"Winter" in the fall

I've only been home for a little more than a week but already I was feeling that "all work and no play..." disease creeping up on me.  So today my friend and I (I do have a friend, maybe two) went off on an adventure.  Several months ago we took in a movie - Dolphin Tale - about a very intriguing marine rescue of an amazing animal.  It was especially interesting to us because it was filmed in our backyard, so to speak, and the star of the show still resides there at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. We took Karyn's slightly expired two-for-one coupon and motored up to see for ourselves.

For those of you who haven't seen the movie yet, you really should. The dolphin named Winter did lose her tail as a result of bacterial infection after getting trapped in a net and injured.  With love and attention she survived, and when you visit the aquarium you get to see the place and the people who saved her.  The compnay who volunteered work on a prosthetic tail finally came up with one that would stay on.  We saw the tail applied today and watched as she exercised the muscles that were atrophying and causing her to have scoliosis. 

Did you know that sharks flap their tails sided to side but dolphins wave theirs up and down? So I learned some pretty cool things and also got to see some other rescued animals including sea turtles, and river otters.  The aquarium is located out on one of the keys so there was lots of lovely water scenery.  We got a free boat ride back to the parking lot when we were done. If I had visitors in town I would definitley consider taking them to see Winter since it wasn't just an interesting trip but also supports a worthy non-profit effort.



Winter with her prosthetic tail



On the down side, I couldn't take any pictures because I got a "camera failed" message on my phone. This should not be.  So I settled for buying a key chain for a souvenir and am taking a picture of it now at home.  

Skepticism?

If the most important time to write is when you really don't want to do it, then I am where I should be right now.  It's hard to figure out what the importance of it is except to give me practice for the book, the someday book...

I've experienced a miracle this week, definition of miracle being something I'm unable to explain scientifically and will therefore attribute to divine intervention.  A week ago Monday, up in Hayward I did some maneuver that stretched my left shoulder far more than it should have been stretched.  It was immediately sore and got worse as the day wore on.  In fact, it got worse for a couple more days even though I was trying to rest it and taking lots of Ibuprofen.

It was painful to touch. People would hug me around the shoulder and wonder why I would gasp and produce tears. I couldn't lift my arm away from my side, or do pushing moves with my arm in the air.  The hardest thing was getting dressed! Putting on shirts - agony.  Pulling things up to my waist - sharp pain followed by burning ache that wouldn't quiet down for a long time.  Medication made things bearable only if I was up and moving around.  That's how I got through work Thursday and Friday.  At night I found that it's nearly impossible to turn onesself in bed without moving both arms. And yet when lying still, just the weight of my arm in most any position, would bring on a burning ache that wouldn't quit.  Honestly, I felt totally worn out from dealing with the pain

By the weekend my stomach was starting to hurt from around the clock doses of antiinflammatories. I had to work the night shift on Sunday and Monday and was worried that I might not be able to do some of the required moves. Driving out to the job, I decided that if there was not some sign of improvement I would look for some medical attention the next day.  I was afraid that it might be getting worse from inattention.

I have to backtrack a little to explain where the part about divine intervention would enter the picture. I've thought about the healing miracles recorded in scripture, especially those of Jesus that were witnessed and written about by many.  Intellectually I believe that a being capable of creating life in all its forms, could also restore life, restore function and well being, just as easily as creating it in the first place. I've been aware of events in other people's lives that they called miracles but I don't remember experiencing a healing of my own, ever.  I did think it was important to ask God for healing, I asked several friends to pray for me, and I went to the elders of my church to ask for prayer and annointing. I saw these actions as being simple things to do in obedience, perhaps a little embarrassing, but simple.  (Evidently they don't do a lot of annointings in the church I go to now because I had three men looking frantically for some oil for fifteen minutes until they gave up and just prayed.)

I struggled through work that night, laid myself down and somehow fell asleep immediately for four hours before waking to turn my patient. It was odd that my arm didn't hurt or even feel stiff.  At the end of my shift I went home and slept comfortably for another couple of hours.  It was such a relief to have a normal feeling arm instead of that thing I'd been wishing I could cut off because it hurt so bad. And it has remained so since then, in spite of work and chores at home that I am once again happily doing.  Something that was very bad became very good in so short a time that I see no reason not to thank God for it and I see no reason to think anything else was responsible for the change. There was no electricity or warm healing feeling creeping through my body or what have you - it was just done hurting, on the inside and on the outside.

