Lefse

Lefse is a traditional Norwegian flat bread. Although I am of Swedish descent, lefse definitely has a place in my Christmas time memories. Our family normally eats it with butter and brown sugar. Norwegians have been known to use it as a wrap for lutefisk.

My friend, Sue, bought a lefse iron and all the necessary accessories so the past couple years we have had a lefse making day. It's quite an art, and it takes awhile to get in the rhythm of it. There is a connection to past generations of women who gathered together to bake and find support in each other.

The dough is made from potatoes, milk and flour. It is then chilled and rolled out very thin using a cloth covered rolling pin. There are long sticks that are used to transfer the thin creation.

Yesterday was our annual lefse day so Sue, Tudy and myself spent a couple hours taking turns rolling and grilling. We drank tea and listened to Handel's Messiah and ended our time together with potato soup and cornbread.

Thought for the day: Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow, ripening fruit. Aristotle

Traditions

Recently I made the trek to Brainerd on a snowy day in order to continue the cookie baking tradition. When my kids were growing up, it was an annual event to make cut out sugar cookies with Grandma at Christmas time. My mother would make the dough and keep in the refrigerator until my kids could come and "help" her make sugar cookies. She had an array of cookie cutters that were used, and the cookies would be sprinkled with green and red sugar crystals. Sounds pretty simple and unexciting, but it's a memory that my kids will have for a long time.

My daughter, Tahnee, and I have been trying to continue this trend for the past couple of years. Hopefully at some point my granddaughters can join in so the memories can go on for years to come.

Thought for the day: Tradition is the illusion of permanence. Woody Allen

A Simpler Time

Yesterday I spent the afternoon making spritz cookies. A couple years ago I bought a battery operated cookie maker so once you get the rhythm down, it goes quite well. In my kitchen drawer is a box that contains a spritz cookie set that I somehow inherited. It belonged to my aunt Violet, and I used it until the purchase of the modern set.

So each year I contemplate getting rid of the old set; however, I am never able to do it because it hearkens back to a much simpler time based on the box that houses it. It is addressed to my aunt with no other details than Nelson, MN. Also, you can see that it cost 24 cents to mail the box, and the postmark is 1952.

Perhaps the battery operated model will break as modern items often do, and I'll go back to the old fashioned way. In the meantime, the box will continue to occupy a spot in my drawer.

Thought for the day: Life is really simple, but men insist on making it complicated. Confucius

Tough questions

Last weekend I had my 4 year old granddaughter, Melody, stay with me for 4 days. She kept me busy the whole time. We went to the library, swam at the YMCA, went to the park and she even got me to eat at McDonalds twice.

As we were sitting at the table eating breakfast, she started asking me questions about photos I have sitting on my bookshelf. The photos are of my mother, aunt and grandmother. She wanted to know where they were so I told her they had died. She stated they must be in heaven with great grandpa. She stated that it would be nice to go to heaven and see them all, but then she'd like to come back to my house. The rest of the weekend was peppered with questions about death. Here are a few: Will I die tomorrow, the next day, the next day...........? Will you and Mommy be in heaven to take care of me? Why does every one have to die?

When I told her that most people die when they get old, she started crying and said, "I don't want to get old." We watched Charlotte's Web and when Wilbur said he didn't want to die, her response was, "See, he doesn't want to die, just like me." Luckily, she seemed to miss the part that Charlotte died.

As a grandma who wants to make every thing okay, I knew that the reality is every one does die so I couldn't sugarcoat it and tell her it won't happen. So I answered and comforted the best I could. She appears to be a deep thinker like her grandma which can make for many hard questions.

Thoughts for the day: Our death is not our end if we can live on in our children and the younger generation, for they are us. Our bodies are only wilted leaves on the tree of life.

Albert Einstein

Life and Death are balanced on the edge of a razor. Homer

Louisa and I

For some odd reason, I feel a very strong connection to Louisa Mae Alcott. Little Women has always been a favorite book, and I have seen the movie a couple times. A couple years ago I read a nonfiction book about Louisa and her father, Bronson Alcott. In fact, I finished the book the day I was sitting at my father's bedside as he was dying. She and her father had a tight bond throughout their lives; in fact, they died within 48 hours of each other.

