Minnesota – Page 2 – Valerie's Voice

The CAT Museum

It’s not a kitty cat museum, but an art museum. After reading my blog post on our visit to the Chihuly art glass museum in St. Petersburg FL, a friend invited us to join them to see a modern art museum with Chihuly glass in Shoreview, Minnesota.

It all began when Gerard Cafesjian started collecting artwork when he was young. He became a prominent businessman and philanthropist and believed that art should be accessible and personal. His approach to collecting was to focus on what he loved rather than just famous names or price tags.

The outside of the CAT Museum is blue glass.

“Mr. Cafesjian instilled in his family a spirit of generosity and a love of art. When he passed away in 2013 [at age 88] his vast collection was brought together as the Cafesjian Art Trust (CAT). Embracing his legacy as a collector and as a champion of the arts, his daughter Kathie created a free museum in Shoreview, Minnesota to serve as a dynamic hub of created inspiration and contemporary art. The CAT Museum opened in October 2022…” (quote from CAT Museum website).

The Cafesjion’s have a big heart. This piece titled Purple Heart, by Tommy Tanggara, was hanging behind the reception desk as you enter.

We learned that his daughter Kathie continues the philanthropic support by covering busing charges for school children so they can come to tour the CAT Museum. The cost of busing is one of the holdbacks for field-trips. This is a wonderful gift.

There is a room for children to make art. I liked this fun piece hanging in the children’s area. No name or credit.

Our docent talked about six pieces of art that morning. Of course, art is your own interpretation, especially modern art. I sometimes have trouble understanding modern art, so I appreciated her suggestions about each piece. There was the obligatory mostly all-white painting in most modern art museums (she didn’t talk about that one), which I never get…but there were other pieces I appreciated.

Instantly recognizable Chilhuly glass chandelier in the lobby of the CAT.

In the entrance there is a signature Chihuly glass chandelier, and there was a Chihuly glass ceiling that was originally from Chihuly’s home in Naples, Florida. I’ve seen Chihuly glass ceilings before, but this museum invited you to lay on the carpeted floor and look up. We did.

Chihuly’s glass ceiling, from his home in Naples, FL.

Other than seeing Chihuly, my favorite piece was made with glass beads, Puzzles Circles and Patterns. The artist, Thando Ntobela, is from South Africa, where beading “has been a source of creative expression in Africa for centuries, yet it largely remains unrecognized and under-celebrated in art exhibitions and galleries. An art form associated with women…”. (quote from the artist’s plaque)

Puzzles Circles and Patterns, made by Thando Ntobela.

On each artist’s plaque there was a QR code to listen to the artist. This was the only one I listened to, but it was fun to hear Thando Ntobela explain how beading makes her happy, and when she feels sad she beads to make her feel happy again. She wants her work to make others happy. Her piece did make me happy.

There were a three more favorites…one glass piece, and two landscape scenes, but very different from each other. One titled Eruptor (I missed taking a photo of the artist plaque so I can’t credit the artist) of bike paths and mountains in the SW, and the other piece entitled Monument Valley, by Jin Jeong.

Eruptor…landscape of mountains and bicycle paths in SW United States.

Monument Valley, painted by Jin Jeong…oil on linen, with some linen at the top left unpainted.

A beautiful green glass art piece, called Emerald, crafted by Vladimir Prochazka.

After our time at the museum, we planned to go to a nearby French bakery for lunch. As we entered, we all commented on how the display case, full of pastries, was its own little art museum…so many beautifully crafted pastries. It was hard to choose which one to order.

More edible works of art. Just a few examples.

This was a fun outing. I hope to get back to the CAT museum this fall when there will be a new exhibition.

There were a few artworks outside the CAT Museum..

Earth Day

Earth Day was born in 1970 on my husband’s (Gary) birthday ~ April 22. We both remember the first Earth Day. I’m glad we’re still celebrating it, and I’m glad we’re still celebrating my husband’s birthday. HA!

For his birthday, we picked up trash along Highway 60 in Faribault, Minnesota. This clean-up is a bi-annual task the Faribault Flyers Bike & Ski Club does for the community. We are a part of the bike club so we volunteered to help.

This sign is along Highway 60, near Faribault.

This year’s clean up date happened to fall on Earth Day, and Gary’s birthday. Little did anyone expect that the temperature would climb to 90* in April! It was sunny, windy and hot. And there we were in the middle of the afternoon picking up trash in the ditches. It was hard work, but we survived and the group met at a Mexican restaurant for dinner afterward.

