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.
The Turkish Delight package.
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.
Photo off internet: apacheplaza.com
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!
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.
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.
The heron chases the egret away.
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.
Every few years we open up our cedar chest. It holds many treasures.
The cedar chest in our living room.
We use the beautiful cedar chest my father gave to my mother (when they got married in 1947) as a TV stand. The price tag is still inside…$54.95. Also, inside is a moth insurance policy!
The price tag inside the cedar chest.
The moth insurance policy!
The cedar chest works well as a TV stand, but with the TV on top it is not conducive to getting inside. We need to move the TV and other paraphernalia in order to open it up.
A look inside the cedar chest. It still smells good.
The last time we looked inside was in 2016 and I blogged about it then. Recently we opened up this treasure chest and here a some of the treasures:
This is a baby quilt made for me by my aunts and cousins, when I was pregnant for the first time. it is precious and I put it back into the cedar chest.
This is my Brownie uniform. I gave it to a thrift store.
This is my candy striper uniform, complete with a cap! I was a candy striper at the University of MN hospital. I gave it to a thrift shop.
This baptism gown was used by me and my brother. My mother and her sister’s was also in the cedar chest but in very bad condition. I had to throw it away. I’ll keep this gown until the next time.
My baby shoes. I tossed them.
This “shawl” my mother knitted. It does have arms and an angora collar. I liked it. I saved it for the grandchildren to play dress-up.
These bags I made for my boys, and then stenciled them. They used them to carry their “stuff” around.
A pillow cover I made from a Norwegian stitchery kit. I sent it on to the thrift store.
This is one of my favorite dresses I sewed in high school. I put it back in the cedar chest.
This is another dress I sewed after high school. It was hard to get the whole dress in the picture. I kept the dress.
There were other items not pictured…an old Christmas stocking, a purse, some glass cat figurines I remember buying as a souvenir on one of my family road trips. It was fun going through these treasures that took me down memory lane.
I do have a story about an afghan I pulled from the cedar chest that I will share soon.
For me, one positive impact from the pandemic was learning about the communication app Zoom. I’m grateful for the Zoom business to allow me free access to family members across the country, and close to home, during the restrictions of meeting in person.
Grandma enjoys reading the library books.
One result has been a weekly story time over Zoom with my grandchildren who live in Colorado. At each session we; visit, read books, and then sometimes, they read to me. Lately, our oldest granddaughter is attending in-person kindergarten, so it’s just me and Ezra…and Grandpa joins in occasionally.
Grandpa reads a book.
A favorite memory from when my boys were little was reading to them. And now, I love reading to my grandchildren. I have always enjoyed children’s books, and have several on our bookshelves around the house. One sweet gift a daughter-in-love gave to me, early on in our relationship, was a children’s book. I treasure that thoughtful gift.
Ezra reads/tells a story.
During our weekly story time I lay out books and let the kids choose which ones they want me to read. Zoom has yet to cut us off at the free forty minutes deadline…we typically go for an hour so we get to read several books. I love the children’s books I own, but it is always good to find new ones at the library to add to the mix.
Read first, then…
I go to the Northfield Library to look for new catchy titles and book covers. At my last visit to the library the children’s librarian, who presents the library’s children’s story time each week (pre-Covid), was there. I asked her for suggestions and she was very helpful. She actually remembered Zoey & Ezra from our weekly visits to her story time when they lived with us. Even now, when the kids come to visit they still want to go to story time at the library. YAY
…show the pictures…
The interaction I had with the children’s librarian that day was extra special. She told me of a book she really liked about “an overnight at grandmas”. The library copy was checked out so she went and retrieved a copy from her story time materials. When I went to the automatic checkout I noticed the book didn’t have a bar code, so I went and asked her about it and she told me this was her own personal copy and “just return it when you’re done.”
With temperatures predicted to dip way below zero (15 to 25 degrees below) over the weekend we decided it might be a good time to find a project to work on inside our warm house.
The one that came to mind was…photos! The ever-looming photos, a project we kept saying we’ll work on when we retire – even after we were retired.
But, at last, the timing felt right.
Our photo work area.
Since 1982 (when our first son was born) I dutifully put photos in albums in chronological order. I have several mismatched albums of all different sizes, one for each year, through the kids high school years. Then digital cameras became the norm and now photos are stored on the computer.
Piles of photos on the floor.
