Minnesota Prairie Roots

“SCREEN, PROJECTOR, POPCORN, tickets, reel …,” we shout in rapid-fire chaos, our voices overlapping each other.

Lyda, Billie Jo, Kim and I are listing items found in a movie theater. As sand funnels quickly through a miniscule hourglass, we futilely grasp for words. “Sticky floors, pop, aisle, back-row neckers…,” we offer.

Then the sand stops flowing and our time to list 10 “things in a movie theater” expires.

Among the theatrical objects we missed—loge.

Huh?

No one knows the word. So I am assigned to research loge and report back at our next Family Game Night.

Another round of the board game Outburst finds us yelling words that fit the definition of “arts and crafts.” We are confident this time. “Knitting, crocheting, calligraphy, weaving, embroidery, macramé, painting, quilting, candle-making, sewing….,” we spew at the opposing team of Randy, Tammy, Vivian and Chad.

But alas, we have missed trapunto.

Huh?

I am asked to research that word too and Billie Jo suggests I also teach our group the art of trapunto. I don’t think so. Julia tentatively offers to teach trapunto, even though she has no idea what this craft might be.

Well, Julia and you other board gamers, I did my homework. Trapunto is Italian for “to embroider.” It involves sewing through several layers of fabric and batting to create a decorative, quilted piece.

As for loge, that’s French for “a box in a theater.”

Who would have thought that our monthly Family Game Night at church would include lessons in Italian and French? I thought we were there just for the food, fellowship and fun.

© Copyright 2009 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Homemade pies, similar to this rhubarb pie, sold for hundreds of dollars during a live auction.

IF GARRISON KEILLOR had been among the 275 or so Lutherans dining at the Faribault American Legion Sunday evening, he may have asked, “What is this world coming to?”

These conservative Lutherans loosened their purse strings and paid a pretty penny, $200 – $410 per pastry, for peach, pecan and apple pies.

Even more surprising perhaps was the lack of formal committees to push the homemade pie prices through the roof. Instead diners, eight at each table, conferred and bid during the live auction of only nine pies.

As any bible-reading Lutheran knows, it would have taken a small miracle to feed so many hungry souls with only 72 pie slices.

That scriptural and mathematical awareness perhaps prompted the sometimes frenzied bidding as the dessert-seeking Lutherans tossed conservative habits and sensibilities aside, raised their hands, nodded their heads and opened their wallets.

An offer of two half camperships to Camp Omega for the highest bidder added to the bidding wars among otherwise genteel folk. The top bidder paid $410 for a homemade apple pie.

When the auction ended, nearly $3,000 had been raised for Camp Omega, a Christian retreat facility and camp near Waterville and the designated recipient of the pie sale proceeds. See www.campomega.org.

Lutheran jokes aside, I consider this whole pie auction an ingenious way to raise monies quickly for a good cause.

And, yes, one year I enjoyed a piece of pie.

This year I opted to dine with the sit-on-your-hands-during-the-auction Lutherans.

© Copyright 2009 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

The vintage stereo system in our garage.

The "new" stereo system.

WHILE I AM RIFLING through a cardboard box stuffed with old muffin tins, well-worn baking sheets and dull knives, he is eyeing a stereo system.

“Why do you need that?” I ask my husband, Randy, hoping he doesn’t plan on hauling this electronic system home.

“I need a new radio for the garage,” he says.

Oh.

Then he is thumbing through his wallet for a $5 bill to purchase this White Westinghouse three-CD player/cassette player/radio unit he’s found at a yard sale.

“Does it work?” I ask, stooping to the ground to scoop up a speaker.

It does, claims the man who seems all too eager to load, or unload, this into our car trunk.

Hmmmmm, I think, picturing a useless stereo sitting in the garage, next to the old record player, the radio receiver and eight-track tape player purchased in the 1980s.

“How does your new stereo work?” I ask Randy later, after he’s set it up.

