Great Hike!

Earlier this spring, two different people recommended a hiking spot, but we didn't have a chance to check it out until yesterday. They were right - it was fantastic! 

Since we were expecting a cooler sunny, day with highs in the sixties, we thought it was time for a longer hike. Lower humidity and a bit of breeze meant that the bug weren't bad, and we were comfortable in long pants and long sleeves. We drove about an hour and a half up to Black River Harbor, in the Ottawa National Forest. Trail map: https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd530082.pdf

We decided to park at the harbor and hike up the river, have our picnic lunch, and then hike back. On our road trips last fall, we bought an Interagency Annual Pass, and it covers National Forests as well as National Parks, so we didn't have to pay the parking fee! First, we walked down to see the harbor and the beach. There is a CCC/WPA-constructed pedestrian suspension bridge that crosses the river and leads to the beach - a sign indicates a two-person limit on the bridge, and it sways as you cross it!

The harbor is protected by stone jetties, and we hiked out onto one of them to see the views. It has been a while since we've scrambled on big boulders like that! There is a hiking trail along the north side of the river that we will have to explore another day. We crossed back over the bridge to the south side and headed up through the parking area to reach the North Country Trail.

This part of the hike was steadily up hill, with a few steep climbs. We got off-trail early on when we missed a blue blaze and had to backtrack a bit. Our first stop was Rainbow Falls, where there were steps down to a viewing platform (and some other visitors complaining about having to climb the steps on the way back up!)

After Rainbow Falls, the trail crosses Route 513 and loops around some private property. This meant we skipped the next waterfall along the river, with the intent to see it on our way back to the car. This section of the trail included some grassy areas as well as forested areas, and it crossed back across Route 513 to Gorge Falls (the first viewing platform is closed, but the second is available and lovely) and Potawatomi Falls. Again, lots of steps up and down to the viewing platforms!

The path from Potawatomi Falls to the waterfall farthest from the harbor, Great Conglomerate Falls, wound along the river, with lots of ups and downs and a few places where the paths were blocked by fallen trees. In one case, the tree with the blue blaze was the one that had fallen! However, we made it, and it was worth it! 

We headed back down the path to Potawatomi Falls, where we had seen the nicest bench, to stop and have our picnic: cheese sandwiches on Bryan's rye bread and some trail mix. We also overhead a memorable line from a child hiking with a family: "Mom, there is NOTHING fun about this waterfall!" Poor kiddo! I bet Mom was thinking something like, "Well, it WOULD be fun for me if I didn't have to drag you along!"

Mindful that we had already walked five miles and not wanting to overextend ourselves, we headed out to the road and walked the short stretch to the waterfall we had missed, Sandstone Falls. This one had large, slanted, awkward steps down to the water's edge. We enjoyed a rest break on a rock overlooking the waterfall and spotted a strawberry plant growing in a crevice in the rock. Was this native, or a remnant of someone's long-ago lunch?

We climbed back up to the path, then hiked back to the road and down to Rainbow Falls again to hop onto the trail back to the harbor. The entire hike took us about three and a half hours, and the Apple watch indicates that it was 7.88 miles. 

If you want to come visit us, we'd love to do this hike again, with two cars! It would be nice to be able to park at point A or B on the map and hike all the way to the harbor without having to do the hike in reverse.  If you don't feel like a long hike, there is a parking area for each waterfall, with a walk of a quarter to a half-mile from the parking lot, although there are still stairs to get to every viewing spot.

Nature pictures!

Winter was so quiet up here. With the warmer days have come the sounds of … yes, tourists, but also nature! I've been snapping pictures when I can. Time to share!

Let's start tame. Deer are our constant companions. The neighbors told us that the next house over used to feed them regularly. We've seen up to three at a time wander through our yard. We even scared a little spotted fawn out of the pushes behind the garage a week ago. That one was too quick to photograph, so I only have the one above, wondering why I'm staring, to share.

Low-light pictures are tough … but this moth has a winspan of six inches or more! I searched for common moths of Wisconsin, and got over 400 hits, so I haven't yet identified the exact variety. This one first showed up late at night while Amanda was up reading. She thought it was a bat before she got a good look. It makes a ton of noise trying to get through our front window to reach our lamps.

The WI DNR has many webpages dedicated to informing the public that this is not an Asian Longhorned Beetle. It is a White Spotted Sawyer. It eats old dead pine trees. Hopefully the old dead pine trees nailed to the outside of my house are coated in enough paint to be unappetizing!

