Uncategorized – Valerie's Voice

Greeting Cards

Gary and I started a tradition of giving each other greeting cards when we were first married and continue to do so to this day, 47 years later. We exchange cards for Valentine’s Day, our birthdays, our anniversary, Easter and Christmas – that’s about 470 cards by now! And, as per usual, I kept them.

A few fun cards from the large assortment of cards in the box.

Now it was time to go through them…to enjoy re-reading them and then recycle them. We don’t want to store them in our new house.

We were home alone on Christmas Eve, so we thought that would be a good time to go through the cards and reminisce. It was a lot of fun looking at all of them… the different style of cards and reading our hand-written notes, if we added any.

Sometimes we gave each other the same card on the same year, and sometimes we gave the same card a year or two later. It was interesting and entertaining.

There are so many b e a u t i f u l cards. It’s hard to give them up, and I did keep a few. I think there are places that collect old cards to create new cards, and I thought about that, but it was overwhelming to think about in the midst of moving.

i like this writing theme…there was bicycle themes, cats themes, birds and flowers…o my…

We also made cards for each other occasionally.

Hard to tell in the photo, but these cards are extra large.

Going through the cards Gary and I gave to each other was a lot of fun, and then I was ready to recycle most of them.

Multiple cards made for us from our sons.

But, it felt different going through all the cards I saved that our sons had made and given to us over the years. We encouraged their creativity and they made some imaginative cards over the years.

Another pile of creative cards made by our sons.

We had the good intention to look at them and then recycle them, but I couldn’t do it. We looked at them, and I put them in some semblance of order, and kept most of them… to look at again when we’re even older. And who knows – maybe someday their children will find the cards in a box and enjoy seeing how creative their daddies were.

A sampling of Thanksgiving cards the boys and I made to send out to our families.

Greeting Cards

Now it was time to go through them…to enjoy re-reading them and then recycle them. We don’t want to store them in our new house.

We were home alone on Christmas Eve, so we thought that would be a good time to go through the cards and reminisce. It was a lot of fun looking at all of them… the different style of cards and reading our hand-written notes, if we added any.

Sometimes we gave each other the same card on the same year, and sometimes we gave the same card a year or two later. It was interesting and entertaining.

There are so many b e a u t I f u l cards. It’s hard to give them up, and I did keep a few. I think there are places that collect old cards to create new cards, and I thought about that, but it was overwhelming to think about in the midst of moving.

I like this writing theme…There was bicycle themes, cat themes, birds and flowers…o my…

We also made cards for each other occasionally.

It’s hard to tell in the photo, but these are extra-large cards.

Going through the cards Gary and I gave to each other was a lot of fun, and then I was ready to recycle most of them.

But, it felt different going through all the cards I saved that our sons had made and given to us over the years. We encouraged their creativity and they made some imaginative cards over the years.

Another pile hand-made cards made by our sons.

We had the good intention to look at them and then recycle them, but I couldn’t do it. We looked at them, and I tried to put them in some semblance of order, and kept most of them… to look at again when we’re even older. And who knows – maybe someday their children will find the cards in a box and enjoy seeing how creative their daddy’s were.

Frozen Falls

We went for a hike the other day, in 40* weather. We’ve had a few below zero days this winter, but last week we had a stretch of unusually warm weather for a typical January in Minnesota.

We have had only one measureable snowfall, and that was in December, so there is not much snow lying on the ground. As we hiked the trails through the bare trees in Nerstrand Big Woods State Park, we were walking on dirt. The sun was shining bright, with no clouds in the sky. The temperature climbed into the 50’s by afternoon.

When we arrived at the park, we noticed a group of hikers were just starting their journey on the trail we usually hike. So we decided to reverse directions and “start at the end of the trail.”

After a while we came to the creek, frozen over. As we crossed the bridge we took in the pretty sight of a smooth, sparkling white curve cutting through the brown landscape, with a blue sky overhead. It looked like an inviting trail, not a creek.

Gary walking on iced-over concrete blocks.

We continued on, crossing a frozen patch in the creek, covering the concrete block path that serves as a way across Prairie Creek normally.

We arrived at Hidden Falls. We wondered if there would be any water flowing and found it completely frozen over. It was like the White Witch of Narnia had cast her spell on these falls and the water froze instantly, in place.

Hidden Falls in Nerstrand Big Woods State Park.

