Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Taking the Plunch

One of my favorite ski trails is the one closest to me, the Piedmont Trail here in Duluth. It's just the right length for a mid-day outing and the other skiers are friendly. The signs are unique too, hand carved by trail founder Jerry Nowak.



"The Plunge" is the big downhill right near the end (and don't all great ski trails have a big downhill right near the end?). I skied the loop with Noah this weekend, and he went right ahead and took the plunge.

Every time I'm there I read that sign and it sounds like "Plunch", because deep in my brain I'm quoting the last stanza of Garrison Keillor's great comic poem, "The Finn Who Would Not Take a Sauna", and it has to rhyme with "lunch":

Marriage friends is no banquet, love is no free lunch
You cannot dabble 'round the edge, but each must take the plunch
Though marriage like that frozen lake may sometimes make us colder
It has its pleasures too, as you'll find out as you grow older


Those pleasures of marriage? I'm older now and I've found out a lot about those.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

When you're standing on top of the IsoMakis of Life, about to take The Plunch (and also feeling nerfous), it's good to know that you're always just heading downhill into the Deep Valley of Love that is the no-free lunch of marriage.

Somehow it all makes sense, my poetic friend.