Photographed along U.S. Highway 52 in Rochester, Minnesota.
I thought I did.
But apparently not.
Copyright 2014 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Up on the rooftop February 3, 2014
Ho, ho, ho!
There he goes.
Ho, ho, ho!
There he goes.
Up on the rooftop
Scrape, throw, scrape.
Right through the snow with
Good Saint Minnesotan.
© Copyright 2014 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Beer, brats & bare feet January 24, 2014
RIGHT NOW YOU’RE likely wondering about that title, Beer, brats & bare feet. What’s the connection?
The commonalities, my friends, are the letter “b” and Minnesota.
Let me explain.
The other morning a customer stopped by the automotive machine shop which my husband runs in Northfield, Minnesota. Nothing extraordinary about that. Customers filter in and out all day.
Imagine wearing sandals right now outdoors in Minnesota.
But this customer arrived in sandals. On a day when temperatures hovered around zero degrees Fahrenheit and the windchill plunged the “feels like” temp even lower. This guy wasn’t wearing socks with his sandals, as you might expect, although he was wrapped in a winter coat.
Naturally, my spouse inquired about the bare feet and sandals. The customer replied (and this is not an exact quote) that he was tapping into his inner hippie.
Alright then.
My husband loves brats and grills them year-round along with meats that I will eat. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.
Over at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in rural Gibbon, Minnesota, parishioners are apparently tapping into our state’s Scandinavian and German heritages via a Sven & Ole Book Fair at an All You Can Eat Pancake & Bratwurst Dinner from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Sunday, January 26.
Bars made by Lutherans, but not from St. Peter’s Church. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.
Also on the menu are applesauce, cheese, cookies and bars. Yes, bars. How Minnesotan is that?
And how Minnesotan that the book fair comes via Sven & Ole’s Books in the nearby noted German city of New Ulm. And, yes, the proprietor’s name truly is Sven and his brother’s middle name is Olaf, Ole for short, according to the bookstore website.
Icy cold beer served up in a Minnesota Vikings mug. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.
Now about that beer, which I think would be a better accompaniment for brats than pancakes. I like neither brats nor pancakes, although I am 100 percent German. But I do like bars, the kind you eat. And I enjoy an occasional mug of beer.
I learned through a recent column in The Gaylord Hub, a small-town newspaper where I worked as a reporter and photographer right out of college, about the Minnesota Historical Society’s “Beer and Brewing in the Land of Sky Blue Waters” lecture/workshop offering. It is funded through grant monies from Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund as part of the Minnesota Historical Society in the Libraries Adult Programming.
August Schell Brewing Company in New Ulm. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.
A “discussion of brewing history along with beer tasting by Schell’s,” a New Ulm brewery, was recently held at the Gaylord Public Library, for adults 21 and over with valid ID, according to info written by Gaylord’s librarian. Two days later, nearby St. Peter hosted the same beer event at its community center.
So there you have it. Beer, brats and bare feet in Minnesota. Cheers.
Thoughts?
© Copyright 2014 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
The great reveal or the demise of the cardboard curtain November 22, 2013
PROGRESS IS SOMETIMES OFTENTIMES slow at my house.
But I am delighted to announce that the cardboard “curtains” in the master bedroom were replaced this week by Bali room darkening pleated shades. Yes. Hallelujah.
For only two years, I’ve routinely covered the windows with cardboard rectangles each evening and then removed the coverings in the morning. No more. Hello, permanent shades drawn open and closed with cords.
New window installation in progress and the cardboard curtain. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo 2011.
Why did it take so long to purchase window treatments for the new windows installed in 2011? The answer would be cost and window size. The two windows are wide, but short. Although I’m not crazy about their shape, the design was really the best option for the master bedroom considering its street-side location along a street and sidewalk heavy with traffic.
Because of the light pollution that pours into the bedroom from a corner street light and from vehicle headlights and flashing lights of emergency vehicles, room darkening window treatments were a must.
Room darkening plus odd size necessitated special order window treatments, pushing the cost beyond budget.
Many times my husband and I have searched for workable options.
Once I even chatted with my quilter friend Doreen, who gave me great step-by-step instructions on how to create window coverings. I never followed up; I didn’t feel confident enough.
So it’s not like I’ve been sitting idle, content with cardboard.
Finally, I think my husband had had enough and so had I, frankly. The joke between us was that soon we’d need new cardboard curtains. Once or twice the cardboard rectangles even fell on my head in the middle of the night.
Yes, definitely time for a change.
On a recent stop at a Big Box retailer, we once again checked out the shades, settling on lovely bamboo Roman shades in our price range. But they needed to be custom ordered to size, plus room darkening liners and fabric edging added. With the extras, the cost for two shades edged over $500. Not gonna happen. I refuse to spend that absurd amount for two bedroom windows.
