#2: Delta Diner and the White River

August 10, 2016August 9, 2016 ShirleyjdietzLeave a comment

A couple of years ago my family started talking about trips they had made to the Delta Diner, a restaurant in a streetcar, out in the middle of the woods. I had never been there so Mom had it on the list of things I should do this visit. We got right to it – breakfast on Day 2.

My sister-in-law MP, Mom and me, arranged in increasing size.

Since I’m mentioning breakfast, I will tell you that the Delta Diner is not just another greasy spoon place by the road. It is a destination. It has gotten media attention and been touted as one of the most interesting places to eat in our neck of the woods. It is small (duh, it’s a streetcar, really) with a bar overlooking the grill, and a row of booths on either side of the door. People wait outside on picnic tables for their seating. We came for the breakfast menu, which also included some sandwiches and desserts. I had been waiting to try Mom’s favorite, Norwegian pancakes with jalapeno. I was not disappointed in them either.

In calling this “lake a day” challenge I have to explain that I have a very loose meaning of the word lake. It is any body of water, excluding mud puddles or the kitchen sink. Today it was all about a stream called the White River. It is small in some places but since the watershed looks really big on the map I’m sure there are some wider spots. The place where our road crossed over was definitely not a park, but just a place where the pavement allowed us to pull over without obstructing traffic. There was a view of the stream that was flowing swiftly into the largest culvert I have ever seen which carried the water under the road. A canoe or kayak could easily ride through.

I was not the first person to make my way down to the water’s edge but I wouldn’t say there was a path either. Up here in the northwoods we always have to think about poison ivy. There is also the possibility of losing footing and sliding into the stream and I was very aware of that. Photo credits on this day go to my brother Dennis who was handicapped by the direction the sun was hitting us. This was another one foot dip, although the water was clear and only about four feet deep. I need to start wearing my swimsuit everywhere I go and traveling with a towel.

The sun is bright, making me very white. One foot in the water…

A New Challenge

August 9, 2016August 9, 2016 Shirleyjdietz6 Comments

The experience of going “home” for a visit has several aspects. There are always interesting changes to discover, always some family or friends to connect with, always memories to refresh/rehearse. But I often find myself wanting to make new memories and enjoy the home territory in a different way. Isn’t it commonly the case that we don’t take the time to be tourists in the familiar places? I grew up in Hayward, Wisconsin and have visited nearly every year since moving away so it is familiar to me but I needed to have a fun way of seeing it from a new perspective.

Enter the “Lake a Day” challenge.

Northern Wisconsin, although it is not known as the “land of 10,000 lakes” like it’s neighbor Minnesota, has many of the same features. There is a lot of water. I grew up on one of the prettiest, cleanest, most refreshing lakes in the area and knew it well, but there were many other bodies of water close by that I did not frequent. Every day I am going to find some “water” of a natural kind and get wet in it (not saying how wet, but wet somewhere). You may travel northern Wisconsin someday and want to check out these great spots.

Day 1: Lake Superior

Lake Superior is as close to being an ocean as a lake can get. It is huge – they don’t call it one of the Great Lakes for nothing. Unlike an ocean it is fresh water but like an ocean it is big enough for ships, dangerous storms and currents, and it has a fascinating history.

An unplanned stop at Lake Superior – the one foot dip.

On this day my mom and I were on our way to visit a friend who lives in Duluth, Minnesota, just across the border from Superior, Wisconsin. As we drove close to the harbor at the western tip of Lake Superior we passed a small park where there was access to the water and also a small ship offering tours to visitors. It wasn’t exactly a beach but it appeared that I might be able to reach the water so we pulled in and parked. As I mentioned earlier, the goal was to get some part of me wet so I found a short path with no barriers and went down to stick a foot in the water.

Lake Superior has many interesting coastal towns in Minnesota and Wisconsin but about the only ones I’ve visited are Duluth/Superior and Bayfield. Madelaine Island, near Bayfield is where my brother’s family has camped for years. I have visited them at the campground there and we had an amazing time leaping into Lake Superior from some rock cliffs. Unforgettable.

On this day we had a great time visiting with my friend at her house and at her husband’s nearby business, Lake Superior Brewery. The root beer we sampled was really good, as are their other beers. Must be the local water, right?

Beauty in Hard Places

March 30, 2016March 30, 2016 Shirleyjdietz2 Comments

Beauty blooms in unexpected places,rocks, mire, mess,

becoming even more beautiful

for the place and time it

has chosen.

In what hard place are you being beautiful?

Last Days of March

March 28, 2016March 28, 2016 ShirleyjdietzLeave a comment

With inner clocks that sense

Every additional minute

As it is added to hours of sun

And not because it makes them warm

But because it is all that they know to do

They bloom.

