Pandemic – Valerie's Voice

The Doobie Brothers

As dusk turned to dark on a beautiful Minnesota summer evening, we were sitting outside, in the grandstand, of the Minnesota State Fair “listening to the music” of the Doobie Brothers. It was a great concert. Gary is my guest writer for this post.

The Minnesota State Fair water tower and Midway Ferris Wheel.

Back in 1970 a few musicians living near San Jose, California formed a band calling themselves the Doobie Brothers. They ultimately became a very popular band, and I had a few of their early albums. When they announced their plans for a 50th Anniversary Tour I was excited to learn one of the venues was at the Minnesota State Fair. We decided to go (along with several friends) and bought our tickets for the 2020 concert. Then along came the pandemic and the State Fair was cancelled… but fortunately the Doobie Brothers were rescheduled for the 2021 fair.

This past week we went to their two-hour long concert and it was fabulous. The energy they exuded was impressive given their ages…most are in their 70’s. It was obvious they were having a good time.

The band consisted of two founding members on lead guitars and vocals (Johnston and Simmons), and another long-time member, who joined the band in 1979, played guitar/fiddle/harmonica. Complimenting them were five others: a bass guitarist, keyboardist, saxophonist, percussionist and a drummer. The guitar performances, whether solo or all three guitars in synchronous melody, were awesome. The dual percussion and talented keyboard musicians made for an incredible display of talent. The saxophone player was outstanding. Add to that…harmonizing vocals. It all made for a great show.

Some of their more well-known songs include: Takin’ it to the Streets, China Grove, Black Water, Jesus is Just Alright, and Listen to the Music. However, even the songs we did not know were enjoyable to listen to because of their incredible talent.

We were delighted to have the opportunity to attend this event. The end is near for classic rock band tours with any founding members, because most of them are now in their 70’s and 80’s.

On another note, we hadn’t been to the state fair for many years (12+) it was nice to go when the numbers were down…the streets were not too crowded and we didn’t have to stand in long lines for food.

It was a perfect evening for an outdoor concert, and a side benefit was our view from the grandstand of the midway Ferris Wheel with its changing light display.

March to March

The end of March is looming. Spring is here. People are getting vaccinated and venturing out. We’ve been cooped up, and staying close to home this past year, as Covid-19 hovered and infiltrated our life styles and wreaked havoc. But hope is definitely in the air as we move forward.

I’m grateful that my husband and I, and our son’s and their families, did not get sick with Covid, but the year was a tough one with masking up and social distancing.

Now that we are at the end of March and the pandemic has been around for a year, I was wondering what to write as a recap of my “designated year of March to March” for my annual blog-to-print book. Then, over the weekend we went on a hike in a new-to-us state park and I thought that would be fitting… to talk about hiking/walking this past year.

Walking was a consistent activity that I engaged in this past year, almost daily. I could probably count on my fingers the few days I missed. It was my goal, my outlet, my exercise, to get outside and walk every day (some days had to be an indoor walk). Gary often joined me, but he also rode his bike a lot more (2600 miles total last year). But I kept on walking… We also walked with another couple, two to three times a week, and that regular contact made a big difference for all of us. It kept our sanity; we like to say.

Many times we hiked in parks and through the woods. Gary and I discovered John Latsch State Park as we were driving along the Mississippi River on a bright, sunny day in late-March. I noticed the typical brown state park sign. As we passed by it on our way to Winona, I did a quick Google search on the park. The only thing the park offered was one hike, but that hike was a unique one, climbing up a beautiful bluff along the river. It told of the fantastic view from the top, and… that the hike was all stairs!

From the top: looking south at Lock & Dam #5 as a train rumbles by.

That sounded interesting. We know enough to know that would not be an easy hike (up or down) but we decided to go for it. We hadn’t walked our daily walk so we turned off into the parking lot to John Latsch State Park. We donned our hiking shoes, hat, and poles so we were ready. As I climbed 600 steps (unofficial count by a co-hiker) I thought this would be an appropriate marker for the end of the one year of pandemic…to be discovering a new state park and hiking in it.

