Minneapolis – Valerie's Voice

Fairy Houses

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.

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”.

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?

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.

Matchbooks

I’m slowly going through our “stuff” in an effort to declutter. My latest task is going through the antique Mason jars sitting on top of the kitchen cupboards. It was a nice place to display them…they were not tucked away in some cupboard, but were on display – yet out of the way. I decided to either put them to use, or get rid of them.

The jars on top of the kitchen cupboard.

So one by one I am taking them down. As I pulled the first antique jar down – a blue Mason jar with a glass lid – I noticed I had matchbooks stored in it. At one time we collected matchbooks from different places. Businesses do not give away matchbooks with their logo anymore – but they used to, and the matchbooks were easy to collect. I do remember going through our matchbooks before, and keeping only a few special ones. I forgot that I kept these few in the Mason jar.

Here is a list of the matchbooks that I found in the jar, and where they came from:

The Old Spaghetti Factory: This was a restaurant in downtown Minneapolis, and the place where Gary and I had our first date in 1976. It closed in August 2019.

Mardi Gras: The cruise ship we took for our honeymoon, a Caribbean cruise in 1978. Along with the matchbook, there was a champagne cork in the Mason jar, also from the cruise. I remember our table-mates had a bottle of Bollinger Champagne they shared with us, and told us keep the cork. That was the first time I heard of Bollinger champagne…too bad the winery was not the same Bollinger family as the one I had just joined when I married Gary! HA

There were two different matchbooks from National Parks we had camped in: Zion, Bryce Canyon and the north rim of the Grand Canyon (we visited in July 1992) were together on one matchbook called The Sanctuaries. The other matchbook was from Glacier National Park (this must have been our 1989 visit). I would say these were our favorite national parks overall.

Boca Raton Resort and Club: This was the most luxurious resort Gary and I stayed at in Florida (February 1992). It was for a work convention. We were with friends from work and enjoyed the beautiful accommodations, the lush landscape and grounds, the ocean and ocean views from our hotel balcony, and the service…o my.

Hotel Uzwil: a hotel Gary stayed in several times when he took business trips to Switzerland. It was located in the village of Uzwil, east of Zurich.

One matchbook was from Cargill, the first company Gary worked for after he graduated from college.

Another had the Greek letters for the fraternity, Delta Theta Sigma, which Gary belonged to in college.

The Orion Room: I hardly remember this restaurant, but it was on the 50^th floor of the IDS center. In 1972 the IDS center was built in downtown Minneapolis. In 1974 the restaurant opened. It is no longer there, but it was considered an excellent dining establishment in its day.

Good ‘n Plenty Family Style Eating: A family-style Pennsylvania Dutch restaurant in Lancaster County Pennsylvania, the area where Gary grew up in Pennsylvania. It was my first introduction to the Amish in his hometown.

These two jars now hold epsom salts in our bathroom.

Once again, it was fun to go down memory lane. Now, after writing about these matchbooks, perhaps I can use them up. I wonder what I’ll find in the other jars on top of the cupboard?

Something Happened In Our Town

We went to the world premiere production of Something Happened in Our Town at the Children’s Theatre, in Minneapolis. It was a play written for children to address racism and police shootings, particularly of black men. It was produced to help parents address these difficult subjects with their own children. It is based on a book by the same title, and it was well done.

The playwright, Cheryl L. West, states in the program, “In a time of reckoning in our country, this work is a call to action, to facilitate the much-needed discussion about inclusion, compassion, and what it really means to be peace makers in our homes, schools, and communities. Hopefully, this story will move us one step closer to healing our racial divide.”

The young actors did an awesome job. We stayed after the play for a Q&A session, and learned how mature and wise they were, and how much they learned by putting on this production. There were psychologists in attendance at rehearsals, so when there were some difficult scenes someone was there to help the performers process them. I was grateful our church acquired tickets and encouraged us to attend this event. It was worthwhile.

March 27th was the last performance of this play here in Minneapolis. It will be interesting to see what happens next…will other theaters pick up on this play and produce in other places in the country?

