Porcupine Quill-Birch Bark Box

On Sunday, I drove 800 miles from a cabin on the shores of Lake Superior, to Saint Louis. It was the usual grueling marathon, aided somewhat with lighter than normal traffic and less intrusive than normal road repair. The road trip began with the uh-oh dark-thirty drop-off of Jay and Carl at the Soo airport. They made it home in Seattle way before I got home. I listened to audio books for most of the drive. I did have a couple of nice surprises waiting for me when I arrived home. Dan had mowed the lawn and he had also left beer in the refrigerator. I call that a win-win! We raised that boy right. There were signs that he had had a party at the house, but he had cleaned up well after it. The best indication of the scope of his party was the fullness of the recyclable bucket. It has been raining a lot since I’ve returned to the Lou. This is no big surprise though. I brought back some Mackinac Island fudge to share in the office, which was a big hit. Not much had happened at work during my absence. Monday morning, I reintroduced myself to my boss and after a few pleasantries he announced that management is encouraging employees to take as much leave as possible this month. I could have said that I had already given at the office, but instead I’ll take tomorrow off, just because it is my birthday. I saw the pictured porcupine quill-birch bark box at the shipwreck museum on Whitefish Point. It is probably of Chippewa origin. It is a gorgeous work of art.