Not only are the outside temperatures below freezing, but they are belowzero degrees Fahrenheit…with wind chills about -27 degrees, according to Alexa.
Looking out on our back yard from our living room window.
So what does one do in these subzero temperatures?
It would be a great time to go through the closets, or files, or piles of paper on desks…or to clean out the kitchen cupboards, or do some deep cleaning in the basement…
Did I do any of those?
Nope…
On this gray, cloudy, bitterly cold day we stayed inside. I turned on the oven and made some peanut butter cookies (using my mom’s recipe),
It’s been a long time since I made peanut butter cookies.
then curled up by the fireplace and read all afternoon.
Ah, the warmth of a fireplace…
And it was good.
Now, what will the coming week bring…it is supposed to be below zero all week…
We took a CPR class this week. It was offered at the senior center in Northfield. Although I hope to never have to use what we learned, it’s good to be refreshed on what to do, just in case. Our instructor was engaging and knowledgeable and the three hours went by quickly. We were able to practice on a mannequin to get the feel of just how much pressure you need to use when applying compressions. Little green lights lit up when you were doing it right. These features were not in place years ago…many years ago…when I last took a CPR class.
The electronic sign off the street, near Jefferson Avenue.
The senior center in Northfield, called FiftyNorth, is a vibrant one. There are numerous activities and classes to choose from, and many members.
The monthly newsletter for FiftyNorth.
The smell of coffee brewing and popcorn popping in the lobby is alluring. A jig saw puzzle on the table by the window was inviting, people were chatting in the lobby while sitting on comfortable sofas and chairs, a receptionist was there ready to greet you and answer questions. There are rotating art exhibits by local artists on the walls. I’m glad to be a member of this senior center, although I could make much more use of the facilities – I was more active prior to Covid.
The parking lot is usually full at this busy senior center.
After our CPR class, as we were walking out, we noticed Little Frida Café & Taco Shop, a small café in the dining room of FiftyNorth. It has limited hours – only open for breakfast and lunch, on weekdays, serving authentic Mexican fare. I had always wanted to try it, so we took this opportunity to order the lunch special. It was tasty! And so reasonable. Another hidden gem in Northfield.
The sign near the entrance of FiftyNorth.
I did have to get used the senior center’s name change to FiftyNorth a couple years ago, but now I like it and think it’s catchy, and a good fit.
The grandkids have gone home and the Christmas decorations and beautiful Christmas tree have been taken down, and it feels too quiet in the house.
A brochure with a map was at one entrance to the trail.
The trail along Heath Creek.
Nature always offers healing energy and is good for the soul, so we have done some hiking to help move on and to take advantage of this mild December/January weather (and no ice).
Heath Creek.
Over the past few days, we have hiked at Big Woods Nerstrand State Park, walked the Dundas Trail and on paved paths in the north section of town, and hiked in the lower Carleton arb with the Faribo Flyers bike club. There is a lot of evidence of beaver activity along the river in the lower arb…well over 50 trees taken down.
Swirls of white snow and ice make pretty pattern on Heath Creek.
We also hiked on a trail in the St. Olaf College Natural lands. There is a well-defined, wooded trail that meanders along Heath Creek, and it is a hidden gem. The winter landscape is pretty for this time of year; there is light snow and ice forming patterns around the rocks in the creek, the forest floor is full of brown oak leaves. The water is flowing strong and you can hear the sound of the babbling brook as you walk along side it.
Six tree trunks growing out of one.
There are many mature oak trees on the trail, and some with unusual characteristics that is noticeable without its foliage. One has a branch growing straight out from the trunk, another tree has six sturdy trunks coming from one lone trunk. A very huge oak tree has fallen over the river…the enormous root system upended on one side of the creek, the trunk laying across the creek, and the upper part of the tree with its large branches on the other side of the creek…it almost could be a bridge across. (I couldn’t capture it on photo).
This oak tree has a branch growing out at a perpendicular level.
We had hiked this trail before, maybe a year ago, but now that we’ve rediscovered it, I think we will be hiking it more often.
I didn’t recognize this reddish tree. My app told me it was a red cedar.
It’s nice to have so many green spaces (natural spaces – as they are not so green in the winter) to access within such a short distance of Northfield. Each hike this week was enjoyable in its own way, and rejuvenating.
When our sons were growing up we had an annual tradition, with another family, of decorating and assembling a gingerbread manger scene. Our friends had the cookie cutout kit that included cutouts for: a stable, Joseph and Mary, Baby Jesus in the manger, kings and camels and other animals. It was a fun activity for the whole family. Then, the five kids grew up and went their different ways.
