Go away winter! We are not ready for you. đ
Tag: Northfield
September Sky
We have always enjoyed buckling ourselves into our car seats and taking scenic drives, heading out of town on country roads. It’s fun to see the varied landscapes in our great state.
When the pandemic took hold we started to take more frequent rides to get us out of the house.
Last week we drove a short 20 miles loop around Northfield and were mesmerized by the sky. These dramatic photos were snapped when we quickly pulled over to the side of the road a couple of times.
This particular evening we were on a road where you could see a whole lot of sky. The sky is always fun to watch. It has so many displays: blue with soft, white, fluffy clouds or clear blue with no clouds, and sometimes stormy skies with dark, angry clouds.
On our way back to town we saw this gorgeous sunset.
I’m compelled to include the photo below, taken in July 2018 (pre-pandemic) on a drive west of Northfield. It was eerie. Soon after I took the photo it began to rain. Fortunately it was not a tornado.
Autumn Quote
The 2020 autumnal equinox was Tuesday, marking the beginning of our fall season in Minnesota. Weâve had some enjoyable weather this week.
Iâm looking forward to many more pleasant weather days and hope they linger well into this fall season, to energize us for winter.
Fall is my favorite time of year!
LOVE
There is a new mural in town. LOVE.
It is on 4th street – painted on the outside wall of Dominoâs Pizza, to the north.
The artistâs signature is Brett Whitacre. Heâs from Illinois but I donât know much about him, or the mural other, than âI like it.âÂ
Itâs a beautiful and colorful addition to our charming downtown Northfield.Â
I’m grateful the Northfield city administrators and area residents appreciate these kinds of artistic endeavors.
Here is a link to my friendâs blog, Minnesota Prairie Roots. It has more information on the artist and the mural.
This mural is a creative reminder for us to love one another.
Tree Trimming
The honey locust tree in our front yard, placed purposely outside our kitchen window 25 year ago, quickly became one of our favorite trees.
We planted several trees in our yard back then, and we are very happy we did.  They were small trees, and now they have grown to be very large trees! A realtor once said the best kind of tree is the one planted 20 years ago.
But many branches of our beloved locust tree have been slowing dying in the past few years so we needed to decide if we cut it down… or trim the dead branches off and hope it starts growing again. We had a hard time thinking of cutting it down so we chose the latter.
It was interesting to see three workers and two huge trucks show up at our house. One truck settled into the driveway. It had a cherry picker bucket that hoisted one guy towards the tops of the trees to start cutting the dead wood.
Two guys went at the trees fast and furious and seemed to know what they were doing (we only hope!). Another worker piled up the branches for the other truck to extend an arm with a claw and pick up all the debris then haul it away.
And since the tree trimmer was coming we decided to have our crabapple tree get a good trim too.
I had an errand to run so I left before the workers were done and I came home to a cleaned up yard and two smartly trimmed trees about 45 minutes later.
We will hope it isnât too much of a shock for our honey locust and that it will start thriving again.
Coffee Shops
I like coffee…and coffee shops. So does my husband. My town, Northfield, supports six coffee shops for 20,000+ people. It seems coffee shops are one business that usually âmakes itâ in small towns.Â
I remember traveling with my parents when I was younger and going to cafes in small towns, where my mom and dad would get their coffee. At that time there was only one kind of coffee to choose from (well…maybe two…caffeinated and decaffeinated). If you wanted cream it came in little, individual glass bottle sealed with a paper cap. I liked to drink any left over cream my dad didnât use in his coffee.
It seems coffee shops are the new “cafes”. It’s easier to find a coffee shop in small towns, than a cafe.
On our way home from our recent road trip to Colorado we decided to get off the interstate for the last 400 miles of our drive. Instead of staying on Interstate 80 we took back roads through parts of Nebraska and Iowa into Minnesota. We made fine time with less traffic and less rush.Â
On road trips usually our first task when we start out is to find coffee. We have a cup of coffee at the hotel but we always look forward to getting a better cup of coffee at a coffee shop.
We scouted out one coffee shop along the new route, not far from the hotel, but when we got there we discovered it was closed on Sundays. So we went on to the next town searching for the next coffee shop, which happened to be Fremont, Nebraska.Â
We were delighted with our find of Milady Coffeehouse in the historic downtown area, not far off our route. It was housed in an old restored building, the May Brothers Building built in 1881, with eclectic décor and delicious coffee choices.
It was not crowded so we enjoyed looking around. There was a small stage with a big screen TV and they were preparing to stream a church service, with social distancing. There were groupings of sofa and chairs, counter with stools, hi-top tables with chairs, all around the large gathering space.Â
The name Milady comes from a brand of coffee that the May brothers sold within the same walls 130 years ago, when it was the May Brotherâs Wholesale Grocery. There was an old âMiladyâ coffee tin and jar on display.
It was a fun diversion for our coffee break that morning, to find such a great place on the back roads. Too bad this wonderful coffee shop is 330 miles away.
.
A Social-Distance Baby Shower
I was invited to a baby shower recently. A baby shower during a pandemic is difficult to plan. Originally it was going to be held using Zoom, the communication app that has become popular these days. However, as the date grew closer and the weather became nicer the event planners figured out a way to bring people together for the shower.
