Rain's on its way; forecast says by this afternoon sometime. There were low clouds over the lake this morning and the air is heavier than it was yesterday. Every now and then the wind comes up a bit, rustling the leaves in the trees to the southwest.
Kona and I are here alone. Cindy left Tuesday for a trip to see our son, Chris, and do some wedding planning. Yesterday, my friend Russ Lake and his daughter Sylvie came to see us. We had a fine time looking over the plants and trees, mostly those along the margin between the meadow and the woodlands. Russ is knowledgable in foraging, that is, finding edible and nutritious food that grows without cultivation. There was plenty to see: Lamb's Quarters, Smartweed, Thistle, and even High Bush Cranberries, the native, sweet variety, not the bitter European import. We had a great time, shared some nuts and plums, and talked about butternut, acorn, and apple recipes for a while. Russ and Sylvie left, then, after asking about a public beach on the lake, just to cool off before their trip back home.
We'll have other visitors here this afternoon. Wendy, Steve, and their kids Gareth and Ella are in the Twin Cities for a week or so. Steve had a research meeting in town and they all came along. They've been anxious to see Vista Meadows since I started posting about it and today they'll have a chance to get a feel for the place. It will probably be wet for a while but we have some board games and beer to keep us all occupied through the wettest of the weather. I hadn't seen them for quite a long time until I hiked some of AT in the White Mountains of NH a couple of years ago. We split the difference between where we were and met in Burlington, VT for pizza. Now we'll be together again, relatively soon, to swap stories, eat some grilled brats, and visit some more.
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Monday, June 15, 2015
Before Vista Meadows...
This afternoon Cindy and I will be closing on our piece of paradise, 23 acres in the vicinity of Lake City, Minnesota. About 8 acres of cleared meadow 400 feet above the Mississippi River valley and another 15 acres of sloping woodlands, some to the valley floor below.
I retired after 10 years of teaching at a university in the Twin Cities just at the end of May. Cindy and I had never been "cabin people" -- many people here in Minnesota have a place in a city and then a "cabin" on a lake somewhere, usually "up north". Cindy's family had a lake place when she was growing up and, during that time, it was great. It turned into a real maintenance headache for her dad and brother, though, and we thought we'd avoid that and "rent" places at the lake or elsewhere when we wanted to get away. We've lived in Mendota Heights, a southeastern suburb of Saint Paul, for almost 27 years, in a house that is now pretty empty and way too big. We've enjoyed living here, in some ways, but never really felt we "fit in" amongst the executive types that make up most of the neighborhood. The question of what to do next went through many iterations over the last number of years. At first a configuration including a 2-bedroom condo in the Cities and somewhere that our sons would want to aggregate as a family on a regular basis. The North Shore of Lake Superior, the Rockies, the Black Hills of South Dakota, the White Mountains, and the Sierras all took their turns as possibilities for the "family oasis".
We shifted gears, then, to a philosophy without trying a pick a place that our sons and their significant others would want to come, with and/or without us and focus more on "family trips" every few years, similar to our trips to Germany and Hawaii in the past. I had never envisioned a "down sized" environment for my retirement; many people want to travel this path and for a while Cindy thought that was the way we were going as well. However, my vision of retirement was one focused on getting back in sync with the seasons of the land and "fix it rather than throw it" lifestyle as well as have plenty of room for my more technical hobbies. At the time that we first saw The Meadows, our plan was to get our home ready to sell, find a condo in the Cities to maintain our social network there, find a farm within 2-2.5 hours of the condo, in Wisconsin part The Driftless area, put the house on the market, and start our "cabin life retirement" with a farm rather than a lake place.
What happened then? Stay tuned for the next installment...
I retired after 10 years of teaching at a university in the Twin Cities just at the end of May. Cindy and I had never been "cabin people" -- many people here in Minnesota have a place in a city and then a "cabin" on a lake somewhere, usually "up north". Cindy's family had a lake place when she was growing up and, during that time, it was great. It turned into a real maintenance headache for her dad and brother, though, and we thought we'd avoid that and "rent" places at the lake or elsewhere when we wanted to get away. We've lived in Mendota Heights, a southeastern suburb of Saint Paul, for almost 27 years, in a house that is now pretty empty and way too big. We've enjoyed living here, in some ways, but never really felt we "fit in" amongst the executive types that make up most of the neighborhood. The question of what to do next went through many iterations over the last number of years. At first a configuration including a 2-bedroom condo in the Cities and somewhere that our sons would want to aggregate as a family on a regular basis. The North Shore of Lake Superior, the Rockies, the Black Hills of South Dakota, the White Mountains, and the Sierras all took their turns as possibilities for the "family oasis".
We shifted gears, then, to a philosophy without trying a pick a place that our sons and their significant others would want to come, with and/or without us and focus more on "family trips" every few years, similar to our trips to Germany and Hawaii in the past. I had never envisioned a "down sized" environment for my retirement; many people want to travel this path and for a while Cindy thought that was the way we were going as well. However, my vision of retirement was one focused on getting back in sync with the seasons of the land and "fix it rather than throw it" lifestyle as well as have plenty of room for my more technical hobbies. At the time that we first saw The Meadows, our plan was to get our home ready to sell, find a condo in the Cities to maintain our social network there, find a farm within 2-2.5 hours of the condo, in Wisconsin part The Driftless area, put the house on the market, and start our "cabin life retirement" with a farm rather than a lake place.
What happened then? Stay tuned for the next installment...
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