Wannaskan Almanac

Originally published August 2, 2020... And another cliff hanger! We left the three characters – the One, Argose, and a species, yet-to-be-determined at the mouth of the cave that the magical being calls her home. She appears almost fully human, but something in addition lives in the center of her being. Will her secrets be revealed? A few more clues arise in this segment, but not enough for a positive identification. Keep your mind open and ready for magic. Reason and rationality don’t always carry the day.   . . . She proceeds regal in stark elegance Argose whimpers and retreats from darker territory where his wisdom fails him I console him, pat his chest, stroke his back With hesitation, decides to follow Full of curiosity, we enter with our guide to hell or to paradise Makes no matter – I must this mystery know Soon enough, my hand on her shoulder rests Five times better in the dark Argose sees and pads behind us close whimpering distress As we enter dar...

  The Palmville Globe Volume 2 Number 1 Man Reconsiders Track Lights Joe McDonnell, 78 and a resident of Palmville Twp, Minnesota, recently removed two track lights from the TV room ceiling. "Just after we installed the lights twenty-five years ago as part of a complete remodel of the first floor of our house, a friend told me that track lighting was now passé," McDonnell tell the press. "We had another set of lights in the front hall area which opens into the dining area. Open plan design was hot then and I felt bad to have our remodel spoiled by non-trendy lights. However our budget was used up and we decided to leave the lights in place and not draw attention to them. Visitors who don't keep up with the latest design trends didn't even notice our faux pas. Some people said they they cool. Recently one of the lights burned out after 25 years. Only LED lights are available at the local store. I would have to replace the switch to use LED light whose light I find...

Hello and welcome to the LAST Saturday of January here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is January 31st.  Hoowee! We made it through Januar-ee! I'm thrilled to share that January 2026 has been a personal improvement over Januarys past. I give the credit to Vitamin D, good hydration, exercise, adequate rest, and a workspace with windows where I can bask in warm sunny rays like a cat on the days when we have it. I love winter, but even I will admit that making it through winter is a little bit like running a marathon. I feel relieved to have made it through this stretch and I'm holding the celebration at bay as I ready myself to tackle the next stretch - February. I'm actually pretty excited about February. Right out of the gate, I have two things to look forward to. In last week's blog post , I mentioned that our kids' teams were competing at the Lego League Qualifier in Grand Forks. The Brick Bobs won 1st place for Core Values and Warbotics won 1st place for Innovati...

     You would think we'd know where the site of Jesus' first miracle took place - the turning of water into wine at a wedding feast in Cana. Scholars are still debating in which of four different sites, three in Israel, one in Lebanon, that the miracle took place. The name Cana comes from the Hebrew and Arabic word for  reed , just as Roseau's name means  reed  in French.    It was also in Cana that Jesus healed a nobleman's son while the son was in Capernaum 20 miles away. In one gospel, the apostle Nathanael is said to be from Cana. The other three gospels call him Bartholomew. Same person.    What is the pilgrim to do who wants to visit Cana along with all the other New Testament high points? The sites of Bethlehem and Nazareth are well marked, as are Jericho and Jerusalem.     But Cana presents several options. One of the four possible sites is adjacent to Nazareth. After visiting Nazareth, the pilgrim could hike to n...

  Scientific Study Undertaken at Palmville Town Hall .    Iclic Vermer spends a lot of time at the Palmville Townhall being as he’s township constable and caretaker of the hall and all. He walks from his shack, where the children attending Palmville District 44 West (now the town hall) used to tie their horses. Forty-four West was also known as the Billberg School for a nearby family of original homesteaders.       Iclic knew many of the stories. He had visited with all sorts of people that stopped by the old one-room school house, or whom he found sleeping in their cars east of the building, either taking a nap after a long drive from somewhere--or sleeping it off after a drunken slosh toward home. One guy had passed out and left the keys in the ignition, and his more sober dog had started the vehicle, pushed it down into gear, and drove it smack-dab into the outhouse where the car had stalled, proving they make outhouses pretty solid in Palmville....

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for January 28, 2026, the fourth Wednesday of the year, the sixth Wednesday of winter, the fourth Wednesday of January, and the twenty-eighth day of the year, with three-hundred thirty-seven days remaining. Wannaska Phenology Update for January 28, 2026 European Starling The common starling, Sturnus vulgaris , also known simply as the starling in Great Britain and Ireland, and as the European starling in Wannaska and the rest of North America, is a medium-sized passerine bird in the starling family, Sturnidae , that immigrated with other of our fellow Americans from across the pond. The Anishinaabe have no word for this bird. Their legs are pink and their bills are black in winter and yellow in summer - just now starting to change. Its gift for mimicry has been noted in literature including the Mabinogion and the works of Pliny the Elder and William Shakespeare. One of their older names is Stare, which  William Butler Yeats' p...