In yesterday’s blog I referred to a birthday card my friend and I have been sending back-and-forth to each other since 1979. I am including a link to a blog post I wrote in October 2016 about this card.
Our little recycled birthday card is now a booklet with 10 pages added to the original card. It’s 44 years old.
This past year my friend, Diane, and her husband spent the winter in Florida, and enjoyed it very much. She did however, text me on my birthday to let me know the birthday card was back in Minnesota so it would be late in getting to me. She would send it when they returned from Florida. She continued to say her packing list for Florida next year will include, her swimsuit, sun tan lotion, and the recycled birthday card!
It is a very special card, from a very special friend.
My childhood friend and I have exchanged the same birthday card since 1979. I know I’ll hear from her in March, and a card exchange at Christmas, but only occasionally during the rest of the year.
So, when I saw a text come through from her last week I was delighted, but curious as to what she had to say. She told me about a new luxury apartment complex that was built in St. Anthony, Minnesota.
I don’t have many photos of the house where I grew up. My dad built the house in 1953, the year I was born.
The back story is my mother, Ruby, lived in the house my dad built, the house where I grew up in NE Minneapolis, for several years after my father passed away. Eventually she moved in to a townhouse, not more than a mile away from the house. It was newly-built, and well-built, small complex of townhomes, and a wonderful place for her to live for the next 20 years. After the townhouse, she moved into a senior apartment complex and enjoyed a few years there before she died in 2009.
For twenty years we would visit my mother at her townhouse in St. Anthony, across from the old Apache Plaza Mall, which is no longer standing. Office units and strip malls with a big grocery store took over the space.
Diane, my friend, texted to tell me about a new luxury apartment building that was built in that space across the street from where my mother lived in the townhouse. And she went on to write, “I thought you’d like the name…The Ruby Apartments!”
The photo Diane sent me of the brochure for The Ruby Aparments.
What fun! It made me smile.
And I like the logo…the capitol R in Ruby has a rectangular ruby stone as part of the letter.
Our trip to North Carolina fell over our grandchildren’s spring break, so they were off school the ten days we were there. It was a special time, especially celebrating Easter with them, but it was an ordinary time too.
The kids watching the rafters and paddle boarders at Whitewater Center.
We didn’t do anything spectacular, it was nice just hanging out. We did visit Whitewater Center, a national training center for whitewater rafting, paddle boarding, kayaking, rock climbing and mountain bike riding.
The first hurdle in the children’s challenging obstacle course.
Mastering the children’s obstacle course at the Whitewater Center.
Whitewater Center was very interesting place, and the kids had fun tackling an obstacle course geared towards children.
Setting up the walkie talkies.
We always explore the nature preserve that is close to their home, and this time we used walkie talkies that we brought along from Minnesota. That was a hit.
Attacked by snowballs.
Before we left home, we asked the kids if there was anything they wanted us to bring from Minnesota and Ezra immediately said, “a snowball.” Although he was thinking the real thing, we brought a dozen soft, cotton-ball style snowballs and had a surprise snowball fight one warm and sunny afternoon!
Our outdoor workspace, creating fun pictures.
Another time Zoey and I sat on the back veranda and made paper-cut-out pictures. It was fun to sit and create something out of nothing. We both enjoyed it, and I think I want to continue doing more of that.
Displaying “my” picture on our refrigerator. 😉
I just need to give myself permission to sit down and do it by myself…either use color crayons or colored pencils, cut out paper, or use markers, try drawing…just being creative. It was fun, relaxing and fed my soul, and I hope to do more of it.
I packed shiny, new, yellow knitting needles and a bright, multi-colored skein of soft yarn to bring to North Carolina. My oldest granddaughter had shown an interest in knitting the last time we were there, so I thought I’d teach her to knit this time.
At Hobby Lobby I told a stranger in the yarn aisle what my plan was. She helped me pick out a good size knitting needle for a young girl. I appreciated that.
Zoey loved the color of the needles, and the yarn, and she was excited to learn. It didn’t take her long to catch on – how to cast on and the knit stitch. What fun.
Knitting on the front porch.
Because this is something new for her, she was knitting almost every time she sat down…hopefully she will continue to like it and it will be a fun skill for her to use in the future.
Knitting can be done almost anywhere…even in the car.