It was beautiful…this blanket of white ice on this unusually warm day. Such a contrast between no snow on the ground, brown soil and trees, blue sky and lots of frozen water. It was such a great winter scene.

You can picture the water falling and splashing over the falls, now frozen in place.

We managed to sneak in a couple of photos before the other hikers descended upon us. They asked us to take their photo, and reciprocated and took ours. We found out they were a hiking club from the cities and they were identifying trees in winter. I think that would be difficult.

We continued on our fun hike…glad to be out of doors on such a winter’s day.

A Friendly Ghost

Our writing prompt was to write about a ghost. It took a couple of months for me to come up with an idea for a story…and then I encountered Toro, the Friendly Ghost.

On the shores of Lake Superior, October 1, 2024.

On our annual trip to the north shore this year, we brought some kindling from our shed. We enjoy having a campfire on the rocks outside the cabin. This is a fun activity we do when we go up to the north shore…build a campfire on the rocks near the water. On this night the sky was clear and we saw thousands of stars. A sight to behold.

I sometimes take photos of our campfires…they are so mesmerizing…and we love to sit and watch the flames dance as we poke a stick into the fire to rearrange the logs. I take photos for documentation, although most do not turn out. But I try, and so, I did this night.

It was interesting…a green blob appeared when I was framing the photo. I moved the camera slightly to get the green blob out of the photo, but it was still there. Then I tried many different angles, but the green blob was in every frame, just above the flames. I have proof!

So, we wondered… where did this “ghost” come from?

We decided it came from our shed in our backyard in Northfield. When Gary grabbed the old, blue, plastic container filled with kindling from the shed, to pack in our car, we decided this ghost hitched a ride in the plastic tub, to the north shore.

We believe that night our friendly ghost, who we named Toro (since he shared the shed with a Toro lawn mower) was set free. For the past thirty years he was confined to our shed, watching over the kindling and unlocked doors, keeping watch over our belongings. Now that we were moving away from this address, Toro felt free to ride along with the kindling.

That night, when we set the tub down by the fire ring on the rocks, he began testing his “wings” by hanging around the fire…hesitant, I believe, to let us go after all these years. Then, he remembered the reason he had tagged along in the box. He remembered we were moving away from the house, and the shed, on Aldrich Drive. He was now free and able to go find a new shed to protect.

He was hanging out at the fire saying his last good-byes. The next time I tried to take a photo…he had vanished… in the wind, or waves, or however a friendly ghost travels…

Best wishes, Toro!

BrainDance

One Sunday evening, while looking for something in my junk folder on gmail, I noticed a misplaced email from CVEC; Cannon Valley Elder Collegium. During our busy moving schedule, I didn’t notice I had not received the winter class list. I took a quick peek and the class titled Get Your Brain Dancing immediately caught my attention. The description was, in part, as follows:

“Cultivate joy and enrich your mind, body, and spirit through the power of dance, one of the liberal and performing arts! We will practice safe, accessible, brain-compatible dance technique and alignment, including the BrainDance, for improved balance, strength and flexibility…”

Sign for Northfield Dance Academy where the class is held.

I couldn’t resist…I only hoped I wasn’t too late to sign up, which I did the next morning. The class was capped at 15, and I was number 18, but the instructor ok’d it.

The “X” on this photo marks my in position in this dance line when I was seven years old.

I have always liked to dance, but my experience is limited…at least one dance class when I was a little girl, going to high school dances, dancing the waltz and polka with my dad, dancing at weddings, a ballroom dance class, an Irish dance class and a Norwegian dance class. My husband does not like to dance so we haven’t much. I have often thought that one thing I’ll regret is that I didn’t dance more.

I’ve been to two (of eight) dance classes and they have been a lot of fun and good exercise. I’m learning the BrainDance (I love the title), an actual routine that involves “a series of eight developmental movement patterns that help to organize the brain, strengthen neural pathways, energize the body, and reduce stress” (based on developmental skills of infants – developed by Anne Green Gilbert, a renowned dance educator and author).

The class is very interesting, interactive and enjoyable. Who knows? Maybe this class will lead to other dancing opportunities. Dance on.

Illuminated Tree

The other morning, as I was walking in the Carleton Arb, I came to a clearing and saw this spectacular cloud formation. At the time I was enthralled by the wispy shapes and beautiful colors.

