Seney via The Big Two Hearted

sent away.

Burning a Hole in Your Pants

Or your pocket...
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If you have ten bucks you just have to spend and a couple/three good poems, you might try this contest at The Adirondack Review. I've never spent money on something like this, but it might be worth it. I don't know. Ten bucks isn't killer. The deadline is tomorrow, though.

One Last Look

Thimbleberries, not quite ripe.

Leaving The Keweenaw

sent away.

FGWC

Thursday (yes, Thursday), July 31st, 1:00, The Chicory Cafe.

This will be Mike's last workshop before heading off to Iowa, so try and stop by if you can.

In other news, I enjoyed Trout Fishing in America so much I went back to Artis and bought all the Richard Brautigan books she had. Here's a couple short poems:

Karma Repair Kit: Items 1-4

1. Get enough food to eat
000and eat it.

2. Find a place to sleep where it is quiet
0000and sleep there.

3. Reduce intellectual and emotional noise
0000until you arrive at the silence of yourself,
000000and listen to it.

4.



Yes, the Fish Music

A trout-colored wind blows
through my eyes, through my fingers,
and I remember how the trout
used to hide from the dinosaurs
when they came to drink at the river.
The trout hid in subways, castles,
and automobiles. They waited patiently
for the dinosaurs to go away.

Richard Brautigan, The Pill versus the Springhill Mine Disaster, Houghton, Mifflin, 1968.

Bookie

Artis Books in Calumet has a great used poetry selection.

You can also buy from them online.

Dakota helps mind the store at

Miskwabik/ Ed Gray Studio.

Much to my surprise I also found

the Miskwabik Press there,

and a poem by Don Winter

on the first page of the spring 2006 issue of

The Cliffs,

their art/poetry magazine.

Cousin Carl

Where you can find Gene's cousin Carl when he's not

trout fishing on Lake Superior.

Carl gave me a balsam barometer weather

stick like the one here on his deck.

It moves up and down with the barometric pressure.

A bear was in Carl's garden a couple of days ago.

Neighborly

Emily and Chris, roasting Volwerth's hot dogs

in Chris's backyard.

Chris's garden, that I'm always coveting.

She has to put up deer fence, though.

Alice, Dylan & wolf tracker Jojo.
Jojo told stories about the coyotes that
yipped back at them yesterday.

Window Shopping

Keweenaw National Historical Park

Where I really think the Wednesday night FGWC should meet.

Mr. Hank Pellikka, 86, who as it turns out has taken a sauna
in my backyard. Small world. The sauna is long gone,
but the foundation remains.


The mural at Shute's.

And the famous Tiffany canopy,
rumored to be worth more than the entire building.

I think this is a moose bathroom.

Where the Wednesday daytime FGWC should meet.

Boone Fiala, who co-owns 5th & Elm along with his dad Frank.

Frank & family came in 1997 from Alaska

to be the superintendent of the new National Historic Park.

Retirement finds Frank not-so retired.

Fulton Location Ghost Houses

Of course I saw a cat.

Red Jacket Road

sent away.

Fulton Location

I wish somehow I could translate the scent of The Keweenaw here onto this page. It's impossible. I'm not a good enough writer. I'll just say all year long I dream of breathing this air.

The air, however, is not helping me write! I'm working on a poem, but I only have four good lines and the piece is 16 or so lines long.

Gene slipped birthday CDs into my bag before I left. Emmy Lou Harris & Cat Stevens. Time flies.

My cell phone works horribly in The Keweenaw, so Gene installed Skype on my computer so we could talk back and forth. I had to buy some headphones with a microphone, but it works great. We can call each other on the computer and it costs nothing, the sound is good... We've been hearing about it for years and finally took the plunge.

Jojo has spent two days learning about wolves & tracking in the classroom, but today she finally gets to go out in the woods. My sister-in-law told me there are two wolf dens on her road with several pups. Seems like we could have saved some dough and just sent Jo out to Aunt Pat's!

More Monk Links

An old article I wrote on the monks a couple of years ago can be found here. I have nothing to do with the site, however. You can also visit their own web site here.

The Jam Pot & The Skete

Summer can't pass away w/o a trip to

The Holy Transfiguration Skete.

Father Basil & his welcoming ways.

We talked berries, wolves, mountain lions & the weather.

Very fine.

And unlike my mother-in-law, they let me in the kitchen!

Father Sergius has 120 pounds of Lemon Poundcake batter here.

After it's baked, the loaves will soak in brandy.

I might have to come back tomorrow.

Father Ambrose & Father Sergius filling the pans.

Father Ephrem with the before and after of truffles.

He's not nearly as serious as this picture appears!
The filling on the left is ganache; on the right, the finished product,
dipped in white chocolate, then drizzled with dark chocolate.


Fortunately, I slipped in before this crowd.

Across the street at the monastery,
the flowers are all a'bloom
00

Thanks for letting me visit, guys!

The South Shore

It's never too early.

Outside The Gay Bar, Gay, Michigan.

Couldn't we make this into a bookstore?


Burnette Park has the best skipping stones.

The tip of the Keweenaw, from Point Isabelle.

Darn tourists.

Crowded beaches.

Settling In

The Portage Bridge.

The Quincy Mine Hoist.
The temperature in the mine is a constant
43 degrees.


Across the street is Peterson's.
Needs must.


Little house in the Keweenaw.

Backyard view.

Traveling Shoes

The shoe tree north of Kalkaska. No, I have no idea.
Hog Island State Forest.

The Center for Wooden Boats

Sent away.

My Office Assistant Max

Hop of Pop

Tom harvested these today from the back yard.

00

It was somewhat of a July miracle, because of this: Wired.

Gene just planted them last year.

00

With any luck this batch won't explode.

And then these popped up, later.

A Body of Work Pics

Many thanks to Rebecca's husband Ken for taking the pics!