Unfortunately, I don’t remember who taught me to knit (I hope Zoey will remember who taught her!) I have pages torn out of a girl’s magazine with knitting instructions…did I teach myself? I remember knitting slippers…
Creating her own space in the morning sun.
Later I learned to crochet. And, back then (50 years ago), I learned to make granny squares…they were a big deal at that time. I remember I made a vest from them. I have seen granny square vests for sale in vintage clothing stores recently.
This afghan I made for Gary before we were married.
I also crocheted several afghans, using granny squares.
An afghan I made for my son before he was born.
Several years later I went back to knitting. I knit winter scarves and then I learned about a prayer shawl ministry. I loved the idea, so I started knitting prayer shawls. I made several prayer shawls to give away.
Two of my cousins in Norway knit beautifully, and gifted me with these slippers and scarf when I was there last summer. I never learned to knit like this! There are so many beautiful knitting patterns.
Now that I’ve shown my granddaughter how to knit, I need to refresh myself on how to crochet, so eventually I can show her how to do that. And who knows, she may want to learn how to crochet a granny square…
Gary and I visited my soon to be 93-year-old aunt today. She moved from her beautiful home on 150 acres in Deerwood, Minnesota into an assisted living apartment in Plymouth. She is doing well, and likes her new space.
Auntie Joyce and me.
We had a nice long visit over coffee and some goodies. We updated family information and talked family history, and looked at photos she had hanging around her new apartment, and her many decorations.
Janet, one of Joyce’s daughters, lives near-by and stops in frequently, and happily enjoys shopping for her mother…from groceries to decorations for her new place.
There was one moment when I had an instant flashback to another aunt’s home…my Auntie Ag’s house.
This carved, cherub hand soap immediately brought back a vivid memory.
Auntie Ag died in 2004. She was a very attentive aunt to her three nieces… me, and Janet and Cindy (Joyce’s two daughters). It didn’t surprise me to find out while Janet was shopping for Joyce, she bought unique hand soaps, with a cherub carved into the soap. My Auntie Ag always had similar soaps in her bathroom. It was so classic “Aggie”. It made me smile, and I mentioned it to Joyce, of course. Joyce said, “I have extra. Please, take a bar home with you.” And so I did…including the beautiful box it’s packaged in.
A beautiful box of Italian Lavender Scented Soap.
The funny thing is I don’t recall the bar of soap in Auntie Ag’s bathroom was “for use.” I believe she used it for decoration only. And Joyce said the same thing. And so, Joyce too, put one of these unique hand soaps in each bathroom…for display only.
My newly acquired bar of hand soap that needs a special dish.
Now, while shopping thrift stores, I will look for a pretty dish to place my “Italian, lavender-scented, beautifully carved cherub in a perfectly round, hand soap” to put on display…somewhere in my house.
Thank you for all the wonderful happy birthday messages.
I was delighted to read each one.
The sunrise over Lake Superior, the second day.
We had a very relaxing and refreshing birthday/wedding anniversary trip to the north shore of Lake Superior. Our cozy cabin had a wood-burning fireplace next to patio doors to the deck overlooking the lake.
Enjoying a fire while viewing the lake from the cabin.
We had fires In the morning and fires in the evening…and enjoyed watching the lake with its many moods. On Tuesday the lake was churning with huge waves crashing against the rocky shore. The other days it was much calmer.
Huge waves crashing and spraying high above the rocky shore.
Mesmerizing Lake.
All our attention goes there,
It’s restorative.
A calmer day…photo taken from the deck of the cabin.
However, we did bring along our cross-county skis, snowshoes, and Yaktrax to get out for fresh air and exercise.
We hiked at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park.
This is the upper falls at Gooseberry Falls State Park, where we hiked.
A old Norwegian fish house on Stoney Point Drive…a nice walk from the cabin.
Our hikes kept us close to the lake, but cross- county skiing took us inland.
We usually ask locals for recommendations. Our resort owner told us about Korkki Nordic.
In the morning, the sun was shining and it was a decent temperature so off we went to ski this trail. Next to the warming house (a nice touch to this trailhead) was a guy standing near a snowmobile with trail grooming apparatus hitched on the back. We started a conversation and found out he is the regular trail groomer. Mark lives on the property and grooms four ski trails.
The trail groomer machine.