The new pleated shade in an oh-not-so-exciting photo.
Back to square one. With the help of the in-store consultant, we eventually found room darkening pleated shades to custom-order for $142. That’s total cost for two, including all that tax. Sold.
The cardboard wall in my dining room which covers the space where we removed a brick chimney three years ago. What should I so with this space? It’s not quite as wide as it appears because additional ductwork was installed in the opening.
Now on to the next project—filling the hole and replacing the cardboard wall in my dining room where, three years ago, we removed a brick chimney. But this project will be way more challenging and costly as I need a complete kitchen/dining room redo with new countertops, backsplash, cupboards, sink and flooring.
If only I could win a kitchen make-over. Yes, that’s it.
I welcome any and all ideas on how to fill the chimney space and how to redo my kitchen/dining area in an economical way. I could show you more photos…
© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
What to do with a chicken sandwich & 200 pounds of cheese September 15, 2013
Imprinted on a paver near the Lake Harriet Band Shell in Minneapolis. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.
TYPICALLY I DON’T READ obituaries, unless I recognize the name of the deceased.
But perhaps I should.
This week, thanks to a Michigan blogger (click here), I learned about 85-year-old Mary A. “Pink” Mullaney of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, who recently died. She left quite a legacy, as noted in her obituary.
For example, Pink advised going to church with a chicken sandwich tucked inside your purse. To feed the homeless.
Feed the hungry, kiss babies, visit those in nursing homes…the list of Pink’s empathy and care for others is lengthy.
She also offered practical advice on shoeing away possums (use a barbecue brush), reuse of panty hose (tie up the toilet flapper, for one) and a place to keep your car keys (under the front seat).
You simply must read Pink’s obit. Click here. I promise you will laugh and cry and reflect on how you live your life.
The second obituary to catch my attention, for Barry Corder, 58, of Cottonwood, Minnesota, was published in The Redwood Falls Gazette, the newspaper from my home county. He recently died unexpectedly.
When I read the paragraph about Barry making news at age 12 under the headline, “Local Boy’s Creation Responsible for Hundreds of People Reporting UFO Sightings,” I knew I was reading about an extraordinary man.
He was, like Pink, a generous person of faith, often bartering or giving away his family’s possessions, always helping others. You need only read the condolences to Barry’s family to understand the kind of man he was and the impact he made on others.
The obit paragraph that grabbed my attention, though, noted the problem of what to do with a 200-pound block of cheese that Barry made:
Survived by…his wife, Deanna, Cottonwood (who is trying to figure out what to do with 200 pounds of cheese), five sons, two daughters (who do not want the cheese) and four daughters-in-law: Antje, Nikki, Amanda and Susan (who cannot wait to sample said cheese), 16 grandchildren (who will end up eating much of the cheese) and numerous nephews and nieces (who will be getting cheese for Christmas).
In their grief, Barry’s family honors the husband/father/grandfather/uncle who made them laugh by sharing his wit in an obit laced with humor. What a suitable tribute.
You simply must read Barry’s obit. Click here. I promise you will laugh and cry and reflect on how you live your life.
© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
A bear sighting in Faribault August 10, 2013
UNLIKE SOME BLOGGERS I know (click here), I do not have to travel all the way to Wyoming to see a bear. I photographed this bear at the intersection of a four-lane highway and a busy street in a commercial area of Faribault Wednesday evening. The A & W bear almost seamlessly blends in with the road construction environment.
No need to be alert, make noise, carry bear spray or avoid hiking alone or running.
This bear, offering free root beer floats, seemed much too friendly for those worries.
Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Dog sled or boat? April 22, 2013
DEAR SON,
In less than three weeks you finish your spring semester classes at North Dakota State University in Fargo.
Traveling Interstate 94 on our way to Fargo with hours to go. File photo.
Your dad and I are wondering whether we should come by dog sled or boat to retrieve you and your belongings once we cross the border into North Dakota. What would you suggest?
I’ll admit that, with the continuing snowfall in Fargo, I’m beginning to wonder if your winter will ever end. Kind of like here in southern Minnesota.
The placid and narrow Red River photographed from Lindenwood Park in Fargo, June 2012.
And, I’m quite concerned about flooding of the Red River. Everything I read or hear seems to indicate record high water levels.
I viewed a computer simulated graphic of the Red at 42 feet. (Click here.) I know NDSU isn’t by the river, but the graphic shows the campus close to an area protected by levees and near areas which could be affected by back up of flood waters through the sewer system. I know, I know, nothing to worry about, right?