I didn't get a message from God that I shouldn't tell anyone, so I am writing about it.  But I have mixed feelings. I am grateful and excited on the one hand, because I think God wants to heal today more than we let him and I want to cooperate with that.  I also know that when I heard about other people's miracles I often viewed them skeptically, as some will do with my report.  I don't really like people to view me and my experience with skepticism but I have to say that when I am pain free after an extended period of misery, it doesn't matter much how other people view it.

Over zealous bartender?

At Garmisch Resort, having dinner with my family, I ordered this... haven't decided whether to call it a drink or a meal. Large stalk of celery, very large olive, big pickle, a green bean ??, a square of pepper jack cheese, a brussels sprout ???, a whole slim jim meat thing and a beer chaser.   I  have to say it did impress me.

things I remember, before I forget

I am once again in my own bedroom spending the morning putting things away and trying to sort out necessary tasks after a two week trip.  I am quite behind schedule in writing about anything that happened, and in danger of forgetting a lot of it. In general, it was a good visit and I am glad to have spent the time the way we did.  I trust that relationships that needed updating or strengthening were attended to, although I didn't get to have in depth conversations with everyone.  When I visit with the goal of spending time with people, I pretty much neglect having time alone.and that would include time to write. Maybe I should try to list the things I remember. (Placement in the list is not based on importance or chronology - just what popped into my mind randomly)

- the weekend in Bayfield that I've already written about
- collecting the eggs and admiring the chicken coop
- garage saling with Mom and actually buying 3 pair of nice shoes that fit
- Denny's glasses flying off his hat and into the water behind the speeding boat
- the rather odd wedding held out behind the barn
- my new smart phone taking a dip in Round Lake
- me taking a dip in Round Lake with Evan and Claire
- watching Claire play soccer
- anxiously wondering whether Gary would pull his arms out trying to slalom start
- coffee/talk time with Mom before anyone else was awake
- donuts in abundance every Saturday morning
- getting to know and apreciate my Aunt Judy a bit more
- again admiring Judy and John's log house
- sweet corn and tomatoes on a daily basis (good memory)
- walking in the fields (think nature) and the return view (think Walmart)
- freezing green beans, canning peaches with Mary Pat
- the morning hike at hatchery park
- biking the new path around Hayward with MP, Evan, and Rachel
- Evan bringing me Kleenex and water when I was crying
- Gary and I talking, me crying in front of all (feeling ok about that)
- listening to the crazy conversations between my husband and my Dad
- watching progress of Hurricane Isaac for days
- Mother/Daughter day at the Angry Minnow
- family trip to Garmisch for dinner
- seeing cousin Gloria at family brunch (donuts)
- the pleasant drives from and to Minneapolis in the rented Aveo with my husband
- the NutHouse in Siren, a nice stop
- AirTran flies out of the Humphrey terminal, not the Lindbergh, getting it accidentally right
- shopping trips to Walmart, late season bikini choices
- Mom's presence in the kitchen and faithful attendance to feeding us all
- Denny's unhurried attendance to multiple functions, soccer coach, grill master, businessman, dad
- almost surprising visits from Bob and Elizabeth, Gary and Tina and people who can't keep secrets
- Scruffy
- everyone waving goodbye to us, the tortured frog on the driveway
- visiting my eighth grade teacher in the nursing home
- Theresa's story about the Tom Farnsworth Christmas tree
- being stranded in the middle of Round Lake when the motor quit
- vacuuming with the new Kenmore
- ice cream at West's Dairy
- shopping at Kaliko with MP and Elizabeth
- family dinner with Michelle, Judith and Susan, lots of hugs
- riding in the golf cart with Dad and Scruffy

I could go on more I guess but the list is sufficiently long to record that I had a memorable trip. 

New Places

My remedy to all the sad nostalgia of late has been found. I simply go to a place I’m not familiar with so it doesn’t matter how much it has changed – it’s all new to me anyway.  I know now that I’ve not been to Bayfield or I certainly would have remembered it.  The first BIG thing about the area is the remarkable geography. Lake Superior is such a big, big water that you cannot help but be impressed by the vistas. Many of its shores are cliffs of gigantic rock outcroppings that have broken off and tumbled into the lake in eons past.  Where the rock is softer the waves have carved caves and passages.  And there are actually mountains, or what appear to be mountains (and are named as such) making up the high ground rising up in the surrounding countryside.  In these higher elevations there are numerous little farms and orchards that make good use of the growing season, raising and selling all kinds of berries and tree fruits.  Farmland, forests, beautiful views…

We went up to this area Saturday hoping to catch the 1 pm ferry across to Madelaine Island – one of the Apostle Islands – where my brother and his family were camping at a state park.  Bayfield is small and on a rather steep hill so we had no trouble finding the marina and the ferry dock.  We didn’t have the same luck finding a parking place since they don’t really provide a lot for walk on passengers.  I dropped Dennis off to get tickets and drove around town looking for a place on the street.  Several blocks away, all uphill, I parked and hurried to get down to the ferry.  At this point I would have liked to be in my shorts and hiking shoes but, short version, I was not. 

