It intrigues me, every time I find a painted rock when I’m hiking, or at a picnic area…or in any unexpected place.
Three of my unfinished rocks among the “teacher’s bunny rock” she painted while she supervised our work.
I mentioned this to a friend and she said she paints rocks and asked if I would like to come over sometime and paint rocks with her. Yes, I said enthusiastically. And she invited three others.
The table was all set for our creative endeavors.
She had all the paint, and brushes, and ideas, for us to be successful in our first-time rock-painting “class”, plus a delightful time was had by all.
We were attentive to our projects and having fun!
I learned some good tips. I will find time to paint more rocks, with fun designs and encouraging words, and place them on trails, or in my fairy garden, or who knows where???
On Saturday Gary and I rode a 25-mile bike loop for Tour de SAVE. SAVE is an acronym for Suicide Awareness Voices of Education. The ride was a fundraiser for this organization.
SAVE: Suicide Awareness Voices of Education
After you registered, you could fill out a pennant to wear, naming a person or persons you were riding in memory of. Both Gary and I have personal connections to people who have taken their own lives, but there were a lot of folks riding for the sake of bringing awareness to suicide.
Gary has ridden this event in previous years. This is a jersey from a different year.
SAVE hosts several types of events, including 5K walk/runs, throughout Minnesota and the US. Click here for a link to their website.
Information signs were posted at the registration area.
We had a beautiful morning to ride. The hot and humid weather moved out and cool, dry air moved in. The rural route took us on backroads, past fields and farms. The blue sky boasted white wispy clouds.
Fields of corn and soy beans, and beautiful blue skies and clouds.
Country roads.
After the ride we met friends for lunch, and then walked to Bridge Square in Northfield to listen to some good band music, put on by the Vintage Band Festival, an annual outdoor music event in Northfield.
Minnesota Pipes and Drums, a musical ensemble consisting of bagpipers and drummers, marching up to the bandshell for their allotted time to play for the crowd.
And, of course, we had a dish of ice cream to wrap up a delightful, summer day.
A great place for ice cream in Northfield.
We were grateful for these wonderful organized events; yet we continue to mourn the loss of loved ones lost to suicide.
The last leg of the 25-mile ride was on the Dundas Trail.
We went to see the movie The Sound of Freedom. It’s based on a true story of one man’s bravery in rescuing children from sex-trafficking.
The message at the end of the movie asks people to tell others to go see the movie so more people become aware of this awful travesty and the 150-billion-dollar business in which the USA is one of the top three places where sex-trafficking is prevalent.
On the shores of Lake Superior, I noticed something unusual in the woods near the cabin. There were wooden, painted fairy doors leaning on the base of three different trees.
The working doors had hinges and a small door knob. I was intrigued. I went to each one and opened the door, but there was nothing behind any of the three doors. I was disappointed.
I went into the cabin, found a piece of paper and a pen, and wrote out three short encouraging messages. I folded the paper in two, and placed one behind each fairy door so the next person to open the door will find a treasure.
We just returned from an amazing time on the north shore of Lake Superior. As I’ve written before, it is one of my all-time favorite places to be. When we arrive at the cabin we rent, I sigh a happy sigh when I walk through the door and see the lake through the floor to ceiling windows. It is a marvelous and breathtaking sight that I never grow tired of. I literally feel a calm come over me. I miss it when I’m not there.
During our time at the cabin, we did what we normally do…we enjoy God’s bountiful creation. We bike and hike, drink our morning coffee on the deck, watch the sunrise, have a bon fire on the rocks, relax, read good books, eat delicious food overlooking the lake, and just sit and look at the lake.
I had good intentions of cleaning up my computer files, or deleting photos off my phone, do a little writing, but none of that happened. The lake is alluring and mesmerizing, and we can just sit and do nothing but enjoy the vista for hours…and so we do, and we do not worry about getting anything accomplished. I believe we are being rejuvenated from the inside out.
