Late Bloomers

 
Today was cold and rainy as predicted. I decided that writing was called for whether I felt like it or not. That's why I call myself a writer, right?

So I'll share the ordinary flowers blooming on my walk the other day. Ordinary is not to say unworthy. The bright colors are always welcome.

Calico aster:



Butter and eggs (a toadflax):



New England Aster:



I finished the chapter I was working on before the hike, which was a long one, and seems like a big accomplishment. Here's a teaser from "Misaabe-wijaw Walk."

Mesabi, Missabe, Misaabe, Messabe. Choose a spelling. They all fit into our walking and word game obsessions.

We begin with a road walk from the Chippewa National Forest to Grand Rapids, and end with a road walk from Virginia to Snowbank Road. In the middle are 82 miles of paved trail. Not a single piece of forest treadway where unmarked forks can be mystifying. Still, it’s nice to have direction at junctions.

The Mesabi Trail has yellow gateways at the entrance and exit to each community. We track our progress as we pass beneath each soaring arch where a Mesabi emblem and the name of the city or village is displayed.

The roads we are taking are almost all routes clearly marked with state or county numbers. Occasionally, we walk parts of scenic drives such as the Great River Road. We know the turns well from Ely to the Snowbank Road trailhead. We just drove it in May, so there is no problem finding our way there. And, remember, each day we are putting out a car at our start and end points. We have plenty of practice finding our way.

The mile marker posts on the Mesabi Trail are like stars on a reward chart. It’s encouraging to see them mount up as we pass, 1,2...26...71...

There is no other news. I focused on words.

	See Butterflies Like Purple
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