Wistful Wednesday: The Headwaters

This is an old family photo.  We are not sure exactly who it is.  We think it might be Great Uncle Herman.  I wish we knew for sure who it was.  It is a marvelous old photo. Update: Cousin Tom is fairly certain it is Great Uncle Herman.  
 
Where: This photo was taken at the Headwaters of the Mississippi River up in Itasca State Park. Why:  Because it is traditional that someone take photos of you when you walk across the rocks.  When:  Well preferably when there is no snow or ice.  When was this photo taken..I will guess sometime in the 1940’s or early 1950’s in August.

Yes, August..the weed beds are very similar..so I think August.  This is a photo that I took of my husband and a very good friend Sue.  She was thrilled to be able to walk over the Headwaters of the Mississippi in August of 2008.

Tourists coming into the museum sometimes ask “What do you recommend seeing in this area?”  I always encourage them to head to Itasca State Park during their stay:) 

Land of Sky Blue Waters II

Saturday was beautiful, today it is raining..finally!!  We needed rain so badly.  This is our first moisture in any form in about six weeks..April showers will bring May flowers!!  Now the grass will green up. Sadly the forecast is not for much rain..only a tenth of an inch.

Has anyone else noticed that it doesn't rain like it used to?  I remember when we would get at least two weeks of rain in the spring, long rainy weeks with good steady soaking rains.  Now I can spit more than it rains.

Far Guy saw the first Loon of the season, he was down at the public landing filling tanker trucks with water yesterday.  The new Fire Hall that opened last Saturday had it's first official structure fire yesterday. The wind rekindled it twice.  I asked him if anyone stopped to talk with him.. he said "no" ..being at the water hole can be pretty boring.  Osage does not have any fire hydrants..so water must be sucked out of the lake with a portable pump to fill the tanker trucks. Fighting rural fires is a whole different ball game, you need to know where to find a good source of water so that other fireman can put the wet stuff on the red stuff. 

When I look at this photo..I see a lake and so much more.  I see a home for fish, turtles, ducks and loons..and even those mean old eagles. I see a  beaver swimming with Aspen branches in his mouth.  A mama deer bringing her fawns for a drink in the first rays of dawn.  I see a place of recreation, little kids fishing off a dock or out of a boat. Water skiing or tubing..a canoe gliding along effortlessly in the early morning on a sheet of glass. An elderly couple in a paddleboat at sunset. Kids laughing and splashing on a warm summer day, doing cannonballs off the platform at the beach.  A dog getting his belly wet, chasing minnows in the water.    A fisherman on a bucket, bracing himself from the winter wind, keeping watch with his line, ready for the "big one".  Fish houses strung along the lake like colorful beads on a wintry necklace.  Snowmobiles making paths every which way.  And a lone fireman filling trucks with water. Water, frozen and ice covered, water, warm and refreshing.  Minnesota lakes are more than just sky blue water:)
 ** The ice went out completely on April 01, 2010