Finally, the one our neighbors have been telling us about since February. They had seen, and plugged, holes burrowed into their hillside, but never the actual animal. Well, today, about ten seconds after watching a chipmunk alert and skitter off the driveway, across the road comes this beautiful fox. The chipmunk must have run into the wood pile, because the fox spent several minutes investigating.

… which gives me an excuse to post one project picture: the new shelter into which I need to move that wood pile. This design is based on free plans you can download from the EPA. It goes up pretty quick, when the heat and the flies will let you get to it!

It's like she's in the room with you!

 In case you missed it in Jill's newsletter, she was interviewed last weekly her friend Meenal for a series from The Art Brand Alliance, an artists' organization of which she is a member. 

The interview is on Instagram. (Unclear whether you have to have an Instagram account to watch - both Jill and I do, so we couldn't test it.)

Click here for the video: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CMDL01OnI_O/

It is a lovely way to spend about an hour!

(If you want to subscribe to Jill's newsletter, you can do that here. I love getting an email from Jill once a month!)

Exchange Gifts: Arman's Gift to Jeff and Emily's Gift to Chris

Two more gifts have been delivered this week - and it just proves that good things come to those who wait! 

Jeff received a collection of six homemade extracts from Arman: vanilla, cinnamon, lemon, orange, lime, and coconut. (Jeff, I think you will have to make us all some fabulous cocktails next time we can be together!)

Chris also received her gift from Emily:

Beautiful lampshade! I recognize some of those photos too! 

I think there may be one more gift that is still on its way! And, if anyone has been trying out their gifts and wants to send photos of items in use, please feel free to send those to me, and I will put them up.

We got about eight inches of snow today! Hooray!

The Most Delicious Dinner!

Oh my goodness, y'all. We just had the BEST dinner, and I need to write down what we did before I forget, so I'm going to post it here for everyone. I have no pictures because we just gobbled it up. Because I am not a food blogger, I will also not spend three pages telling you about my childhood and artistic inspirations. (Am I a food blogger anyway if I point out that it is both vegan and gluten-free?)

Ingredients:

• about 1T canola oil
• half a large onion, finely chopped
• a celery stalk, finely chopped
• a carrot, finely chopped
• salt
• black pepper
• thyme
• tarragon
• parsley
• 4c water
• 2T Vegetable Better Than Bouillon
• three diced sweet potatoes (I'd guess it was about six cups?)
• 15oz. can of coconut milk

Method:

Heat canola oil in a large, thick bottomed pot. Sauté onion, celery, and carrot over medium-high heat for a few minutes. Add seasonings and sauté a minute more. Add water and bouillon, stir to dissolve bouillon, and increase heat to high. Add diced sweet potatoes. Cook covered until sweet potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat. Stir in coconut milk. 

We each ate two bowls of this, along with Bryan's sourdough bread. (Thank you, Jill, for the starter!) It was amazing! I had been thinking about chowder when I started to plan dinner, but when I went looking for condensed milk, I found coconut milk instead, and the rest was serendipity. 

When I make it again, I might consider adding some diced red peppers with the onions, as well as some crushed red pepper to the broth - it already had hints of an old favorite takeout option, Northern Curry Noodles from a Thai place that we loved when lived in Massachusetts. We have tried to recreate it over the years, and this might take it farther in that direction. (Emily, we got this one time with you!)

I think it would be different but still tasty, and more chowder-like, if you used dairy instead of coconut milk. If I'd had a can of corn, I might have gone in that direction anyway. Let me know if you decide to give this a try! 

New Year's Challenges

I know that at least Andrew loves a good New Year's resolution. I don't know that I like making New Year's resolutions as much as I enjoy a good 30-day challenge. In 2020, I've done six months' worth of Yoga With Adriene 30-day challenges, as well as a couple of other 30-day yoga challenges. I also completed Walktober in October with my college alumnae association. 

I think Jill has done Inktober, which is a daily drawing challenge, and I have some friends who've done NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November over the years. So many options!

I have two things planned for January 2021, and I wanted to tell you about them, and invite you to join me if you so desire!

1. Yoga With Adriene has a new 30-day challenge in January, called Breath. 

I've never done one of these sequences as they are released, along with the rest of the world, so that will be something new for me! 

2. Frugalwoods, a blog written by a woman who lives on a rural homestead in Vermont with her husband and two kids, is something I've been following for years. Every year since 2016, she has hosted "Uber Frugal Month" in January, as a way to help people reset their household spending and rein in their expenses as they start off the year. 

The first time I followed along with the challenge, we managed to reduce our internet bill by half (and double our speed), and we didn't eat out for more than two months (Ha! Remember "eating out"?!) I think she asks good questions in her daily email and provides a nice framework for evaluating expenses. Since we are living in a new place, with new daily routines, it makes sense to re-evaluate everything in light of our new life!

