September began with a couple of absolutely perfect days. The sky was crystal blue, nary a cloud to be seen, the temperatures hovering around 80 degrees with a politely light breeze. All the rain through August could have left things humid but that’s gone. I don’t remember an August as rainy as this year. It rarely rained during the day but many a night I awoke in the wee hours to the sound of thunder and pouring rain. A few times the wind blew so hard we had to get up and take down our outdoor umbrellas, which is sort of annoying but worth it: we didn’t lose an umbrella this summer. The Lakes are so full their surfaces look convex and the milfoil has its work cut out for it trying to break the surface and the creek is busting its banks which is highly unusual for this late in the summer.
Josie had come home on the bus so she could get to the State Fair a couple of times but her reprieve was over and yesterday morning I put her on the bus and waved goodbye. Back at home, Jay and I packed our overnight bags and headed north to Loon She*t Bay to spend Labor Day weekend with friends.
The drive was lovely. We stopped at the Milaca Unclaimed Freight store. You can spend hours in there, finding things you didn’t even know you needed. I recently bought all new hardware for my bathroom shower: rod, rings and curtains. Those ballbearing rings that you see in hotels really are so much better than decorative or cheap plastic rings, there no way to describe it. I had avoided them because who wants to spend $15.00 on ugly curtain rings? I found them at Tuesday Morning for $6.99 a set so I got some and now I have to put them on the upstairs shower rod as well.
Found two sets at the MUF store for $1.99 apiece. Got some heavy duty, metal grommet curtain liners for $1.99, too.
In another aisle I found bottles of paint that I use, each about $1.00 less than I pay at the art store. I got six colors, including three different metallic golds.
So this trip has already paid for itself.
Once we got close to our destination, we got temporarily lost in the woods (no satellite connection for our GPS. That never happens with a map) but eventually we found the right little dirt road leading to the proper edge of the lake. If the sun had set while we were still wandering the woods, we’d have had to sleep in the car.
Our wonderful hosts held dinner for us, since we were bringing the steaks. We actually arrived long before sunset. Plenty of time for pre-dinner drinks, talk and laughter. Jay and Ed grilled up the steaks, Jen did potatoes and onions in foil for the grill and Jean did dinner rolls. It was all delicious.
We come to Loon Sh*t Bay to relax. There’s no agenda, no schedule and no pressure. Joe asked me how many books I’d brought for the weekend.
“Only one,” I said, holding up Voyage to Alpha Centauri, which is over 500 pages. “But it should last.”
After dinner, the boys played cards while Jen and I went down to the dock to take advantage of the perfectly clear night to look at the stars.
Living in the city, I never get to see the sky like that. The last time was in South Dakota, after we left the reception at Megan’s folks farm. We stopped the car as soon as we’d left the lights of the party behind and got out to look at the stars. If you’ve never been out in the middle of farm country where there are no lights within your horizon, you have no idea how dark dark is and absolutely no idea how many stars can actually be seen.
Millions, billions, trillions.
Up here at the lake, we could see the faint white cloud of the Milky Way smeared behind the billions of points of light above us.
It reminded me of Montana on a moonless night. Some friends have a cabin in the Bear Paw mountains just outside of Havre. I remember walking a hundred yards from the cabin to the car, into the darkness so deep it swallowed you right up beneath a sky was so filled with stars it looked like a black table cloth upon which an entire box of salt had been dumped. All that light ended abruptly where the stark outline of the mountains rose up to block them out.
The world was different before electric light.
Standing on the dock, staring up at our galaxy, I saw one shooting star and one satellite.
I could almost hear God say “I made this for you.”
Thanks, God.