Paging Bobl, Gannon, Ravine, et al,

[tponetom]

Paging Bobl, Gannon, Ravine, et al,

Bob, do I sense a whisper of kindred spirits in your two replies to my recent, 3 part post, on the subject of Bean soup????
Everything I said about liking and cooking Bean Soup was true. Of course I added a lot of ‘fluff’ to make a story out of it.

First of all I will ask you if you had read some of my ‘posts,’ written some time ago, about the 21 years that Peggy and I had lived in the U.P.? [[Dec. 1, 1973 through December 31, 1994.)


My reflections about Bean Soup are the same as picking wild blueberries; watching bald eagles; gently touching a new born fawn, [[to see if it was alive, it was); tracking a bear, [[in our Blazer, of course); watching four humming birds fighting over who gets to the red feeder first; drinking some god awful warm beer with K. O. while watching the chipmunk, [[Charley Brown) clamoring up the screen door, begging for a morsel of food; fifteen or more deer dancing in our valley under the spotlight of a full moon on a frosty evening, spotting an albino deer whose existence was confirmed by the DNR,,,,and hundreds or even a few thousand other stories I could relate.

I hope I get this next part correct. I think it was Gannon who posted a reply, sometime ago, voicing his pleasure of the U. P. He is the first kindred spirit. There are others, but woe is me, I cannot recall all the names.


Ravine gave me the encouragement to keep writing to this Forum.

The
Lladies, bless them, made me feel that my stories were something special. In fact, because of the "User Name" thing, I am not always sure about Who’s a What!

To quote Pinocchio:


"Oh, my brain is not so good because my head’s made of wood,."
That condition developed from cutting, splitting, and stacking ten full cords of wood, every Summer and Fall. And oh, what stories I have of that. Also, getting whacked on the back of my head by a ‘widow maker’ did not exactly help! A widow maker is a falling branch off of tree that a woodsman is trying to cut down. That’s another story.

[Bobl]

Yes. I have read your previous contributions, and look forward to more,
I have visited, but never lived, in the UP.
My ex brother in law and I terrorized the Walleye in Shag Lake in the '70s.
The air is cleaner there...

[reddog289]

I might fall into the et al. Tp your post always get me thinking , You remind me of my Dad.

[Gannon]

I am continuing my quest of bringing that UP lifestyle to my Detroit address...luckily the economy has been helpful. Simplicity rules.


But you've got me longing again...time to take a week or two up near Grand Marais, I just heard from my friend who owns a place up there that Dapper Dan is still alive. He's a recluse deep in the woods west of there, just south of the painted rocks.


Everything go well, I may just come back with my two books outlined into relative tangibility!


Cheers

[gazhekwe]

I loved those UP posts. I was raised up there, eastern end. It was a great time. We lived on the edge of town, so not as deep in the woods as you and Peggy, but I was routinely taken hunting by my Dad down in the Gogomain Swamp.

[gibran]

If I may join in...I lived the UP experience for five years and my parents moved there in the 1980's until my father;s early passing....what a magical place...I roamed the forest of the UP with my college mates and camped the parks...started ticking off the waterfalls visted but had to stop...Stopped in many local bars with friends on our famous road trips around the UP and met many locals ...climbed hogsback, jumped into the Big Pond at Presle Isle [[cliff diving) .... met the frieghters in MArquette and expored thr ruins of Fayetteville...Fished the streams and lakes...fought the flies [[they usually won)...and walked miles in the fresh snow...My favorite memories are centered there...in more ways than I can reveal ...

Wondered why a door and no patio on the second floor window, until I spent my first winter there. Walked the streets of MArquette, to school with wind chills of 60 below...and this wasn't a made up "when I was a kid story"...

Met some of the greatest people there...many were my college mates from Detriot...I loved the outdoors [[did I say that already )...never found my elusive Moose or bear, but that didnt stop me from trying....bit the head off smelt and drank a blue ribbon to was it down...[[ UP thing)...

the Falls were so vibrant and the winters so bright, but the Spring was grey til Summer ...but what magnificant summers...when they finally arived...GO CATS


on a side bar...While teaching at a Univeristy in the MidSouth I was interviewing Graduate Students and I noticed a transcript from NMU...it turned out that Thirty years ago another student had walked the same paths as me at the very same time, now she was enrolling in one of my classes ...it's a small world and that is why we should take very good care of it and it's people.

[tponetom]

gibran::
It never ceases to amaze me when a another 'kindred spirit' surfaces.
I believe that most of us have a variety of favorite venues that we share with others. Be them, Detroit, the U.P. or Timbuctoo.
Fayette was, is, and will always be, our favorite State Park. We have visited it at least 50 times or more. It is a 'must see' spectacle of historic restoration. Our last visit there was in 2005.

[gibran]

My parents used to own a little motel on Big Bay DeNoc..they retired there til my dad's passing ..it was down the road from Fayetteville...The place was spectacular in the fall...I myself roamed the woods of Marquette County... I can still taste the Chili form the big Bay Inn..which by the way was where my Mom and Dad Honeymooned in the Fifties and heard the Wolves howling in the Night...

The most magical night I remember up in God's Country was a Blizzard in Marquette right after school got out an dI was there with a few students waiting for a ride home to Detroit...It was snowing so hard that the city was so still [[which happened a lot) I was walking during a lull in the storm by the old homes ...the street lights shining on the fresh coat of snow, the trees drapped with their cotton coats...It was so soft and silent..Christmas lights shining in the distance.. I then realized the simple things were the most meaningful...as the snow gently fell creating a crystal snow ball .. wow..nothing was ever the same after that...

The UP I swear I want my ashes spread out on Presle Isle in "the Lake" of course

[gazhekwe]

I'm from the Eastern End myself. I remember those cold clear nights walking home after some school game or program. The stars would seem like lanterns. You could feel the breath freezing in your nose. 30 below and dropping. Trees would make popping sounds and the snow underfoot crunched like cornstarch. We kids slept in the attic. Our heat source was the foot square floor grate. We'd wake up in the morning with the quilts frozen around our faces. Somehow, we were right healthy and suffered no ill effects. We are such wimps today with real honest to goodness thermostat to keep the temperature from dropping below 60 or so. The UP was not just about the cold. There is the self sufficiency factor, with everyone pretty much able to keep things running without calling for help or buying a new thingamajig. Our washer came apart many times to be explored and put back together to run another day.

[tponetom]

Look for another paging from me, tomorrow, regarding the above/

[eriedearie]

One of our favorite summer vacations was 2 weeks spent fishing and exploring all around Lake Gogebic. Day trip to the Keweenaw Peninsular and visiting that spot that Sonny Eliot would tweak during the weather report...Copper Harbor. Touring the copper mine and Lake of the Clouds.

Funny thing, just before I signed on here I was looking through the pictures we had taken up there. Had not looked at them in ages. It was a great vacation. We'll have to go again some day. Love the UP.

[gibran]

GAz ...those were two confront er nights as I recall from the day...I remember visiting my Grandma and seeing snow on the window sill...we slept like babies under the down comforters my great-grandma made,,, we stayed in bed until my grandad got up and started the old wood furnace....then we ran down the stairs to warm by the old wood stove that my mom;s mom kept near the new fangled one....warmed our boots under the wood one and our job was to go to the wood room and get enough wood for the cooking...ahhh Polish Sausage from Cedar....now that's something I still crave...opps I slipped back under the straits for a moment...