Let it snow.
Let it snow.
Let it snow,
in historic downtown Faribault on Saturday afternoon.
Beautiful.
Just beautiful.
© Copyright 2016 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
In which I see that, yes, winter really has arrived in Minnesota November 22, 2016
A scene along Minnesota State Highway 23 between Foley and St. Cloud on Sunday afternoon, after the sun emerged from grey skies.
THE FIRST SNOWFALL of the season always arrives with considerable hoopla here in Minnesota. As if we hadn’t seen snow that layers the ground in white.
Round hay bales create a snow fence along Highway 23.
Last week, sections of my state got plenty of snow. We’re talking two feet in Leader in north central Minnesota. Mixed with high winds, blizzard conditions prevailed in many regions. Down here in the southeastern section? Only flurries. And I’m just fine with that.
Just outside of Monticello.
Under grey skies on the flat land north of Monticello, snow dusts fields.
However, a Sunday day trip 2.5 hours north and west of the metro took my husband and me into a snowy central Minnesota landscape.
Along Benton County Road 3 north of Gilman, snow covers the rural landscape.
And, yes, I confess, I delighted in seeing snow-covered ground for the first time this winter season. There’s something about that initial snow that is magical and pure and, well, beautiful.
I snapped this wintry scene as we pulled into a convenience store/gas station in Foley on Sunday afternoon.
This truck clearly has not moved in awhile.
The heavy, wet snow is piled now along the roadside, here in Foley.
A rural resident cleans out the end of his driveway along Benton County Road 3.
Some parking lots are treacherously icy, like this one in Gilman.
As long as you don’t have to deal with the snow and ice. As long as roads are clear, which they were except for icy patches on Benton County Road 3 north of Gilman.
I especially appreciate the visual contrast of red barns, this one north of Gilman, against the white landscape.
Everything always seems sharper, brighter on a white canvas.
I photographed this train near the Minnesota State Correctional Facility in St. Cloud. It’s heading for Clear Lake.
Today brings a predicted wintry mix of precipitation to Minnesota. Rain mixed with snow, which likely will create slick roads. That type of winter weather is always unwelcome. But this is Minnesota. I should expect this.
I’m already waiting for spring, even though winter has just started. Here the same train I photographed in St. Cloud passes through Clear Lake as we all wait.
But I don’t have to like it. And I don’t. Is it May yet? The novelty and excitement of seeing the first snowfall has apparently already faded for me.
© Copyright 2016 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
My observations as autumn teases Minnesota September 14, 2016
As I passed Kamp Dels near Waterville recently, I noticed how the campground is emptying.
AS MUCH AS I DON’T WANT to admit it, summer is fading into autumn here in Minnesota. I like fall. I really do. But I don’t appreciate what follows. Winter.
Just down the tree-lined road from Kamp Dels, leaves are changing color on lakeside trees.
The shift in seasons began already in August with a subtle hint of color tinging select trees. Now more leaves are changing color and dropping. A leaf here, a leaf there. And before we know it, the trees are bare.
Between Waterville and Elysian sits the Cannonville Community Church.
But I am getting ahead of the days.
Crops are changing color along a back county road between Waterville and Elysian.
For now, corn fields are morphing from green to golden. Flowers that once bloomed in vivid hues are browning, dying. Gardens are ripe with produce.
In the rolling landscape near the Cannonville church, corn fields ripen.
The sun fades earlier. A definitive sharpness in the evening air hints of colder months ahead.
Fields and roadway stretch between Morristown and Faribault in rural Rice County.
I feel a certain sense of melancholy mixed with anticipation as autumn evolves, as harvest approaches. The sights, sounds, smells and tastes of September delight me. I welcome cobalt skies, splashes of red in tree lines, piles of pumpkins, candles flickering warmth and light, the comfort of a well-worn sweatshirt.
Hints of autumn are visible everywhere along this rural roadway between Morristown and Faribault.
But I see winter knocking at the door, suitcase bulging with snowflakes.
