Monday, August 30, 2010

Bunchberries



The path from the lodge to the main waterfront is through red berries at this time of the year. In the spring this dwarf dogwood aka bunchberry is covered in bright white star shape flowers. With fall the red berries come out and soon the leaves will turn purple.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

When you are 5 - you can go on the canoe trip



With these friends and family, when the kids are 5 years old, they can go on a canoe trip with the Dads. So we had 4 Dad's with 5 kids who were bouncing with enthusiasm and good cheer (the kids) having their pancake breakfast and heading out on their annual canoe trip.

There are still a number of little brothers and sisters at home who are waiting their turn when they turn 5 to join the annul fun.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Quiet, Quiet and More Quiet

By sitting in the lodge, you would not know that all our cabins are full because that quiet time of the summer has started. Kids are back in school and this is the time for adults to get away to cabins and go on canoe trips.

I noticed that the fall colors are just starting on the Gunflint Trail near Grand Marais. Now every time we drive to Grand Marais we will see the colors move a little more up the trail coming towards us. It is right on schedule for peaking the third week of September. The bunch berries which start off in spring with small white flowers now have red berries and Moose have been spotted on the roads again.

It was in the 40's last night and about 65 degrees today. Half our guests came in to check the weather report and loved the cooler weather and the other half bemoaned the chilly air. I built a nice roaring fire in the fireplace and put on my favorite red clearwater sweatshirt and enjoyed every minute of the brisk morning. This is the time of the year that I am finally able to take a few minutes in the morning and use our fantastic lodge porch and drink my coffee while watching the lake. How I love these days.

Lynn

Thursday, August 19, 2010

One Last Pie


Today is my last day of work at Clearwater Lodge. The summer was wonderful. Canoeing, camping and walking in the woods with Erik will be greatly missed, as well as his companionship. I'll definitely miss Jim's singing(or whistling, humming, drumming, etc...)that was within earshot constantly. Kwas kept me on my toes as far as my gullible nature goes, and supplied laughter without a doubt. Lily will be missed the most. She taught me many valuable lessons that I will keep close to my heart. Needless to say I am not especially looking forward to another 9 months in the classroom, but I am already excited for a winter visit with the sled dogs in Ely.

I would like to thank Mike, Peggy and Lynn for two summers of employment in the part of the state I love most. I appreciate everything I have learned from living in the great white north.

I thought the pie was an appropriate treat for this afternoon.

Goodbye Clearwater,
-Tori

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Downed Tree






The weather front that came along and pushed out the hot weather brought us some strong winds. In addition to the normal trees down on the Gunflint Trail and Clearwater Road we had a double come down on top cabin 7. There was minor damage to the cabin and the guests in 7 were not even in at the time for the excitement. For minor damage, it was a major project to get it off the roof. Kwas, Erik and Jim had quite a bit of work to do to get it off the roof without causing more damage. Kwas is pretty comfortable on a roof since he has had several summer jobs roofing.

Tori was the official photographer of the event.

Monday, August 16, 2010

August Update Continued

August is a busy month as you can tell if you read my last blog, which stopped mid-sentence. I am now getting back to it...

The past two weeks we have had kids and kids and kids at the resort. Last week I think I counted 16 youth under 12. Most of these little ones have been coming for years and we have watched them grow up. They also all know each other from year to year and have friends waiting for them to explore and play.

The pianos in the lodge got a good work out last week. Several of the kids have been taking lessons so we were treated to music recitals.

This is the last burst of freedom for anyone returning to school in the fall. Tori leaves us on Friday to return to Winona State. Tori has been nursing along some tomatoe plants this summer and she has 4 little tomatoes. I guess she is leaving the plants for the boys to finish harvesting.

Just to remind us that summer is winding down, we had a cold front push in yesterday. The high was 65 and last night it did get into the 40's. Today and for the next week it the highs will be in the 60's. Everyone has sweatshirts and jackets on today. We have noticed a slight turning of color on some of the trees. Accoring to our weather man, we have had our last heat of summer in the Northwoods and days and nights will be a lot cooler for the rest of the season.

I know last year in August we had a frost. In 2009 we had July as the only frost free month. It frosted in June, skipped July and frosted again in August.

We have a roaring fire in the lodge fireplace this morning. Chilly weather, warm fire, muffins baking in the kitchen and hot coffee in the dining room is a typical morning a the lodge.

Our guests have been visiting Chik Wauk Museum this summer and giving it rave reviews. Add it to your list of places to stop in and visit.

The mid-Trail sale and auction was Saturday at the Poplar Lake fire hall. As usual, Saturday is not a good day for us to slip away but we heard they had a lot of fun stuff to auction off and somone (wasn't me - although I try every year) won a hand made quilt in the raffle.

Well I have to get going now. We have a number of groups paddling out this morning and I need to issue some permits and probably do some other work. But for just these few minutes, I am enjoying this quiet in the lodge on a cool almost Fall morning.

Lynn

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

August Update

It has been awhile since I blogged so here is just a little update of what is happening.

This week is what I call 'kids week'. Almost every cabin has 2 or more kids under 12 and they have a wonderful time. That age, they make instant friends for the week.

We also had a loon lure away a guest dog. There must be a loon next near our waterfront and she was protecting her young. She drew that dog pretty far out into the middle of the lake and finaly a boat rescue had to take place. The rescue was for the dog, the loon was just doing exactly what she needed to do.