Campfire Time

As was predicted, the weather warmed up this weekend, above zero, and that made it a lot easier to be outside having fun. The fishermen were very happy, as the fish cooperated and several people were able to catch their limit. We were the fortunate recipients of trout and northern pike from some generous guests. I cooked it up for dinner tonight, and we all enjoyed the flavor of fresh fish. It's been several months--last summer--since we tasted trout right out of the cold water of Gunflint Lake. It's hard to beat. (.....though Addie admitted that she prefers fresh ciabatta bread to fresh fish!)

We got new snow on Saturday, and Addie reported excellent skiing conditions. She hit the Amperage Run trail, shortly after the groomer had been through.

On Friday evening, we headed over to Sharlene's and Jim's place to have a campfire. Well, it was more like a bonfire.....Over the course of the fall, Jim had done a lot of clearing of brush on their property. He had piled it all up on shore, down in front of Jasper cabin. They had asked if we could help when the time came to burn the pile. We gladly said yes. We love a good campfire, be it summer or winter. The nice thing about this time of the year is the lack of bugs while we are out there.
The secret to a good bonfire is to start the fire small, and then to feed it from the larger pile. That way you can keep the fire going, and everything burns. It's a lot of work, but I find it amazing, too, at how quickly the large pile disappears. We all took turns pulling branches out of the pile to feed the fire. A considerable amount of snow had covered the heap, but it didn't stop the brush from drying out, and so it burned well.
It was a perfect night to be out there--no wind, the stars were out, and of course, warm enough, given the the amount of heat generated by the fire. And no mosquitoes!