The ski season is, of course, winding down – it was the first day of spring after all- so he was not planning to groom many more times this year. During our conversation, we mentioned it was my birthday. He was a jovial sort and said, as a gift to me for my birthday, he would go ahead of us and groom the trail. It would make skiing much easier for us.
And so he did, and we followed about three minutes behind him, and the skiing was great.
That is one of the more unusual gifts I’ve received for my birthday. It was a random act of kindness and we were grateful.
As the snow melts, daffodils and hyacinth sprouts will begin to emerge, and fairy gardens will be uncovered.
The beginnings of my fairy garden in our backyard, in 2021.
I am enchanted with fairy gardens. They are whimsical and I love finding them in surprising places: under a flower or next to a tree trunks, maybe under rocks in a rock garden. I also like creating one in my own backyard flower garden.
A fairy garden on St. Olaf Avenue (summer 2019) is large, and has a theme “reading”. You can find many animals scattered throughout the garden, reading books.
Some fairy gardens are elaborate, like one on St. Olaf Avenue in Northfield. The garden is filled all kinds of miniature critters with some fairies, most are reading books. It is clever.
An inviting entrance to a fairy house, at the bottom of a tree trunk. Photo taken: 2019.
A frog enjoying a cup of tea while reading a book. Photo taken: 2019.
My fairy garden is simpler; a table with chairs, with one fairy drinking from a tea cup and another fairy with a watering can…and oh yes, I added a Norwegian troll last summer.
My fairy garden in summer 2022.
I’m planning an expansion to my garden this year with a few trinkets I’ve picked up in thrift stores…a lamppost and wishing well to name a few.
One of three fancy sheds on display at the Home + Garden show in Minneapolis.
A couple of weeks ago we went to the Minneapolis Home + Garden Show in the convention center downtown Minneapolis. The show always has colorful flower gardens to show off and lots of different vendors promoting their wares. Every few years we think it’s interesting to go see “what’s new in home-style”.
I like the porthole window in this one…
This year my favorite display was…what I call… life-size fairy homes…uniquely designed sheds that look like fanciful fairy houses. I wanted to bring one home to play in, but they were asking an exorbitant price!
This shed has a large side window, for a lemonade stand or such fun.
What fun it would be to have an adult-size fairy house in a backyard…especially if it were tucked in between some trees. It could be a great place to set up a small library scene: book shelf full of books, a lamp, and a comfortable chair… or a place for sitting in quiet contemplation…or a fancy garden shed with all manner of plants and dirt, tools and planting supplies…or maybe even a game room?
A side view…
When writing about these sheds, a memory surfaced of playing in a shed in our backyard when I was a little girl. My dad and brother made an adult-size play shed out of scrap wood – nothing fancy like these fairy sheds – but it had a door and a window and that was enough. The neighborhood kids and I played for hours in that shed.
My brother had two photos of the shed. This is when he and my dad were building the shed.
The finished shed. Looks like deep snow that winter…up to our waists.
I’m thinking that subdued memory was what sparked such a joyful response in me when I saw the creative fairy sheds at the Home + Garden Show.
The question always is will March come in like a lamb or a lion? Of course, the questions refers to the weather…
A mama robin, has perched on the tree outside our living room window the last few mornings.
For me, either way, March comes in with mixed emotions. There are several significant anniversaries for me in the month of March:
March 7, my father died in 1974
March 9, my mother died in 2009
March 16, our first grandson was born 2016
March 19, our second grandson was born in 2020
March 20, I was born in 1953
March 25, Gary and I were married in 1978
My mother died on this date in 2009. I created an album with items from her funeral and her last days.
My mother, Ruby. Photo from the 1940’s.
Then, during the next 10+ years, I kept stuffing bits and pieces into the album as a safe place to put something significant related to her. It needed to be re-organized, so I took the album off the shelf to work on it during a recent snowstorm. I enjoyed going through the journal entries, the funeral program, and looking at the pictures. The hymns sung at her funeral were printed out, and included On Eagle’s Wings, an uplifting song (no pun intended!).
Chorus:
And He will raise you up on eagles' wings
Bear you on the breath of dawn
Make you to shine like the sun
And hold you in the palm of His hand
We recently took a day trip to the National Eagle Center, in Wabasha.
Angel, a permanent resident eagle at the National Eagle Center.
Columbia and Angel are resident eagles there, because of injuries. Both are female, and both in their “20’s”. Such majesty, beauty, power.