Our book club, Serendipity, read the book by Geraldine Brooks called March. It is a fictional account, based on real facts, about the father of Little Women. It portrays what may have been happening in his life while his wife and four daughters were at home. The book weaves the fiction of Little Women with the real life of Bronson Alcott. It was quite fascinating. This past September I was able to visit Louisa Mae's home (Orchard House) in Concord, MA. Within minutes of arriving there, I was in tears. I don't cry very easily so it's puzzling why there is such a strong feeling with her. We stood by the tiny desk where she wrote Little Women; she wrote 14 hours a day teaching herself to use both hands in order to get more accomplished. We visited her grave site along with those of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson (also favorites of mine). To think that these people were all friends makes me wonder what kind of energy must have been permeating their surroundings. I sure wish I could have been there.

Thoughts for the day: The emerging woman will be strong-minded, strong-hearted, strong-souled, and strong-bodied....strength and beauty must go together. Louisa Mae Alcott

I'm not afraid of storms for I'm learning how to sail my ship. Louisa Mae Alcott

Women and Duluth

Four years ago we started a tradition of having a fall weekend for the women of our family. Of course, with the birth of Myles, a male was added. Our first year was spent in the Brainerd area celebrating the upcoming wedding of Olivia and Joel. After that, we have met in Duluth and stayed in a hotel where my niece, Lindsey, gets a wonderful deal. Each year the number increases as more babies are born.

Usually when we are together as a family, it is a holiday setting so there isn't much time for visiting and bonding. The time is instead spent preparing food, eating and cleaning up. So this weekend is a good time for us to reconnect. My granddaughter, Melody, has been to each one. At the age of four, she looks forward to it.

We dine out, walk along Lake Superior, shop, play games, etc. This year we rented a bicycle for four and peddled along the lake shore. One of our favorite stops is the caramel apple shop. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

It's a lovely tradition and one that I hope continues for many years.

Thought for the day: Women need real moments of solitude and self reflection to balance out how much of ourselves we give away.

Welcome to the World, Aubree!!

Well, the pregnant lady is no more. Aubree Kay Flowers arrived in the world on Sept 22nd, 2010. I received a phone call about 2:30 a.m. informing me that they were heading to the hospital. Sleep escaped me after that so I pondered whether I should get in the car, head to Brainerd and just skip a morning of work. After realizing that babies don't arrive that often and with Brian telling me to just go, I did. So I was able to see and hold Aubree within thirty minutes of her birth. Since then I have been to Brainerd three times and had to hold myself back this weekend. Grandma doesn't want to miss the changes that occur so rapidly in babies. It's almost like you need a "fix".

So now I am grandma to two; time will tell how many more will arrive.

Thought for the day: Every child begins the world again. Henry David Thoreau

A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for. Unknown author

Our only hope? Really?

For the past year or so I have often passed, while driving or walking, signs that state "Prayer, America's Only Hope." The thought always bothered me, then saddened me and finally angered me. To actually believe that the only hope our nation has is prayer is so short sighted and untrue. Not that I'm knocking prayer or saying that it doesn't have a place; I'm just stating that there is so much more.

Is there no hope in our future generations of children, scientific and medical advances, knowledge that is always evolving, love, compassion, newborn babies etc, etc, etc. It actually angers me to think that there are people who actually believe that unless we all fall to our knees and pray to God to redeem us, that we have no hope. I realize this is a reaction to Barack Obama's slogan of hope; however, I still think it is a wrong statement. I certainly don't pin very many hopes on Barack Obama except the small hope our nation experienced by actually electing a man of color. Perhaps our greatest hope lies in actually investing as much in education and infrastructure as we do on our war machine.

This nation has endured the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the practice of slavery, the Great Depression, two World Wars, the Civil Rights Movement and many other upheavals. It may not always be an imperial power (which would be a good thing), but we do have hope.

Thought for the day: Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without words, and never stops at all. Emily Dickinson

Autumn Days

This is my fourth season of blogging. I started in January in the dead of winter and have been through spring, summer and now fall. There is some thing about the smells of fall that invoke memories more than any other season. Some of the times it brings back to me are:

Raking leaves and my kids jumping in the piles

Going back to school

Harvesting on the farm

Picking apples

Making apple cider

Carving pumpkins

Drying leaves in the pages of heavy books

Fall church suppers

Even though this season is all about the dying back of trees, flowers, and plants, there is a profound feeling of life in the air. It's as if nature is saying if I have to go, I'm going out with a blaze. I am glad to live in a place that has four distinct seasons as it seems to make me more in tune with reality and the seasons of life.