“Good,” he answers, cranking up the volume as if to emphasize his point.

OK, then, I’ll admit, he got a good deal for $5.

Fast forward one week. Randy arrives home from work lugging a bulky television set.

The 1990 Magnavox TV reflects in the screen of our "new" 1993 Toshiba television.

“WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?” I am incredulous. This looks no bigger, no newer than the clunker television we already have. I was hoping when we got a new TV, it would have a larger, and flat, screen.

He got the television from a sale at Moravian Church in Northfield, right next door to his workplace. “FREE—WORKS, but NO Remote” reads the masking tape message atop the TV.

Hmmmmm, I think. No remote. And does it really work? But this did come from a church, I remind myself.

The 1993 20-inch Toshiba works. Better than the 1990 20-inch Magnavox. The picture is sharper, the sound clearer. And, Randy and our son exclaim, they can even read the football scores at the top of the screen.

So, now I’m wondering, what freebie will Randy cart home next Saturday? A “new” computer? A “new” washing machine? Maybe even the kitchen sink…

© Copyright 2009 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

“YOU SURE GIVE OUT a lot of Friday flowers,” my husband told me the other day.

Well, yeah, so what?

Whether the weekly list of Minnesota Prairie Roots’ Friday flowers recipients is long or short doesn’t matter. What matters is that each individual, organization or business is truly worthy of recognition, encouragement or thanks.

All week I’m keeping my eyes and ears open for potential Friday flowers nominees. It’s really an exercise in looking for the good in life and considering how I can encourage others.

I invite you to also submit names for consideration via e-mail or a comment.

Without further ado, here are the recipients of this week’s Minnesota Prairie Roots’ virtual Friday flowers:

Poppies have long been associated with honoring and remembering veterans. I photographed this poppy in my neighbor Cheri's yard this past summer.

The Honor Flight Network, a national charitable organization that transports veterans, at no cost to them, on a one-day trip to visit veterans’ memorials in Washington D.C. The current focus is on getting WW II vets to D.C. Last Saturday the Twin Cities Honor Flight flew 104 vets to our nation’s Capitol. Thanks to the organizers of this flight, to those who served as guardians/chaperones and to those who supported this trip financially. But most of all, thank you to the veterans who have served our country. Minnesota Honor Flight chapters are also based in St. Cloud and Rochester. For a Nov. 11 story about the St. Cloud chapter, click here: http://digelog.typepad.com/digelogrocori/2009/11/the-story-of-honor-flight.html. Or visit the national website at www.honorflight.org.

Bob, the 85-year-old gentleman I met last Friday evening at the Faribault American Legion. I recognized Bob from the many times I have seen him at the local library and that was my basis for striking up a conversation. Here’s my favorite Bob quote: “I don’t know what I would do without a library.” Me either, Bob. Even though his eyesight allows him to read for only an hour at a time, this determined man continues to frequent the public library. He’s been going there for 75 years, he says, and enjoys reading about history, politics and current events. I appreciate someone like Bob, who values libraries and staying informed.

My daughter, Amber, who makes me proud to be her mom. This week she remained calm and level-headed when I needed her to be calm and level-headed. She’s mature, understanding, supportive and a woman of faith, just a few of the attributes that make her a wonderful daughter and person.

Maggiano’s Little Italy at Southdale Center in Edina. Last week the Holter family from Faribault gathered at the restaurant to remember their son, Curtis, on what would have been his 13^th birthday. The restaurant treated this grieving family to a VIP dessert plate and then charged nothing for the meal. This compassionate act deserves to be recognized and emulated. Read more about this birthday celebration, including a touching comment from the Holters’ waitress, at www.curtisholter.org.

That concludes the Nov. 13 virtual Friday flowers recipient list. Please submit nominations for consideration next Friday and in the weeks to come. The weekly deadline is Wednesday with one request per individual per week. Look for the good in people and share your discoveries with others via Minnesota Prairie Roots’ virtual Friday flowers.

