Valerie's Voice – Page 35 – Musings on Life

Turkish Delight

A few weeks ago, a friend dropped off a gift for my birthday. It was a bag of Turkish Delight. I have been reading the Chronicles of Narnia so I’m not sure if that is what prompted the idea for the gift. In the book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Edward is enticed to go with the wicked White Witch because she offers him Turkish Delight, which he cannot resist.

I had never tasted Turkish Delight before. It’s good… sugar-covered nougat with pistachios. My train of thought from tasting the candy was as follows: it started with the gift, to the book series I’m reading, to nougat candy, to candy stores, to Apache Plaza where my friend Diane and I would go to the Fanny Farmer candy store and buy a quarter’s worth of almond bark! What a crazy thought pattern.

I grew up in northeast Minneapolis, in a wonderful neighborhood filled with a lot of kids to play together. My two best friends lived across the street: Donna & Diane. A few blocks away, past a section of woods where we would often play, then across a couple busy streets, Apache Plaza was built, in 1961. It was the second enclosed mall in Minnesota, Southdale Center being the first.

Our moms would let us girls walk up to Apache Plaza together (neighborhoods were safer back then). I remember the layout of Apache well. We usually entered through Murphy’s Department Store. After looking at all the trinkets we’d go into the plaza and walk around. JCPenney’s was an anchor store, as was Montgomery Ward.

In addition to buying a quarter’s worth of almond bark at Fanny Farmer, we would sometimes go to the soda fountain at Woolworth’s and order a coke and French fries (I’d like to do that again!) I bought records (45’s or albums) at Musicland and spent hours in Minnesota Fabrics looking at sewing patterns and fabric. There was Brown’s Photo where our family had film developed, a pet shop we always walked around in to see the animals, and downstairs was a bowling alley. Apache Plaza was damaged by a tornado in 1984 and demolished in 2004.

The Turkish Delight was a delightful, simple gift given, that brought back such fun and crazy memories, especially a quarter’s work of almond bark!

Waterfowl

On a walk around the ponds in our neighborhood yesterday, I was treated to seeing several different types of waterfowl: ducks, Canadian geese, an egret and a great blue heron.

I stopped to watch the heron stealthily approach the egret. Canadian geese and ducks were swimming in the pond. It was a delight to stand and watch the birds, and take pictures of them.

The heron approaches the egret, with an image of a bird flying over the pond.

It reminded me of a time, years ago, while traveling with our sons, we had to wait a while for a train. There was a pond nearby. I told them nature can be very entertaining, and we went to sit near the pond to watch the birds and ducks.

It was entertaining then, and it is today.

The heron, the egret and Canadian geese all together for the photo shoot. ha!

These birds did indeed entertain me, and bless me, this day.

Minnesota Marine Art Museum

Last month we went on a Sunday Drive down Highway 61 towards Winona, Minnesota. The sun was shining bright and we enjoyed the scenic views of the Mississippi River. Because it was late March, the trees had not budded out yet, and we saw a lot more of the water than driving the same route in summer or fall when the trees are full. It’s a beautiful drive anytime of the year, but I it was nice seeing more of the river this time.

Our first stop was Lark Toys, a very unique and fun stop. Lark Toys is a toy museum, a retail store with a large selection of wooden toys, vintage-style toys and a fine book shop. The museum has glass enclosed displays with all sorts of games and toys from bygone years that prompt many memories and a delight to see. There is an indoor carousal you can ride, a candy store to buy old-fashion candies, and an ice cream shoppe.

Inside one of the glass enclosed display cases of antique toys in Lark’s Toy Museum.

Our next stop was the Marine Art Museum in Winona. It seems an unusual place for such a quality museum, but I assume it’s because of the two colleges in Winona, and probably a generous donor. It is on an inlet of the river, close to downtown but in a more industrial part of town. The tagline on their website is “Great art inspired by water.” I like that because I like water, and I like art.

The museum has permanent displays and changing exhibitions. Some works of Fred Somers, a talented and inspiring Northfield artist, were on display the day we were at the museum, and also an exhibition about the Titanic, with art pieces to go along with that tragic story.

Exhibitions change which provides new artworks to see, but the permanent displays are wonderful too. I don’t know much about art…I never took an art history class (but wish I had). I really enjoy admiring the artwork. I marvel at those who can paint. I often think, “this piece started out as a blank canvas!” A lot of the pieces (but not all) in the museum focus on marine art, thus the name.

