GaryOsberg.com

Good sunny morning from Collegeville,

39 years ago tomorrow I attended an auction on the Olson farm located on the north shore of Cedar Lake west of Upsala. I ended up be the high bidder on an old farm house on the lake.. Needless to say it had a profound effect on my life. We were able to enjoy “going to the lake” for many years. I still love the sound of a slamming screen door. If you ever get the chance to own a cabin, go for it. “Closing the Cabin” is today’s poem from Garrison Keillor’s “Writers Almanac”. Enjoy

The APHC show this week is the season opener from The Fitzgerald Theater in downtown St. Paul followed by the annual Street Dance & Meatloaf Supper. The weather should be perfect. Even if you can’t get a ticket to the show, you should go for the dance, because in the past Garrison has come out at 7 PM to entertain folks who have come just for the Street Dance. The meatloaf is pretty good too. This week’s guests include masters of the honky tonk arts, The Derailers, singing sisters Jearlyn and Jevetta Steele and vocalist Holly Jones. Enjoy the show.

Closing the Cabin by Thom Tammaro
In the yawn of dusk,
We drift home in Minnesota autumn,
Reciting the litany once more:
Dock in; boathouse latched;
Rugs rolled; plugs pulled;
Windows hinged; floors swept;
Pilots out; pipes drained;
Faucets opened; doors locked;
Hummingbird feeder taken down;
Key hanging in its secret place.

In the flicker of lights near the city’s edge
We talk easily, gather within
All that the summer has given:
A great fish, slender and shiny,
Diving for bottom; loons calling
In the still afternoon;
Stars swirling above the rooftops.
Near home, vees of geese circle,
Circle in the shadows above us.

Later that night, we pause
On the stairs — winterward —
Unlock that other season
Where little puffs of winter dust
Rise when we open the door.
“Closing the Cabin” by Thom Tammaro, from Closing the Cabin. © Stellar Press, 1989. Reprinted with permission