© Copyright 2016 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
A summer-like day in March in Minnesota March 8, 2016
At 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, the outdoor temperature in my Faribault backyard registered at 66 degrees. This photo shows the indoor/outdoor temp monitor atop my refrigerator.
IT WAS A THROW the windows open kind of day here in Southern Minnesota. Let the wind sail the scent of spring through the closed-up winter house. Air out the rooms. Turn off the furnace because it’s warmer outside than in.
Eat lunch outdoors. In the sunshine. In temps reaching about 70 degrees.
Tuesday was the kind of winter day that seems pinch me unbelievable. Is this really March in Minnesota? Or is it summer?
© Copyright 2016 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Now this is the kind of Minnesota winter day I like February 29, 2016
SATURDAY BROUGHT A RESPITE from winter. An unbelievable respite as the temperature rocketed to new record highs throughout Minnesota. At the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, the high temp of 56 degrees broke the previous high of 54 degrees set 120 years ago on February 27, 1896.
Pulling into the Dairy Queen, I snapped this temperature and time sign on Saturday afternoon, February 27, in Faribault.
It was a glorious day. Simply glorious. Here in Faribault, where I photographed a digital temperature reading of 55 degrees at 3:22 p.m., it seemed more a spring day than the middle of winter.
Eastbound on Minnesota State Highway 60 in Faribault Saturday afternoon.
I spotted motorcycles and convertibles, folks in shorts and shirt sleeves.
And in my backyard, the sun shone so bright right after lunch that I wanted to curl up like a cat and sleep. Outdoors. On my back steps. Just feet from snow piles.
I set my peanut buster parfait on a table on my patio to show the backyard contrast of seasons. The white background patches are snow, the green is lawn.
Hours later, my husband and I were pulling up to the Dairy Queen for peanut buster parfaits. The DQ had just opened and was offering a special. The place was busy. But not as busy as the next door car wash. There vehicles waited a dozen deep in two lines. Randy decided to wash our van and car at home, the old-fashioned way with a hose and bucket of water.
That was Saturday.
This Dairy Queen sign equates the difference in temps from Saturday (hot for Minnesota winter standards) to Sunday (normal for winter).
Sunday morning brought a drastic shift in temperatures, to the normal range for this time of year. Thirty-five degrees.
Snow flakes fell fast and furious around noon on Sunday. This shows my neighbor’s evergreens and flag, photographed from my back steps.
Around noon, a burst of snow reminded me that this still is winter in Minnesota. Even if we experienced a glorious spring-like day on February 27.
© Copyright 2016 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Connecting a British rock band & ice fishing in Minnesota February 11, 2016
The rock band name on this shed leaves the unanswered question, “Why?”
IN A SOUTHWEST FARIBAULT backyard rests a shed emblazoned with the name of an English rock band, Led Zeppelin.
This might be more than a shed. It looks like an ice fishing house. For those of you from warm weather states unfamiliar with such a shelter, here’s the deal. In the frigid cold of winter, anglers walk or drive onto frozen lakes to fish. Yes, you read that right. Drive. Once there, they hunker down in the open air or in mini houses to fish through holes drilled into the ice.
Houses can range from mass-produced collapsible fabric to homemade from plywood to massive homey shelters resembling mini cabins.
I’ve only ever fished in an ice house similar to the Led Zeppelin one. That was decades ago when I was in my late twenties, newly-married and slightly interested in the sport.
But many Minnesotans take ice fishing seriously. This past weekend, thousands of anglers converged on frozen Gull Lake in northern Minnesota for the Brainerd Jaycees $150,000 Ice Fishing Extravganza, the largest ice fishing tournament in the world. The winner, a Chaska man, hooked a 5.33 pound walleye to land the grand prize of a GMC pick-up truck. Not bad for a day of fishing.
See how thoughts thread together, how the name of a rock band on a shed in Faribault can lead me to expound on ice fishing in Minnesota? Yes, winter is growing long.
