Wet Dry Wet Dry

What a moody lake!
4 foot waves, started misty and fogy, now blue and shining

Today we saw iron juts from the soggy wood of a shipwreck

enjoyed the essence of oregano, garlic, rhubarb, cherry, and pine in the air

4 days without: cars, money, alcohol, music, inside, clocks

body feels good from each step of 13.3 miles


Lentil Potato Carrot Stew with Couscous and Coconut Cream
(the best thing you have ever tasted after a LONG hike)

1 tsp minced garlic
1 cup red lentils, rinsed
2 small potatoes
1 carrot
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp salt
4 dried birds eye chilies
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp Bragg's liquid amino (funky health food item)
2TBS olive oil
1 small can of coconut milk, cream reserved

1 cup couscous
1/4 tsp minced ginger
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 shallot, minced

1. Saute spices and minced garlic in olive oil for 30 seconds, add potatoes and carrot, stir fry 2 minutes. Add salt and chilies then paprika and turmeric. Add 3 cups water and bring to a boil, then add red lentils. Cook 15 minutes, then cover and wrap in a towel or other heat resistant clothing and let stand while you prepare the couscous.

2. Saute minced ginger, chopped garlic, and shallot in olive oil. Then add the water from the coconut milk, plus 1 cup water. Bring to a boil, then add couscous. Stir, cover, and let stand 5 minutes.

3. Serve lentil mixture over couscous with dollops of the reserved coconut milk cream on top.

Waterbed for the Backcountry

Our tent became a waterbed this morning. Lake Superior carried rain and the boom of thunder for many hours until Andrew finally sat up at about 6:00am and realized our tent was suspended in a 3 inch pool of water! We unzipped the flap and saw our boots and backpacks floating past!! The night before we had found a nice big hemlock to pitch the tent under, but had managed to put it in the only spot beneath the tree without good drainage. So, what left to do? "WE'VE GOT TO GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE" (The nice version of what Andy said when he realized our predicament.)

We carefully stepped out of the tent, rain still pouring, picked our home by the poles (with everything still in it) and walked it to the other side of the tree. Whew, it was going to be a long day, we had 8 miles to walk too. Luckily we were able to get back in the tent and find a couple inches of dry space where we hung out for a couple of hours, cramped, but moderately dry until it stopped raining.

Andy was a real sport to walk in the lead, which is usually my job, so that he could take the bulk of the water hits from the ferns onto his boots, instead of mine:) The most amazing thing that happened on the trail were two owls about the size of Andy's hands flew into a aspen branch directly over us about 5 feet away. They cocked their heads 180 degrees and stared at us as if they were looking into our souls.

The sun finally came out in the late afternoon and a lucky breeze kicked up before dusk! So thankful for a dry night.

Blue Flame Waters

Lake Superior at dusk on Mosquito Beach
Fire pink sun ball
and blue flame water extending to the horizon

We watch this pink ball
light lazy enough through the clouds
for us to look at it with our eyes

I yoga pose on these old sedimentary rocks
My forward bends the deepest they have ever been
The rocks keep my extended legs propped up and relaxed

Despite our floors, the earth is not meant to feel flat!

Off to Pictured Rocks

Andrew and I said goodbye to the band on Mackinac Island and headed up to four nights of backpacking along Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore. We arrived in Grand Marais to catch a shuttle van that would take up over to Munising so that we could walk the entire 45 mile stretch back to our car. The woman who drove our shuttle van talked a lot of politics and complained a lot about making a living up in the U.P. She said that she had driven the same van for 27 years and her pay was still only $11.00 an hour! It got me thinking a lot about the disparity between nature and class. In other words, why can't places rich in natural beauty also be rich in social justice?

We decided not to take our instruments for the four night, five day journey. It would be a time to clean out our musical selves, and a time to use our brains to come up with a concept for a piece that we would write together for our upcoming Artist-In-Residence stay on Isle Royale.


Sleep on the Shore

We are going to bed soon
before the sun
Under a canopy of, aspen, hemlock, and sugar maple
where birch grow in packs
invading the rocks that look over Lake Superior

I can still see the bald eagle that flew underneath us
Zoom bird
brown and white
big shadow passing over turquoise water