Valerie's Voice – Page 89 – Musings on Life

February Heat Wave

It was 56 degrees when we went for a walk in St. Olaf’s grasslands on Saturday. The path was a little wet in places but it was great to be out in the open prairie. We sat on a bench for a while to soak up some sunshine. After our hike we went downtown and there were people out everywhere…enjoying this Minnesota winter heat wave. Most of the snow has melted because of several consecutive warm days, and the forecast calls for these temperatures to continue for a few more. Will winter return?

On these nice days I turn down the heat in the house and open windows to let the “sneezes” out! The fresh air smells so good.

I remember last year we had a couple of warm days and we went on a bike ride in February. Is this the new norm?

Valentine’s Day Dinner

Years ago, when our boys were young we started a Valentine’s Day dinner tradition; heart-shaped French Toast. I’d buy a loaf of day-old bread, use a cookie cutter to cut out the heart shapes – saving the crusts to feed the ducks at the pond near by- make French Toast batter to dunk the bread and cook them up.

Then along came electric heart-shaped waffle makers (I have very fond memories of eating heart-shaped waffles at my relative’s homes in Norway.) I bought a waffle maker and switched to heart-shaped waffles for Valentine’s Day dinner, which I continue to make each year even though it’s just the two of us now.

This year, when I was up north at my uncles paging through a magazine, I found Norwegian Waffle recipe that looked good. I wrote down the recipe thinking it might be similar to the recipe they use in Norway. We decided to try it on Valentine’s Day.

In the morning I checked the ingredients and had my husband stop to pick up a couple we didn’t have on hand, and I stopped at the co-op in town to get cardamom ( maybe the secret ingredient??? ) However, I was so excited to try this recipe that I didn’t pay any attention to the quantity it makes until we had already started the batter, and then we decided it was too late to turn back. Well, four cups of milk and four cups of flour, one and a half sticks of butter plus additional ingredients, makes a lot of batter! We could have had the neighborhood over! We laughed.

We decided to make up all the waffles and freeze them…hopefully they’ll be tasty toasted.

Try It, You’ll Like It

It worked for my friend and I to meet in Wisconsin for a couple of days to take time out to visit in person, and to hear stories of her journey thus far, after her son’s death in December. God blessed our time together and it was very good.

We always enjoy our dinners out (breakfasts are usually in the hotel). The first night a dessert option caught our attention: Salted Caramel Bourbon Bread Pudding. The listed ingredients were bread pudding, caramel sauce, topped with candied pecans and salted caramel ice cream.

I mentioned to my friend that I had never tried bread pudding. I never thought “bread pudding” sounded appetizing. My friend however, likes bread pudding and explained how she makes hers and encouraged me to try it. This flavor sounded tempting, to both of us, but we were full from our fish tacos so we decided to come back another night to try it.

We did go back. The bread pudding portion was large (we shared) and it was delicious! We savored every bite.

A Carnegie Library

The Northfield Public Library is a Carnegie library, built in 1910 with a most recent addition in 2016. A Carnegie library is a library built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. A total of 2,509 Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929 – 1,689 in the United Sates – and one in my town.

I use our library often. I’ve been in a book club for several years now and rarely do I buy a book…I borrow it from the library. And when we go on road trips I borrow books on CD to listen as we speed down the freeway, or ramble on the back roads. And sometimes it’s nice to borrow movies instead of rent them.

Libraries often have inviting spaces to sit and read a book, magazine or newspaper, or relax and enjoy the quiet and/or write. But I don’t really take advantage of those spaces. It is too convenient for me to go on-line, order a book, movie or CD, have the librarians gather what I’ve ordered and notify me when it’s ready for pick up. What a great service. I walk right in to the holding shelf, self-check out, admire the lovely space, then leave. Someday I may just have to stay and enjoy.

I stopped by the library yesterday to pick up another book on tape…an old term I still use … it’s actually a book on CD. I am leaving on another road trip and look forward to listening to someone read to me as I drive along, passing the hours until I reach my destination.

History Lessons

Into the woods, heading towards Loon Lake.

Our time with my aunt (87) and uncle (my father’s brother, 89) was delightful. We enjoyed staying in their beautiful home on 150 acres in northern Minnesota. The farm, with lake shore, was very picturesque with the clean, fresh fallen snow covering the fields, and lake.

We did some snowshoeing on their property, took a walk down their lane to pick up the mail, helped fill a wooden trough with corn because my uncle feeds six deer each day, and filled two large bird feeders outside their kitchen window, but mostly we visited. After catching up with family talk we spent hours reminiscing of days gone by, focusing on their lives but including tales of my father, who passed away when I was twenty, and my grandparents who came over from Norway. These history lessons come alive when told from a personal perspective and we listened intently to the stories. We asked questions and they in turned asked questions of us to show their interest in us too…it was a very special time as we slowed down our lives to be with these fine folks.

