Trail Center

Nothing like a little chainsaw sculpture to make one feel at home in the wilderness.

The Weaver and I have been going to “our” place up North for many years now. We had thought about buying a lake place of our own and we were even offered the chance to buy my father-in-law’s old lake cabin but the idea of maintaining another house three hundred miles away wasn’t very appealing.  A few of neighbors are into this lifestyle and every weekend finds them fighting traffic for hours as they spend their days off mowing, painting and working on a house they live in less that a couple of months out of the year.  More power to them, but I’m way too lazy for that.

We’ve returned to The Little Ollie Lake Cabin again and again. We find it to be just the right mix of comfort (sauna, washing machine) and wilderness (a stone’s throw away from trails into the Boundary Waters) and, best of all, when our stay has ended we are free of obligations. The only things we have to carry home are our memories. This year we were treated to an evening of food and stories, thanks to blog-pal Jono. He stopped in at our cabin which he remembered having worked on years ago! He suggested we go to the Trail Center, a lodge/restaurant a few miles away. It is the quintessential North Woods establishment, with numerous artifacts adorning the ceilings and walls:






We were joined by “The Cooker"” and “Stitch”, Jono's partners in crime, as well as an animated server:



Everybody knew everybody, of course, both Jono and “The Cooker” had worked at the Trail Center in years past. We shared a delightful meal, with several “sides” of stories from the north land. Afterwards came the traditional “long goodbye” a hallowed Scandinavian tradition. Even the parking lot was picturesque:




Thanks again to Jono and his “crew” who gave us a wonderful time.

Jono’s Letter from Grand Marais

As the Great White North turns into the brown and white north with the advent of spring we find ourselves staying indoors a bit more than we wish. While the daily temperatures creep above freezing and we are expecting between half an inch of rain or six inches of snow which would normally get us all out to complain to each other about the weather we are pursuing a different course. The Covid-19 virus seems to have us all in adaptation mode. People are out walking even more than usual as we are not used to confinement and, after being indoors for much of the winter, we want out! The good thing is that in a small town where most of the streets are paved we are surrounded by Superior National Forest on land and Lake Superior for those who prefer water.

This is a tourist based economic area and now we would be going into our shoulder season where we wouldn’t be expecting a lot of visitors until about the time of the Fishing Opener which is often considered a high holiday in these parts. That is the 9th of May this year. Things really get rolling about June, though, as kids get out of school for the year. This year is different. The little buggers are home now for their spring break, but they started couple of days early and will not be going back this year by the looks of it. The teachers are working on lesson plans for the kids to do at home in order to make headway in achieving the knowledge they are expected to have by the end of the school year.

The biggest down side is that many folks are without an income at the moment. Thank goodness for unemployment insurance, but many up here are small and/or independent businesses who only get paid when they work and aren’t covered. Many people are about one paycheck from financial disaster. In this county we are at least 25% aged 65 and older and many of us in that age group still work. Fortunately for me, I am in an “essential” business so I still can. It is normally a quiet time of year for us in the building supply business, but things are still going on. We are small businesses (only 7 where I work) and many of our builders work alone or with one or two other people. It is easy to keep our distance from each other. For introverts like me this isn’t too much of a lifestyle change. I think what gets to people is the uncertainty. If this goes on for more than a couple of months it could get really painful.

One of the bright spots in this for our little community is that we seem to have more people that want to do something to help out their fellow residents. The grocery stores have needed help in order to get food out to all their customers, but also need to stay safe and keep personnel safe in what is now referred to as “social distancing.” Volunteers are pushing shopping carts around in the stores gathering orders that have been phoned or emailed into the stores and greeters are outside dropping off grocery bags to the waiting vehicles (or bikes or pedestrians) when they arrive to pick up their food. Amazingly, the system is starting to smooth out and folks seem to be getting the hang of it. I have even started volunteering a couple of times a week to grocery shop for people. From what I see on the signup sheets there are enough folks to do what needs to be done. 

While there is very little vehicular traffic rolling around and the town has its moments of apparent desertion, you can detect the energy of things going on in homes and between friends and neighbors. Gasoline is down to $1.99 per gallon, but no one is buying it as there is nowhere to go. I was going to take a few days and go south to visit some friends, but will put that off until I know everyone is safe and healthy and this plague has gone by. They have closed the Canadian border so there is much less traffic crossing that. Just commercial traffic seems to still be moving to and from our northern neighbors.

