Wannaskan Almanac

Hello and welcome to a graduation-parties Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is May 25th.  The WAKWIR* graduated last night. Before my mind goes to slicing pickles, baking cakes, and mapping out the Tour of Graduation Parties, I'm taking a quick moment with all of you to sit in the serenity of satisfaction and celebration.  Graduations, like other major life events, can sometimes spur a mother's undoing. Stress around party preparations and keeping the kid on track academically, are nothing new; we've been doing that annually since his first birthday and Kindergarten. It's the launching that gets us. The finality of moving the tassel from the right side to the left side of the mortarboard. Suddenly, all I see in that young man's face is his little 5-year-old self sitting criss-cross-applesauce style in the Kindergarten class photo his former teacher shared on Facebook this week. Memories surface of sweetness: little hands, cuddles, storytime, his enthusia...

  Everyone say 'Cheese'   Everything was going along swimmingly until my brother Bill was born. I was twenty-two months old and had no perspective. I was not ready to share my mother with an interloper. Fortunately I have a compassionate nature and didn't kill Bill when I had the chance, but it was rough. No one thought putting Good & Plenty candy up Bill's nose was a good idea. It was a love for the Beatles that finally brought us together. We even joined the Navy together to fight communism.   After the war Bill moved to Maine and I moved to Minnesota to marry Teresa. Bill tried lobster and scallop fishing for awhile before settling on building houses. He visited Roseau for the first time to attend my wedding. In fact he was my best man. He drove his VW Beetle to visit us four years later after Matthew was born. On his way home his car died in the Red Lake Indian Reservation. We towed it back to Wannaska and he bought another junker to get back to Maine.  ...

  The year was 2001 Before you get the wrong idea about our parenting skills 'back in the day,' the images preceding the story should ease your mind that daughter Bonny was in any way abused or mistreated. As I've written before over the years -- and likely most of you have forgotten.                                         "We didn't teach her to be fearful; we taught her to be brave." She always had companions on her adventures, except this once. She was a natural when it came to boating adventures.   So it was, that the Mikinaak was this high and flowing the day she wanted me to make her a raft ...

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for May 22, 2024, the twenty-first Wednesday of the year, the tenth Wednesday of spring, the fourth Wednesday of May, and the one-hundred-forty-third day of the year, with two-hundred twenty-three days remaining.   Wannaska Phenology Update for May 22, 2024 Ferns and Lycophytes A fern /fərn/ n., is a flowerless plant which has feathery or leafy fronds and reproduces by spores released from the undersides of the fronds. A lycophyte /LYE-koh-fyte/ n., is basically any other species reproducing by spores in the club moss, quillwort, and spike moss orders, where Smooth Scouring Rush ( Equisetum laevigatum ) or Tall Scouring Rush ( Equisetum praealtum ) might be the most familiar to Wannaskans. Minnesota has about thirty-four species of fern, and forty-two species of lycophyte. The ferns are just beginning to unfurl in the forests of Wannaska. and the Smooth Scouring Rush is not far behind. May 22 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Speci...

See You Later, Alligator! After A While, Crocodile! Gotta Go, Buffalo! See You Soon, Raccoon! Take Care, Polar Bear! In A Shake, Garter Snake! Hit The Road, Toad! Can’t Stay, Blue Jay! Bye-Bye, Butterfly! Toodle-Loo, Kangaroo! Time To Scoot, Little Newt! ‘Til Then, Penguin! Adios, Hippos! Hasta Manana, Iguana! There's The Door, Dinosaur! On The Bus, Octopus! Catch you on the flip side, lion pride. Get on the boat, Coyote. Beep beep black sheep. All that to say that I have recently realized that most of the people...well, all of them...that I know are mortal.  It often isn't until they are gone that we realize what we would give to have one more conversation, one more time to work together on a project, one more beer, or one more minute.  It is at that moment that we finally see the folly of wasted time and opportunities.   Connecting and disconnecting people for decades! So let the departed teach a final lesson...pour yourself out each day into each others' lives....

  Excuse the morbidity, but Jim and I have been shopping for cemeteries. We've got the time, and our three kids are running full throttle on the straightaway of their lives raising kids and building their careers. Deciding now where we want our cremains buried will give us peace of mind and will save them that decision later. This is no simple task and raises feelings and questions about life and death. Amid this search and accompanied by a trumpet blare, WannaskaWriter's recent Mother's Day tribute shows up in the Wannaskan Almanac. Although we've known Steve for many years through his teamwork with Chairman Joe and their publication, The Raven , we are not neighbors. His piece and accompanying photos introduced us to the decades-long project where he transformed his farm into woodlands. We found the story astonishing, and it got us thinking.  My first job as an English teacher was a part-time gig, a writing class intended to give kids time to write creatively. One ye...

  When most in a hurry is the time to stop.    And look for pitfals.  Movement is the heart of conversation.   While paused in search of the name of a thing, it dies.  Auto-correct in the mind lets my errors slip by Foreseen excuses of those skipping my funeral: -Dead -Dead -Demented -In bed There’s a very thin line  ‘Tween what you’ll    be hearing- “Thank God for your help” or “Quit interfering!” A consequence of procrastination is very convenient amnesia. Do you prefer a partner who clears the air as needed, or one with a long fuse? Let us remember that fuses are notorious for fizzling out. As we ride this Middle Earth on circuits of the sun, we nightly visit Dreaming Earth. And after Circuit Number X we'll disembark on Waking Earth. Jesus said unless we become like children, we will never enter the kingdom of Heaven. Once you do become like a child, you must enroll in Kingdom Kindergarten.  Jesus also said to leave self behind....