Copyright 2019 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
An original poem crafted with magnetic letters and words and posted on my refrigerator. I purchased the set at an Owatonna thrift store.
Boxcar art April 29, 2019
WHENEVER I SEE BOXCAR ART, I wonder. I wonder about the artists, what inspires them, why they choose boxcars as their canvas.
Are they sending a message? Marking territory? Vandalizing?
And when do they paint?
So many questions pop into my mind as I lift my camera and aim the lens toward the mobile art. Where are these phantom artists who create these traveling galleries of art?
© Copyright 2019 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Czech film coming to New Prague April 26, 2019
Singin in the Grain promo photo from Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival website.
A DOCUMENTARY FOCUSING on 45 years of Czech culture and heritage in my region of southern Minnesota is coming to Czech country next weekend.
Source: New Prague Area Community Education Facebook page.
The film, Singin’ in the Grain—A Minnesota Czech Story, shows at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 5, at the New Prague High School Auditorium. General admission tickets for the event offered through New Prague Area Community Education went on sale earlier this week.
For more background on the film co-produced and co-directed by noted Minnesota filmmaker Al Milgrom and Daniel Geiger, click here to read my previously published post on the documentary.
Also click here for more info, including ticket info.
© Copyright 2019 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Thoughts on listening, understanding & more, plus a poem April 25, 2019
I’LL BE THE FIRST to admit that I am not bold. I am not a risk taker. I dislike change.
But to read this poem I crafted with magnetic word tiles and posted on my fridge, you might think I am a bold risk taker. Not all of us are. Not all of us can be. And that’s alright. We each hold value in who we are. This poem simply expresses my creativity.
I don’t pretend to be someone I am not. Call me authentic. I like that word.
I am not loud, but I will speak up when necessary. Sometimes the quietest voices are louder than the loudest.
I value listening more than talking. Too many people like the sound of their own voices. We should all strive to listen better. It seems a mostly lost art.
When we listen, compassion and understanding happen. When we place ourselves in the shoes of someone struggling with challenges, we begin to understand. Begin to understand how words and actions can hurt. Or heal.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of judging, of thinking we have all the answers, that everything in life is black-and-white. It isn’t.
Life is a mix of colors. Some days vibrant. Other days muddied. But it is a life we are in together. If only we recognize that and try harder to care for one another. With ongoing understanding, love and compassion.
THOUGHTS?
© Copyright 2019 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Spring scenes in Faribault April 24, 2019
A scene Sunday afternoon in Faribault. The building in the background is the historic home of our town founder, Alexander Faribault.
EASTER WEEKEND BROUGHT sunshine and warmth. Temps pushing near or past 80 degrees. Lovely weather after an especially long Minnesota winter of too much cold and snow.
Ducks enjoyed the day too along the banks of the Cannon River in North Alexander Park.
After the daughter and her husband left for their Wisconsin home on Sunday afternoon and Randy and I completed clean-up tasks and I hung laundered linens on the clothesline, we drove across town to walk along recreational trails. We needed to stretch our legs, to work off some calories, to delight in the stunning spring day.
With the exception of grass brightening to green, the landscape appears mostly still drab. Yet, the feel, the look, the presence of spring exists.
A Canada goose sits atop a mound in the middle of the river near Two Rivers Park.
Nesting waterfowl.
Biking along a trail in North Alexander Park, Faribault.
People biking and walking and shooting hoops.
Playing basketball in North Alexander Park.
We’ve emerged from our homes to embrace the season—to breathe in the warm air, to feel sunshine upon our backs, to take in a landscape transforming daily.
A patch of snow next to the Faribault Foods building.
But, when I looked closely, I noted remnants of winter—a snow pile in the shadow of a building.
Sandbags protect a portion of the Faribault Foods building along Second Avenue.
And I noticed, too, the worry of spring flooding in sandbags circling a section of that same building, protecting it from the nearby swollen river. Just last week Faribault was in a flood warning following torrential rains.
Ducks in the Cannon River as seen from the recreational trail in North Alexander Park.
For now the sun shines spring into April days here in southern Minnesota. A welcome change from winter.
© Copyright 2019 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
On being a mom & a grandma April 23, 2019
WHEN I WATCH my granddaughter, I glimpse her mama. In a profile. In a smile. In the way her hair curls.
When I watch my grandson, I see my son. In chunky body. In his sweet face. And I flash back 25 years.
In those moments I yearn for the days of children at home. To hug. To greet every morning and kiss every night. To know they are safe and happy and within the reach of my arms.
But years pass and life changes and kids fly away from home. Some literally, some not. They grow their independence, move on, start their own lives. Even though distance separates, a mother’s love knows no geographical boundaries. And the missing them never goes away.
Then grandchildren arrive. Not replacing anyone or any memories. Rather, they add a new kind of love to life. Beautiful and wonderful and lovely and reminders of the children I raised. The daughters and the son, whom I love beyond measure. No matter the space that separates us.
© Copyright 2019 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
How I love this poetry collection April 22, 2019
HOW DO I LOVE THEE? Let me count the ways.
Those introductory words to sonnet number 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning imprinted upon many a heart, mine included. Not that I can recite the poem. But I remember that first love line and the two lines that follow.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My Soul can reach, when feeling out of sight.
