Memorial Day is a day to pay tribute to those who died while serving their country.
We watched the National Memorial Day Concert on PBS last night and it was very moving.
Thank you to all those who served/serve our country.
Memorial Day
Bike Rally
Our church held an interesting and fun event last weekend. The music director had the great idea of hosting a bicycle rally. This was an outreach event to our church neighbors… to help people get their bicycles into shape for the summer season.
There were a few bike stations set up…for minor repairs and pumping up tires as needed…there was a giveaway table, a raffle for bike helmets and bike locks. There was sunshine (although chilly at the beginning), and of course, there was music and food…donuts and coffee, hot dogs and water…all free…for all. O yes, and free t-shirts.
Gary and I volunteered to help at the event. We envisioned lots of kids coming with their bikes. We were surprised, and enjoyed the fact, that many families came together, and many adults had their bikes serviced.
There was a good turn out, and steady…not everyone came at once. We were there for four hours and all of us volunteers could tell people were having a great time, as were we!
The bike rally was deemed successful. We were able to show love to our neighbors, and offer them something practical and fun.
It was most likely the beginning of an annual event.
Our Camp Stove
We have had success putting unwanted items on the curb, free for the taking. I like that it helps keep things out of the landfill, and people can find another use for what we no longer want. Our latest item on the curb was our old Coleman camp stove…the classic old-style green one. It still worked, but was in rough shape so we thought some young folks might like it as a starter stove for camping. Apparently, someone did – it was gone the next day.
The camp stove served us well. Gary already owned it when got married, and we finally replaced it last year, in 2021, therefore it was over 44 years old. A few years ago, it converted easily to using one-pound propane tanks.
The camp stove holds fond memories. We used it on numerous camping trips over the years. Mostly when our two sons were younger. We liked to camp in Minnesota State Parks, and we liked to take road trips to the National Parks throughout the United States; from Acadia, to Great Smokey Mountains, to Yellowstone, to Zion, to name a few. We had many good times together on our camping trips…sometimes with friends, sometimes just the four of us.
Our firstborn son was three-months-old when we decided to go away for a camping weekend. We didn’t go far from home but one still needs to pack the almost the same amount of gear as for a longer stay. We made it to the campsite and got the tent (we always used a tent) and site all set up. After dinner, it started to rain…pour…so we quickly took the tent down, in the rain, and headed home. Camping in the rain is never fun, camping in the rain with a three-month-old is even more not fun.
But, we made up for it by taking several camping trips over the years…instilling a love of nature and the outdoors in ourselves, and in our sons.
We did buy a replacement stove, but doubt it will get the same use. Although we love to camp, we like being off the ground these days, so we try to stay in camper cabins. We discovered you need to collect the same amount of gear -just minus the tent- for camper cabins, but it’s much more comfortable than sleeping on the ground which we did all those years.
I’m grateful we were able to take these camping vacations. It made great memories for Gary and I to look back on now that our sons are on their own, making memories with their own families.
Ephemerals
Spring ephemerals: wildflowers that bloom for only a few days in the spring.
Last week I took a couple jaunts out to Nerstrand Big Woods State Park, one of my favorite parks in the area. Springtime in Nerstand always shows off its wildflowers before the trees leaf out. In spring the sunshine can reach and nourish the plants. We had an especially cold, windy and dreary April, so it seemed the many varieties of wildflowers decided to all pop up at once in May. It was spectacular.
I was able to participate in a wildflower walk with the new park naturalist at Nerstrand. As our group walked along the path towards Hidden Falls, he identified many different plants.
It was a good refresher course for me…each year I like to wander through the park and try to identify the spring flowers. I forget some over the year, and like to be reminded of their names.
The rare – grown only a few places in Minnesota and nowhere else in the world – the dwarf trout lily, was in bloom. It is always special to see that tiny, kernel of rice-size flower.
It was a sunny, glorious day as we hiked the trail. Not so windy, as it has been, and is, as I write this post.
