A Visit from Hessie

Happy New Year to everyone! What a whirlwind the holidays were up here in the woods. While many folks were expecting a visit from St. Nick, we were most fortunate to have a visit from Hessie. She appeared on the ice in front of the lodge one day......thanks to the hard work of Sarah, Charley, Judith, Nic, Luc and probably a few others, too. Sorry if I missed your names. Hessie has been keeping watch on the ice, cautioning us all to use care when walking or skiing on it. The weather still hasn't been cold enough to make us all feel totally confident in the ice. As a result, we are sticking close to the shores. A number of people have been travelling near shore, going about three miles or so down the lake. I even saw some fellows ski-joring right by. I wonder what their dogs thought about Hessie?

The temperatures have been hanging lately in the high twenties and even the low thirties. We have been most fortunate to hold on to our snow, and so the winter activities continue. Yesterday, Gerrie and I took a snowshoe hike to the Brice Breon trail. The snow was a bit "cakey" . This meant that every so often I had to stop and knock the balls of hard-packed snow off of the claws under the ball of my foot. But the temp was great for going along at a steady pace, and the scenery was gorgeous. The moisture in the air had frosted up the treetops, and there was a bit of fog off on the Canadian side of the lake. A section of the trail goes through some rock outcroppings, and here and there we saw some wonderful ice formations where water had been dripping and freezing like a waterfall. Very nice adventure.

On New Year's Eve, we fired up the oven at eight in the morning, and then stoked it heavily throughout the day. By five p.m. it was hot and ready. First we baked the usual four loaves of ciabatta, then four loaves of bread, and roasted up several pans of vegetables. The last to go in to the oven was the marinated lamb. What a delectable array of foods to add to the spread already in the kitchen. It was a Moroccan feast, shared by friends and neighbors. Then we had a wonderful concert in Spruce cabin, with harp, bass, guitars and electric basses, saxophone and flute---a delightul mix of classical, contemporary, jazz and rock. It is such a gift that these musicians give to us each year. We are most grateful for it. After the concert, some folks brought out the cantankerous movie projector and coaxed it into working long enough to watch some old silent movies. Finally, we rang in the new year with a campfire, out in the cold. It was our traditional New Year's eve celebration and we all had a great time.

One group of cabin guests arrived on Monday night, for their first-ever winter stay at Heston's. They have been coming up in August for about fifteen years, and they wanted to see Gunflint Lake when it is frozen. On the way, they saw many deer on Highway 61. Then on the Gunflint Trail, they saw two moose. As if that weren't enough, as they turned on to the little road that leads to Cedar Point and Diamond Willow cabins, they saw a timber wolf running right in front of the car. He stayed his course, trotting ahead of them on the road until they came to the fork, where he went right and they went left. Amazing! I can't say that I have ever seen that much wildlife myself in such a short time.

If you have tried to leave us a comment in the past, and found that it was not possible without first registering, please know that I have fixed that requirement. It always takes me a long time to become computer-program saavy. Thanks for bearing with me, and feel free to comment away! We hope that everyone is off to a good start this January, and that the New Year is a kind and hopeful one for us all.