But still we had a few photos printed, plus my mom had duplicates of our sons that she gave back to us, and Gary’s sister gave us back all the photos we gave her of the kids when they were growing up, and there were stray photos for various reasons in different areas of the house and some old, framed photos to take out of the frame, some very old black and white photos that date way back etc., etc., etc. We had a lot of organizing to do.
So we set up our six-foot folding table in a downstairs room, unfolded two folding chairs, found archival pens, extra envelopes, a scissors, notepad and pen, and started in. We brought everything to the central work station. working diligently for several hours the first day. We stopped for lunch and a quick walk in the subzero temperatures, and then back at it. (Won’t the kids be glad someday!)
Our mismatched photo albums in chronological order.
The next day we started in again and did get the organizing done, cleaned off the shelf area in the closet where the albums are kept, and put the albums back in place.
Our next step is to go through each album and weed out the unwanted/not-so-good pictures…and who knows, maybe even combine a few albums together?
More photos.
The next steps may be more enjoyable. However, there are still many hours left on this project…but the weather forecast is for continued cold temperatures for a few more days, so that will be a helpful motivator.
Today was my mom’s birthday. She passed away in 2009 but I thought I’d share a poem I wrote about her at that time.
Ruby. I don’t know the year this picture was taken.
Ruby Red
Red was her color
Ruby was her name
Never much recognition
Never much fame.
But she was a faithful mother,
A grandmother, a friend
Loved and cared by many
Generous to the end.
She surrounded herself with beauty
Both natural and man made
She had a green thumb for growing,
And an eye for things that stayed.
From the house on McKinley
To the apartment at Meadowbrook
She kept her place beautiful
It was always fun to look.
Her fun sense of adventure
Took her on many fine trips
And hours of playing bridge
Kept her mind sharp and crisp.
Being with family and friends
Made her most content
She had much joy in remembering
Those times were well spent.
So here’s to Ruby
Whose color was red
God blessed her life to 86
An active life she led.
I bought this orange art glass piece for my parents in the sixties.
A writing companion and I meet monthly. We assign exercises and come prepared the next month to share our work. One recent exercise was to write about a color, specifically it was: Blank is the color I remember.
I am posting my essay below…with photos. I went back to look for evidence of what I remembered….so I’ve included some pictures that I found.
The slide viewfinder surrounded by a few slides.
There were a couple of slides in the mix and I wondered how I could post them…then I thought to put them in our slide viewfinder and try taking a photo of the image inside the viewer. Much to my surprise it worked fairly well. So here goes…
Blank is the color I remember…
I have always loved color. And I enjoy collecting colored glass. There is evidence I liked it when I was younger too…In our living room I display an orange glass art piece I remember buying for my parent’s anniversary when I was a teenager…at the JCPenney store in Apache Plaza. It was on a glass shelf in the back corner of the store, by an outside door. It’s interesting to think I remember those few details so vividly.
However, what came to mind when I read the assignment “ Blank is the color I remember” I thought of the house I grew up in on McKinley Street in Northeast Minneapolis. My dad built the house and we moved into it in 1953 when I was six-months old. Of course, I don’t remember moving into it, but from when I can remember our house was painted a rose-pink color. How that color was decided I’ll never know, and unfortunately I can’t ask my parents anymore. I do know my mom always loved reds and pinks so I’m sure she had a lot of influence as to the color choice. I remember telling friends, when giving them directions to my house, “it’s the rose color one.”
Our rose colored house in the background. This is a picture from my confirmation. I am standing between my two grandfathers.
The color of our house never bothered me, and I really didn’t take notice if the color was out of place in the neighborhood but I think it must have been, especially when I remember the houses surrounding us in the new neighborhood. I would not choose to paint my house that color today.
Thinking of my rose colored house prompts a memory of the house directly across the street from that house; next door to our good friends the Soderman’s. It belonged to an old man and, as children, we thought is was kind of a scary place. There were tall bushes that lined both sides of his property and he lived alone in this shack; an old, scary, unpainted, one-room house (as I remember it).
The old one-room house in the background. It doesn’t look so scary in the photo. It must be getting ready to be demolished. The bushes on each side of the property have been taken down in this photo. That is me and my childhood friend…apparently going somewhere with large suitcases! This is a photo from the slide viewfinder.
The one-room house was off to one side of the property and a ways back from the street. I think we always subconsciously picked up speed when we walked by it. At one point in time the bushes were removed and the shack was torn down and a new house was built in its place. I wonder what happened to that man? Did he die? Did he move away? I don’t even know his name.
