Gnomes – Valerie's Voice

Root River Trail and Beyond

It was a sandwich board that caught my attention while biking on the Root River State Trail.

I saw the words “lefse chips” and, being the Norwegian that I am, all things lefse makes me curious. So we veered off the trail and biked a block into the small town of Peterson, population 227.

We found the store (not too difficult) and walked through the middle of the magnetic screen door – a great invention.

This screen door is flexible. The two screens come together in the middle and latch with magnets. One can easily walk through the door. It was unique.

Tiger Trail Lefse Chip Co. is a small store that makes and sells lefse and lefse chips. I had never heard of lefse chips (much like Mexican tortilla chips) . They sell mainly online, and mostly to breweries and wineries. However, in this small storefront there were several samples of the lefse chips to taste. We liked them all. We bought a bag of the Hot Honey BBQ chips to bring home (and support this small business).

More cyclists stopped to explore the store too, and it felt festive on this chilly morning in this small town… that has big displays of gnomes, including statues, flags and wall murals.

This mural is painted on the side of the Post Office.

The light poles in the town of Peterson have banners with gnomes on them, in multiple colors.

After a good rest, we got back on our bikes to ride the “rail to trail” bike path that runs along the Root River. Yellow coneflowers, goldenrod and black-eyed susan’s were blooming along this beautiful portion of the trail.

Even though it was a chilly morning, the sky was partly sunny and the trail was busy with hardy bicyclists. Earlier in the morning we left Northfield and drove a couple hours to get the trailhead. It was about 50* when we started to bike.

After our ride, we ate our picnic lunch outdoors, at the Rushford trailhead (it had warmed up by then).

An old jail house. Through the windows you can see the bars of the small, cell inside.

The old train depot, in Rushford, is currently being renovated. Next door was an old school, a chapel and a jail house. Presumably those three buildings, along with the depot, will be part of the trailhead museum when all is finished. The town of Rushford, population 1,852, seems to be growing.

The Root River trailhead in Rushmore, Minnesota.

After lunch we continued to drive to Marquette, Iowa for an overnight stay. The drive took us through southeastern Minnesota bluff country and along the Mississippi River.

It was picturesque with green bluffs, the blue skies and puffy white clouds. A great day for a gorgeous drive. The place we stayed had some beautiful annual hanging baskets that are still vibrant.

We stopped to observe an interesting boat while driving back from the restaurant that evening.

It was intriguing to see this “pushboat” resting on land on the banks of the river, near Prairie du Chien. (This is when the internet is so useful. We found the faded name of the boat, on the outside of the bridge, so we looked up Wade Childress and found information.) We learned it had sunk near Fort Madison Iowa in 1985.

It was a fun day of discoveries.

Fairy Garden Stories

Many walkers and joggers use the sidewalk along the east side of our corner lot. We planted trees along the walk as a screen for our windows, but I do like to see the variety of folks who use the sidewalk. It leads to a paved trail that takes one around three ponds, and it is a delightful walk.

A couple of weeks ago when we were working out in the yard a gentleman, who was walking on the sidewalk, stopped to ask us about our house color (my all-time favorite green house). As we were visiting he said his grandson loves my fairy garden. He said his grandson will make sure everything is in place and clears out any dead leaves etc. when he walks by it. That made me smile, and inspired me to recreate the garden as soon as possible. I had just cleared the area of my fairy garden to clean things up and re-do it. It is along the sidewalk.

I took everything out of the first fairy garden…weeded and patted down the dirt, getting ready for a re-create.

I washed up the glass stones for the pathway and realigned them. I situated the porcelain table and chairs and fairies in place, including my troll from Norway. There were a few new items to add to the scene this year.

A string of lights from the thrift store.

When I opened a package that I bought at a thrift store last fall I was surprised. I thought it was street lamp poles, instead it was a string of lights, and that made me happy. I laughed. They do not light up but that’s ok, I like them. I placed the lights in the garden, and added a new-to-me wishing well (another purchase from a thrift store). I put a turquoise stone in the wishing well, to represent water.

The Norsk troll, and the wishing well, plus my original fairy and bench…a little larger than the other items.

Now I enjoy my fun little fairy garden that will soon be hidden under a rose bush when it fills out. Right now, it is open for all to see. I’m trusting my little friend will enjoy it. My granddaughter did last summer.

A few years ago, a friend’s granddaughter took walks with her mom and passed a fairy garden, with a door. One day the little girl opened the door and to her surprise found a note in it. She was delighted and read the note from the fairy. Occasionally the fairy would leave her notes all summer, and the little girl enjoyed looking for a note every time. I’m wondering how to incorporate that idea into my garden…hard, since I do not have a door…

A door-shaped rock I placed at the bottom of a tree in our backyard. I want to paint a window and door knob on it sometime. But of course, it does not open. 😉

Another fairy garden story: A couple recently moved into a new house in the country and put out a gnome-size door next to a tree in their back forest, visible from their kitchen window. When I saw it, I commented on how much I like fairy/gnome gardens. They said they were going to add a gnome.

A few weeks later the guy came up to me in church and said he thought of me while snowshoeing one afternoon. It had gotten dark early and he was snowshoeing on their new acerage and kind-of got turned around. Eventually he saw a light through the trees and thought it was his wife with a flashlight, out looking for him. It was not. It was a solar light on the gnome door that was leaning against the tree close to their house. It guided him home!

Ahh…fairy stories abound.

Lake Superior in March

I always thought it would be fun to be at safely tucked into a cabin on Lake Superior during a November gale. At a previous cabin we rented years ago, the owners had recorded, on VHS, a November storm that we could watch while staying at the cabin. It was always intriguing to see how incredibly high those waves came slamming into the cliffs at that resort.

Snow falling on our rented cabin on Lake Superior.

We just came back from a couple days on the north shore, safely tucked into a cabin on Lake Superior during a March snowstorm. The waves came slamming into the rocky shore sending up sprays of water into the air.

The lake was full of white caps and the waves coming to shore were huge. Not like a November gale, but still a memorable snowstorm for us.

We managed to get in a hike that morning before the predicted storm. It was fun to walk along the lake, through trees, and we were delighted to find little gnomes along the trail. Three times we came upon these little trolls, cheering us on.

Once back in our cabin we settled in for the rest of the day, and the storm. It was cozy. The snow started falling and the wind was whipping and churning up the lake as we sat indoors, by a nice crackling fire and watched it unfold through the large patio doors overlooking the lake. The amount of snow that fell was not what was predicted, but the wind was wicked, and the lake turbulent.

Last year when were we up at this same resort on the north shore in March, the temperatures were in the 50’s and 60’s. This year the temps were in the 30’s with wind chill temps even lower. But no matter what, Lake Superior is my happy place and it was great to be on the shore once again.