A word about fashion is in order at this point. Fashion and I were not really on speaking terms. This was not entirely my fault, as I was dependent on Mom to buy my clothes and in her pragmatic way, she wasn’t really into following all the latest fashions, particularly if they were expensive. But on my part, I wasn’t terribly observant about the latest “thing” either. Even so, I had a feeling that cousin Mitch’s hand-me-down pants were not good enough and I had started to notice that everyone was wearing “bell bottoms.” I was slow to get to the starting line, but once there, I was all in. I HAD TO HAVE BELL BOTTOMS.

Continue reading “Tuesday, November 30, 2021 Fashion” →

I hope you all had the kind of Thanksgiving in which you knew to Whom you were giving thanks. And in which you were able to feast and enjoy the company of loved ones. The rest is all gravy, right? Ours had all the right ingredients.

We did our annual Christmas Tree Hunt on Saturday. I used to be a bit of hardliner when it came to what kind of tree people got, real or artificial, looking down my nose somewhat at the fake tree people. The years have mellowed me – what does it really matter, after all? I love the smell of a fresh scotch pine in our living room, but you can just as well light a pine-scented candle and have all the same ambiance. As we get older, I can see the day coming when we’ll realize that an artificial tree is just perfect for our needs.

Still, there’s something nostalgic about going out to a Christmas tree farm and strolling amid all the possibilities, looking for just the right one with the right shape, height and needle length.

This year we found ours almost immediately, which doesn’t happen often. Our son and daughter-in-law were with us, looking for their tree. When we told them we’d already found ours, our son thought surely we were being too hasty. “Are you sure? You should look around some more!” It was very un-entish of us, that’s for sure (you won’t get that comment unless you’ve read Lord of the Rings, sorry).

We paid for our tree and I went around taking photos while waiting for the other tree to be selected.

The triumphant processional of the tree carrying has been enacted many times over the years. It is the only kind of hunting that we do, so there is a certain amount of pride in the conquest.

True story: I was at a veterinarian’s office many years ago around this time of year and at one point he looked out the window and saw a truck going by with all sorts of cut Christmas trees on it. His face darkened, he shook his head angrily, and said “MURDERERS.” It seemed a bit over the top and very Gollum-ish (if I may continue the LOTR theme).

We are officially in the Advent season, the start of the church year. I love Advent, the time when we await the Lord’s coming each year. We put our evergreens in our homes and remember that He rules and reigns for eternity. We put lights on our trees and celebrate the Light that came into the darkness. He has come; He will come again.

This has been Monday Musings with Lynniebeemuseoday.

I’ll probably murder this blog post in the morning and stick it in a lot with other murdered blog posts, hoping someone will buy it.

It took me seven years to get a four-year degree in college. I spent three years trying to avoid choosing a major, but at some point they pinned me down. Okay, how about social work? I did that for awhile and then switched to music therapy. That didn’t last either. I took a break for about half a year and then one day, whilst eating my tuna fish sandwich at work, I thought, Hey, I like food! Why don’t I become a dietitian?

Continue reading “Tuesday, November 23, 2021 Omicron Nu” →

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? Some of you are done already (you know who you are). We don’t usually even start until December, but this year with all the supply chain shortages and shipping delays, we thought we’d better hop on the train early.

A lot of our shopping is done from the comfort of our living room, but I remember the days before Amazon and online shopping. Our kids were young and we’d hire a baby sitter to come for an entire day so we could go out to a mall and get all the shopping done in one fell swoop. It was exhausting! It was fun!

Have you ever considered how streaming content digitally has ruined Christmas shopping? Think about it. You used to be able to buy DVDs for people, but now everyone can stream the video content they want. You used to be able to buy music CDs for people, but now they just stream it from Spotify. You used to be able to buy books for people, but now, many people prefer digital audiobooks. Down with streaming!

I don’t really mean that, of course. We enjoy being able to stream content ourselves. And you can actually purchase streaming or digital content to give to someone – I’ve done it – but it’s not nearly as fun!

My favorite kind of gift to give is an unexpected one. It’s great to shop off of a list, and we use them heavily in our family but I also love to find something that’s not on the list – a surprise! And hopefully a good one. There’s always a risk involved in that kind of giving since your gift might bomb. But it might be a big hit, too.

Monday Musings has been brought to you by Lynniebeemuseoday.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning – digitally, of course.

So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.
There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side,
and Jesus between them.
John 19:16-18

The Lord bless you and keep you.

Beer in plastic cups,
Foamy amber reflected,
Old friends conversing.

I take weekends off from deleting.

Our hike at Lake Maria State Park may well have been the last one for the year 2021. We chose the last Saturday in October to wend our way up there for the 2-mile hike. We picked up a third party for this hike: Kris’s brother Karl. This meant, of course, that Karl would now be privy to all of the secrets of the Hiking Club – the hand shake, the password, the official HC snack food, hiking tricks of the trade, everything – and all without even joining the club. He didn’t say it explicitly, but we’re thinking this had to have been a lifetime achievement for him, probably way up there on the bucket list.

