Surprises – Page 2 – Valerie's Voice

Pay It Forward

We had a trumpet for sale…we advertised it locally and got one response. We made arrangements for the interested party to see it. He stopped by and said he doesn’t play the trumpet…he was buying the trumpet to give away… to pay it forward. He explained, when his two girls were younger they were each given an instrument by someone wanting to help out his young family. He told himself he would pay it forward someday…and this was that day. He handed us crisp $20 bills, more than the asking price, and walked out the door.

We were surprised, but inspired.

Memorable Hikes – Malawi, Africa 2009

Continuing my Friday series on memorable hikes…

This is about the hike that wasn’t.

Our youngest son, Tim, planned our first trip to Africa. He was living there when my husband, oldest son and myself went to visit. Tim met us at the airport as we stepped off the plane. It was so exciting to be in Africa!

A photo of a page from the photo book I made from our trip.

We met the rep from the rental car company and picked up our car. We were soon on the road starting our adventures. The first days were spent at a rustic lodge in Liwonde National Park in Malawi, Africa. We went on an exciting canoe safari and saw hippopotamus’ up close, and in this park we saw elephants in the wild for our first time (but not our last).

Our first hippo sighting from our canoes.

After a couple of nights it was time to head to the country of Mozambique to see where our son lived. However, the morning we were to leave we had trouble starting our vehicle at the lodge. After several attempts the car finally started and we drove to the park entrance. We had to turn in our permit to the park ranger and by automatic reflex we turned off the car. This time it wouldn’t start again.

Photo from our safari in Krueger National Park…there was no hiking in this park…must stay in the open-top jeep with your guide.

We called the rental company and they said they would send someone right away but of course we were a couple of hours from the city, so we each took out our books and started to read. After a while I decided I wanted to take a walk. My oldest son said he’d go along so we started walking down the road. Immediately the park ranger came running after us and said in broken English…”No! No walk…elephants.” So, of course we had to go back to the car.

Finally two mechanics showed up at the park to fix our car. Thankfully they could do it on the spot and they worked quickly. Soon we were on the road again driving to Mozambique.

A photo of a photo of the sunset we saw as we were paddling back to shore from our canoe safari.

Shortly after we arrived home to the USA I noticed an article in the newspaper about a young mom and her baby attacked by an elephant in Kenya, Africa and they died. Of course I immediately thought about our attempted hike in Liwonde National Park. I guess the ranger knew what he was talking about.

A Good Laugh

Part of our Christmas celebrations this year was the traditional gathering at my cousin’s house, with my only living uncle, who turned 90 this past year and his wife, some cousins and other family members. This is a tradition from my side of the family and we always enjoy our time together when we are around and able to participate. The gathering starts in the afternoon so people can leave in time to attend Christmas Eve services. The following day we spent with our son and his wife and their beautiful eight month-old daughter.

Christmas Eve service at Valley Grove Church, complete with snow coming down.

Gary and I like to attend a candlelight service at a country church in Nerstrand, Minnesota. Valley Grove Church is a historic church built in 1894. The church is inactive except for special events. Every year they open the doors for a late Christmas Eve service. Attenders hear good music, sing Christmas carols, hear the gospel message and at the end of the service sing Silent Night as each person holds a lit candle and the lights dim. It’s delightful and nostalgic time. This year there was an perfectly shaped, especially large Christmas tree up front.

A beautiful Christmas tree filling the front of the church.

Sometimes we see people we know. This year as we were leaving the service I told my husband to go ahead to warm up the car while I took a few photos on this cold Christmas Eve. Soon I headed for the car and when I got in and looked over to the driver’s side there was a strange guy sitting in the driver’s seat. It took a few minutes to register that I had gotten into the wrong car! Fortunately I knew the stranger (he was a friend’s husband) and we started to laugh…it was funny. I got out of his car and went two parking spaces down to my own car which is the same make, model and year of my friend’s car. I got in and there was my husband…wondering what was going on.

Soon I got a text from my friend, the wife of the “stranger”, telling me she was “laughing so hard right now!” after being told what had happened.

It was quite comical. Laughter is good medicine.

