The Old Place is the 80 acres of woods and swamp and fields where I was born: actually I was born ten miles down the road in Blackduck but Robert was born on this very land. It is, for reasons I cannot exactly explain, the most important place in my life. I was a very happy young child there, free to roam the woods with book in hand, or walk up and down the road telling myself cowboy stories (and here I am in New Mexico!). Once I became a teen and discovered we were poor it was a bit more difficult to be me. Still, I’ve always returned, when mom and dad were alive from wherever I was, and after they were gone, every year or two meant a trip north to visit Robert and others and a visit to the land, the Old Place. The land was passed to my sons a number of years ago, and Teresa, Steven, Patricia and Sara will inherit 20 acres each. Which it turns out is most fortuitous, since it seems to be one of the few areas in the US that will remain habitable on into the future even at the current rate of planetary destruction.

Here are random photos of the old house and land around it and some of the nearby towns and prominent places as of June 2021.

Robert and Marsha and I roamed around our northland and Scott and Steven came up from their respective places in California and New Mexico. I drove around the state VISITING. Like people should do more often.