At the top: looking north…Gary near the edge.

At the top of the limestone bluff called Charity along the Mississippi River.

We climbed up and up…the wooden stairs were wide, and sometimes slanted at an angle, and one or two were wobbly. There was a railing for parts of the trail but I’m glad we had our hiking poles with us. We took our time and made it to the top of “Charity” the name of this particular bluff…named by steamboat captains. There are three large, limestone bluffs aside each other, along the river, and steamboat captains nicknamed them Charity, Hope and Faith and used them for navigational purposes. Great names indeed.

After taking photos at the top there was a short loop trail that we hiked before descending down the steps. It was good “step exercise” and we were happy to have succeeded to make it to the top and back down again.

A railing was in place for parts of the “trail”.

My hope is that we’ve made it to the top of the Covid-19 pandemic peak, and we’re on our way down…to the end of it.

Story Time

For me, one positive impact from the pandemic was learning about the communication app Zoom. I’m grateful for the Zoom business to allow me free access to family members across the country, and close to home, during the restrictions of meeting in person.

Grandma enjoys reading the library books.

One result has been a weekly story time over Zoom with my grandchildren who live in Colorado. At each session we; visit, read books, and then sometimes, they read to me. Lately, our oldest granddaughter is attending in-person kindergarten, so it’s just me and Ezra…and Grandpa joins in occasionally.

A favorite memory from when my boys were little was reading to them. And now, I love reading to my grandchildren. I have always enjoyed children’s books, and have several on our bookshelves around the house. One sweet gift a daughter-in-love gave to me, early on in our relationship, was a children’s book. I treasure that thoughtful gift.

During our weekly story time I lay out books and let the kids choose which ones they want me to read. Zoom has yet to cut us off at the free forty minutes deadline…we typically go for an hour so we get to read several books. I love the children’s books I own, but it is always good to find new ones at the library to add to the mix.

I go to the Northfield Library to look for new catchy titles and book covers. At my last visit to the library the children’s librarian, who presents the library’s children’s story time each week (pre-Covid), was there. I asked her for suggestions and she was very helpful. She actually remembered Zoey & Ezra from our weekly visits to her story time when they lived with us. Even now, when the kids come to visit they still want to go to story time at the library. YAY

The interaction I had with the children’s librarian that day was extra special. She told me of a book she really liked about “an overnight at grandmas”. The library copy was checked out so she went and retrieved a copy from her story time materials. When I went to the automatic checkout I noticed the book didn’t have a bar code, so I went and asked her about it and she told me this was her own personal copy and “just return it when you’re done.”

How special is that?

Ash Wednesday

Our small statue of “Cristo Redentor” – Christ the Redeemer.

Our church offered a drive-thru, what they termed, “Imposition of Ashes”. Because our church is still closed due to the pandemic this was offered to the congregation (and community) as the start of the Lenten season. You simply drove up to the church entrance. Our pastor met us at our car, applied the ashes, and sent us on our way with this scripture and prayer.

Psalm 51:10-12

¹⁰Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

O God, Give me stillness to recognize your presence. Give me quiet to hear your voice. Holy Spirit, I ask you to fill my heart with your peace, your love and your ways. Restore me and my spirit with Your strength to turn and follow you. Amen.

As our pastor marked our foreheads with the ashes he said, in part, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return. Now turn and follow Jesus.”

Amen.

A Christmas Festival

Christmas Festival took on a whole new meaning this year… when I hear those two words together “Christmas Festival” my mind immediately thinks of the 100+ year old annual Christmas concert at St. Olaf College. But this year the Bollinger Family held its own Christmas Festival…created because of the pandemic as a safe way for celebrating Christmas together with multiple families and young energetic children.

My daughter-in-love came up with this great idea and it was fun planning it with her. She worked hard to make it happen. We helped where we could ahead of time.

