Labor Day

Today is Labor Day and I have yet to do any Labor. I have been spending time today thinking about past Labor Days and the fun we used to have with our friends Mary Jane and Morrie Rabinowitz who lived in Minnesota.

We met them at Leech Lake - (Picture shamelessly stolen from another Blog). I have posted about Leech in the past. We used to go up there every summer. There was a resort (now gone) called Lake View Resort and it was perfect. The Cabin had a porch and two bedrooms. Mother loved to sleep on the porch. She could wake up in the middle of the night and look out on the lake. It faced east so we woke up early to see the sunrise. The cabin right next door to us was larger and Mary Jane and Morrie and Mary Jane's folks Joe and Esther Shannon took it. They brought their dogs as did we. Now we had a Sheltie. Nice small easy to travel with dog. Mary Jane and Morrie had a chihuahua and a St. Bernard who thought he was a lap dog (usually my lap). We had a great time. We boated, fished, swam, sunned, took "excursions" to places like Itasca to see the headwaters of the Mississippi and any place our fancy took us. We did this for about 25 or 30 years. When we first started out it was just for a week. Later it got to be longer. My mother's sisters also came up there - Two of them even bought property there and one (Aunt Jo) still has a cabin up there.

We have lots of memories from up there. My sister even brought home a wonderful souvenir from Walker. Her son's father was from there.

Our summer really ended when the trip to the lake ended and Mom and Ginny spent at least 200 of the 400 mile trip home going through Kleenex and cleaning out their tear ducts. I understood but I refused to join them.

In an attempt to lengthen the summer and to spend more time with our friends we went to visit them over Labor Day. Did I mention that they were both teachers? No? Well they were so Labor Day was a chance to catch our breath before we really got into school. So we loaded up the dog or dogs as the case may be and took off for Ellsworth, Minnesota. There we would relax, ignore the telephone, eat great food, (Mary Jane and Esther cooked for a week getting ready for us), play cards and watch the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. Getting the TV off from CNN or sports was a chore as Morrie was addicted to the 24 hour News (it was new then and was a higher caliber than it is now) and we would always pledge. One thing we always did was leave in time to get home to see the final total on the Tote board. You know Jerry Lewis has done an incredible job with this charity.(Over 2 BILLION Dollars) I admire and respect him greatly. The totals today are way higher than they were then but the need is just as great or greater.   (over $65,000,000. this time)

Joe Shannon loved to play cards and I can still see him throwing down a card and saying "Hearty Man ate a toad!" I have no idea what that meant but I loved it as I loved him and his wife and the entire family. We also went out to eat at the Magnolia Steak House in Magnolia, Minnesota - (now moved to Luverne) and they had the largest steaks I have ever seen. (I mean Oh My God big steaks!) It was great and it held us until Thanksgiving when we would go back up for Thanksgiving. They were family to us. Sadly Morrie and Joe and Esther and Aunt Ruth have all passed but Mary Jane is still with us and she reads this Blog (even though she never leaves a comment) and I want her to know I am thinking about her and her (our) family and all the good (great) times we had on Labor Day.

Just one more story and I am through. Those excursions I told you about. On one of them we had Mary Jane, Mom, Esther and Aunt Ruth (Esther's sister) with us. We went to Ten Mile Lake to go out to eat or shopping or something. We went into a furniture store. (Not always a lot of shops to visit so we went where we could.) It was hot and some of us were through and went out to sit in the car. We waited and we waited. Esther and Aunt Ruth did not come out. Finally Mary Jane went in to get them She returned with them in tow. I can still hear Esther complain about having Mary Jane drag them away from their soap.

I don't do much on Labor Day any more but I always stop and remember the great times we had with our friends. I know that Mom and Morrie and Joe are keeping a seat open for us at the card table and I know they are in the good place because I miss the hell out of them.
Thanks for stopping by. Always Remember That You Are Loved. Hugs, j-bear