Northfield – Valerie's Voice

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!

National Library Week

It’s National Library Week.

Even though I went to the library twice this week, and saw a sign hanging in the window telling me it was National Library Week, I dismissed the dates as to sometime in the future. Whoops. I didn’t pay close attention. When my blogger friend posted a piece this week on National Library Week, it finally registered.

I want to celebrate libraries. I love libraries, for all the same reasons my friend cites in her blog: In celebration of public libraries. She’s a great writer. Read it if you can by clicking on the title. I also posted a blog about libraries in 2023. Here’s a link to my previous post – Libraries.

In addition to all the reasons for loving a library, I want to add that I like to go to the library to write. Sometimes I find it inspirational to sit down in the second-floor atrium and work on my writing assignments, which is what I did a couple weeks ago.

I sat down in a comfortable chair and started paying attention to all that was going on around me. So, before starting my assignment, I decided to write down what I was observing and hearing. It was fun for me, but after an hour and a half (!) I decided it was time to settle down and focus on my assignment. One writing prompt was to tell about a time you were abandoned. Throughout our travels we have been stranded a few times, but instead of those examples I decided to polish this piece I had been writing and end it with a twist by saying…of all places I’d like to be abandoned, one would be a library.

I’m grateful for our library. I wouldn’t mind be stranded in a library.

New Digs

My “Van”-na White pose with the moving van.

Last Friday morning the moving van arrived in the driveway of our old house. The four movers packed up all our heavy furniture and moved it a mile south to our new house. It took about six hours. We set up the beds and slept in our new place for the first time Friday night, and slept well. It was an exhausting day.

We woke up to a beautiful sunrise Saturday morning, over the field and bluff out our back windows.

And saw the beautiful sunset that evening.

We’ve been unpacking for almost a week and we’re making progress.

We’re celebrating the next chapter in our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving…

From our home to yours.

Grateful for 30 years in our beloved, little green house on the corner.

All in the Family

We are moving one mile south of where we currently live. When we moved to Northfield in 1994, we moved into a house on the edge of town, with a cornfield in the backyard. The community grew and houses were built up all around us. Thirty years later we decided it was time to downsize and move into a smaller place. We are having a twin home built one mile south of us, and the backyard is the same cornfield view that was behind us 30 years ago. Only smaller.

So, moving into a smaller, one level space is exciting, but challenging. It is bittersweet to be leaving this beautiful green house on the corner, which I love. We have so many wonderful memories here. We were a happy family in this house. But now it’s time for a change, and to downsize.

In doing so there are many decisions to be made. It was easy to sell some stuff, donate some stuff, toss some stuff, but what about family heirlooms? Thankfully, family members wanted them. I cherish these items, but have no room for them in our new house. That they remain in the family brings me comfort!

My grandma’s desk: When my mother was given this wooden drop-front desk, she painted it. When she handed down the desk to me years later, I stripped off the paint and brought it back to its natural wood beauty (that was many years ago).

My grandmother’s china: My grandma’s beautiful, Noritake china set included more pieces than the average china set. The dishes were given to me by my beloved aunt because she knew I loved dishes. I thought of keeping part of the set, but when I knew it was to stay in the family, I gave it all away.

A military flag: The Department of Veterans Affairs provides a US flag to honor a deceased veteran’s military service. We framed this military flag that was given to my mother at my father’s funeral.

A cedar chest: My mother bought this cedar chest in 1947, the year she and my father were married. It cost $54.95 and included a 2-year moth insurance policy! Imagine that. It’s all recorded on papers inside the sweet-smelling chest.

A Norwegian painting: A 28”X38” print of the famous Bridal Procession on the Hardangerfjord is a framed print that my mother and father brought home from their trip to Norway in 1969. My mother had it hanging in her house for many years. It’s beautiful, but it’s large and we have no place for it.

A roasting pan: My mother made the best roast ever! Of course, when I asked for the recipe, she told me how she made it without any measurements. I tried to recreate it, but never got it right. So, when I brought her roasting pan home after her funeral, I thought roasting in that pan would be the secret…but it was not. My roast never did turn out the way hers did.

It would have been hard to part with these items, but it was made much easier to keep them all in the family. I am grateful.

The Honor System

Since we have been downsizing, we have been selling our more useful items on Marketplace and Craig’s list. It has been interesting to see what sells and what doesn’t sell, and for how much it sells. Our experience has been positive. With smaller items we usually meet the buyer at a public parking lot in town, but for larger items people do have to come to our house. We always ask for cash.

