Valerie's Voice – Page 16 – Musings on Life

Hand Soap Flashback

Gary and I visited my soon to be 93-year-old aunt today. She moved from her beautiful home on 150 acres in Deerwood, Minnesota into an assisted living apartment in Plymouth. She is doing well, and likes her new space.

We had a nice long visit over coffee and some goodies. We updated family information and talked family history, and looked at photos she had hanging around her new apartment, and her many decorations.

Janet, one of Joyce’s daughters, lives near-by and stops in frequently, and happily enjoys shopping for her mother…from groceries to decorations for her new place.

There was one moment when I had an instant flashback to another aunt’s home…my Auntie Ag’s house.

This carved, cherub hand soap immediately brought back a vivid memory.

Auntie Ag died in 2004. She was a very attentive aunt to her three nieces… me, and Janet and Cindy (Joyce’s two daughters). It didn’t surprise me to find out while Janet was shopping for Joyce, she bought unique hand soaps, with a cherub carved into the soap. My Auntie Ag always had similar soaps in her bathroom. It was so classic “Aggie”. It made me smile, and I mentioned it to Joyce, of course. Joyce said, “I have extra. Please, take a bar home with you.” And so I did…including the beautiful box it’s packaged in.

A beautiful box of Italian Lavender Scented Soap.

The funny thing is I don’t recall the bar of soap in Auntie Ag’s bathroom was “for use.” I believe she used it for decoration only. And Joyce said the same thing. And so, Joyce too, put one of these unique hand soaps in each bathroom…for display only.

My newly acquired bar of hand soap that needs a special dish.

Now, while shopping thrift stores, I will look for a pretty dish to place my “Italian, lavender-scented, beautifully carved cherub in a perfectly round, hand soap” to put on display…somewhere in my house.

For memory’s sake.

Tulips

Colorful tulips...
They're showing off their splendor,
Bringing me much joy.

An Unusal Gift

Thank you for all the wonderful happy birthday messages. 
I was delighted to read each one.

The sunrise over Lake Superior, the second day.

We had a very relaxing and refreshing birthday/wedding anniversary trip to the north shore of Lake Superior. Our cozy cabin had a wood-burning fireplace next to patio doors to the deck overlooking the lake.

Enjoying a fire while viewing the lake from the cabin.

We had fires In the morning and fires in the evening…and enjoyed watching the lake with its many moods. On Tuesday the lake was churning with huge waves crashing against the rocky shore. The other days it was much calmer.

Huge waves crashing and spraying high above the rocky shore.

Mesmerizing Lake.
All our attention goes there,
It’s restorative.

A calmer day…photo taken from the deck of the cabin.

However, we did bring along our cross-county skis, snowshoes, and Yaktrax to get out for fresh air and exercise.

We hiked at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park.

This is the upper falls at Gooseberry Falls State Park, where we hiked.

A old Norwegian fish house on Stoney Point Drive…a nice walk from the cabin.

Our hikes kept us close to the lake, but cross- county skiing took us inland.

We usually ask locals for recommendations. Our resort owner told us about Korkki Nordic.

In the morning, the sun was shining and it was a decent temperature so off we went to ski this trail. Next to the warming house (a nice touch to this trailhead) was a guy standing near a snowmobile with trail grooming apparatus hitched on the back. We started a conversation and found out he is the regular trail groomer. Mark lives on the property and grooms four ski trails.

The ski season is, of course, winding down – it was the first day of spring after all- so he was not planning to groom many more times this year. During our conversation, we mentioned it was my birthday. He was a jovial sort and said, as a gift to me for my birthday, he would go ahead of us and groom the trail. It would make skiing much easier for us.

And so he did, and we followed about three minutes behind him, and the skiing was great.

That is one of the more unusual gifts I’ve received for my birthday. It was a random act of kindness and we were grateful.

March 20

The first day of spring…(We are up near Two Harbors on the shores of Lake Superior, and there is a snowstorm predicted for tomorrow!)

and it’s my birthday…70 years young…

God’s gifted me with a beautiful sunrise over Lake Superior.

Sunrise over Lake Superior (3//20/2023).

Two Words

A friend, whom I haven’t seen for a long while, and I were arranging a time to meet for a visit. After sending emails back and forth to determine date and time, I sent her an email to summarize our decision…and she replied, “Confirmed with joy!”

Two words…”with joy”…made my day. They made me smile, they lifted my spirits, they encouraged me. Those two simple words had a lot packed into them…

Oh, the power of words! What a difference just two words can make.

Fairy Houses

As the snow melts, daffodils and hyacinth sprouts will begin to emerge, and fairy gardens will be uncovered.

