Valerie – Page 61 – Valerie's Voice

1,000 Crèches

Definition of Crèche according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary: a representation of the Nativity scene.

Last December I read an article about a church in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, that permanently displays one woman’s collection of 1,000 crèches. It immediately piqued my interest and I told my friend about it. We decided right then that we would meet in Oshkosh for our next annual get-away.

This was a beautiful hand-painted porcelain crèche from Ireland.

We were not disappointed. The Algoma Boulevard United Methodist Church indeed was open and welcoming. The church office administrator brought us downstairs and unlocked the door to three rooms for us to peruse 1,000 chèches from around the world. She turned on the lights, and turned on Christmas music to set the mood, then left us alone to take it all in.

Mildred Turner started collecting nativities in 1988 to help her overcome some set backs in her life. We wanted to know more about her but couldn’t find much information. Was she married? If so, what did her husband think of all these crèches? Where did she find room to display them as she was collecting them?

Sizes ranged from a miniature crèche, about the size of the tip of my index finger, to large public outdoor display pieces. There were crèches made from just about any art medium you can think of…colored crystal bells, Lladró’s fine porcelain, metals, stone, pottery, shells, clay, wood, fabric, ivory, yarn…the list goes on. We didn’t know what to expect but this was a wonderful display of quality crèches. Even the two crèches made of Popsicle sticks were well done.

Popsicle sticks and cloths pins and felt. This could possibly be a future project for grandchildren…

Although there were many unique crèches I think the story behind the wood-carved crèche deserves extra attention. German prisoners of war carved it during WW II. They were housed at Green Lake, about 30 miles from Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Several of the men whittled this set during their free time. It is not known why this nativity set was left behind when the prisoners were transferred to another camp a few months later. It’s wonderful that this nativity scene is a part of this collection.

Part 1 of the German Prisoner’s wood-carving.

Part 2 of the German prisoner’s wood carving.

All the crèches were cataloged and we could look up individual pieces if we wanted to, but that felt overwhelming. Thankfully a lot of the crèches were labeled as to where they were from and/or the medium, although I didn’t capture the info in my photos. We spent a couple hours enjoying all the pieces, pointing out the unusual, taking pictures of our favorites.

The stars lit up on this ceramic crèche light.

This was our first morning in Oshkosh. Our trip was off to a good start.

Additional photos:

A unique porcelain music box nativity, that plays “O, Little Town of Bethlehem” apparently Mildred Turner’s favorite.

Counted Cross-stitch. This piece has the date 1988, the year Mildred Turner started her collection.

Whitewater State Park

A change in plans for family members opened up an opportunity for Gary & I to go camping over the weekend at Whitewater State Park, in one of their camper cabins.

This is Rainbow Trout, the name of the camper cabin we stayed in.

The camper cabins are cute…there isn’t a better word…just like baby animals…baby cabins are cute! The one we stayed in was only a year old. The cabins are like children’s playhouses. Inside are two bunk beds, a small picnic table with two benches, large, screened windows, electric lights and a ceiling fan and extra outlets. Each cabin has a small screen porch attached. Everything is built with knotty pine. The cabins are simple but functional and are a lot of fun to stay in.

Inside the camper cabin, from the porch.

Growing up in a kid-friendly neighborhood we had a shack in our backyard. It was a great place to play with the neighborhood gang. This camper cabin, which of course, is larger and much nicer than our backyard shack, brought back some fun memories of playing in, and on top of, the shack.

It doesn’t take long to get settled in to a camper cabin. Soon we were enjoying the great Minnesota outdoors. Whitewater State Park is in southeastern Minnesota, in a valley. The Whitewater River runs through the park, and beautiful, rocky bluffs surround the river and park.

One morning our hike took us up the bluffs with vistas at the top overlooking the valley. As we ascended so did our body temperatures, and at the same time the outside temperatures were climbing… into the 90’s, very unusual for our spring season.

Gary hiking on the trail. An interesting cavity in the tree.

Needless to say, we were very hot at the end of our hike so we quickly changed into our bathing suits and jumped into the spring-fed swimming hole in the river. It felt wonderful. This is something I rarely do anymore, but our bodies needed to cool down. I believe there is something very healing having your body surrounded completely by cool water. We could almost feel our body temperatures lowering to normal as we lingered in the water. Of course, many others in the park were also enjoying the swimming hole, but surprisingly it wasn’t crowded. It seems people stayed in the water just long enough to cool their bodies down.

