Home

It is taking me awhile to get used to the time change, so I haven't been doing much. Everyone is so happy to see me back. Especially my husband.

 These artichokes greeted me in my garden. I would of like to of been here to eat them, but you can't beat seeing them bloom.

My husband along with the sprinkler system kept my garden alive. The weeds are alive too. It is going to take me awhile to get rid of them. I even got my sewing machine out today. I haven't had access to my sewing machine for so long that I had to do some mending. Not very exciting, but once it is done I will be able to get back to some fun stuff. I have to say that I have to get used to the weather again. It seems so warm here. I also realize in looking at my garden that I missed a season.

It is time to go home

My sister Mary and her husband Todd put on a wonderful turkey dinner for Thanksgiving. The table setting was with my Grandmother's dish set.

Today is my last day here in Minnesota. I have had a incredible journey and now it is time to go back to my California life. I think it will seem strange at first. 2 1/2 months is a long time to be gone. I have many memories to take back with me. I think I was able to accomplish what I needed while here. Goodbye until I come back again. Love to my family and friends.

Swedish Institute

Last weekend my two cousins, Kathy and Debbie and myself went to the Swedish Institute in Minneapolis.

 The college that I attended in St. Peter Minnesota had a office there.

 They had all the past year books from the classes. My cousins wanted to see if I was in them. I had forgotten that my roommate and I had worn the traditional Swedish customs and were in a dance for the St. Lucia Celebration.

 There a large amount of Swedish people that immigrated and settled in Minnesota. This is a old mansion of a man who published a Swedish Newspaper.

 It was all decorated for Christmas.

 A beautiful stain glass window.

 My cousins looking at one of the table settings in one of the rooms.

 There was a lace display.

 Here we are in front of the beautiful fire place in the front hall entrance.

Then I spend a couple days at my cousin Debbie's home. We made some sliced vegetables and roasted them for dinner one night. Truly a delightful time.

A Little More

This the house that the nurse nuns lived in next to the hospital that I was born in. This house has been remodeled for someones home now. The hospital has been torn down. When they were taring it down I took home one of the bricks and use it for a door stop at my home.

 This is the view from the top of the bluff looking out at the City of St. Paul. This is the view this home has.

This is the power plant that the hospital had and someone has made it into a house.

 This is a house that my Dad and I would drive by as it looked so different to us.

I have been saying goodbye to my friends and relatives. I went to the Jerabek Bakery yesterday to say goodbye to my Dad's friends.

Memory Lane

My children used to ride in the back seat in my Dad's car when we would visit and one said to me do we have to go down memory land again. Well I spend the whole day today doing just that. What a joy. It is 57 degrees today with the sun shining it's heart out.

 First stop was my Dad's house. I took a look at the shed in the back yard and remembered that after my Dad and two of his friends build the shed he painted the body of a cow on the front. You were suppose to put your head next to the body so that you became part of the cow.

 Then I looked up above and saw the mail box that you could no longer see the writing Air Mail on the box. That is how my Dad got his Air Mail at his house.

 I found this duck in some weeds and rubble which he had used at one time for decoration in his garden.

 This weekend my brother in law cut away some of the wall on the flower planter at the end of the porch that had begun to fall a part.

 Then I drove down into the old neighborhood that my father grew up in. This is one of the last little neighborhood markets. When my father was young and even when I was about every 12 blocks there was a small grocery store. My German Grandfather owned one. I used to visit it when my uncle would deliver the fruit and vegetables and sometimes I would get a banana to eat.

 This is the first duplex that my father owned. He and his brother had a paper out and he had saved his money and was going to buy a car. His father would not let him, so at 19 years old he bought a house.

 Then I drove to down by the Mississippi River. Here are the old mushroom sand caves. When I was five my father and I went down to one of these caves and they had the best white sand. He built a huge sand box under a large tree in the back yard and filled it with this wonderful white sand.

 You can see they have filled the entrance of these so people do not go in them any more.

Then it was to look at the High Bridge. It was the one that we had to cross over the Mississippi River to get to downtown St. Paul.

 Here is the library that I used as a kid. It was in the days when Carnegie was going through the country building libraries. I am sitting in it right now using the internet. It sure didn't have that before.

