Northern Minnesota

Besides having walleye on the restaurant menu, other little things about being home resonate with me.  One is having the waitress tell me with a straight face that they don't have any vegetables on the menu.  It's meat and potatoes.  Period.  That is a good indicator not to ask the waitress for a glass of wine.  Other fun things about being home is people know how to pronounce Leinenkugel and don't give you a weird look asking for it.

There is something so basic and yet so sophisticated about Minnesotans.  The Minneapolis airport has iPads everywhere with internet access for people to use -- for free.  Nobody messes with them, nobody steals them, nobody vandalizes them, there isn't any scratched gang graffiti on the screen...  having something like that would never happen in San Francisco or Oakland. 

Walk a little around the Minneapolis airport and you will find poster boards for aquatic nuisances.  The poster board begs for people to clean their boat motors to stop the spread of harmful fish and plants.  My personal favorite is the plea to stop the spread of "rock snot."

Stairway to Heaven

Transportation by boat is common in northern Minnesota.  When the boat docks all I know is that I have my own personal version of Stairway to Heaven.  At the top of the steps is the coven cabin where the seven of us gather and laugh our butts off.  What happens at TYD's cabin STAYS at TYD's cabin.  I'm so lucky to have a tight circle of friends since before kindergarten. 

Spirit Lake: Healing Retreat

My friends know that the past couple of years have been challenging for me.  It's been challenging for them as well.  Since we have known each other -- for better and for worse -- since childhood, we get together to commiserate.  We laugh, we cry, we hold secret rituals, and have beer/junk food for breakfast.  There's something very freeing about the seven of us getting together in northern MN on Spirit Lake in our coven cabin with nobody around. 

I am so lucky to have such a tight group of friends.  Are we a clique?  I guess some could describe it as that.  We are a clique because we all understand each other on levels that most people don't experience and we have a shared history.  We are a closed network that is not open to just anybody.  It's not because we're stuck-up, but it's because there really is a certain philosophical view on life that transcends the material we all subscribe to.  We can sense energy and the unseen.  Our intuitions are usually right-on.  Yeah, we are a coven of witches.  We are the magnificent seven as my coven sister, SSP,  so depicted us on our own personalized, hand painted wine glasses.