Wildersmith on the Gunflint: November 29

            Northwoods breaking news: We’re into the holiday season! We’d better get ready, because here it comes.  It can’t be stopped, let alone be slowed down!
            Our time in month 11 has rapidly slipped toward oblivion as we gathered for our day of giving thanks. Here’s hoping that your day with family and fixins’ was healthy and happy!
            Those of us residing in the Gunflint wilderness gave thanks yesterday just for the privilege of living in the marvelous northern Riviera. In fact, most of us Gunflinters give thanks every day for the abundance of miracles this natural universe bestows.
            It would seem appropriate to reflect on some of this northern bounty.  Here is a “top 10” list of things that one can hear in upper Gunflint neighborhoods at this time of year. All of which I would consider “manna for the soul, from heaven.”
            Number 10…Red squirrels slamming the lid on their lunch box feeders as they run in
                                   and out hundreds of times a day. 
Number 9…”Chit…chat” of countless chickadees, nuthatches and friends while
                      gathering at the feed tray.
            Number 8…The last lapping of lake rollers dashing our granite shoreline.
            Number 7…Barking of a lonesome red fox on its nightly sojourn through the
                                  neighborhood.
            Number 6…Wind howling through the pines as the “great northern express”
                                  barrels across the border.
            Number 5…Early morning roar of the snow plow clearing our pathway to
                                 civilization.
             Number 4…Thunderous eruptions from the lake as she fits into her frozen winter
                                 coat.
            Number 3…The first pop in the forest as freezing tree sap solidifies on a sub-zero
                                evening.
            Number 2…A call of the wild from wolves of the pack.
            And… the Number 1 thing… heard in the Wildersmith neighborhood and
                                throughout Gunflint Territory this time of year…
      Nothing… but silence… and the serenity of a bright starlit frosty night
      with flashes from aurora borealis.
            There are few things in the universe that can compare with the mystique and magic of a day or night during winter in the northern wilderness.
Winter’s horizon is nearing and letting in the cold like an open door. At a time where cold clings to every bit and being, the very word itself is a fact of life that draws mankind close in warming links with our natural world.  We tremble with excitement for adventures of survival ahead!  How favored we are!   Thanks be to creation!
Keep on hangin’ on and savor this great time! Hope to see you out and about shopping in our Arrowhead communities.

{photo from Mike's Birds via Wikimedia Commons}