Young At Heart

We are heading up to my aunt and uncle’s farm on Bay Lake in northern MN. We haven’t seen them for over a year. My uncle turned 89 last September. We look forward to visiting with them, my only living aunt and uncle. Below is a story from a summer visit with them in August, 2012.

*****

I am sitting here on the deck, breathing in the fresh air, hoping it infuses me with the youthfulness around me. I hear loons calling and the water fountain gurgling and look out to see the sun slowly exposing the field where eight cattle are leisurely grazing.

My uncle, age 84 11/12 (85 next month) has embarked on a new adventure this year. In order to keep his land deemed agricultural he bought eight steers and is fattening them in his field. Not only that, he adopted a new puppy too, Max. And did I mention he plays tennis three times a week?

We came up for a weekend get away before the busy fall season. My aunt and uncle are my relatives still living who have known me since I was born. It’s always fun to come up to their lovely home on Bay Lake.

Yesterday afternoon they arranged to take us on a pontoon ride with some friends of theirs. It was a glorious sunny day with blue skies and wispy white clouds. We climbed aboard the boat and the skipper (Jack) and his wife (Jean) maneuvered the boat away from the dock and we were off on a leisurely ride along the lake shore of Bay Lake, admiring cabins, seeing other boaters and skiers, and getting quick glimpses of loons before they dove under water.

Back on shore their friends invited us to stay awhile. She showed us her lovely garden and picked a stunning white and violet dahlia for me. We ate snacks and then headed back to my aunt and uncles place. On the way back we find out this very hospitable, lively couple are both 87 years old!

As we drove up the lane to my uncle’s place we are greeted by two strategically placed plastic penguins that my uncle found in the pool-house and placed playfully in the yard.

Oh to be young, like 85 or 87!

Frosty Snow

We drove to Wilderness Park after the snow stopped falling excited to get out and play in it. Ours were the first tracks in the park, except for lots of animal tracks. The trees were frosted with an inch or two of the fresh-fallen, white fluff. We strapped on our snowshoes and stomped in the woods, along the river, through the winter wonderland. I kept stopping in awe to take pictures so we got off to a slow start but after awhile I just kept walking to enjoy the beauty and get some fresh air and exercise. It was Minnesota at its finest in winter. Not too cold…no wind… fresh snow cover…beautiful.

Turn of the Century

I took the back roads to my friend’s, new-to-her, town house and it was a beautiful drive. We were getting together to catch up with our lives after a few months apart. Since that time she had moved into a town house in a neighborhood where she wanted to live. She had created fliers and dropped them off on doorsteps in the area letting people know she was interested in buying a town house – if anyone was interested in selling theirs. And it worked!

She enjoyed showing me around the spacious end unit. She had it repainted and the great room, bedroom and sun-room she had re-carpeted. Natural light came in through the large windows on west end and the patio door on the south end, and the empty room looked spacious. The new furniture she ordered had not arrived so we sat down on her new, soft carpet in front of the fireplace. As she laid out the upholstery samples of her sofa, chairs, ottoman, pillows and cushions I “oohed and aahed” over her choices and imagined all the pieces in their place. She has had fun decorating and soon her place will be as she has envisioned it over the past few months.

So I asked her, “when was the town house built?” and she answered, with a sly smile, “at the turn of the century.” I laughed, then realized she was serious. Then realized that now means around the year 2000.

Clever!

Serenity Prayer – Reworded

In church on Sunday, we heard a different version of the serenity prayer:

Show me what is yours to do Lord.

Show me what is mine to do.

Show me what’s what, and make it clear.

This is the traditional prayer:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference.

Both are worth praying.

One Little Box

In the bedroom closet upstairs, tucked away on the top shelf, is a box.

It’s an old Gateway computer box with the Holstein cow pattern, and it’s only about 14” X 18” and 6” deep.

It doesn’t take up much space, this one little box, but, if you open it up, out pops one great, big surprise! Thirty-three years of calendars, thirty-three years of life, thirty-three years of recorded history from one small family. It contains years of appointments, church activities, school and sports activities, vacation schedules, birthdays, anniversaries, deaths, dinners, all kinds of celebrations etc….

It reminds me of a Jack-In-The-Box. Each year it springs open, I add another calendar, force the lid closed as it bursts with memories, and I put it away for safe keeping.

This one little box holds one big treasure.

And it’s amazing how little space this box takes, upstairs, tucked away on the top shelf of the bedroom closet.

I wrote this poem in 2012 and it reigns true today although I did have to put the Gateway box into a larger box to accommodate more calendars. I added another calendar this week.