Many beautiful happenings are all around lately…to name just a few:
The program for the musical at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre.
We went to see Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre. It was phenomenal, especially for those of us who grew up with her music. She was a prolific song writer, with over 118 top hits, written or co-written. We had a wonderful time.
Another beautiful event was seeing the northern lights…
I had told friends if they ever hear of the northern lights in the area to let me know…and one night, last week, she texted and said there was a good chance. I was in my nightgown, but threw on a jacket and shoes, and off I went (Gary was in bed already). I noticed several others out, along the way to my viewing spot. We were all hoping to see the northern lights.
We did, and they were beautiful. Basically there were streaks in the sky with a very faint tint of color, but when you took a picture the colors popped.
Looking out from our window down into the nest.
Blooming spring trees are blossoming all over town. I noticed, in our very own crabapple tree, there is a robin’s nest with three “robin-blue” eggs in it.
Lovely blue Robin’s eggs.
Zoomed in on mama…
I say good morning to mama, every morning, and greet her several times during the day, as she sits in her nest in the tree right outside our bedroom window. It is a beautiful sight.
Foxes near their den.
There is a family of foxes in our neighborhood…two adults and 8 pups. I’ve seen 8 of the 10 foxes. It’s a short and easy walk to go watch these playful and beautiful creatures, so I try and go see them often.
This farm is on County Road 9. I always look for the “Dutch-belted cows”.
A farm scene in spring, with red barn and cattle and blue skies and spring greens is always beautiful.
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!
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 house my dad built in northeast Minneapolis, where I grew up.
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.
It was a warm, sunny day, with temperatures in the low 60’s as I drove out to the farm, where on a previous visit a horse knocked me over and stepped on my foot, putting me in a walking boot for several weeks. I wondered how the horse would react to me (and me to the horse) so I was a bit apprehensive. But when I drove into the driveway a sense of peace passed over me. I was excited to be back helping with the animal chores.
A student quilt displayed at the National Quilt Museum, January 2022.
Being among the animals reminds me of one of my favorite PBS series, “All Creatures Great and Small”, stories that come to life from James Herriot’s books. I may not be in Yorkshire Dales England, nor be a veterinarian, but none-the-less the setting is rural and picturesque, and the animals are sweet.
I like putting on my mud boots and leather gloves and getting into the animal pens. Sampson, the dog, takes his place outside the pens, watching our every move… waiting for his special playtime with us after chores.
It’s fun to see the chickens respond to clapping; when they hear the sound (and are shooed towards the hutch) they all obediently climb through the little chicken-size door and we shut them in for the night.
There are two donkeys who are brothers, and they are comical. I’m glad they have each other.
The two goats are feisty and probably anxious to get out into the fenced-in field to graze freely when spring greens pop up through the earth.
The horses just seem happy to have warmer weather to eat outside, and be near each other. The horse that hurt me acted like nothing at all ever happened between us!
Overall it went well, and I’m happy to be back in the “saddle” again.
Lancaster County Pennsylvania is a unique spot in the US. My husband grew up on a small dairy farm in the rolling hills of this southeastern county of Pennsylvania, surrounded by more small dairy farms. It is very picturesque. There are a lot of Amish, Mennonites and Brethren that have farms and businesses and add to the uniqueness of this county in Pennsylvania.
A sunset over a farm, growing mums…
Beautiful small (and large) farm markets are everywhere and we saw teams of mules in the fields, and horse and buggy’s on the streets. There are covered bridges, immaculate gardens, and narrow roads. And many, many beautiful old buildings and barns and houses.
Erb’s historic covered bridge (1887), on the backroads of Lancaster Co., PA.
One of the many farmer’s markets we saw on our drives.
A first for me…peanut pumpkins!
A hard way of doing farm work, but looks charming.
On Sunday the family gathered at Gary’s sister’s farm. It was fun to be together and visit with one another (and I love all food at a potluck). Gary’s sister and her husband are dairy farmers, and they live in the house her husband grew up in. It is a lovely, old limestone house, well maintained, and the engraved wall plaque dates it to 1788.
Wall plate imbedded into the limestone wall…1788.
Enjoying the porch of this lovely home.
A family gathering.
Each time we visit Pennsylvania we go see the farm where my husband grew up. A Mennonite family bought it thirty years ago. They have electricity, but are not allowed to drive cars…so they get around with the horse and buggy.
Photo take on a previous trip.
They are kind folks, and always welcome us into their home and invite us to look at all the changes they’ve made around the farm. They have a modern milking parlor, but do not make use of the data collection feature because they do not have a computer.
A previous photo of Gary’s childhood farm. photo by gb
Another farm we visited this year was a farm that had four generations of Bollinger’s living on it, from 1855 to 1998. The farm house and buildings were bought by a local man who restored the home and barn to its original appearance, and it is stunning.
The restored barn that once was owned by four generations of the Bollinger family. We know the barn was built prior to 1830.
It was wonderful to see all he had done. For example, the brick house had been painted with three layers of white paint and it was stripped to the original brick, and repointed (grout redone).
The beautifully, restored house next to a creek.
