I’m a more than a little late to announce this since it’s already come and gone, but I was a 2023 Care for Place fellow with Upstream MN. Upstream “nurtures Minnesotans’ love for our shared places and cultivates greater trust, connection and stewardship” and is all about bridging the political divide to rally behind what unites us: a deep love for our wonderful state.

I consider myself to be lucky, as a resident of the fine state of Minnesota, to experience all four seasons as we are taught them in school -- winter, spring, summer, and fall. But what about all of those magical in-between times, where it’s not quite x season, but still not y season?

We have contentedly, if rather slowly, been making progress on the “Headwaters” land in Finland. That said, we were more than a little overly optimistic about our timeline on the outset of this endeavor. Despite having a great little life and no real complaints, I can’t help but be a little impatient as an impending move north teases us.

We just had a blizzard. (In February? In Minnesota?! What??! That’s unheard of…) We’d just bought a proper skijoring harness and Jared was eager to try out this caravan: Heidi hiking in the front, Jared skiing in the middle, and Charlotte just taking it all in in the back.

It’s 9:30 a.m. The first snow of the year. It suspends in the air, like snowglobe snow but without the ground accumulation, artificial or otherwise. Though the baby and I are both nursing colds, it felt good to get out in the crisp, fresh air. (Thank goodness for the dog needing her morning walk or I might’ve tricked myself into staying bundled up inside.)