JULY 4TH

The Flower of the Day

Tall Meadow Rue (Buttercup Family)

We took in the 4th of July parade in Tofte, just a very small community. The parade consisted of various emergency vehicles, local businesses and vintage cars.

There were to usual candy floss, home made fish and chips, mini donuts, beer. Other attractions consisted of dump tank, balloon toss and a few local craft people selling their wares.

The weather was great for the occasion, mildly overcast, a light breeze, minimum amount of sunshine.

After the parade we headed back to our camp spot at Pastor Shuttes and Sandra's place where we have been parked since Monday afternoon.

For the evening supper Richard used the BBQ to cook us fresh meat. You also have the opportunity of seeing the new trim Richard.

So there you have it our July 4th activities. The hiking was given a miss and due to circumstances later probably a good thing.

Later in the evening I started with terrible electric shock phantom pain that ran down the back of my right leg to under my heel (which of course I no longer have). These types of pain usually last a few hours and by morning have completely gone. This time was different. The pains lasted for about half-an-hour with a short prelude to take a nap before the next onslaught. By 2:00 a.m. I could take the pain no longer and took a large dose of codeine, to no avail.

Next we tried going out for a walk. It was pitch black, no moon, the stars were amazing though. All the time we walked I had no occurrence of pain so we went back to our RV for sleep. No sooner had I begun to get ready for bed and the pains started again.

I slept very little, fighting tears of frustration and pain. By 7:00 this morning Richard was up and phoned the hospital in Grande Marais to see if he could bring me in to see a Doctor. There was not much he could do other than prescribe some fast acting pain killer, and recommend that I take today to rest. The pain killers work killing those awful shooting pain. I shall take advantage of this calm phase and sleep.

THE GONDOLA LIFT

Lutsen Mountain Area

Lots of firsts for me yesterday. I actually went up the mountain in a gondola. For those who don't know, I am scared of heights, so for me this ride was amazing.

This first picture is taken inside the gondola as we were ascending. The view was spectacular and I am so glad I plucked up the courage to say lets go.

This was our destination where there is a cafe and balconies all the way around the chalet. The balconies surface was open metal griding and I had to hold onto Richard in order to walk to a chair to sit down, but I did walk on that surface. I stood up and took the next picture.

This was taken on our way down, as you can see we were quite high.

Poplar River seen "from the air."

This was absolutely wonderful. I can't believe that my fears have dictated to me for all these years. What other wonderful sights have I missed?

The parking lot view.

What new and exciting things will there be for me tomorrow(today)?

Keep watching because you never know what I will find for tomorrow is a brand new day.

POPLAR RIVER OVERLOOK

The Flower of the day

Twinflower

Today's trail, Poplar River Overlook, is listed as; gravel and hard packed dirt; average 9' wide, then narrows to 2-4' wide. Moderate rock and root. All this to see Poplar River plummet over huge boulders through a rocky ravine.

These two pictures are taken .3 miles into the walk on either side of the bridge. You hear the noise of the rushing river long before you can see it's churning waters.

The majority of the walk was tough, thank goodness for not only my hiking poles but also for the assistance given by Richard. This was more than challenging for me. We stopped often to drink water and eat our almonds and apples.

I was determined to see the vista at the end of my struggles.

This was the view that greeted us at the outlook, it was disappointing to have the trees so overgrown that the river is barely visible in this picture but it is there in the middle, to the right of the dead poplar tree. It is also hard to tell how high up we had climbed.

I'm proud of the fact that I made it to the top and back down again with Richard giving a helping hand over the harder sections.

This trail was a total of 1.7 miles.

LOWER FALLS CASCADE RIVER ROUTE

This is the flower of the day

A Pink Lady's-Slipper or Moccasin-Flower

I hope to find a new flower each day we take a hike and post at the beginning of each of these postings. We have purchased a book of gentle trails.

Our first day of hiking (July 2nd)we took the Lower Falls Cascade River Route. This is the first view of the river at the head of the trail. What a stunning show; the tumbling and cascading water was breath taking.

The trail was listed as the rugged side of gentle and consists of steep inclines and lots of steps (stairs). I found it exhilarating and exhausting at the same time.


Richard was well prepared with bug juice and sun block. Water to rehydrate us and almonds and apples to keep up our energy. We also made sure we had our hats on.