Our first year, four years ago, we picked up a lot more trash…so we assume our work is making a difference over the years. However, we placed multiple yellow bags, full of trash, on the side of Highway 60 to be picked up by the highway department.

There were several trout lilies surviving in the ditch.

There was one snafu. Gary and I started at one end of a section, and two others started at the other end so we would meet up in the middle. Along the way I took a photo of trout lilies in the ditch, blooming in spite of the trash.

I also took photos of animal bones in skeleton form. We have a retired vet in our group so he identified it as a deer (from my photo). We had no idea deer had such fierce looking teeth.

When we met the other two in the middle of our section someone asked me for the time. I went to retrieve my cellphone out of my pocket and lo and behold, it was not there! Sigh.

It must have fallen out while bending over for trash. So, Gary and I started retracing our steps. Fortunately, Gary had my cell phone on his “Find My” app on his phone…so it pinged when we were close. Even though we were in the vicinity, it was still hard to find, but after about 20 minutes we did find my phone in the ditch, and all is well.

Whew… I did not want to find my phone in the ditch among the trash next year!

Happy Spring Flowers

Spring flowers are a wonderful sight to see…. their vibrant, happy faces pop out through the winter’s leftover debris of dead grass, twigs and dirt, and really stand out. Tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, crocuses, scilla are all perky little reminders that spring is in the air.

Here’s a fun spring poem:

Daffydowndilly

"She wore her yellow sun-bonnet,
She wore her greenest gown;
She turned to the south wind
And curtsied up and down.
She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbour:
"Winter is dead." 

        - A.A. Milne from her book When We Were Very Young (1924)*

Often this time of year l buy some tulips to put in a vase to bring a little spring indoors. For several days the tulips stand perky and bright, and then the blooms open wider and their stems start to arch and bend and they take on a wild look.

I love it when that happens. It reminds me of the beautiful messiness of life.

Scilla siberica can be invasive. There is a lawn in Northfield covered in purple scilla…
It does look beautiful this time of year. 04/06/26

Spring is officially here in Minnesota, yet it usually takes longer to arrive than what the calendar says. But I’m ready for the colors of spring…tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, crocuses, scilla, forsythia…all signs of hope and rebirth.

* If you are in the U.S., you can generally post poems from A.A. Milne’s early collections—specifically When We Were Very Young (1924) and Now We Are Six (1927)—without infringement.

The Donkey

With Spring officially here the weather has been a mix of cold and windy, or warm and sunny – which is what I experienced when I visited the farm this week. It was a beautiful day to enjoy the country side, to help feed the animals, to groom Abigail the miniature horse, and groom the two donkeys, Zacchaeus and Barnabas.

I had a deeper appreciation for the two donkeys this Holy Week as I thought about the poem by Mary Oliver, “The Poet thinks About the Donkey.”

Barnabas and Zacchaeus, the two resident donkeys.

This poem was read at our church on Palm Sunday. It focuses on the donkey Jesus rode into Jerusalem – how the donkey waited, not knowing what for, then let himself be led and mounted. He was obedient as he placed one hoof in front of the other, and stepped into the crowd.

An excerpt:

But the donkey, tied to a tree as usual, waited.
Then he let himself be led away.
Then he let the stranger mount.

Never had he seen such crowds!
And I wonder if he at all imagined what was to happen.
Still, he was what he had always been: small, dark, obedient.

Here is a link to the entire poem: “The Poet Thinks About the Donkey“. I enjoyed the poet’s interesting perspective.

I had to include this photo of the newest additions to the farm… Jonathan and David.
I call them, large dryer balls.

As I was leaving the farm, I spotted my first crocus in bloom this season. Its simple elegance stood out against the backdrop of dried grass and twigs.

A beautiful spring sighting. Photo Credit: S. Holm

Have a blessed Holy Week.

A Fishy Story

On our trip to the north shore, once again we were blessed with beautiful sunrises…always a highlight when we are up at the cabin…looking out over the great expanse of water, Lake Superior. I never tire of seeing the orange ball.

We did have unseasonably warm weather while up north. On our first day we drove into a park looking for cross-country skiing. The weather had been too warm, so there was none to be found. I asked the ranger if there were any clear paved paths to walk or hike on, and her customer chimed in that he had been looking all around the area and hadn’t found any. It is that in-between season in Minnesota, a lot of slushy-icy-melting snow cover.

