Author: mariezhuikov

Having a Hygge Holiday

/ mariezhuikov / 16 Comments
One of the Croftville Cottages near Grand Marais, MN

When Russ and I made reservations for a cabin on the shores of Lake Superior months ago, we envisioned a weekend getaway filled with cross-country skiing and listening to the roar of waves.

Well, we experienced only one of those things. Thanks to El Nino we have NO SNOW in northern Minnesota, or at least very little. We have not been skiing ONCE this season.

The living room of our cozy cottage.

I thought I was cross-county-ski starved when I wrote this post in 2014, but that was nothing compared to what I’m feeling now! If it gets much worse, I might have to pay to ski on artificial snow at our local ski area.

So, we had to cast around for other things to do during our stay in Croftville and Grand Marais, MN. While researching, I discovered that Grand Marais is having a month-long hygge festival. What is “hygge” you ask? It’s pronounced hoo-gah and is a Danish word that means “creating a warm atmosphere and enjoying the good things in life with good people.” In fewer words, it means “cozy.” The events included a lodge fireplace tour, art shows, and saunas.

That sounded good to us, so off we went. We stayed at Croftville Cottages, which is just outside Grand Marais. Besides a main building with lovely condo-like apartments (where I’ve stayed for work) they offer three cottages on the lakeshore. Ours had two bedrooms and a full kitchen, plus two gas stoves for heat. We fell asleep to the roar of a gray and foamy Lake Superior crashing onto the black rocks.

The log-powered sauna at Thomsonite Inn.

We brought our own food along, so after a leisurely breakfast at the cabin, we headed into town to visit bookstores and chocolate shops.

Laden with books and maple truffles, we returned to the cabin for lunch and then drove a few miles to the Thomsonite Inn for a free sauna, courtesy of the Hygge Festival. I had been in touch with the inn beforehand via email to ensure that we didn’t need a reservation, and they said we could just show up.

When we arrived at the inn, the office was closed. Never having been there before, we weren’t sure where the sauna was located. But we found it after referring to a map posted near the office. A short walk down a trail toward the lake led us to the sauna, which was made from a shipping container and it sported a wood fireplace.

A group of twenty-somethings were exiting just as we arrived. Their bodies steamed as they toweled off in the twenty-eight-degree breeze. They said that our timing was perfect and that we’d have the sauna to ourselves.

The sauna offered a view of Lake Superior.

Russ and I looked for a changing room, but there was none. One of the young women said she just walked into a clump of nearby trees to change. Hmph! And did I mention that it was twenty-eight degrees outside??

We ended up changing behind the sauna. The ground was frozen, so I laid my winter coat down and changed atop it, wearing socks for the short trip to the sauna door, taking them off before I went inside. Although changing into our swimsuits outdoors was chilly, we had some hygge to look forward to!

The “youngsters” had added a log to the fire when the left, so the sauna was warm and toasty. For me, it was a bit too toasty. I had to step out every few minutes to cool off before going back inside. A large window looked out at Lake Superior, which had calmed during the night.

When we emerged, steaming, we felt lighter, somehow – both emotionally and physically.

A large Thomsonite rock. Image courtesy of Lapidary Adventures.

The inn sits on a beach known for its Thomsonite, a rare mineral formed eons ago via volcanic activity. The rocks are pink, tan, white, red, and brown — kind of like agates. Those with green or gray backgrounds and green “eyes” are the most prized. The beach was icy, so we didn’t plan to rock hunt, but I did manage to take a few shoreline photos once our sauna was over.

We drove back to town and visited two art galleries that feature local artists. So many talented people live here and it’s always inspiring to see their works.

After a quick stop back at our cabin for my camera, we drove north to Tombolo Island, which is located down a short section of the Superior Hiking Trail off the highway. Another photographer was there, also hoping to catch the sunset. He had a loud, mean dog that quickly made itself known to us. The photographer’s wife (I assume) came running after it to clip on a leash.

The Tombolo is a popular photo op. I think it has something to do with the curve of the beach, the dramatic rocks, the waves, and relative ease of access.

The other photographer was already set up with his tripod, so we walked behind him to another spot that wouldn’t be in his way. Then we waited for the sun to do its thing. Russ and I arrived plenty early since we had never been here before and weren’t sure how long it would take. I had forgotten my hand warmers, so after taking off my gloves a few times for practice shots, my fingers were plenty cold. I had my camera set up on a tripod and then walked around with my cell phone, taking photos from other locations that struck my fancy.

Tombolo Island on Lake Superior’s North Shore

The sun took its sweet time. The colors were muted but icy rocks provided some nice contrast and drama. I took pictures until my fingers insisted that it was time to go. Famished, we walked back to the car, looking forward to a homemade dinner at the cabin.