The beginnings of my fairy garden in our backyard, in 2021.

I am enchanted with fairy gardens. They are whimsical and I love finding them in surprising places: under a flower or next to a tree trunks, maybe under rocks in a rock garden. I also like creating one in my own backyard flower garden.

A fairy garden on St. Olaf Avenue (summer 2019) is large, and has a theme “reading”. You can find many animals scattered throughout the garden, reading books.

Some fairy gardens are elaborate, like one on St. Olaf Avenue in Northfield. The garden is filled all kinds of miniature critters with some fairies, most are reading books. It is clever.

An inviting entrance to a fairy house, at the bottom of a tree trunk. Photo taken: 2019.

A frog enjoying a cup of tea while reading a book. Photo taken: 2019.

My fairy garden is simpler; a table with chairs, with one fairy drinking from a tea cup and another fairy with a watering can…and oh yes, I added a Norwegian troll last summer.

I’m planning an expansion to my garden this year with a few trinkets I’ve picked up in thrift stores…a lamppost and wishing well to name a few.

One of three fancy sheds on display at the Home + Garden show in Minneapolis.

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Minneapolis Home + Garden Show in the convention center downtown Minneapolis. The show always has colorful flower gardens to show off and lots of different vendors promoting their wares. Every few years we think it’s interesting to go see “what’s new in home-style”.

This year my favorite display was…what I call… life-size fairy homes…uniquely designed sheds that look like fanciful fairy houses. I wanted to bring one home to play in, but they were asking an exorbitant price!

This shed has a large side window, for a lemonade stand or such fun.

What fun it would be to have an adult-size fairy house in a backyard…especially if it were tucked in between some trees. It could be a great place to set up a small library scene: book shelf full of books, a lamp, and a comfortable chair… or a place for sitting in quiet contemplation…or a fancy garden shed with all manner of plants and dirt, tools and planting supplies…or maybe even a game room?

When writing about these sheds, a memory surfaced of playing in a shed in our backyard when I was a little girl. My dad and brother made an adult-size play shed out of scrap wood – nothing fancy like these fairy sheds – but it had a door and a window and that was enough. The neighborhood kids and I played for hours in that shed.

My brother had two photos of the shed. This is when he and my dad were building the shed.

The finished shed. Looks like deep snow that winter…up to our waists.

I’m thinking that subdued memory was what sparked such a joyful response in me when I saw the creative fairy sheds at the Home + Garden Show.

March

The question always is will March come in like a lamb or a lion? Of course, the questions refers to the weather…

A mama robin, has perched on the tree outside our living room window the last few mornings.

For me, either way, March comes in with mixed emotions. There are several significant anniversaries for me in the month of March:

March 7, my father died in 1974
March 9, my mother died in 2009
March 16, our first grandson was born 2016
March 19, our second grandson was born in 2020
March 20, I was born in 1953
March 25, Gary and I were married in 1978

My mother died on this date in 2009. I created an album with items from her funeral and her last days.

Then, during the next 10+ years, I kept stuffing bits and pieces into the album as a safe place to put something significant related to her. It needed to be re-organized, so I took the album off the shelf to work on it during a recent snowstorm. I enjoyed going through the journal entries, the funeral program, and looking at the pictures. The hymns sung at her funeral were printed out, and included On Eagle’s Wings, an uplifting song (no pun intended!).

Chorus:
And He will raise you up on eagles' wings
Bear you on the breath of dawn
Make you to shine like the sun
And hold you in the palm of His hand

We recently took a day trip to the National Eagle Center, in Wabasha.

Angel, a permanent resident eagle at the National Eagle Center.

Columbia and Angel are resident eagles there, because of injuries. Both are female, and both in their “20’s”. Such majesty, beauty, power.

Columbia, also a current resident at the eagle center.

We tallied 14 eagle sightings en route to Wabahsa, on that pleasant March day. They are a magnificent sight. But I digress…

Back to momentous March dates…

My father, Herb. Photos from the 1940’s.

My father passed away on March 7, 1974. He was only 55 years old. I have accumulated pictures and written history information from our recent trip to Norway with intentions to compile them in an album. I plan to do so during the upcoming predicted snowstorm this week. Another 2-3 inches…downgraded from 7-8 inches.

Then, on to warmer spring days, and happier celebrations of births and marriage.

Ah, the circle of life…

Nerstrand’s Library

In the very, very small town of Nerstrand, Minnesota (population 279 in 2021) there is a quality meat market called Nerstrand Meats & Catering. It has been a mainstay of the community since 1890. Attached to the market is a recently opened café called Boot’s & Lu’s.