I suppose I just have to trust that Fargo officials have the situation under control. I read on the City of Fargo website that Sandbag Central has reopened and that levees will be built to 43 feet, protecting to a river level of 41 feet with two feet of “freeboard,” whatever that means.
The Sertoma Freedom Bridge over the Red River, linking Lindenwood Park in Fargo and Gooseberry Mound Park in Moorhead. File photo from June 2012.
It’s difficult to imagine, after seeing the Red last summer, how this river could flood into a raging and destructive force. Remember when we walked across that foot bridge over the Red linking Minnesota and North Dakota? I recall not being at all impressed with the size of the river.
The flat landscape near Fargo, on the Minnesota side. File photo from February 2012.
But when I consider the flat landscape in and around Fargo, flatter even than the prairie where I grew up (you know, that place you term “the middle of nowhere”), I understand. I compare the flooding of Fargo to spilling a glass of milk onto a table. The milk runs everywhere.
Anyway, when you have time between classes, could you drop me a line and advise?
Dog sled or boat?
Love,
Mom
P.S. Does Interstate 94, which spans the Red River between Moorhead and Fargo, remain open if the Red floods?
UPDATE: According to information posted at 4:09 p.m. April 23 on the NDSU website, there are “no foreseen threats to the NDSU campus.” The university has a response team in place and continues to monitor the projected Red River level reports and attend meetings with the Fargo City Commission. Click here to read the flood-related statement posted on the NDSU website.
Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Be gone with thee, Winter, to Georgia (or somewhere like that) April 10, 2013
I VOWED THAT I would not write about the weather today.
High schoolers jog past my house this afternoon in temps hovering around freezing and with a fresh layer of snow on the ground.
But then runners jogged past my house around 3:30 p.m., which prompted me to grab my camera. One shot led to another and soon I was slipping on my shoes, treading across the icy patio with my camera tucked inside my sweatshirt (so as not to get rain on my camera) to stand under the roof overhang (so as not to get rain on my camera) to photograph my backyard.
Why?
Because my backyard landscape is white and I cannot stand this anymore, this undefeatable Winter who keeps sneaking through the door of Spring.
I awoke this morning to snow covering the landscape, as shown in this scene of my backyard and the woods adjoining it.
“Get Thee out of my yard, out of my city, out of my state!” I want to stomp and scream at Winter. I never use exclamation points, which emphasizes just how adamant I am.
I do not want to hear of sleet or freezing rain or snow accumulations. I want to slam the door on Winter.
I do not want to read another text message from my second-born who awakened to no power this morning due to a severe ice storm in northeastern Wisconsin which left 23,000 Appleton area customers without power.
I do not want to hear about air traffic issues like those experienced by my eldest and her fiancė whose flight from Denver to Minneapolis was delayed last night by snowy/icy weather and then rocked by severe turbulence over Nebraska and South Dakota.
And I do not want to read a “glad it’s you and not me” message tagged “Time for planting” and emailed this morning by reader Brad, who grew up in Minnesota and worked for the National Weather Service for 33 years.
Brad writes:
Don’t want to rub it in, BUT….
82 degrees today in Georgia and we are going out to buy a few tomatoes and pepper plants.
Be safe with your spring blizzard!
Uh, yeah, Brad, maybe I’ll plant snow peas and iceberg lettuce.
© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Some green bling to wow you on St. Patrick’s Day March 17, 2013
I AM A JEANS AND T-SHIRT kind of girl woman. Casual attire defines my wardrobe.
I dislike shopping, especially for clothes and jewelry, which shouldn’t surprise anyone, especially my next-youngest sister. She received my hand-me-downs when we were growing up. Fashion was not my forte, she will tell you.
She would be right. I want comfort and casual in clothes and if those clothes also happen to be fashionable, well then that’s a bonus.
The same goes for jewelry. I’m your basic wedding/engagement ring, earrings and wristwatch kind of accessorizing woman. Sometimes I’ll throw a necklace or scarf around my neck when I dress up. Typically those accessories have been given to me by the daughters who have considerable more fashion sense than me.
Likewise, my husband seems to possess a certain ability to choose jewelry that appeals to me. Just look at these earrings he gave me for our 30th wedding anniversary last May.
My “Sweet Romance” 30th anniversary earrings.
My mouth gaped when I saw all this sparkly bling in my favorite color, green. I was speechless for a moment as I viewed the “gems” (no, they are not “real”) which remind me of my mother’s vintage rhinestone earrings and necklaces. I love, love, love these earrings.
However, I have nothing fancy enough in my limited wardrobe to match their beauty. But I don’t care.
