Up North: A very un-christmasy post

‎63 Years of Memories....

‎63 Years of Memories....
that's what I have now. The photo below shows the chair on the point which for so many years was my father's favorite after-supper place to contemplate and cast for walleye. As much as I feel guilty about what's happened, I know he would understand and even say there's nothing to forgive. He lived life fully and moved on many times. I'm the one with the unique experience of being attached to a beautiful place for my whole life. And despite all my best efforts, yesterday the 'cabin' was sold. I signed the papers and, truth be told, a weight was lifted. A new life lies ahead without the obligations, but with all of the wonderful memories. My unrelentingly positive attitude says this is truly how it is, but my heart is still sad.

There are some things in life for which the balance between the obligation and the joy of ownership often cannot be sustained forever. It became clear that I was no longer up to the task of taking care of the place quite a while back. However, knowing what needs to be done and doing it are often far apart. Finally, no choice was left. It had to be sold.

Now it's gone. No more worrying about how long the grass or how deep the snow is up there. No more sublimely pleasurable early morning cups of coffee sitting on the dock when the color of the lake is like pale blue glass and the air is completely still. No more endless repairs, high taxes, and utility bills. No more late nights around the fire pit with friends and family - warm from both fire and friendship. No more frozen pipes or emergency calls to the furnace guys. No more saunas and midnight skinny dipping that make you feel like you'll live forever while your connection with nature is confirmed by the gazillion stars of the milky way and the loons calling out in the dark. No more concerns with low well water levels or water so hard and full of iron the clothes turn yellow and your newly washed hair feels like brillo. No more finding the way home by boat in the dark after a long day on the lake feeling like this is the only place you really, really belong. No more praying that the boathouse will make it another year without collapsing. And ultimately, no more making new memories with friends, family and loved ones. No new memories, that is, at Half Bay, Lake Vermilion, Tower, MN. New life... here we come!

How do you thank a place for memories?

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

A very un-christmasy post

So it happens to be Christmas. I am not really in the holiday spirit so I thought I would post some scary, depressing, dark, mysterious night photos. I threw in one of cheery blue skies for good karma.

This dude looks legit, I am sure he is just out for a midnight stroll. Seriously, this is my pal Dave Keema and he is only trying to look like a slasher movie villain. I thought it was a neat picture, it took a while to get just right with the accent lighting and such. I was attempting to replicate a movie poster and Dave was a good sport about helping me out.

Another cheesy sunset photo. I think that guard shack is leaning farther to the left than before. This instance is maybe the closest to the horizon that I have seen the sun. The sun always sets behind the dust.

A Hawk with the hood popped, being worked on before daybreak. Did you know these things weight ten tons and have almost six thousand horsepower. Once I get around to photoshopping out the feet from under the tail, this will be one of my favorite photos. Speaking of which, none of my images are selectively edited (photoshopped), I do some color balance and correction or an artistic B/W like below but other than that, these images are how I caught them in the camera.