The owners of the meat market opened this cute café serving one lunch option daily (a different option each day, of course), and has limited hours. Nerstrand also has a convenience store and gas station, a couple of churches, a woodworking business, grain elevator, elementary school, a post office. The wonderful Nerstrand Big Woods State Park is two miles down the road.

The building next door to Boot’s & Lu’s is city hall, and within city hall there is a newly created library that recently opened, also with limited hours. As I was going to Boot’s & Lu’s one day, I noticed the library sign hanging in the window of city hall was turned to “open”. I have always liked libraries, so I was excited to step inside to take a peek.

A portion of the children’s library space.

Immediately a woman came out of her office to welcome us. She was pleasant, but I didn’t get her name or job title. She welcomes all who walk through the doors, and turned on the library lights for us.

One area of the older reader’s sections.

We browsed around. There was a nice-sized children’s section, and traditional books were shelved in different areas on the main floor. There seemed to be a very good selection of books.

The boxes are books that need to be sorted.

No library cards are needed. The honor system is used. You fill out the library card that is tucked in the back of the book and leave it in the check-out basket. There is no due date, you return the book when you are finished reading it. There are no late fees.

Our new friend continued to talk a bit about the history of the building. It was built in 1908 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The city hall housed city offices, some fire equipment, and a jail.

She unlocked a door in the back room to show us the original jail cell with bars still on the window. The old fire station was housed in the building next door (Boot’s & Lu’s).

This photo hangs in the hallway of Nerstrand’s city hall. It is a photo of Osmund Osmundson, a Norwegian immigrant who is credited for founding Nerstrand, incorporated in 1897. He was also one of the four founders of St. Olaf College.

We were impressed with this little library in this little town…a big step above “Little Free Libraries”. Plus, we had our own delightful guide, willing to share a lot of information about a place she cares about.

A quote on the wall in the children’s section of the library.

All Creatures

All Creatures Great and Small is a delightful PBS series featuring the true stories of a veterinarian, James Herriot, in Yorkshire England in the 1930’s and 40’s.

Abigail, Zacchaeus, Barnabas (hidden behind his brother) and Nanita.

The stories come from four books James Herriot wrote years ago. I enjoyed reading the books, and still owned them until recently I gave them to the Northfield Hospital Auxiliary fundraiser event. The books were filled with wonderful tales about the vast and interesting experiences James Wight (James Herriot is his pen name) had in the beautiful, rural area of Yorkshire, in northern England.

There have been several renditions of these stories in films and television series, but the latest series (began 2021) on public television is a favorite of mine. There have been three seasons to date, with plans for another season. YAY!

I thought of James Herriot when I arrived at the farm where I help out occasionally. The friendly, and hungry creatures (pictured above) were ready and waiting for me to feed them: 2 horses, 2 donkeys, 2 goats, 8 chickens, 4 cats and one dog.

I enjoy helping feed these fine animals, but do realize this is fun for me because I do it once in a while, while farmers do this daily – actually two times a day. This is the extent of my farm experience, while my husband, Gary, knows all about the daily work having grown up on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania.

I’m thankful for ALL creatures, great and small…and for farmers!

The Storm is Over

Thursday morning the snow started to taper off mid-morning, and stopped before noon. The official snowfall total for Northfield was 15.1 inches over this three-day storm. That’s a lot of snow, but not a record. Now, this morning, it’s cold out there…below zero temperatures!

This is our back deck…the table was clear of snow prior to the storm.

Thankfully we have a snow blower. With Gary behind the snow blower and me using shovels to clear out the front porch and short walkway, we make a good team, but he does the brunt of the work shoveling out.

We are also responsible to clear the public sidewalk along the east side of our house…Gary uses the snowblower for that.

It wasn’t too cold when we went out to clear snow. It went quickly. Then we wait until the snowplow comes along to plow the street and pushes a huge mound of snow back into our driveway. Gary goes out once again to plow it out…and the sidewalk entrance too. And so it goes.

The birdfeeders suctioned to our windows were full of snow. I saw a chickadee pecking through the snow to find seeds. I “spooned” out the snow and added fresh seed in the feeders.

The bird feeder and bird bath is another gauge of how much snow accumulated in our yard.

The first day of the snowstorm we were on country roads driving home. It had been snowing for awhile and the wind was blowing across the fields making it low visibility and white-out conditions over the fields. At that time, it was just beginning to snow…I can only imagine what it is like out on open roads with much snow and wind.

It looks so innocent and serene looking out our windows.

The front of our house…lots and lots of snow. It will be a while before we see green grass!

Ah…Minnesota winters…not for the faint of heart.