Wisconsin | Minnesota Prairie Roots

October reflections from the St. Croix River valley October 15, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: aging, life, Minnesota, nature, scenic drive, St. Croix Falls, St. Croix Falls Lions Park, St. Croix River, Taylors Falls, thoughts, travel, Wisconsin

Driving toward Taylors Falls, Minnesota, from the east provides an especially scenic view of this river community.

TWENTY-ONE YEARS AGO in October, my husband and I planned an overnight stay at a bed-and-breakfast in Taylors Falls. We anticipated gorgeous fall colors and rare time alone without the responsibilities of parenting three children.

But then my mother-in-law died unexpectedly a week before the booked get-away and we never rescheduled the trip.

Heading toward St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, and Taylors Falls, Minnesota, along U.S. Highway 8.

This past week, we finally made it to the twin St. Croix River valley communities of Taylors Falls on the Minnesota side and St. Croix Falls in Wisconsin, staying at a chain hotel rather than a B & B. We found the glorious autumn colors we had hoped for and the freedom that comes with being empty nesters.

Shops in downtown St. Croix Falls.

Hop in the van and go. Stop when and where we want. Drive along a winding river road. Hike without worry of kids trailing off the trail or plummeting over the edge of a rocky ledge. Eat late. Sleep in.

My husband on a dock at St. Croix Falls Lions Park along the St. Croix River.

There’s something to be said for this season of life, this nearing age sixty that causes me to pause, to delight in the view, to reflect and appreciate and yearn for the past while simultaneously appreciating the days I live and those which lie before me.

“River Spirit,” a bronze sculpture by local Julie Ann Stage, embodies the poetry and natural beauty of the St. Croix River Valley. The artwork was installed in 2007 and stands at a scenic overlook in downtown St. Croix Falls.

Perhaps I think too deeply, too poetically sometimes.

Reflections, like watercolor on water. A scene photographed at St. Croix Falls Lions Park.

But like the trees buffeting the banks of the St. Croix, I see my days reflected in the river of life.

Beauty along the St. Croix River as seen from Lions Park.

Blazing colors mingling with green.

Leaves upon rock, reflect the unchangeable and the changeable.

Changed and unchanging.

Days of simply enjoying life.

Yesterday, today, tomorrow.

Life is like a river, sometimes calm, sometimes raging. A view of the St. Croix River shoreline from Lions Park.

Life.

FYI: Click here for more information about the Taylors Falls and St. Croix Falls area.

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BBQ at its best in Nelson, Wisconsin September 2, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 1:56 PM
Tags: barbecue, BBQ, food, J & J Barbecue, Nelson, restaurant review, travel, Wisconsin

WISCONSIN MAY BE KNOWN for its cheese. But one small Wisconsin town is noted for both its cheese and BBQ. That would be Nelson, Wisconsin, across the Mississippi River from Wabasha, Minnesota.

Nelson Cheese Factory serves as a destination for Wisconsin and imported cheeses.

You can't miss the vibrant exterior of B & B Barbeque in Nelson, Wisconsin.

You can’t miss the vibrant exterior of B & B Barbecue in Nelson, Wisconsin.

And just down the street at 208 N. Main, you’ll find J & J Barbecue, a mom-and-pop restaurant serving Southern style BBQ that’s mouth-watering delicious.

Love this sign at the order counter.

Owners Jim and Laura Grandy, Minnesota natives who once lived in South Carolina, have perfected their smoked meats and their specialty mustard-based BBQ sauce.

J & J features hickory smoked meats.

The tantalizing smokey aroma will draw you off the highway into this one-of-a-kind joint as much as the BBQ and mustard hue exterior and signage promising the best ribs on the river.

My Southern BBQ Pork Sandwich served with savory baked beans and potato salad.

My generous Southern BBQ pork sandwich served with savory baked beans and potato salad.