We cooked up a porterhouse steak and baked potatoes (with sour cream and chives). For dessert, we made a chocolate lava cake for two, complete with vanilla ice cream. Heavenly!

The next morning, after a short walk on the road along the shore, we headed home. Although we didn’t have snow to play in on our trip, at least we had hygge, and that was plenty good.

Northern Dreams

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This is one of my favorite photos from a recent meander north to Grand Marais, MN. I was hoping for good sunset photos, but the colors weren’t cooperating. After standing outside in the frigid cold for an hour, and with fingers beginning to numb, I snapped this one last photo of Tombolo Island in Lake Superior.

I love the blurry water and the placement of the driftwood. The cynical part of me wonders if some other photographer placed it on the shore for effect. All I know is that I didn’t do it! So I’ll pretend that it just washed up on the rocky beach.

No sunset colors? Turn the photo into a black and white! So moody. I love this lake and hope that shows.

Bog Beauty

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Bogs get a bad rap. People tend to think they’re just a waste of good land. However, they have a unique beauty, especially when frosted with winter.

This is my favorite bog that I often visit in northern Minnesota. I’ve written about it before. (See Bog Wonder). I recently finished reading “The Good Berry Cookbook” by Tashia Hart. It’s much more than recipes about wild rice. She also describes her relationship to plants and the importance of Manoomin (wild rice) to her Native culture.

One funny story she shared was about spending an hour admiring plants (orchids, Labrador tea, pitcher plants, etc.) in a bog. A car pulled up on the dirt road near the bog and parked. A woman emerged and then, “squinted at me, and began to shout, ‘What are you doing out there!’ It came across as less a question about what I was doing and more a question about my character. ‘Looking at flowers!’ I replied, still crouched low. She stood there for a bit, hands on hips, obviously disturbed, then shook her head and flailed her arms as she stomped back to her vehicle and drove away.”

Tashia mentions that one must be careful not to sink into bogs. Perhaps the woman was concerned for her safety. But Tashia felt safe there. Moose walk on the floating plant masses and seem to do fine. But to be safe, she recommends bringing a friend along.

She offers a recipe for Swamp Tea, made with the Labrador tea plant. I think those reddish masses in my photo are dried up Labrador tea plants. The tea is supposed to lift anxieties and aid creativity.

Sounds good to me. Next time I’m at “my” bog, think I’ll put on my rubber boots or snowshoes, grab Russ, and meander out there to gather some tea leaves. We’ll see if anyone stops and yells at us.

Fish are Friends

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Northern pike illustration by Virgil Beck, courtesy of the Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources.

If you’ve watched Disney’s “Finding Nemo” movie, you probably recall the scene where Bruce, the ravenous great white shark pledges to curb his natural impulses as a way to improve the reputation of sharks. “Fish are friends, not food,” he says during a mock Alcoholics Anonymous meeting undersea.

That line runs through my head whenever anyone asks me if I fish in the lake at my cabin.

I tried fishing there once, a couple of years ago. I dug out my angling gear, which hadn’t been used in years. As a child, I enjoyed fishing, once I got over my squeamishness at impaling angleworms on hooks and handling the sunfish I caught. I thought it might be fun to resurrect this pastime.

I asked Russ if he wanted to fish. His answer was short and definitive: “No.” Then he added, “And don’t come running to me if you can’t get the hook out of the fish’s mouth.”

Oh well, more fish for me! I bought a fishing license online. Then I set up a chair at the end of the dock, tied on a rubbery lure impregnated with fish scent, and began casting.

Not long afterward, I caught a long, skinny northern pike. These fish have a lot of teeth. They’re voracious eaters and are considered an undesirable invasive species in the western U.S. Since this one was too small to eat (and pike are supposedly full of bones, as well) I gingerly picked the fish up to unhook it, intending to throw it back.

I’d hooked it well. I couldn’t get it out though just using my hands. Now, most experienced anglers have a pliers in their fishing tackle box. I was just getting re-started, so I hadn’t quite got that far in my preparations.

I carefully laid the fish on the dock planks and scurried into the boat house, looking for a pliers. I couldn’t find one, so I went back to the dock and put the fish back into the water, securing my pole so the pike couldn’t swim away.

I ran into the cabin and asked Russ if he had a pliers in his toolbox. Grumbling a bit, perhaps shaking his head, he retrieved the tool for me. I ran back to the dock, fishing the fish out of the water. I began to work on the hook again. It was stuck into the fish’s mouth at such a weird angle, I couldn’t get a good grip.

At this point, I was getting stressed out. I felt urgency to release the fish back into the water so that it could survive being hooked, and I knew that messing with it so ineffectually was probably stressing out the fish, too.

