Saturday, July 12, 2008  -  HE SAID:   Another busy day.  The town of Deer River was having their annual wild rice festival so we decided to drive into town and see what it was all about.  We walked around the swap meet and in and out of the local shops.  Doug bought a hat, and Marce and Dar bought some books.  I didn't buy anything.  You can see they liked the bear holding a fish and sitting on a potty.  Just down the street is the old Deer River hospital where I was born 62 years ago.  Now it is an apartment building since they built a new and modern replacement.  We stopped and visited with my brother Clifford and his wife Edna for a while and enjoyed some of her freshly baked pumpkin cake and cookies.  As we were leaving town Dar spotted John an Indian medicine man that she knows.  We stopped and were introduced to him.  Marce really liked him and said she felt his extremely strong spirit.  He is a neat fellow who is up into his 80's and still teaches his native Indian language at the local college.  We planned on attending a live performance of Showboat tonight but it was cancelled due to the weather.  It is extremely windy and cold today.  This does not feel like the Julys that I remember as a boy.  We got some rain today, but not a lot.  Notice all the white-caps on the lake in the lower photo.  That photo was taken at a resort called "Highbanks" on Lake Winnebegosh.  Doug and I stopped in there for a beer and a short visit with the owner.  The wind is howling right now and I keep looking out the window expecting to see a cow go blowing by like in the Wizard of Oz. 

Saturday, July 12, 2008  -  SHE SAID:  Apparently, whoever named Chicago the Windy City, has never visited Deer River, MN. The winds have been swirling through the trees with gusto since last night and are showing no signs of slowing down at the moment, but it is actually kind of exciting. Sure helps keep the bugs at bay though, especially those little blood sucking mosquitoes who try to lie in wait for me until bedtime.

It was truly another blessed day, being able to enjoy the charm of a small town celebration, more good food, and meeting some lovely people. As Don mentioned above, meeting the wonderful old fella who is an Indian medicine man, was more than delightful. He truly exudes an incredibly powerful spirit of peace and kindness and we were laughing because I rubbed his shoulder several times so some of his powerful spirit would rub off on me.

I also felt incredibly blessed to have so much time to visit with Dar--she is such a powerful woman of God, our conversations always inspire and strengthen me. She and Doug always make us feel so loved and welcomed when we come to MN, along with ALL of Don's family. I feel pretty lucky to have married into this crazy bunch!