In Iceland they have a phrase that is used often enough to be considered a national motto of sorts. “Þetta reddast”. It means something to the effect of it’ll all work out okay. In time everything seems to do just that.

“Jono” is a resident of Grand Marais, Minnesota (and a long-time follower of FITK); I have met him on a couple of occasions. I asked him to write to me, telling of the situation there. Grand Marais, at the beginning of the Gunflint Trail, is almost like a home-away-from-home for me—our family has been using it as a base of operations for summer excursions ever since the kids were little. We have rented a place near there for a weekend in July, but it is too soon to know how that will play out.

Ploughman's Lunch

   I could hardly refuse an invitation from my old blog-pal Darien to join her and her husband in a light meal. Although her blog days may be behind her, we still keep in touch and the Weaver and I have managed to see her every year or so (she has relatives who live nearby.) We are both Iceland fanatics, but over the years, we have found that we have many other things in common. I've found some of my favorite bloggers (Karen and Shoshanah) through her. She was also instrumental in getting the Laxness in Translation site off the ground. After lunch we went for a stroll with Darien's grand-niece Coco:


John, Darien, Batty, Weaver, Coco (in front)

   One of the unexpected pleasures of blogging has been in actually meeting some of the people I've been following. I'm scheduled to meet Jono next week and may even be able to drop in on Shoshanah in October.

North

Laurentian Divide Lookout, Gunflint Trail, Cook County, Minnesota

Back from travelin' in the north country fair, where the winds hit heavy on the borderline. In spite of Dylan’s foreboding lyric, the weather there was glorious, perfect for hiking on the myriad trails and byways in Minnesota’s Arrowhead region:



While we didn't encounter any wildlife bigger than the Blue and Gray Jays that came to our cabin for handouts, there were plenty of moose tracks, as well as the “calling cards” left on the side of the trash bins by the neighborhood bears:



There were still a few fishermen plying their craft on the chilly waters:



And forests full of fungi:



We did manage to catch a little local nightlife at the Trail Center:




And I even caught a glimpse of the rare Yeti “Jono” in his native habitat:



No birds in his beard, however!

Year-end Inspirations

Crackpot                                                       Pine-paneled garret                                          Inspirations

2016!

Need I say more?

This year-end post won’t wallow in the mire of politics, nor will it memorialize celebs that have gone on, prematurely or not. Instead, let me celebrate the good that has come out of this increasingly anachronistic enterprise—Flippism is the Key. I know many pundits have declared that “Blogs are Dead”, but they still exist: attended by furtive, fuzzy-sweater wearing crackpots who have, in their pine-paneled garrets, been erecting shrines to their virtual obsessions.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

As you may have noticed, I’ve been “dumping” my Icelandic images and stories here lately—I’m stopping my Icelandic coverage. Twelve years is enough; the well has gone dry.  A wild ride, especially when I think of all the people I’ve interacted with on FITK and my literary site, Laxness in Translation, both in Iceland and around the world. All the FITK Icelandic-themed posts will remain, of course, as a sub-archive of one man’s infatuation.

I’ll be starting a new “Friday Fiction Feature” next week: an open-ended, loosely structured work, more experimental in nature, for people who actually read. The episodes are intended to stand on their own, but there will be recurring characters and a rudimentary plot. FITK will still feature pictures, more illustrative than realistic, perhaps even a return of some new Sharon Spotbottom. Less facts, more fun. Finally, what would a year-end wrap-up be with mentioning those who have inspired me all year long?

Jono, the Horse Whisperer of Grand Marais, doing what needs to be done.

Annie from Wales, Ireland, and Iceland. Consorts with Wes Anderson, Steven Spielberg, and her new baby.

Bob, the Scottish Scientist, master of all knowledge and pub quizzes.

Gemma from Seattle, writer and Iceland-nut.

Jófríður, unstoppable force of nature.

Karen from Richmond, hired mouth supreme.

Sheila, master culture vulture.

Minnesotastan, intelligent trivia pursuer.

Caitlin, memento mori fine artist.

Rich, who has been an inspiration for over fifty years!

And, of course, Shoshanah, the pride of Mount Horeb, artist, writer, shepherdess, supermom, exquisite rascal and all-around bon-vivant.

See you next year!

Autumn Getaway

Jumping the season, we're looking forward to a mini-vacation on the Gunflint Trail in the first week of October. The cabin pictured above is our "home away from home", we've been going there for over a dozen years. We put in a rental reservation a month ago but have yet to hear from Barbara and Ted, the owners.  It might be our last trip, it is for sale,  it just may be that they have a buyer lined up, and don't want to commit in case the sale goes through. It isn't a big deal, there are plenty of places near there we can stay. This place, "Little Ollie Cabin", is kind of funky (pictures at the link), but very comfortable and private. It feels as if it is our own, without the hassles of upkeep and property taxes.

