My email receives a "word of the day", most of which are unfamiliar to me. Trouvaille is a lucky find, something that we think Hus OLAF is for us. We spent almost 3 weeks in the northern climes over the Christmas/New Year holidays.
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| The Trouvaille for Rusty and Me! |
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| Rusty limbs a balsam tree on our property. |
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| First time I ever got to saw down a Christmas tree. |
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| It's pretty much a Charlie Brown tree, but we loved it. |
We have many beautiful red and white pines on the property, but we want to save them. We cut down a balsam tree, commonly know as candlesticks during a forest fire.
Spending time at Hus OLAF is
SANATIVE (conducive to physical or spiritual health) for us. We sleep well at night, take afternoon naps, take time for a second cup of coffee in the morning and maybe even a cup of hot chocolate in the afternoon.
Whether it is the Danish word Hygge ( the national pursuit of all things cozy and enjoyable), or the Swedish word Mys (the feeling of warmth, like being wrapped in a woolen blanket amid lighted candles while sipping a steaming mug of tea with a purring cat on your lap), we did plenty of it during our stay at Hus OLAF.
That said, we spent many hours outside enjoying the cold, brisk, and snowy weather.
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| The snow clung to the trees and made for gorgeous hikes. |
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| Rusty plows a new trail with his snowshoes. |
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| A blowdown area on our property. |
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| Snowshoeing, but warm, in my mukluks. |
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| Rusty. almost too warm, in his anorak. |
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| Our ice and snow-covered lake (White Iron). |
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| We found a trail through the forest that led to our closest year-round neighbors. |
We found the sky-scape to be inspirational.
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| Sunrise from the cabin window. |
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| Sunset on the December 21 solstice from White Iron Lake |
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| Shadows of moon-lit trees |
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| At about 6 a.m. the moon shone in our window and lit up the inside of the cabin. |
My view on the trail.
On my morning walk I encountered dogsleds on the trail.
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| Rusty spent a fair amount of time practicing his clarinet. |
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| Gretchen enjoyed her time up north. |
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| A little Mys time |
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| As is our practice, we cook fine meals, this one enjoyed by candlelight. |
The people of Ely are bonhomie (express cheerful friendliness; geniality). They also have a sense of humor.
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| Social distancing sign at Zupp's, the local grocery. |
An extra special treat happened as we began to head home. About 10 minutes outside of Ely we spied a wolf standing on a snow-covered lake. A rare sighting indeed!
Sadly, only 3 days after our return to Lincoln, our Capitol was assaulted by right-wing terrorists. I cannot remain totally silent. I am disgusted and ashamed by the actions of President Trump and his base, and also many Republican officials who have become sycophants for Donald Trump.
I believe the Republican party has leaders who can speak truth to power: Lisa Murkowski, Mitt Romney, Pat Toomey, John Kasich, Larry Hogan, Colin Powell. Although I am a Democrat, I hope individuals like these can take control of the Republican Party and make it viable again. We need leaders who are honest and have a strong moral compass. We need a strong 2-party system for the future of our democracy.
Fareed Zacharia, journalist, speaks about the
optimism that can come from the events of Jan. 06, 2021. Take a look if you are interested.
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
