A 5-gallon pail of Flathead Cherries! Cherries are to the Flathead Lake region what shrimp is to Forrest Gump.

Marlene and me picking cherries with our good friend and fruit advisor, Jere Newell.

We lost a dear friend today — family, really.

Wayne J. Anderson. A proud Vietnam Air Force veteran, BWCA guide, father, husband, and career commercial pilot (747-400 Captain) and commercial pilot instructor, and friend of so many.

We knew Wayne and his late wife, Velora, in their retirement years — spending countless evenings at their Flathead Lake home, sipping wine and solving the world’s problems.

Hopefully, they are together again. We miss them both. RIP.