Boundary Waters, 2022 Edition

 Why, yes I did drop off the face of the Earth for a week! I’ve been off the grid in the Great North on my annual girls’ trip with Jane. Because we are still nervous about COVID, we drove straight through on Saturday, which took about 11 hours. Our last stop was in Grand Marais to buy a frozen pizza and two small bags of ice. We were exhausted by the time we got to the cabin. We put the pizza in the tiny oven and poured pre-mixed margaritas over ice.

I slept until 7:40 Sunday morning. I can’t even remember the last time I slept that late. I love the chickens, but it was nice not to have to hope out of bed at sunrise to let them out of the coop. Jane got up shortly after I did. I made my tea; Jane had her coffee. We lounged in our jammies for quite a while. I finally got motivated to make blueberry pancakes which, according to our long tradition, we ate with butter, peaches, and maple syrup.

Blueberry pancakes and peaches

We went for a walk down the dirt road. Just outside the cabin, creeping bellflower was blooming in front of some birch trees.

Creeping bellflower

There was no shortage of bumblebees. Many of them were motionless. It was a cool afternoon, but bumblebees are unique among the bees in their ability to elevate their body temperature above the air temperature. This is why they are often the first bees to the flowers in the morning and the last out at night.  Here is a bumblebee resting on pearly everlasting.

Bumblebee on pearly everlasting

Fireweed was also blooming. This one had three beetles foraging among the flowers. No idea what kind. Beetle species are exceedingly numerous.

Three beetles on fireweed blossoms

One of the owners of Hungry Jack Outfitters, where we rent our cabin, told us that the bolete mushrooms that were growing all over the place were edible. We did a little foraging and tried them out. I sautéed them in butter with garlic.

Boletes sautéed in butter with garlic 

We had them on our steak, along with grilled zucchini and foil-pack potatoes and onions. And wine, of course.

Supper, plated

It was raining after supper, so we had to abandon plans to sit on the deck. We put together a jigsaw puzzle, our usual rainy-day activity. I did the left side while Jane did the right. It is fair to say the bottom left was the easiest part. The lantern and the sails on the sailboat were the worst.

The evening's activity

It’s good to get away from civilization now and then. There is only one appliance that runs constantly in the cabin, and that is the refrigerator. When it cycles off, it is dead silent. No hum from the TV receiver, no whoosh of the air conditioner, no beeping cell phone. There are no streetlights or traffic noises. Occasionally a loon will call from a distant lake or a rain shower passes through. So peaceful.