Another example is the inside of the barn. It was refurbished and they added a restroom and have family gatherings and church events in it. We are grateful he and his wife are enjoying this historic place, and at times with their 41 grandchildren!
Inside the old, restored barn…a wonderful event space for the family,.
The deep window sills of the old barn.
Repainted barn door with original, iron hardware.
The barn is also re-landscaped on the outside.
There is so much history in the area. Gary likes researching his genealogy, and has traced his roots back to Rudolph Bollinger who arrived in Pennsylvania from Switzerland around 1720.
Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, founded in 1861, is the first commercial pretzel bakery in America, in Lititz, PA.
The Lititz Inn and Spa, built in 1764, an historic inn in Lititz, PA.
An old church near Linden Hall, an all girl’s school, founded in 1746, in Lititz, PA.
We enjoyed seeing friends who drove down from New Hampshire and joined us for a couple of days. It was fun showing them around.
It’s always proper to eat some local fare when visiting this area, such as shoo-fly pie, tomato pie, and lots and lots of ice cream from the local dairies. Not too hard to do!
We took a Sunday afternoon drive recently, and headed down a gravel road we had never been on, about three miles from our house. The corner of this intersection is familiar to us because we usually turn right on asphalt to a friend’s house. On the corner sits an antique truck, which is always full of flowers in the summer or greenery in winter.
An antique truck on display.
Continuing straight through this intersection the pavement turns to gravel and on this gravel road we had a fun afternoon of discovering new territory to us.
An interesting old dilapidated building.
Right away we noticed a dilapidated building that must have been really spectacular in it’s day. At first we thought it was a huge barn…but unlike any barn we’ve ever seen. It sits far off the road so it was hard to get a good look. I would have loved to get up close; to walk around and to take photos. It had a gabled roof on the main structure with two wings sections on each side making it look massive and impressive, even in the bad shape it is in. We wondered about the stories it could tell. It was on farm property.
Next door, a ways down the road, was a unique dome house. In contrast to the old building, this modern house stood out. Dome houses are unusual dwellings and you don’t see them very often. Our friends lived in one for years, in a different part of town.
We had never heard of Fagen.
Then we came upon a sign “Former site of Fagen”. I was very surprised to see this marker reminding us of a former town, with a history, and it being within five miles of where we lived. Yet, I had never heard of it. I wondered if the farm with the old building considered the former town of Fagen it’s home address?
The Oxford Mill Ruin.
Driving further we found what my husband was searching for…an old mill. He had ridden by this old mill on his bicycle one summer but couldn’t quite remember how to get there, so we meandered the roads until we found it.
The eagle taking off when we opened the truck door.
We noticed an eagle perched in the treetop as we pulled over to the side of the road to park, but then it flew away as we got out of the truck to take photos of this beautiful, but decaying and crumbling three-story mill made of limestone, with its walls tumbling down.
With a little research I found out it is called the Oxford Mill Ruin and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The mill was built in 1878 and burned in 1905 and never reopened after that. Click here for more history about this old flour mill.
It was a large mill on the Little Cannon River. Apparently it was one of 27 flour mills in Goodhue County at that time.
A lone brick silo.
Continuing on our way we saw a brick silo standing solo, on the side of a road. Brick silos always look strong and sturdy and are usually in good condition. We did not see any farm houses or barns nearby this lone silo, and again we wondered… if only these structures could talk.
A neat looking farm.
We did drive by many farms, some very well kept, others not so much. Out here in the country the vast fields were covered with freshly fallen snow, dotted with some drifts caused by the strong winds.
White on white or gray on gray…
The roads were icy and the sky was gray, but it was a delightful drive and a fun day of discovery… so close to home.
We have been blessed with some idyllic spring mornings lately: plenty of sunshine and blue skies, coolish temperatures and no wind. One morning I hopped on my bike and pedaled my way to a familiar nine mile loop outside Northfield. We call it “going around the block” (a large block!) There is a short trek on city streets and then long stretches of country roads with several hills to climb (and coast back down again thankfully).
The beautiful blue sky and country road, grass greening and trees budding.
In town, as I rode along, I saw a mother with her child out for an early morning walk already. I heard dogs barking and passed golfer’s golfing. Once out in the country it was quiet and still except for the birds singing and a rooster crowing. I biked past peaceful farms, ponies in a pen, open fields ready to be plowed and planted, and wind turbines – to remind me we’re in the 21st century.
These two wind turbines are owned by Carleton College and provide energy for it’s campus. St. Olaf has it’s own wind turbine on the other side of town.
On the first six miles of this ride only one car passed me. The last three miles traffic picked up on the country road heading back into town. One truck came up behind me on the crest of a hill and passed me – in a no passing zone. I couldn’t believe he’d pass when he couldn’t see over the hill. I’m thankful another car was not approaching in the opposite lane.
I rode past this tractor in the field but waited for a rest stop to get a photo…it’s hard to get on and off the bike just to take pictures, both physically and mentally, because I really want to stop and take them. I guess I need one of those cameras attached to my helmet.
Mostly it’s a tranquil ride – even when I’m out of breath climbing those hills. I’m grateful to have this route close to where I live. I can hop on my bike and be out enjoying the countryside in just a few minutes.
