As we hear the horrible news of the continuing Russian invasion of Ukraine, my thoughts go out to the people I met there on three separate trips in 2004, 2005, and 2008. The main purpose of the trips were to facilitate small groups of young students in an English Language Camp. Our days were busy and tiring, but fun. We also had free time to explore the area, and socialize with adults, after the camp day ended in the afternoon.
The set up for a lovely meal together in Cherkasy, Ukraine.
One of my fondest memories is a gathering at one of the leader’s home. There were many Ukranians present to be with our team of eight Americans. We shared a picnic-style meal together, outdoors. As the sun was setting and we were sitting around visiting, one of the Ukrainians got out his guitar and we started to sing hymns. We were singing and harmonizing the same lyrics in two different languages. I remember tearing up and thinking what a beautiful sound we were making, blending our voices together and creating sweet music. It was an emotional experience, which today elicits a peaceful and serene memory of my time with the many wonderful folks I met in the Ukraine; a beautiful and peaceful people.
My heart breaks when I think of all the destruction of lives that is ongoing. I pray for an end to the violence in Ukraine and that peace can be restored.
We still get a newspaper delivered to our house on the weekends. Gary especially likes to read the paper. I skim it and read articles that catch my attention. Occasionally I will read an article in the newspaper and want to share it with a friend. So, I fold in newspaper, get out of my chair, go to the drawer where we keep our scissors, unfold the newspaper and starting cutting out the article.
An interesting article in the Star Tribune, February 27, 2022.
Every time I get my scissors out and start cutting the newspaper, it brings me back to elementary school. For homework, we would have to clip news articles and bring them in to share with the class. For some reason, I enjoyed doing that, and still enjoy the act of cutting out an article today, and sharing it.
Gary enjoyed having that assignment as a kid too, and we wondered if they do that anymore in elementary school…probably not, because I would imagine most younger adults don’t get a newspaper, and if they do, they get it online. We only get the Saturday and Sunday editions of the newspaper, but that’s enough because we, too, get news online.
I have a friend who also enjoys sharing articles, and every once in a while, we send one to each other. I know now-a-days it’s easy to scan an article, but that’s not as much fun as getting the paper copy, especially via snail mail.
Gary and I also remembered getting the Weekly Reader in elementary school, which we is another assignment we both enjoyed. I remember our sons got a version of the Weekly Reader when they were in elementary school, so I’m assuming it still exists in some form these days.
The young man in the photo is Sasha. I have been praying for him since the invasion of Ukraine from Russia, and Ukraine’s decree that all 18-60 year-old men “cannot leave the country, but be prepared to fight.” That would include Sasha…he’d be in his 30’s now.
I met Sasha in 2004 when I was in the Ukraine on a mission trip, helping with an English Language Camp in Cherkassey, south of Kiev. He was 14 or 15 years old and one of the students in my group. He was a wonderful young man, and we made a special connection. Sasha gave me the pink elephant (pictured above) at the celebration for the completion of the language camp at the end of that week. Over the years, I admit, I did lose touch with him, but he has been on my mind these days, and worked himself back into my heart as I pray for his safety during this conflict.
I’m praying, too, for a miracle, and for peace to come quickly to the Ukraine. And for all the wonderful people I met there.
(My grandchildren now play with this cute elephant which I wrote about in a previous post. )
My interest in flowers did not start when I was a child. Although my mom had indoor plants and some flowers growing outside, it didn’t seem to influence me much. I do remember beautiful window boxes filled with flowers outside the large picture window in front of our house– pretty to look at from the inside as well as the outside. I must have been influenced by that. I have had flower boxes on my decks for 40+ years.
I plant petunias in my flower boxes…this deck gets full afternoon sun and petunias can take the heat! And they are colorful.
I remember my mother’s purple clematis (probably a wonderful, old-fashion Jackmanli) on the side of our house on McKinley Street, along with some other flowers.
This Jackmanli clematis grows along the side of our house in Northfield.
There may have been a small garden plot in the back corner of my parent’s yard, but I don’t remember the kinds of flowers growing there. I did not have to weed flowers, but I did have to weed around the Poplar trees that lined our back yard.
A different clematis climbing the arbor…the lilac bush is behind the hanging blue, glass ball…
My mother did plant a lilac bush and I took a small section from her bush and planted it at our house in Burnsville. When we moved from Burnsville, I took a section from that bush and planted it in our yard here in Northfield. It’s still growing and blooming after 27+ years.
Looking off our deck into our back yard. The lilac bush is near the wagon wheel by the shed.
Such lush green…so amazing to look at right now while outside snow is falling and the ground is white!
