Moominmama's Urban Interlude

Wherein life gets in the way of blogging...

Moominmama apologizes for keeping friends in the dark, but there were many distractions that got in the way of posting to this blog! Since leaving the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Moominmama had other deadlines, as well as problems with internet and time!

Among other things, I had to hustle to London, Ontario to get to an appointment for necessary maintenance on the trailer and to set up a Canadian phone plan. Happily, after that, I returned to Rochester, NY to see my eldest and to attend the 2024 Rochester International Jazz Festival. I had a list of friends to visit but quickly ran out of time!

The photo above is of blues guitarist "Kingfish" Ingram, one of many performers I was fortunate enough to see. He had a remarkable way of playing single notes on his electric guitar. These solo notes could call up the sound of a whale's underwater cry; others sounded like taps on a pair of bongos and still others sent sound waves forth so you could almost see the wave. The audience was rapt -- in between moments of rowdy joy!

Moominmama also enjoyed reconnecting with work colleagues and invited the crew to my campground so they could see my trailer and enjoy an after-work barbecue. I particularly delighted in getting to know my colleague Nate's young daughters who came with me to the playground. It's been a long time since I've had to catch a little one zipping down a slide!

On weekday mornings, I reported to the office just to remind folks I do work there, however part-time and however remote! In the process, I had a chance to assist with a news conference for the "groundbreaking" of a major project downtown -- the reconstruction of the last rundown corner at Main Street and Clinton Avenue.

Because the intersection really is in the heart of downtown, the traffic and proximity to the street meant we couldn't do a symbolic shoveling of dirt. Instead, the developers took bricks from the building that will be rebuilt, offering them to participants to sign before they are reincorporated into the building. 

Here you can see the bricks and the rundown brick building directly behind them (left side of the intersection) where they will go. 

This particular corner has been an eyesore (or an "abomination" as the Mayor calls it) ever since I've been a kid. So celebrating the work required to get to the point of reconstruction is huge.

Why we celebrate by inviting TV cameras and having 13 people connected to the project (finance, developers, government leaders) all taking a turn at the microphone, I'm not sure. The list of speakers sure had the reporters' eyeballs rolling. 

But everyone got a chance to say how challenging the project had been and how excited they were to see it underway. Someone even made cookies to serve at the outdoor reception, showing the architect's rendering of what the corner will look like when completed!

Staying up for concerts at night and showing up to work in the morning eventually took its toll, and Moominmama missed out on the final day of the Jazz Fest because she got sick. Luckily it was a 24-hour bug, and I was ok to travel afterward. From there, I had a brief stop in Concord, NH to see the younger child, pick up my mail and hit my local bank. 

By the time I left New Hampshire, I'd had my fill of city pavement, and I am delighted, now, to find myself in the Parc National de Frontenac among water and trees. I am on the Baie Sauvage off the Lac de St. Francois. It turns out to be perfect for my rinky-dink kayak! 

The landscape reminds me a lot of the Adirondacks, with the clear but rust-colored water and rounded, moss-covered granite. At times, it has been so calm that the reflections create the illusion of stones (mirrored perfectly in the water) floating in space. I also got a kick out of this photo, which looked to me like a line of sound waves, perhaps a seismic recording, in front of the trees.

Moominmama is not far from Quebec City and had included in her plans a day to make the trek to this historic city. Except I was happier on the water and on the trails. Quebec City will have to wait for another visit.

There are many details that I have failed to share, but hopefully, I hit a few highlights. Internet access is likely to be spotty from here on in. But I have wonderful plans to tour the Maritimes in the next two months!

I'll leave you with a photo I meant to share much earlier. I took this from the glass-bottomed boat on Lake Superior. 

This is the Bermuda, a 150-foot two-masted schooner that took on water in 1870 while overloaded with local iron ore (it was built to transport grain). It managed to limp to Munising and rope up to shore. The captain and most of the crew left the ship to report their troubles, leaving two guys to keep pumping out water. It appear they fell asleep and the ship sank (taking these two men down with it). The wood ship was later pulled up and dragged away from other boat traffic to an area called Murray Bay, where it remains, its hull largely intact, about 12-feet underwater. This is the bow of the ship as we passed over it, one of the best preserved of thousands of wrecks on the bottom of Lake Superior.