Valerie – Page 83 – Valerie's Voice

Back to Work

As I head back to work full-time this week it feels a little like fall is in the air and I reflect back over the past few months that went by so quickly. It’s been a great summer, full of fun travel and activities and I am blessed to have had the time off to enjoy them.

I don’t have to worry about changing my alarm and getting up earlier though. My favorite part of any day is mornings and I set my alarm for 6 (ok, sometimes 6:30 in the summer) and drink my coffee and write, think, and pray. The hardest part of going to work is that time is cut short.

But I like my job and the place I work and the people I work with so I gear up for it in my mind and then when I walk back into the office, I’m ready to be there.

Sight & Sound Theatres

I was very excited to see the production of Moses at the Sight & Sound Theatre in Branson, Missouri where we were vacationing last week. Having seen previous shows at Sight & Sound we knew we were in for a very special evening. It was a wonderful production telling the biblical story of Moses.

That is what the Sight & Sound Theatres do…bring Bible stories to life on stage – using amazing set designs, props, costumes, actors and actresses, live animals and music. The huge stage, and aisles, are filled with creativity on all levels leaving the audience in awe and wondering how they do it!

From the Moses program; “Staging such a huge story drove our creative production team to new levels of innovation…”

“Digital tools streamlined our process, but we also spent countless hours handcrafting every element…50 set pieces, 12 carts, 9 miles of fabric…”

“Each member of our team embraced this venture one task at a time – brick by brick- until the extraordinary setting of the Exodus came to life in Lancaster County, PA, in 2014. And now, after shipping the show across the county on 48 tractor-trailer trucks…(Moses is) here in Branson!”

A fun fact about Sight & Sound for us is that my husband, while growing up in Lancaster County Pennsylvania, went to church with the founder of Sight and Sound, Glenn Eshelman. Gary knew his family well and remembers going to his studio with his family for portraits long before the first slide show began in 1976. I remember going to Pennsylvania in the early years of our marriage and seeing the slide show set to music entitled A Land Of Our Own, not knowing then it was the beginning of a great success story with two live- production theaters today. They are celebrating their 40th anniversary: 1976 ~ 2016.

My husband and I have seen nearly all the plays, mostly in the Lancaster County, Pennsylvania theater.

Moses did not disappoint. It is an epic story and it came to life at the Sight and Sound Theatre in Branson, Missouri and is worth seeing.

Click here to view their website.

Precious Grandchildren

Mine are living in Mozambique, Africa… 9,179 miles away. We’re thankful for Skype.

Big Bugs

Daddy longlegs grasshopper The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is a beautiful outdoor space: 1,200 acres of gardens and tree collections, prairie and woods in Chaska, MN. I was there earlier this spring with my friend from IN, when the peonies and the iris’ were in bloom. Oh my, so many varieties and spectacular colors!

Last week my husband and I went again and there were different plants blooming and thriving for this time of year, including roses…and there were Big Bugs! We didn’t know the exhibit was scheduled but we did enjoy looking for the big wooden bugs which brought visitors to all different areas of the arb. The sculpture artist is David Rogers.

Click here to learn more about him and his exhibit.

ant bee

The Great Blue Heron

heron 3 The Great Blue Heron is a majestic bird and I always get a thrill when I see one. On my “regular route” through my neighborhood I walk by three ponds and love to see the geese and ducks and now am disappointed if I don’t see the Great Blue Heron since it has been around a lot this summer. It’s always a joy to see any kind of birds or water fowl – I greet them, thank God for them, and try to get photos!

heron 4

Tall Ships Duluth

The Tall Ships came to Duluth this year and I went up to see the parade. But I saw the parade from a different perspective – I saw them from a kayak. I signed up for a three-hour tour and it was awesome. We took off from a beach along Park Point and kayaked out to the Duluth South Breakwater Outer Lighthouse and paddled around for three hours watching the parade. It was literally hard to stay in one spot because of the waves and the slight wind so we paddled in circles, we paddled forward and we paddled backwards a lot, dodging the sailboats and the pontoons and speed boats all anchored for a good look at the Tall Ships too.

The Tall Ships were majestic and fun to see them sailing through the water with their sails billowing. A few ships shot off a cannon as it entered the canal. It was very festive.

