Sometimes I like to try to find my inner Emily Dickinson, she of the oddly placed Capital Letters and the obscure phrases that nonetheless fit. Tell me what you think of my efforts to be Dickinsonian. In this case, the first two lines came to me easily and the rest was hard fought.
Pardon the Cardinal Forgive the M. Div. With the Thesis in pieces Do we live and let live?
But Woe to the Crow, Shun the Bad One, When sinning is winning Will we ever be done?
Cling to the Red-Wing Repent and relent, With Grace upon Grace He’ll enter your Tent.
Pardon me!
Flog the Blog, Don’t boast of the Post Suborn in the Morn From coast to coast.
I’ve always liked the color red. Maybe it started with the short film “The Red Balloon,” which I watched as a child. That red balloon was the most beautiful balloon I’d ever seen. For some reason I was not traumatized (like my children were) by the fact that scores of marauding boys puncture the balloon at the end of the film. In spite of that, it had a happy ending.
When I was in college I had a red jacket that made me feel positively sparkly with happiness. And who doesn’t want a shiny red car? Red is the color!
It was also the main color in my paint palette this week.
I was inspired by the work of Emma LeFebre on YouTube.
I’d like to take another pass at the cardinal. It was a learning experience.
I’ll probably delete this in the red skies of morning.
My toes are warm from sitting in front of the heater and my belly is warm from drinking hot tea. What time is it? Time to share more quotes from my Commonplace Book.
No unwelcome tasks become less welcome by putting them off until tomorrow. It is only when they are behind us and done that we begin to find that there is a sweetness to be tasted afterwards, and that the remembrance of unwelcome duties unhesitatingly done is welcome and pleasant. Accomplished, they are full of blessing and there’s a smile on their faces as they leave us. Undone, they stand threatening and disturbing our tranquility and hindering our communion with God. If there be lying before you any bit of work from which you shrink, walk straight up to it and do it at once. The only way to get rid of it is to do it. Alexander Maclaren.
As the former Queen of Procrastination (surely someone else has taken over the title by now!), I appreciate this quote so much. I’m often one to put off “unwelcome duties.”
The joys of Christmas are not a break from reality or an escape from reality, but an invitation into reality. In the great scheme of things – that is to say, the eternal scheme of things – joy is the rule, not the exception. Jonathan Rogers
Did you hear that? Joy is the rule, not the exception. Amen!
Fear arises when we imagine everything depends on us. Elisabeth Elliot
Truth without beauty can be a weapon; Beauty without truth can be spineless. Andrew Peterson
In order to see birds, it is necessary to become part of the silence. Robert Lynd
In order to delete this, it is necessary to become part of the morning…
I need to take a survey. How many of you do this with your brown sugar:
Is it just a Minnesota thing? I keep a crust of bread in my brown sugar to keep it from going hard, like my mother did before me. It feels like important lore that should be passed on from generation to generation.
New topic: flooring. We’ve been in this house for just about 20 years and have replaced a lot of flooring (almost all of it) over those years. This year, in 2025, the last remaining carpet original to the house will finally be taken away from our sight like the eyesore that it is. The carpet is dead, long live the new Pergo flooring! My husband will be doing all the removal and installation, but I played a somewhat significant role in boxing up all the books that resided in the bookshelves.
Isn’t it exciting? We have to take what excitements we can whilst living through January.
Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits – Here are a few from this past week:
a husband who loves working hard Cortisone shots and happier knees Prayer time with women at our church via Zoom Tea time in the afternoon homemade bread and soup having a local swimming pool A formal ball hosted by our church The hymn: Rise Again Ye Lion Hearted
Knees: A Reminiscence. I heard these good old knees recall The former days of glory When everything they wanted to do Was an eloquent song and story.
Jumprope? A thing of ease and grace. Running? No one could stop them. Kneeling and squatting? Good heavens, those knees, Nothing, but nothing, could pop them.
Knees: The Middle Ages. And then one day, a creaking was heard A pain upon climbing the stairs, Alarm bells rang when trying to stoop down, Or lower myself onto chairs.
I’m sorry I took you for granted, my friends Your service was simply unsung. Knees of my youth, it wasn’t your fault, To arthritis you now have succumbed.
Knees: The Cortisone Days I limped my way to a young MD A learned doctor of bones, “You can’t get new knees quite yet, my dear, But a shot of cortisone!”
