Happy Easter

Happy Easter from the Gunflint Trail!  It is a beautiful day today.  We woke up this morning to a temperature of zero.  Frost was clinging to all the branches.  It sparkled as the sun came up.  Of course, a few minutes in the sunshine and the frost was gone but we enjoyed it before the melting.

Since we don’t have any small children here, there is no Easter egg hunt.  I bought some foil covered milk chocolate eggs a week or so ago.  This morning Bruce took them over to put on the front desk of the lodge.  All we need is to snack on those.

When Robert was just over a year old, we had a Easter basket filled with candy for him.  In the afternoon I took a nap while Bruce was “watching” Robert from his recliner in the living room.  The candy was easily within Robert’s reach.  I woke up and finished dinner.  A glance at the basket had me asking, “How much candy did you let Robert eat?”  The answer was “Just a few pieces.”  As we sat for dinner, Robert began making those noises that every Mother recognizes.  Luckily we made it to the bathroom in time.  Robert was not much interested in chocolate for a while.

Today the food preparation is much safer.  Guests coming for a buffet at the lodge have requested deviled eggs.  So, I am at the house making them.  Last night I boiled 30 eggs and peeled them.  This morning I have finished making the eggs without tasting them which shows great restraint on my part.  There will be able 35 people and I have 60 eggs.  It seems that no matter how many eggs you make, they are all eaten.  If it looks close as we serve the buffet, I will sneak one egg each for Bruce and I.

After the buffet today, the lodge dining room will be closed for a week.  It is time for spring cleaning in the lodge and the kitchen.  This type of cleaning cannot be done while food is being served.  In the kitchen all the large pieces of equipment are dismantled and scrubbed.  Adam stands up on the stove to clean the exhaust pipe and fans.  He is almost totaled covered with hats and gloves and safety glasses.  It is a horrible, stinky job that we do twice a year.  Filters collect most of the grease and are washed weekly but this still leaves a fine amount to accumulate above.  At any rate the job is done.

Meanwhile out in the lounge and dining room Mandy and Chris are doing their share of the cleaning.  All the furniture is moved into one room.  The ladders go into the empty room and the two of them start from the ceiling and work their way down through the floor.  As the furniture is all moved into the clean room, they wash it down.  When the last room is empty, the ladders come out again.  After several days of cleaning all the furniture is put back into place.  It looks just wonderful.  By next fall we will wonder if it was ever cleaned.

Have a nice pleasant day today.  We are going to this afternoon.