Last week we went on a picnic… Our financial advisor held a picnic outdoors under a tent in the parking lot. They handed out box lunches, and had a duo playing guitar and singing quietly in the background. It was nice.
We were first to sit at our table. Then we were introduced to a local pastor and his wife who sat down across from us. As we chatted, the places where we grew up became a topic of conversation. They spoke first and they said Columbia Heights and Fridley.
McKinley Street Northeast Minneapolis
I immediately responded I was familiar with that area because I grew up on 35th and McKinley… then Gordon, the pastor, said with much surprise, that he did too, until he was six years old! We discovered we lived four houses away from each other. He is four years older so I would have been two years old when his family moved away, but he did remember playing with my older brother and all the neighborhood boys his age. There were seven or eight of them!
He also said he remembered my mother, and her name, Ruby.
What a serendipitous moment. We were excited to discover this fact, and had fun reminiscing about that great neighborhood in Northeast Minneapolis.
Later I asked my brother if he remembered Gordon, and he said yes… playing ball together.
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.
The matchbooks.
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 50th 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?
We have had success putting unwanted items on the curb, free for the taking. I like that it helps keep things out of the landfill, and people can find another use for what we no longer want. Our latest item on the curb was our old Coleman camp stove…the classic old-style green one. It still worked, but was in rough shape so we thought some young folks might like it as a starter stove for camping. Apparently, someone did – it was gone the next day.
The camp stove served us well. Gary already owned it when got married, and we finally replaced it last year, in 2021, therefore it was over 44 years old. A few years ago, it converted easily to using one-pound propane tanks.
The camp stove holds fond memories. We used it on numerous camping trips over the years. Mostly when our two sons were younger. We liked to camp in Minnesota State Parks, and we liked to take road trips to the National Parks throughout the United States; from Acadia, to Great Smokey Mountains, to Yellowstone, to Zion, to name a few. We had many good times together on our camping trips…sometimes with friends, sometimes just the four of us.
Our firstborn son was three-months-old when we decided to go away for a camping weekend. We didn’t go far from home but one still needs to pack the almost the same amount of gear as for a longer stay. We made it to the campsite and got the tent (we always used a tent) and site all set up. After dinner, it started to rain…pour…so we quickly took the tent down, in the rain, and headed home. Camping in the rain is never fun, camping in the rain with a three-month-old is even more not fun.
But, we made up for it by taking several camping trips over the years…instilling a love of nature and the outdoors in ourselves, and in our sons.
Camper cabins are cute and cozy.
We did buy a replacement stove, but doubt it will get the same use. Although we love to camp, we like being off the ground these days, so we try to stay in camper cabins. We discovered you need to collect the same amount of gear -just minus the tent- for camper cabins, but it’s much more comfortable than sleeping on the ground which we did all those years.
I’m grateful we were able to take these camping vacations. It made great memories for Gary and I to look back on now that our sons are on their own, making memories with their own families.
Spring ephemerals: wildflowers that bloom for only a few days in the spring.
Last week I took a couple jaunts out to Nerstrand Big Woods State Park, one of my favorite parks in the area. Springtime in Nerstand always shows off its wildflowers before the trees leaf out. In spring the sunshine can reach and nourish the plants. We had an especially cold, windy and dreary April, so it seemed the many varieties of wildflowers decided to all pop up at once in May. It was spectacular.
Marsh marigold (yellow) in the background.
I was able to participate in a wildflower walk with the new park naturalist at Nerstrand. As our group walked along the path towards Hidden Falls, he identified many different plants.
Lots of water flowing over Hidden Falls at Nerstrand Big Woods State Park.
Trillium
Jack-in-the-Pulpit
It was a good refresher course for me…each year I like to wander through the park and try to identify the spring flowers. I forget some over the year, and like to be reminded of their names.
False rue anemone.
Meadow Rue
The rare – grown only a few places in Minnesota and nowhere else in the world – the dwarf trout lily, was in bloom. It is always special to see that tiny, kernel of rice-size flower.
Photo taken in 2021. I used my finger to show perspective.