Maybe we'll even see Jono and his crew again!

Year End Close-out

2021 is almost over. Anyone want to re-live it?

Things have been pretty low-key this year at Flippism World Headquarters (shown above). This blog keeps sputtering on like an old car with multiple mechanical issues. It still gets from point A to point B, however, and I still get my daily dose of visitors from around the world (here’s looking at you, South Africa, Korea, Portugal, Blaine MN, Ireland, and, of course, Iceland.) A big thanks to all my regulars; Jono, Cousin Mary, Ouroboros, Bob the Scientist, and an equally big thanks to all the lurkers who don’t comment. A fair amount of visitors come to check out old posts; although Google search algorithms are skewing more toward recent entries a few really old favorites (i.e., Setwell Hangers) still get regular attention.

My other blog, Laxness in Translation is also doing OK, with a daily world-wide variety of visitors and the occasional in-depth visit from what I assume are students doing last-minute research for term-papers. LIT is even referenced in a University of Iceland syllabus! I still get the occasional scholarly request for information via the site and I’m expecting of flurry of interest next March when the new translation of Salka Valka is published.

And so, leaving 2021 on ‘Flippist’ note, here are a couple of truly bizarre videos and two really elegant ones:

Jessica Mitford ‘sings’ the most wretched song The Beatles ever recorded:



Marie Osmond performs Dadaist poetry from memory:



This Newen Afrobeat video is some of the best music I’ve seen all year:



And their cover of Fela Kuti’s Zombie is extremely intense (starts at 51:40):




Friday: The final installment of the serial fiction House Party.

2020 Vision

After an extended absence, Madame Tara returns with this look at

            The Future!

IN THE YEAR 2020…


Elon Musk will release consumer jet-packs, sold with a matching flame-thrower. In a related story, the entire State of California is consumed by wildfire.

Amazon will introduce “Smart-alec” furniture, including a chair that will say “Oof!” when you sit on it and then spout disparaging comments about your weight while it sends information to weight-loss programs that will cause its offers to appear on your digital devices, as well as ads for junk food.

Professor Batty will sell his Flippism is the Key website to a consortium of investors who will then turn it into a multi-platform computer game. It sells 37 copies.

President Mike Pence, in a surprise move, does not pardon Donald Trump. In another, possibly related, move he has a private dinner with Melania Trump.

In the span of a week, Hurricanes Priscilla, Quentin and Reggie effectively wipe Mar-a-Lago off the map. “It’s all Obama’s fault,” tweets ex-president Trump from his prison cell.

Kanye West, vacationing in a North Korean insane asylum, calls the hurricanes “More of that B_____ Taylor Swift’s witchcraft.”

Facebook announces its “FB+” service that not only improves your posts, it creates entirely new ones from the data it stores about you.

Facebook announces its “Super FB+” service: a FB account for every man woman and child on earth, with content supplied by Facebook. It is not possible to opt out.

Professor Batty options Flippism is the Key to Wes Anderson, who turns it into The Royal Grand Life of the Fantastic Mr. Flip. It stars Bill Murray as Professor Batty, Angelica Houston as The Weaver, Bob Balaban as Jono, Scarlett Johansson as Shoshanah, Emma Stone as Sharon Spotbottom, and Annie Atkins as herself. JFDR composes the soundtrack. It grosses $300,000,000. Batty receives only $200 and a mention in IMBD.

Thanks Madame T, we’ll be checking back with you in…

                The Future!

Fish Leather and Dreams of Iceland

Fashion, Skólavörðurstígur, 2004

For all you dreamers out there...

It's been a while since I've done an overview of the Icelandic sites I've been visiting recently. There seems to be a resurgence of interest in Iceland, at least in the blogosphere. I've found several new sites and some of my old faves have been especially inspired lately. So, without further ado and in no particular order, respectfully submitted for your consideration:

UPDATE: All of the below links are now (2020) defunct except for the Pascal Pinon ones.

The Saga-Steads of Iceland: A 21st-Century Pilgrimage< by Emily Lethbridge, a 31-year-old Cambridge-based academic researcher. She is really into Iceland, past and present- a true fanatic.

Rósir og hraunbreiður (Roses and Lava) by Unnur Birna Karlsdóttir (Google translated) offers an intriguing look at Iceland and modern life.