Ah, how I appreciate lyrical love poems. Words with depth penned from the soul.
And how I appreciate those who embrace poetry. Like my friend Barb. She recently gifted me with a 1967 Hallmark Editions volume of Sonnets from the Portuguese and Other Treasured Poems of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. It’s a beautiful vintage collection of Browning’s love poems written between 1845-1846 and published in 1850. The British poet wrote the sonnets before her marriage to Robert Browning, a union disapproved of by her father. The couple secretly married in 1846.
I won’t pretend to understand everything Browning writes. If I chose to study her works, I would gain that depth of understanding. But I’m OK with simply reading and interpreting on my own.
My delight in unexpectedly receiving this 52-year-old slim collection reaches beyond words. The book is a work of art with poems printed in Garamond typeface on Hallmark Eggshell Book paper and with several illustrations interspersed therein. The covers, too, are lovely in a muted sage. To hold and page through this book is to hold creativity.
I feel intentionally and richly blessed when friends like Barb understand how I value the literary and visual arts. Barb knew this collection of Browning’s writing would hold meaning for me as a poet, as a creative. Especially during April, National Poetry Month.
TELL ME: Do you have a favorite poet or poem?
© Copyright 2019 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
The sacred art of Holy Week & of Easter April 21, 2019
Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane shortly before his crucifixion. I photographed this window at Vang Lutheran Church, rural Dennison. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.
IN MY YEARS of photographing churches, most in rural Minnesota, I’ve grown to appreciate stained glass windows. They prevail in country churches.
Jesus’ crucifixion as depicted in a stained glass window inside Holden Lutheran Church, rural Kenyon, Minnesota. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.
All tell stories, most biblical. I admire this visual art, this way of sharing scripture and faith that connects beyond words.
The beautiful sanctuary of Holden Lutheran Church, filled with stained glass windows. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.
As sunlight streams through the colored pieces of glass, that bold beauty causes eyes to land on the art, to focus on whatever the artist has chosen to depict. Holiness. Reverence. Hope. Eternal life.
The women and angel outside the empty tomb on the risen Lord as interpreted on a stained glass window in Holden Lutheran Church, rural Kenyon. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.
I sorted through my photo files selecting specific stained glass window images that portray today. Easter.
This shows a snippet of the center stained glass window in a trio above the altar at Trinity Lutheran Church, Wanamingo, Minnesota. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.
May you see in these stained glass art photos the story of Holy Week and the reason I celebrate Easter—the resurrection of Christ.
A photo of Christ’s face from a stained glass window in my church, Trinity Lutheran, Faribault. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.
A most blessed and happy Easter to each of you, dear friends.
NOTE: As I wrote this post Monday afternoon, I heard breaking news of the devastating fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral. While I’ve never been there, my heart breaks for this loss of a house of worship, for the works of art and history and heritage therein. Such a loss causes me to value even more the stained glass windows of the churches I’ve photographed.
© Copyright 2019 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Holy Week reflections April 19, 2019
A crown of thorns (similar to that worn by Jesus on the cross) used in a Stations of the Cross event at my church, Trinity Lutheran, Faribault.
FOR CHRISTIANS LIKE ME, Holy Week presents a time of deep reflection as I consider the betrayal, suffering, death by crucifixion, burial and then resurrection of Jesus.
Rather than rewrite what I’ve already written on the topic, I direct you to my post, “Reflecting on Holy Week,” published Tuesday on the Warner Press blog. I work as the blog coordinator and a blogger for this Indiana-based Christian publishing company.
As you read my words, may you, too, reflect on the significance of Holy Week. Sadness mingles with joy as I consider all Christ has done for me.
Click here to read my thoughts as published on the Warner Press blog.
© Copyright 2019 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Urban photography April 18, 2019
CITYSCAPES INTRIGUE ME, for many reasons. But primarily visually.
Metro scenes differ vastly from the rural scenes I typically photograph. Rural equals a visual simplicity. Metro, overall, offers more chaos, more distractions, more color and variety. That’s a generalization. Chaos can be found, too, in rural, simplicity in urban.
Photographers always comes to photography with backgrounds, experiences, perspectives that influence images. We edit as we shoot. At least I do.
On a recent trip into the Twin Cities metro, I shot a series of images as Randy drove along Snelling Avenue. I’m unfamiliar with the area but noted banners identifying St. Paul’s Hamline Midway district. I observed, too, the cultural diversity of businesses.
And I thought about that, how I grew up in rural Minnesota among all Caucasians with the only differences whether you were a town kid or a farm kid, Catholic or Lutheran. I am thankful that has changed in some rural areas of Minnesota. Not all certainly.
I remembered that thought hours later when guests began arriving for my granddaughter’s third birthday party. Izzy’s little friends and their parents are a mix of ethnicities. And for that I am grateful. She views her world through a kaleidoscope. Not a single, focused lens.
THOUGHTS?
FYI: I invite you to click here and view the work of award-winning New York City photographer and blogger Keith Goldstein. He does incredible street photography, primarily portraits. Keith offers glimpses of humanity. I love to study his images, to see people and places that differ vastly from rural Minnesota.
© Copyright 2019 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
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