I have always loved Lake Superior and we have rented a cabin on the north shore for over 30 years. It’s one of my favorite places to be. There may have been a time or two over the years when I put my feet in the water but never submerged. Now I can say I have. My kayak capsized and I went under…camera, prescription sunglasses and all. I got right back in the kayak and continued on with the tour.

My glasses stayed on. I recovered my SIM card from the camera and was able to get the photos off it of the first six ships. My camera is sitting in rice at the moment…to be determined if it still works. All is well. vb kayak teresa

Missing Photos

lit blu 2 puple bush hyrd

pink hydr

All shades of blue and pink and purple hydrangeas grow everywhere on Cape Cod. Nobody told me this before we went on vacation to the area in 2012. I was pleasantly surprised. I love hydrangeas and took many photos and even made a poster from them.

This was the same vacation when I broke my foot. When I went to look for a photo to post with the broken foot story I couldn’t find our photos of the trip. My husband got out the hard drive with our back up photos and they were not there either. In a way I feel a sense of loss because we can’t find them.

The hydrangea pictures posted here are copied from the site I used to make my poster. Thankfully they were still archived on the site!

puprle hydr mix blue hydr

Ta Da Dump

Here is a story from when I broke my foot while on vacation in 2012.

When asking friends who had spent three summers on Nantucket what to see and do on the island, among the many wonderful outings they mentioned was visiting the landfill. There is a Take It or Leave It shack at the dump and they said it is fun to see what one can find and take.

That really intrigued me so when we rented our bikes on beautiful Nantucket, I made sure our route would include a stop at the dump!

It was quite the operation and fun to watch the people come and go, take and leave their stuff. The treasures I walked away with were a beaded serving spoon, a plant ladder and a toy for our new friend Lux who we were going to see in Boston. Little did I know I’d visit another dump on this vacation.

After attending a family wedding in PA, spending time on Cape Cod and a day on Nantucket we drove to Boston to visit friends.

First we met a young family, and Lux, at a concert in the park in Cambridge. After a good visit, we started walking to some other friends that lived in a near-by condo on the Charles River. I tripped on an uneven sidewalk and we ended up in the ER at Massachusetts General Hospital. Three and a half hours later they confirmed I had a broken foot. I was equipped with a temporary boot and released from the hospital at midnight. Fortunately, our friends had a pair of crutches I could borrow.

It didn’t stop our plans of going up to their cabin on Little Squam Lake in the foothills of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. We had some delightful days enjoying the log cabin, the boat and the lake. On the last day we needed to bring the garbage Ta Da Dump, the official name of the road the landfill is on. Knowing about our experience on Nantucket, our friend asked if I wanted to check out their Take It or Leave It area. Of course I did. After looking around a few minutes, there in the corner stood a pair of wooden crutches. Just what we needed to get me back home to Minnesota, and leave our friends crutches with them!

Gratitude

A favorite puzzle from our boy's childhood. — A favorite puzzle from our son’s childhood.

As I walked my routine path along the ponds in my neighborhood I was reflecting on a book I recently finished reading, Brain on Fire, and a movie I saw, Do No Harm, and the story of a baby born at 25 weeks, now a happy one year old, and I was reminded once again how our minds and bodies are miracles. They are so intricate – and so many things can go wrong – and when things are going right it’s cause to stand in awe and give thanks.

On this morning I give thanks for: eyes to see the Great Blue Heron flying overhead in the blue sky, for ears to hear the geese honking and the water babbling, the smell of the damp grass and fresh air, the sense to feel the breeze. I’m grateful for legs that work and take me where I want to go, for hands that can type and clean and help out, for the sense of touch and taste…

I am overwhelmed with gratitude and give God the Glory!

Sunflowers

Sometimes a photo needs to be taken just to remember the scene even if it isn’t a good shot. In this photo, taken from a moving vehicle, I tried to capture a portion of a field of bright sunflowers along Interstate 94, near Alexandria, Minnesota. It caught me by surprise and took me a minute to figure out what was growing in this vast field. I was delighted to see bright, yellow flower heads with brown centers of the sunflower, standing tall with thousands of stalks, all facing east. It was a beautiful sight and worthy to record and remember.