Minnesota – Page 4 – Valerie's Voice

The Circle of Life

I begin last Sunday afternoon, sitting outside on a hillside overlooking a lake, listening to music in the background, visiting with friends.

Monday morning I’m having coffee and catching up with a friend.

Tuesday evening we make a shuttle run to the airport to pick up friends and bring them back to their home in Northfield.

Wednesday was a beautiful evening for a pot-luck dinner and grilled hotdogs and a leisurely tritoon ride on Cannon Lake (toons and biminis…is this Dr. Suess influence?) and we celebrated a birthday.

Another birthday to celebrate on Thursday… flowers and a meal at Cosetta’s… with a lovely trio of multigenerational women.

Friday, being the Fourth of July, is yet one more birthday to celebrate – our country’s. We ate a piece of homemade pie and listened to a concert at a countryside gathering which claims to be the oldest 4^th of July celebration in Minnesota. Later in the evening, we enjoyed a great fireworks show back in Northfield.

But also, death came this week, to a dear friend and we gathered together to remember.

All in a week’s time.

The circle of life.

Grateful.

Fairy Gardens and Trees

The house we sold and moved out of is only one mile away from our current twin – home. We often walk the same walking paths. Recently, I walked by our old house and was admiring all the flowers in the gardens I had planted over the years, that were now coming up (and that I no longer take care of). They were fun to see.

The new fairy garden along the sidewalk at our old house.

I noticed a fairy garden in the back garden near the sidewalk. It made me smile. My fairy garden used to be tucked under a rose bush in the same garden. Their fairy garden (more like miniature do-dads) is more out in the open. The flower garden borders the public sidewalk, that leads to the walking trails around ponds nearby. The fairy gardens can be seen by many people walking by.

When our house was on the market, the photographer took a picture of my fairy garden and added it to the house photos on the listing. I’m hoping that is why the new owners created a fairy garden for others to continue to enjoy. I have not found a place to set up a fairy garden at our new house.

On a different note:

While we were traveling last month, our previous neighbors sent a photo of a beloved 30-year-old locust tree in the front yard of our old house. It had blown over in a storm. Fortunately, it fell away from the house and into the street. It was one of my favorite trees we left behind.

Northfield Public Library

I’ve mentioned this before, but I really am impressed with our Northfield Public Library!

I arrived at the library this morning and it was buzzing with lots of folks, including a lot of children in the children’s section. It was wonderful to see.

First, I went to pick up the book I had requested. A great system…you request the book, the librarians find the book and set it aside, you walk in and pick up the book off the hold shelf, and self-check out. Slick.

Then, I went upstairs to ask questions of the librarian and she took her time showing me the new system. I also had a question about WORD docs and she was able to help me with that too. I thanked her and told her how much I appreciated her help and how much I like our library!

On my way out I ran into a friend I haven’t seen for a while, and we were able to chat a bit.

I left the library with a grateful heart…

The Field

We moved into our new home in December. All winter I looked forward to seeing a tractor in the field behind us this spring, preparing the field for planting.

I first saw the tractor in back of our house at 7:40 pm on Monday evening.

We’ve been doing some traveling and I thought maybe I might miss it this year, but last night the tractor came through, tilling the soil. He started late in the day, and kept going into the night with his lights on, but he didn’t finish the job.

The darker soil is two swaths from the tractor.

It was fun to see the lights on the tractor, while he worked in the field at night, 8:55 pm.

He was back the next morning to finish the tilling.

It was interesting to see the wide swath of land that was tilled in one run. And I was amazed at how fast the tractor traveled. I had fun watching it while trying to take some pictures. The ground is dry and the tilling produced a lot of dust. It was hard to see the tractor through the dust at times.

We’ll wait to see what is planted…there has been corn in the field the past two years. Maybe they’ll alternate this year, and plant soy beans.

The tractor pulling a seed planter. 3:30 pm Tuesday.

To my delight, he came back in the afternoon to plant. I wonder what is in those yellow seed box containers?

Like the tiller, the planter is a huge piece of equipment.

And then… there were two! It keeps getting more and more interesting. I did not grow up on a farm and so I have really enjoyed seeing this basic, yet key principle, of farming up close.

It just keeps getting better…3:55 pm Tuesday…there were two tractors in the same field.

I did some tilling of my own and planted zinnia seeds along the field in our back yard…hopefully the zinnias will come up too.

Now we definitely need to wash the windows!

Galleria’s Flower Show

We went to Galleria’s floral experience with Bachman’s annual show last week.

This year’s theme is Escape to Paradise. Bachman’s fills the mall with beautiful plants and colorful flowers in wonderful designs, and it’s always a delight to see.