“It’s effective, it’s wondrous, it’ll bring relief.” He said with a smile on his face. But I, I wondered how long it would last Before I’d be back at his place.
Luna and the Knees. Plus the gnarly socks
Therefore we do not lose heart, But though our outer man is decaying, Yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4:16
I’ll probably give this tired old blog post a shot of cortisone in the morning.
But then, aren’t all snowmen cheerful? These inanimate creations of snow have no troubles, nor anxieties. They don’t even have minds, which cause some of us a lot of trouble some days. But they’re also lifeless and made of stuff that will melt, so there’s that.
Copied from the Instagram account @beck_and_rose.
I’d like to do some knitting this year and maybe make some more felt creatures – I still have a lot of felt leftover after finishing all the creatures in the book The Little Travelers” featuring our favorite froggie, Fig Newton. And I might take up sewing some small projects as well. And small cross-stitch pieces. And of course, I’ll continue to paint and hopefully get better at it.
“Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.” Excerpt from James 5:13
This cheerful, yet inanimate blog, will melt in the morning.
A friend gave me this charming blank book (thank you, Teresa!) over a year ago and I spent some time contemplating just how I wanted to use it. Prayer request journal? A place to enter books that I’m reading? A place to record ideas for my blog posts?
A couple months ago it came to me: this would be the perfect commonplace book! If you’ve never heard that term, a commonplace book is simply a book in which you record quotes that you come across that you want to save.
And lo, it came to pass. I’ve filled several pages with quotes and plan to continue doing it – from books I’m reading, things I run across online, or something I hear on a podcast. I’m loving it!
Therefore, on Tuesdays this year for a while, I’m going to share some of my commonplace quotes (along with occasional true stories from my life). Feel free to share in the comments section any quotes you’ve enjoyed and appreciated. I might add them to my book!
Send a heavy heart up to Christ; it shall be welcome. Samuel Rutherford
The taking up of the cross is the continual daily practice of small duties which are distasteful to us. Elisabeth Elliot
Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire. Gustav Mahler
When I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. … You will cast all our sins into the depth of the sea. Micah 7:7b and 19b
You can’t solve problems for those people who don’t want their problem solved. Anonymous – found in my mother’s music cabinet November 2024
That’s all for now – and you can quote me on that! Unless I delete this in the morning.
Yes, we stayed up until midnight – pretty bold move for the over-60 crowd, right? We watched “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which ended right before midnight. What did you do to ring in the new year?
We had a Charlie Brown Christmas tree this year. It shed needles constantly. Even as we would vacuum needles off the carpet, the tree saw this as a sign that MORE needles were needed to cover the carpet and would send a shower of them to make up for what we vacuumed up. By the time we escorted it out the door, whole branches were denuded.
But no matter – Christmas came and went and ours was lovely. I hope yours was too.
There’s a Bible verse that says, “Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits.” (Psalm 68:19). I want to take a season on my blog to explore these daily loads of benefits – I’ll just do that on Mondays, but will be looking for them every day. Maybe you’ll be inspired to do the same. Here’s a couple examples:
I’m still enjoying the presence of this “Mom Bear.” (See: The Mom Bear) It watches over me while I read the Bible in the morning and is a frequent reminder of my Mom who passed away last year. Thank you, Lord!
A little heater in our living room on these cold days. Thank you, Lord!
All righty then! As usual, even in the new year of 2025, I’ll probably delete this in the morning.
Here we are at the end of the year! We had a goal of visiting 11 places of interest in Minnesota, one per month, excepting January. We had to subtract April and October since our meanderings took us much farther afield and left us no time for Minnesota places. And November? What happened to November? Never mind that – none of us know what happened to subtract November from the list. It just didn’t happen. If you want to read about our other meanderings, check out these links: Spam Museum, Bell Museum of Natural History, Como Park Zoo and Conservatory, Fort Snelling, Great Lakes Aquarium, The National Eagle Center and The North American Bear Center.
Our last Minnesota meandering in 2024 took us to the Red Wing Shoe Store and Museum in the city of Red Wing. You’re probably thinking the same thing I was: sounds pretty boring. The big draw to the museum is apparently the Big Boot (not to be confused with Big Foot), which seems like a one trick pony, and not a very great trick at that.
But I was surprised. The giant boot wasn’t just a place for tourist posing (although of course we did that). It was a display to show the true quality and value of Red Wing boots. A few fun facts about the boot: a person large enough to wear it would be 12 stories tall! The boot was assembled exactly as their regular boots, but whereas a you-sized boot would take an hour to make, this Paul Bunyan boot took 13 months to make, which included all the engineering, design and fabrication. And it was handmade, just like all their boots. The label for the boot tongue was made on a large tapestry loom in Italy.