I do remember, as a child, picking some tulips from a neighbor’s garden to bring home to my mom…then I had to turn right around and go apologize to Dorothy for not asking permission to cut some of her flowers. Whoops.
Star-gazer Lily, Coral Bells, Rudbeckia
Recently a prompt from a writing session led me to thinking about when my interest in flowers began. I remembered giving a friend an eight-pack of starter begonias as a housewarming gift. I have no idea why I picked begonias or how they would grow …but when I went back to her house later that summer there was pot on her front porch, blooming with beautiful begonias…the ones I had given her earlier that spring. I had no idea they would grow and fill out so much! This was back in high school. I’ve learned a lot since then.
Cone flowers in front of Quick Fire hydrangea.
My Quick Fire Hydrangea, later in the season. When this hydrangea begins blooming it has white flowers (see photo with purple cone flowers above) and changes to mauve by the end of the season.
My interest and knowledge grew when we moved into a new house with a vacant yard, almost twenty-eight years ago. As I mentioned, I have always had flower boxes to fill with colorful annuals, so we included that into our deck plans, but I created a few flower gardens, too, and have been playing in the dirt ever since.
I call these corn lillies.
And now I love flowers…tending to them, admiring them in gardens all over the world, and taking pictures of them…
My favorite…Stargazer Lilies
(These photos were taken in my yard at different times and years.)
A go-to place for us to walk outside in the winter is the Carleton College campus. Their sidewalks are always scraped clean – down to the cement – with no traces of ice. It feels very safe to walk there without worries of falling down. We are grateful for the team that keeps the walks so clear of snow and ice. And grateful for Carelton College to open their campus to the community.
The beautiful Skinner Chapel on Carleton College campus.
We were on campus on Saturday for a winter walk. It was cold, but not windy, which we all know makes a difference, plus the sun was shining and that always brightens the spirits! I took a few photos on this picturesque campus.
Two beautiful white birch trees stood out against the red brick science building.
My favorite gnarly tree on Carleton’s campus…a favorite in winter and summer.
Another gnarly tree on campus,
The amazing Goodwill Observatory.
Even the dorms on campus are lovely with the red brick and red roofs.
The following day however, was not so cold. It was 46* and it felt balmy! We decided to go to a park we know that maintains a clear trail in the winter… Whitetail Woods, in Rosemount, MN.
Rosemount, Minnesota
When we drove into the parking area it was full! It seems everyone wanted to take advantage of this unusually warm day in February. This park has a nice 2-mile paved trail, along with multiple trails throughout the woods for more hiking and cross-country skiing.
The loop trail is not all paved…there are wooden slats,…
and there is metal grating over a swampy area.
There were a lot of people and dogs, walking on this trail, free of ice (except two small spots), getting a dose of fresh air before the snow and cold make its way back to Minnesota in the coming week.
Looking through the trees, to the lake in Whitetail Woods.
And another winter-type walk… Once in a while, I’ll go to Menard’s (a big box home improvement store) to walk indoors, on especially cold and/or icy days. Last week I had a little shopping to do there, and I thought I’d add a couple circles around the perimeter of the store to get in an indoor walk, on a very cold day. After shopping and some walking, I checked the pedometer on my phone and was surprised it hadn’t calculated many steps. I thought maybe it needed to recalculate so I continued around the store a few more times and checked in again and the number of steps still hadn’t changed. I decided something was not working, so I put my phone back in my purse which was in the cart. I left Menard’s after an hour and went home. Later it dawned on me that the step counter on my phone didn’t count my steps because it was merrily rolling along in the cart!!!
Over a year ago, in November 2020, the Archer House River Inn in Northfield was destroyed by fire.
Going… (photo by cb)
This month, it has finally been taken down. It took over a year to set things in motion to dissemble this historic inn that was on the National Register of Historic Places. It took a few weeks for the demolition to be complete.
Going…
It was a sad sight to see on a daily basis in Northfield’s downtown. The area is now cleared out, but a “hole” remains on Division Street (the main street), and in resident’s hearts. What will replace the beloved hotel remains to be determined.
My Christmas Cactus is blooming. It doesn’t bloom often, and it doesn’t bloom at Christmas, so I wonder about the name!
This beautiful plant was a slip given to me from a friend’s cactus, and there is a story.
My Christmas Cactus in bloom.
My friend’s grandmother brought the “mother plant” along with her, when she immigrated from Alesund, Sweden in the late 1800’s.
She traveled to the United States, by herself, from Sweden to meet up with her future husband who had settled in Friberg Township, in northern Minnesota. Several other Swedish immigrants settled in the area and they built a Baptist Church, which is still standing. My friend’s grandparents had 10 children and gathered together for a family photo on their 50th wedding anniversary, in 1936.
