6/6/2023 – Summer has officially arrived here in the Northwoods. After an unrelenting snowy winter, the cold temperatures and snow/ice covered landscape has given way to warmth and green. We can finally smell the soil again and the forest is teeming with life. During the early stages of the transition, grouse abounded the Sawbill grounds and surrounding points.

A couple of transient bear sittings were exciting, and we’ve seen so many moose recently that we’ve come to expect to see them now, just around the next bend, taking refuge from the heat in road-side bogs.

With the official meteorological transition from Spring to Summer, we’ve also experienced some other markers of this coveted seasonal change. The Shirley kids have rounded out the school year with Kit finishing 1st grade and Sig completing pre-school. They are happy to be at Sawbill all day, every day, and mom and dad are glad to be done shuttling them back and forth to school in Grand Marais – for a little while, at least.

The weather is warm. and the air is sweet. The lilacs have just begun to bloom, and we saw our first dragon fly. Harbingers of good times ahead.

-Dan