The river flows into Lake Superior and although the trail takes you out to the highway the noise of the rushing water obscures the sound of traffic. The trail then loops back; we had another chance to take more pictures of the stunning vista of rushing water.

That was our first trail (.7 miles).

Events of Late

Time I wrote an update.

A week ago I did a Genealogy Presentation at our local library. There were six ladies who signed up for the event. My main focus was on One Name Studies, but I was soon side tracked with many questions. I found this a great change from work and will now be a regular once a month hands on genealogy session at the Library when the library is closed to regular patrons. This will enable us to have all the computers for those who attend to have access to the Internet, where I will instruct them in how to go forward (or should the be backward) with their research. I'm really looking forward to helping others with their Family researches.

I find I have very little time, (no that isn't quite true) it's energy I don't have, to do very much on my own BOXALL One Name Study. Other than keeping up with requests for help from those who find my name on the Guild of One Name Studies, or are told about my research. I do very little additional work for fresh research. I find working full-time has eaten into many of my favourite past-times. Genealogy being one of them.

Other than genealogy I have always enjoyed in the past,cross-stitch and knitting. You would think I would be knitting up a storm with two new grand children on the way, I have one blue sweater partially done and about 6 rows of a little white jacket. Very poor showings for my new grandchildren. As for cross-stitch, I would love to start a new project but will not allow myself to do so until the current nativity scene is complete, It's not as if there is a lot of work on it to do, all that is left is the back-stitching, but there is a lot of back-stitching and this picture has worked on black cloth so can be quite a strain on my eyes.

I come home from work, sit in my chair, in front of the TV; most evenings. On the week-ends I spend time on the computer catching up with e-mail and answering any requests for help and spending time with Richard. As the weather warms up I shall be out working in the garden which will mean even less time for my leisure crafts. Although we are beginning to wonder if the weather will ever truly warm up this year. We are still starting our days of temperatures around 0 degrees Cel., which isn't much fun for walking to work or working in the garden.

You Are Bare Feet

You are a true free spirit, and you can't be tied down. Even wearing shoes can be a little too constraining for you at times! You are very comfortable in your own skin. You are one of the most real people around. You don't have anything to hide. Open and accepting, you are willing to discuss or entertain almost any topic. You are a very tolerant person. You are accepting and not judgmental. You should live: Somewhere warm You should work: At your own business, where you can set the rules

What Kind of Shoe Are You?

TIREDNESS OR ALLERGIES

Time has flown by and nothing new has been posted here for over a month. Just lately I find myself arriving home from work and sitting in my favourite chair, which of course is in front of the TV. There I remain until I fall asleep and hubby says, "sweetheart go to bed your exhausted. The trouble is I go to bed, sleep until about 2 am and wake-up, and I mean really wake-up, with no desire to sleep. During these wakeful times I find myself doing Sudoku puzzles for about an hour, once I start to drift off to sleep it is time to settle down again. The problem with this routine, I have to be up at 6:00 am in order to get ready for work.

I do accounting work at a hospital and need to be alert to stay focused on all those numbers. It doesn't help that I am in the middle of Year End preparation. The Auditors will here in two weeks time and I have only just printed my first draft of statements. Now comes the tedious task of reviewing all the departments Operational Statements. Once that is done I have to balance all the Balance Sheet accounts. The last task is to prepare the Auditors binder and my Year End Binder. Next week I have to send a copy of the Trial Balance to our Finance Officer for her to review and send me a list of entries she feels are necessary to complete the year. With all this to do and I am so tired, constantly.

I could be tired because we had snow for so long, and once again last weekend we had more of the white stuff and now today, May 3rd, it is snowing. Due to all the snow the snow mold was very bad and my allergies are acting up. The talk at the hospital is the amount of patients who are coming in with severe allergy problems, so I'm not alone. So I decided to take meds for the allergys and just incase I have a cold I'm taking stuff for that too.

I can't wait for our holidays this year. Usually we head to Milwaukee and visit with Laura, Aaron and family, around the middle of June. This year we can't afford to go very far, plus our Congregation has a group coming to run a Vacation Bible School the last week of June, so we have postponed holidays until June 28th. It seems so far away right now, maybe once I've finished with the Year End and the Auditors have finished I shall take a few days off.