While my husband and I didn’t try the ribs on a recent lunch stop, I ordered the Southern BBQ pork sandwich and found it simply superb. Randy chose a wrap—Carolina pulled pork with blue ribbon coleslaw tucked inside—a choice I found tasty, but he didn’t. I wondered why he was ordering a wrap because that isn’t his style and he doesn’t like coleslaw. But he felt pressured to order at the walk-up counter, the one negative part of our dining experience. When you’re new to a restaurant, you need time to study the posted menu.

I love the unique and kitschy interior.

On that particular Thursday, a steady steam of customers stopped to dine in or carry out Styrofoam trays packed with BBQed goodness.

You’ll find more than BBQed meat here.

I’d highly recommend J & J BBQ. Just, please, don’t do as one grandma, overheard asking her grandson, “Would you like the chicken tenders or a hot dog?” I wish she’d encouraged him to try the fabulous BBQ.

Walk past this sign and into the next room to enter the bar area. On the other side of that you will find a gift shop, Laura’s Place.

FYI: J & J Barbecue is open Wednesday and Thursday from 10:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from 10:30 a.m. – 8 p.m.; and Sunday from 10:30 a.m. – 6 p.m. The restaurant is closed on Monday and Tuesday.

Comments (17)

How about a diesel sandwich while you watch fireworks? June 30, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: humor, Omro, signs, travel, Wisconsin, Wisconsin State Highway 21

SEE SPOT RUN.

When I learned to read, I read about Dick, Jane and Sally and their dog, Spot. Plus their cat, Puff, and Sally’s teddy bear, Tim. And let’s not forget Mother and Father.

See Dick run. See Jane run. See Sally run. Did they ever walk?

Such were the exciting words printed upon the pages of my classroom primers.

So when I spot a “See Spot Run” sign along Wisconsin State Highway 21 near Omro, I think of learning to read, not canine services.

But it’s a clever connection, isn’t it? Would you understand this stand-alone sign or would you, like me, have to Google “See Spot Run” to understand?

Then there’s the most amusing of all signs further along the highway. It advertises diesel sandwiches at JB Sales with locations in Arkdale and Necedah. I’m certain the sign maker didn’t intend for the message to be read as “diesel sandwiches.” But that’s how my brain reads the words.

I’m still puzzling over another sign, this for Silvercryst, a fine dining establishment along Silver Lake near Wautoma that boasts GR8 steaks. Why wouldn’t you just spell out “great?” Because the sign is supposed to resemble a license plate apparently.

There are lots of cheese sellers in Wisconsin vying for local and tourism dollars. So you have to make yourself stand out. And one cheese sign in particular, in Omro, catches my eye. Because of the cows.

Finally, you can’t travel Wisconsin without noticing an abundance of fireworks signs. There’s nothing too special about this Highway 21 sign, except the advertising of Demo Night on June 20. Is this demo deal common for fireworks places in Wisconsin? Tell me. I’m from Minnesota.

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Ring, not rain, dance in a Wisconsin park June 20, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: Appleton, art, churches, city park, Dallas Anderson, fountain, historic homes, nature, parks, sculpture, Wisconsin

CITY PARK IN APPLETON, WISCONSIN, is one of those parks that causes you to linger and appreciate.

“Ring Dance” by sculptor Dallas Anderson serves as City Park’s focal point. Private donations paid for the $483,000 fountain sculpture which was dedicated in August 1996.

It’s the setting as much as the fountain sculpture focal point that pull me into this neighborhood park next to Lawrence University on the eastern edge of downtown.

Spectacular one-of-a-kind historic homes define the neighborhood.

Historic, sprawling homes draw my eyes to inviting front porches and turrets and other architectural details. Homes so lovely I would move into any of them if I had the money.

A beautiful bush flowers during my May visit to City Park.

Rather, I covet that which I cannot own, imagine gleaming wood floors creaking with age, thick plaster walls, shining banisters, banks of windows streaming sunlight into rooms pasted with cabbage rose wallpaper.