Thought for the day: I trust in Nature for the stable laws of beauty and utility; Spring shall plant and Autumn garner to the end of time. Robert Browning

Nature's Bounty

The week before leaving for our East coast trip, I did a major push and canned spaghetti sauce, tomato soup and dill pickles. After working all day, I came home and worked for four hours each night getting it done. One night it was 85 degrees and humid. We don't have air conditioning in our home so I set up a fan in the kitchen and went at it. It gave me some sort of kinship and connection to my grandmothers and great grandmothers who did the same while wearing layers of petticoats and skirts. They also did this without A/C or a fan while cooking with a wood stove. In comparison, my task was quite easy.

It gave me great satisfaction to handle the vegetables and watch the piles go down as I got the cutting, cooking and canning completed. This winter it will be even more satisfying to eat the fruit of my labors.

Thought for the day: The greatest delight the fields and woods minister is the suggestion of an occult relation between man and the vegetable. I am not alone and unacknowledged. They nod to me and I to them. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Pregnant Lady

My daughter, Tahnee, is expecting her first baby(girl) on Sept 30th. That is my dad's birthday so it would be great it she actually delivered on that day, but it's kind of unlikely. The "nest" is all ready. Tahnee's twin sister, Olivia, visited awhile ago and painted a tree in the nursery.

She struggled with endometriosis so it's awesome that she was able to conceive. Also, she and I went on a trip to Guatemala from Christmas Day 2009 to New Years Day 2010. When I asked her to go along, my intention was to make sure she saw and experienced this part of the world before having children. I know that once children arrive, traveling becomes more difficult. This baby was conceived upon returning, so it all worked out perfectly.

She was home last weekend and probably for the last time before delivery. We had a wonderful time together, and I got to feel baby Flowers move and hiccup. We don't know the name yet (it's a secret), but we know it's not Lily, Daisy, Rose or Violet.

So about a month from today, I'll have another grandchild to love and spoil. Life is good.

Thought for the day: Grandchildren are the dots that connect the lines from generation to generation. Lois Wyse

Big Buildup=Big Letdown

My husband and six of his buddies had their annual Lake Winnibigoshish men's gathering this weekend. The buildup for this begins several weeks ahead, and it's quite comical to see how much is imagined ahead of time. I told him they should be careful about building it up so much as it couldn't possibly meet the high standards. They have a sweat bath put on by Brian, have big meals, go fishing, play in the water, play music and who knows what else! I'm glad it's some thing I don't have to witness. Way too much testosterone in one place.

This year a photo of Brian playing his banjo was lifted from Facebook, and t-shirts were made with that image. Also, all the guys had tattoos of the same image. So that was the big deal this year. I also have a tattoo of him brought home for me and a t-shirt.

Now the after talk begins via phone, e-mail and Facebook. The whole experience will be rehashed. It's an interesting process to watch. It seems to me that it mirrors life. We always hope events and people will be more than they are or can be, and thus humans are often disappointed. Perhaps the key is to take life as it comes without expectations. Que Sera, Que Sera

Thought for the day: Life is so constructed that an event does not, cannot, will not meet the expectation. Charlotte Bronte

Finding Balance

My life has been feeling very unbalanced lately. With working more hours at my job, and my husband losing his job, it seems like I haven't been able to get grounded. Today I finally feel like I'm making progress in the right direction.

On Friday evening I spent the night at a B & B in New York Mills, had dinner in Perham and scouted around Battle Lake on Saturday. I was able to catch up with my friend and see parts of Minnesota that in my 51 years had not been visited. We also went to see Eat, Pray, Love which gave me some renewed insight into getting balance in your life. I had read the book but somehow seeing it on the big screen at a time when I was seeking made it more relevant.