The hostesses created a festive atmosphere that adhered to “physical distancing” guidelines…(I heard a commentator say it’s not really social distancing but physical distancing – we still need to continue socializing). They also had Zoom up and running since there were out of town guests participating.
So, I put on a dress for the first time in months and added a touch of make up and headed out the door for an exciting event that almost felt “normal”.
It was a lovely Minnesota morning. The gathering was outdoors. Chairs were set up in a circle, all 6 feet apart, in a beautifully landscaped front yard.
Next to each chair was a white paper bucket filled with ice and a small bottle of prosecco and a small bottle of orange juice and a plastic flute glass to make our own mimosas. I thought that was a clever idea.
On each chair was a box with a muffin from Martha’s (a local bakery), a jar of yogurt, a clementine, a cookie, and the paper and pen needed for games. No prizes were awarded however, due to the participants on Zoom…how would they get their prize?
The mom-to-be was able to enjoy opening her gifts with others surrounding her with love and attention.
People are definitely finding creative ways to make things work in this strange world we are living in right now.
Lilacs
The fragrant smell of lilacs is a delight this time of year. I wish it could last a little longer.
There is such a brief time to enjoy the beauty of the lilacâs purple blossoms, and have their sweet scent fill the air.
I have two lilac bushes. One is a Miss Kim, a fragrant, smaller bush that is more tame and works well for the spot I tucked it into â just outside the side window off the kitchen. It is a late bloomer.
The other bush is the âold-fashionedâ lilac bush that grows huge and spreads and is wildly wonderful. It is in our back yard and is blooming right now.
I have cut branches of lilacs off this bush to bring its loveliness indoors.
This wild and wonderful bush is offshoot of the lilac bush that grew in my parentâs yard at the house I grew up in. Years ago, when Gary and I moved back to Minnesota, after a short stint in Ohio, my mom was still living in that house. I thought it would be fun to dig a sucker from the lilac bush and plant it in the yard of the house we bought in Burnsville when we moved back. It took off and grew into a wild and wonderful bush.
Fourteen years later when we moved from that house in Burnsville to our new home Northfield, I dug up a sucker from that lilac bush to plant in our new yard. It, too, grew into a wild and wonderful bush, and is still growing. Weâve been here 25 years.
So when I place my purple, aromatic lilacs in vases and put it them around the house it not only brings beauty and fragrance into the house, but also brings back some special memories.
On a different note: below is a photo of our crabapple tree in bloom right now, in our front yard.
Face Masks
It appears face masks will be part of the new normal as the Covid-19 pandemic has changed our lives forever. Face masks are already required in some stores and requested in many others. It is a safety measure to protect all of us from spreading the virus. We are all in this together.
I eked out two masks on my old sewing machine, which has seen better days.Â
At the time elastic was hard to come by so I used old t-shirts for the ties, which was suggested and was a good alternative. The masks turned out OK and have served us well.
There are many folks in our town making masks. There is a person in charge of the operation. She sends emails with updates and has created a station at a convenient location downtown Northfield for mask making supplies. She raised funds, ordered supplies including blue filter fabric, elastic (which is available again) and other items. Most, if not all of the fabric, has been donated. Mask-makers go to the station to pick up what they need.
Since I feel I cannot sew nice masks with my machine I decided to help by cutting fabric. The 100% cotton fabric needs to be washed, ironed and cut into different shapes (depending on style of mask and whether it is for an adult or child.)
I was talking with a friend the other day and we were lamenting about wearing masks because you cannot tell the expression on otherâs faces when they have their masks on. When you cannot see smiles you miss a lotâŠso we thought it would be great to have masks with see-through space so you could see more of a personâs expression.
The very next morning on the news I read about see-through masksâŠmade especially for those who need to lip-read.
HmmmâŠOur good idea – already conceived, and created – by another. I think of the saying⊔Necessity is the mother of invention.”
I have no doubt face masks will become a fashion statement. Soon.
Another Indoor Plant Story
Once upon a time there was a young man and a young woman who met and fell in love. A few months after they met the young man was transferred out of state with his job. He offered his dieffenbachia plant to the young maiden, which she kept, and it continued to grow.
Their long distance relationship continued to grow and they got married. But his job took both of them to another state so she left the dieffenbachia behind with her mother to care for it. Her mother was very good with houseplants. And it continued to grow. It eventually reached the ceiling, so her mother cut a branch and rooted it and it started to grow again.
Two years later the couple moved back to Minnesota and once again took the dieffenbachia back into their care. It continued to grow and when it reached a certain height they cut it back and it continued to grow. The young family grew tooâŠthe couple raised two sons and lived in Burnsville for fourteen years. The dieffenbachia grew right along with the family.
Then the family moved to Northfield and they took the plant with themâŠand it continued to grow. After many years the middle-aged woman decided she didnât have room for the plant any longer, so she brought it to her church and placed it in the fellowship hall between two large windows. Some mystery person watered it and tended to it and it continued to grow.
And someone has watered the dieffenbachia and cared for it for many, many years now and it continues to grow (the couple has attended this church in Northfield for 25 years, the plant has been in the church about 10 years, or more). The plant has been moved to various spots around the church building but it continues to grow.Â
Nobody at church knows the story behind this beautiful, faithful, dieffenbachia plant that continues to grow and bloom where it is planted⊠a lesson for us all.
Amen.