Hope

Hope, there’s that word again.

Derek Chauvin, the police officer that held his knee on George Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes almost a year ago, has been convicted of murder. Guilty…the verdict turned in from a jury of twelve, after a three week trial. This verdict stands for accountability of police officers, accountability of people in authority.

One black man, interviewed outside the courthouse after the verdict was read on Tuesday, April 20^th said, “I had this much hope left” with a show of thumb and finger indicating a very small amount. Now he says he has a little more hope. I’m thinking that rang true for so many this historic day.

May we all move forward and continue to work for peace and justice… with a little more hope than we had a week ago.

An Afghan and A Job

When going through my cedar chest recently I found an afghan I crocheted while riding the bus to a job I had in downtown Minneapolis. The afghan is wool, made of granny squares with beautiful colors. I freshened it up and started using it again.

I still like the colors of this afghan. The granny squares date it, however.

And, as often happens, I started reminiscing about the afghan and the job.

In the early 70’s I attended a community college and took a class in interior design. And because of that, I landed a job at an interior design showroom, Gene Smiley Inc., a wholesale shop for fabrics…upholstery, drapery, etc.

This was my second official job. My first job was as a maid at a hotel downtown Minneapolis, during summers, in high school. My high school girlfriend worked there too, and we made $1.85 an hour. We were able to clean rooms together. We used to walk to work from her house in lower NE Minneapolis.

At Gene Smiley’s my main job was to cut fabric samples for designers. Only interior designers were allowed in the showroom to look at the fabrics, but mostly we would cut and mail samples out to designers per their request. I enjoyed the job.

The company encompassed the second floor with two large showrooms and one room for an administrative office. I worked with two women on our side of the showroom. The younger woman, named RuthAnn, made a lasting impression on me. At the time I thought she was sophisticated. She lived on her own, in a rented house, and always “dressed to a T”. She got married while I worked there. I looked up to RuthAnn. I still have, and make, her lasagna recipe!

The other woman, Phyllis, was a much older woman…probably in her 50’s (o my!) but very congenial.

Since Gene Smiley Inc. was located downtown Minneapolis, and I was living in NE Minneapolis at the time, I took the bus downtown. Riding a bus was not something new to me. A girlfriend and I often took the bus to where we wanted to go as teenagers, so taking a bus to work was not problem. In fact, I liked it. It was much better than driving! And I could read or crochet, which is when the afghan I pulled from the cedar chest was crocheted.

There are two other events that came to mind when I started thinking about this job.

One, I remember the bookkeeper made some kind of mistake on my tax statement and ended up writing me a personal check to amend her mistake. I do not remember the extent of the mistake, but I remember her kindness. I had forgotten this tidbit until I started thinking about this job.

The other event I remember that stands out is quite comical when I think about it now. I cannot recall what I was going to do next but I was ending my time at this job and I distinctly remember asking my boss for a raise, after he knew I was leaving. He sat me down and said this was highly unusual – and I said, “but it will look good on my resume.” And if memory serves me correctly, he gave me the raise! When I think back on that now I just laugh!

I did, however, save my letter of recommendation from this job.

My letter of recommendation from Gene Smiley Inc.

At some point in time Gene Smiley Inc. moved from its Nicollet Avenue location to the International Market Square along with many other wholesale interior design showrooms. I have lost touch with the people there, but it was fun to think about them again.

James J. Hill House

It had been years since we’ve toured the James J. Hill House on Summit Avenue in St. Paul, so we thought it would be fun to take our out-of-town guests there and see it again.

On weekends the house is open for self-guided tours. There are volunteers throughout, happy to answer questions.

The house was built in 1891 by James J. Hill, a railroad tycoon of the Great Northern Railroad fame. The house has 36,000 square feet and five levels. That’s one big house.

Extensive 100′ reception hall on the main level.

I found the main floor the most impressive, with gorgeous and elaborately carved oak and mahogany woodwork and marble fireplaces.

The art gallery, music room, drawing room, formal dining room, a small eating area, and the library/den were all on the first floor.