The day of the festival we gathered together early one December afternoon, which ended up being a very mild day…almost 40 degrees and no wind…a beautiful blessing. The weather was tolerable for staying outdoors for five hours! We had propane heaters in one area to warm up if necessary… the adults used it a few times but not the kids – they were active enough to stay warm the entire time!

The yard was decorated with garland, lights and lanterns, and a Christmas tree which came to life at dusk…on one of the shortest days of the year.

The table was covered with a red tablecloth and decorated with lights, mini-trees and ornaments for the crock-pots of chili.

There was games and activities and a very special Nativity Story Walk all planned out for the children, which they hardily enjoyed.

Painting a Happy Birthday banner for Jesus.

Find the stars – a Story Walk to the manger scene.

Towards dusk we started fires in two fire pits. We enjoyed eating our chili dinner from compostable bowls around the bon fires.

We brought along our roasting sticks to roast marshmallows and make s’mores for dessert…all with Christmas music sounding through speakers in the back ground.

The grandchildren (and grand-dog Charlie) had a good time celebrating together while social distancing and masking up. I trust the grandchildren will remember this Christmas Festival for years to come. I know I will. The adults had a great time too!

Merry Christmas!

2020 St. Olaf Christmas Concert

We’ve put up our Christmas tree, added some decorations around the house, readied Christmas cards for mailing and finished our Christmas shopping.

And, this past Sunday we listened to Christmas from St. Olaf, an online, digital concert featuring St. Olaf College music ensembles and a compilation of songs from previous Christmas Festivals. It was created as an offering to replace the beloved in-person St. Olaf Christmas Festival which couldn’t happen this year because of the global pandemic.

The concert didn’t get off to a smooth start. But then it is 2020. Things are not going well this year.

The screen display on computers for the 2020 *Christmas from St. Olaf* digital concert.

As a previous ticket coordinator for this popular event we had our share of problems when we first offered tickets online so the concert glitch brought back memories of my time at St. Olaf… the difficult but also the good… friendships made and festivals attended, all bringing a sense of gratitude for my time on the hill. As many concert goers told me over and over and over again, the Christmas Festival was the start of their Christmas celebrations. It has become that for me.

The technology was worked out and we were able to connect to the digital concert and hear some beautiful, hope-filled music. The signature finale “Beautiful Saviour” was included and that made everything right. I now have a sense the Christmas season has begun and we can start celebrating the birth of Jesus.

Hastings, MN

We trapped another squirrel…number 15! So off we went to transport it to the Squirrel Resort, 12 miles from our house.

Then we continued on, driving the back roads to Hastings, Minnesota for a walk.

A beautiful and clever sandstone city sign near the beginning of the River Walk.

Hastings has designed a lovely, paved trail along the Mississippi River. It provides benches, interesting informational signage, and a large picnic pavilion. The trail leads right up to Lock & Dam No. 2.

Saturday was sunny, and not too windy or cold, so we decided to take our daily walk in Hastings. We parked in a lot near the pavilion which provides ample, free parking.

One entrance to the river walk, with steps down to the paved trail.

The trail begins at the pavilion, close to an old working railroad lift bridge that “lifts” to let large boats float underneath, when needed.

River traffic near the railroad bridge, lifted up.

We walked about 1.5 miles to the Lock & Dam and were fortunate enough to be there as they were bringing a large barge through, in two separate maneuvers. We’ve watched this kind of operation before and it is always fascinating.

Looking across the Mississippi River to beautiful houses on the cliffs, with barges in the forground.

A different perspective of first 6 barges. There were 12 in this grouping.

There was river traffic…besides the barges there were boats with fishermen fishing, and a couple of tug boats. There was both pedestrian and bicycle traffic along the paved River Walk trail, and two trains rambled by across the river on the tracks. There was a lot of activity to watch…which is cheap entertainment in this time of pandemic.

A view of the beautiful Hastings bridge, opened November 2013

Boat traffic going under the high vehicle bridge.

