Eclectic travelers

GOING NATURE’S WAY By Kate Crowley We have spent much of the summer leading groups of people from all over the country on tours of the Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan shores of Lake Superior. These trips have been a combination of hiking trails and going out on boats, while having the comfort of a hotel for the night.  We are happy to be able to share this Great Lake with others who are less familiar with it.  It has already been six years since Mike and I walked all the way around this vast body of water, but we never grow tired of its beauty and changing nature.  People from as far away as Texas, California and Florida have joined us for these trips and without exception they find themselves in awe of the size of the Lake, as well as its clarity. Besides showing these folks this marvelous natural resource we have introduced them to both the State Parks of these three states and the National Park of Isle Royale.  I would imagine most Minnesotan’s can say...

WINGIN’ IT BY Kate Crowley I don’t know when the Eastern Phoebes returned to our property this year because we were gone for the entire month of April and part of May, but the average over the past ten years has been mid to later April.  When we returned the male was in his usual location, back by the barn singing his sweet, raspy “fee-bee, fee-bee’ song, with the second phrase ending with a bit of a tremolo. This call is repeated over and over, especially while the male is seeking a mate.  It will continue throughout June and July, but with less intensity and frequency, unless he seeks another mate. The Phoebes have been coming to our property since we moved here 30 years ago (and probably long before that).  They have used different locations for their small, neat cup nests, but quite long ago they discovered the light fixtures in the barn, where the horses used to stay were ideal nest sites.  They built two identical nests, one above each light fixture. T...

GOING NATURE’S WAY By Kate Crowley It could be the soundtrack for a horror movie……a faint, high pitched whining, that grows louder as you look around and in a panic begin to run for your life.  That is what life has become here in northern Pine County (and possibly southern, and Carlton County).  The mosquitoes this summer have taken over our minds and bodies.  We are being held hostage day after beautiful summer day, by these blood sucking hordes hovering near every door and window.  Minnesotan’s love to brag and joke about the Mosquitoes (our state bird – yuk, yuk), but no one is laughing now.  We seriously have no recollection of them being so abundant and fierce in any of our 30 years on this property. June was blessedly beautiful and we sat on our deck in the evenings basking in the low angled sun and soft breezes.  We congratulated ourselves again and again on our good fortune to live on a sand plain where water soaks quickly into the groun...

WINGIN’ IT By Kate Crowley As the floodwaters recede, a stunned and relieved populace can finally stop holding their collective breath. Throughout southern Carlton County and all of Pine County there is a sense of disbelief that only four years after a major flood event, it has happened again.  At our home we measured over 8” of rain in less than 24 hours. This is what the word deluge was meant to describe. Others said it felt like they were in the middle of a monsoon. Thankfully there was no loss of life in our region, but property damage and loss was significant for people who have in some cases finally recovered and remodeled after the flood of 2012, which was said to be a once in 100 years flood when 8 to 10 inches of rain were spread over three days. Here in Willow River, there was fear that the small dam holding back the waters of the river would fail, with catastrophic results. Roads throughout the two counties (and into Wisconsin) were hard hit and the cost to re...

GOING NATURE’S WAY By Kate Crowley The recent storms that blew through took a toll on many trees in the Willow River area. On our property we thought we had been spared because there were just two dead jack pines that came down in the horse pasture. We have lots of trees around our home and thankfully they held, but then we walked around our trails today and discovered there will be months of work cutting and clearing all the trees that fell and that includes a two perfectly healthy looking white pines and a very large, very healthy looking balsam fir.    We are in the habit of leaving dead trees standing in our fields and pasture as food and nesting sites for the birds and don’t really mourn their loss when they finally succumb to the elements.  They have given their all to us and the other creatures that live here, but losing a healthy, full size tree is always a shock and a feeling of loss, especially if it is nearby where you are used to seeing it, day in an...

GOING NATURE’S WAY By Kate Crowley Two thoughts ran through my mind last week as we began a canoe trip on the Upper Missouri River in central Montana:  “The River is Life” and “Life is Like a River”.  The first was evident as soon as we arrived at Coal Bank Landing, a campground and launch site for the river. Tall, thick cottonwood trees hugged the shore and other trees in the campground were filled with birds.  Late May, of course, is a time when migration is still underway in these northern regions and that added to the number of species we saw.  Three Western Flycatchers chased one another from tree to tree in a chattering dispute over nesting territory; Yellow Warblers sang their courtship song from interior branches of the trees; and a pair of Barn Swallows flew in and out of the porch that fronted the Visitor Center, occasionally landing near a mud nest under the eaves.  These were just three of the most obvious bird species that entertained us for ...

I came to Paris to find the muse that inspired The Lost Generation of writers like Hemingway and the force that motivated the great painters like Picasso and Monet, but I did not find it. I was not moved to write. I was driven to take photographs. Does this mean that the old muse is dead? I don't think so. For some it might be there. For me it has been replaced by a happy curiosity. The old creative energy is in the parks. It is the promenades; the small cafes, the Boulanger es, the fruit stands, the wine stores, chocolate stores and the movement of people. The Des Halles is the only exception. It is the Mall of Paris and as such it is the opposite of what my Paris is. There is no sunshine here. No street corner buzz of conversation, only a drive to consume without the Bonjour and au revoir of our daily interactions in the street stores. Instead it is the hypnotic use of lights and music and motion. I must stay away from this monstrosity. We have walked so many neighbor...