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It was before the term 'blog' had been coined, before any of the conventional media outlets in the U.P. had anything more than just brochure sites. Thinking back to that first month of the Pasty Cam in March of 1998, Jonathan and I didn't quite realize what we were getting into... we just knew there were folks who loved the U.P. just like us, and we believed there would be interest in having a new picture every day. It was only the fourth day of our new "Keweenaw Pasty Cam", and we had settled on a format and name - and some guiding principles began to crystallize.

The number 1 principle: What would we want to see if we were unable to live here? Jonathan was now roaming around the Peninsula, putting that new Mavica to work, grabbing shots of all the sights which make the Copper Country such a unique place. I remember his picture of the Lindell's sign, and deciding that we should include a sign at least once every week. Years later Lindell's would change ownership and become one of our Pasty.NET HotSpots.

A few days ago when I started writing this daily mini-chapter about the origins of the Pasty Cam, I had a vague idea that we probably would reminisce for about a week, and then revert to the previous format. But now that all these memories are returning, I would like to continue - at least for the month of March - and think out loud about how this project was refined, what it meant to Still Waters (the Home for the Aged in Calumet where I was administrator at the time), and how this daily feature introduced us to thousands of new friends around the country and around the world.

more tomorrow...

Good morning everyone!

Great idea!

Should be an informative month, thanks for sharing.

good morning. nothing better than pastycam and a great cup of coffee first thing in the morning.

Nice to see the sun in Sharon's cam again. Means longer days and spring just around the corner!!!! Beautiful sunsets coming as well. Looking forward to the remeniscing this month Charley. Have a great weekend everyone.

Good morning from Mishawaka IN. Thats a great idea Charlie. It has been great to read about how Pasty.com started.

an interesting thing I found out about Lindell's...it has a twin in Manitowoc Wisconsin..
A chocolate shop called Beernsten's.

Both were designed and built by the same company .. lost the email when I inquired, so can't remember the firm, but they were out of Chicago.

vERy nICe grEETIng aLl..my N E W emailaddress is japei@japei.com

ISTUVA KISSA;
http://aukea.net/mp/db/Teos/yksi/?K=2858780&NRO=1&AINOA=1

NEW emailaddress is japei@japei.com

Is it true the old bridge in Eagle River is to be removed?

Charlie: thanks for the daily info on the origins of the Pasty Cam - it's very interesting reading!

They're going to remove the old Eagle River bridge?

Hey Clinton, Where are Marty and Terry now and what are they up to? I don't think I've seen Marty since graduation.

Mary Lou, My mom graduated in 1948 so you two probably knew each other too. Good old LLHHS! And of course Gary's parents lived right up the street from us while I was growing up. The only one I knew was Dennis though. At least I think that was his name.

Deb....Bingo....I think I remember who you are growing up on the hill......are your folks June and Ben?..if so my grandfather built the house you grew up in...... It was their first house until they built the house on Hecla...my father may have been born in that house...Dennis lives in San Francisco but we share the house in the summer..come up for a cup of coffee.

Mary Lou...Yes, my parents are June and Ben. I had no idea that your grandfather built that house. Have you seen it lately? My parents have made so many changes to it. They talk about selling, but I hope they don't. It wouldn't seem right to have strangers living in it. I'm sure that's how your family felt too. I'll be there the first week of August. If you're there, let me know and we can get acquainted. I've not seen Dennis in years either. Never saw much of him ever, for that matter. But I knew who he was. I at one time had a little crush on him. Kids, eh:)

Charlie: Keep up with the history, it s a great idea! I've been a visitor since the begining and your reminiscing brings back memories of my trips at sea during that time. I find that I associate certain trips at sea w/ certain pasty.com photos that served as wallpaper on my shipboard computer, longer than others.

