Campfire Marshmallows and Memories

It's been a lovely summer day, filled with warm sunshine, swimming and beach fun, some boating and canoeing. The only thing needed to make it complete is a campfire. Thanks to all of the rain that has fallen in the last month, we are able to have fires in the fire pits. The smell of the smoke and the sound of the conversation and laughter with a circle of friends is a comforting thing. What a great way to make memories! And really, that is what we should be doing as much as possible...having good times with family and friends to build a trove of memories.

As I was looking at the photos to include with this post, I was doing some reminiscing myself. A long long time ago, my family would often go camping in the summer. Holiday weekends were a favorite time to load the trailer and take off for some lake or state park here in northern Minnesota. One campfire incident at a campground in Brainard ended up becoming a family legend, one of those stories that has often been repeated. My younger brother and sister were sitting by the campfire, toasting marshmallows. As youngun's are wont to do, my brother was waving his stick around at one point, with no marshmallow, but a bit of hot coal on the end. He turned quickly and accidentally caught the stick's end right at the corner of my sister's eye. Fortunately, it only caused a very small burn, but it was traumatic nonetheless. Nancy was only about four at the time, but she knew enough about manners to spout off to everyone that Alan "didn't even say sorry or thank you or nothing!" and she was quite indignant about it.

I also remembered many campfires from my Girl Scout camp counseling days. Once a week, we could requisition the fixings for s'mores to have with the campers. We would prepare the candy bars and graham crackers into little "kits", ready and waiting for the roasted marshmallow to be sandwiched in between. After everyone had one, we would put all of the campers to bed, and then gather at the fire to eat the leftovers. We may or may not have rationed the campers in order to have our own fair share...just sayin'. We also came up with lots of wonderful additions to the basic recipe. A little peanut butter on the graham cracker or a few raspberries tucked in to the hot marshmallow are two of my personal favorites. Another good one--and healthy, too!--is to substitute apple slices for the crackers. Can s'mores and healthy even be used in the same sentence?

In the winter, when I walk the familiar paths, all covered in snow, I often pass the campfire rings. They look lonely and abandoned at that time of the year. It's sad. But at the same time, I know that they are in a resting period, so to speak. Soon the calendar pages will turn until before I know it, the fires are burning, the stumps are filled, and folks are laughing and having a good time. I like that full-circle thing.

Meanwhile, Somewhere in St. Louis...

When is a cabin not a cabin? Probably lots of replies would fit that question. Today's answer is: When it is a recording studio. Back in October, the Erin Bode Group came up and transformed Birch cabin into a recording studio, so that they could work on their latest jazz album. The musicians are based in St. Louis, Tennessee, and California, but they all agree that the Northwoods is a great place to converge for a task such as this. They came with their cars and truck fully packed with instruments, speakers, components, and all sorts of other things of which I don't even know the names. One time, Bill, our local UPS man, delivered a big black set of something, clearly for the effort's success.

This was actually the second time they used Birch for this purpose. A year earlier, they had produced a Christmas album in August. They said that the layout worked well for what they were doing: each musician was set up in a room and all were connected by headphones, microphones, and wires...Lots of wires.

That album, A Cold December Night, ended up with a cabin on the cover, one that resembles Birch in a way, with a bit of artistic license thrown in.

Since I am not able to describe the music of this group, other than to say that it is fantastic, I will quote here from their website:

"The Erin Bode Group creates music forged from the Americana of its members' midwestern roots, infused with jazz grooves and made magic by Bode's bell-like voice. Sophisticated arrangements and attention to phrasing, both vocal and instrumental, further distinguish the band's fresh sound."

We have had the opportunity to hear Erin, Syd, Adam and Derek play live in Grand Marais. They have appeared at the Gunflint Tavern, and they performed at the Jazz Festival in 2008. Erin has longtime ties to the Gunflint Trail, and when we visited the museum the other night, we saw pictures of many of her relatives there.

