Wannaskan Almanac

    My brother Bill and his wife Wendy stopped by last month in their Winnebago Minnie. It's a cozy RV containing everything a person would need during an extended period away from home. It even has a shower. It would be tempting to buy a camper and hit the road. Maybe we'll rent one to see if we like it.    I think for now we'll stick to motels while on the road. Motels have showers too and we always check the ratings to make sure there are no complaints about weak water pressure. There's nothing like a long hot shower after a day on the road.   Bill told us that after setting up in a campground in Nebraska one evening, they got a report of a tornado headed their way. They immediately broke camp and headed diagonally away from the path of the storm. They eventually settled in a campground fifty miles down the road. It was free which eased the sting of no refund at the previous place.   Once Teresa and I settle in a motel for the night, we're not moving, though we w

The Order of the Buffalo Hunt was the highest honor Manitoba could bestow on a person...   I receive a weekly on-line newsletter from CBC Radio. info@newsletters.cbc.ca Its programs educate me about Canada, and in particular the province of Manitoba, 26-miles north of Wannaska near where we live in Roseau County. Over the years Canadian town and city names have become as familiar as those in Minnesota; many of Manitoba's events and holidays the year around are anticipated here, their southern neighbors. Once in a while, something pops up in Canadian news that makes a person take notice. Over the years, I've learned a lot about Canadian Parliament and MPs (members of Parliament) and PMs (prime ministers) the current one being Justin Trudeau, Canada's 23rd Prime Minister, whose vision of Canada is a country where everyone has a real and fair chance to succeed. Enter First Nations Premier of Manitoba Wabanakwut "Wab" Kinew the 25th premier of Manitoba since Octob

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for June 19, 2024, the twenty-fifth Wednesday of the year, the fourteenth Wednesday of spring, the third Wednesday of June, and the one-hundred-seventy-first day of the year, with one-hundred ninety-five days remaining.   Wannaska Phenology Update for June 19, 2024 The Other Blue Berry Clintonia borealis , the Bluebead Lilly, is now blooming in Wannaska. This woodland perennial forms a basal clump of three to five glossy, oblong, thick leaves that reach up to twelve inches long. The flowering stalks rise well above the leafy basal rosette, topped by an umbel [/əM-b(ə)l/ n., a flower cluster in which stalks of nearly equal length spring from a common center and form a flat or curved surface, characteristic of the parsley family] of three to six pale yellow flowers. Later this summer, the blossoms are replaced by shiny blue berries, which are NOT edible by humans, for whom the berries are mildly toxic. But the chipmunks relish these

What is folk rock?   Folk rock is a genre that emerged in the mid-1960s, blending elements of folk music with rock music.   So what is folk music music?     Folk music is a type of traditional and generally rural music that has its origins in small social groups and families. Unlike written music, folk music is primarily transmitted orally or through hearing rather than reading. Here are some key points about folk music: Oral Tradition: Folk music lives in oral tradition, passed down from generation to generation through listening and learning. It is often associated with other activities, such as rituals, work, games, and folk religion. Rural Origins: Folk music typically originates in rural settings. It reflects the cultural practices, values, and experiences of everyday people in specific regions. Participatory: Unlike art music (which provides aesthetic enjoyment) and popular music (often associated with entertainment), folk music is more likely to be participatory. It involves the

  Family Zoom visits became a popular way to offset the isolation of the Pandemic of 2020. Since then, the seven Graham siblings, of whom Jim is the oldest, have continued to gather online. Every other Sunday morning, Terri, who lives in Omaha, sends out a link for about an hour of catching up and connecting on Zoom. Tom signs on from New Jersey, Kath, John, Ken from Texas, Barb from Florida, and Jim from Northern Virginia. Spouses, or outlaws, as Barb's Kevin jokingly coined us, hover over and around.  I'm one of six, so when I married into the Graham family in 1968, I enjoyed the comfort, security, and fun of being part of another large family. Time around the dinner table was the same for them as for the Langtons. Typically, it was a good time that brimmed with discussion, news, questions, and, most importantly, a chance to tell jokes. Jim was the oldest of his seven siblings, and when we married, all but Jim and Tom were under the age of sixteen. We especially love remember