Which prompts me to remember the old play shack my dad and brother built for a playhouse in our own back yard. It was much smaller than our neighbor’s house across the street. It had a big open window (no glass) in front (and one on the side?) and a front door. The roof was slanted and it had a built-in ladder on the back where we could climb to the roof and sit and watch the neighborhood. I don’t remember the color of the shack but it wasn’t refined. I wonder if it was even painted? I wonder if there is a picture of it somewhere?
I found this slide showing the shack in our backyard. It was painted to match the house. This photo was taken from the slide viewfinder. In the foreground is my childhood friend and I sharing a rain coat!
The house of my childhood eventually got re-painted but I don’t know what year. My parents changed the color to gold. That was a little more conventional. With that gold color they also painted the wooden crank-up camper, my dad made…which matched the new 1965 Ford Galaxy my parents owned. It was a big deal getting a brand new car.
Me in the back of our house, painted gold.
The ’65 Ford Galaxy is the car we took (pulling the heavy wooden camper) on a road trip in to Yellowstone National Park. I remember feeding the bears (legit to do back then I guess) and one stood up on the car door with its paws inside the window nearest me (!) and left a scratch mark on the black, interior fabric…hmmm…
The bear through the window at Yellowstone National Park.
The bear in my window at Yellowstone National Park. I can’t believe I took a picture…well maybe I can. HA!
So the phrase “blank is the color I remember” took me on a fun, crazy path down memory lane and I found a few pictures to go along with the story.
Christmas Festival took on a whole new meaning this year… when I hear those two words together “Christmas Festival” my mind immediately thinks of the 100+ year old annual Christmas concert at St. Olaf College. But this year the Bollinger Family held its own Christmas Festival…created because of the pandemic as a safe way for celebrating Christmas together with multiple families and young energetic children.
Grandma and Grandpa Claus…
My daughter-in-love came up with this great idea and it was fun planning it with her. She worked hard to make it happen. We helped where we could ahead of time.
The day of the festival we gathered together early one December afternoon, which ended up being a very mild day…almost 40 degrees and no wind…a beautiful blessing. The weather was tolerable for staying outdoors for five hours! We had propane heaters in one area to warm up if necessary… the adults used it a few times but not the kids – they were active enough to stay warm the entire time!
The yard was decorated with garland, lights and lanterns, and a Christmas tree which came to life at dusk…on one of the shortest days of the year.
Beautiful lighting.
Festive table.
The table was covered with a red tablecloth and decorated with lights, mini-trees and ornaments for the crock-pots of chili.
Jingle balls.
Decorating the Christmas tree.
There was games and activities and a very special Nativity Story Walk all planned out for the children, which they hardily enjoyed.
Painting a Happy Birthday banner for Jesus.
Find the stars – a Story Walk to the manger scene.
Towards dusk we started fires in two fire pits. We enjoyed eating our chili dinner from compostable bowls around the bon fires.
Tending the fire pits.
Roasting marshmallows.
We brought along our roasting sticks to roast marshmallows and make s’mores for dessert…all with Christmas music sounding through speakers in the back ground.
Our outdoor Christmas tree.
The grandchildren (and grand-dog Charlie) had a good time celebrating together while social distancing and masking up. I trust the grandchildren will remember this Christmas Festival for years to come. I know I will. The adults had a great time too!
We’ve put up our Christmas tree, added some decorations around the house, readied Christmas cards for mailing and finished our Christmas shopping.
Some decorations in our living room.
And, this past Sunday we listened to Christmas from St. Olaf, an online, digital concert featuring St. Olaf College music ensembles and a compilation of songs from previous Christmas Festivals. It was created as an offering to replace the beloved in-person St. Olaf Christmas Festival which couldn’t happen this year because of the global pandemic.
The concert didn’t get off to a smooth start. But then it is 2020. Things are not going well this year.
The screen display on computers for the 2020 Christmas from St. Olaf digital concert.
As a previous ticket coordinator for this popular event we had our share of problems when we first offered tickets online so the concert glitch brought back memories of my time at St. Olaf… the difficult but also the good… friendships made and festivals attended, all bringing a sense of gratitude for my time on the hill. As many concert goers told me over and over and over again, the Christmas Festival was the start of their Christmas celebrations. It has become that for me.
The technology was worked out and we were able to connect to the digital concert and hear some beautiful, hope-filled music. The signature finale “Beautiful Saviour” was included and that made everything right. I now have a sense the Christmas season has begun and we can start celebrating the birth of Jesus.