Arriving at the island side, we met my brother, a business friend of Dennis’s, and a nice family of hitchhikers all in the first half hour. At the state park for the next couple hours we (meaning the combined group of young and old) visited the beaches, the jumping cliff, the campground and the forest trail and it was all beautiful.  At the jumping cliff, my brother was the only older person who jumped the 20 feet into the bay, but all the younger ones were doing it.  At this point I would have liked to be in my bathing suit, but of course, I wasn’t.  Jumping off the rock is going on my bucket list though.  I did get my feet wet and climbed some rocks.



the "jumping off" rock is also good for reading

The park also had a long half-moon sand beach where we watched some impressive storm clouds gathering in the distance. A bird that I never did get a look at, relieved itself as it was flying over me. I felt it hitting my back. At this point I would have liked to have been wearing anything except what I was wearing.  I opted for hiking back to my brother’s campsite through the woods and was able to take pictures of these woodland creatures. They were not at all disturbed by those of us who kept watching and photographing.  

Hello Dear

The Edge

We visited Dennis’s friend – the one who has a famously small house – Sunday afternoon.  The house is called The Edge. I don't know why.  Maybe because it's so small you always feel like you're on the edge of something and about to fall out.  In 300 sq. ft. the husband, wife, daughter, daughter’s husband and 4 mo. old baby, oh and the German exchange student were spending the weekend.  As you might expect, they were spending a lot of it outside.  But it really was an exceptional little house, and they were exceptionally nice people.  The son-in-law had been out fishing earlier and had caught two huge walleye in Lake Superior.  He cleaned and filleted them and gave them to ME! 

Next we went in search of early apples, or whatever we could find.  We found a very nice little family orchard. I loved the barn, converted into store, which housed their business.  Customers were invited up two flights of stairs to the mow where the view was out of this world.  Really, you could see out of this world. I mean it.  It was beautiful. 

The afternoon concluded with an uneventful drive home, debriefing with mom and dad, and fresh walleye for dinner.  It was a good day.

Bed & Breakfast



Cooper Hill House

 We went back to the mainland to find our B&B before dark.  It was an historic house owned by the mayor of Bayfield. He and his wife had been operating it for the last 20 years and were quite practiced and hospitable. We had the smallest of his four rooms and I’m thinking that was why he was willing to book us for only one night.  It was very nautical, in décor and in the sense that it was about the size of a ship stateroom in spite of being called the Captain’s Quarters.  One chair, the bed (may have been queensized but looked small to me), a teeny little bathroom where you could sit, shower and brush your teeth all at the same time,  and little else – but what more would we want in a bedroom?

We left our stuff and went in search of dinner.  We found it at Maggie’s, and although I didn’t get the whole story, the ambience of the restaurant suggested that she was a lady of the night.  Early brothel style I would call it, gaudy and cheerful, stuffed flamingoes hanging from the ceiling and featured in art work on the walls, string lights in primary colors everywhere, waitresses in tie dye T-shirts, and quite a few GB Packer memorabilia.  The place was packed and the food was good.

acrobatic flamingoes amid the lights

Back at the house there was really nothing to do except things disruptive to the other guests and the hosts, so we got ready and went to bed.  It was 9 pm.  Do you realize how long a night is ahead of a person who goes to bed at 9 pm?  It is interminable.  I spent a couple hours getting sore on one shoulder, a couple getting sore on the other shoulder and a couple getting sore on my back and it was still only 3 am with no light in sight.  When it did finally get light and I could stand it no longer I got up and took a shower and dressed. It was still only 5:58 am and three hours till breakfast.  Reading time, on the one hardback chair in the corner… 

Breakfast was good in a cosmopolitan way.  Here’s what we had: lots of good coffee with cream, fresh blueberries swimming in vanilla yogurt and cream, fresh pressed apple juice, and two different kinds of fresh baked muffins with apple butter and marmalade.  All of it was mixed with interesting conversation with the retired couple from IBM and the also retired couple on the motorcycle and of course, the hosts. The history of the house and their slice of small town America (where they still never lock their door) was interesting.  The whole experience almost made me wish to have a B&B business. Almost, but not really.