Wannaskan Almanac

Novembers will always bring me back to this story I wrote in 1983. The facts are open to debate as my version of events will naturally differ from another's description of it for to each, their own. This handwritten journal excerpt is legible; an ability that I can no longer claim with any degree of repetition as a tremor in my writing hand has invaded me with irregularity; I hope my imagination is not affected similarly.        

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for November 4, 2026, the forty-fourth Wednesday of the year, the seventh Wednesday of fall, the first Wednesday of November, and the three-hundred eighth day of the year, with fifty-seven days remaining. Brought to you by Bead Gypsy Studio handcrafted jewelry, announcing the DIVA DAYS Trunk Show of Metal Art Jewelry, Saturday, November 7th, 9:00am-4:00pm, with treats, samplings, and multiple in-store specials; 101 Main Avenue North, Roseau; (218) 242-6975. Wannaska Phenology Update for November 4, 2026 Golden-crowned Kinglet Regulus satrapa — ozaawaawiiwikwaaneshii in Anishinaabe — is the world’s smallest perching bird, weighing in at 0.1763699536 ounce, or the equivalent of two pennies. Kinglets are named Regulus , meaning “little king,” because of their bright yellow, orange, and red crowns. Wannaska is on the southernmost edge of its breeding range, so many Canadian golden-crowned kinglets are now migrating to Wannaska for th...

For generations now, American politics has carried a strange tension: we proudly call ourselves a republic built on citizen leadership, yet we repeatedly elevate the same families to the highest levels of power. When names like Bush, Clinton, Kennedy, and others cycle through our ballots decade after decade, it’s hard not to notice how closely this resembles the hereditary patterns we once fought a revolution to escape. While these families have undeniably produced capable public servants, the pattern itself raises a deeper question about whether our political culture has drifted toward a soft, unofficial form of monarchy. Political dynasties don’t emerge overnight. They grow through name recognition, donor networks, media familiarity, and the inertia of nostalgia. When voters see a familiar last name, it can feel safe—like choosing a brand they’ve bought before. But that comfort comes with a cost. It subtly discourages fresh voices, new ideas, and leaders who haven’t spent their entir...

     We were still at the lake in Massachusetts for the first days of autumn this year. I love slow mornings but this time, I let my coffee go cold. I was about to take my blood pressure medicine and was settling myself on the couch with my books and journal when I got distracted by a blur of white out the windows. What’s going on down there?   I pulled myself up off the couch, but when I walked out onto the porch, I couldn't quite see what I was looking at through the pines. As I continued to angle for a better view, I became Moses awed by the burning bush, and hurried myself down to the dock. I was still in my pajamas and barefoot.  There, on the cold wooden planks. Fog drifts. Wispy threads. Soft, white poufs hovered above the lake. Suspended in slow motion.   It was slightly after dawn, and overnight it seemed, nature had turned our lake into a steaming pot of water. I stood there, wanting to wake the whole lake to come and see these earth-borne clouds ...

  The Palmville Globe Volume 2 Number 40 Man Recovers Accessibility Devices Joe McDonnell, 79 and residing in Palmville Township Minnesota, recently found his misplaced hearing aids right where he left them. "My wife and I were on our way to cut firewood," he tells the press. "I leave one of my hearing aids in so I can hear my wife. Once we get to the wood pile, I take my hearing aid out and put it in a little cubby in the dashboard of the truck before putting in my ear plugs and hearing protector earmuffs. For some reason I wore both hearing aids this day and put them both in the cubby. Once we had the truck filled, I put my aids back in. We decided to run the wood splitter the same day so it was the same routine with my aids and hearing protectors. When we were done splitting the wood, the aids were no longer in the cubby. I was nonplussed to say the least and forgot my methods for handling panic. After three minutes I remembered I had put my aids in a cubby in the car...

Hello and welcome to a spooky Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is October 31st. Happy Halloween. What a two-fer of a Saturday. We get Halloween and an extra hour before the daylight saving time switch. That's pretty great. When Halloween happens on a weekday, we race home to stick some dinner in our kids before racing out to hit the neighborhood trick-or-treating circuit before it gets too dark and/or too cold and/or too snowy. (The forecast looks good for tonight!)  On weeknights, some folks start their ghoulish galavanting as early as 4pm. I recall many a Halloween weeknight when the streets got eerily quiet and empty sometime between 7 and 8pm. I'm usually buoyed by the cheerful spirit of families and kids of all ages racing from house to house to beat the clock and ready to go well into the night. But when the porch lights are turned off, that's the end of it, so then we race home - ready or not - to get through the nighttime routine so kids can get to bed ...