The Hubert House Film House, right across from City Park, is part of Lawrence University.

The writer in me is writing the stories of these homes as my eyes scan exteriors while strolling the park perimeter.

Impressive First English Lutheran Church.

And then, I pause to study First English Lutheran Church, a strong stone structure that dominates a street corner. Stunning.

Moving in as close as I can without water spraying onto my camera.

Back in City Park, the lure of water leads me to the fountain, where sculpted children dance, ankles intertwined.

Fountain information imprinted upon a plaque.

If I could, I would join the circle, the “Ring Dance,” washing away worries.

A rainbow…

But on this evening, sunlight on water beaming a rainbow, I simply appreciate the moment.

Rush of bubbling water. Sunlight fading in the golden hour. Time here, with the man and daughter I love.

BONUS PHOTOS from an earlier visit in August 2011:

Impatiens fill planters in the park.

Circling “Ring Dance.”

A food truck stops at City Park.

FYI: For more information about “Ring Dance” sculptor Dallas Anderson, click here.

This coming Sunday, June 22, City Park, 500 E. Franklin Street, hosts the annual Juneteenth Festival sponsored by African Heritage, Inc., and the City of Appleton. The noon to 5 p.m. free admission event celebrates freedom, unity and community. The fest includes performances by Chicago-based Ayodele Drum & Dance, a Michael Jackson impersonator and other musicians; showing of “Stone of Hope: Black Experiences in Appleton,” a pop-up museum exhibit; games; and children’s activities. Food vendors will also be on site. For more information about Juneteenth Festival, click here.

Click here to read a previous post from City Park. And watch for a future post on an unusual tree discovered here.

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Succinct Sunday sermon June 1, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: Arkdale, faith, sermon, sign, Trinity Lutheran Church, Wisconsin

Edited photo shot while driving by Trinity Lutheran Church sign, Arkdale, Wisconsin.

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Black squirrels, oh, my May 23, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: animals, Appleton, black squirrel, city park, nature, Wisconsin

Squirrel number one scampers from the park across the street as soon as I approach with my camera. I don't have a telephoto lens, thus the distant view.

Squirrel number one scampers from the park across the street as soon as I approach. (I don’t have a telephoto lens.)

NO, THIS IS NOT one of those “Why did the ~~chicken~~ squirrel cross the road?” joke stories.

Rather, I am wondering, have you ever seen a black squirrel?

I manage to get a bit closer to squirrel number two.

I hadn’t until last weekend while at City Park in downtown Appleton, Wisconsin.

My second daughter, who attended college in western Wisconsin and now lives on the eastern side of the state, couldn’t believe I’d never, in nearly 60 years of life, seen anything but grey or red squirrels.

My husband also had never spotted a black squirrel although he once saw an albino in the woods on his central Minnesota childhood farm home.

There are plenty of trees in Appleton’s City Park, where I snapped one quick shot before the squirrel scooted out of camera range.

I don’t recall any squirrels on my native southwestern Minnesota prairie farm while growing up. Maybe the shortage of trees had something to do with their absence.

In any case, I was intrigued by the two black squirrels in City Park. My daughter found my interest rather amusing. Sometimes it just doesn’t take much to entertain me.

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Really, deep-fried what? May 21, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: brat fry, Coloma, deep fried pizza, fair food, food, travel, Wisconsin

The midway area of the Rice County Fair, Faribault, Minnesota. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo 2009.

I’M NOT MUCH OF A FAIR-GOER. I trace that back to too many years chasing down 4-Hers for photos with their uncooperative animals. A fair doesn’t hold the same appeal once you’ve covered the annual event for a newspaper more than a few times.

This was decades ago. Things change. I’m no longer a newspaper reporter and photographer assigned county fair barn duty.

So today I could meander as I please through the fairgrounds.

Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo 2009 from the Rice County Fair.

For many of you, a fair is all about the food, right? Deep-fried anything, often served on a stick.

A vendor at the Rice County Fair. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo 2009.

