Sugar on Snow Snowstorm

Here's Lake Superior in one of its many moods.

We had a snowstorm that kept some of us at home all day Sunday instead of going to church while others of our church group fled home to Wiscsonsin. Still others were stranded at the rec center where we were to meet for church and fellowship all day. It was frustrating. It almost ruined the enjoyment of a lovely snowstorm, to be honest, to be all divvied out in separate family groups for the day while the snow piled up and the wind filled the roadways with drifts.

February, The Busy Month

    People used to eschew something they called the February blahs.  I simply don't understand. Our February calendar is always full. It's the month we realize that school has been half over for a couple of weeks already; but our books aren't quite to the middle, yet.
    It's the month for Elv's birthday.  This year he turns 50. So along with wishing I could go all out and buy him a four-wheeler like he suggests, or that gun, two wild ideas neither of us can afford; we're having a party for him. We are working on inviting Lewi's and Steve's and his mom. We'll see.
   It's the month for Valentine's Day. Elv brings flowers and chocolates home for me.  And I'll see to it that he gets his sparkling grape or apple juice. It is pretty neat to be able to celebrate our marriage right smack in the middle of the winter logging rush, before spring-breakup.  It's a great time to take a deep breath and grab some "perspective" on what really counts in the long run: not the work or the bills, but that we have each other, our family, our faith, and our love, to boot.
    It's the month of Sugar On Snow on the north shore.  All the hoopla of prep, people, food making, costuming, deadlines, overnighting away from home, packing, hauling, and working with the public is hard work. On the other hand, I look forward to the complete break from the normal routines of our winter and school to visit with the annual host of friends and workers and interpreters for three solid days.  I enjoy swishing about in a full skirted costume that I wouldn't be caught dead in anywhere else, and seeing everyone in theirs. It's fun to walk back into history and imagine lighting my house with those precious, home-made candles, to visualize the hard work and inconveniences of colonial life and to be thankful for our rich heritage and the modernization of our day more than ever. I love watching the miller and the carpenter helping the children to learn the trades.  There is nothing quite as good as warm, baked cornbread from the quern-ground corn, spread thickly with freshly churned, sweet butter.
   It's the month of taxes for us.  Its a good time to go back over the year and give account for how we handled the income of the year! There really are no surprises, but always reconsiderations of whether or not we did the right thing in that purchase or this expenditure.  It's good to know that for one more year the Lord has provided for our family and brought us through these times when fuel and food costs have gone up and up, yet we eat plenty and drive to where we need to go. It's a time to ask Him to please go with us in the year to come, as well, and to show us how to prioritize as we go.
    It's the month before spring breakup.  If winter is going to give us any more storms or snow then it had better get at it, because time is running out for interesting weather. Loggers are getting in their last good licks. Log trucks roll constantly because road bans will be upon us in a few short weeks.
   It's the month for garden planning and lists, and freezer and canning shelves inventory.
   For us this year, its the month before Dru's get home for their 10 week visit. If anyone has a car seat to loan us for Jube(2), please let us know.  Happy Valentine's Day and Happy February Busyness, Everyone!

The Power of Props

We're just home from Sugar On Snow.  I've been trying to see pictures of the event and am  frustrated.  Either the photographers needed to do better angles on the interpreters or the lack of props is a serious problem.At any rate I wish that we could provide back drops, props, and hitching posts for our interpreters. On the other hand, why do they not create and provide for themselves along these lines?  How hard would it be to build a cardboard back drop of the corner of a colonial house or cabin for the spinner of wool to set up her wheel? What an impression it would make to have the whole perspective!  Imagine walking up to the black smith shop walls hung full of the tools of his trade, to have a horse (even a cardboard horse) waiting for a shoe repair. 

This picture of the miller is good.  He has a bit of a setting and the real thing that grinds corn.  We made some of his corn meal into corn bread for supper.  Delicious.

By the way, how well do we interpret the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  When someone walks up to my door, do they see the real interpretation?  Do they go away saying, "I wish I could have spent more time there." ?