Nancy Campbell is a writer and printmaker currently living in Siglufjörður.

I've mentioned I Heart Reykjavík before. This site keeps on getting better, an absolute must for anyone traveling to Reykjavík for the first time (or returning- things are changing rapidly.) Auður has the scoop on food, fashions and fun.

Maria Roff's Iceland Eyes has been especially fine lately with insightful essays complementing her eclectic photography. An honest portrayal of Iceland and also full of ideas of things to see and do.

Jono's Otto's son blog is from another Iceland-dreamer, he lives in Northern Minnesota, but has a genetic connection.

I'd Rather Be In Iceland by "Eva Lind" (no, she isn't Inspector Erlendur's daughter) says it all in the title. Hopelessly infatuated.

wdvalgardson's kaffihus is the blog of another "Western Icelander", the author is a true author, and his posts are exceptional- not for short-attention spans. His posts on Halldór Laxness' The Fish Can Sing and Paradise Regained are featured in the Laxness in Translation site.

Finally, that teen-age girl-group Pascal Pinon is touring Japan (What were you doing when you were 17?) in support of their album, with a new "Japan-only" EP. The link takes you to an index of sites related to PP. Don't forget to check out Ásthildur's home-made video including clips from their younger sisters- very dream-like!

The Minnesota Trilogy

The Land of Dreams
Only the Dead
The Raven

by Vidar Sundstøl
Translated by Tiina Nunnally
University of Minnesota Press 2013, 2014, 2015

My winter of Scandinavian murder mysteries takes an inside-out turn with these books set along Highway 61 on Minnesota’s north shore. The author is a native Norwegian who lived in the Arrowhead district between Duluth and Canada for several years. He put his considerable powers of observation to work on the peoples, cultures and geography of this location, overlaying it with an appreciation of its history. The story centers on a “forest cop” Lance Hansen who becomes involved with the a brutal murder of a Norwegian tourist near the shore of Lake Superior. It is spread out over three books, with the bulk of the middle book consisting of flashbacks to an incident that occurred in the area over one hundred years ago. There is a great amount of detail in the trilogy: history of both immigrants and Native Americans, local businesses, family dynamics, and the personal struggles of the protagonist. I do think that the three books (700+ pages total) could have been made into one shorter book that would have had just as much impact. That said, you never want a well-written book to end, right?

The translator is the incomparable Tiina Nunnally, you won’t find a better one.

These books were a big hit in Norway. It was very interesting seeing what a gifted foreign writer can do with a novel set in my own home state. I wonder if Jono has read these?

Here is a great interview with the author as well as in-depth reviews of each volume of The Minnesota Trilogy.

Joshua Tree

A vacation in the Palm Springs area wouldn’t be complete with a side trip to the Joshua Tree National Park.

Lots of rocks:



And cactus:



We can’t forget the creepy Skull Rock:



Or the subtle beauty of lichens:



A slot canyon, in 3-D:



And, just for Jono, a Joshua Tree!






Tomorrow: More from the Coachella Valley…

The Nature

I’m being punished for trying to escape the wrath of Mother Nature. A week in Tucson during the coldest weather in years (HOW COLD WAS IT, JONO?) Upon my return more cold and now, adding insult to injury, snow:



More snow is on the way.

The piles at the end of the driveway are as high as gravity will allow.

Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide…

I need some deep winter comfort food…

New Fall Season on FITK

I’ll be in and out of out of town a lot in the next three weeks causing my  posts to be even more haphazard than usual. In light of that fact I’m giving an update on my link-list (featured in the sidebar) in case you are looking for some more sustenance from your usual blog-fodder.

Culture: Starts off with All Dylan, which some might call Too Much Dylan. Still, it is a wealth of information and innumerable concert videos of Bob as well as those of related artists. Sheila O’Malley’s The Sheila Variations is a movie and pop-culture review site with an occasional foray into literature and a serious infatuation with the music of The Troggs, extremely well-written. Tyler Cowen’s MarginalRevolution economics blog is often incomprehensible to me but has great links and interesting cultural side trips.

Literati includes Azizi’s pancocojams which offers an in-depth look at a wide variety of culture descended from African roots. Jono’s Otto’s Son occasional blog has been on a roll lately, with interesting excerpts from his father’s WWII diaries and photo essays on life in the arrowhead region of Minnesota' 'North Coast'. Over on the East Coast, Karen Newton’s I COULD GO ON AND ON really does just what the title implies; I wouldn’t miss a single day of this Joie de vivre blog from Richmond, Virginia. Like Nabokov, Karen is, above all else, a first-class "noticer". Shoshanah’s diary is the chronicle of a kindred spirit’s quest to make sense of life, art, child-rearing and animal husbandry; she is a true Flippist Master.