The way I always thought it should be…

March 27, 2016 Shirleyjdietz3 Comments

Rain on the window, gray in the sky, blossoms on the trees

Seattle in early spring is the way I imagined it before I had ever been here. Today was cool (50’s ) and rainy, clouds rolling through. Everything green is glowing, in contrast to the grays and browns of wet rocks and trees. I am usually here during the one week in summer when there is a heat wave, so this sweet chill is a treat for me. I am prepared for this visit with my sweatshirt hoodies and scarves, and of course my walking shoes.

I took my friend Charlie the dog for a walk on one of our favorite routes from last summer. I couldn’t stop looking at all the things that were visible through trees that hadn’t leafed out yet. Surprisingly, there are a lot of houses hanging precariously on the sides of the ravine above the park’s lower trail. I did not know they were so close. In spite of the cold, there are flowers coming out all over, and they are different from the ones in the summer or fall. And the lush moss grows everywhere.

We walked up to the top of the ridge over Alki Beach (what a workout, gasp..) and I was glad to be here, grateful to be seeing it all. I couldn’t help wishing that my friend Karyn who followed my stories last summer was still here to read again. I was grateful that it was a day when resurrection, physical resurrection, was on my mind. As unexplainable as it sounds to modern ears, a man came back to life never to die again. Because he did this miraculous thing, Karyn will too. This is not a hard thing for me to believe, because I see life coming out of what looks dead all around me. It’s right there in front of us, if we have eyes to see and hearts willing to consider.

Thanking Jesus for doing what he did – the first of many.

A to Z Challenge: Theme Reveal

March 21, 2016April 3, 2016 Shirleyjdietz34 Comments

Eat This!

I am a big supporter of FOOD. I think it is absolutely remarkable that everything we humans need to live and be in health is found on this planet. It’s almost like it was made for us. In fact, it is exactly like it was made for us. There is much to investigate on this topic and although I have never been a food blogger, I have done a stint teaching nutrition for the University of Florida Extension Service. I learned a lot and it was fun. I think I can share that fun with readers.

I love to photograph food (I’m talking mainly about fruits, vegetables and ovo-lacto food items). The colors are often bright and exciting, and there are also unusual shapes and ways that food presents itself. And because we get to eat it after the photographs, there will be an occassional recipe or fun way to eat the food of the day. A lot of my subjects will be nutrient dense and so good for you, but since I also believe food should make us happy there will be a few that fall in the “comfort food” category.

Don’t think that this is an easy theme to alphabetize. Since I want to stick with healthful foods that are as close to unprocessed as possible, the choices are limited. There are tons of letter C foods, but try finding some of the others. I love finding unusual items that might surprise you and inspire you to EAT THIS! Hoping you will check in regularly.

Grass

January 5, 2016January 5, 2016 ShirleyjdietzLeave a comment

Consider grass, the perfectly rounded tips of new blades, the translucent greenness as the light shines through. Consider the unseen numbers of tiny cellular factories actively converting the sun’s energy into growth. This far surpasses any technology we call “awesome”. Whoever is behind the idea of grass is the real “awesome”. Just sayin’…

Eulogy to Grey Kitty

December 4, 2014December 4, 2014 Shirleyjdietz1 Comment

Things change. Back from a ten day trip, I spent the morning picking up the water bowl, the food bowl, cleaning out the litter pan, putting the towels and sheet used for bedding in the laundry, uncovering the furniture in her “sick” room. Then I sat alone at my writing table thinking about all the times that sitting there would have guaranteed a cat in my lap within a couple minutes. I will miss her and she was a good cat.

She came to us as a kitten, found alone by one of my daughters in a city parking lot. She was very young, very scared and spent the first week hiding under my daughter’s bed. We weren’t sure if she would make it. What a way to start. I think her memory of that contributed to her quietness, her timidity, her reclusive nature. She grew to tolerate other cats but was never one to initiate friendship or cuddle up to any of them. She grew to trust some people and be affectionate but that trust had to be earned. The sound of strangers in the house always made her disappear. She would come out from her hiding place when things got quiet again.

her magnificent green eyes and a pretty white bib

When my daughter moved away to school she left Grey Kitty with me, which was fine since I had grown fond of her. I had inherited another cat from my second daughter and it would have been nice if they had gotten along but they didn’t. They fought like, well, like cats. They had both grown up being “only cats” and didn’t want to share their humans. We had to keep them separated or there were consequences of loud cat growls and tufts of fur everywhere. Once when we were away they were accidentally shut in the same room. We found them sitting quietly in opposite corners pretending nothing had happened, but the room told a different story, way different. I thought they might have gotten it out of their system and become friends, but no.

Grey Kitty was hesitant about all kinds of things. There was the usual cat maneuver of standing in front of an open door, debating whether or not to go through. She had the nervous tail tic. It drove me crazy and I would sometimes pick her up and make the decision for her. But most of the time, in deference to our friendship, I just waited until she either bolted out or sauntered in the other direction. I think my willingness to let her be who she was made her like me as much as she did.

