Sunday, April 28, 2013

The other photo...

A number of years ago, a local artist was commissioned to paint a portrait of a group of fishing guides conducting a shore lunch.  The painting was re-produced into one of the northwood's more famous prints, and there are a few that know it's secret. Some of the faces and names were changed. Bent over the fire adding something to the pan was a humble, quiet young man in the original group photo who was later replaced with another fellow deemed more, "one of the guys", by the person requesting the commission for the painting.
 
That quiet young man was my dad, and over the years I have wondered how it must feel to be the famous guy no one knows....

It has been an old locals  secret.  When we see the print, we grin a private grin knowing...that quiet young man dodged fame and went fishing...

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Taking the Plunge

What made us take the jump from day-dreaming of how neato it would be to own our own business into the crazy madness of actually starting one?

First it is important to state that Dick and I have never started a business together before.  Years of study and years of working for the government in Dick's case, and various design firms in mine, has given us lots of chances to see what we do and do not like in our work.  We have had good bosses and bad bosses, stress and ease.

We have also enjoyed working together on projects.  Some families are recreational, some are social, some are plugged into cyber-life.  Dick and I, along with our boys, are project people.  Always distracted by some great next thing that we can build or make, learn about, volunteer for, get involved in, take charge of, help with etc.

But through it all, we have enjoyed most when we are shoulder to shoulder in whatever it is we jump into.  The process of building the concept for the Aqualand Ale House and the Frog House Shop has been such a learning process for all of us-  Dick and I, our sons Dan and Perry and our married into-us -daughter Stacie.  Step by step we have been focused, chaotic, determined and hopeless, depending upon the day.

Dick has discovered the thrill of the hunt-  on-line equpiment auctions have been his best friend and sometimes worst compulsion, but overall we have benefitted from his prowess.  I second guess his bids- challenging his logistics officer training at every turn.

I have been pushing and prodding and sometime dragging him along with my design ideas for the remodeling of the spaces.  It like-wise cracks me up how I am trusted by major clientelle with the biggest of projects, but my husband is always at ease pushing me to defend my ideas.  I am able to take commentary from my clients, but commentary from him is so much harder.

I am a hide it- sorter, wanting filing systems and order.  My husband is a stacker/piler and a visual organizer.  If he can't see it, he can't keep track of it.  We have each carved out complimentary tasks in our marriage, but are finding in a business all boundaries are soft.  We each need to back fill every position held by the other. 

I have been known to salute him in  what we call, "the international symbol of friendship" fashion, and he has been known to spank....but enough about that.

There has been a cost to our close circle relationships.  Some are pretty sure we are nuts, but they support us.  We have sadly lost contact with everyone who hasn't volunteered to hold a paint brush. Working 80 plus hours a week hasn't left us any space for dinners, parties, baby showers, weddings and even a few funerals.  I am a book club drop out- which makes me very sad.  There are a few people who do not support us, who have dropped us, which also breaks our hearts.

There is a cost to every big decision.  We knew that going in.  But we feel very sure that our live's destiny lies up north, our future is in owning our own place, and  Aqualand Ale House and Frog House Shop is that place.

We are getting ready for our chance to care for our guests, celebrate a memory, and explore an experience of artisan craftsmanship in food, drink and gift, all  in the heart of the north woods.

We have taken the plunge, and have felt the chill and scald of it by turn.  At the end of the day, we won't have to ask ourselves, "what- if", because we will have found out the answer to what happens when we "go for it".


Sunday, April 7, 2013

The Traveling Muskies of Boulder Jct.


One of the old promotional photos of the local residents with live muskies that would become part of the "Traveling Muskies of Boulder Jct" exhibit that was taken to the sport shows to promote both Boulder Jct and Musky Capital of the World.  My dad- Bruce, is the young man kneeling at the far right with a baseball style cap on.  There are lots of familiar faces in this picture aren't there?!
I am told that my memories of Aqualand are the color of my childhood. Bright with sunshine and always rose-colored. But after Aqualand, the pride of my childhood years is the quality of the north woods people. As I have traveled away, lived in many places, I am amazed that there is a mistaken notion that the people of the north woods are hicks, rednecks, and somehow special in that "not so bright", "not the sharpest knife in the drawer" sort of way. Those of us born in the woods know a different truth. The people who live in Northern Wisconsin are in the woods because the choose it, because they find in it value that less observant might not see. It takes strength, wit and sacrifice to stay. Above all else, it takes the ability to make peace with the voices within. Living at times in the city, I observed that the hustle, bustle and busyness provides a way to escape oneself. Hurry and worry and distraction give the opportunity to remain blissfully unaware if unaware is the way one wants to be. You cannot avoid yourself in the woods. The positive side of this is, you can hear yourself think. The woods holds tight to the poeple who wish to know themselves well. Visitors who come, come back again and again because the special draw. Like drinking water from a cold mountain stream, the refreshment is unlike any other. A retreat of self-discovery can happen in a very short amount of time while sitting with a fishing pole, walking in the woods or biking along a lakeshore trail. The real truth about the northwoods people is that they have taken the time to know themselves well. They have often moved through the world and chosen to return home. Some of them have been among the strongest successes in the business world, some have been wounded by careless mis-treatment of the unappreciative in their past, but all know why they are returning. I have never been able to call another place home. Though my place has been at my husband's side for thirty years of military career travel, whenever people ask me where home is, the answer has always come easily- the northwoods of Wisconsin. I tell people I am earning my right to come home. I truly believe that to be the case, and two years ago my husband Dick and I began the shift. Starting with a "not so big" cabin in the woods, we are now on to the hair-raising risk of a northwoods business. The Aqualand Ale House is a dream come true for both of us. This long, snowy winter in the north has been my husband's first opportunity to really see what I have always known. There is beauty in the solitude and peace in the quiet. A white north woods winter is sunnier and brighter, far more beautiful than the winters farther south. I am so happy that my soul mate has embraced the woods I love. I am looking forward to meeting all the residents of Boulder Junction who do not know me, those who have made a full or part time home in my home town in the thirty plus years that I have been away. My husband is enjoying meeting my old friends and making new ones. We long to earn your trust as we join the community of the north woods.