Saturday, August 16, 2008
Repressed memory: The Horror At Silver Falls
I realize that while I am keeping up with the Razor's promises regarding rants and haiku, I am way behind on repressed memories and recipes. Sorry, man. Today I will start catching up on repressed memories.
As some of you may have gathered, I have just returned from my annual sojourn to Osler Island, up in the boundary waters of Minnesota and Ontario (I was able to post the blog in advance-- nice trick, huh?). We have two cabins up there-- completely off the grid with no electricity, no phone, no running water, just lots of wilderness and lots of Oslers. To get there from Waco, just get on I-35 north for about 1200 miles until it ends in Duluth, then go north by car about 200 more miles, then another 6 miles by boat until you are about 50 yards into Canada.
When I was about nine years old and we were on our annual trip to the Island, my parents decided to take a little family jaunt to something my Dad spotted on the map called Silver Falls. We had heard that it was a pretty, decent-sized waterfall just into Quetico Provincial Park. So the five of us piled into a fishing boat and headed out. We cut across the big lake and into a bay where the falls were marked. After a while, we headed down a river. Soon we could hear the falls, but for some reason we couldn't see them-- we kept expecting to see a curtain of water falling ahead of us. The sound got louder and louder, but still we couldn't see the falls.
Then, for some reason, the engine died just as we went around a bend. It was then that we realized the reason we didn't see the falls was because we were about to go over them-- that the river we were on was about to drop over the falls. Stupidly, we didn't think through what it meant that we were going with, not against, the flow of the water. We were all about to die. My Dad furiously tried to restart the engine and at the last minute, with about 30 feet to the falls, it caught and we escaped.
The funny thing is that in those moments between when we realized our predicament and when the engine started, we laughed and laughed and laughed.
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Lot'sa Oslers, eh? You might could file for a tax break, the island may qualify as an Osler preserve. Oslers are generally thought to be endangered due to their compulsiom to laugh in the face of certain doom.
You know WHY they call it Silver Falls don"t you? Because the bottom of the falls is "silver" with aluminum canoes and fishing boats. You were lucky.
PJug.
PJug.
# posted by 
: 9:12 PM
: 9:12 PM
Wow--I'm surprised that's a repressed memory. I would think it would be hard to put it out of your mind for long! I guess the laughter was a type of grace . . .
# posted by : 10:29 PM
: 10:29 PM
"Osler" is actually an old German word for "expendables" or, more loosely translated, "cannon fodder."
The best known use is from during World War I during the Battle of Verdun, when the Gen. Bismarck turns to his aide de camp and says, "Today was a total victory! Ve haff lost a half a million Oslers, but only a few thousand soldiers!"
The best known use is from during World War I during the Battle of Verdun, when the Gen. Bismarck turns to his aide de camp and says, "Today was a total victory! Ve haff lost a half a million Oslers, but only a few thousand soldiers!"
# posted by : 9:53 AM
: 9:53 AM
Hey, this is totally unrelated. I checked the incoming students and we just gained another person from the outskirts of the metro-Detroit area. She actually went to high school at Lanse Creuse. Hopefully, she'll make Detroit look better than Kwame and I have.
That was the put-in we used when we went up into Quetico as well- and the ranger warned us about that drop. Glad that you made it- but that must have been harrowing. They are quite beautiful, however!
- Chicago
- Chicago
# posted by : 11:55 PM
: 11:55 PM
That was the put-in we used when we went up into Quetico as well- and the ranger warned us about that drop. Glad that you made it- but that must have been harrowing. They are quite beautiful, however!
- Chicago
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- Chicago
# posted by : 11:55 PM
: 11:55 PM << Home