We traditionally go up to the north shore in September but this year we had reservations in July. The weather was cooler than normal for July, the sunrise is earlier in July…5:20ish…and different kinds of flowers are blooming in July…like beautiful lupines, perky daisies and bright yellow bird’s-foot trefoil.
A photo exposition follows:
A view outside the cabin. I was pleased to see lupines on the property. We started seeing lupine along Scenic Drive as we were driving up. Lupines are not in bloom in September, when we are usually at the cabin.
Seagulls are an added treat to watch.
One of our hikes…overlooking Oberg Lake in summer, 2023.
This is same overlook of Oberg Lake in autumn, 2019.
Streets lined with gold…Highway 61, back roads and bike trails were lined with bird’s-foot trefoill. It was impressive.
This is a bridge on the new section of the Gitchi-Gami bike trail, which we rode on from Cutface Wayside Park into Grand Marais.
Temperance River…a hike we always enjoy, along the gorges of this wild river.
Sunrise on July 16, 2023 at 5:24 am.
We enjoy a bon fire on the rocks outside the cabin.
Clear water reveals the rocks underneath the waters of Lake Superior.
Our hike to Caribou Falls…down 156 steps to see this beautiful waterfalls, then back up 156 steps! It’s worth it. It’s gorgeous.
We enjoy the deck off the cabin.
The lupines outside our cabin…
Our son Tim took a photo of lupines and a single daisy years ago…it was fun to recapture a similar posturing.
Lake Superior…some days it’s calm, other days it’s not…somedays it’s gray, other times it’s blue, sometimes it’s somber…sometimes it’s glistening… with everything in-between. And, sometimes it all happens in a day. (I told Gary these are the kind of glistening diamonds I like.)
I’m so grateful for our time on the shore of Lake Superior.
The other day we rode a new-to-us bike trail, beginning at the west end of the Spring Lake Park Reserve, near Hastings.
A monarch butterfly on butterfly weed. How appropriate.
This beautiful trail meanders along with a prairie on one side (complete with bison), and the Mississippi River on the other. It was hilly, but fun… and is now one of my new favorite trails.
Bison and baby bison (calves).
The prairie wild flowers were in full bloom, bountiful, and showing off. That was a perk, as was having the Mississippi River, on the other side of the trail.
Rudbeckia…or Black-eyed Susan.
But the biggest bonus, and surprise, was at the trailhead where we planned to eat our picnic lunch. There is a bison paddock there where eight bison were brought here to live in a very large, penned-in area.
Mother and babe…maybe…all adults together care for the young.
On this day, we were fortunate to see all eight of them, plus four calves, up close sitting right in front of us as we ate our lunch. Locals told us it was unusual to see them so close.
Up close…
The Bison are being reintroduced to this area where they once lived. They seem to draw a lot of interest. We were told when the project started last fall, they acquired eight females, and four of them were pregnant. Several signs offered different interesting facts about bison.
Standing, lying down, walking around…the bison were active.
The bison were all lying down when we first saw them. And then they would get up and move around. They were fun to watch. A couple hours later when we got back from our bike ride, all twelve were gone, and nowhere to be seen.
A bison calf.
The space where they are corralled is a vast prairie land where they can roam, and are often hidden from view. The beginning mile, or so, of the bike trail is along this paddock.
Cone flowers, black-eyed susans, fleabane…
Seeing the bison, and the river, and the wildflowers, created a great impression for our first ride on this trail. The temperatures had cooled off too, with low dew points. It was awesome.
Prairie Clover, with a beautiful butterfly I could not identify.
I took time on our way back to stop and take pictures of the gorgeous flowers. Often there were butterflies or bees on the flowers.
I didn’t identify this flower.
There were so many different species, and colors, shapes and sizes. I decided to take only a few pictures since I had to keep getting on and off my bike. 😉
A metal Bison sculpture seen along the bike trail. The yard was full of metal art. The artist was identified as Dale Lewis.