© Copyright 2009 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

The 1862 Valley Grove Church as seen through the window of the 1894 white clapboard church.

BUILT BY NORWEGIAN immigrants on a hill northwest of Nerstrand, the 1862 Valley Grove stone church still stands strong, next to the 1894 wooden church that replaced it.

The Valley Grove Preservation Society has signed a 50-year lease on the historic building with the Valley Grove Grace Cemetery Association.

Efforts have begun to restore the stone church, which serves as a reception area for weddings and other functions and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Work began with restoration of the steeple.

This sturdy church stands as a testament to the hardy immigrants who settled this land. Here they planted their roots. Here they built the foundation of their new lives. Here they worshiped God, here at Valley Grove.

“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.” –Psalm 84:1, 4

For more information, go to www.valleygrovemn.com

Keyhole and doorknob on the church.

Entry doors to the old church.

Altar railings, now stashed in a corner of the balcony. Some spindles were once reused as table legs.

An original pew, currently stored in the balcony.

The restored steeple of the historic 1862 Valley Grove Church.

This marks my final installment on Valley Grove Church and cemetery. Check Minnesota Prairie Roots archives for previous posts on Oct. 9, 19 and 31.

© Copyright 2009 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

My father, Elvern Kletscher, left, with two of his soldier buddies in Korea, where he fought on the front line.

Tribute to a Korean War Veteran

He can still hear

the rattle of the tin pail

as the Korean children beg

for food scraps

from the young American soldiers.

****

He is there, in uniform,

looking into the dark, slanted eyes

that peer through the barbed wire fence,

eyes hungry for food,

eyes hungry for more than he can give.

****

The children tug at his heart

in this land so foreign to him,

so far from the flat lands of Minnesota,

where he worked the soil,

a young farmer until he became a soldier.

****

Orders. Sent to the front line,

rifle in hand,

armed to fight Communism,

a faceless intellectual word to the world,

but here a word with a face, the enemy.

****

He is dug now, deep in a foxhole,

hugging the earth,

boots planted firmly in the dirt,

braced for war,

braced for death.

****

It is all around him—

death,

this death for freedom—

young men like him blown up

before his eyes, blood everywhere.

****

The enemy is so close

he can see the whites of their eyes

before he shoots.

It is him or them.

He fires.

****

Death is always there,

like the cold that seeps inside his bones,

like the hunger that never goes away,

like the fear that keeps him alive.

Life or death in the trigger of a rifle.

****

It still haunts him, nearly five decades later,

when he is an old man

back home in Minnesota,

with war encased in a wooden box

hung on his living room wall.

****

His dog tags, his military-issue spoon, his medals,

the Purple Heart he received forty-seven years

too late

for the bloody wounds of war,

wounds that pierced more than his flesh.

****

Nine months of hell stretched into a life-time

of battles

of nightmares

of flashbacks

to the eyes of war.

#

The veterans of Shieldsville are honored in this "Never Forgotten" memorial. Even though labeled "the Forgotten War," the Korean War will never be forgotten by those who served and by those of us who loved them.

THE ABOVE POEM HONORS my father, Elvern Kletscher of Vesta, and his buddy, Ray Scheibe of Wolbach, Nebraska. They fought side-by-side on the front lines during the Korean War. My dad came home. Ray did not.

In May 2000, my father received a Purple Heart for wounds suffered in February 1953 in Korea. This poem was made public for the first time at his visitation and funeral in April 2003 and was later published in the May/June 2009 issue of Minnesota Moments magazine.

I also wrote a story, “Faith and Hope in a Land of Heartbreak,” about my dad’s service in Korea. That was published by Harvest House Publishers in 2005 in the book God Answers Prayers Military Edition—True Stories from People Who Serve and Those Who Love Them, collected and edited by Allison Bottke.

