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 MEA weekend is a special time of the year.  Many a father/son combo head for the woods or ponds to bring home the “bacon” in the form of a grouse or a duck.  Larry, a friend of mine who died way too young from heart problems, knew that I had never taken up hunting, but he wanted my son and myself to experience a weekend of grouse hunting up north at “the shack”.  He invited our friend Ron and his son Matt who happened to be my son’s best friend.  Larry’s son Dan was a few years older than my son Erik and so there were three men and three sons along with one black lab named “Bear” that came from a litter of pups that my family had raised.  We formed two teams and I was the non-shooter “bird dog” on the men’s team.  Bear went with the boys. I had to borrow a sleeping bag, since I my idea of roughing it was a motel without a pool.  We had a wonderful first day of hunting, bringing in about 15 grouse.  I can still picture my son Erik learning the rather barbaric way of “cleaning grouse”.  Larry fixed a meal of wild rice and grouse with cream of mushroom soup in the giant iron skillet that hung from a nail in “the shack”  It was one of the most memorable feasts of my life.    I trust that you are doing something special with your family this MEA weekend.

The show this week is a rebroadcast of last night’s Cinecast from the Fitzgerald Theater.  It was seen on about 500 movie screens across the country.  We were at The State Theater to hear David Sedaris read some of his stories but there is an encore performance at The Parkwood Theater in Waite Park on Monday night that I plan to attend.  Special guests include Old Crow Medicine Show, Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek and honky-tonk performer Joe Ely.  Garrison will do some soulful duets with singer-songwriter Andra Suchy.  Enjoy the show.

 “Do all you can, with what you have, in the time that you have, in the place where you are.”  Okosi Johnson, 13 old aids patient in South Africa.