Happy Birthday Laura

Today is the 149th birthday of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I was first introduced to Laura via the Little House on the Prairie television show. I had no idea there was a Minnesota connection until one day they were talking about going to Mankato.  I remember being amazed…Mankato was in Minnesota!. And so is New Ulm, Sleepy Eye, Minneapolis and St. Paul! It seems like they were always running off to Sleepy Eye, New Ulm, Mankato, and even Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Repeat episodes of the show were on Channel 9 every day at 4 o’clock, I never missed an episode. The show was filmed in California, and I was very surprised to find out years later there are no mountains in southwestern Minnesota.

In third grade I figured out that the series was based on books, and checked out “On the Banks of Plum Creek” from the library. This was my first “big book” and it took me two weeks to get through it, but I was hooked. “Little House on the Prairie” was next, and I soon worked my way through all of Laura’s books, as well as the Donald Zochart biography that was out at the time.

I checked the Little House Cookbook out from the library and I made the ginger water Laura drank while helping Pa with the hay in “The Long Winter” (I never made it again). I begged my Mom to make Almanzo’s favorite dish from “Farmer Boy,” fried apples ‘n onions (they are surprisingly good and go well with roast pork.) I also tried Almanzo’s popcorn in milk trick.

We went on vacation in Wisconsin one year and I made my parents drive through Pepin on the way back so I could go see the “Little House in the Big Woods” wayside. Since then I have been fortunate to visit her home sites in Burr Oak, Iowa, Walnut Grove, Minnesota and De Smet, South Dakota. I have a sunbonnet and wore it while wading in Plum Creek just like Laura did. I really want to go to Mansfield, Missouri to see her final home as well as Independence, Kansas. Seeing Almanzo’s home in Malone, New York is a little far-fetched but it is on the list…you never know.

I still own the series of books and will occasionally read one at random. Every winter I read “The Long Winter” to remind myself that the Minnesota winter is not that bad in modern times. It’s hard to pick a favorite because they are all unique and I love each book for a different reason, but if I HAD to pick one it would be “Little Town on the Prairie.”

With the recent publication of “Pioneer Girl,” the annotated biography of Laura, there has been resurgence in popularity of all things Laura. There is an excellent blog titled "The Pioneer Girl Project" about how Pioneer Girl came to be, and snippets of the book will be discussed on occasion: http://pioneergirlproject.org/

If interested in learning more about Laura, some good biographies have been published in recent years. William Anderson has published some great books that provide great depth to the Little House books: http://www.williamandersonbooks.com/.

Pamela Smith Hill was editor of Pioneer Girl to life. She has also written "Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Writer's Life" : http://www.pamelasmithhill.com/#!laura_ingalls_wilder/cavs. I have also had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Hill and driving her to her hotel room when I attended the first Laurapalooza in Mankato.

Another good read is "Laura Ingalls Wilder the Woman Behind the Legend by John E. Miller: http://press.umsystem.edu/catalog/productinfo.aspx?id=1768&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1.

It’s exciting to see the interest in Laura again, hopefully this will drive visits to the home site museums and bring them some revenue. Following are the websites to the home museums, give them a visit if you can, and if you are close by consider a visit.

Little House in the Big Woods: http://lauraingallspepin.com/

Little House on the Prairie: http://www.littlehouseontheprairiemuseum.com/

On the Banks of Plum Creek: http://www.walnutgrove.org/

By the Shores of Silver Lake, The Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, These Happy

Golden Years, and the First Four Years: http://www.desmetsd.com/desmet/visitors/laura-ingalls-wilder

Farmer Boy: http://www.almanzowilderfarm.com/

Not in the books but connections to Laura:

Burr Oak, Iowa: http://www.lauraingallswilder.us/

Mansfield, Missouri: http://www.lauraingallswilderhome.com/

A Tough Couple of Days

January 10 was not a good day if you’re a Vikings fan and a David Bowie fan.
I had the game on but was afraid to be in the same room with the TV. I had plans for the evening so chose that time to start getting ready, and I took a long time doing so. By the time I peeked around the corner and looked at the TV it was close to half time and the Vikings had the lead and Seattle had zip…a little concerned about the reliance on field goals but hey, points are points.

After half time I wasn’t quite ready to commit to watching the game exclusively, I can’t even remember what I did. I would sneak a look once in a while and things were looking good so I decided it was silly to watch the game horror-movie like through my fingers and things OK so decided to actually watch.

That didn’t last long.

When Seattle recovered from botched play I had a bad feeling, I couldn’t take it so I turned it off. Thankfully, Starz had an Outlander marathon so I watched that. I didn’t even turn the game back on, I checked StarTribune online, figured that was it and got the definitive text that the Vikings lost.

(I know, I know, the picture is old, but it fits.)

It was hollow feeling, and I didn’t know the circumstances, and I couldn’t believe that once again it was a missed field goal that did it. What the hell?