It was a beautiful sunny day and since we couldn’t ski we drove into Two Harbors and parked at Agate Bay to walk out on the pier. The path was clear and it is always fun to walk out “on the water.” Along the pier we saw the gentleman I had talked to earlier at the park. He recognized me and said, “looks like we both found some clear pavement to walk on.” And we laughed.

The beacon at the end of the long pier. We saw its warning beam at night.

Soon we were almost to the beacon at the end of the pier. There was a fisherman along the side and he looked like he was struggling to hold onto his pole. Then, I heard him ask the guy (our new friend) who was walking in front of us if he would help him pull in a fish. Now that’s an unusual request.

The guy willingly hopped down on the ledge and grabbed the large net, ready to swoop in and capture the fish. It took a while…the fisherman kept reeling in the line, and then letting out a little slack to keep the line from snapping…and it took several minutes of alternating between the two. Gary and I stopped to watch the process and take some photos.

After several minutes we could see the fish on the line, in the water, near the surface and it was a big one! A really big one. The guy on the pier with the net went into action and caught the fish in the net. It was exciting. The fish measured 24-30″, from the fisherman’s mid-thigh to the ground.

I asked the fisherman what kind of fish it was…he said a “Lake Trout”. Nobody guessed the weight, but everyone (a few others had gathered to watch) realized it was unusually large. I took some pictures and the fisherman gave me his text number. I sent the photos on to him and thanked him for “the show.” And we merrily walked back towards shore.

We ended our day by sitting around a bon fire outside the cabin.

Fiery orange in the morning, fiery orange at night, and a serendipity in-between…how splendid.

Black Beach

Several years ago, a new beach opened up to the public near Silver Bay, Minnesota. It’s called Black Beach.

It’s along the shores of Lake Superior and it’s made up of small black pebbles…so it looks like a black sand beach, thus the name. This is unusual for this area of Lake Superior. We’re used to seeing rocky shores and colored rocks, so this is a fun addition.

We’ve never spent a lot of time on Black Beach…we just stop by on our way up the north shore. There is parking lot with vault toilets, the path leading to the beach and some picnic tables set back from the water. It is pretty, so it’s a fun stop.

So, when we were staying up at a cabin near Two Harbors recently, we took a drive one morning, up Scenic Hwy. 61 and decided to stop at Black Beach to see if there was any white snow left on the black beach.

This shows perspective on the size of these ice drifts.

Wow! Were we surprised! There were humungous ice drifts settled on the beach.

As we walked out closer to the lake, we realized how large these ice drifts… ice chunks… ice boulders were.

Are we still in Minnesota? This is another view of the path through the ice formations

It was fun and amazing to walk up to the ice formations, and walk through a row of them. I can only imagine what it was like earlier this winter. This is March and they were melting in the 38* weather…icicles were forming on the bottoms of the masses, dripping water back into the lake.

The icicles forming as they drip back into the lake.

In a small way, it reminded me of the sea caves we walked to several years ago near Bayfield, Wisconsin, when the DNR created a path on the frozen Lake Superior so folks could walk out to see the sea caves, usually only seen by kayakers on the open water.

Gary walking towards the lake. The photo is deceiving. There is a big drop off to the beach at the edge of the ice, with ice packs below, lining the shore.

We are continually amazed at the variety of adventures we find on our trips to the north shore of Lake Superior…my happy place!

BrainDance

Cannon Valley Elder Collegium (CVEC), in Northfield, oﬀers learning experiences for learners aged 50+, and has done so for nearly 30 years. Classes are are taught by retired professors or anyone with knowledge on a certain subject, and are usually eight weeks in length. It’s a wonderful offering.

For the second time, I signed up for a class called BrainDance through CVEC. The instructor is a professional dance artist and educator who lives in New York, but grew up in Minnesota and comes back to teach dance classes occasionally.

The BrainDance, is an “official” dance, created by Anne Green Gilbert. It is a sequence of eight developmental movement patterns (adopted from infant/toddler development) that reorganizes the brain, improves focus, and reduces stress.

It is a fun class! We practice the brain dance to music, before moving onto other movements and dances, using our creative minds plus exercising our bodies. I wish this class continued all year.

This picture makes me smile. Each week I put my mat and water bottle under this picture in the dance hall. It brings joy to my heart every time I see it. I remember it from last year too. Sometimes I’d mimic her movement in our free dance.

Each week we took time to practice a choreographed piece to the song “Imagine” by John Lennon. A fitting song for these days. At the end of our eight weeks, we put on a recital! We invited family and friends to watch our “production” and then the instructor invited the audience to join us in a circle dance…which my husband did! He couldn’t say no! Everyone enjoyed themselves.