A formal place setting displayed in the formal dining room.

The beautiful expansive staircase to the second floor was my favorite place in the whole house. It had stain-glass windows above the landing to let in natural light. Otherwise I found the house to be dark throughout, even though they had electric lights installed when it was built.

The second floor landing…picture taken on the gorgeous stairway.

The second and third floors housed bedrooms and female servant quarters and a schoolroom for the eight children who lived there. James and Mary Hill had ten children. One died young and another was married by the time they moved into this mansion.

Several of these light fixtures were located throughout the house. The top is an oil lamp, the bottom is electric.

The kitchen was in the basement along with the male servants living quarters. The attic was the top floor of course, and a playroom. We were not allowed to go down to the basement, or up into the attic.

Compared to the Hubbard House in Mankato, the historic house we toured earlier this month (see previous post), I was much more impressed with the Hubbard House, which is a mere 4,800+ square feet. However, I am glad we went to see the James J. Hill House – it is worthwhile to see, and a part of Minnesota’s history.

A Childhood Memory

For my writing group we were assigned to write about a childhood memory and here is one of mine.

When I was in 5^th grade I went to my girlfriend’s birthday party. I would have been about 11 years old. My friend’s mother took us to a popular, children’s, live television show in Minneapolis. I don’t remember the name of the TV show…could it have been Clancy the Cop, Axel and the Tree House, or maybe Casey Jones, or Captain Kangaroo or Howdy Doody?

Cheryl was the birthday girl’s name, but I do not remember any of the other girls at the party.

I remember sitting on a bench as part of the live audience in the television studio. It was exciting. I’m sure it was unexpected, but on this particular show the main character asked for volunteers to participate in a hula-hoop contest. I could hula-hoop so I volunteered. I liked to hula-hoop and I must have done it often since I thought I’d have a chance to win if I entered the contest.

We started with one hula-hoop, next we whirled two hula-hoops and eventually it involved three hula-hoops. I managed to keep those three hula-hoops going around and around the longest time and won the contest.

My prize was a Betsy McCall doll. I kept that doll for a very long time and I don’t remember when or how I departed with it. Today there are several smaller Betsy McCall dolls for sale, online, but mine ws a large doll. There are a few 29”, so I believe that was the size of the doll I won. I left the party a very excited and happy little girl.

Several years ago, after I told Gary this story, he went out and bought me a hula-hoop. We still have it. I couldn’t quite make it work for him back then (to prove myself) and I still can’t make it work today. HA

The hula-hoop was invented in 1958 and this party was in the early 60’s.

I did a little research and found out Casey Jones aired for only one season in 1958. Howdy Doody aired 1947-1960. Captain Kangaroo was on for 26 seasons: 1955-1984. Axel and the Treehouse aired 1954-1966. Clancy the Cop: 1963-1977. There were no video clips of any hula-hoop contests!

However, when I told my friend, who is a Twin Cities native, this story, she told me it was likely the show Dave Lee & Pete. It aired live, in the afternoons, and the local program was always bringing kids on stage for different reasons. I do think we went in the afternoon so it makes sense to me, but I have no recollection whatsoever of Dave Lee & Pete (the Penguin).

The Grand Rounds

Last week, on one of those gorgeous Minnesota summer days, Gary and I decided to head to Minneapolis with our bikes and take off on the terrific trail system called the Grand Rounds.

The Grand Rounds has over 100 miles of paved walking and biking trails that meander through urban areas connecting different city parks and lakes.

This system has been around a long time. It was conceived by Horace W. S. Cleveland in the early days of the Minneapolis park system and has been well maintained. It has been nominated for the National Register of Historic Places.

We started our tour at Minnehaha Falls and rode our bikes along Minnehaha Creek, past Lake Nokomis, then along one side of Lake Harriet, continuing around the loop of Lake Bde Maka Ska…..(formerly known as Lake Calhoun).

The new name for Lake Calhoun – Lake Bde Maka Ska.