This morning after church I pulled on a green plaid flannel shirt and jeans. Then I slipped designer Shelley Cooper’s “Sweet Romance” earrings into my pierced ears and thought of my sweet husband who has a knack for mostly (there was that scented hot pad) choosing gifts I love.
And what’s not to love about Cooper’s jewelry line? According to her website, this Californian…
…is a jewelry artist, designer, historian, and businesswoman who has nurtured a love of antique jewelry into a flourishing design and manufacturing company that exquisitely produces the original collections of Sweet Romance. Her designs, derived from a life-long study of antique and vintage jewelry, radiate the authenticity and spirit of many eras of fashion history.
The collection’s legacy designs enfold stories and memoirs about jewelry, the women who inspired it, and the historical times that gave it expression. These storylines illuminate the lives and times of queens and consorts, fashion doyennes and socialites, vamps and starlets, dreamers and romantics, and our great-grandmothers.
I’m no queen or consort, fashion doyenne or socialite, vamp or starlet, or even a grandma. But I suppose, as a writer, I could be considered a dreamer and a romantic. And now I have the earrings to prove it.
FYI: This unofficial endorsement of Shelley Cooper’s “Sweet Romance” jewelry line was unsolicited and written solely because I love the earrings. My husband paid full retail price for the earrings purchased at Crossings at Carnegie in Zumbrota and Ms. Cooper certainly does not know me, a mostly unfashionable Minnesota blogger.
© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
“It was a dark and stormy night…” March 15, 2013
JUST THINKING about the scene—my husband and kids lying belly down on the carpet reading the Sunday funnies—makes me smile.
My mother’s heart swelled with love to witness this weekly connection between father and daughters/son. Back then, I considered only that bonding aspect, that break from full-time mothering, the laughter that spilled from the living room.
I’ve never been a reader of comics, considering them a waste of time. Besides that, I’m a serious person, not inclined to reading anything remotely humorous. But now, at age 56, it is not too late to admit that I was wrong. Comics offer not only laughter, but insights into life and much more. Duh.
Thanks to Minnesota writer Sue Ready, who blogs at Ever Ready, I discovered the value in comic strips via her recommended reading of Snoopy’s Guide to the Writing Life, published in 2002 by Writer’s Digest Books and edited by Barnaby Conrad and Monte Schulz.
It was the title, not the comedic aspect, which grabbed my attention. I am always interested in reading about writing and this volume offers insights from noted authors like Ray Bradbury, Fannie Flagg and Danielle Steel, among about two dozen others.
Their advice, though, isn’t presented in a straight-forward manner. Rather, the selected writers are prompted by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz’s Snoopy strips, specifically featuring Snoopy the writer at his doghouse rooftop typewriter.
Why had I forgotten that Snoopy was a writer? Perhaps because I have not read all that many Peanuts cartoons.
Snoopy faces the sometime issues of writer’s bloc, criticism (from the ever present loud-mouthed Lucy), rejection and more. But the problems somehow seem funny when faced by Snoopy and not me.
The canine is stuck on beginning his stories with “It was a dark and stormy night,” or a slightly revised version. How often do we writers also become stuck, writing in the same way or, even worse, writing how we think we should write?
Author Fannie Flagg advises:
The joy about writing is that as long as you write from your heart, a thousand English degrees cannot compete with that.
How true. Readers can sense when you write from your heart.
I found Snoopy’s Guide to the Writing Life packed with pieces of useful advice, some which I already knew, some not. Here are some paraphrased gems I plucked from the book:
- Too much time on the typewriter (translate computer) can cause double vision. (Correct.)
- Avoid boring descriptions and heavy explanations.
- Understand your subject and your market.
- Surprise is an important element of humor (and writing in general, might I add).
- Stop seeking approval and advice and trust your instincts.
- “Try to leave out the parts that readers skip” (direct quote that I could not paraphrase).
- Plot develops from character, a point emphasized by more than one writer.
- Just write. Every day.
Now, one of my favorite lines comes from Monte Schulz, the son of Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz. Monte surmises that writers write “for the music of beautiful language.” I love that phrase because I totally get what he means. As a writer, and especially as a poet, my heart rejoices when I find the exact word or line which makes my poem sing. It is a glorious moment.
Then, on the second to last page of Snoopy’s Guide, writer J.F. Freedman throws in that element of surprise, at least for me, when he writes:
Great comic strips…are a fine introduction into literature, and are damn good writing in and of themselves…
And after reading (in this book) more than 180 “Snoopy at the typewriter” comic strips, likely more comics than I’ve read in my life, I’d agree with Freedman. Damn good writing, indeed.
WHAT WRITING TIPS can you offer? Let’s hear them.
© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
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