Valerie – Page 84 – Valerie's Voice

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.

Big Ole

Big Ole stands 28 feet tall on the north end of Alexandria, MN near a trail head for the Central Lakes State Trail, a Minnesota scenic recreational rail trail, where we biked this past weekend. Big Ole’s shield states “Alexandria – Birthplace of America”. Having grown up in Minnesota, with a strong Norwegian heritage, I have not heard, and was surprised, to learn about a Rune Stone that was found near Kensington, Minnesota in 1898. Some authorities believe the Vikings etched runes (characters of ancient alphabets) into the stone and the stone is dated 1362. The Rune Stone is in a museum in Alexandria – there is some controversy over its authenticity but it is an interesting story.

My Fairy is Missing

IMG_3996-1 I was in our yard on this beautiful, sunny, low-humidity morning…just walking around with a cup of coffee, looking at the flowers and bending over to pull a few weeds here and there when I noticed my fairy is missing!

Earlier I wrote an entry about buying a fairy and hiding it in my flowers for my little grand-daughter to find, knowing that it would not be this summer since she lives n Mozambique, Africa. However, I “hid” it in a place where I could see the fairy fairly (fairy fairly?) easily. I looked around to see if she had blown over, like Babe, the Blue Ox, (an 18 1/2 feet tall, 24 feet wide, 6000 lbs. Minnesota Icon that blew over in a storm in northern Minnesota yesterday) but I couldn’t find my fairy anywhere. Her bench is still there. I will only surmise that a squirrel ran off with her and she is sitting in some lucky squirrel’s nest protecting nuts for her new friends.

A Porch With A Cabin

“We bought a porch that had a cabin attached to it” are the clever words my friends used to describe the purchase of their lake home in northern Minnesota back in 1991. It’s a basic cabin with a huge, screened-in porch that has room for two additional double beds and an eating area.

I am blessed to be able to go up north with my friend to her cabin. We relax and enjoy the lake during the day. At night we fall asleep on the beds in the porch, feeling the cool breezes off the lake and listening to the loons.

It’s a wonderful porch – with a lockable door so no critters, like raccoons for instance, can get in!

Stinging Nettle and an Angel

On our camping trip to Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park we did some hiking (and toured the cave too.) On one hike we had a great, wide trail to walk on but there was a very narrow section that took us through some brush…and Stinging Nettle. We, of course, did not know the nettles were there but we quickly found out even though I’ve never been stung by nettles before we knew the symptoms. It’s distinct!

After pouring some drinking water on our legs we continued to hike on but just a few minutes later we stopped to talk to the camp host who was on his ATV checking on the trail. He was a kind man and eager to talk to us and had a wealth of knowledge about the park and its plants. I asked about nettles. He said there were a lot of Stinging Nettle in the park but he had an antidote…Jewelweed. Within seconds he identified some Jewelweed and picked a few leaves for us to rub on our legs. Almost instantly it took away the sting! We were pleasantly surprised and very happy to run across this angel on the trail. The nettle sting didn’t bother us any more!

Four Raccoons and a Cooler

We rented a camping cabin in Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park. This is not our first experience with camping cabins but it is our first time staying in a MN State Park camping cabin. Can I say they are adorable?

The “main room” has two built-in bunk beds with room to sleep 6 (single on top and double on bottom – both sides). It also has a small, built-in table with two benches and an overhead, electric light fixture that looks like a camping lantern. The furniture is made of pine logs and the entire cabin lined with knotty pine. There are many hooks and electrical outlets. A small screened- in porch is attached to the main cabin with a door between the two rooms. The door between is solid and lockable but the screen door to the outside only has a hook which locks from the inside.

As we unloaded our gear from the provided, pull-in cart we put our small cooler with our drinks on the porch. Then I noticed the freshly-made banana bread I brought along and last minute put the bread in the “drink cooler” to get it out of the heat.

Off we went, hiking with friends and had a campfire after that so we didn’t walk back to our cabin until later that evening, after dark. We had forgotten our flashlight so my husband used his iPhone’s flashlight feature. (My phone was charging inside the cabin…that’s modern camping!)

As we opened the screen door my husband said “look!” He shined the light in the corner and there were four raccoons backed against the wall…caught! They had successfully opened the screen door (did one hold it open for the others???) and all four raccoons entered the porch, somehow turned the handle on the cooler from the closed position to the open position, took off the cooler cover and proceeded to eat all two bags of banana bread! Immediately one of the bigger guys bravely walked right past us and out the door we held open, but the other three were still cowered in the corner. My husband had to shoo them out the door. I wish I had a photo but the picture is clear in our minds of the four guilty raccoons and two empty bags of banana bread. I hope they liked it!

Blueberry Picking

I picked blueberries this morning at Little Hill Berry Farm. It’s great to have fresh, local, organic fruit available close to home. My motivation this morning, on the last day of picking for this season, was to have some available for my son who is home for a short visit from Mozambique. He made arrangements to come back to attend a college friend’s wedding in MI and stopped by MN for a few days before heading back to Africa. It’s so good to see him. It was a sweet moment when he Skyped home this morning and precious, little Zoey (21 months) said “Hi Daddy!” It’s the first time I’ve heard her say daddy.

Last July when his wife and daughter were visiting us in Minnesota and I took them Little Hill Berry Farm to pick blueberries. It was a first experience for them and now a fun memory.