 Lunches
that rank as my all-time favorites have this in common: two slices of
soft white bread wrapping a slice of American cheese, garnished with a
hint of night crawler, washed down with an orange soda and served near
a rod-and-reel combo in a small rented boat with a testy outboard motor.
My dad was not the chef (that was Mom at home), but he always
did the unwrapping. Nine trips out of 10, my Snickers or Salted Nut
Roll was gone well before the noon break. Hounded by a persuasive whine
(mine), Dad almost always caved in on “dessert for breakfast.” This I
learned nearly from birth, which is about when he started taking me
fishing.
While I remember catching some real fish on these outings, I
also remember snagging quite a few “timber muskies” or “fish sticks,”
the wooden kind that you can carve, but not fillet. To Dad’s credit, he
took in stride the umpteen unnecessary snags caused by an early
obsession with casting, faking a bobber dip and then reeling in “to
check the bait.” Few fish would have been fast enough to grab the worm
on my line before it was water-skiing its way back to the boat.
So often memories made in our north woods are painted in
watercolors, or rather, colored by an experience on, in or around
water. Fishing, boating, dipping toes, skipping rocks, dropping rocks
accidentally on toes and skipping around on one foot on a sandy beach.
Hey, the best memories rarely invoke perfect moments (sandwiches
outside of a boat don’t taste all that good with dew-wormy undertones),
but memories can develop picture perfect when colored with emotions of
amusement, contentment or just plain joy. Fishing - or casting - with
Dad was just plain that.
Generously sprinkled throughout this issue are ways to create
a canvas for bright mental momentos. Internationally known Minnesota
photographer Jim Brandenburg freezes wild things and wild places in
images so exquisite that they find a place in our memories as if we
were there. In our “Lake Superior Living” section, residents suggest
their ideal outdoor spaces inviting enjoyment of friends, family and
backyard nature during our “non-winter” seasons. And in our list of 50
lifetime experiences around Lake Superior, we and our readers suggest
the sights, sounds and activities guaranteed to gather many sentimental
“souvenirs.”
Sometimes we may not realize how meaningful are the memories
we’ve made for others. Our own Jim Marshall, who writes about guiding
Boy and Girl Scout tours into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
in his “Lake Superior Journal,” probably does not realize how he
touched those young people. So I chatted with a former Scout on a
Jim-guided trip. Mona Knutson reminisced about Jim’s patient teaching,
impressive woods knowledge and what a wonderful role model he provided.
And she recalled with a chuckle how Jim taught them to canoe in fast
waters, then sent the girls down the river. “He’d stand on the bank and
yell his head off: Paddle! Paddle! Paddle! To the left, the left! Then
when we tipped over, he’d jump in and help us.”
A bit of adventure with a competent friendly guide. Does it get any better than that?
Not that I can remember.
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