When Erin called to book the cabin for the second album, my main concern was for the outside noise that would be happening here. Since it was October, it was firewood season. We had to keep working our way through the firewood pile, using the very noisy splitter, as winter was not far off. She assured me that it would not interfere, since things had worked so well in the previous year. Back then, my concern was that Moses the donkey would somehow find a way to get one of his songs on the album. Of course, that didn't happen, thank heavens.

During the latter part of their stay, Erin invited us over to hear a preview of the music. What a delightful time we had, listening to the tracks that they had accomplished. I got a quick look into the creative process of musicians, as they would critique each song as it was playing, notebook and pencil in hand. At the end of the song, they would say things like, "What was missing?" or "I think it needed --this-- in that particular spot." I was amazed that they could identify areas that they wanted to change, when to me, it already sounded spectacular.

So, back to St. Louis. Today happens to be the debut for the new album. If I were able to travel in a blink, I would love to be in that city today, to go to the release party. If someone out there in Missouri is reading this, you should go in my place. I know you'll have a great time!

I love that the album is titled Photograph. Be sure to visit the website, as you will be able to learn more about Erin and her group, and you can catch glimpses of some of the photos they took while they stayed here at Heston's. This one in particular really delights me. And be sure to listen to a few of her tracks. They are amazing!

A Trip to the Museum

Two days of pies and blueberries makes me think that we need to change the subject away from food. All that pie is too much of a good thing!

As I mentioned briefly last night, we went up to the end of the trail for a preview of the new Chik-Wauk Museum, on Lake Saganaga. Words to describe it are hard to find, as it certainly surpassed my expectations. I knew that the team of volunteers had been working hard for five year, and that Chris and his crew were doing a fantastic job, but to see it all come together into such a beautiful place was astounding. If this isn't on your vacation-to-do-list yet, write it down immediately! It is so worth the trip.

Because it was dinnertime, and I hadn't yet made dinner, we didn't spend a lot of time there. But one definitely could do so, as the exhibits alone are finely detailed and contain paintings, photographs and artifacts galore. They cover the full range of Gunflint Trail history, from geology and voyageurs, to pioneers and modern-day folks. In addition to the displays, books and collections line the shelves waiting for perusal. It is not an exaggeration to say that you could spend a whole week there, and still find new things to see.

One activity that we didn't venture to are the hiking trails right on site. They are marked, and I imagine a map is available to guide you. Last year, Greg and I were assigned to plant trees at Chik-Wauk for the Gunflint Green-up. Someday when I am hiking up there, I plan to check on the progress of the little seedlings. The bay that the museum overlooks is quite picturesque, and it looks like it would make a terrific picnic spot.

The museum also hosts a lovely little gift shop, with a wonderful selection of shirts and handmade gifts. I recognized the work of some of my fellow fiber guild members, so you can definitely find items that are locally produced.

The grand opening is Sunday, July 4th. That also happens to be the eleventh anniversary of our blowdown storm. How lucky for us that we are all still here, able to acknowledge the history, both old and not-so-old, in such a great manner. It will be an amazing legacy for years to come.

Greg's Five Minute Adventure/The Berry Update

Wow, sometimes the day just gets away from me. Cabin cleaning in the morning, a trip to town in the afternoon, a quick run to the end of the trail to check out the new museum....and suddenly it's time to make dinner and the blog post isn't done. I wanted to share the goodness of the blueberries with you all.

Greg had his own five minute adventure on the way back from work yesterday. He stopped on one of the forestry roads near Seagull Lake, and scouted out the berries for this week's blueberry update. Within a few minutes, he had found several nice ones, but he said that most of them are still green. But what was most impressive was the size. It looks on par with the blueberry crop of the summer of 2008, one year after the Ham Lake Fire. He feels that it will still be about a week to ten days before the harvest is in full swing. But for hardy, intrepid pickers, you could probably find enough for a batch of blueberry muffins or to sprinkle into your pancakes in the morning. Time to start picking!