Classic Fall Weekend in Eagle River Wisconsin

Fall colors close to their peak, weather warm, So Steve and Pam took us on a self-guided pontoon-boat tour around the Eagle River area.

We assembled a picnic lunch from the local grocery, and climbed onto the pontoon.

Boathouse at water level, family living quarters above

The boathouses were mostly built in the late 1930's, and now, fortunately many have been lovingly restored to their original condition by their owners.

Nowdays owners are not allowed to build new structure at water's edge, but they can maintain originals, which most of them do.

A boathouse neighbor to Jervises. Most likely built in 1930s when Chicagoans began to discover the beauty of the Wisconsin North Woods

This is a summer residence, not a boathouse

This Frank Lloyd Wright house is kind of jarring, but so reminiscent of the 1950s for me.

Down-sized steamboats have gained a following recently. I spoke to one of the skippers who told me that fellow steamers get together for rallies, occasionally, and enjoy the distinctive sounds of the steamboats together.

The hulls look to be about 15 feet long, and the steam boiler seems to be situated in the middle. Most of the ones we saw that day had permanent-looking canopies overhead, providing shade to passengers.

Kind of interesting hobby, and a bit of a diversion from customary motorized outboarding, but not as romantic as sailing for sure.

Comments

lil' mama said…

Looks so relaxing! Great pics Papa!

December 1, 2009 at 3:18 PM

Hilary said…

A great history lesson! Warm boating weather seems like a long time ago now that it's getting cold!

December 3, 2009 at 12:25 AM

The Gentle Smith Matriarch

We met in 1966 when she was 18 and I was 22. We began dating soon afterward, and as I recall never disagreed on much. Our childhood homes were 3000 miles apart and we loved Minnesota and each other, so we got engaged in July 67, married in December and moved into a house with a teenage foster daughter. This was followed by , Daughter 1 the following September, Daughter 2 three years later, Daughter 3, a year and a half later, ..and eventually Son, 3 years later. There were also about 15 different short-term teen-foster boys in those years. The gentle matriarch has worked her whole life, hard. I went to college nights for a few years, she worked outside the home part-time while the kids were growing. She spent frugally, loved lavishly, and has always cared first and foremost about her family. She is a gentle giant who has brought love, fun, discipline, imagination, good food, and artistic, creative homemaking to our big family....and as I write this she's preparing for Easter Dinner...

Red fiche- table with impatiens

It's an odd practice, in a way, but one I've come to like: you set a piece of old indoor furniture outside, and just let it weather, ......forever. I grew up in New England,where there were a lot of roadside antique (or junk) stores, which converted to fruit and vegetable stands in the growing season, or Christmasy craft stores and maple syrup places in winter. At any rate, I'm accustomed to indoor furniture outdoors, and since Nana likes it, everybody's on board at our house. She's selective, however, and requires that the pieces have some interesting, enduring quality. In the case of this red table, it served it's first 30 years as a sturdy table for fiche at Bethel College. When BC became BU, the fiche lost out to digital media, and the sturdy table hitched a ride 45 miles south to our Lakeville back yard, where it is now learning to give itself to a new audience of human admirers, plus a few daddy long-leg spiders, and a specimen or two of summer-sno...

I was invited back to Paragon for a day of fun

On a gorgeous August 13 morning, Sandie picked me up at home so that I could tour the new Paragon office and hang out with lots of great work friends for lunch on a river cruise aboard the Mississippi Queen. Jesper and Bill Lunch was a banquet of fine food, drinks, and desserts, which we enjoyed while leisurely cruising the vital Mississippi, including a couple of the locks, and a great view of the Stone Arch Bridge near downtown Minneapolis. Martin met me with a huge cucumber, which made it seem just like the old days for me. Paragon occupies a bright new suite with terrific views in all directions. Mid- morning I got called into Martin's office. When I stepped in, there were already people there, and they presented me with a handsomely-framed collage capturing many of my fondest days with this extraordinary collection of work-friends. I am a blessed and lucky man!

PTCPapa

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