We stopped for lunch back at the Bread and Pickle on Lake Harriet. We ate a delicious egg salad sandwich, which we were surprised to see on the menu, and then surprised at how tasty it was. It was lovely setting: looking out on the lake, seeing sailboats, and watching people.

After lunch we finished the Lake Harriet loop, rode past Lake Hiawatha and back to Minnehaha Falls. We treated ourselves to ice cream at the pavilion in the park, after clocking 20 miles.

Minnehaha Falls…I had to take the picture looking into the sun so the colors are distorted.

We viewed Minnehaha Falls – the falls were full and beautiful – encompassed by lush green trees and shrubs. There were many folks out enjoying the gorgeous scenery, and weather, on this weekday afternoon.

I had a great time riding my pedal-assist bicycle. We did stop at one garden…because… well, it’s just hard to resist gardens.

It is also fun looking at all the houses along the Parkway and the lakes. There are so many charming homes and biking past them is a great way to see them.

Mia: Art in Bloom

During the wet snowstorm last week I braved the elements and went to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (Mia) for their Art in Bloom exhibit.

This was my first time to see this annual event of floral artistry. I think it works like this: a floral artist submits an idea using flowers and greenery that depicts different pieces of artwork…either sculpture, ceramics or paintings.

When awarded, the artist starts creating their floral masterpiece which is then set next to the artwork. A plaque conveys the artists name and how many times they have participated in this event.

I was excited to see this exhibit, and it was worth the snowy drive. It was the touch of spring I needed after this rather long winter.

It was the creativity of passionate artists using flowers.

It was the charm of being at the art institute.

It was the warmth being inside and occasionally walking past the vast windows of the Mia looking outside to see large snowflakes falling.

Snow fell outside while we enjoyed a touch of spring inside.

I’ve always be intrigued by the moon…I love how the moon is depicted in this floral arrangement.

It was a fabulous event. I enjoyed every minute.

Artist: Adam Turman

I’m beginning to notice the interesting artwork of Adam Turman. He is an illustrator, graphic designer, printmaker, and muralist from St Louis Park, MN. I was first introduced to his work when my son hired him to paint a eye-catching mural on his office building, depicting different landmarks of Minnesota and Minneapolis.

Hard to capture the extent of this wonderful mural by Adam Turman, depicting Minnesota and Minneapolis landmarks.

A closer look at part of an Adam Turman mural in Uptown.

The next place I noticed his work was at a St. Paul Classic bike ride, an annual event that we’ve participated in a few times. Turman has designed several t-shirts for the event over the years. A lot of Turman’s artwork includes a bicycle which, he writes, “is one of his favorite outdoor activities.”

And recently, at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona, MN (which Is located right on the Mississippi River) I noticed artwork by Adam Turman on display. It was fun to discover it there. In 2016 he was commissioned to paint three works.

One is a large mural for the museum. It features the Mississippi River in Winona.

The plaque reads: “He painted a push boat frequently seen moving barges right outside the Museum, with a pod of American Pelicans overhead. The dramatic waves are influenced by Japanese wood block artist Katsushika Hokusai’s style while the sky and bluffs are in Turman’s distinct, simple and bold graphic style.”

Titled: *Sugar Loaf* This is the one of two prints in a series, commissioned by the museum.

The museum also commissioned Adam to create a series of two pictures depicting landmarks distinctive to Winona. The originals are on display at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum, along with some other prints of Adam Turman’s.

Titled: *Mississippi*
“This is the second print the Museum commissioned and we want to celebrate what makes Winona special. The herons and the boat-house are iconic to Winona, so I made sure to highlight those in the piece.” Adam Turman

The Museum store had several postcards of Adam’s work and I was attracted to this simple design (below) with white birch trees, a red cardinal, and the back of a red bicycle and tire leaving a trail in the snow. I brought that one home with me.

This is a postcard featuring a print of Turman’s, that I purchased at the museum store.
Titled: Cardinal (2011)

As with all artists, Adam Turman has his own unique style. As he becomes more well-known it will be fun to find his art in different places.