It was a sunny, glorious day as we hiked the trail. Not so windy, as it has been, and is, as I write this post.
Blue skies and spring greens.
A favorite: Spring Beauty
Bellwort
Soon the tree leaves will cover the forest floor in shade, and the beautiful spring flowers will go dormant and wait until next spring to resurrect once again.
It was a dreamy evening, the other night…after dark…sitting on the deck, watching the lunar eclipse. It was called the blood moon. I learned, “a “Blood Moon” happens because the sunlight shining directly onto Earth passes through the atmosphere and is projected onto the moon–giving it a red tone during the eclipse.*” It was amazing to watch. I’ve always been fascinated by the moon……
Photo of a postcard, with a moonrise watercolor by Dee Teller.
This was happening after a long day. We had driven up north of Brainerd – and back home again – to attend my uncle’s memorial service.
The cover of the memorial service brochure. All the stockings of this family hung with care. Christmas 2021.
Uncle Bob was 94 years old when he died, last December. I last saw him in August. He was in fairly good health (he drove us to his granddaughter’s cabin down the road a couple of miles), although his hearing had deteriorated a lot.
A favorite photo of Uncle Bob in Norway.
My uncle, my dad’s brother, was a kind and loving man. He was special to both Gary and I, and many others. His memorial service was well attended. They had a wonderful program and fun photos all around. During the luncheon afterwards, some of the grandchildren handed out a scrolled-up piece of paper with a ditty about…If you find a penny think of Bob. I dismissed it as cute…but not apropos.
Some of Bob Kallestad’s family.
Later, as I was sitting on the deck and going over the day’s events in my mind, I found myself lamenting the fact that I didn’t have an elder in my life to talk things over with anymore. I found myself talking to Uncle Bob a bit that night on the deck, in the dark, watching the moon disappear – and soon Gary came and joined me as we watched the lunar eclipse together.
When we went in for the night, I stepped into my closet for something and as I reached to turn out the light there was a penny on the closet floor. An unlikely place to find a penny.
We were reminiscing about old-time corner grocery stores and Lersberg’s Foods was mentioned as a must see. So, on a recent Sunday afternoon drive we headed for Ellendale, MN a small-town south of Northfield.
The banner for Lerberg’s Foods in Ellendale, Minnesota.
It was easy to find the food market in this small town of about 760. Right there on the main street, on the corner…with the banner indicating Lersberg’s Foods, Est. 1901.
We walked in and immediately felt like we stepped back in time…
Narrow aisles, full of merchandise.
The store was well-stocked and clean, small with narrow aisles and beautiful wooden floors, and one check-out counter.
I was trying to be inconspicuous while taking this photo of the moose-head, with the faded photo of the hunter underneath…
Oh, and there is a moose head displayed on the wall. Apparently, it’s been there a long while, and has become a trademark of the store. There was a faded photo hanging underneath the moose head, of the man (Mr. Lerberg???) who shot the moose and it looked quite old.
The old-fashioned corner grocery store in Ellendale, Minnesota.
We took our time and meandered the three aisles and picked out some groceries to buy in support of the old-time market. Several people said hi or some other nice comment…It was a fun place to visit and worth the drive to see it.
Afterwards we drove the backroads to Owatonna and walked in Kaplan Woods Park.
As we walked along the river trail the other morning, we heard an unusual number of birds singing. The sound ramped up as we got closer to the hundreds of birds we could not see (except for a few in the treetops) but it sounded like a huge choir of birds, and not the normal bird songs one hears in the spring. Loud chirping was more like it. We took notice.
As we walked through this moment, we passed some walkers and they commented on the sound from the birds. I recognized one of the walkers as the orchestra conductor at St. Olaf College…I said to him as we passed, “I think the birds need a conductor.” His group also commented on the number of birds there must be to make loud “music” like that.
Gary and I continued on and all at once there was silence!
Not one bird sound. They all stopped at the exact same moment…for about five seconds.
Silence.
