GALES OF NOVEMBER-35 YEARS AGO ORE CARRIER EDMUND FITZGERALD SANK

November in Michigan is dark, gloomy, dreary, and cold, with short days and high winds. It was in one of the famous gales of November that the ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald sunk in Lake Superior thirty five years ago today. Gordon Lightfoot made the recording about the “Fitz”.




Today we have record high temperature with the sun shining. It has been this way all week. The Wind Wolves that came in October took the leaves from the trees, but today couldn’t be a prettier day.



It is a great day to get the fall chores done before the snow that we know will eventually come. When I was little raking the leaves was a fun game. We would rake the leaves into lines and make the outline of a house, like a blue-print outline. Then we would play “in” the house until we decided it was time to rake the leaves to the curb so Grandpa or Dad could burn them that night. On our way home from school we would collect horse chestnuts from all the trees along the way. The horse chestnuts trees were wiped out years ago by a virus. When it was dark, all along the street would be bonfires with a neighbor out tending each fire. The kids on the block would toss out chestnuts into the fire where they would explode with a big pop. No more chestnut trees and bonfires have become illegal. However, kids still manage to have fun.

OUR YOUNGEST GRANDSON SHOWING OFF HIS "LEAF ROAD"