Columbia, also a current resident at the eagle center.
We tallied 14 eagle sightings en route to Wabahsa, on that pleasant March day. They are a magnificent sight. But I digress…
Back to momentous March dates…
My father, Herb. Photos from the 1940’s.
My father passed away on March 7, 1974. He was only 55 years old. I have accumulated pictures and written history information from our recent trip to Norway with intentions to compile them in an album. I plan to do so during the upcoming predicted snowstorm this week. Another 2-3 inches…downgraded from 7-8 inches.
March 25, 1978
Then, on to warmer spring days, and happier celebrations of births and marriage.
The writing assignment: Write about a time you had to put an animal to sleep…
Over the years I’ve lived with four cats.
One, I had as a child. He was a stray cat that our family took in. We called him Chief, until she had babies, then we renamed her Chief-asina, after the popular cat movie at the time (in the early 1960’s) Thomasina. I think she eventually ran away. I thought I saw her sitting in a neighbor’s window down the block once. But for some reason we didn’t pursue her.
Movie released in 1963
The other three cats were a part of our lives when our two boys were young. The first cat was a black and white shorthair male. We named him Mittens. He was a cute black and white kitten with white paws. We bought him at an animal shelter. On the way home we asked the boys what we should name him. Mittens was chosen. After we got Mittens settled in his new home we sat down for dinner. When we were done eating our youngest said, “May I please be excused? I want to go pet Gloves!”
Mittens and Tim: December 1987
Although, Mittens was a well-groomed cat, he would not use the litter box. We tried all kinds of tricks and suggestions, short of bringing him to a cat psychiatrist (one of the suggestions). The animal shelter did not want him back either, so we had no choice but to put him to sleep. That was a hard decision, and one not made lightly. I do not remember how we told our boys.
Cocoa: January 1989
Our second cat was a calico cat…a lovely mixture of gray and white and tan. We named him Cocoa. He did use the litter box, but he didn’t like to be inside. We wanted an indoor cat. Every time the door opened Cocoa flew through the air to get outside. This was a constant problem.
Cocoa airborne in 1989.
One day I was going to run some errands. As I backed the car out of the garage, I ran over something I thought was a toy. Little did I know Cocoa was out there, under the car, and I had run over him. It was traumatic. Gary was out of the country on business, but fortunately our neighbor came over and helped us dig a hole and bury our naughty, but loved, kitty in the back garden.
Caramel Corn: June 1993
Our third, and last, cat was an orange, female tabby cat. I had heard orange female cats were usually gentle and calm, so back to the animal shelter we went. We found one there and brought her home. We named her Caramel Corn. She was a beautiful cat…the color of caramel corn. She was a good cat: she used the litter box, she liked being in the house…she didn’t even try to get out of the house when the doors were open.
Caramel Corn: 1993
She loved to sit among people. I would pull up a stool at the kitchen table where Caramel Corn would perch contently and listen in on our conversations around the table, no matter who was visiting. In the mornings she would jump on my lap to snuggle while I had my morning coffee and devotions, and we’d rock in the rocking chair. She was a wonderful kitty-cat that we had for twelve years. I missed her when she died.
I like stuffed animals and years ago I bought a stuffed caramel colored kitty to add to a few pillows on our bed, as a reminder of Caramel Corn.
In the meantime, we found out our son was allergic to cats so we could not invest in another cat. But that’s OK. We had a delightful one for a long time, and it would be hard to find another one like our beloved Caramel Corn.
Recently I bought a new sweater and I have a necklace to go with it. I am happy to be wearing this necklace again. I have a few special pieces of beautiful jewelry (with stories), and some costume jewelry. For a while I didn’t wear much jewelry, but I’m trending towards wearing a few pieces again.
I received this enamel heart necklace years ago. It was a gift from my Auntie Ag. I was probably in my 20’s…I don’t remember. I’ve had it for a very long time. Agnes brought it home for me, as a gift from Norway.
I like the heart shape, the color, the simple rose pattern, the enamel.
And there is something distinct on the back. It is embossed with the Lord’s prayer, in Norwegian. I remember being told that when I was given the necklace, but today I wondered if the prayer could possibly fit on the back. So…I translated the words on Google and sure enough, it is the Lord’s prayer.
I always enjoy a good story behind the different things we have and use.