Sometimes, if we can’t figure out a mutual meeting time I’ll take a chance and use the honor system. I tell folks I’ll leave the item outside our front door and they can pick it up. I tell them to leave the cash under the front mat. So far, it’s worked every time. And that makes me happy.

When one party asked if I’d send a small item through the mail, I decided to go with the honor system again. I packaged it for mailing, took it to the post office and sent it off. I let the person how much the shipping cost and she said she would send me the money for the item, plus shipping. She did send the cash. And she included a few extra dollars for my time. And that makes me happy.

I’ve come to the place where I am not too worried if someone doesn’t honor the honor system. My experience is most people are honest and I am willing to trust them. And that makes me happy.

Visitors from Norge

For five days my second cousin and his wife, Heine and Kari, from Norway, came to Northfield. We had a nice visit, and we were able to, once again, show off our town and southern Minnesota.

First we took them to a small town 4^th of July celebration – the oldest ongoing celebration in Minnesota. North Morristown has put on a 4^th of July celebration for 131 years, serving homemade pie, food offerings at concessions stands and live music. We enjoyed listening to the blue grass band Monroe Crossing, and traipsing over muddy paths for food, in-between rain storms.

Fireworks in Northfield were delayed until the next evening due to the rain. We walked down the street from our house to watch them on Friday, July 5^th .

We visited other relatives in the area…our grandfathers are the link. They were brothers…one went to America, the other stayed in Norway.

Me, Kari, Heine, my cousin Cindy and my aunt (in front).

Scheel’s, in the Eden Prairie Center, was a fun place to look around, especially for a hunter, which Heine is. But the home décor portion of the store is lovely to peruse too.

A beautiful field of coneflowers in the gardens outside the Marine Art Museum.

Eating outside, when possible, either on our deck or at a restaurant is always nice in the summertime and it was possible much of the time Heine and Kari were with us.

Lunch along the Mississippi River in Winona.

We went on a day trip to Winona. We stopped at Lark Toys in Kellogg for fun, and had a picnic lunch on the banks of the flooded Mississippi River.

We enjoyed the gardens around the Minnesota Marine Art Museum and went inside for a look around.

We stopped at Lock & Dam #5 north of Winona, and meandered around Lake City’s marina on our way back to Northfield.

We showed off the Norwegian immigrants historic Valley Grove churches and cemetery.

We hiked to Hidden Falls in Big Woods Nerstrand State Park.

Heine & Kari celebrating their 45th anniversary in Northfield, Minnesota.

We shopped downtown Northfield and celebrated Heine and Kari’s 45^th wedding anniversary at the Reunion in downtown Northfield.

The last stop was at Lakewood Cemetery to visit the graves of my grandmother and grandfather and beloved Auntie Ag.

My grandfathers gravestone at Lakewood Cemetery. He was the brother to Heine’s grandfather, Johannes.

We were able to get in to view the beautiful Lakewood Chapel, with 10 million 3/8 inch tile mosaics throughout.

One of the many angel mosaics in Lakewood Chapel.

Time flew, conversation and laugher abounded, family ties entwined.

Voilá

Several years ago I found a painting of red geraniums on a framed, window screen in a thrift store. I thought it was a clever idea and it would look good on our front porch, so I bought it. It has hung on our front porch many times over several summers, and it started to lose its pizazz.

Instead of throwing it out I decided to try touching it up myself, with my acrylic paints.

I put on an old t-shirt, squeezed paint onto a paint palette, and did my best. I filled in the reds, and mixed red and yellow paint for orange, and blue and yellow for green, and repainted the pot and added a bit of color here, and a bit there. It was a fun, creative endeavor!

And I think it turned out very well. The painting has found new life and is hanging on my front porch once again.

And then there were none…

Sad news…two days ago I was out in the yard and found the second baby robin (two of three – last week I found the first one) dead in the grass. I’m not sure what is taking them from their nest…someone suggested a Blue Jay.

On May 12 I noticed these three, beautiful blue eggs in a nest outside our window. Mama Robin has been caring for her young since then, and now all three have died.

Last night I took a photo of the last baby robin sitting contently in its nest.

And then I found it dead, this morning, under the tree where the nest is. I’m sad.

Now, I wonder if I’ll see Mama Robin anymore? I’ll miss her.