There were two ship’s figureheads in the lobby of the Marine Art Museum, reminding us to wear our masks.

There are two permanent collections: American artists and European artists. The American collection is “historical works by American artist spanning the length of the nation’s history”. I don’t know many American artists, but I’m learning. The European collection had pieces by artists I recognized, such as; Monet, van Gogh, Degas, Renoir, Picasso and more.

Understandably photographs were not permitted (except in the lobby). There is a nice gift shop where I bought some postcards.

This is a post card I bought in the museum gift shop. I liked the colors and style of this Renoir painting, from the European collection.

It’s worth the drive to Winona to check out this interesting and amazing museum.

A Poem: Mama Bear

This is a fun poem I wrote for an assignment to write a personal poem with metaphorical meaning, and an animal as the central figure. Poetry stretches me. It is not my favorite writing style, but it is good to be challenged.

 
Mama Bear

Mama Bear is a nickname for my grandmother status.
It is fitting since I have always been the protective sort.
Don’t get between me and my offspring, and their offspring - my grandchildren,
For then I will get aggressive and grumpy.
I may look cute and cuddly but I can take a stand
And when I stand, I am very tall and noisy.
I do like honey and berries,
And I love rambling through the forest and mountains and by rivers. 
I have learned to take life more slowly
But watch out, I still have what it takes to roar!

Hope

Hope, there’s that word again.

Derek Chauvin, the police officer that held his knee on George Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes almost a year ago, has been convicted of murder. Guilty…the verdict turned in from a jury of twelve, after a three week trial. This verdict stands for accountability of police officers, accountability of people in authority.

One black man, interviewed outside the courthouse after the verdict was read on Tuesday, April 20^th said, “I had this much hope left” with a show of thumb and finger indicating a very small amount. Now he says he has a little more hope. I’m thinking that rang true for so many this historic day.

May we all move forward and continue to work for peace and justice… with a little more hope than we had a week ago.

Spring = Hope

What season is it anyway? Our yard, raked clean last fall, is once again full of leaves. The snow has finally melted but it has exposed more leaves and the winds of March have blown them into our yard…as is the case in the fall. For some reason our corner lot is a collection site for the neighborhood leaves.

Daffodils are cheery and bright! These are along the path I walk in our neighborhood. (2017)

Spring in Minnesota is always welcome because our winters are long. No traces of snow or ice, longer days with sunshine and warmer temperatures are delicious, but it is not a pretty time of year in Minnesota. I wouldn’t want to show off Minnesota in the spring.

Bright red tulips on St. Olaf College campus. (2017)

True, there are the spring flowers which I love. Multi-colored tulips, white, yellow or purple crocuses, perky yellow or white daffodils and purple hyacinths, all popping up out of the ground. They add fuel for us to get past the mud and sand and brown grass and leafless trees, to summer.

Wildflower in Nerstrand Big Woods State Park. (2017)

But the wind…the wind is not a friend. It’s hard to walk. It’s hard to bike. It’s brings in cold air. It changes the temperatures back to wind chills. It blows dirt and grime and garbage and leaves all over. It is not a pretty site.

An array of tulips in the front yard of a house on St. Olaf Avenue in Northfield. (2019)

So I need to focus on the positives of springtime. My birthday is in the spring. I always like saying my birthday is the first day of spring (because it is.) Easter, one of my favorite holidays, is always in the spring. Spring does not have the bugs of summer and in the spring, we can start to discard our jackets. It doesn’t “hurt” to go outside (as a friend likes to say) and you don’t have to put on all kinds of outdoor gear. The air is fresh and we can open the windows of our houses and let the stale air and winter sneezes out. Tress start budding. Spring is a hopeful time, and a time to dream of summer days and nights. I guess that is the best part of spring: Hope.

A Hike in the Desert

When we travel, we like to find area trails to hike and get out in nature. The friend we visited in Arizona likes to hike too, and had a trail in mind for when we came to visit.

The beginning of the trail…we hiked away from this formation.

Due to limited luggage space we didn’t pack our hiking poles or hiking shoes. We took along our good walking shoes, our sun hats, and sunscreen. We knew our friends would provide water bottles for us.

Cacti growing on the slopes, in place of trees.

