Last night I went to the wedding of a childhood friend, Mark. It was a very nice service and a beautiful reception. The bride looked absolutely gorgeous, and the two looked incredibly in love. It is fun to watch as old friends begin new stages of their lives. Of course there were a few other old classmates there, and so many of them have children. It always makes me wonder when we got so old, and why I still feel so young!

I’ve been feeling spoiled by nature today! I decided on a walk half way down “our” road this morning for a couple of reasons… a) I just didn’t feel like running, and b) it would give me more time and concentration for enjoying the beautiful colors of the leaves and the deer waiting at the top of the hill upon my return.

Just a bit later, the sun was beating down on Dad, Uncle Glenn and I as we worked to remove yet another pile of debris from the re-roofing project. Of course, we decided to reward ourselves with a jump in the lake. The water was brisk but certainly swimmable, and the three of us floated around for a nice chunk of time. We were in the perfect spot to catch an osprey drive into the water ahead of us and come back with it’s lunch – a sunfish. These birds are incredible to watch. They make a huge splash as they crash into the water, and it’s a wonder how they’re able to be so precise with their “fishing”. Following the osprey was a bald eagle… it was a bit like being right in the middle of the nature channel. Take that, High Def! 😉

Anyway, next up on the list was a trip out to the hunting shack to pick some hazelnuts. This is the first time I’ve really done it, and the actual nuts themselves are pretty small. The picking was easy, though.

Here is what the nuts look like right off the tree.

We filled this big bucket as well as two ice cream pails.

Now we will spread them out to dry in the sun before removing the “husks”. (I’m not sure if that’s the right terminology, but it makes sense to me!) Once we’ve got only the nuts remaining we will likely just set them in a dish with a nut cracker. They don’t yield a whole lot of “meat”, so this project is definitely more about the process than the product. I like it!

We also came across some high bush cranberries. They’re not quite ripe, though – and therefore awfully bitter. Perhaps we’ll have to go grab some later this fall to replace the bag that always sat in our freezer in Unalakleet. I’m thinking cranberry orange scones! 🙂