Ham Lake continued

I think we actually only spent a summer at Ham Lake.  For some reason I,ve never forgotten it.  It really was a special summer. 
         Ham Lake was an eutrophic Lake (swamp) The shoreline was lilly pads all around.  It was hard to get to the middle of the lake and i don,t remember any boats.. Our access to the center was on a dock?? that was a 10 " wide and way long.  Even at my age i was afraid to walk all the way out.  This was actually what made it so special.  The people with money had their summer cabins on proper lakes , with proper shorelines.  Yup, Ham lake had been abandoned.  The shoreline cabins had been abandoned by all , cept for the poor.  I was beginning to get a sense that we were wear we belonged.  (there,s a tongue twister!)  I didn,t care.
          Ham lake was where my mom met Walt, my future father.  It was where my mother attempted to drive..  This experiment ended with a jolting start and an equally jolting crash into a tree.  My mother got out of the car fuming "I,m never going to drive again...and she didn,t.  My father to be was tall, fair, handsome and of course long suffering.  Why he married my mom and six kids, I never did really understand.  It had something to do with Love, a mysterious thing that to this day i don,t understand.  But, Loves effects are real and lifelong..I witnessed it,s birth.  I was in awe, an incredibly hopeful awe...a new dad, something i,d never had.. Something everyone else had and took for granted.  I might even become a regular person.
          I just remember a few things about our cottage.  specifically the red hand pump that we used to bring water into our home with.  I can,t remember what they,re called now.  But they,re all Red for some reason.  My memory, isn,t what it  use to be, it floats. 
          But i remember my first school!  It was an american classic.  One room, one teacher and all the kids from kindergarten to eigth grade.. It was set up simply, each row being a different grade and it was expected that the older kids would help  the younger.  The teacher moved the whole class forward.  I believe that this is still the best model for schools because it involves every student. Each student becomes a teacher and an example of community which the youngest are going to be part of.  All i really remember is the Teacher laughing and forgiving my bad behavior...I can,t remember what it was..  But, i remember seeing and hearing my teachers laugh from my hi-perch in a big maple tree..  She laughed, she said she had never seen anybody go up a tree like that!  Me looking down on her.
          What has spurred these memories is a conversation i h
ad with my good friend Ken.  Ken is from Mississippi (what a deliteful word)  He mentioned that down there he had gone to a museum and had seen an ice wagon. That delivered ice to local homes.  I told him that I had actually ridden an ice wagon to the cabins around Ham  lake.  This brought memories of a big ol red barn. That barn was  special. there was tons of sawdust everywhere.  But buried under the sawdust treasure in the form of ice. Big blocks of ice 2X4 ft?  We would go get some ice and put it on our wagon.  Then, we,d proceed from cabin to cabin and fill up everyones ice chest--to keep things fresh.  The driver of the wagon was dark and wrinkled from the sun.  The wagon pulled by a mule.  It was fun! and my brothers and sisters used to sneek down to that barn to play.  My brother doug use to convince use to grab on to a rope and he would pull us across the barn, eventually leaving us dangling in the middle of the barn.  We had to figure out how to get ourselves down..  But if we couldn,t he,d rescue us.  Better or face moms wrath!
             That,s really all i remember about ham lake the bugs the turtles the long narrow dock?  An absolute treasure for a kid.  Today, Ham lake is an 18 hole golf course in Minneapolis,s  khaki clad, turtle icon,d  players.. Maybe some day i,ll go see it.  I,ll put it on my todo list after Ft. Snelling.