Winter Walk

The first Thursday evening in December the city of Northfield blocks off Division Street (our main street) to traffic and puts out luminaries, brings in horses and sleighs for rides, has carolers singing, hosts Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus and the stores offer yummy treats and cider. It’s very festive and very popular – even with folks from the cities who come down to enjoy the special event. This year was Northfield’s 19^th Winter Walk.

It was a bit cold this year which seemed to keep the crowds to a manageable size (for me anyways) and there was a touch of snow on the ground which added some extra Christmas spirit.

Outside the Antiques of Northfield store.

Each year we enjoy walking around and make a few regular stops to certain places we like, including the Downtown Bicycles shop where I put my name in a drawing.

The library always hosts the Model Train Club and hobbyists set up their old model trains for a fun exhibit.

Stores along Division Street decorate their storefront windows with holiday displays so its fun to window shop too.

I wear a Santa hat to the winter walk every year. At the first Winter Walk, in 1999, I bought my Santa hat from Jacobsen’s Department Store and I have worn it to the Winter Walk every year since. Jacobsen’s Department was an “old-fashioned” department store with wonderful, old wooden floors, distinctive but pleasant smells emanating from years being in the same place, and unbelievable inventory. We were sorry to see it close in 2007.

I was notified the day after the Winter Walk that I had won the drawing at the bike shop. When I went to claim my prize I was hoping I won the water bottle instead of the t-shirt, but my to my delight both the water bottle and a t-shirt were included in the prize so I was given both. That made me smile.

Sugar Cookies

A few days ago I received a text from my friend with a photo of her two (of three) granddaughters, ages 4 and 6. The girls were decorating sugar cookies, with the caption “Leaf Cookies!”

I was surprised how quickly my mind went down memory lane.

Before I called Northfield home (in 1994) I would sometimes venture to this town for a day trip. Northfield’s downtown area is, and always has been, a fun destination for a getaway from the city.

In the mid 1980’s, on a fine, autumn day, my friend (the grandmother of the two girls in the photo) and I went to Northfield. While walking down the main street we looked in the windows of Quality Bakery. We were impressed by the cookies we saw there. They were sugar cookies, in the shape of leaves, decorated with frosting using fall colors. We loved the idea and immediately went out and bought leaf-shaped cookie cutters: an oak leaf, a maple leaf, and an elm leaf .

Often in the fall, I would make sugar cookies and recruit my boys to help frost the cookies. The cookies always looked festive because any touches of the red, yellow, orange or green colored frosting on the leaf shape made them look great. I remember putting two or three colors on a cookie and taking a toothpick to swirl the colors together.

So when I saw her photo come through on my iPhone what surprised me most was the emotions that swelled up within me. It brought tears to my eyes. I thought back to when my own boys were 4 and 6 and the good times we had, I thought about my friend’s two little boys and my two boys playing together and now one of her sons is deceased. And, then back in the present, I was filled with such joy to see my friend’s two sweet, granddaughters frosting leaf cookies.

So in this season of Thanksgiving, I am thankful…for friendships, children and grandchildren, and traditions.

Happy Trails

Our biking get away this year took us to Iowa and the High Trestle Trail.

We were pleasantly surprised by this well-kept, smooth and wide bike trail lined with native plants and trees that led us to, and over, the High Trestle Bridge. The high and funky bridge across the Des Moines River was a sight to see, especially at night. The bridge is a half-mile long and 130 ft. above the Des Moines River.

Thistle along the trail…such a pretty pink.

We rode our bikes on the trail to the bridge in the afternoon. After dinner we walked the trail to see the bridge lit up with a beautiful shade of bright blue. There were other folks out there on this beautiful summer solstice evening, both biking and walking. It is a biking/pedestrian bridge, in place where an old railroad bridge used stand. The original trestle train bridge was built in 1912 and reconstructed in 1971. It became a pedestrian bridge in 2003.

The trail the next day was a nice surprise too. We drove to Big Creek State Park and started pedaling on the smooth, but hilly trail along Big Creek, then along Saylorville Lake. Up and down we went and in some places it was like a roller coaster…pedal up and then coast down a hill and half way up the next hill, then pedal a bit more to the top and then coast down again…whee…

Saylorville Dam in background – a mile long.

Again we were surprised when we saw how big the dam was. We rode the mile across the length of the dam and back again, for the fun of it.