This trail is one we will ride again and again, I’m sure. It will be interesting to see how often we see the bison herd, and to see how the landscape changes throughout the seasons.
Other bison seen along the trail… Metal sculptures: Dale Lewis
So fun to see…The bison were all gathered in this one corner of the paddock, near the trailhead.
My corn lilies, as I call them, are in full bloom. I made up their name…to me it is a fitting name as they are tall and the flowers are yellow. I could look up the official name, but I don’t want to. 😉
A perspective as to how tall these lilies grow!
I have grown to really like my corn lilies, but I don’t remember planting them. I do believe they were planted by a bird or something (perhaps a squirrel?). I look forward to them blooming each summer, about this time when corn in the fields is growing tall too.
My beloved corn lilies….
And more corn…when I was a child in the 50’s & 60’s, we all knew the adage, “Knee high by the Fourth of July”. Even us city kids knew the saying. Back at that time, the saying had meaning to the farmers…it was an indication of how well their crops were doing. If not knee high by the the beginning of July they would start to be concerned.
Gary, outstanding (!) in a cornfield on July 5, 2023.
But now-a-days… corn is much higher by July 4. Is it because of the hybrid seeds, new farming methods, more fertilizer? All possibilities. What I know is, the other day as we rode our bicycles past a cornfield we stopped and I took a picture of Gary in the cornfield. The stalks were already taller than him, and he’s 6 feet, 3 inches tall…way beyond “knee high by the Fourth of July”. It was July 5th!
A flicker of light~
Twinkling and twirling around...
Fireflies at night.
While in Minnesota, our Ukrainian friends saw fireflies for the first time. They were excited. We were with them one evening, and the fireflies were dancing all around us. We all enjoyed seeing the fireflies, as well as our friend’s excitement.
A hedgehog I saw in the wild in Ukraine, 2008.
I told them the one and only time I saw a hedgehog was in Ukraine, and it was exciting to see it. We walked to a village after class one day, to an interpreter’s home, and we saw a cute, little hedgehog tucked away on the side of the path.
God is creative!
“God made the animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the crates that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:24
In 2004, 2005, and 2008 I was in the Ukraine on three separate mission trips. Each time we went to Cherkasy, a city south of the capital, Kiev. We conducted English Language Camps at the House of Gospel church.
Maria and Vladimir, 2004.
My host family was a lovely couple that opened their home to my friend, Kay, and I. More host families from their church took in the other members on our team. But each year, Kay and I stayed together with this same family. Our home stays were about 7-8 days…enough time to build relationships.
Valerie, Kay, Maria, 2004 in Ukraine.
Valerie, Maria, Kay, 2023, in Minnesota, USA.
This couple and their son, who was living at home at the time, were gracious and loving and took good care of us. The English Language Camps were held at their church. The camps were promoted for kids ages 15-20. We used Bible stories as our resource. There were eight group leaders. We each had interpreters with our small groups of 8-10 kids. The kids were excited to practice their English language skills on native speakers. Many kids attended (~90) and many kids had never been to church. It was rewarding.
The table decorations for the pot luck reception at Emmaus Church: Sunflowers, Ukraine’s national flower.
After our first trip in 2004, our church started supporting our host family’s daughter and her husband, who are missionaries in Odesa, a city in the southern part of the Ukraine. Every few years the missionaries, Caleb and Christina, come to our church to give an update and thank Emmaus for our support. This year they brought along Christina’s parents, our hosts from those trips many years ago.
It was such a privilege and joy to have them stay in our home. I never thought I’d see them in Minnesota! It was great to visit with them and get an update on the current situation in Ukraine, and to just bond with them and strengthen our relationship. We had a delightful time together.
Maria and Valerie, 2023.
Sometimes I’m amazed when I think about having friends and family that I know and love in other places in this world. For me, those places include Norway, Ukraine, Mozambique and Japan. What an honor and blessing.