She had patience with me as well, Many times she would come up on my lap and get settled for a good sleep and minutes later I would have to get up to answer the phone. She had patience in the kitchen. She knew the sound of pans rattling and cans opening and would appear at mealtime. After circling my feet for several minutes in an attempt to get my attention (trip me) she would sit quietly and look at me with her best stare. The stare would continue right up through the meal until the husband would relent and give her a small bite of people food.

One day, years ago, I thought I had accidentally killed her. She was in the garage when I closed the door automatically and turned my back to go into the house. For some reason she waited until the last second to try leaving and got caught under the door. When I looked again I could only see the back half of her and the door was down. She evidently had been crouching low and hadn’t triggered the safety beam. I slapped the control and ran to get her but she ran out faster than I could get there. I was pretty worried about her but decided if she could move that fast she probably didn’t have a broken neck. She was always a little leery of the garage door after that.

As she grew older, she began to be a very picky eater. Dry cat food was not good enough. Canned cat food was better, but only certain kinds. She started losing weight, and her breath smelled awful. Tests at the vet’s office showed kidney disease, so we tried various brands of special food. She didn’t like any of them. Finally, to keep her from starving I let her eat anything she would eat. She was pitiful, and her soft meow changed into a more raucous sound that was disturbing and insistent. I think she had nausea.

This story ends as you might suspect by now. I took GK to my daughter the veterinarian and she and I, compassionately and with tears, euthanized her and laid her to rest. She served a purpose in my life, as I believe animals were meant to do. These awesome creatures that God made to share the earth with us make us think, make us love, make us give of ourselves and make us aware that we are not alone.

Now it’s a bit simpler at home – I don’t have to shut the doors to prevent cat fights, I don’t have to search for obscure brands of special food, I don’t have to clean up sick messes. Simpler, but not necessarily better. I’m just sayin’, she was a good cat and I miss her.

P.S. This is not to be interpreted as a request for another cat.

Nature’s Twists and Turns (a freak storm)

September 7, 2014September 7, 2014 Shirleyjdietz7 Comments

The last two times I have visited my hometown of Hayward have been connected with storms of note. Last fall I was there for the first blizzard of the year. This week I happened in on a freak storm that colored most of this visit.

The morning started like any other in northern Wisconsin in the late stages of summer, overcast and grey. Then it changed to something unusual. Everyone who witnessed it starts their story with “and then it got dark”, “it was as black as night”, “it got as dark as this black shirt I’m wearing”.

From her living room window my mom can see the top of the flagpole at the next door furniture store. The flag was flapping in a west wind. The rain began and the sound of it soon grew louder as hail began hitting the windows and siding of the house. There was a fury in this storm that sent those who had basements down for shelter. After about an hour, when the wind had subsided and the sky was lighter many people came out to look at the damage. There were piles of ice here and there. The fence around the development had been shot through with holes where it was still standing and completely twisted and blown down everywhere else.

As they stood in the street talking, my brother noticed a dark bank of clouds rapidly approaching from a different direction. It was as if the storm turned around and came back for a second round. More rain pelted the area and winds continued from what seemed like all points of the compass. There have often been tornado like events in this area without any sightings of funnel clouds or advance warning of any kind. This seemed to be one of those times. The area affected had no clear boundaries, the destruction had no apparent path.

A day later, we drove around to check on nearby properties that my dad owns. I saw firsthand what hail can do. Cornfields with stalks still standing but no leaves on them. Lawns looking like they had been mowed. A green carpet of chopped leaves on roads, roofs, and the forest floor. Trees looking like fall had already stripped them. In addition, many trees were down, sometimes in clumps having come down together, but often randomly, here and there. Trees that had fallen on the road had by this time been cut allowing cars to pass, but clean up was going slowly.

What's left of the corn — What’s left of the corn

Many roads obstructed with fallen trees and utility poles.

Gardens and flower pots that had been still in full bloom and production were decimated – an early demise. I worked at cleaning up my mom’s patio where she had several planters, one full of herbs and flowers. The plants had been chopped and spread about and my sweeping stirred up the aroma of basil and parsley. The garden that had received compliments the week before was empty of everything except a few cabbages. I pulled up the bare corn stalks and cucumber vines. The small creeks that flow through my brother’s property were overflowing and flooding the drive. The downed trees numbered 40 and as already mentioned, the fence was history. In the nearby town there was much flooding and standing water. One other noticeable post storm effect – the birds were gone.

The garden I helped plant last May. I got to help tear it down after the storm.

A lot of loveliness shredded and beaten down... — A lot of loveliness shredded and beaten down…

People are helping each other clean up. Those without electricity are borrowing generators. Things are slowly getting back to normal. Much has been lost but the landscape will recover. We are all reminded that nature is still a powerful, untamed force.