My husband is gone on a camping trip so I have a whole day to myself. I woke up at 7:00 a.m. and since then have gotten all my bills up to date, filed a pile of papers that have been sitting there staring at me for weeks, did some much needed weeding in my flower gardens, cleaned up some other clutter, tidied up the spare bedroom and cleaned the bathroom. It's not even noon yet!! Now I plan to have a light lunch and take a nap and enjoy the fresh breezes and the lower humidity. When I get up I'm going to do some more cleaning and start reading a new book.

I already feel the scale tipping in the right direction.

Thought for the day: Happiness is not a matter of intensity, but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony....Thomas Merton

Home Again

A few weeks ago, it was a pleasure to have my daughter, Olivia, home for a couple days. Having her established life in the city, it's a rare time that she gets to come home. She enjoys the quiet and slower paced life here where she can actually hear the birds.

She loves to create so she headed out with a basket to gather flowers and make bouquets. Time was spent lounging with our animals and eating blueberry pancakes. We both wished we lived closer to each other so these times wouldn't be quite so rare. Maybe they wouldn't be so special, though, if we saw each other more regularly. Who knows? All I know is that it's alot of fun to have my daughters around, and it makes me feel good that they like to come home.

Thought for the day: You can never go home again, but the truth is you can never leave home, so it's alright....Maya Angelou

High Summer

Well, we are into August, the so-called dog days of summer. This year has had its share of 90 degree days, high humidity, severe storms and mosquitoes. While I don't like to see the destruction that can be caused, I do enjoy summer storms. I love the cracking of thunder and the downpours of rain. It's a refreshing sight to see our rain barrels being pummeled with rain falling from the eaves. To sit on the front porch watching the storms roll in and smelling the rain is being encased in reality.

Now the sunflowers, phlox, morning glories and hollyhocks are in full bloom. We are regularly eating Schonberg's sweet corn and soon the county fair will be here. The back to school sales are in full swing, and you can almost taste the fall suppers that will follow. Life keeps marching on with no way to stop it.

We have made it through another summer without air conditioning. When people ask how we can do it or look at us with amazement, I think of how for many centuries people survived without it and people around the world in much hotter places then here don't give it a thought. It's just living in the moment and knowing that summer means hot and winter means cold. When it becomes too much, we head over to Lake Burgen for a dip that cools you to the core.

Thought for the day: Deep Summer is when laziness finds respectability...Sam Keen

Precious

Our cat, Precious, died on July 3rd. She had been not well for some time. After a lifetime of being overweight, she became very thin. She spent most of her life by herself in the basement, but the last few weeks of her life was spent close to us. She also wanted to be outside and would follow me around the yard. So it was evident that some thing was amiss. She was known to overeat and had battled diabetes. My husband kept asking if we should bring her in for a last ditch effort, but I knew the signs. It was time to let her go.

Her last days were spent laying on a dog bed we had put in the living room for her; at times she seemed in a dazed stupor. I would hold her as often as possible; taking her out on the porch for some fresh air. Hope, our other cat, abandoned her in the end. She must have smelled death and wanted no part of it.

I had hoped to be there when she finally left, but I was out of town when Brian found her in the basement. So he wrapped her in the material I had picked and buried her along with a note from each of us, a picture of Hope and Precious and a full bowl of cat food. She was given a send off much like an Egyptian queen.

So ends the era of Precious waking me up on the roof in the middle of the night and howling for food at 5:00 a.m. She was a most annoying creature, but I loved her nonetheless.

Thought for the day: You can miss a toothache if you have had it long enough..Kenneth Peterson (my dad)

Peanuts

Since it was a beautiful summer morning, I decided to sit on my front porch and read a book. Before settling in, I put about ten peanuts in the feeder that hangs in a large evergreen near the porch. Normally, the blue jays show up and swiftly empty the feeder. However, they must have been sleeping in so a couple of squirrels seized the opportunity. I should mention that there is also a birdhouse hanging in that evergreen that houses two very tiny wrens. Well, during the course of about fifteen minutes, I watched those wrens dive bomb those squirrels, irritating them to no end. Even though the wrens are about twenty times smaller than those pesky squirrels, the drive to protect their home and territory was strong enough to drive off the predators. Then the blue jays finally showed up which caused another ruckus. It made me realize that even though this is a very big world saturated with human beings, in my front yard is a whole other world with just as much meaning. And all because I put out a few peanuts!