Both of these challenges come with daily emails, and you can sign up on either challenge's webpage - let me know if you decide to follow along with one of them!

Exchange Gifts: Bette's Gift to Bryan and Chris's Gift to Amanda

The "Wells Fargo Wagon" made it all the way to the Northwoods today! (Or, my parents and Annie came to Minocqua and brought our exchange gifts.)

Gramma made Bryan a unique swatter/back scratcher:

 It is now hanging on a hook in the kitchen, ready to grab at a moment's notice as soon as it's needed!

Chris gave Amanda this beautiful blanket ladder, super-soft alpaca blanket, and lovely Christmas tote:

We also had a lovely Christmas tea party! 

After our delicious lunch, Mom had a surprise for us. She actually made the Wisconsin Snow Pudding and brought it for us to try! It is a lovely presentation!

As Mom expected, it tastes about like a Schaum torte - but wobbly! Bryan liked it with the custard sauce; I preferred it without. We all agreed that it was fun to try it...but it's probably not going in our regular dessert rotation! 

Okay, y'all - send some more gift pictures!

Exchange Gifts: Joe's Gift to Pete and Jeff's Gift to Jackie

The next round of photos has arrived!

Joe gave Pete a bunch of yummy consumable gifts:

• Spiced Candied Pecans
• Caramel Corn
• Venison Jerky
• Cranberry & Venison Pemmican

Jeff wove a rug for Jackie!

(Annie is NEVER this well-behaved. Maybe there is a treat just out of the shot that she has been told to sit and wait for!)

Exchange Gifts: Bryan's Gift to Arman and Amanda's Gift to Darleen

As promised, we are sharing pictures of everyone's great gifts! (Please send me your photos if you haven't yet! Take close-ups so we can all see the details!)

The US Postal Service delivered Bryan's gift to Arman today, and Emily sent a video of him opening it:

This was Bryan's first foray into knife-making, and I know he is planning to post on his blog about the project. (Update: here is the post - Making a Kitchen Knife) Bryan made two knives - a practice one that he kept, and then the one he sent to Arman. He documents his projects very well, so I already had a close-up picture!

Arman's knife is the one nearer the top of the picture.

In this view, you can see the different woods that comprise the handles. 

Darleen sent me two lovely pictures of the ornaments I made and the perfume I sent:

This teacup is lovely perfume storage - I use shot glasses!

Here are the scent descriptions: 

• Fireside Reverie - a crackling wood fire, holiday blend of cinnamon & nutmeg, precious resins of frankincense, myrrh, and benzoin
• Frosted Mittens - a peppermint mocha topped with mini marshmallows and crushed candy canes, white chocolate peppermint bark, chill winter air
• Morning Mayhem - vanilla French toast sprinkled with cinnamon and drizzled with  maple syrup, coffee milk, balsam fir, wrapping paper
• Sugar Dusted - cinnamon sticks, apple and pumpkin pies in the oven, plates of sugar cookies and tins of sugared pecans, smudges of butter and splashes of vanilla extract
• The Perfect Tree - rows of balsam & silver fir trees, curls of orange peel and cloves simmering on the stovetop, a bayberry wreath on the front door
• Gingerbread Kittens - gingerbread cookies sandwiched with marshmallow fondant and dipped in citrus glaze, fluffy kitten fur, a glint of amber eyes

This is the tutorial I used to learn to make the ornaments:

(The host talks a lot. I admit that I skipped ahead whenever it seemed like she wasn't going to get to the point.) 

Who's next? Send your pictures! (Also, Bryan's and my gifts are coming with my parents on Monday, so we will get them soon!)

December 25, part 2 - Æbleskiver

It was so fun to have our Worm Family Zoom this afternoon, and to see everyone's creative Christmas Exchange gifts. Due to the vagaries of the deliveries this year, a few of us have not yet gotten our gifts, but they're all on the way! Stay tuned for a future post where we all share pictures of our fabulous gifts!

After Zoom, we got started with another tradition that really makes it feel like a Worm Family Christmas. We made æbleskiver!

Here is the recipe that Gramma gave me:

For most of my baking throughout the year, I use pre-ground cardamom. However, for æbleskiver, I'm willing to crack the pods and grind it myself. 

We made half a batch this year, and it was plenty! (We took Jill's suggestion and used just two eggs but chose the largest ones in the carton.)

We ate a few as we cooked, and a few more once we finished, and we had plenty! I froze some to eat another time (defrost, heat in the oven until hot, then toss in sugar again if you want to make them taste more like fresh ones), and we still have enough left for breakfast tomorrow!