Copyright 2016 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Up on the rooftop shoveling snow February 10, 2016
WHEN YOU LIVE IN MINNESOTA, not only do you have to shovel snow from sidewalks and driveways, but also from roofs. That is if too much snow accumulates on your rooftop and/or ice dams form.
Typically every winter, we face those problems, which require my husband to haul out the ladder and climb atop the south facing house and garage roofs to shovel away snow.
Sunday afternoon, when the air temp was at a relatively comfortable level for winter, he scooped snow from the house roof. I am always watchful of his movement, lest he slip and tumble off.
Thankfully this section of our roof is sloped only slightly, unlike the sharp-pitched section covering the rest of the structure. When he scales that two-story high area to clear leaves from gutters or to adjust the rooftop TV antenna, I’m nervous. I’ll admit that. He’s not young any more. But even youth doesn’t protect from falls. The last time our roof was shingled (due to defective shingles), I didn’t have to lobby, much to my surprise, for hiring professional roofers.
I digress.
But there are days I wish we lived in a rambler.
© Copyright 2016 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
In Minnesota: A welcome weekend weather break from winter February 1, 2016
Just outside of Faribault driving south on Interstate 35 toward Owatonna early Sunday afternoon.
WINTER EXITED MINNESOTA this weekend, ushering in a glimpse of spring. And it was glorious—this temporary respite from cold and snow.
Temps rose above forty degrees. The sun shone. Cardinals shrilled. Snow melted into slushy puddles. And I walked across parking lots in a sweater rather than winter coat.
I needed a weekend like this drenched mostly in sunshine, blue streaking through clouds, patches of blue sky pushing away clouds.
To the west of Interstate 35, clouds billow above snow-washed fields.
As my husband and I drove south toward Owatonna early Sunday afternoon, I couldn’t get enough of the sky.
I’m holding onto those images now that the weather is about to change with a strong winter storm predicted for Tuesday. My county of Rice is under a Winter Storm Watch while counties to the south and west are under a Blizzard Watch.
Large swatches of blue sky prevailed to the west of the Interstate.
I knew this weekend’s spring-like weather wouldn’t last.
Blue skies accentuate fighter jets at Owatonna Degner Regional Airport along the Interstate.
It never does here in Minnesota in January.
© Copyright 2016 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Faribault’s all-American snowman January 26, 2016
IN THE YARD OF A CUTE craftsman style house at a busy intersection in Faribault, a patriotic snowman greets passersby. I pass by this sunny yellow home often. On my way to and from church. On my way to and from Minnesota State Highway 60.
I don’t know who lives at 402 Division Street. But I appreciate the creativity of this snowman. Red and blue votive candles for buttons. American flags for arms. An American flag banner cinched around the snowman’s waist.
Even red and blue dye for lips.
This isn’t your average snowman or snowwoman, whichever it may be.
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Tell me about any creative snow people you’ve seen, even built.
© Copyright 2016 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Snowmen, then & now January 25, 2016
The Hoisington family’s 2016 snowman.
FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS, I’ve photographed the over-sized snowmen sculpted in the Hoisington family’s yard in the heart of Faribault at 18 Third Avenue Northwest.
This year I braved double digit below zero windchills on a bitterly cold Sunday afternoon to document a sculpture that brings me joy.
A snowman hearkens to carefree days of childhood, when I actually loved winter. It brings memories of laboring with my siblings to roll snow into monumental balls. Three snowballs stacked atop each other to build our version of Frosty.
Snowmen and snow days. Snowdrifts hard as granite. Snow bucked into piles by Dad behind the John Deere tractor and loader. Imaginary mountains upon which we raced as Canadian Mounties.
Boots crunching on snow, the sharp sound slicing the quiet of the Minnesota prairie. Noses dripping. Cheeks flaming red. Fingers numbing through too thin gloves.
These are my winter memories, elicited by photographing a snowman.
What are yours?
FYI: Click here to view last year’s snowman pix. And click here to see my photos from 2014.
Check back tomorrow to see another notable snowman gracing a Faribault yard just blocks from the Hoisington snowman.
© Copyright 2016 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
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