Continue reading “Friday, November 19, 2021 Lake Maria State Park: Blanding Turtles and Horse Hockey” →

Hello, Mr. Scarecrow. May I ask you a few questions?

Call me Wilfred.

Very good, Mr. Wilfred. How is it you came to be standing out here all by yourself in the cold?

That’s my job. You see other people putting all sorts of autumn decor out in front of their houses – pumpkins and gourds, fall banners, wagons, corn shucks, etc. All that stuff looks nice, but it doesn’t really do anything. It’s just DECOR.

But what do you do?

Isn’t it obvious? I guard the house! I’m the first line of defense! I scare hooligans away!

Why don’t they have you out here all year long then?

I don’t know. The owners of this house are fools, I guess. They’ve had me for over 20 years and I’ve served them faithfully, even though they only use me in the fall. You’d think they could spring for a new hat, too. The hat I had when they hired me blew away and they put this sorry old thing on my head. It’s an embarrassment. I always hope the other scarecrows can’t see me. I just keep a smile on my face and pretend my old hat is up there. That’s the best I can do.

How many hooligans do you think you’ve scared away since you started this job?

I scare away dozens every night, so it’s an astronomical number, I’m sure. I can’t even calculate it. You couldn’t either. Nobody should try – it’s a waste of good brain power.

Do you have a brain?

Rude. Next question, please.

How do you get up when you fall down?

Pet peeve of mine. It’s happened three times already on these windy days and I have to just lay on the ground on my face until one of the homeowners notices and picks me up. I’m starting to think that a pumpkin or two down there might not be a bad idea of they keep me upright.

So decor like pumpkins does serve a purpose?

Minimally. Don’t tell the pumpkins – they’ll get a big head.

Thank you for your time, Mr. Wilfred. Stay upright!

You’re welcome. Bring me a few pumpkins before you go. Thanks.

This has been a bit of silliness with Lynniebeemuseoday. On Thursday. Thursday Silliness.

I’ll probably see if Wilfred can delete this in the morning if he’s not too busy scaring hooligans.

Colonel Purslane is starting to take shape!

I wonder if I can make a monocle for him? I’m working on his beret, which will complete the picture. He’s watching and waiting while I knit.

After that, I’ve got to make his sleigh, which frankly, I’m dreading. It’s looks very putzy and tedious. I haven’t even cut it out yet because every time I look at it, it looks impossible. Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, there’s a gnome on my needles still. He hasn’t developed personality yet, but I’m confident that he’ll get one.

What sorts of projects are in your workshop these days?

This has been Wednesday Workshop with Lynniebeemuseoday.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning…or will I?

When I was in junior high, something happened that really terrified me for a long time. I was a timid child, easily frightened, so maybe that’s not saying much. It happened while I was with some friends of mine.

We had been hanging around at a house about a block away from mine and there was a group of girls across the street sitting on a hill at the park. They seemed to be taunting us in some way, but we couldn’t hear them and basically just ignored it. We decided to go down to the local pharmacy and a few of them followed us. This made us uneasy, but we got safely into the store and hung out there, hoping the girls would just go away. We didn’t know them all, but a couple of them were familiar, also being students at our junior high school.

One of them was a tall girl named Julie, with whom I’d had no prior unpleasant dealings. When we left the store, they were waiting for us and started following us back. To my absolute horror, Julie started singling me out, and telling me that they had something to tell me. I hung back a little bit and Julie informed me that one of the girls (who hadn’t come with them) had taken a dislike to me and was going to beat me up. That girl (her name might have been Kim, so let’s just call her that), was the girlfriend of the leader of the local gang. She was a very threatening looking person – I stayed far away from her in school and had managed to stay under her radar.

When we got back to the house, my friends all left me out in the front yard with Julie and her friends. Kim came over at this point. They circled around me and taunted me with threats. I kept trying to explain that I didn’t understand why they were against me. I was like an animal trapped in a cage and just kept turning around trying to talk my way out of the situation. At one point they let me go in the house for a break. My friends commiserated with me at this bad turn of events, but had no advice or help for me. I thought my lot at school would be a lot worse if I didn’t go back out and face them, so I went out again to the same thing. It really was awful. This went on for at least an hour and it was starting to get dark. If there were any adults at the house (and I’m betting the mother was there), nobody came to my rescue. I was truly alone – at least I thought I was.

I’m not sure why they didn’t just beat me up, but I’m guessing that it was never really their intention; the real fun was in making me squirm and causing me to fear them. When all hope seemed lost, a neighbor boy went walking by – he was older than all of us. “What’s going on here?” he inquired, and then pretty much told them all to leave me alone. They went on their way and I could have kissed that boy’s feet, I was so relieved.

I didn’t know the Lord at the time, but looking back, I see how kind and gracious God was to rescue me that day by sending that boy along, a young man who apparently wasn’t afraid to confront bad people. I couldn’t be too hard on my friends either – it was humbling to reflect on my own cowardice and realize that I would probably have done the same thing that they did.

