Summer 2007 Family Pics

October 10, 2007 A very raw day - windy, rainy and about 40 degrees, northern juncos stopping from being blown around. In the grass under my feeder they are picking up dropped seeds and leavings. I am still trying to see my way through the chimney modifications that we need to heat this year with wood efficiently and with less hassle. I need to get a finishing piece, a kind of collar to go around the pipe where it goes through the wall into the liner T.
Totally hypothermic weather to have to be on the water. I hope things improve for the Friday safety course over in Munising.
This weather that we've been having for the last few days recalls St Lawrence Island fall weather with the wind and rain and nastiness of it. But windy, rough weather would blow in marine life for easier access by the shore dwellers. I remember well one domestic scene there: Taking out the honey bucket to the sea-side in the early morning; gray light faintly showing a wind roiled surf rushing in on pea gravel filled waves. Among flotsam and sea weed there were oompahs, little filter feeders being gathered by parka-clad Native women. The waves coming in made a swish sound as thousands of pieces of gravel were stirred and rubbed together. The briny sea smell being added to the mix of impressions on my senses. Timing myself to the rhythm of rollers ready to wet me to the waist, I hold the honey bucket parallel and downwind of my body and give it a swing to flush its contents into the surf. It was a clean flush and removal of my house of school teachers bodily wastes into the ocean. "No oompahs for me", I told an older woman later that week who had seen me, the school's principal out emptying the bucket; an odd and never before seen view of a the gussuk man doing what she saw as women's work.

My youngest son Matthew, on graduation day from Houghton High School. Matt is started college at University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities and is working at a coffee shop (Bordertown) and living on-campus this school year. He is in a pre-med oriented program.

My oldest son Muir, sculling around at Pictured Rocks. He is in his second year at Finlandia University working on a 4 year Nursing degree. When I took this picture Muir was assisting me at guiding a family on a 3 day trip.

My wife Lynn, daughter Kate and her boyfriend Nathaniel near Grand Marais, MN, on the Lake Superior shore. Kate was crewing on a sailboat that Nathaniel was the skipper of and since fall is working as graphic designer for the local Cook County News Herald at Grand Marais.