For example, at last year’s Minnesota State Fair, you could find these new deep-fried food offerings, among others: deep-fried olives, fried pickles ‘n’ chocolate, wine glazed deep-fried meatloaf, an assortment of deep-fried sandwiches and deep-fried bread pudding.

How they deep fry some of these foods, like bread pudding, I have not a clue. But I suppose where there’s a chef, there’s a way.

The brat barn, not to be confused with a dairy or pig barn. You can purchase StoneRidge meats here.

Minnesota Prairie Roots 2011 photo of Uncle Butch’s Brat Barn in Wautoma, Wisconsin.

All of this deep-fried food talk leads across the border into Wisconsin, known for its beer, brats and cheese. Brat fries are already popping up here at places like Uncle Butch’s Brat Barn outside StoneRidge Meat & Country Market, Inc. ( Piggly Wiggly) in Wautoma. Wisconsinites love their brats. Me? Not so much.

A quick roadside snapshot of the deep fried pizza sign along Wisconsin State Highway 21 in Wautoma.

A quick drive-by snapshot of the deep-fried pizza sign spotted this past weekend along Wisconsin State Highway 21 in Wautoma.

But it wasn’t the warm weather brat fries that drew my attention on a trip to eastern Wisconsin this past weekend. It was the sandwich chalkboard sign I spotted along Wisconsin State Highway 21 in Coloma advertising deep fried pizza.

Deep-fried pizza? Now how does one deep fry pizza and why would you?

Although tasty, Flamin' Bleu was not quite what Randy expected. He expected chunks of bleu cheese topping the pizza. But then we are bleu cheese fanatics with award-winning bleu cheeses produced in our home community of Faribault.

Flamin’ Bleu pizza at Pizzeria 201 in Montgomery, Minnesota. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo used for illustration purposes only.

I love pizza, I really do. I make homemade pizza every Friday evening. And while in Wisconsin, my husband, second daughter and I dined on our favorite pizza, the New Orleans style topped with Andouille sausage, chicken, shrimp, red onions, red peppers and Cajun spices, at the Stone Cellar Brewpub in Appleton. It certainly was not deep fried.

Tell me, have you ever heard of or eaten deep-fried pizza?

My initial reaction was this: Well that can’t be too healthy.

But then again, nothing deep-fried really would be, would it?

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Feeling at home, wherever you live May 16, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: architecture, home, houses, life, Redgranite, thoughts, travel, Wisconsin

This colonial style home atop a hill along Wisconsin Highway 21 in Arkdale always catches my eye.

This lovely Colonial style home atop a hill along Wisconsin Highway 21 in Arkdale always catches my eye.

DO YOU PICTURE a dream home in your mind?

There is something sweet and endearing about the simplicity of this country home near Redgranite, Wisconsin. Perhaps it’s the porch, the setting…the unassuming bungalow style.

Or are you living in your dream house?

A sturdy farmhouse near Redgranite, Wisconsin.

A substantial farmhouse east of Redgranite, Wisconsin.

I’ve always wanted to live in a big white two-story farmhouse with a front porch. Rather like the farmhouse where my Uncle Glenn and Aunt Elaine and cousins lived near Echo, Minnesota.

Open front porches, like this one on a home in Redgranite, Wisconsin, encourage neighborliness and sitting outside on a beautiful afternoon or evening. Love the curve of the porch roofline and the stone front and steps.

The house, as I remember it, featured lots of dark woodwork with a built in buffet and that coveted porch.

A stunning Cape Cod style home constructed from locally quarried stone near Redgranite, Wisconsin.

But then again, I also appreciate the Craftsman and Cape Cod styles of architecture.

A well-kept farmhouse between Redgranite and Omro, Wisconsin, has likely evolved through the years with numerous additions. I appreciate the enclosed porch and the Victorian detailed scrollwork near the roofline.

I’ve always preferred old over new, although sometimes I think living in a modern home would equal fewer maintenance worries.