  No one has a Mom tattoo removed. By the age for tattoos, people are sure how they feel about their mothers. Why is the one-trick pony disparaged? It's doing one more trick than the great majority ponies.  Sports least affected by corpulence: 1 Sumo wrestling 2 Football 3 Hockey 4 Baseball... 8 Soccer The flag once stood for all of us    but one side took it for its own.  With the many uniquely colored flags out there now, Old Glory can be raised without anxiety about flying a false flag.  There are people being born today who will grow up to support abortion rights, but who will also be grateful their mother lived in a state that had suppressed them.  A thing you’ve lost will reappear When you buy its twin, which seems unfair When saving lungs became the fad Smoking went from glam to bad My broken parts that me lead to sin The bridge that is down, the ice that is thin No one can fix them, they’re    bred in bone So I stop and back up, take the long way around If Shakespeare was

Hello and welcome to a hot Saturday in Phoenix here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is June 15th. Waiting for my foot care session, I took one of the free mindfulness journals and wooden-barreled pens to capture and release all the chatter in my brain. Whatever popped into my head, I put to pen and paper. A to-do list formed, a litany of “Don’t forgets.” My head felt heavy and noisy in contrast to the people silence around me. Thermea is a place people go to stop talking; to retreat into a center of one’s own silence. To rest, relax, and rejuvenate. This was my second trip to the Nordic spa in Winnipeg. The first visit was last fall during our American Thanksgiving with two friends. I was too excited to sit still. A sort of hurry up to calm down and unplug. On that visit, I remember the Thermea employee walking through the pool areas carrying a Silence sign. My friends and I weren’t the only chatty ones that day. People’s murmurs burbled gratitude and joy; a collective energy of squirr

       The library at Boston College is in a vaulted gothic building. My studying was done in the carrels in the low-ceilinged basement  where most of the books are kept. There was a caged area where the forbidden books were sequestered. As I peered through the bars I felt like Adam locked out of the Garden of Eden.     A few years earlier in high school Brother Dominic tapped me on the shoulder. "Do you know the book you're reading is on the Index ?"  I don't remember the name of the book. It was probably a novel written by a Protestant. Even Danial Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe,  was on the Index for one or more of his works.     The Catholic Church has been banning books since the day after Jesus rose from the grave. The Church has struggled over the centuries to get it right. The simple message to love one another has been garbled to the extent that sometimes it was necessary to burn people at the stake for getting things wrong.     The invention of the printi

My wife Jackie and I live a quiet rural lifestyle in far northwestern Minnesota surrounded by fen and woodland, unimpeded sky overhead, and dark sandy loam soil  below. Creek water that flooded a low spot after an heavy rain is slowly absorbed by the soil; sometimes, if one listens closely one can hear the mud sigh as the last of it disappears. A robin sings, perhaps because they have eggs in their nest. Two mourning doves feed together in yesterday's new-mowed grass. Several bluejays peck for seed beneath a bird feeder; there are red-winged blackbirds feeding near them. A woodchuck peers cautiously from beneath the storage shed as two chipmunks dash carelessly about beneath parked cars. A dragonfly awaiting a tasty mosquito alights on a bamboo stick that Jackie had stuck in the ground yesterday just for that purpose. Perfect timing. Just about the time when things couldn't get more exciting in Palmville, I saw the silhouette of a yearling deer standing in the shadows below the

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for June 12, 2024, the twenty-fourth Wednesday of the year, the thirteenth Wednesday of spring, the second Wednesday of June, and the one-hundred-sixty-fourth day of the year, with two-hundred two days remaining.   Wannaska Phenology Update for June 12, 2024 Coming Up Roses Rosa blanda is now flowering in Wannaska. Also known as Smooth Wild Rose, it is the most common of Minnesota's native roses and found throughout the state, differentiated from Prairie Rose ( Rosa arkansana ) and Prickly Wild Rose ( Rosa acicularis ) by its lack of prickles on newer stems and branches. One or more flowers bloom at the tips of new lateral branches of older woody stems, 2 to 3 inches across, pink to deep rose colored with five broad, rounded petals with wavy edges, sometimes notched at the tip. Numerous yellow stamens surround the shorter styli in the center. The globular berry like fruits (rose hips) form later, turning bright red in late sum