Gale Warning Flags

The Soo set their gale warning flags for the St. Mary’s River, from Point Iroquois down to Drummond Island. We’ve got wind, we’ve got waves, we’ve got a lake boat hove to in the parking lot, but we don’t have any beach left. So, not a beach day, but we have a nice fire to keep us comfy and warm. Last night, thunderstorms swept out across the lake, serving as our electrifying substitute for the normal evening sunset display.

While the waves on the beach don’t look all that much higher than after a normal blow, they must be though, because the waves are reaching all of the way up to the beach grass. I got the kitchen porch stove going well enough that I could continue to feed it the wood from the downed birch branch. We were all huddled around the kitchen table, heads down into our various devices. It was toasty warm there, especially after I heated up a batch of tater-tots for snacking on.

With the ongoing gale, Anne convinced me that it was safe to walk the road and then into the swamp. We walked to the end of the beach, past the old lighthouse keeper’s place and then onto Cedar Point Row. We walked that road up to what would become 5 Mile. We headed west and found the Jim Finlayson Trail. We walked the short part that ran along a bluff. On the Winding Ridge end of the trail we ran into Mr. Bill, who accompanied us over to Birch Point Loop and then back to the cabin. It was a long walk and the kids were a little worried for us. We did see what could be bear footprints, but didn’t see any bears.

We re-watched the movie that Dan worked on, Blow the Man Down, which seemed somehow fitting considering the weather. With his running patter, it felt a little like inside Hollywood. I hooked up Rey’s wedding speaker to give the movie’s soundtrack a fighting chance. With pauses, the show ran an extra hour. It was fun, part Hollywood, part home movies. Afterwards, I asked him my big question, who was sleeping with whom? And…