Looking down on the park from our hike up the bluff. The swimming hole is the opening in the river with a sandy beach.

After we got out of the water we took showers in the shower house and then went out for an ice cream treat.

We found some fun ways to beat this unseasonable heat.

Memorial Day 2018

Today we honor all our veterans, my dad and brother and nephew being among them.

My father: Herbert John Kallestad (1918 – 1974)
WW II, Army photo

Dove Drama

This morning, after starting the coffee pot, I took my usual trip to the back deck and said good morning to “Miss Dove”, the mourning dove whose nest is in the honeysuckle vine. Her two babies (squabs) were there, although I could only see one clearly, but I’m pretty sure both mama and baby smiled back at me.

I grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down looking out my window when all of a sudden I saw a flurry of activity by the nest. I thought maybe the babes were learning to fly…and then I saw a squirrel, attacking the birds.

I immediately rushed out to scare the squirrel but by the time I got there the squirrel was gone, and so were all three birds.

Feathers were floating everywhere in the aftermath of the attack. I was dumbstruck. I couldn’t believe what just happened. First, my special friends were gone…were they dead? I was so sad. And secondly, I didn’t know squirrels went after birds.

All morning I kept checking the nest, hoping the birds would fly back but they didn’t. However, later I recognized one of the baby doves sitting on top of our lattice wall. I was so happy to see it. It was looking at me, and I suppose, wondering where his mama was. I didn’t know what to do so I called a friend familiar with birds and he said I could try to pick up the baby and put it back in the nest, but we decided to leave it alone since it was already capable of flying.

I recognized this baby dove on top of our lattice wall.

Eventually the baby dove flew into the tree and I can only hope it was reunited with its mother. I have no idea about the second baby dove. I hope it too survived somehow.

Ah, nature… it’s beautiful, but can be harsh. I will miss my brood.

Miss Dove and her two little ones

A mourning dove, I affectionately named Miss Dove, has a nest with two eggs in the honeysuckle vine growing on the trellis on our back deck. I step outside daily to say good morning to her and she has grown accustomed to me tending my flowers and changing the nectar in the hummingbird feeder that hangs right below her. She has hatched her two eggs. Now there are three crowded into their little nest and it’s a precious sight to see.

A good look at Miss Dove and her baby behind her. Her other baby is behind her and in front of the other youngin’.

Although she let’s me come close it’s still hard to capture a good photo with the branches in the way.

Look for the three eyes: Mama, and two babies.

Welcome little ones.

Delaware

Our planned route for our road trip to the East coast took us close to Delaware. I have never been to Delaware so I thought it would be a good idea to drive through the state and add it to my list of states I’ve been in. When I mentioned this idea to our host the morning we were leaving Washington D.C. heading to Pennsylvania, he suggested we go to the Hagley Museum in Wilmington, Delaware. So we did.

The Hagley Museum is along the banks of the Brandywine River and is the site of the gunpowder works founded by E.I. du Pont in 1802. The du Pont company became the largest American manufacturer of black powder.

A side view of the Visitor’s Center and museum.

The Visitor’s Center and museum, in a beautiful brick building, includes three floors of exhibits.

More beautiful and interesting brick building walls.

Outside the museum, there are 235 acres with historic buildings to explore, and tour different parts of the gun powder operation, including the the Powder Yard with live demonstrations.

One of many buildings along the Brandywine River used to manufacture gun powder.

A demonstration of gun powder being ignited.

You can walk up to Worker’s Hill where the worker’s lived on site, and tour Eleutherian Mills, which was the first du Pont family home.

The du Pont’s first family home. – both ends have been added on since the original was built.

I especially like touring older homes…like the Rockefeller’s in Williamsburg, and now the du Pont home in Wilmington. This was du Pont’s first home in America (they immigrated to America from France)…a few miles away is Winterthur, another du Pont home where the family lived, with 175 rooms. It is now open to the public but we didn’t have time to go see it. (Maybe another trip to Delaware – who knew there were such interesting places to visit in Delaware?)

I liked this wrought iron bench painted turquoise, and the yellow pansies and the lamppost at the entrance to the house.

The du Pont company went on to become the country’s largest chemical firm. The exhibits in the museum showed many examples of their inventions: nylon (including nylon stockings), Teflon, Kevlar to name a (very) few but there are so many more.

We enjoyed this museum a lot and I said to Gary, “It’s interesting that this morning we never even heard of this place and now, here we are this afternoon, touring it and enjoying it.”

O, the joys of travel.

Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park

I’ve always preferred a picnic rather than going out to eat on Mother’s day…I don’t like the crowds. This year Mother’s Day was colder than usual so we ate at home but went to Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park to hike and look at the wildflowers, which I always love to do in the spring.

We were surprised when we arrived mid-afternoon at Nerstrand. The cars were packed in, and overflow parking meant cars were parked outside the park! This is good…I love seeing families getting out to enjoy the outdoors and discover Minnesota’s beautiful state parks.

We walked a familiar trail and did find the spot where the unique-to-the-Nerstrand-area dwarf trout lily blooms, but they were not blooming yet. There were lots of other wild flowers in bloom though: bellworts, Dutchman’s breeches, spring beauty, anemones, trout lilies everywhere and marsh marigold, to name a few I recognized. It was beautiful, and the trees were budding out in spring greens.

Additional bonuses: I saw my first hummingbird at our feeder on our deck today.

Maybe I should name the mourning dove. I say good morning to her every day.

Our mourning dove continues to sit in her nest on her eggs, and near Pond #2 in our neighborhood are several Canadian Geese and their goslings.

I do love nature.

Memorable Hikes – Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia 2013

Continuing my series on memorable hikes…

Gary and I flew to Nova Scotia in 2013 and rented a car to tour the provinces of Nova Scotia (including the Bay of Fundy) and Prince Edward Island.

We were hiking around the Bay of Fundy during low tide. It was amazing to hike far out from shore on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, knowing in a couple hours water would rise to cover the entire area once again. And it would be deep waters. The record tide recorded is 53’…it was 43’ the day we were hiking around the sea floor in the Bay of Fundy. A park interpreter making a presentation on Alma Beach, at low tide.

According to Wikipedia: “The Bay of Fundy is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the state of Maine. It has the highest tidal range in the world.”

I don’t really understand how tides work – I do know they’re connected to the moon’s cycle. I remember when we took a trip to Maine in the 80’s I learned there were two tide cycles each day: two high and two low. I was so surprised. Growing up in the Midwest and not living near the ocean I didn’t know such things. I guess I wasn’t listening in school either. HA

I remember while hiking in the Bay of Fundy, I once again was in awe of God’s amazing creation. When the massive tides recede, the endless mudflats are home to many sea creatures and people love to search for them when the tide is out.

We just enjoyed walking out on the sea floor.

(photo taken from travel brochure)

The Color Green

Green…spring greens…such beauty…everywhere you look. It’s dazzling.

And there is not just one color green but many shades of green.

Just think if everything green was the same color, tint or shade of green.

Of course the same can be said for the color blue and red and purple and other colors – they all have different shades, but shades of green surround us and are so pronounced, especially in spring time.

Shades of green are on display for us all to see just by going outside.

My camera didn’t capture the shimmer in the tree tops.

Green is an amazing color.

When my boys were little and coloring with crayons I explained that God created all the colors before Crayola made crayons. What fun to look inside a fresh box of crayons.

I love color…our brains like color…but right now I’m partial to green.

Who built the ark? Noah, Noah

And then some 700 more carpenters, including a few Amish men, rebuilt a replica of the ark in 2017.

On our way back to Minnesota from the East Coast we decided we were close enough to detour a few miles south to northern Kentucky and check out the Ark Encounter.

We asked a stranger to take our picture by the door of the ark. The door is too large to capture in the photo.

A Christian Foundation had the vision to build a replica of Noah’s Ark (without taxpayers money) to show people in this day and age what the ark might have looked liked.

The structure itself is massive… 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet high, an impressive sight to see for sure. These measurements were carefully calculated from information they studied about cubits, a term of measurement used in the Bible.

They researched the Bible and other resources to get an accurate design. Inside the ark there are three levels, with several exhibits on each deck.

They’ve recreated what the cages might look like, a possible watering system for distributing water to all the animals, and there was even an explanation to a plausible way Noah could have discarded animal waste, and so much more.

An idea for providing for reptiles and amphibians.

Different size cages for different sized animals.

A possible technique to feed the animals.

A possible technique for distributing water to the animals.

A possible technique for air ventilation.

Life-like images of Noah and his family were placed throughout the ark.

Life-size image in the “kitchen” area of the ark.

A work area among the living quarters for Noah and family.

It was well thought out and very interesting.

We decided it was worth the detour to get a new perspective on an old, old story.

This is a partial wall in a room filled with children’s books telling Noah’s ark story.

Click here to link to the Ark Encounter website.