 Across the street is this historic house that I remember when I was a kid. The walls that are around it are typical of the old time walls on many homes. The above picture shows the carriage house that they use now as a garage.

Thanks for coming along. I hope you enjoyed our journey.

Tornado

This is a house that was two blocks from my sister Roxanne's house where I am staying.

 There were two huge trees that were up rooted. They are working on removing the trees.

There was another tree that the whole top of it was taken off by the wind and landed in the street at the end of her block. I heard the storm in the night, but was too tried to get up and look out the window. My brother in law went to the street that I grew up on and said that there was tree that had gone over and was on top of a car. I drove up to my Dad's house to see if there was any damage as one of the centers of the tornadoes was in his area and there was no damage. I think I am going to experience some of the different weathers they have here before I leave. Right now we are having 50 degrees, which they are very happy with.

Today

is the day that my father's friends meet at Jerabeck's Bakery. They all exclaimed when they saw what I ordered for breakfast. The cream puff I had to have because my Grandma always made these for my birthday. I haven't had one in years. Dad's friends watched me try to put it in my mouth gracefully.

 Here they are discussing the local world for them. They all come from very interesting careers and are truly caring people. One of them is going through cancer and they are reporting to each other the status and we signed a card to send to him.

 Here my cousin is trying to get a picture of the cream puff.

 Me enjoying my surroundings.

Busy

Yesterday I took a trip to Hudson, Wisconsin to see my college roommate. We gave each other a hug and said can you believe that we have known each other for fifty years. Even though we don't see each other very much, we can begin talking where we left off the last time we say each other. I had called her to tell her that my father had died and that I would be in town for a while. She then told me that her husband had died a couple weeks after my father. We processed our griefs together. We realized that we have learned so much in our lives. It was fun to talk about our children and their children. She has such a beautiful piece of land that the winter is putting to sleep, but will wake up in the spring and she will enjoy a part of her husband putting in his vegetable garden. Goodbye to you this visit and looking forward to our next.

 Woke up in the morning to find the first snow. I began to think it is time to home. I drove later in the day when most of the snow had disappeared.

 This wonderful lady was a friend of my fathers. They met when her husband was alive and my step mother was alive. They had a many conversations at the bakery where they had coffee. She offered to take me out to dinner tonight. She told me stories of her life and how much she missed my father. It is nice to be with people that miss him too.

Thank You

To Rhonda's Creative Life Blog. Rhonda asked if she could put on her blog my story about my father and a wooden foot he gave my son. She also told the story of the foot print in the sand in her Sunday night reflection. She didn't know it, but I gave that story to my step mother some time ago and she hung it on her wall. When my step mother died I took it off the wall and brought it to my father and read it to him to give him courage and tell him he could make it through his wives death. He called me his strong daughter as I told him that he would be able to do it with God being beside him. Then when I learned that he was dying in the hospital I brought the story to him and read it to him again. I hadn't realized what that story and the wooden foot had played in my life. Thank you Rhonda for all that you do for so many people. http://rhondabuss.blogspot.com/2012/11/sunday-night-reflections_11.html

It's Coming to a End

This is the refrigerator that my parents still had in their basement. It was the first one that they had and I think it is from the 40's. It still works. A friend came today and took it to put it in his cabin up north. He was so excited.

 The friend said that it was so heavy, almost like a car. They had to take the front door off to get the refrigerator outside.

 There were a few other things that didn't sell at the estate sale that my friend was getting rid of for us. A old wood file cabinet, portable dishwasher, stereo and a bumper pool table.

 We took up the carpets and there are nice wood floors. This was my parents bedroom.

The estate sale went very well and we had many people. Even at that there were still things to find new homes for.

Church Today

Today was All Saints Day at the church that my Father and Mother attended. They light a candle for each person in the church that has died during the last year. My sister and her husband and their daughter, my brother, cousin and myself were able to attend together. My parents were pillars of this church.

 In honor of my father they played the song that he requested for his funeral. It is a song that was used during the first world war. It was done with a piano and violin. It is a very beautiful song. You can find it on You Tube, so you can listen to it.