Hastings is a county seat with a historic downtown and about 38 miles from Northfield if you drive the direct route (which is also picturesque). We drove through downtown and noticed several antique stores were open but we didn’t stop this time. We did stop however, to get a hot, caramel mocha for our ride back home! Yum.

We’ve always enjoyed going for drives in the country and exploring small towns…I’m sure we’ll be going for a lot more this fall and winter.

A marker for flood levels…looks like 1965 is the record. (photo taken June 2020)

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.

Photo taken last week, on the outskirts of Northfield.

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.

The colors and lighting of these clouds are beautiful.

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.

This is what the sky looked like when we left our house.

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.

Stillwater Loop

Going on bike rides has been a great way for Gary and I to get away during this pandemic. Gary bikes frequently with his bike club, but we have gone on rides together too. It’s an activity we both enjoy. And Minnesota has an abundance of bike trails to explore.

One day we went up to Stillwater to ride the “Loop Trail.” This trail goes along the river walk through town, then up the hill to the new, expansive bridge crossing the St. Croix River over into Wisconsin and back to Stillwater, creating a five-mile loop.

The new bridge crossing the St. Croix River in Stillwater.

Another view of the new, expansive Stillwater bridge.

This photo was taken in May 2018, showing the newly opened bridge from a distance.

The paved bike trail on the Wisconsin side guides one to a steep, downhill road leading to the historic Stillwater lift bridge, now repurposed as a pedestrian/bicycle bridge. Until recently the old lift bridge was the only bridge, in Stillwater, for vehicles to cross the St. Croix River.

Approaching the steep hill going down towards the old Stillwater bridge.

The old lift bridge made into a new bicycle/pedestrian bridge. The bridge still lifts for tall boat traffic on the St. Croix River.

The old bridge became too congested and a new bridge was built. In comparison, looking at the old lift bridge and the new superhighway bridge, is comical because of the major size difference. It does make for a fun five-mile bicycle ride.

After the loop trail we rode past the old, Zephyr train depot, now the Zephyr Theater, on a trail along Brown’s Creek. Another lovely ride, in the shade, slightly uphill for six miles and connects to the Gateway Trail. After we turned around at the intersection of Brown’s Creek and Gateway it felt like we glided down into Stillwater. It was fun.

A view of the old lift bridge in the background…photo taken from the new high bridge in Stillwater, MN.

We were in Stillwater on a weekday and it was bustling. The weather was sunny and hot, a great day to be by water…we ate our lunch on the deck of a restaurant near the river, and after lunch we laid out blankets on the shore and watched the people and boats go by.

A view of the St. Croix River and the old lift bridge, lifted up.

Kings of Swing

Apparently the city of Faribault has been hosting concerts in the park for over 100 years. That’s impressive. Currently the outdoor concert series are held at Central Park. I don’t know if the concerts have always been at that location, but it is lovely, and there is a permanent band shell there.

We were alerted the band scheduled to play last week was a popular Faribault band, Kings of Swing. We have heard the band several times before and really liked their music so we packed up some drinks, a snack, our lawn chairs and headed to Faribault’s Central Park. We found a shady place to sit back, relax, and listen to some great, jazzy music.

It was well-attended and people did cooperate by physical-distancing themselves from others. There were folks of all ages enjoying themselves. We saw, and talked, to a few friends we haven’t seen since March, the beginnings of this pandemic. That was special too.

And we really enjoyed sitting there people-watching. Near us was a woman with a big bubble wand, creating giant bubbles and having a good time, while providing enjoyment for onlookers too.

Every once in a while a couple would get up to dance to the music together, on the lawn.

There was an over all sense of merriment in the air, so for an hour and a half we listened to some great music and the only way you knew we were in a pandemic was the presence of physical- distancing and some folks wearing masks.

A beautiful evening in Central Park, in Faribault.

This was the last concert of the summer series, although they announced a couple encore concerts planned for September 3 and 11.

I’m grateful the city of Faribault continued with their summer concert series in spite of the pandemic. It was a nice way to spend an evening. It felt “normal.”