I had nightmares about that event for at least a year and lived in fear of running into Kim and her henchmen at school and having the whole ordeal repeated. She never paid me the slightest attention. And I never told my parents or siblings what happened.

This has been Tuesday True Stories with Lynniebeemuseoday.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning unless I have nightmares about it.

I’ve found that it’s really better if I write these accounts of our hikes right away, since the notes that I take are rather cryptic and occasionally illegible. It’s only been a couple weeks since we hiked Charles A. Lindbergh State Park, but as I look over my scanty notes, I’m already at sea over things like “oral history sharing” and “last airbender.” Let’s hope that something returns to me as I look at the photos.

It was late October and our two and a half hour drive to CALSP was pleasantly full of fall glory still. The park was basically across the street from the Mississippi River near Little Falls, MN. Our hike was going to be a moderate 2.8 miles and the temperature of 43 degrees felt brisk, but not punishing since we were dressed for it.

A little history first: Most of you may remember Charles Lindbergh as the man who flew the first trans-Atlantic solo flight in 1927 at the age of 25. The park, however, is not named after him. It was created in 1931 when the family of Charles A. Lindbergh Sr.donated the property in his memory. That was the aviator’s father. The Lindberghs farmed the property when they had it. When the aviator was reflecting back on his years growing up on the farm, he wrote, “I spent hours lying on my back in high timothy and redtop…how wonderful it would be, I’d thought, if I had an airplane…I would ride on the wind and be part of the sky.”

Before hitting the trail, we meandered over and took photos of the WPA tower there. Mighty impressive – built in the late 1930’s.

We started the hike around 10:20 and it wasn’t long before we were over by Pike Creek where there was a nice foot bridge. The plaque by the bridge mentioned that Lindbergh himself had built one of these bridges over the creek as a young lad. I don’t remember if it was this one, but let’s assume it might have been.

We walked along appreciating the fall weather, the carpet of leaves and pine needles and the fresh brisk air. The benches in this park are unique, as you can see.

We noticed that there were branches on the undergrowth of the pine trees on which were draped many of the pine needles. It looked like natural tinsel.

As we walked along, it was inevitable that we would come to talk about the Lindberghs and the price they paid for his fame as an aviator. On March 1, 1932 the 20-month-old son of Charles and his wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was kidnapped from their home in New Jersey and held for ransom. The body of the little toddler was found a couple months later, not far from the Lindbergh home. Whatever else Lindbergh did, his name would always be associated with this tragic story.

These are sobering thoughts to fill your mind on such a beautiful fall day, so we moved on to other topics. Apparently we discussed oral history sharing and the last airbender – wish I could remember those discussions. They sound interesting, don’t they?

We came to the landing site of the Jenny, Lindbergh’s first airplane. He sold his motorcycle to buy the Jenny (the report is that his parents were unenthusiastic about this). He took his first solo flight on the Jenny to the old family property and landed it there. The site is set apart with a plaque, but everything else relies on your imagination. You have to be able to look in your mind’s eye at the field and see the Jenny there with young Lindbergh standing next to it, grinning proudly, no doubt. I could see it. Can you?

More walking ensued. I got engrossed in taking photos of fall leaves, as anyone would.

We came to the end of the trail around 11:45, about 1 1/2 hours after starting out.

Knee Score: 3 out of 10. A fairly easy hike with not a lot of ups and downs.

We decided to stop in Little Falls for lunch and then headed up to Crow Wing State Park where we’d be meeting old friends who now live in the area.

Crow Wing’s Hiking Club Hike was going to be 2.3 miles, boosting our mileage for the day to 5.1 miles. It was still really nice out. We got there early and went to the rest area nearby to check it out. As you can see, I got shockingly flirty with Paul Bunyan.

We also spent a bunch of time in the parking lot in the park where the trail was to start, walking around, reading plaques, throwing sticks around, etc. The usual things you do when waiting.

I usually take notes on a hike so I can remember things later to write about for the blog post, but all I have written for Crow Wing is “Mostly chatting!”

It’s true – we hadn’t seen our friends Tom and Marcy in five years and had much to catch up on. So I’ll show you the photos and provide commentary if there’s anything of interest to say about them.

We came across the site of an old Episcopalian Mission. Like the site of the landing of Lindbergh’s Jenny, imagination was required. I wasn’t quite up to it.

Marcy thought it would be a nice idea to get a photo of the two of us on the trail. We don’t usually get this opportunity, so we did not turn it down.

We also came to an old church building with a tiny cemetery on the grounds.

We finished up at 3:30. I didn’t even note a knee score for Crow Wing, but looking back, I’d say it was probably about the same as for Charles A. Lindbergh: a 3 out of 10. Our total miles: 118.3 out of 197. Getting there slowly, but surely!

I’ll probably delete this, but not in the morning. Maybe next week.

Next hike: Lake Maria State Park