Later, looking at the picture, I see a tall, exquisite, illuminated evergreen tree. Maybe other eyes see something different.

I have always loved looking at clouds and finding different formations.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."  

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Frosty outside, toasty inside.”

Those were the words I wrote in a cabin journal, inviting guests to leave comments about their experience at a camping cabin where we recently stayed for a couple of nights. These camping cabins have heat and electricity. They have large bunkbeds, built-in shelves, table with benches, but no indoor plumbing. There was water available close to the cabin.

The newly built cabins were well-made with pine siding, and the wonderful smell of pine permeated them. They have a screen porch (not useful in winter) and great views. It wasn’t really “glamping”, but coming in from the freezing temperatures outside, into the warm, cozy temperatures inside the cabin felt luxurious.

We scheduled a few days away at the cabin long before we knew there would be below zero temperatures. We brought along hand warmers and toe warmers and all our outdoor, winter gear we needed to be comfortable outside.

We were hoping to cross-country ski and snowshoe, but there was little snow on the ground so that didn’t happen. We managed to get in a couple hikes and have a camp fire to grill hotdogs.

The sun glistening on the snow-covered lake and the golden prairie grass along the trails showed off the beauty of a Minnesota winter.

The full moon in January is called the wolf moon.

There was an added bonus of the full January wolf moon. Getting up in the middle of the night to walk outside to the restroom was made tolerable because of the moon shining down, casting a charming spell on the landscape. We didn’t even need a flashlight to light our way to the heated, shower house. It made walking in the below zero temperatures a little less painful. 😉

It was a fun get away, and most definitely…frosty outside and toasty inside.

The Secret Recipe

I was honored to have an out-of-state friend stop by to visit over the holidays. When people come back to town there is always many places to go and people to see, so I felt special that she carved out time to come visit. She is the daughter of a cherished friend who passed away a few years ago. I was excited to see her and her family, and for her to see our new house.

I decided to make cookies…a recipe that used to be her favorite cookie whenever she came over to our house back when she was in high school. When my guys were younger and living at home, I made a special chocolate chip cookie recipe all the time (now I tend to make my mother’s ginger cookies), but for this notable visit I decided to make my “secret chocolate chip” recipe. I never gave out the recipe back then… Now the cookies are long forgotten by many.

However, on this day my secret chocolate chip cookies brought delight. My guest was excited that I made these cookies for her and her young family. It made me happy. As her kids gobbed up the cookies, she asked me if my recipe was still secret and I said no. I made her a copy of the old, tattered recipe clipping from a magazine and handed it off to her.

She said she will take it home and let it be her own secret recipe now.

Clowns

My mom was a collector and had two prominent collections. One was angels. When she passed away in 2009 I set up a table in the fellowship hall of the church where we had her funeral, and set out all her angels with a sign saying “take an angel to remember Ruby”. It was a hit…the angels were all gone by the end of the luncheon.

This is an angel I saved from my mother’s collection. It has a favorite scripture etched into it:
Isaiah 40:11
He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.

Her other significant collection was clowns. She had a pretty sophisticated clown collection, with many clowns by specific artists. We eventually sold most of them…but didn’t get their true value.

The clown I kept from my mother’s collection.

One favorite clown that I saved was a tall clown on a stand, with different masks hanging from its neck to interchange. When our sons were little, they‘d go to grandma and ask if they could change the masks…when she said yes, they very carefully took off one mask and replaced it with another. That clown sits on top of our bookshelf in our sunroom now. I saved a few smaller, whimsical clowns that are tucked in different places throughout the house.

A glass clown figure tucked into the corner of a curio cabinet.

For many years a clown picture, that my mom cross-stitched, hung in my laundry room. It had been in the guest room where the grandkids slept when they came to visit, but the picture scared them, so we moved it out. I agree, clowns can be kind of scary.

The cross-stitch picture my mother made.

The cross-stitch is large with bright colors. It is professionally framed in a blue frame with glass. Unfortunately, we have no place to display it in our new home, so I decided to sell it (after checking with other family members.) The gal who bought it is thrilled to have it, and that makes it easier to part with…it will be on display for others to enjoy, instead of in a box in the garage.

There was a variety of clowns in my mom’s collection.

Of course, to this day, whenever I see a clown I think of my mom. She had a fun and unique collection.