The Sound of Music

     Miss Tara McGovern has joined us for the month of April after spending the winter Off the Beaten Path at Black Magic Kennels. I listened to Mark and Mary Black rant and rave all winter long about this fantastic young woman who had joined them for a season of mushing.  I had the opportunity to spend time with her at Mush for a Cure and thought she was quite nice so when she said she was interested in sticking around the area to run the half-marathon at the Ham Run   I told her she could stay with us and help us out for the month. 

     I have to admit that was one of the smartest things I have ever done.  Tara has not only won my heart but also those of my children and Chelsea, office woman extraordinaire at Voyageur.  Saturday morning when I buzzed the office telephone to invite Tara for blueberry pancakes Chelsea had already fed her a breakfast of sausage and hash browns.  We all would like to see Tara stick around for the winter but we can’t seem to sway her decision of returning to Glacier to be a part of a horse riding stable again.  We can always hope for a miracle.

     It was while Tara and I were on a walk when she mentioned her favorite movie as a child was "The Sound of Music."  I laughed when she said it was also Mark Black’s favorite movie as a child and said, "That doesn’t surprise me, it’s the favorite movie of many little girls."  Anyone who knows Mark is aware he’s the farthest thing from a girl, but does make a nice looking woman at Mush for a Cure.

     Anyway… The sounds of the woods and waters of the Gunflint Trail and surrounding Boundary Waters are my sounds of music.  I’ve just recently heard one of my favorite songs of the spring peepers.  They are singing in the ponds and I love to stop and listen to their tune.  The drumming of the grouse, the pounding of a pileated woodpecker, the morning song of the sparrow and the welcome call of the loon are all music to my ears.  Now if I could just hear Tara say, "I’m staying for the summer."  What a beautiful sound that would be…

The woods are alive with the Sound of Music.