I am a puffin and I have orange feet. This is my story.
I was born with orange feet, as were all my friends and relations. We were endowed with orange feet by our Creator, the Puffin Maker. I happen to think that we are an extremely attractive group, and it’s not just our beautiful orange feet. Take a look at my beak. I don’t like to boast, but I will if you insist. You do? Let the record show that you insisted that I boast, in spite of the fact that I initially demurred. About my beak: it’s a delightful swirl of orange, yellow and black. And let’s not forget the yellow-orange splotch where the beak starts. “What’s that for?”I hear you asking. I’m not sure, but I’m open to suggestions.
It may surprise you to learn – lean in closer now; I’m about to reveal something shocking. As I was saying – pay attention, please – our beaks are actually a rather dull gray color in the winter! In the spring, quite when we are least expecting it, our beaks burst into color like a sunrise over the ocean. It’s a time of laughter and song among us, a sign that romance is blooming over the horizon, just like the sun. And with that enticing bit of foreshadowing, the first chapter of my memoir has come to a close.
Oh, you want to know my name? In puffin language, it would be “bra-ha-whir-whor-orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.” It might be easiest if you call me Rufus. Rufus, the Polite Puffin.
It’s me now – Lynniebee – to tell you that I might be deleting this orange-footed post in the morning.
Amongst my mother’s things I found a couple old notebooks which contained the minutes from our family meetings between June 1964 and October 1971. Talk about buried treasure! I typed them up and sent them out to my siblings so they could join me in this walk down memory lane.
My father was the president, Mom was vice-president, and our oldest sister, Leslie, was the secretary. She would have been almost 11 at the beginning, and 18 years old by the time we had our last meeting. The meetings were fairly sporadic, although I think the goal was to meet every month. Everybody in the family attended.
The purpose was to allow for family discussions about chores, allowance, TV privileges, vacation ideas, general complaints, family plans, etc. Some things were voted upon; other things were decided by parental decree. The secretary formed her own version of shorthand to communicate the essentials. The minutes give a charming glimpse into our family life, at least I find it charming.
Below are some sample entries (not complete minutes) to give you an idea of our family culture.
June 18, 1964. We had a subject on the use of the basement. Mom and Dad want us kids to ask them before we go down. They decided the number of how many should be down. The limit was four. No arguments are to be had. Private discussions.
September 1, 1964. We had a subject on jobs for the winter. After supper Lynn will take out chairs, others alternate three jobs: Dishes, wiping dishes, and sweeping. We alternate day by day.
School supplies. On first day come home. Tell what need, then buy.
October 23, 1965. We had the Secretary’s report. We had Treasurer’s report. No allowance if jobs aren’t right, or if there is too much static. There was old business.
Halloween costumes: 1. Paul = bum 2. David = hobo 3. Lynn = clown 4. Sarah = pirate 5. Leslie = undecided.
September 3, 1966 The meeting was called to order by the president. Minutes were corrected. Treasury was approved. New allowances: 1. Lynn – 20 cents 2. David – 40 cents 3. Paul – 50 cents 4. Leslie – 60 cents No grum. or gr. with mo. regular jobs. Lynn helps more in kitchen.
Television 1. Preview weeks 3-17 of September 2. One show a week per person 3. Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays 4. Right attitude 5. You can watch when you’re sick at home.
November 11, 1966. The meeting was called to order by the president. Secretaries report was approved. Treasurers report was approved.
Each child plans a family night.
Xmas – give small presents to each member of the family.
Family plans – skiing, sledding, public library, field trips, natural history museum, Swedish institute, art museum.
April 2, 1967 The formalities of the meeting were satisfactory. O.B. Didn’t go to library. N.B. D.B. wants to go to the library. Le.B. had a complaint. It was overruled.
January 7, 1968 Secretary and Treasurer’s reports given and corrected as needed. Complaint Session. Daddy – kids be more polite to each other. Lynn – Sarah doesn’t help too much with the sweeping. David – Sarah kicks too much.
Meeting was adjourned. It was followed by a session of games and charades, after which it deteriorated.
June 9, 1968. Old Business. Can’t go to N. Y. Because Aunt Betty’s family is moving in June instead of August. Present plan for summer vacation is: Park Rapids, then Duluth, camp along the way. St. Croix. Mabel Lake.
Summer routine. More consideration for house, more help, less grumpy. Meal time – regular assignments for every meal we have together. Be responsible for your place. Put milk away, etc.. No big fusses about extra jobs. Trading on individual stuff. Careful of lights and water. Try to keep fighting down. Be considerate! (Or else!)
October 17, 1971 New business: Mom wants us to join in the picking-up project. Also in putting-down project (a corollary of previous project.)
Sarah wants family night Sunday night. We amended it to 4–7 and made it optional. “Let’s be flexible.”
Meeting adjourned against strenuous protest.
And that was the way our last meeting ended, “against strenuous protest,” a phrase which makes me laugh. One wonders what the protest was about. Or why we didn’t have any more meetings after that. I love that my parents made that a part of our family life for a time. We had a lot of fun together as a family, in spite of the occasional bickering and fighting.
Dad used this gavel at our meetings; he made it in high school.
I will have to delete this in the morning against strenuous protest!
We finished hiking all of Minnesota’s state parks back in September of 2023. Has it been almost three years already? As it turns out, we finished just in time, with various joints and limbs showing their age now (mine, not my husband’s – he’s still a spring chicken as far as I’m concerned).
One of the parks that we felt calling us back was Glendalough. Glendalough State Park Hike 2021 We had hiked it in 2021 and could see bikers whizzing around on the part of our trail that met up with the paved biking trail. “Let’s come back here and do the biking trail!” one of us said. And the other agreed. It would also give us a chance to try e-bikes again. I had not been impressed with my first outing on one of those a couple years ago in Flagstaff, AZ. Renting e-bikes in Flagstaff 2024
The last park of our five-year adventure was Maplewood State Park, which is not far from Glendalough. Maplewood State Park Hike 2023 We had our camper with us this time and with no places for RV’s at Glendalough, we planted ourselves last week at Maplewood, another beautiful park. Here are just a few photos from our camping trip.
Here we are again, three years later!We’re standing in the same place as when we finished the Maplewood hike in 2023, our last photo.Our campsite was fairly close to Grass Lake.What’s a camping trip without a campfire? We indulged in a campfire all three nights. Ahh…On day two, we drove to Lida Lake which is in Maplewood State Park. I tried my hand at plein air painting. Had to use a shell to hold the water because I forgot to bring a cup.The scene in front of meThe painting, with some artistic license. Day 3: Back to Glendalough after six years. I loved their cattail sign.There they are – the Townie Go e-bikes we used. It was a wonderful experience! I’m glad we gave e-bikes another chance. These were lighter and simpler to use.And to cap it off, a striped gopher that we saw after the bike ride.
We also met old friends at the park for a cookout over the campfire: hot dogs, various fruits, chips and salads plus…you guessed it: S’mores! My family made them differently than everyone else when I was growing up, a fact I did not know until my late teens. We made ours with peanut butter on saltines, topped with a marshmallow, which we popped into a broiler. Fabulous! I love the salty sweet combo. Our friends brought some dark chocolate, which I have to admit improved the experience. Yum! No photos though – our hands were too sticky for handling cameras.
I’m going to have to delete this post with sticky fingers in the morning.