I worked on the pike a few more minutes and then put it back into the water. I realized I was going to have to break my promise to Russ. The life of this watery being depended upon it.

I ran back into the cabin. “Russ, please, you’ve gotta come help. I caught a pike and I can’t get the hook out. It’s stuck in this weird angle and I just can’t do it.”

Bless his reluctant heart, Russ took pity on me, or perhaps he took pity on the fish. He sauntered down to the dock, picked up the fish, and with a single flick of his wrist, dislodged the hook.

I stared, dumbfounded, as the fish swam away into the murky depths.

To this day, I don’t understand how Russ unhooked the fish so easily. It must be a Man Thing.

My return to fishing was not fun. I decided it was too stressful to continue. I tell this story about Russ and the hook whenever anyone asks me whether I fish.

I’ve realized I’d rather be like another Minnesota woman I saw on the television news. She feeds the sunfish that gather underneath her dock, even forming a five-year friendship with one of them. The fish follows her when she swims. She dislodged a hook from its mouth once after someone tried unsuccessfully to catch it.

That’s more in my nature. I want to be like her. The television woman digs up worms, which she no doubt cuts up for the fish. I don’t think I can do that, but I can buy some commercial fish food pellets and see if those will work. I used to take care of a tank of sunfish in a Forest Service reception office where I worked, and they ate pellets just fine.

That’s going to be my project come ice-out this spring.

Meander North E-Book Available

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I made my Minnesota-themed blog-memoir, “Meander North,” which features essays from this very blog, into an e-book. My publisher didn’t offer that service, so I did it myself over holiday break. It took quite a while because of formatting issues. I grumbled, but I did it!

It’s now available on Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon. It sells for about half the price of the print version. But if you’re a fan of print books, that’s still available, too, through distributor Itasca Books.

If you like this blog, you’ll love the book. It earned a Midwest Independent Publishing Association book award last year for nature writing, so it’s not just me saying that it’s good. It’s all your favorite posts gathered into one place.

Thank you for reading and thanks for your support!

Free motto for a trash company!

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Photo by Anthony Nguyen on Pexels.com

I received a text from my trash and recycling company the other day, telling me their schedule had changed for the week due to the New Year holiday. From nowhere, a motto popped into my head: “We’re at your disposal.”

If you own a trash company and need a motto, please feel free to use this one. 😊

Musical Phoenix

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Phoenix’s Musical Instrument Museum. Image courtesy of the Musical Instrument Museum

During our recent meanderings in Arizona, we visited the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. Russ and I enjoy music, both listening and playing, so the museum naturally intrigued us.

This musical museum offers two floors filled with 4,200 instruments from across the world. The CEO of the Target department store corporation founded it to highlight more than just western classical instruments (which are found in many other museums). Robert Ulrich wanted to focus on instruments played by everyday people across the globe. The museum’s motto is: Music is the language of the soul.

Marie getting it on, banging a gong.

The museum delivers on its mission and motto in spades! We could have easily spent an entire day perusing the exhibits. The upper floor has instruments from different geographic regions such as Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Tours are self-guided with an audio headset.

The lower level contains two of my favorite galleries. The Artist Gallery highlights famous musicians past and present, such as Prince and Johnny Cash. Each display features photos, music audio, and memorabilia. Prince’s had a purple piano from one of his tours. One unusual exhibit focuses on the theremin, an eerie electronic instrument played without any direct physical contact by the performer. Clara Rockmore was a theremin “virtuoso” featured.

My other favorite was the Experience Gallery. We were allowed to unleash our inner musicians in this room, which offers banjos to pluck, drums to beat, and gongs to gong.

The museum’s Mechanical Music Gallery shows self-playing pianos and the like. We arrived just in time for a demonstration of a wall-sized instrument called an orchestrion. It’s powered by compressed air and is like having a whole orchestra at the ready.

Until fall of 2024, the museum has a special exhibit called Acoustic America, which displays 90 iconic guitars, mandolins, and banjos that shaped American music since the Civil War. If you’re a stringed instrument-lover, you’ll have to check that out.

If you can’t just pick up and head to Phoenix, the museum provides this virtual tour.

We left the Musical Instrument Museum with many songs in our hearts.

Top Meanders for 2023

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Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

True to my prediction last year, during my eleventh year of blogging, I was not as active as in the past. I posted the same number of stories, but I didn’t have time to interact as much with other bloggers as I would have liked.

One reason is that a collection of short stories I wrote was accepted for publication this year but it’s not going to press until 2025, so I spent a lot of energy ensuring the stories are well-written. I also had a long (68-page) “short” story to finish, which I accomplished, as well as a (surprise bonus!) horror story. As if that weren’t enough in addition to my day job for Sea Grant, I am turning my blog-memoir, “Meander North,” into an e-book. It’s almost ready!