This cheery yellow house is located along Wisconsin Highway 21 in Redgranite. A welcoming holiday banner still graces the front door three months after Christmas.

This cheery yellow house is located along Wisconsin Highway 21 in Redgranite. Christmas lights and a welcoming holiday banner still grace this home three months after Christmas.

In the end, though, I’ve concluded that no matter where you live, it’s not the walls or design or age or style that truly define a home. It is simply being content where you’re at, with the people you love.

NOTE: These images were taken on a late March trip to eastern Wisconsin when snow still covered the ground. Not any more.

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A must-see Wisconsin museum features paperweights, really old glassware & more May 1, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: art, Bergstrom-Mahler Museum, Ernst Mahler, Evangeline Bergstrom, glassware, John Nelson Bergstrom, museums, Neenah, paperweights, travel, Wisconsin

THEY JOKED ABOUT MY SUGGESTION we tour a paperweight museum.

The museum is housed in an historic home (and addition) along the shores of Lake Winnebago across from a park.

But they weren’t laughing once we arrived at the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum in Neenah, Wisconsin.

My husband, Randy, checking out a section of paperweights.

If I’d done my research rather than simply skimming a website, I could have advised my husband and daughter Miranda that the museum features more than one of the world’s largest collections of antique and contemporary glass paperweights.

Much more.

Examples of the beautiful glassware.

This museum and glass studio housed in a 1929 Tudor mansion and addition along the west shore of Lake Winnebago also showcases really old Germanic glassware. We’re talking glass spanning three centuries, the earliest dating to 1573.

This is some aged glassware.

“Impressed now?” I asked them. And they were.

One of the contemporary sculptures displayed.

To impress us even more, the museum includes an exhibit of exquisite contemporary glass sculptures, some part of the permanent collection and some on loan. I was allowed to photograph only those pieces that are owned by the museum.

The Super Magnum Piedouche is one of 10 such paperweights created. This one is dated 1973 and weighs 55 pounds.

All through-out our visit, I wondered at the value of the thousands—2,300 objects in the paperweight collection alone—of pieces shown. An inquiry of a museum worker did not elicit a value, although I learned that the museum is currently attempting to purchase a certain contemporary sculpture and still needs to raise $9,000. She didn’t know how much had already been raised. I imagine a lot.

A close-up side view of a paperweight.

And to think this all started with Evangeline Bergstrom’s memories of playing with her grandmother’s paperweight.

These paperweights are truly works of art.

Long story short (and you can read the long story by clicking here), Evangeline’s husband, John Nelson Bergstrom, bequeathed the couple’s home to the city of Neenah with instructions to build a museum upon his wife’s death for her paperweight collection.

In 1959, that museum opened, imprinting the legacy of the Bergstroms (John co-founded the Bergstrom Paper Company with this father) upon this eastern Wisconsin city.

A carved enamel goblet, ca. 1860, Bohemia.

Likewise, another paper industry leader and Neenah native, Ernst Mahler, gifted a glass collection to the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum. In 1994, the museum received the Germanic glassware Mahler had purchased in 1931 in Austria for his wife, Carol.

History and art detailed on glasses.

I found this aged glassware especially intriguing given the detailed scenes on many of the pieces. It’s fabulous art.

Dated 1693. Cheers.

If only we could have sampled a dark German beer in one of those over-sized glasses…

Bottom line, don’t underestimate the appeal of a paperweight collection even if you, like my daughter, consider paperweights to be rather useless. Those in the Bergstrom collection possess great artistic and historical value well worth viewing, well worth appreciating.

Detailed floral art on glassware.

Ditto for the other glass art featured in the museum.

Glassware in an array of colors.

FYI: The Bergstrom-Mahler Museum, 165 North Park Avenue, Neenah, is open from 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and from 1 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Sundays, closed holidays and a few other days.

Admission is, get this, free, although donations are welcome.