Then, just as quickly as they stopped, the birds resumed their singing again, loudly again. We looked at each other and Gary quipped, “They must have had to turn the page.” I laughed.
The conductor said he’d love to see all the birds take off at once. That would be a sight to see.
I do love birds…to watch them at the feeders and see them in nature, to admire their unique beauty and hear their sweet songs.
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.
My friend wrote a story about ants, which prompted a memory from my childhood involving ants. I grew up in northeast Minneapolis. Across the street from me lived my two best friends: Donna and Diane. This story, and many childhood memories, involve them. I don’t have many pictures of the three of us…but I found a couple pictures from Christmastime with the three of us and my brother.
This photo was taken in 1958 of my brother, Donna, Diane and me (L to R).
Here’s my story: Ants
I don’t remember whose idea it was to sneak treats up to the cabin, but we thought it would be a fun thing to do. My “partners in crime” were my best friends at the time, two sisters who lived across the street from me, Donna and Diane. Our parents were good friends…they met when there was a surge of families moving into a new neighborhood in Northeast Minneapolis, in the early 1950’s.
We moved into the house my dad built when I was six months old, and I grew up there, with the same neighbors for the most part. There was a huge gang of kids in the neighborhood. And it was a fun place to grow up. I didn’t move out of the house my dad built, until after high school.
My parents had a large group of friends (with young families) that connected on a regular basis. They had coffee together, played bridge together, went camping together and rented cabins at the same resorts together. It was a family of friends. And Donna and Diane’s family, as well as mine, were a part of this group from the beginning.
Donna, Diane and I played together daily. We played outside, we had overnights, we played dress up, we played games, we had fun together, we grew up together. So, going up to a lake resort was a common outing for us. I now understand what a privilege it was to go to the resorts…but I guess since our family didn’t have a cabin – yet my parents wanted the cabin experience – the next best thing was to rent one.
As our parents planned another trip, we three girls planned our own shenanigans. I’m pretty sure we had enough to eat on these weekend get-aways, and probably more than enough snacks, so why we thought we needed to buy more snacks to sneak up to the cabin on this trip is a mystery. I know, at the time, we thought we were so clever and sneaky.
We must have pooled our allowance to get money to buy a few treats…maybe chips and cookies …I don’t remember anything other than the watermelon. And it was a half watermelon. Cut and wrapped in saran wrap. That’s a hard thing to sneak into a car, but we were determined.
When we got home from our grocery shopping excursion, we needed to hide the goods until the next morning when we were to leave for the cabin. So…we hid the snacks, including the half watermelon, in the bushes in Donna and Diane’s backyard. It made sense at the time…
Until the next morning when we took our pillows along to retrieve our treats and hide them in our pillow cases. What we discovered was a half watermelon, full, blackened even, with ANTS!
And we were so surprised!!! Little did we know the ants would show up. We learned a lesson that day…do not leave watermelon outside overnight under a bush – or anywhere!!! It’s a fun childhood memory.
This photo was taken in 1969…me, Diane, Donna and my brother (L to R).
Unfortunately, all of our respective parents have died, so we cannot get their take on this story.
Time for spring cleaning
It is a lot of hard work,
But satisfying.
When it’s done, I’m glad.
But, there is always more to do.
For now, it’s enough.
As spring emerges~
It’s time for new adventures.
Wonder what they’ll be?
A clown with many faces.
As we were spring cleaning last week, I brought down a clown that sits on a high shelf, to dust it off. As I was dusting it, I was transported down memory lane.
This clown was from my mom’s collection. She had quite a fun collection. I wish I had taken a photo of all the different clowns she had at one time. Whenever I see a clown figurine, I think of her. She died in 2009.
I kept one of her clowns. It’s a wonderful clown, with masks that can be put on and off its face. Not only is the clown a nice remembrance of my mother, but also, it evokes fond memories from when we would go visit her when my boys were little. They would always ask grandma if they could change out the masks on that clown. She would say “yes”, and they boys would carefully put on a new mask.
After cleaning up the clown, we put it back up on the shelf, where it stands tall (ready to perform for us I think) until the next time.
