Send your thoughts northward...

I feel silly once in a while thinking that no matter where I go in the world, I will never love it quite like I love the wild areas of Northern Minnesota. It seems small minded, simple, or presumptive. It is absolutely true.

There is nothing that makes me feel more comforted than the site of familiar trees, leaves, or rocks that I spent my youth around. There is nothing like being on a lake in the Boundary Waters or being in the middle of the cool woods on a hot summer day and smelling that smell. My writing does not do the sense or the way it makes me feel justice. Suffice it to say, that that is where my heart is and always will be.

The news of fires burning along the Gunflint Trail greeted me like a sucker punch Sunday. After just visiting parts of the blow down region last summer, I feel devastated for so many reasons. I really admire people who live there and eek out a living some how. This is horrible for them and many, many others who rely on that small part of the world. I feel terrible for the loss of beauty and senseless destruction. I feel for all the animals killed or displaced by the fire.

My friend mk who is very connected to the people and the area, has an excellent post on the fires. Please check it and send your thoughts, prayers, energy, karma, lucky pennies or anything else they may need to the Gunflint region of Minnesota.