Bayfield

Hello and welcome to a sunny Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is September 27th, and aren't we lucky to get such a gorgeous fall day on the last Saturday of the month?

This last weekend in September is the first weekend since 2021 that I'm not hosting a Red Shoes writing retreat in Wannaska. It's also the first fall in which I got to attend a retreat for my own purposes for an entire week. This adventure took me to Wild Rice Retreat just outside of Bayfield, Wisconsin. The purpose was serious - to create my 2026 work plan - and the experience was rejuvenating, restorative, energizing, and fun.

Let's start with the nature. I'm well-versed in the rocky cliffs and crannies of the North Shore, but this South Shore experience of Lake Superior was entirely new. (Check out the view below from my walk along the Brownstone Trail.) It felt both similar and different. Fall is in the air with pleasant 60-degree temps and a show of bright red and yellow leaves amidst the plentiful green canopies. Blue skies and gentle breezes framed my morning walks.

Three cheers for any time I need only show up to a meal with my appetite. At this place, I enjoyed three meals a day in this manner, happily draping my cream-colored cloth napkin across my lap. All the foods were wholesome, whole, and probably all organic. I ate more vegetables - raw, pickled, roasted - last week than probably in the last month. I discovered an appreciation for alfalfa sprouts and a curiosity for the flavors. I took everything. I ate it all.

I went into Bayfield for my first-ever facial. "Your skin looks like you're 42!" the aesthetician exclaimed. I didn't ask how she came to such a specific age. I just enjoyed the glow and the compliment.

I took a sauna twice. The first go around, the warm cedar smells brought back all the feelgoods of my few visits to Thermea in Winnipeg. I didn't do any polar plunges, but I did hear the two Lithuanian women did. After the second sauna, I enjoyed a nightgaze and saw a shooting star among the whizzing satellites and Milky Way.

While I couldn't bring myself to do yoga in the evening (and on a full stomach), I did do one session of part-Pilates/part-Shavasana - a thoughtful mixture of strength building and stretching.

The rest and nature, along with our fearless retreat leader, stoked a curiosity and creative energy to expand my mind using art to explore possibilities as I shaped paths and solutions for my 2026 goals.

I return to Wannaska feeling inspired, hopeful, focused, and empowered with a plan, and just in time for a very happy Saturday that includes a swim meet in Fosston and Goose Fest in Middle River.

Glorious.