Especially this time of year when we are waiting for spring to arrive here in Minnesota. The landscapes are pretty drab outside right now. We can all use a bit of color.

The day we ventured to Galleria was our anniversary. We arrived early to look at the flowers (and search for a frog hidden in each display) and then we ate lunch at The Good Earth. It was lovely.

A sweet story: On our honeymoon, we bought a framed-in-box of preserved iridescent blue butterflies in Puerto Rico. We have always had it hanging in our house somewhere, and it is hanging in our new home now.

When at the Galleria’s flower show it was fun to see pretty, blue magnetic butterflies that took us back in time to a market we visited on our honeymoon – 47 years ago – when we bought our special memento.

Uplifting….

Colorful…

Pleasing…

Perky…

Whimsical…

It was a special day.

A Poem: One Wave at a Time

One wave at a time…
Faithfully rolling unto the shore
Hitting the rocky bedrock
Bringing healing as I sit and watch.
For hours.
Each time a little piece of hope
Delivered in the rhythm of the waves
Reminds me God is faithful.
Such needed blessing
During these times of uncertainty.
I am grateful to be on the shore of Lake Superior,
Doing nothing,
Watching the waves roll in.
One blessing at a time.

by Valerie Bollinger 03/25

The North Shore

We went up to the north shore to celebrate my birthday last week.

There was a beautiful sunrise the morning of my birthday, and the sun continued to shine all day long.

We wanted to do a little hiking. We had tried hiking at Gooseberry Falls the day before, but we had to turn back due to a very icy trail. Although there was no snow on the ground anywhere, the shaded trails in the woods still had ice cover making it difficult to hike on them.

When we stopped for a specialty coffee at Vanilla Bean in Two Harbors, another customer joined our conversation with the waitress about places to hike in the area that might not be icy. The stranger asked us about the Gitchi-Gami bike trail. And it was one of those ah-ha moments; “I can’t believe we didn’t think about the wonderful paved bike trail with sections all along the north shore.”

An portion of the Gitchi-Gami Bike trail along Lake Superior.

So we found our safe place to hike along Lake Superior, and it was lovely.

Besides the sparkling lake, we saw different images on two different hikes. Do you see what I see?

A bat…a sheet of ice still clinging to a large rock in Lake Superior, facing south (no sun to melt it).

The head of a wolf (right), and a deer lying down looking out (left) in the hollow of a tree.

Several little bear cubs climbing up the tree.

It was a fun birthday; with hiking, cabin time, and watching the waves roll in. A great beginning to another trip around the sun.

Feed My Starving Children

Feed My Starving Children is a Christian ministry that started up in 1987. It organizes volunteers to hand-pack manna packets to send to hungry children all over the world. There are many packing centers around the United States. FMSC receives highest awards for integrity and trustworthiness, “earning a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator for 19 years.”

Kudos to Jeanie who has been organizing a monthly session “Jeanie’s Friends” for the past ten years. I join her and her friends when I can.

The food packet ingredients consist of: powdered vitamins, dried vegetables, soy and rice. Hand-filling the packerts is an efficient process with everyone contributing in different ways…like a human chain. Someone holds the bag open under a funnel, two people add the ingredients, then someone weights the food packet, and passes it to another who seals the packet, and then to the next person who puts the manna packets into a larger box for shipping. One box holds 36 manna packets. One manna packet supplies six meals. There are five 2-hour packing sessions each day.

On Tuesday, when I was up there to help this week, there were 100 volunteers from all over the south metro, and we packed 132 boxes…which means 28,512 meals…which will feed 79 kids a daily meal for one year.

On this day we were packing meals for Burkina Faso, a country in Africa.

It helps me to be doing something positive in these uncertain times, when it seems food uncertainty keeps growing. Today, our short work session impacts 79 more children than yesterday.

Here is a link to Feed My Starving Children if you want to find out more, or to volunteer.

I have posted about Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) a couple of times. Here are links to previous posts: https://valeriesvoice.net/fmsc/ and https://valeriesvoice.net/feed-my-starving-children/

A Canadian Goose

Just blowing, swirling snow
covering the vast field in stark whiteness
And there, alone, appears one Canadian Goose
Looking at us through our sunroom windows,
Stopping to sit on the white blanket,
Offering us something...what?
An angel in disguise?
Sent with a message?
What could it be? 
Hope, for some reason comes to mind,
but I’m not sure
I’ll have to dwell on that awhile.
We all need a little hope right now.

I didn't see him walk or fly away,
but eventually he was gone.

Be still and know that I am God…

even in a blizzard.

Psalm 46:10