through easy since I was vaccinated last winter. I guess it was easy. My symptoms were not very severe. I lost my sense of taste and smell on about day 6. Once I was freed from isolation, I figured I could resume my normal activities. It took about 3 or 4 times of trying to have a normal level of activity followed by a few days of extreme fatigue for me to realize I have to make this gradual and when I start to get tired I need to stop. I’m getting my sense of smell back very gradually. This morning I walked with Mark’s old dog, Blue.
She goes about the same pace that I do, very slow. I walked down the mail box and back then put my feet up for a while.

Me and Blue

On August 5, Kelly came to Minnesota with Jett 3 ½ and Andalusia 15-month. We fantasized that we would go to the Minnesota Blue Grass and Old Time Music Festival after going to my sister Elaine’s wedding celebration on her first anniversary. I had done some cleaning and food prep before Kelly came and then helped her out as much as I could with her girls. We camped out at the site of Elaine’s party and on Saturday morning while we were at the playground before sunrise, we made the decision to go back to my house in Coon Rapids and skip the festival. That turned out to be a very wise decision. By the time we cleaned up camp and got back home, I was totally exhausted and spent the rest of the time in my recliner with my feet up except on her last day here.

At the Splash Pad

We took the girls over to the splash pad on Coon Rapids Boulevard so they could play in the water. I sat in the shade with another old grandmother while Kelly and Don played with the girls.

The month of June was pretty much taken up with our family vacation on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Last fall in the midst of the pandemic we booked a 5 bedroom house, Fare-Sea-Well in Avon… a 3 minute walk to the beach. At the time we had no idea whether we would be able to do this vacation but figured that if we wanted to go, we needed to plan ahead. As it turned out, if you remember… The pandemic was pretty much over in June. All of the adults in the family were vaccinated and the 2 children who flew wore masks. Edie brought her good friend Oscar so she had someone to play with. Kelly and Jason drove down from Pennsylvania. Don and I loaded the car with everything we might need, leaving room for a food run at Costco, and took a week to drive. We stopped and visited friends along the way. As it turns out we have friends every few hundred miles all the way from here to the Outer Banks. We stopped in Hannibal MO, Springfield IL, Lexington KY and Hickory NC and had some really good meals with some of our favorite people.

Fare Sea Well - Our VRBO

Ready for the Beach

Catching the sunrise over the Atlantic

Beach Shelter

Then we stopped at Costco in Raleigh NC on Saturday morning, finished loading up the car and headed to the beach where we spent a week. Kelly, Jason, Jett and Andalusia came in about an hour after we arrived. Greg, Peggy, Edie and Oscar flew into Norfolk and came down in a rental car arriving in time for a late supper. The week was not without its challenges as one would expect but we did some really good cooking and spent a lot of time at the beach. I will flesh out this story with pictures.

Greg and I both came back from this trip with a cold. There was nothing novel about it… congestion, cough, sore throat. Greg got himself tested and came back negative so I didn’t bother. This leads me to believe that my immune system might not be as robust as I would like. But I got over that cold before we went to Don’s family reunion in Scottsbluff NE from July 7 – 11.

The Ruff siblings. 

It was sometime around there that I picked up COVID. IT was novel. It didn’t feel like a cold or the flu even though some symptoms are the same. It’s hard to describe the generalized awfulness all over my body that I experienced for a couple of days. Ibuprofen helped with the pain. I was never terribly sick and didn’t need any medical attention. I just thought it would be all over by now. So that has been my summer.

Now we are “up North” and will a do a little fishing, head to Effie for the Edge of the Wilderness Battle of the Jug Bands, and then to Duluth to see my sister and nieces and the North Shore for some camping and sightseeing.

At the Lakehead Boat Basin - Duluth

At Lutsen Ski resort

The winners of the the Contest
Fat Chance Jug Band

September 9, 2012

 I once more have been left home alone while Don and Mark go out to catch some Northerns from South Long Lake for dinner. Hanging out with a professional chef totally spoils a person. This morning, in the time it would take me to put out a tub of yogurt, carton of granola, some fruit and 3 bowls and spoons, Mark prepared perfect omelets with fresh vegetables and cheese and toast along with sliced home-grown tomatoes.

Last week I baked that big Northern that I caught in Coon Lake back on July 2 before I went to the family reunion and got sick.

Me and Edie

I had cleaned it and frozen it in a vacuum pack the day I caught it. It’s been sitting in the freezer which I’m trying to empty out before we go south. The timing was right. It was Ludwig’s birthday and I have more than enough siblings to call together to eat fish whenever I have some. A couple of days before I thought of Mark who is furloughed right now while his restaurant is being remodeled and only lives a couple of hours from me. I really wasn’t thinking of having him cook for me so I had the fish scaled with some lemon slices, onions and butter, wrapped in foil and in the oven when Mark arrived. I had underestimated the cooking time by about 1 hour so Mark arrived in time to finish it off and serve it up. It was delicious. He also brought some peaches and strawberries along with his home-made shortbread and whipped cream for dessert. I expect he can get fish from the live well, cooked and on the table in half an hour or so. We’ll see. Bob is going to join us to eat this fish.

Scaling a 2 foot Northern…. Before you start, put on an old shirt. Then cover your kitchen island with newspaper and lay your cutting board with the fish in front of you. Using a serrated steak knife (there are probably better tools but it was handy) beginning at the tail end scrape up the fish, lifting and removing the scales along with the slime. Repeat this process until the fish is mostly naked. Then turn it over and do the same to the other side. Dick assures me that the fish will taste much better cooked without the scales. He also observed that scales are easy to vacuum up so don’t worry about that. Slice up onions and a lemon and turn the fish over to someone else for the final prep. Wrap up the scales and slime that landed on the newspaper, put the cutting board in the sink, wash your hands, change into your clean shirt and go sit down because you are exhausted. Ignore all complaining from the clean-up crew about scales on the backsplash (that’s hard to believe…it was behind me), the cabinets and countertops. The next day, if you have the energy, take out the vacuum and clean the kitchen floor.

The most recent pictures of my smart and strong granddaughters!

Andalu - 18 months

Edith 9 going on 10

Jett - almost 4