Sawdust and Snow

The Calm......

.....Before the Storm

I spent some time in St. Ignace recently.  Snow and ice everywhere!  I could actually see the the fabric-like ice spreading over the green water on Lake Huron, as each day went by.  

Ice Forming its Pattern at Marina in St. Ignace

Thanksgiving was just me and Mom.  Some things are so obvious to be thankful for, I don't even know how saying it would be beneficial.  

I enjoyed watching the "Downton Abby" series with Mom, while I was home.  We had so many laughs. The drama!  The suspense! (Thanks, Karen for sharing the DVDs)

Brendan, Ready to Get Things From the Attic
to Decorate For Christmas

We painted rocks, decorated her place (for Christmas), took naps with the sun streaming through the windows.  

I walked down to the lake to look for rocks, practiced music for the annual Musicale held up at the Methodist Church in St. Ignace, read, and enjoyed being with Mom, in my childhood home.  She has a gas fireplace that was on more than not.  It's a joy to relax and do nothing with someone else.  The guilt isn't there, like it is when you're alone.

Jenna, Performing at Musicale

Thanks for Taking Pictures, Hilda!

My brother Tim's family was up north, too.  Jenna sang with me at the Musicale, so we had plenty of practice sessions, so I could get my act together.  She's a natural at music.  After the performance she told me a little girl came up to her, hugged her and said, "You are so awesome!"  I don't think she realized how much of a star she was to that young girl, or how much of a role-model, too.

Caroling at Java Joe's

Mom and Joe at the Cafe

We started an "Annual" event for ourselves.  We decided the day after the Musicale, we would all go to Java Joe's for breakfast and sing Christmas songs.  It was a blast.  Joe kept refilling our coffee and hot chocolate with whipped cream.  I even made up my own verses for a few songs to add to the atmosphere.   When we sang "Rudolph" we could hear the cook, (Joe's wife), singing along in the kitchen. 

I stayed two extra days in St. Ignace because of stormy weather.  The first time I was going through the toll-gate, at the bridge, Kristine McDonald said, "Margaret, you do not want to get on that road, it's bad all throughout Michigan."

I said, "You know what?  I'm going to take your advice."  She refunded my four dollars and told me where to turn around. 

Bridge With Ice Below
(The Red and Green Lights are on For the Holidays)

I had been held up in a long stream of cars for a hour, before I talked to her. We all were waiting for the police and fire department to clear up an accident that occurred on the bridge.  Turning around seemed like the only practical thing to do.  I didn't even want to think about the high winds, icy bridge and impatient people driving.   

I appreciated her voicing her opinion, I wouldn't have thought of turning around.  I was "on my way".  So, I'm glad I ended up in her booth, instead of ending up in a ditch somewhere with below zero temperatures and bad roads.

Two Ships-Waiting Out the Storm in the Bay
December 7

When I was heading South, across the bridge  (back to Ann Arbor),  almost two weeks later, I was surprised to see the Coast Guard Cutter, carving a pathway through some of the thicker ice in the Straits of Mackinac. 

The Causeway by the bridge had large circular ice-flows bumping against each other, like lily pads floating a pond.  I always take my time to go across the bridge.  It's so beautiful to look across the Straits, from the bridge.  I get my four dollars worth by going 35 mph the whole way across. It's stunning, every time.

Icy Lily-pads

I think the climax of my trip North was when Tim and I were down in the basement looking at all the things Dad kept "In case".  Some items on little nails, some on hooks, some in make-shift containers, plastic (see-through) containers, others hanging from the rafters, or just organized in a way to make things easy to find.  All labeled. Sometimes, even dated.

"What is this?"  "Have you ever seen one of these?"  "Do you know what he used this for?"  "OMG, he has every size of dowel up there!"  We laughed so hard, over and over.  When I saw the old phone down there, I said, "Why is this here?"  Tim said, "It probably works!"  I tried it.  Sure enough, it did work.  More laughter!

I didn't tell my brother I could hear Dad's ghost say, "Put that right back where you got it, when you're done."  I suppose Tim heard a few reminders, too when we down there.  He didn't say.  

It would make me happy, someday, when I'm gone, if my girls go through my things and have a few laughs.  It would mean they remember, they understand.  

As much as Tim and I laughed, we both knew--we're our father's children.  We appreciate cool tools, unusual organization containers, inventing things using simple, everyday items.  We love our own space for our "Keepsakes".  We are fascinated by the past and how things were.  We have inherited some of his traits and habits.

We can still hear the bandsaw, feel the sawdust under our feet, hear the radio on the Canadian channel, and smell the smells of vanish, epoxy and wood.  It makes us smile when we lift the latch, (Dad made) to enter his man-cave.  Or when we grab the bottle-lid on the end the chord to turn on the individual lights. 

Nothing changes more constantly than the past; for the past that influences our lives does not consist of what actually happened, but of what men believe happened.

                                                                                             Gerald W. Johnson 

Nothing is as new as something which as been long forgotten.     

Proverb

There is no past that we can bring back by longing for it. There is only an eternally new now that builds and creates itself out of the Best as the past withdraws.   Goethe