For the posts I wrote this year, social media sharing by others continues to be an important factor in their popularity.

Without further ado, here are the top posts from 2023:

  1. “How Hallmark’s Rescuing Christmas Movie Made my Tree Ornament Famous” – This post describes a Hallmark movie that was shot in my hometown of Duluth. I was surprised to see a Christmas tree ornament during a major scene in the movie that’s the same as one I have in my own collection. After writing the post, I discovered that the local artist who made the ornament didn’t know it was featured in the movie. She was delighted by the news. I’m not sure if she shared my post on Facebook or if others did, but it got a lot of views through social media accounts other than my own.
  2. “Saying Goodbye to my 102-Year-Old Aunt” – This is my tribute to my Aunt Marguerite Pramann, who died this year after a rich life. I suspect this post was shared and accessed by other relatives, which accounts for its popularity, besides the fact that my aunt was an outstanding person.
  3. “A Lake Superior Survival Story” – This is another movie review I recently wrote about a true story set on what is now Isle Royale National Park. Many of my friends were unaware of the movie. They commented on it and shared it via Facebook, so it received more interest than usual.

Hmmm. Maybe I should turn this into a movie review blog??

In other news, a notable story from 2019 continues to receive many (1,200) hits through Google searches and social media shares. “The Case of the Headless Bunnies” describes a disturbing sight I happened upon during my dog walks in my neighborhood woods. Several headless rabbits appeared in the same location on different days. I did some research to determine if it was perhaps a natural thing or the workings of a satanic cult! Turns out, it was natural.

Apparently, others have happened upon similar situations and turned to Google for help and found my blog, sharing their insights on social media. I am happy to have put minds to rest on this grisly topic.

I still find things to blog about and plan to continue “Marie’s Meanderings” for yet another year. I appreciate your continued readership.

Happy blogging to all and to all a good night!

Enchanted Phoenix

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The skating rink/trail and light display at Enchant in Phoenix.

Russ and I meandered down to Phoenix, AZ, to visit relatives. One of our festive outings was to an outdoor baseball stadium (Salt River Fields) in the suburb of Scottsdale to a walk-through light display, called “Enchant.”

I must admit, I was a bit skeptical about the likelihood of experiencing a magical Christmas experience without snow and the cold, but I came away impressed by the scope and organization of the event.

We entered the gates and spent time wandering through a “village” with food vendors and booths selling Christmas wares. A trip down the stadium stairs took us to the light maze on the field. The maze’s theme is “mischievous.” One of Santa’s elves and his reindeer pal have misplaced toys meant for children on Christmas. The goal is to find all the missing toys in the maze so that children will receive them as presents.

We were delighted by the scenes around every corner in the maze. A gigantic Christmas tree dominates the center, surrounded by huge lighted up presents. There’s even a multi-colored “disco” floor where the light squares change color when stepped upon.

People enjoying a warm fire and one of those light bulb drinks by the skating trail.

Although it was about 45 degrees out, everyone was dressed like it was twenty below. Many people were walking around with drinks in lighted clear containers that resembled light bulbs. I asked one person what was in the drinks and they said something about vodka and strawberry juice.

The more adventurous in our party signed up to rent skates and try out the ice-skating trail. You need to sign up for a specific time so that the rink doesn’t get too crowded. I haven’t skated in about 7 years, but I was game to give it a try with my sixty-year-old legs. The skates were made of sturdy black plastic and are available in a huge variety of sizes. After signing accident waivers, we snapped on our skates and hit the trail with dozens of other people, many of whom had probably imbibed those light bulb drinks. Vodka and inexperienced skaters – probably not the best combination?

I was intrigued to see how Arizonians skate. You see, in Minnesota, most children learn to skate about the same time that they learn to walk. If their fathers are speedskating coaches like one of my children’s was, they are out on the ice even before they learn how to walk. That son was with us and he had no problem skating. His Arizonian girlfriend was another story, but she gave it a good try.

Elves having fun on the changing-color disco floor.

After a few wobbly steps, my skating instincts returned, and I was good to go. My main worry was avoiding out-of-control skaters. We witnessed many butt thumps on the ice and many people turning in circles when they wanted to skate forward. But everyone seemed to be having fun.

After skating around for about 20 minutes, we emerged unscathed from the trail. We spent more time exploring parts of the light maze we’d missed before. Afterward, we made our way back up the stadium stairs and visited more of the vendors.

There are other activities at Enchant as well. I think there’s a play, and there are various levels of tickets that people can purchase. Enchant is not only in Phoenix. It’s offered at six other cities, including Milwaukee and Las Vegas. The show goes on until December 31, so there’s still time to go if you haven’t already.