Sweet Corn

Here in the Heartland, the color of August is yellow

Glads from the garden,

yellow roses

prim roses

But the yellow we wait with breathless anticipation for is the yellow of 

corn on the cob!

This golden beauty comes from emerald fields

This is actually a picture of field corn, different from sweet corn. It's bigger and takes up mile after mile of heartland fields

Corn shouldn't be confused with our other emerald treasure

soybeans! See the corn in the background? The bean field is in the foreground of this picture.  Beans are much shorter than corn. I spent many, many days and weeks "walking beans" when we walked each row of a bean field and hand weeded.  The rows on our farm were often a half-mile or more long. Day after hot day in June we walked the fields. Today bean genetics and weed killers have both evolved so that almost no one "walks beans" anymore. But teenagers still walk the rows of corn detasseling.

This is what a corn tassel looks like.  Seed corn companies pay armies of teenagers to walk their fields every July, pulling the tassels out of the "female" rows of corn out so that the "male"corn pollinates the "female" corn, making new seed corn with the right genetics.

Most Heartlanders of a certain age (mine) first paid job was detasseling corn.  It was hot, dirty work walking down these narrow rows of corn with their razor sharp leaves.

Here's an ear of corn in the field.

And here's an ear on the plate, with my other favorite yellow thing....butter!

Before

After!

Hope you're enjoying your August and whatever color you associate with August!

Hugs xx00

Quiet

The sound of water, the smell of woods, out of cell phone and Internet range, my soul longs for quiet.  It's time for our annual pilgrimage to the north woods where there's no TV, or AC or IT only woods, cicadas, crickets, smoky fires.

 We're very blessed with good friends Tom and Mary Ann who invite us to share their Minnesota cabin in the woods a couple of times a year. If you're looking for an escape from the hustle and bustle of a too jammed pack life, check out Minnesota the land of lakes and loons, the bird type not like the type next door.

We enjoy quiet walks along the lake shore.

 Dining al fresco

 Even the birds have rustic luxe accommodations

In the woods there's time to appreciate a sunrise,

 a good discussion,

woodland beauty.

 Sitting here watching the waves of Lake Superior lap against the shore, thinking about the eons that the lake has been here and will be here the insignificance of my worries and cares hits me.  Sitting here, watching the waves roll in I let it all go and find like Thoreau, "My thoughts have left no track, and I cannot find the path again."

 The well worn paths of worry give way to the Lakeshore Trail. In this crowded, busy world taking a walk in the woods slows my racing heart and mind down to the pace nature intended.

The fresh air fills my lungs, everything slows down to the rhythm of the waves, so much like the rhythm of my own heart.  Separated from the electronic buzz, I think I can just make it's steady rhythm out, splish-splosh, whish-whosh, my hearts beats the same rhythm as the waves.

For me seeing the wonders of nature: eagles, a fox and her kits, loons diving, the green of the woods is a necessary balm for a nature wired a little tight. I silence the alarms on my phone, signals which normally move me to the next task, letting the day unfold naturally.

Breakfast at the Lockport Grocery

They let you take the morning newspaper off the stand, read it and return it to the stand without paying a cent. The scrambled eggs with ham are cooked to perfection, neither runny nor dry.

The shelves of the charming grocery are well stocked.  The waitress who doubles as the grocery stocker calls you "Dear" when you pay your bill, just like you're a regular.

Without alarms going off, we stop at Cascade Falls trail which promises "spectacular waterfalls"....all of the roadside trails on Hwy 61 promise "spectacular waterfalls" and none disappoint.

After lunch at the Crooked Spoon in Grand Marais, we check out the bait shop.

Look at this sign more carefully.  Do you see the beaver making their den, the walleye? Doesn't this look like the kind of place you just have to visit?!

The Beaver House is a true curiosity shop.

A frolic in the icy waters of Lake Superior

Smore's

A blue moon, a perfect end to a perfect day.