Wannaskan Almanac

  Thinking of September 11, 2001, I recall the disbelief I held as I watched TV coverage of the tragic event of two airliners striking the World Trade Centers, the buildings collapsing in real time. It just didn't seem real. How could this happen in the United States?   Then this morning, September 11th, 2025, as I listened to Bernie Sanders speak at a Town Hall Meeting at Brooklyn College on September 8th about unprecedented current events ongoing in America in 2025, I realized disbelief is a similar recurring nightmare in which newscasts the world over describe the ideological attack on our country and are invariably linked to Donald Trump's election to the presidency of the United States in 2024.   At 3:48 AM, I'm thinking about a graphic similar to THE RAVEN Volume 6 Issue 3 cover, that I designed and published in 2002 that one RAVEN subscriber said she hung on her office wall in the federal building in Chicago. The difficulty being that it would have to somewhat s...

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for September 10, 2025, the thirtieth Wednesday of the year, the twelfth Wednesday of summer, the second Wednesday of October, and the two-hundred fifty-third day of the year, with one-hundred twelve days remaining.   Wannaska Phenology Update for September 10, 2025 Joe-Pye Weed Eutrochium is now in bloom, a North American genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, commonly referred to as Joe-Pye weeds, and native to the United States and Canada. Also known as Pkuwiimakw in Munsee, Algonquian linguistic family, Joe Pye is the anglicized spelling of Zhopai, after an Abenaki medicine man who treated typhus with Pkuwiimakw, according to an Anishinaabe ethnobotanist. Joe-Pye Weed varieties grow to an average of six feet tall, so you can’t miss them. Their long stems and beautiful pink flowers also provide homes and food for wildlife. September 10 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special : Potato Dumpling September ...

Hi ho...hi ho...its off to Canada E goes. Chapter 7: Northward to Canada The pull of the north was undeniable. Elias felt it like a homing beacon, a subtle but persistent tug on his consciousness. He had cleansed the Americas south of the equator; now, he had to turn his attention to the landmass to the north. He began the long trek back, retracing his steps through the transformed landscapes of South America. The journey was different this time. He was no longer a stranger in a strange land, but a traveler on a familiar path. The animals recognized him, the forests seemed to welcome him, and he felt a sense of belonging he hadn't experienced since leaving Maine. As he journeyed, he pondered the nature of his task. Was he truly cleansing the world, or was he simply… resetting it? Was he restoring a balance that had been lost, or was he erasing the entire human experiment? The questions gnawed at him, but he found no easy answers. He reached North America, crossing the former border...

  I've just gotten up and made my tea. It’s overcast outside my window. Yay, tea. Now I'm back under the covers but propped up with a big pillow, thinking. If I had thought to grab a pen, I'd be handwriting this for familiarity's sake, but I didn't, so I'm at my keyboard, leaning back and coming to. It's not that I haven't been sleeping well. For some reason or other, both Jim and I have been pleased with the quality of our sleep in our new place here in D.C. We are on 12th Street, which is tree-lined and quiet. One street over, 11th, is a two-way through street with lights. It's nice that we don't have to deal with that commotion. Speaking of which, much of the chaos of our move here from the house we lived in for 48 years is over. We've accomplished a lot. Although we'd gotten most of the boxes unpacked and our furniture placed before we left for vacation, there were still a bunch left to go through, and that's what I did all week. ...

  The Palmville Globe Volume 1 Number 32 Man Finds Cubic Foot Joe McDonnell, 78 and residing in Palmville Twp, Minnesota, recently found an extra cubic foot of storage in his refrigerator. "We have a side by side refrigerator-freezer," McDonnell tells the press. "What sold us on the unit was the In-unit ice maker which was new back then (2000). We felt we were cutting edge. But I soon came to resent all the space the ice maker took up. I was relieved when the ice maker quit working last week." McDonnell reports that when he removed the ice cube collection tub, there was a shelf where he now keeps four ice cube trays plus frequently needed items. "I love how stuff no longer comes tumbling out when I open the freezer door," he adds. Man Saves Brush Joe McDonnell, 78 and a foe of waste, recently revived a paint brush he had forgotten to clean. "I was disgusted when I discovered I had forgotten to wash out or at least cover the brush in plastic wrap,” he ...

Hello and welcome to a follow-up to Kim’s essay about the shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, MN. Today is September 6th. Annunciation Church and school are located next to each other, and it was my family’s school and parish. My parents had seven kids, and there was a Stewart attending the grade school from 1956 until 1978. At times, four of us were moving through the grades simultaneously. People talk about a place being a “second home”, and with the hours spent in school for eight years, attending weekly Mass, “Holy Days of Obligation,” serving as an altar boy, and playing sports, the school and church were the places my family spent the most time growing up, apart from our house. Over the years, each of us kids took a different path with our faith, but Annunciation is something that never leaves you. We had funeral services for both my parents at the church. My niece and nephew went there, too. I was at the school last month with my sister to honor a music tea...

       We want the Minnesota State Fair to stay the same, yet we also want new features and foods every year. I normally try to avoid crowds but the crowd at the Fair is fun to look at. They're relaxed, except for the little kid having a meltdown because his mother won't let him eat the french fry he dropped. She offers him a new one and squashes the dropped one with her foot but he just howls louder.    I'm a penny pincher by nature, but I bring pockets full of cash to the Fair, plus two credit cards in case one is declined. We start the day oblivious to prices. We have empty stomachs and full pockets. We can  have a pronto pup and a malt for $24. That's a reasonable price though not a healthy meal. You don't go to the Fair for your health, though mental health experts say it's good to get out and see other people.    We used to park on the Fairgrounds. Parking cost less than an admission ticket to the Fair and it was nice to have your car h...

  Two True Stories 1990-1993 " We didn’t make her fearful, we made her brave."     Bag O' Bonny           Turning in at Bemis Hill, in Roseau County, Minnesota, I snapped a few images of the nicely maintained CCC-era log cabin and its immediate sledding hill. Leaving, I turned west on the road I came in on, then a half mile or so, took the Bemis Hill Forest Road north along the bottom of the Hill when my daughter Bonny called from Ankeny, Iowa, where she lived then, several hundreds of miles away.     I always thought how amazing it was to be in the middle of nowhere and get a phone call. I was  leaning against my car along a remote northwest Minnesota forest road in Beltrami Island State Forest with the steep legendary sledding hill behind me and a 700,000 acre forest around me, possibly making me its sole human occupant for five square miles, conservatively speaking, the thought of which is just awesome stu...

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for September 3, 2025, the twenty-ninth Wednesday of the year, the eleventh Wednesday of summer, the first Wednesday of September, and the two-hundred forty-sixth day of the year, with one-hundred nineteen days remaining. Brought to you by Bead Gypsy Studio & Scandinavian  Shoppe   - Purchase 1 Piece of Jewelry at Full Price, and Get the 2nd Piece 50% off (second piece of equal or lesser value).   Wannaska Phenology Update for September 3, 2025 Yes You Did September steps in wearing a cloak of gold-threaded green, and with it, our ears are tuned to one particular insect that holds dominion over the soundscape: the katydid ( Pterophylla camellifolia ). The katydid’s voice is not just noise but onomatopoeia incarnate: ka-ty-did, ka-ty-didn’t — an endless argument stitched into the night air. This verbal duel is as much about late-summer as school buses and cooling mornings. Their song is generated as they stridulate ...