BrainDance is described as “cultivating joy and enriching your mind, body, and spirit through the power of dance… it improves balance, strength and flexibility…” In addition to all that, I found it to be a delightful and energizing experience.

Sunrise, Sunset Quote

“What would you pay to see the sunrise or sunset if it were not free entertainment?”

I heard this question/quote years ago, but I don’t remember where, and I can’t find a source (but I’ve always remembered it).

We saw this sunset out our back window the other night. Amazing! It lasted only a few minutes…

The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship.
                                                              Psalm 19:1

Beauty Way

St. Johns Lutheran Church in Northfield hosts a monthly event called Creating Community for Common Good – Courageous Conversations, and it is open to the public. Their focus is to invite speakers who will “enlighten local and national implications for education, housing, health care and the environment, as well as freedom of expression and equality.”

On this evening, Lupita McClanahan, a Navajo elder from Arizona’s Canyon de Chelly, was the speaker. She’s a storyteller and cultural historian and she drew a crowd. The room was full. Her event was focused on personal resilience and strengthening culture identity through adversity.

When I learned a native American elder was speaking, I knew I wanted to attend and hear first-hand stories of her experiences. Lupita focused on her people’s way, her upbringing. She grew up in a world that doesn’t exist anymore.

She explained her people are the Diné people (clan of Navajo) and her upbringing was known as Beauty Way. She told antidotes…how her people would introduce themselves including four pieces of information: first your clan name, then where you come from, who your grandparents are, and finally your name. She told how a baby’s name was whispered into to baby’s ear and not revealed to the community for a long time, how they would hold a celebration for the baby’s first laugh, and many more.

She talked about her experience in boarding school. “They” couldn’t pronounce the names so “they” called people by a number. Her name was Number 55. She was at the school for nine years. She overcame the trauma and chose to become a bridge-builder between cultures by sharing her stories.

She talked about the belief that their purpose in life is to take care of the earth and its four elements; earth and water, air and fire. They believe that the land owns us, we do not own the land, and we must take care of it.

Picture from Canyon de Chelly National Monument, highlighting organization footpathjourneys.com

Lupita currently lives in NW Arizona, when she is not on speaking tours. She lives with no electricity, she tends sheep, grows corn and hauls her own water. She also guides public tours of her native land through the organization footpathjourneys.com

Canyon de Chelly National Monument (Four Corners Area) is considered one of the jewels of the Navajo Nation.

I always enjoy hearing other people’s stories. An hour and a half went quickly and I’m glad I ventured out on this evening to hear Lupita and learn about her Beauty Way.

Public Artworks continued…

To continue the public artworks post, here’s more I’ve seen in the past few weeks.

We took a quick trip to Florida to escape the Minnesota winter…only to be greeted by unseasonably cold weather there. O well, we had a good time. 😉

When we arrived in the Tampa (TMP) airport we were greeted by an oversized (floor to ceiling!) pink flamingo. His long pink legs and long pink neck bending down to the ground was fantastic.

In Dunedin, Florida there is an outdoor mural of dogs painted on a building in the downtown area. It takes up two outside walls of the building (one was in the shade and too dark for a photo). The artist called for photos from dog owner’s and then painted the mural depicting everyone’s dogs for all to enjoy.

Also in Florida, there was a well-done public shell exhibit close to the beach. I appreciated the collector’s willingness to educate the public on all the different types of shells found in the area.

Inedible, exquisitely decorated, layer cake.

Inside a restaurant, for all who entered to enjoy, was a tall, beautiful layer cake made of costume, sparkly jewelry. People come up with very creative ideas.

There was a sweet picture in a coffee shop’s public bathroom. A framed print someone probably found just to fill a space on the wall, but this simple piece spoke to me that day. It felt like an invitation to a tea party.

And finally, just the other day we went for a walk in the unseasonable 54* warm weather, along the Cannon River in Northfield. There, new to us (how long has it been there???) was another mural painted on a bridge abutment. There were several beautiful nature scenes.

The credit was only listed @surfaceofbeauty. What I could glean from online was the artist is Natasha May Platt, @surface of beauty, a floral mural artist…from New York!

We so enjoyed the public artwork of lovely floral and fauna paintings that bring hope for spring.

I plan to continue to look for different public artworks that speak to me. May you enjoy looking for all the public artworks in your ordinary days.