Iceland: Alas! My Icelandic connections have been fading lately, the notable exception being Auður's stellar I Heart Reykjavík. She has managed the extremely rare feat of turning her blog into a successful commercial enterprise without losing her personal touch. Her Twitter feed (in the TNT sidebar link) is great as well. (UPDATE: Closed due to Covid)

Tech: A more technical offering, but also somewhat "Flippist", is Bob the Scientist’s Science matters.  Often obscure but always astute.

TNT includes two twitterers of note: Aparna Nancheria, who is a stand-up comic and writer, has a great feed. I often find myself laughing out loud at her koan-like pronouncements on modern life. I don't have any idea who Mike Ginn (not the actor) is but I find his twitter feed hilarious.

Of course you are welcome to peruse all the links in my sidebar (you can even check out my depressing sitemeter). I use them as sort of a personalized RSS feed (remember those?)

Seasonal Shift

As the earth rotates the sun, creating the seasons, so goes my closet as well. All the Hawaiian shirts, my usual summer fare, have been laundered and placed at the far end of the rack while the coveted “center position” is now occupied by wool shirts, hoodies and long sleeves.  Perched above are the lords of the haberdashery: the sweaters. They pay for themselves in savings on the heating bill by allowing the comfortable household temperature to be set considerably lower.

Around the yard, we had a frost scare Friday night, but the long term looks seasonably warm until the middle of October, giving the tomatoes a reprieve and postponing the annual transplanting of the Norfolk Island Pine, an odd choice for a houseplant (being nearly six feet tall and four feet across) but I've “bonded” with it; I’d hate to see it freeze to death. It really has grown too big for Flippist World Headquarters; it may have to reside in the basement (Flippist World Hindquarters) and make do with a grow light.

Jono’s hummingbirds made an appearance here yesterday—no doubt on their way to a warmer clime.  The school kids have been flocking as well, this year their bus stops on our corner so our mornings are filled with the chirpings of elementary students.  I don’t mind these changes, as Lois Lenski would say: “Now it’s fall, just the nicest time of all.”

Summer Fun

Moon over Lake Superior, Grand Marais, Minnesota

The Weaver and I are in Grand Marais, grooving to the Rich Lewis Band and, hopefully, hanging out with Jono. I’ll post more about this mini-vacation when we return to Flippist World Headquarters—just in time to meet up with my old blog-pal Darien.

Village Smithy

Grand Marais, Minnesota, 2009

Under a spreading chestnut tree
The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of his brawny arms
Are strong as iron bands. ~ Longfellow

An old style blacksmith's shop that I spotted on vacation a few years ago; I just had to peek through the dirty window. It was so dark inside I couldn't really see much so I set the shutter as slow as I dared and hoped for the best:



There's a story there, I'd bet that Jono knows it.

Slumbering Sites…

Annie

Auður  *  *   * 

Carrie

Caroline

Darien

Dave

ECS   *

Jono

Karen

Kristín * 

Maria   *  

Reshma

Stephen

William

Leaving Home

Summers are too nice in Minnesota to spend much time traveling around the country. Now that Autumn has officially begun, the urge to migrate affects more than the birds. We'll be heading up to The Boundary Waters, to "our" little shack in the pines. Look out Jono, here we come!

Fall River Summer

A welcome break from self-imposed quarantine. The Weaver and I (carefully) headed north to an Air B&B that we had booked pre-covid-19:



Being in the middle of a poplar forest with a geologically interesting river down the hill, we saw no one, we heard only animal sounds, whispering leaves and the babbling of flowing water:



On the way back we did stop in Grand Marais for coffee. The Weaver went for a stroll and I stopped in and had a chat with long-time FITK commenter Jono:



His “Stonehenge” was constructed of the same rock that I saw lining the Fall River.

V.A.C.A.T.I.O.N.

… in the summer sun.

The Weaver and I are tripping on the shores of Lake Superior in Grand Marais, Minnesota.

We hope to catch a break from the heat with some cooler weather. GM is naturally air-conditioned and if, buy some chance it does get freakishly warm, we can dunk our heads in the lake.

Looking forward to dinner with frequent FITK commentator Jono and some picturesque hikes.

I’ll be posting about this mini-vacation next week.