We set our alarm to get up and get on the trail early one day, before it got too hot to enjoy the hike. (It was hotter than normal when we flew out to Arizona in early April, highs were in the 90’s, but it cooled down significantly at night). We drove to the trailhead (past long-horn cattle roaming) to the Superstition Wilderness in the Superstition Mountain area.

It was a lovely morning for a hike…clear, blue skies and a nice, cool temperature. We stopped to take photos of the unique and open desert scenery…so different and fun to see. My friend likes to take pictures so it was no problem stopping whenever we wanted to capture a moment…she understands.

On the drive to the trailhead our friend was telling us about her hiking club she joined when she moved to Arizona a year and a half ago. In addition to plenty of water (a staple for hiking anywhere) she learned to carry a fine-tooth comb with her on desert hikes…just in case you have a run in with a cactus.

Well, of course, that happened to me. We were well into our hike, taking pictures of the cacti in bloom, and I got excited about this beautiful, blooming cactus and started taking photos. I could get a better angle if I moved around a bit and, sure enough, I brushed up to a very prickly cactus and a clump stuck to my ankle, through my sock, as I jumped away. It’s called the Teddy-Bear Cholla and I had admired it previous to our hike. The Teddy-bear Cholla looks so cuddly…but it’s not! Thankfully my friend had followed the advice from her fellow hikers and put a comb in her backpack.

My only photo of the Teddy-Bear Cholla. There are others that look more cuddly than this one. This is not the one I bumped against.

It worked slick! Many prickly needles came out easily with the comb. There were a few strays that I took out with Duct Tape when we got back to her place. It was quite comical that we would need a comb after her telling us about it on our way to the trail.

The hike in the desert was unique and strikingly beautiful. We enjoyed it…and learned something too.

Animal Sightings in Arizona

On our recent visit to AZ, not only did we see the desert in bloom, but we saw several kinds of birds and animals.

There were cardinals in the trees, and lots of hummingbirds too. There were mourning doves and lots of quail drinking from a large, ceramic basin of water our friends strategically placed outside their family room window. I enjoyed seeing the quail and their pretty little head plumes. I tried several times to get a photo of the quail but it just didn’t happen. We spotted a roadrunner racing on the ground several times.

The Great Horned owl tucked between the arms of a saguaro cactus. She’s protecting two owlets. There is one in the photo.

But the prize bird sighting was a Great-horned owl, and her two owlets. Their nest was in-between the arms of a tall, saguaro cactus. Ouch. Those cactus needles are prickly! We stopped to see the nest on our way to our friend’s house directly from the airport. We saw mama, and her two young ones the first time. Two days later we stopped by to check on the owlets and they had grown. My friend got an up-close photo of one of them with her special camera.

Photo of an owlet through a zoom lens. photo by tw

There were jack rabbits all over town; in the yards, on the golf courses, in the open spaces, at the watering bowl. I didn’t have my camera ready at the right moments so I didn’t get any photos of the cute bunnies with long ears.

We saw long-horn cattle roaming in the open, alongside the road to the trailhead for our desert hike.

But the prize animal sighting was bighorn sheep. On the drive through the mountains to Canyon Lake (where we had scheduled a boat ride in a beautiful reservoir) we spotted bighorn sheep.

Canyon Lake…I called these rock formations “desert fjords”. photo by tw

Four of the 8 big horn sheep we watched. photo by tw

Big horn sheep climbing the rocky terrain. photo by tw

We stopped to take photos and watch the beautiful creatures maneuver the rocky terrain. We counted 8. My friend had a camera with a stronger zoom so I let her take the photos.

And lastly…the night before we left, in the rocky side yard we spotted a Gila Monster (pronounced heel-la monster), a poisonous lizard and apparently a rare sighting.

The lizard moves slow so we could get a good look at it and take photos. According to Wikipedia, it is the only venomous lizard native to the United States.

Each flower, each bird, each animal is a gift. I marvel at nature’s beauty and God’s amazing creativity. And I am grateful.

Colors of an Arizona Desert

We recently spent a few days visiting friends in Arizona and were pleasantly surprise to see the desert in bloom. I can’t name all the plants but I enjoyed seeing the beauty and uniqueness of each one. Such diversity, and oh-so-different from our Minnesota landscapes!

The entry to Boyce Thompson Arboretum.

For some reason this saguaro cactus arm was horizontal, not vertical, but so much better for us to see the bloom.

We saw this super tall bloom in someone’s yard (along with the Easter bunny!)

Stunning, colorful mountains at dusk.

Happy Easter

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!