My whole disposition toward footwear has been to spend as little as possible on something comfortable to wear. I mean, it’s not like buying an heirloom, right? You wear it until you can’t wear it anymore and then you replace it. I was amused to see a display at the museum in which people appointed someone to inherit their boots after their demise (“done wearing them”). The message: these boots are meant to endure more than one lifetime. Bold claim! But what I want to know is this: are these boots made for walking? And if so, are they going to walk all over me?
After you pass the Boot, the main floor is mostly a sales showroom, through which we did, indeed meander. No transactions took place, in spite of the powerful lure induced by the Boot. But for the first time in my life, I considered the possibility of paying $200-$300 (or more!) for footwear of excellent and enduring quality. I tell you, that giant boot performed some wizardry on me! My husband is already on Team Red Wing Shoes; in fact he was wearing Red Wing boots that day, boots he’s had for years and that he recently had re-soled and will continue to wear for years hence.
The upper floor is where the meat of the museum is and where you follow along to learn the history of Red Wing Shoes and how they are made. I’ll share a few photos below, along with trenchant commentary.
The whole process from beginning to end – I actually studied this in depth since I have done some sewing in my time. Love this attempt to get women to buy the boots: Every Outdoor Girl!The prices have risen 100-fold since they started. There’s an EEEEE width? Must be for Bigfoot. We did not hear about this legend when we were part of the hiking community. Looks pretty comfy! Billy Boot with a pocket for a small knife – with the directive “Try on a pair NOW.” It feels a little aggressive to me. “What’s the name of that boot you’re wearing?” “It’s called The BIG HIPPO…not embarrassing at all!”The guy who started it all: Charles “Big Hippo” Beckman! (Just kidding about his nickname)
There’s a bit of symmetry about our meanderings this year, since the first place we went – The Spam Museum – was essentially an advertisement for spam, just as this last museum was essentially an advertisement for Red Wing boots. And both museums were free. In the end, the Spam Museum made a sale: we bought 4 cans of the stuff after going there. The Red Wing Shoe Museum made a conquest (my heart toward footwear will never be the same), but with those prices, it might be a while before it results in a sale – it is hard to overcome my innate tightwaddiness. Even so, we tired of the spam after a couple cans, but I expect that if I ever buy a pair of those magical Red Wing boots, the shine will never wear off of them in my thoughts.
This will be my last post for this year. Merry Christmas, friends! May you hear the sweetness of the gospel in your Christmas celebrations.
This post is made for deleting – and that’s just what I’ll do… in the morning.
When we started having children, my mom began making (among other things) a cross-stitched Christmas ornament for each one of them. They were so charming – I loved them!
When it was clear that we were done with the whole procreating business, she passed the pattern book on to me just for fun.
When our children have gotten married, I decided to make an ornament for each of their spouses for when they celebrate Christmas here with us.
Our youngest son got married last year and I am now working on the ornament for his lovely wife, Abby. I thought I’d work ahead of the need and make it over the summer, but here it is, three days before they get here and I’m just now getting it done. It’s pleasant work – I don’t do much counted cross stitch anymore.
I’ve thought about whether or not to make these for our grandchildren, too. We’ve got two so far and two on the way. It seems like a good idea, doesn’t it? Maybe I’ll work on those next summer…
Crafty friends, what kinds of ornaments have you made?
Yes, once upon a time, not so long ago, the two of us finished our tour of all the Minnesota State Parks and all of the hikes for the Hiking Club therein. We sent off the required stuff to get our plaques and then promptly forgot all about it, which was a good thing because it took them forever to get them to us. But today, in the midst of all the Christmas packages arriving, our plaques came as well. Perhaps we can think of it as a Christmas gift from the Minnesota DNR.
Each plaque is about 6.5 inches by 4.75 inches, to give you an idea of scale.
Those of you who have been following my blog for a number of years probably remember that I wrote a blog post for each hike. It gave me motivation to keep going, my general philosophy being that if I can eke out a story about something, it was worth the experience. Here’s a link to the very first one in which we nearly got annihilated by mosquitos. Read it just for fun. Frontenac State Park.
Once upon a time I said I would probably delete this in the morning.
Lynniebeemuseoday 