Today, on Veterans’ Day, let us honor all who dutifully served, and serve, their country. Let us especially remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice and gave their lives for freedom.

My dad brought this "RETURNED FROM HELL" patch home from Korea.

A veteran's grave at Zion Evangelical Cemetery, rural Morristown.

A soldier at the Northfield Area Veterans Memorial in Riverside Lions Park, Northfield.

© Copyright 2009 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

NOMINATIONS ARE ONCE again needed for Minnesota Prairie Roots’ virtual Friday flowers feature.

Every Friday I select individuals, businesses or organizations deserving of recognition, needing encouragement or celebrating a special occasion. They are listed in a weekly Friday post that includes a photo of flowers.

You may submit a nominee via e-mail or a comment to this post. I’ll pull the necessary information and then delete your comment. Please include information explaining why the suggested recipient is deserving of virtual Friday flowers. In most cases, only first names of individuals will be listed.

I will review all submissions and reserve the right to decline any nomination. Please submit only one request per week. The deadline is today, Wednesday.

© Copyright 2009 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

The Los 3 Reyes Bakery in historic downtown Faribault, at the center of a controversy over exterior paint color. This photo shows the bakery before it was repainted.

ONCE UPON A TIME, a merchant opened a bakery in a very old town. All around him were rather plain looking shops that made him yawn.

So the shopkeeper, who baked delicious pastries and cakes and breads, painted his bakery a bright green. It was a happy color that made him smile.

But not everyone in the village liked the green paint. Offensive, they called it. Too bright, they said. Ugly, they thought.

He heard the angry whispers.

One day, as he was pulling a tray of besos from the oven, men dressed in golden robes came with their official papers. “By edict of the magistrate, you must hereby repaint your bakery,” the proclamation read.

The baker did not want to change the beautiful green color. But he felt he must. He was, after all, not one of them.

“You must not follow this decree,” several merchants advised him.

“You must rebel,” the peasants urged.

But the lowly merchant kept quiet. He did not want to fight.

And so, one day when the humble baker was pulling a tray of gallinas from the oven, a painter came with his brushes and his cans of drab green paint. He brushed the paint across the bright green walls.

Then the golden-robed men returned. They stood outside the bakery. Just right, they agreed. A lovely color, they concurred. Beautiful, they exclaimed.

Inside the bakery, the lowly baker watched as he punched a ball of bread dough.

THE END

The Los 3 Reyes Bakery after it was repainted a subtler, almost gray, green last Thursday.

THE ABOVE STORY is a fictionalized version of a real-life issue that arose in Faribault recently regarding the Los 3 Reyes Bakery. Some business owners objected to the bakery’s bright green exterior, deeming it inappropriate for the historic downtown.

Last Thursday, the bakery was repainted a subtler, almost gray, green. The aforementioned business owners paid for the project because bakery owner Mariano Perez could not afford to repaint the building.

In speaking twice with Mariano, I believe that he may have felt pressured into repainting his bakery. Because of language barriers, he may not have fully understood that he had not broken any laws, ordinances or historic district guidelines.

He told me on Saturday that “the committee” presented him with paint color choices, the new hue among them. Then the painter showed up without informing him.

Mariano added that he received strong customer support for the bright green exterior and experienced increased business due to the color controversy.

This Latino business owner seems to harbor no resentment toward those who found the bright green color objectionable. Rather, he maintains a positive attitude.

Though the building exterior has dimmed, inside the bakery remains as bright and cheery as pre-repaint days. Nothing, it seems, can dim Mariano’s smile and upbeat spirit.

For more background, read my previous posts, “A controversy over color in downtown Faribault” (Sept. 30) and “Inside the colorful Los 3 Reyes Bakery” (Oct. 6).

What’s your take on this story? Please share your thoughts.

© Copyright 2009 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

"Charlie Brown and the Pumpkin Patch" won a blue ribbon for Deb Kasper's second hour American Sign Language class from Faribault High School.

