We are from northeast Minnesota, at least we have been since 2009, so now we claim this place as home.
There are lots of loons on Minnesota’s northern lakes. They are beautiful, with red eyes and white spots on black feathers, like stars in the night sky. They are graceful in the water, even though on land they are a little heavy in the back end, (sort of like me!). They have an incredible repertoire of calls, from lonesome and longing to the hysterical laughter of the insane.
Every time we see or hear loons, we feel nature’s wildness, as though we are on the loose with them. We smile, laugh, watch, listen and… we are grateful.
Loons migrate with the seasons, returning north every summer to breed and raise their young. We have done our breeding, we have raised our young and they have fledged (well, mostly…). We have had our jobs and careers, we have lived in and explored incredible places. Now we are loons on the loose, able to fly where we want, to live our lives with occasional insanity and fewer restraints.
So off we go, over the horizon and into the wild blue sky, across the red-brown earth, and through forests afar.
Welcome to our journeys!
Gail and Mark