When my friend moved from her home of 30+ years the gingerbread manger scene resurfaced. And she made the gingerbread manger scene with her grandchildren.
The first step…creating the stable from gingerbread…”glued” together with royal frosting ahead of time.
I asked her to outline the pieces of the set for me so I could try to recreate it with two of my grandchildren who were coming to stay with us for the holidays. I made the gingerbread dough and “royal” frosting (the glue) and cut out the stable pieces. Gary assembled the stable ahead of time to let it set.
Second step: After baking, we all helped decorate the manger scene cookies.
Then I cut out the paper figures my friend had given me, and placed them on the gingerbread dough and tried to cut around the outline. It was not easy, and when I pulled the paper up from the dough, some of it stuck to the paper. The pieces were a bit mangled, but then… Mary and Joseph were probably a little mangled when they finally got to the stable. I persevered, and continued cutting around the paper patterns.
Third step: Pasting the figures to the stable with the royal frosting.
The figures turned out ok – although I reduced the numbers to one king and one camel (not three), and two animals (not several… ) I baked them ahead of time so all that was left to do was decorate and assemble.
The finish: A very creative gingerbread manger scene.
We had a lot of fun creating our masterpiece, that depicted the wonderful story of Jesus’ birth.
Russian Matryoshka dolls (I bought in the Ukraine) depicting the Christmas story.
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. Luke 2: 15-20
The “old-fashion” Christmas card is not as prevalent as they used to be. Many of us have started sending photo cards, which we find are easy to create (after a time when they were not so easy to create) and now are readily available.
Sweet manger scenes.
For a while we slowed down on sending Christmas cards, but when the grandchildren came along we decided to make photo cards to share pictures of them with our family and friends (since I think they are the cutest grandkids in the world)!
A fun favorite this year since I’ve been helping to feed horses on a farm, and discovered a newfound liking for these beautiful animals!
But, there are still so many traditional and beautiful Christmas cards. I enjoy looking at the myriad of designs: from doves to the Christ Child, Snoopy to Santa, snowmen to Christmas trees. A relevant message inside is welcomed too.
Cardinals are a favorite of mine too!
Christmas cards are hard to throw away, however I can’t keep them either. I already have boxes of cards and letters I’ve received over the years…from Gary, family and friends.
A three- dimensional poinsettia on velvety card stock.
This Christmas card is unique with a wonderful picture and an Irish Blessing on front.
One way I extend the joy of Christmas cards is by using them as name tags on presents the next year. They really do dress up a package. This year I’m using the pictures from last year’s beautiful cards.
I enjoy using last year’s Christmas cards for this year’s gift tags.
It’s fun to see them again. This was not my idea. My mother did this when I was growing up, and so I’ve continued the practice.
I use cards for gift bags too.
I recently used the picture from a Christmas card to write out a recipe. I cut the card to the size I needed and wrote the recipe on the blank side, the back side of the picture. The recipe was requested from a Christmas brunch so it seemed fun and appropriate.
I’ve used blank sides of picture cards for sending notes to others, too.
A beautiful winter scene, on foil.
I hope I can think of more ways to use these lovely cards.
The St. Olaf College campus is a beautiful place to walk. It has lots of sidewalks, mature trees and magnificent buildings to look at. I took a walk up there last week, planning to stop in at a holiday open house in the newly renovated (well, two years ago now) Steensland Hall.
The neoclassical Revival-style Steensland Hall.
Steensland Library (now Hall) was built on St. Olaf Campus in 1902. It was the third building to be built on campus. Old Main was the first in 1877, then the Ytterboe Dorm (originally called Men’s Dormitory) was built in 1901. Ytterboe was torn down to make room for the student center, Buntrock Commons, which opened in 1999. Both Old Main and the Steensland Hall are on the National Register of Historic Places.
Old Main, the first building built on St. Olaf campus – built in 1877.
Steensland Hall, a smaller, quaint, Neoclassical Revival-style building was built close to Old Main. It began as a library then morphed into several purposes over the years, after a new, larger library was built. Then, the Steensland library sat vacant from 2001 until its renovation in 2021.
An old card catalog sits in the lower level. It has the original library cards in it, but is no longer used.
It was renovated to house the Hong Kirekegaard Library…the largest collection of books (outside of Denmark) by and about the Danish philosopher Søren Kirekegaard. Scholars come to St. Olaf to do their research here, since the books cannot be checked out. The lower level provides cubicles for visiting scholars.