You know, I was thinking that everyone probably has their own all-time, favorite photo. Mine happens to be Taka's photo of Downtown Houghton in the winter, taken at night. It was that photo that inspired me to buy a digital camera, in fact

Marc, I know exactly which picture you are referring to of Taka's...I had it on my computer, as my screen saver, for the longest time. It's still one of my favorites...followed by one of last winter's picture of one of the posters here, crossing the Mackinac Bridge at night...with nothing but the bridge lights shining in the night/snow.
Marylou and Usedtobeayooper, How neat to reconnect with an old friend, eh. The world sure is a small place. ;)

Deb...Your mom and I were on the same bowling team "Dreamland Hotel"in the "old" days.....in fact we were league champions and I have a patch to show for it...(feel like a phony because I was a rotten bowler)........Dennis is a cutie so I can see why you had a crush on him...(Gary was 16 when he was born)...I tell my sons "it's the "Curtin curse"..girls have always liked the Curtin Boys.....what can I say, I fell for Gary when I was 13 and he was 16...(Dennis and I arrived the same year)..and I still feel the same way about Gary all these yrs later.

Mary Lou, What a small world! I had no idea you were on a bowling team with my mom. She was a really good bowler. But she never told me she was ever league champs. My team has been league champs 3 years in a row. Don't think it's happening this year even though we're in first in the 2nd half. I just like to bowl. Dennis was a cutie from what I could remember. He'd drive up and down the hill and I remember thinking how cute he was. We used to get yelled at by his dad for "stealing" raspberries. What fun. I have to tell my mom about this. They ask me every day "What picture is on the pasty.com website today?" It's how I learned that Joanne Drake had died too. That was sad. I didn't know her very well and hadn't seen her since I was a kid but she always seemed kind.

Sur5er, She's more my mom's old friend than mine, but as they say, it's never too late.:)

Oh yeah, love the picture of Lindell's. If anything can bring me back other than "THE LAKE", it's Lindell's. I spent so much time there it's unreal. Talk about great milkshakes!

Is Lindell's now the Evergreen? I stop there
nearly every time I make it to Calumet.

Kosk, I thought I was on the "What's UP" page and I wasn't. Sorry about that. Oh well, you'll get it anyway. Enjoy the game. As for my husband, he'll be rooting for the Leafs.

Hey All -- I just joined the board, although am a long time UP Fanatic. (Family from Houghton/Hancock, but raised in the lower . . .) I just finished a book on the Italian Hall which is set to be published this summer by a Michigan publisher. I've seen a few references to it in the archives here, so I thought some of you might be interested in updates. Although this is my fourth book, I find it much more exciting than the previous ones because of the subject matter (I remember hearing about the Ital. Hall when I was little -- and how it was only talked about in hushed tones by my parents and grandparents.)

BTW -- I was in the Keweenaw last weekend on this project and it was minus 11 when we got up. I'd forgotten what that felt like!

Steve

Marc and Sur5er, Taka's picture of Houghton in the winter with all of those sparkly lights is one of my favorites. A Winter Wonderland!!

According to the Mining Gazette's web site the Eagle River Bridge will be removed 2008.

Fran/Su5er,
Back in October I spent a quite a while tracking it down in the archives only to loose it when I left my ship. Any idea when it was taken? I'd like to grab it, again.

Marc,
Here's the link. I've been meaning to look it up too, so I could add it to my wallpaper, once again...since I had to redo everything on my computer after it crashed.

https://pasty.com/pcam/taoki?&page=2

Marc and Fran,
Hubby just woke up and when he took a look see at my computer screen and saw Taka's wintery picture of Houghton, he remarked, "Oh yeah". It's one of his favorites too, obviously.

Steve--I look forward to reading your book.
Maybe I'll have a chance to read it when I'm in
the UP this summer.

Thanks Sur5er, I'll have tp pop it up as wallpaper on my new ship here. Ugh, that would be after I'm thru being seasick-goodnite folks

Marc, Hope you are feeling better.
Friend of mine went on one of those houseboats in Kentucky for a week, a few summers ago. Her son, who was with the US Coast Guard on Lake Superior...and knew all about the rocking and rolling of a body of water, had told her, "mom, whatever you do, when you get back on dry land, and take a shower, do not close your eyes, while you are in the shower,that first time... or you will get seasick." Guess what...it's true ;)