Whiteley Creek Homestead

After reading my "outrageous old woman" post, my friend Pat shared some valuable links to three different web sites that referred to the shelf fungus that was used for Gladys's artwork. One site was a DIY message board that addressed how to dry and preserve tree fungus. Not only did I glean information for a future craft project, but a bonus awaited. The person who was answering the question, "How can I preserve a large tree fungus for a craft project?" had created his/her "signature" to display a quote. The message board is a live format whereby there is a question, an answer, another question, an answer, etc. Therefore, the person's signature quote displayed over and over everytime his/her answer was shared causing it to be embedded deeper and deeper into my soul. Here is the quote.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ~Mark Twain

This quote has special meaning to Dick and I because since my "one more snowstorm" post, amidst the beauty of the landscape we have had some issues with the return of winter. Prior to the snowstorm, we were deceived by the few days of temps in the 60s and low 70s into thinking that below freezing temps were behind us, so we turned the water back on in our cabins in preparation for our bed and breakfast season opening in May. I know you are beginning to follow my train of thought. Yup, we have frozen busted water pipes, a cracked hydrant and filter unit on our second well that supplies all of the cabins, and even one water heater that needs to be replaced. Back to the Mark Twain quote… We were "more disappointed by the things that we didn't do" (letting the faucets' water run slowly, turning on the heat in the cabins, or better yet not turning on the water at all) than by the ones we did do (not a thing to prevent freezeup). We initially felt like "sailing away"… far away, but we came to the realization that everyone's life has setbacks, shouldas, if only we had… We will dig in to get through this and move on to be ready for opening May 9 and 10. "Twenty years from now", the only memory we will have of this event is that we will have become wiser by remembering that the end of April in Minnesota can be ripe with surprises and Mark Twain's quote will hold the meaning for me that he intended when he wrote it .