The entry-level of Steensland Hall.
When I walked through the door, I was greeted by a former acquaintance from when I worked up on the hill. Her first words were, “There’s a blast from the past.” I smiled, and she took me on a tour.
Upstairs, which is the entry level, there are a couple of offices, many bookshelves, and a big round oak table in the middle, welcoming people to come and sit a spell, and enjoy the charming and inviting space.
A stain-glass dome in Steenland Hall.
The building has lots of windows, so it’s very light and bright inside. There is a beautiful glass dome in the ceiling which was damaged in the infamous 2006 hailstorm, but the restorer was able to find the original glass provider and acquire more glass to repair the dome.
The classroom in the lower level of Steensland Hall.
Of course, the building is now all up to code. There is an elevator, and a handicap assessable bathroom on the lower level, in addition to the work area cubicles, a classroom, and a small kitchen.
Student workers put together this creative tree from books, for the holiday open house.
I was glad to finally have a chance to go inside and see this small, little building that has so much character.
Years ago, I read several of Max Lucado’s books. He writes short devotionals in chapter form and I always liked his style of writing. One of the meditations in the book God Came Near, has stayed with me ever since I read it 30+ years ago, (which doesn’t happen much for me these days…remembering themes or plots of books or stories, plays or movies that is).
The chapter “When God Sighed’ in his book God Came Near, talks about a surprisingly, small word tucked into the passage where Jesus is ready to heal a deaf man, in Mark 7: 31-37. After putting his fingers in the man’s ears, Jesus looks up to heaven and sighs before he does any healing. Max goes on to say “I never thought of God as one who sighs. I’ve thought of God as one who commands…weeps…calls forth the dead…created the universe, but not one who sighs.”
Max surmises, we all do our own share of sighing. “All these sighs come from the same anxiety; a recognition of pain that was never intended, or of hope deferred.” Wars, sickness, poverty, broken relationships, our own life troubles, all these situations cause us to sigh.
“Man was not intended to be separated from his creator; hence he sighs, longing for home. The creation was never intended to be inhabited by evil; hence she sighs, longing for the garden. And conversations with God were never intended to depend on a translator; hence the Spirit groans on our behalf, looking to a day when humans will see God face to face.”
This idea of sighing was implanted in my heart years ago, and I think of it often. Many times, when I sigh, especially a deep sigh, I remember this may not be the way the God intended our/my world to be. And God sighs too.
So, Max concludes, he hangs this word “sigh” alongside the word comfort. He finds comfort in sighing and remembers, “The holy sigh assures us that God still groans for his people. He groans for the day when all sighs will cease, when what was intended to be will be.”
May we, too, find comfort in our sighing.
All quotes are from Max Lucado’s book God Came Near (1987) pp.63-66.
We’ve had unseasonably warmer weather for this time of year (except for that one cold night in Duluth at Bentleville). It hit 54* yesterday. Gary went for a bike ride (my bike was put away for winter already) and I went for a long walk around the three ponds in our neighborhood.
This is one portion of the pond where hundreds of geese are facing the same direction.
This is a regular route and we often see wildlife. We’ve seen otters, and a beaver a couple years ago, a fox and frogs and such. However, the past few days the ponds have been clear of any wild life. I thought the Canadian geese and ducks had flown south. I guess not, they were back, in mass.
The geese in the pond from a different angle.
It was a beautiful sight, and a fun sight since they were mostly all facing the same direction…like they were waiting for a preacher to start preaching.
The beautiful Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour in Faribault, Minnesota.
Which led me to thinking about a recent concert we went to at Our Merciful Savior’s Cathedral in Faribault Minnesota. We entered the church from the front and I liked what I saw.
The menagerie of stuffed animals taking up the front pew of this church.
The entire front pew was lined with all different sorts of stuffed animals…all looking towards the pulpit. I thought it was a clever way to fill the front row since so many of us head to the back of church to sit, but I found out after the concert, when we visited with the priest, that he keeps the stuffed animals up front for his children’s sermons.
Glass frog…photo off internet public domain
Then, as I continued walking along, I thought about an age-appropriate book I’ve been reading for our grandson. This adventure book talks about different animals in the Amazon rainforest. It introduced me to a glass frog. It is amazing (as all creatures are). This frog has a lime green, camouflage back with a translucent underside where you can see the organs inside its body! I had to look it up! I had never heard of this.
Glass frog underside…photo from istock.
And sure enough, there is such a creature! And there are a couple of fun videos on the internet about the glass frog! I’ve added a couple of links.