Soon the tree leaves will cover the forest floor in shade, and the beautiful spring flowers will go dormant and wait until next spring to resurrect once again.
If you find a penny…
It was a dreamy evening, the other night…after dark…sitting on the deck, watching the lunar eclipse. It was called the blood moon. I learned, “a “Blood Moon” happens because the sunlight shining directly onto Earth passes through the atmosphere and is projected onto the moon–giving it a red tone during the eclipse.*” It was amazing to watch. I’ve always been fascinated by the moon……
This was happening after a long day. We had driven up north of Brainerd – and back home again – to attend my uncle’s memorial service.
Christmas 2021.
Uncle Bob was 94 years old when he died, last December. I last saw him in August. He was in fairly good health (he drove us to his granddaughter’s cabin down the road a couple of miles), although his hearing had deteriorated a lot.
My uncle, my dad’s brother, was a kind and loving man. He was special to both Gary and I, and many others. His memorial service was well attended. They had a wonderful program and fun photos all around. During the luncheon afterwards, some of the grandchildren handed out a scrolled-up piece of paper with a ditty about…If you find a penny think of Bob. I dismissed it as cute…but not apropos.
Later, as I was sitting on the deck and going over the day’s events in my mind, I found myself lamenting the fact that I didn’t have an elder in my life to talk things over with anymore. I found myself talking to Uncle Bob a bit that night on the deck, in the dark, watching the moon disappear – and soon Gary came and joined me as we watched the lunar eclipse together.
When we went in for the night, I stepped into my closet for something and as I reached to turn out the light there was a penny on the closet floor. An unlikely place to find a penny.
It made me smile…
* NPR 05/16
Lerberg’s Foods
We were reminiscing about old-time corner grocery stores and Lersberg’s Foods was mentioned as a must see. So, on a recent Sunday afternoon drive we headed for Ellendale, MN a small-town south of Northfield.
It was easy to find the food market in this small town of about 760. Right there on the main street, on the corner…with the banner indicating Lersberg’s Foods, Est. 1901.
We walked in and immediately felt like we stepped back in time…
The store was well-stocked and clean, small with narrow aisles and beautiful wooden floors, and one check-out counter.
Oh, and there is a moose head displayed on the wall. Apparently, it’s been there a long while, and has become a trademark of the store. There was a faded photo hanging underneath the moose head, of the man (Mr. Lerberg???) who shot the moose and it looked quite old.
We took our time and meandered the three aisles and picked out some groceries to buy in support of the old-time market. Several people said hi or some other nice comment…It was a fun place to visit and worth the drive to see it.
Afterwards we drove the backroads to Owatonna and walked in Kaplan Woods Park.
Another enjoyable Sunday drive.
Bird Song
As we walked along the river trail the other morning, we heard an unusual number of birds singing. The sound ramped up as we got closer to the hundreds of birds we could not see (except for a few in the treetops) but it sounded like a huge choir of birds, and not the normal bird songs one hears in the spring. Loud chirping was more like it. We took notice.
As we walked through this moment, we passed some walkers and they commented on the sound from the birds. I recognized one of the walkers as the orchestra conductor at St. Olaf College…I said to him as we passed, “I think the birds need a conductor.” His group also commented on the number of birds there must be to make loud “music” like that.
Gary and I continued on and all at once there was silence!
Not one bird sound. They all stopped at the exact same moment…for about five seconds.
Silence.
Then, just as quickly as they stopped, the birds resumed their singing again, loudly again. We looked at each other and Gary quipped, “They must have had to turn the page.” I laughed.
The conductor said he’d love to see all the birds take off at once. That would be a sight to see.
I do love birds…to watch them at the feeders and see them in nature, to admire their unique beauty and hear their sweet songs.
An Assignment
Recently, in my writing session, I learned about a new (to me) writing pattern… syllables crescendo up and then decrescendo back down. In my poem that follows, I started with two syllables in the first line, and worked up to seven syllables, then repeated seven, and worked back down to two.