Thought for today: For the poor wren (the most diminutive of birds) will fight, her young ones in the nest, against the owl. Wm Shakespeare

More Strawberries

Today I made strawberry freezer jam. My mother used to make it every summer, and it made me think of her. Here is the recipe:

4 c ripe strawberries

4 c sugar

1 box Sure-Jel powdered pectin

3/4 c water

Wash and hull the berries; crush them completely, a few at a time (or run through food processor) Should end up with about two cups. In large bowl, mix together the berries and sugar, let stand for ten minutes. Combine pectin and water in pan, bring to boil for one minute and stir constantly. Stir hot pectin into the fruit, continue stirring. Ladle jam into containers (plastic or glass) and put lids on immediately. Let stand at room temp for 24 hours; refrigerate for a few weeks or freeze up to a year.

Doubtless God could have made a better berry (than the strawberry), but doubtless God never did. William Allen Butler

Now That's Summer!!

Picked these today!! That's all I need to say.

Sights, Smells and Sounds of Summer

Yesterday was the Summer Solstice; the longest day of the year. As I sit on our front porch, I can see, smell and hear summer. There are flowers blooming; right now I see daisies, yarrow, spiderwort, knautia and lilies. Soon there will be coneflowers, rudbeckia and hollyhocks. I can smell newly cut grass and backyard BBQ grills. Yesterday we drove home from Brainerd past farm fields with fresh cut hay; a smell that brings me right back to my childhood. I can hear birds singing from dawn until dusk, the cooing of mourning doves and the cawing of crows. Of course, there is also the sound of lawn mowers and motorcycles.

At times when I lay on the bed and close my eyes, I listen to the sounds of nature along with the summer breeze and realize that I could have been laying here 100 years ago and experienced the same. That always gives me a sense of connection to the past, present and future. It reminds me of what is constant and sure. I often am transported back to my childhood on the farm. The memories of summer include field work, big gardens, sticky fly catchers, pigs cooling in the mud and Twins baseball playing while my dad drank Hamm's beer.

Soon we will celebrate the 4th of July and begin that rapid slide to the county fair and Labor Day. In the meantime, I hope to soak up the sun and all that summer has to offer.

Thought for today: Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit . A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world. Ada Louise Huxtable

I Love Books

I love to read books. I even love to see and feel books. That is why the thought of going to a Kindle isn't very appealing to me (yet). There are several bookshelves in our home that overflow with all kinds of books. I usually have at least three or four books sitting on the small table by my bed. I have belonged to a book club for eight years. It's called Serendipity and was started in 2002. In all those years, I have only missed one meeting, and that was due to traveling (which I consider a great reason to miss book club). We meet once a month at each other's homes, have wine and dessert and discuss our study questions on the monthly selection.

Through reading books, I have learned so much about life, other cultures, new words and ideas, and myself. There are certain books that can transport me, especially ones that are set in the late 1880s to early 1900s. I can actually feel myself going back and when I am done reading, I have to come back to reality almost like time traveling.

Thoughts for the day: A House without books is like a room without windows. Heinrich Mann

Books are the bees that bring the quickening pollen from one to another mind. James Russell Lowell

Tis a Gift to Be Simple

We just returned last night from a visit to Amish Country. My fascination with the Amish actually began as a young girl. I remember asking my dad if I could be Amish to which he replied, "you have to be born Amish." My interest was renewed when Brian and I married. One of his first gifts to me was a book called Among The Amish. We then visited Long Prairie, MN and eventually our interest brought us to Harmony, MN..Cashton, WI...Canton, OH...and Shipshewana, IN. I think much of it has to do with the idea that a group of people could actually adhere to this lifestyle for such a long period of time. I'm not naive to the pitfalls of their existence such as shunning, lack of hygiene, etc. However, as with any group of human beings, there are good and bad manifestations. I feel such peace when I'm among them that it's often quite a culture shock to come back to reality. I totally understand how not having automobiles, televisions, and electricity can keep families and communities more connected.

So since I can't be Amish, I will just have to continue to visit their communities as much as possible.

Thought for the day: Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity. I say, let your affairs be as two or three, not a hundred or a thousand.... Simplify, simplify. Henry David Thoreau