by GREG KOELKER
Today we are wearing sunglasses and light jackets and shorts, holding hands and getting sand between our toes while wading in the surf along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. There are sea birds, scurrying stiff legged plovers, graceful but cacophonous gulls floating about overhead, and brown pelicans loitering on a dock. The air is full of promise of a great day of sightseeing, tanning a bit, and eating Cajun shrimp for lunch, later sipping margaritas and nibbling on sponge cake while staring cross the sky as Ma Nature treats us to a breathtaking sunset of orange and purple over a softly rippling sea punctuated with silhouetted palm trees and fishing boats in the distance. Time to call it another day in paradise.
Nuts. The dog alarm while quiet enough works its magic; the pacing on the kitchen tile is a message that it’s time. Time to get up and turn the coffee maker on, let the dog out, and face reality. We had minus twelve this morning. The sun is just starting to show on the trees atop the high bluff to the west of us at 9:30.
Anyway, it’s all good. Spring has to be right around the corner. There are only a couple months to go at least.
We slept later than usual after watching the Hoosiers take the national college football championship for the first time in their history. 16-0 is an incredible accomplishment. It’s good for the Big 10 (or 18 or however many) too I believe. We shall see.
Our mountain man Mark got home to his wife and number one snowboarding partner Jenny and their fur baby family in the mountains of Colorado last evening after judging snowboarding at the Laax Open in Switzerland this last week. We talked to him while he made his way through the “zoo” at O’hare. He was tired but he had a great week. We saw him on the Laax Open live feed a couple of times. Many of the snowboarders and skiers there will be in the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics next month. Mark will be there too, judging snowboarding at the Olympics for the first time. Who’d a thunk back when I and a whole lot of others thought snowboarding was for punks, that it would develop into an international judging career for Mark. I think he should write a book about how he went pro and competed in the North Face competition and the road to how he became a judge and the travel and people he has got to know like Olympic gold medal winner Anna Gasser and her boyfriend pro snowboarder and Olympian Clemens Millauer, the two known as Austria’s Gold Couple. Mark’s International Federation of Snow Sports judging career has taken him to Canada, China, Mongolia, Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Croatia, Austria, France, Japan, Vermont and even Colorado. Not bad for a little kid who got his start at Mt. La Crosse thanks to his mom. He saved his money to go to a snowboard camp at Mt. Hood, Oregon eventually. And yes, we and his family are pretty proud of him.
Until next time – get out (if you have to anyway). While Ellen went out to feed her birds this morning, I did chair yoga and wrote this. Time for a fire in the fireplace and my novel Fall of Giants by Ken Follett. The story of the lead up to WWI is surprisingly relevant to the chaos around the world today.
Pray for peace.
Greg Koelker is a lifelong resident of the Driftless region and a proud member of the De Soto, Wisconsin, community. He is the acclaimed author of the “Grouse Hollow Journal,” a column that celebrates rural life, nature, family heritage, and the traditions that bind communities together. While technically focused on the “outdoors,” his writing often explores broader themes of community values and education.
Add comment