My friend, Kay, holding a photo taken in 1936, of her extended family. Her grandparents, their ten children and their children’s children.
Kay’s mother is holding Kay in her lap…Kay was the baby at the time of the photo.
Just like this Swedish immigrant family, my Christmas cactus has many family members because many slips have been cut and replanted from the mother cactus…
I’m happy to have this succulent. Even when it’s not in bloom it has interesting foliage and is a pleasant green all year long.
We walked along the Atlanta Ocean in January, and five weeks later we walked along the Pacific Ocean. We spent some time with our older son and his wife and two children on the California Coast. It was lovely, sunny, and in the 60-70’s. Here are some photos from our time there.
We grabbed a blanket, with coffee in hand, to watch the sunrise every morning.
Sunrise, our first morning.
We walked to the playground with an ocean view to let the grandchildren play.
The playground.
We would see dolphins swimming off shore, and picturesque sailboats sailing by.
A mosaic tile art piece mounted on a cement fence.
A lone sailboat.
A sailboat race.
We went on a sunset cruise and saw sea lions, and another beautiful sunset.
Lil’ Toot: our boat, and captain, for our sunset cruse.
Sea lions.
Sunset, our third evening, from Lil’ Toot.
My granddaughter and I made fresh lemonade from the lemons off a lemon tree.
Fresh lemons!
Beautiful Bird-of-Paradise in bloom.
Gary and I walked along the beach, in my fancy boot (for my injured foot)!
150 concrete steps down to the beach (and back up!)
The beach and rocky shoreline – low tide rising.
The waves.
We sat by the firepit and watched the sun set every night.
Sunset, our first evening.
Lingering light from a sunset.
Sunset, the second evening.
The colors of the sunset reflecting in the east.
We enjoyed our time together, and making memories.
And once again, it was hard to come back to Minnesota’s cold weather, but spring is coming.
Last week I was helping a friend with farm chores and while pulling apart a horse’s allotment of hay and spreading it in her little shed, she came up behind me and started to eat, but then got spooked and bolted, knocking me over and stepping on my foot!
My friend helped me up and into a sled and took me back to the house. We immediately elevated my foot and put ice on it. It was my left foot so I could drive home thankfully. That evening I continued the routine of elevating and icing it.
My fashionable boot.
The next morning, I went to get x-rays and they sent me home with a CAM (Control Ankle Movement) boot. I was grateful I didn’t need surgery.
After a follow-up with the orthopedic doctor he concluded I had a bad contusion on my foot and ankle, with a possible hair-line fracture on my foot (not clearly shown on an x-ray) and I can proceed with all activities when I’m able and it’s comfortable. I’m grateful for that good news.
My favorite comment came from an acquaintance who asked me about my foot. She told me she’s had horses all her life and asked me not to hold this incident against the horse. I laughed, and said I won’t.
After my foot heals, I’ll go back to helping with chores. I love the animals and I like being out in the country and helping with farm chores.
Jones Street is touted to be the “prettiest street” in Savannah (in America, some say). We learned it was within walking distance of our hotel. The Crystal Beer Parlor, a recommended restaurant we wanted to try, was also on one end of Jones Street.
Cobblestone walk…
Jones Street
So late one afternoon we took off to walk along Jones Street, all the while the song “On the street where you live” from the movie My Fair Lady kept playing in my mind. That, too, was a pretty street, if I recall.
Quaint, antique looking light fixtures on front porches.
Live oaks on Jones Street.
Jones Street was lined with colorful row houses and beautiful architecture, attractive stairways, cobblestone sidewalks, inviting rod-iron gates to gaze into patio gardens, live oak trees with branches hanging over the sidewalks and streets, dripping with Spanish moss…it was very picturesque.
Lots of rod iron…
A peek into a patio garden….
Color…
We walked up and down Jones Street before going to eat at the Crystal Beer Parlor, another gem in Savannah. The beer parlor has history in Savannah. It originally was a corner grocery store. Then, during prohibition, it made moonshine in the cellar and became a “speakeasy”. When prohibition ended it became one of the first restaurants in Savannah to serve liquor, and has been doing so ever since, along with delicious food.
The Crystal Beer Parlor.
We had a wonderful time at the Crystal Beer Parlor. We had a fun and competent waiter, we split the night’s special of shrimp and grits, which was unbelievably tasty, and we shared a yummy peach cobbler for dessert.
It seemed apropos that we end our time in Savannah on the prettiest street and with a great dining experience.
A beautiful building, not a home, near Jones Street. Maybe apartments?