The prompt: Describe a day in the life of your childhood.
Get up. Eat breakfast. Do a few chores. Go outside and play. The neighborhood gang waits. Play until it’s time for lunch, then go out to play some more. Go inside for supper. Go out until dusk. Then in, once more Go to bed. Repeat.
Obviously, this is exaggerated, but I do look back with fondness and gratefulness for my childhood. Which was so very different than my husband’s, who grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania. His was a happy childhood, too.
A Childhood Memory
My friend wrote a story about ants, which prompted a memory from my childhood involving ants. I grew up in northeast Minneapolis. Across the street from me lived my two best friends: Donna and Diane. This story, and many childhood memories, involve them. I don’t have many pictures of the three of us…but I found a couple pictures from Christmastime with the three of us and my brother.
Here’s my story: Ants
I don’t remember whose idea it was to sneak treats up to the cabin, but we thought it would be a fun thing to do. My “partners in crime” were my best friends at the time, two sisters who lived across the street from me, Donna and Diane. Our parents were good friends…they met when there was a surge of families moving into a new neighborhood in Northeast Minneapolis, in the early 1950’s.
We moved into the house my dad built when I was six months old, and I grew up there, with the same neighbors for the most part. There was a huge gang of kids in the neighborhood. And it was a fun place to grow up. I didn’t move out of the house my dad built, until after high school.
My parents had a large group of friends (with young families) that connected on a regular basis. They had coffee together, played bridge together, went camping together and rented cabins at the same resorts together. It was a family of friends. And Donna and Diane’s family, as well as mine, were a part of this group from the beginning.
Donna, Diane and I played together daily. We played outside, we had overnights, we played dress up, we played games, we had fun together, we grew up together. So, going up to a lake resort was a common outing for us. I now understand what a privilege it was to go to the resorts…but I guess since our family didn’t have a cabin – yet my parents wanted the cabin experience – the next best thing was to rent one.
As our parents planned another trip, we three girls planned our own shenanigans. I’m pretty sure we had enough to eat on these weekend get-aways, and probably more than enough snacks, so why we thought we needed to buy more snacks to sneak up to the cabin on this trip is a mystery. I know, at the time, we thought we were so clever and sneaky.
We must have pooled our allowance to get money to buy a few treats…maybe chips and cookies …I don’t remember anything other than the watermelon. And it was a half watermelon. Cut and wrapped in saran wrap. That’s a hard thing to sneak into a car, but we were determined.
When we got home from our grocery shopping excursion, we needed to hide the goods until the next morning when we were to leave for the cabin. So…we hid the snacks, including the half watermelon, in the bushes in Donna and Diane’s backyard. It made sense at the time…
Until the next morning when we took our pillows along to retrieve our treats and hide them in our pillow cases. What we discovered was a half watermelon, full, blackened even, with ANTS!
And we were so surprised!!! Little did we know the ants would show up. We learned a lesson that day…do not leave watermelon outside overnight under a bush – or anywhere!!! It’s a fun childhood memory.
Unfortunately, all of our respective parents have died, so we cannot get their take on this story.
Sugar Sand Festival
While in Florida, we checked out a Sugar Sand Festival exhibit, “Sandimals,” while on Clearwater Beach.
These incredible sculptures were made from the beach’s white sand. It was held in a huge tent, shaded from the sun, and cool inside.
We meandered through the one-way path observing this amazing and unique artwork. The sculptures were arranged according to the alphabet…like many children’s books: A for aardvark, B for bear, C for cat, etc…and the displays were all different animal types.
It was fascinating.
There was one artist working silently on a dog sculpture, putting on the last touches. It would be fun to watch the whole process…starting from the top down. I’m sure it takes a long time. It definitely takes talent.
It’s hard to remember these are all sculpted using fine sand.
It was really fun to walk through this display of sand animals…an unusual “walk on the beach” experience.