Winter Picnic West of Pier

There are times when it seems Life is making fun of itself. Maggie and I decided to take our spring break last week on the North Shore. This picture shows the picnic we set up near a giant pier where freight trains can unload ore into giant freighter ships. It's an odd juxtaposition, to be sure. Two Harbors was pretty quiet at this time of year, except for the port town industry aspect. Without the sinus infection, I may have enjoyed Duluth more, but overall, it was an interesting and enjoyable trip.

I slake (post about Ice lake satisfies thirst)

Now that it is officially spring, this will probably be my last "ice" post of the year (until late fall, of course). I don't know why I love ice so much, but I think this majestic view of Lake Superior will give you some idea as to why I do.

Exploring, Imagining, Hoping

Yesterday I went exploring. I went out into my yard, and hiked through a pine forest to the entrance of a giant ice cavern that had suddenly appeared there since my last hike a few days ago. Faint light scattered in the ice of a giant lake at it's floor, which appeared as a pristine slab of jade. I walked through its expansive domed interior to find an exit into a wintry realm hidden from the outside world. Excitedly, I ran back home and grabbed my cross country skis, but by the time I got back, the cavern had vanished. Maybe I'll find it again sometime, and be able to go cross country skiing for the first time this year.

Ice Forms

While exploring the ice cavern, I oberved these icicles which appeared as stalagtites and stalagmites. Interesting forms emerge when water freezes and melts repeatedly.
My quinzhee sure is reluctant to melt completely. It will probably be the last thing to melt in the yard. I'll be sure to make one every year. Maybe next year I'll get a chance to actually sleep in it before it melts.

Voracious Readers, Indeed

My family and I had a very good laugh after finding this in our town newspaper. Take a close look at the caption. Those kids would have to be seriously crazy to attempt to read 500 hours in a month, and they would surely be a bit loopy by the end of it. February is only 28 days long, so that would work out to about 17 hours, 52 minutes of reading per day. That would leave just over 6 hours to eat, sleep, etc. per day. I can just imaging these two kids sitting in a pile of books all day, every day. Reading while eating, reading on the bus, reading all through school, ignoring their teachers, parents, and friends, eyes bloodshot, suckin' down double espressos and just reading like crazy. Of course, they actually meant five hundred minutes. Wowee, front page news.

Quick Turnaround

I made this pipestone pendant last Sunday evening, and I sold it three days later. I just felt like carving a pendant for some reason last weekend, so I did. A few days later I showed my pipestone sculptures to our houseguest from Mexico, who has been here taking a course in Minneapolis Wednesday through today. I told her that many of them were for sale, so she quickly picked out this one, and asked how much it cost. I was surprised that she picked the one that I most recently carved. I hadn't thought of a price for it yet, so I hemmed and hawed for a minute, until she suggested a price, which I agreed to. I guess this is another case of my intuition letting me know when it is a good time to do some creative work. Be sure to check out my pipestone sculpture gallery for more information on and alternate views of this pendant, and all of my others.