STUDENTS AND STAFF at the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf in Faribault recently decorated the campus with Halloween-themed displays during the school’s annual Scarecrow Fest. Community members also participated. The result was a tribute to creativity, as evidenced by the displays I photographed. Check out these images and others in my Nov. 2 post.

This picturesque campus with its beautiful old buildings and abundance of green space provides the perfect setting for this annual festival.

A close-up of Charlie Brown with historic Tate Hall in the background.

Those who make the scarecrows get creative as shown in this "leg" made of leaves stuffed into a stocking in the Charlie Brown grouping.

Kids, if you eat too much candy and don't brush your teeth, you'll get tooth decay and lose your teeth seems to be the lesson learned from this pumpkin head scarecrow.

Bobbing for apples at the Fest.

There are always a few especially frightening "scarecrows" at the MSAD fest.

Emma Krump's tombstone brought back memories of the gravestones from the ghosts of birthdays past, like when I turned 50.

The cutest "scarecrow" at the MSAD Fest, in my opinion.

© Copyright 2009 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

IT’S TIME FOR FRIDAY FLOWERS, a new Minnesota Prairie Roots feature focusing on recognition, celebration and encouragement.

Each Friday, selected individuals, businesses and/or organizations will receive virtual flowers. These are intended to recognize those who deserve recognition, celebrate with those who are celebrating and encourage those who need encouragement.

So, with that said, this week’s virtual Friday flowers go to:

This week's Friday flowers come from the Virginia Clemens Rose Garden in St. Cloud, where I photographed these beautiful roses this past summer.

Burkhartzmeyer Shoes, a third-generation family shoe store celebrating 60 years in downtown Faribault. This is one of those old-fashioned style shoe stores with great customer service. Best of all, Burkhartzmeyer Shoes employees still tie white cotton string around boxed purchases. A sucker is optional. For more information, go to http://burkhartzmeyershoes.com.

Brad and Patty Holter, grieving the loss of their son, Curtis, who died Sept. 30 after he was struck by a truck while biking across a Faribault street. He would have turned 13 on Nov. 4. The Holters celebrated Curtis’ birthday by going to his favorite restaurant, an Italian place at the Southdale Center in Edina. They also met family members at Calvary Cemetery with a chocolate cake and joined hands surrounding Curtis’ grave. Patty says the family “attempted to sing Happy Birthday…….the tears did overtake the words.” Brad and Patty, may you always find comfort in cherished memories of the son you loved. Check out my Oct. 24 post about Curtis, “God gave us tears for a reason,” and this website, http://curtisholter.org.

My niece, Lindsey, who is taking her Graduate Record Exam today, one of her last requirements before applying to graduate school for physical therapy. Lindsey, we need compassionate individuals like you to care for us aging baby boomers. Best wishes on your GRE from your parents and me.

The Faribault Rotary Club, which brought Rachel’s Challenge to Faribault this week. Rachel’s Challenge shares the story of Rachel Scott, who was killed in the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. The program brings messages of hope and inspiration that includes five challenges. Among those: To start a chain reaction of love, kindness and compassion in your family and community. Visit http://rachelschallenge.org.

My Aunt Marilyn, who each Halloween sends me a greeting card from Annie Mary Twente. See my Nov. 4 post, “Annie Mary Twente sends Halloween greetings.” I enjoy this annual tradition that always makes me smile.

Mike, who celebrated his 50^th birthday on Nov. 4. He is among the kindest and most caring individuals I know. Mike is quick to listen, slow to judge, willing to help and always supportive. So if you’re in Faribault, stop at Erickson Furniture and wish Mike a belated “Happy 50^th!”

That’s it for this week’s Friday flowers recipients. If you know of an individual, business or organization deserving of virtual flowers, submit a request to me for consideration via email or via a comment. Deadline submission is Wednesday of each week. One nominee per week, please.

© Copyright 2009 Audrey Kletscher Helbling