On our last day our ride took us through what we expected from the beginning when we headed to Iowa, and that was the beautiful, but flat cornfields of Iowa.

Two farmers in Iowa, sitting outside on a hot day.

We discovered there are hundreds of miles of bike trials in this area so we’ll go back. The B&B we stayed at was delightful…a log house with many wonderful features, and at night…a view of the beautiful, blue bridge.

Birthday Celebrations

My birthday is in March. I met a friend for dinner last night. We usually walk, but the wind was so strong we decided to have dinner instead and she surprised me with birthday blessings. It was special and we had fun. When I threw a birthday party for myself a few years ago I handed out this quote by Henry J. M. Nouwen:

Celebrating Being Alive

“Birthdays are so important. On our birthdays we celebrate being alive. On our birthdays people can say to us, “Thank you for being!” Birthday presents are signs of our families’ and friends’ joy that we are part of their lives. Little children often look forward to their birthdays for months. Their birthdays are their big days, when they are the center of attention and all their friends come to celebrate.

We should never forget our birthdays or the birthdays of those who are close to us. Birthdays keep us childlike. They remind us that what is important is not what we do or accomplish, not what we have or who we know, but that we are, here and now. On birthdays let us be grateful for the gift of life.”

One Little Box

In the bedroom closet upstairs, tucked away on the top shelf, is a box.

It’s an old Gateway computer box with the Holstein cow pattern, and it’s only about 14” X 18” and 6” deep.

It doesn’t take up much space, this one little box, but, if you open it up, out pops one great, big surprise! Thirty-three years of calendars, thirty-three years of life, thirty-three years of recorded history from one small family. It contains years of appointments, church activities, school and sports activities, vacation schedules, birthdays, anniversaries, deaths, dinners, all kinds of celebrations etc….

It reminds me of a Jack-In-The-Box. Each year it springs open, I add another calendar, force the lid closed as it bursts with memories, and I put it away for safe keeping.

This one little box holds one big treasure.

And it’s amazing how little space this box takes, upstairs, tucked away on the top shelf of the bedroom closet.

I wrote this poem in 2012 and it reigns true today although I did have to put the Gateway box into a larger box to accommodate more calendars. I added another calendar this week.

Interruption of Service

This was not the trolley we were on...but it's similar. — This was not the trolley we were on… this one is similar but smaller and older.

One morning we walked to the trolley stop to get a ride to Belem. We were among many others with the same idea. There was standing room only on Trolley #15, but we made it, stroller and all. We enjoyed a delightful, sunny day in Belem, a port city, and when we were ready to go back to Lisboa we went to the trolley stop and along with many others waited for the right trolley to come along. Several #15 trolleys passed us by because there was no more room…finally a bus came along with room for all of us and the stroller. We got on.

Ten minutes into the 30-40 minute ride the bus stops and the driver tells everyone to get off…he said it’s an interruption of service. That’s all. We all have to get off and he drives away leaving us stranded. Again we wait for another trolley or bus but the same is true as in Belem, they are full…maybe one or two people can squeeze in an already packed trolley, but not our big family and a stroller. After about 30 minutes we decide this is not working so we hailed the next taxi we saw and it took us back to the plaza close to our apartment.

Interesting.

We had transportation snafu in Mozambique in 2014, a little more dramatic, that I will post soon.

Additional photos from Belem, Portugal

The birthplace of my favorite pastry (and of many others!)…pastel de nata. This cafe opened in 1837 and is popular mainly from the fact that their recipe is a closely guarded secret – or because they crank out 20,000 a day so they are fresh! (according to Rick Steves)

Monument to the Discoveries, surrounded by scaffolding.

A Tuesday Surprise

A surprise came through inter-campus mail Tuesday afternoon… a hand-made wooden pen by an employee who sent it to me as a thank you gift for helping him with his concert tickets. He loves to make pens out of reclaimed wood from different areas of campus…my new pen is from Skoglund’s original gym floor where the Christmas Festival performs. In his note he said, in part, “the place you find seats for so many people.” I have admired his pens but never thought I’d be the recipient of one. I was thrilled, overwhelmed and grateful for this delightful surprise on a Tuesday afternoon.