Dick MacKenzie
  • home
  • webcam
  • Writings
  • Video
  • Potpourri
  • message board
  • Contact me

Funky weekend

6/23/2014

1 Comment

 
Picture
Last Friday morning was the beginning of a funky weekend.
Friends from Illinois invited me for breakfast at Knobby's. They had just arrived in town after an all-night drive. This was the 50th trip to Lac Seul for Gerry, on the right, and his son Todd (left), who has fished here with the old man for the last 20 years.
We met for breakfast last year for the first time, after several years of communicating via email.
It's an interesting friendship. It's pleasant. And comfortable. I think we'll share warm thoughts and good stories for a long time to come. As we said our farewells after our meal, I assured them that the wet, cloudy, cool morning would be clearing up within the hour and the coming week would be mainly sunny and warm.
Three hours later, in rain and cold, I set out for my own very special weekend at camp (every weekend at camp is very special - it's a magical place where every dream and every memory is a soft wrap).
I stepped off the boat onto the dock, subdued by flood waters, sloshing in rubber boots, panting under shirt, sweatshirt, down vest, and raincoat, wearing hat low and gloves pulled tight, and joined the dogs in a joyous rush, through the strings of dancing tent caterpillars waving from tree branches, and the swarming hordes of hungry mosquitoes, to the cabin.
Summer Solstice weekend - the beginning of summer, the ending of the longest daylight of the year - was as unruly as a pair of bear cubs at an anthill.
I had a few pages to go in Peter Geye's novel "Safe From the Sea." I had three hours to wait for a return trip to town to pick up Mary when she finished work. Wondering if I could pull the story up at camp from Kindle on my phone, I punched a couple buttons, dragged a couple icons, muttered a couple hopeful oaths, and ... Voila!
It was the perfect setting for a glorious happy, sad reading of the final pages of the last chapter.
The weekend was cool, and wet, and could have been gloomy. But we had walleye for breakfast, quiet times for reading and meditating, a gentle wood fire in the stove to warm the toes and souls. If it wasn't exactly what we hoped for, it was still pretty good.
I hope Gerry and Todd and the rest of their group have another of their wonderful weeks on Lac Seul. I'm pretty sure they will, as they have learned that perfection isn't necessarily required for satisfaction.
For me, when I got home from our weekend at camp, I ordered Peter Geye's newest novel "The Lighthouse Road" and intend to start reading it immediately.
1 Comment

Can we go fishing?

6/15/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Sunday morning. Mosquitoes as thick as a Lake Superior fog, tent caterpillars waltzing like a million marionettes dangling from their silken ass-threads, and the wet wind punching like Reuben Carter. One look out the screen door by my highly intelligent partners Rosie and Boomer has them panting in happy anticipation. "Can we go fishing?"
0 Comments

Secret

6/14/2014

4 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Let me share a secret...
The rain and high water have hatched every mosquito egg laid in the last eight years, and conditions have hatched every caterpillar conceived in the last 12 years. Those, and the rain drizzling down, have turned this into a wonderful inside day, good for a gentle flame in the fireplace, a loaf of fresh bread baking, some reading and movie watching. It's good to break up the routine every now and then. And who wants to drink ice tea full of critters anyway?
Now, that secret: tie up a few walleye rigs and store them with hooks embedded in the wine soaked end of a cork. (Note - the cork must be fresh out of the bottle and still moist.)
Get at it! Even if you're not into fishing you could at least donate a proper cork to a deserving friend.
4 Comments

When life hands you caterpillars

6/9/2014

5 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
What to do when life hands you caterpillars...

Camp Crokinole, of course. These little Forest Tent Caterpillars come around only every 10 or 12 years, so enjoy them while you can.

When life hands you caterpillars, play Crokinole...
5 Comments

Sunday morning mist

6/1/2014

1 Comment

 
Picture
Picture
June 1st dawn arrived wrapped warmly in a soft silk blanket of fog. Appreciation of the serene beauty led easily to lingering over a second cup of coffee, marveling and meditating in this early summer wonderland.
At 6 o'clock I walked soundlessly 44 steps to the dock and, in the silence, cast out and reeled in a nice walleye on the first offering.
A perfect breakfast for two! I think pancakes, with butter and maple syrup, will enhance this special treat a little later as we watch the sun rise and the fog disappear.
Cheers, my friends! Here's to a fine summer...
1 Comment
    Picture

    Archives

    December 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013

SIOUX LOOKOUT WEATHER
P.O. Box 1464
Sioux Lookout, Ontario  P8T 1B9
807-738-BOAT (2628)
dick@dickmackenzie.com
Picture