Fifth and sixth graders at Edison Elementary School in Appleton studied Tibetan Sand Mandalas and then created paper versions, temporarily on display in the lower level of the museum.

At the time of our visit in late March, glass pieces created by students in the Fox Valley area were exhibited. But I was not allowed to photograph these works, some of them mighty impressive.

Annually, the museum’s collection of Victorian glass baskets are also shown, primarily during the spring and summer.

TO VIEW ANOTHER post from the community of Neenah, Wisconsin, click here.

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One hip, vintage & retro shop in Neenah, Wisconsin April 29, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: antique, boutique, Neenah, retro clothing, shopping, travel, vintage, vintage clothing, Vintique, Wisconsin

The signage on Vintique, 131 West Wisconsin Avenue, Neenah, Wisconsin.

I LOVE THIS BOUTIQUE in downtown Neenah, Wisconsin.

Audrey’s Closet, likely named after Audrey Hepburn and not me, holds vintage 50s clothing.

Not just because a section of vintage 1950s clothing is tucked into a space labeled Audrey’s Closet.

Love Story framed.

And not simply because of the Love Story album cover framed and posted on a stairway wall. Love Story, released in 1970, rates as one of my favorite movies. I was 14 then, falling for Ryan O’Neal and this heart-tugging love story co-starring Ali MacGraw. I tacked a poster of the couple onto the lime green walls of my basement bedroom with the candy striped carpet.

I digress. Sort of.

A vintage 1950s wardrobe in Audrey’s Closet.

Vintique, LLC, elicits this type of response—this embracing of the past—with the merchandise offered here. If you appreciate vintage, antique, boutique and unique, then this is your kind of shop. Vintique.

My daughter tried on the elegant black dress along the far wall in this room full of vintage clothing.

My daughter tried on the elegant black dress along the far wall in this second floor room full of vintage and retro clothing and other merchandise.

If not for my daughter Miranda, who lives in neighboring Appleton, I likely never would have discovered this shop in the heart of a cozy downtown that features a mix of historic and modern buildings. How well she knows me and my appreciation of vintage.

Clothing from the 1960s found in the Laugh-in & Goldie’s Style Closet.

Now if only I was a few decades younger and dress sizes smaller, I’d feel comfortable in the actual and replica retro and vintage clothing sold at Vintique. But I’m well past the age of trying to look young and hip. Some older women can carry that off; I’m not one of them.

Just look at those prints…

That didn’t stop me, though, from gushing over the vintage and retro clothing and accessories. Had you listened in, you would have overheard me saying, “If I was looking for a prom dress…if I was getting married…if I was going to a summer wedding…if I was younger…”

Vintage white pumps for a special occasion perch on a shelf above a rack of clothes.

Not that age should stop anyone from shopping Vintique. Had I really searched, I’m certain I would have found something that fit me and suited my style and age.

Vintique rates as one cool (yes, I am a child of the 70s) place with other funky finds like vintage jewelry,

hats,

shoes and purses;

Little People key chains; pillows; art; and more.

A section of Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Neenah, Wisconsin.

Vintique, at 131 West Wisconsin Avenue.

Downtown Neenah features historic buildings.

That’s in Neenah, south of Appleton, southwest of Green Bay.

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Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

October reflections from the St. Croix River valley October 15, 2014

BBQ at its best in Nelson, Wisconsin September 2, 2014

How about a diesel sandwich while you watch fireworks? June 30, 2014

Ring, not rain, dance in a Wisconsin park June 20, 2014

Succinct Sunday sermon June 1, 2014

Black squirrels, oh, my May 23, 2014

Really, deep-fried what? May 21, 2014

Feeling at home, wherever you live May 16, 2014

A must-see Wisconsin museum features paperweights, really old glassware & more May 1, 2014

One hip, vintage & retro shop in Neenah, Wisconsin April 29, 2014

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An essay of barn photos & memories; In praise of preserving country churches; & Testing the track during a Soap Box Derby trial run in Faribault

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