Mistic Berry Farm

Today, July 1, is the first day of the season for strawberry picking at Mistic Berry Farm north of Bemidji.

Waiting for a table

People rode out to the picking areas in a farm wagon.

Returning from picking

And, they had berries . . .

. . . which were then transferred from bucket to flat for the trip home.

For berries this lusciuos, the prices weren't bad!

Me? I was just there for the waffles! Fresh berries, real whipped cream. Yummy!

Exploring Dreamscope

I've playing around with the Dreamscope app on the iPad.

Some of the images that resulted from that play have been posted to Facebook.
Today was "what the heck is a 'custom filter' " day. Turns out, you tell the app to use an existing image - either from the photo library or from the camera - as a filter to apply to another image.

This is the resulting Dreamscope image:

This is the original image. It was taken last spring at the glass flower exhibition at Lauritzen Gardens in Omaha.

This image is the "custom filter". It is a kalaidescope rendering of a New Brunswick sunset.

Made a warm and rather dreamy result.

Ford Tri-Motor

Friday, July 3, 2015
Totally spur of the moment. Saw in the paper that a Ford Tri-Motor was going to be in Bemidji AND would be giving rides. Hustled out to the airport first thing in the morning and got a ticket.
Then I saw a colleague from my working days who was on the ground crew for the plane. I asked how many passengers go at a time.
He said "Eight plus a co-pilot."
I replied "A co-pilot? Not THE co-pilot?"
He then said "Do you want to sit in the right seat? You'll need to pay a little more, but if it's not already taken, you can do it."
So, I did and it was a blast!
This is the airplane. A Ford Tri-Motor NC8407. It was built in 1929. This plane has been in movies and may have been flown by Harrison Ford.

The airplane

Fueling up

Pratt & Whitney 450 hp engine

Fuselage detail

Interior view. Every seat a window seat.

Me ready to board

That's where I'm going to sit!!

In the co-pilot seat grinning from ear to ear!

Looking back into the passenger cabin.

This is a very basic instrument panel.

There were 199 of these planes built.

View of starboard engine from the cockpit.

Detail of interior woodwork

Swing the Top

"Swing the Top", what's the first image that comes to your mind?

Did it have a really tall tree? Did it have a seventy-foot bucket truck? Nope? Neither did mine.

Last Tuesday, Woodchuck's Tree Service of Bemidji removed three dead pine trees, including a Norway pine that rose to a height of 100 feet. When asked if his bucket truck could reach to the top of the pine, Chuck said that no, it could only get to seventy feet. When asked if he could control where the top of the pine was going to fall when he could only reach seventy feet, he said, "Well, I'll just swing the top. No problem!"

Swing the top? Here's what he did:

After trimming all the lower branches up to as high as his equipment could reach, he tied a rope "harness" to the pine.

Tying on the harness

Harness nearly finished

Once the harness was in place, he made the cut.

Cut is nearly finished

Cut is finished

Let the swing begin

And that, my friends, is how to Swing the Top!

Pelicans

As I was preparing to install stop for the garage doors, I happened to glance skyward and noticed a flock of pelicans riding a thermal above the river.

Pelicans circling

They were way, way up there. Circling, circling, circling. It looked (to earthbound me) to be effortless.

Effortless

Man, I would like to be able to do that!

Soaring

I'd even eat raw fish if I could soar so effortlessly!
Even better, then I'd be able to sit and rest in a place like this!

Pelicans resting

Siigghhhhh....the stop still must be installed for the garage doors......

I've never seen pelicans on the river by our place before.
I LOVE living here!

April in the Park

Today, April 14, 2015, was a very good day for a walk in the park - Lake Bemidji State Park.

Leaving the car in the parking lot, I headed for the lake shore. The beach has endured some "shoveing about" by the lake ice.

Ice-caused sand berm

Took a right at the beach and walked up to the overlook at Rocky Point. Very clear water undisturbed by wind or ducks gave me a look at the structure of the bottom. The colors and shapes are intriguing.

The bottom of Lake Bemidji

Ice on Lake Bemidji hasn't quite left yet.

Ice on Lake Bemidji

Leaving the shore of Lake Bemidji, I headed into the woods on the "Old Logging Road" trail.

Into the woods

After an hour's stroll through the pines, birch, and aspen I fetched up on the shore of Big Bog Lake. This lake has lost its ice.

Big Bog Lake

It looks like the beaver lodge on the far side of the lake has survived the winter in fine shape.

Big Bog Lake Beaver Lodge

Heading back on the boardwalk, I came upon a UFO - an Unidentified Fallen Object. Don't know what it is, but it is colorful!

A red UFO

The pitcher plants haven't begun to green-up yet. In my opinion, they are more striking while dormant.

Pitcher Plant

A look into the business end of a pitcher plant.

Welcome to my parlor, said the plant to the fly.

From Big Bog Lake and the Bogwalk, I wandered over to Sundew Pond. The pond had also lost its ice and was an image of peaceful quietude.

Sundew Pond

Looked as if a pair of Goldeneye ducks also appreciated this quiet corner of the north woods.

Resting Goldeneye ducks

A very good day for a walk in the park!!

Notes from Barb: Fish Dinner, Anyone?

When a person goes out to dinner, it is usually not just to eat . . . or to get out of doing the dishes. We enjoy a bit of pampering, good service, right? We found a place in Charlevoix, Mich., an "in" place that served nothing but excellent fish dinners. It was located on the shore of Lake Charlevoix right in front of the fish dock. The fish served were whatever fish were caught that day. Once we were met at the hooked screen door with, "The fish boat is not unloaded yet. Come back later!" No "Please", no "Sorry", and no smile. We came back later . . . that was the way of their customers.

The place itself was an old Victorian house with none of the fancy trim we associate with houses of that era. It was the fisherman's former home. Guests came in off a side porch, took a left into the dining/living room. (A right led to the simple old-fashioned kitchen . . . a very ordinary "somebody's kitchen".) The floors were bare wood; tall, narrow windows had no curtains; walls were painted over wallpaper; and a simple fireplace mantel stood naked. However, a piece of fishnet was draped over nails on one wall. An arty touch? The whole house had a decided list to it.

No menu was offered. Patrons got what was served and that depended on what fish were caught that day. Occasionally one struck it lucky and could choose between lake trout and whitefish. You always got a choice of potato . . . and that ended your choices. Also you were served a vegetable, hush-puppies, and a cube of pineapple/carrot/lemon jello that had a distinctly different, delicious flavor. Once I asked what made that different taste. With a cold stare the waitress said, "We do not tell our cooking secrets!" (I had sinned by asking, that was clear.) All the food was the best ever . . . and they knew it.

Once a party of eight came it, sat down, and asked for menus. "We don't have menu. We serve fish dinners." "Fine. We'll have five fish dinners and three hamburgers and fries for the kids." (I flinched for them.) "We don't serve hamburgers here! If that's what you want, go to the hamburger stand." They left. I felt sorry for these unsuspecting souls who did not know the rules of the game.

We heard of this spot through friends as if we were being let in on a local secret . . . there was no advertising . . . just word of mouth. And since paying the check was no concern of mine, it wasn't until years later that I learned that prices there were compatible with the best restaurants in the area. Last time we were in that area, we found the entire house was gone! Probably it just leaned a bit too far one day.