December 2023

While we await the Isle Royale book, we can buy and read, or reread, his earlier books resulting from his long career with the National Park Service at the Grand Portage National Monument and his curiosity and persistence. They include: Minong: The Good Place-Ojibwe and Isle Royale, Borealis: An Isle Royale Potpourri. A Good Boat Speaks for Itself: Isle Royale Fishermen and Their Boats, Gichi Bitobig, Grand Marais: Early Accounts of the Anishinaabeg and the North Shore Fur Trade,

Storms a’comin’ Let me begin with a recap of this year’s weather. This year, 2023CE, we have come from Winter, the season of dark, enduring cold - to Spring, the season of slightly less dark, but-still-enduring cold… plus wet - to Summer, the season that makes life worth living - to Fall, the only season we have that’s named after the comings and goings of a leaf.

You'll forgive us if, as children and youths, December was less outdoorsy, being the great Midwestern, the great Northern, the great North-European, the great childhood season of light and good cheer in the darkness. My grandpa didn't start walleye fishing until the end of December or even into January.

Ann Marie Mershon “And let it begin with me.” Ah, so easy to sing, yet difficult to attain. We can start at a personal level by making peace with ourselves and all of our shortcomings.