I don’t know what to think…is it a self-fulfilling prophecy? Is Blair Walsh to blame? If you look at it from the perspective that his task was to make that field goal, and he didn’t yes, he is. I’ve screwed up a time or two (ok, maybe more), you get taken to the woodshed, but you get back up, figure out a way to fix it, and prevent it from happening again. And if the people close to you are remotely human, they don’t remind of the screw up every five minutes or throw it in your face five years later.

In my experience when things go wrong it is hardly ever just one thing. It is usually a series missteps prior to THE thing that happens that gets all the attention. Football is a team sport, maybe if a touchdown or two would have been scored instead of relying on field goals, we might be singing a different tune. But, I wasn’t on the field, I was hiding from the TV, so I really can’t say much. All I can say is I’m sad it turned out the way it did, and really, really wish the Vikings fans were exuberant and we would be watching them play in Arizona.

I think one thing we can do is take in the wisdom of some first graders.

So if the Vikings losing that heartbreaker wasn’t bad enough, the next morning I was completely destroyed when I found out via Facebook that David Bowie passed away. The first thing I saw that made me go “huh?” was a picture of Bono kissing David Bowie on the cheek and he wrote “Planet earth is blue.” I kept scrolling then I saw the news, then I couldn’t stop scrolling, and so many of his lyrics were so fitting:

“The stars look very different today”

“Look at me I’m in Heaven.”

“Put on your red shoes and dance the blues.”

David Bowie always knew how to get our attention, and he sure caught mine.

I first became a fan of David Bowie during the 80’s, I specifically remember the videos for “Let’s Dance,”  “Modern Love” and “Changes.” I didn’t know much about his previous iterations, but discovered “Space Oddity” my freshman year of college. That best drives to and from Duluth were when “Space Oddity” came on the radio and I would blast it, the’84 Buick had great speakers and it sounded amazing. Out of the older stuff “Space Oddity” was favorite, followed by “Rebel, Rebel” and “Suffragette City.”

The last time he came to the Twin Cities on tour was 2006, and I remember distinctly I wanted to see him perform live but for some reason I couldn’t go. David Bowie was one that I really hoped I would see perform live, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be.

Later I read through the Facebook tributes and the tweets, looked at pictures and watched the news with a lump in my throat and a few tears on my cheeks, and thought about those drives when David Bowie sang to me to and from Duluth.

I feel strange being so sad and carrying on about someone I didn’t know, and didn’t know me, but he was part of my life, important parts. I first became a fan when I first started really liking music, and discovered a different part of his career when I was in college trying to figure out what kind of person I was going to be. It’s not just me today that’s sad, it’s the intermediate school-aged me and the college student that lost someone they admired.

I retweeted two things about David Bowie yesterday because they summed up how I felt pretty well.

BecauseXM: “If you feel sad, remember that the world is 4.54 billion years old & you managed to exist at the same time as #DavidBowie.”

Gianfranco Ravasi: “Ground Control to Major Tom Commencing countdown, engines on Check ignition and may God’s love be with you (David Bowie)”

Indeed. May God’s love be with you, David.

 

Is God a Vikings Fan?

The Minnesota Vikings are in a Wild Card Race, and will be playing the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. I feel a little odd writing this, since I have not watched ONE Vikings game in its entirety since 2011. I did turn on the Minnesota-Green Bay game on Sunday; I actually stayed up for it, and was pleased to see the Packers lose.

I am sad to admit that I am your typical Minnesota fair-weather fan; I don’t know what I enjoy more, cheering for the Vikings or cheering AGAINST the Packers.

Probably cheering against the Packers.

A former priest at my mom’s church once told the parish that he couldn’t wear the green and gold vestments as prescribed by the Church calendar when the Vikings were scheduled to play the Packers one Sunday. That is my kind of priest.

That missed field goal in the 1998 Vikings-Falcons game is burned into my brain. So my hesitation to jump on the bandwagon is a form of emotional self-preservation. To me, the Vikings are someone you keep giving a one more last chance to, because you want to believe them this time.

Maybe the Vikings really mean it this time.  It would be a great year, considering it’s the last year professional football will be played outside in Minnesota. A small part of me is looking forward to the Seahawks freezing their assess off at The Bank. You think Seattle is a wet cold? Baby, wait until you are in Minnesota in January, it’s gonna be a cold one tomorrow.

Wisconsin’s every futile rebuttal to any Minnesota victory or Wisconsin failure is “Oh, yeah, well at least weeeeeeeee won the Super Bowl.” It would be so satisfying to shut them the hell up once and for all.

Is God Vikings fan? I don’t know, but I hope he is.

Skol!

Stephen Colbert, How I Love Thee, Let Me Count The Ways

I don’t think Stephen Colbert needs any more press, but I am eagerly counting down the days to September 8, 2015, which is the day The Late Show With Stephen Colbert premiers. I have the series recording all ready on the DVR, and am anticipating being extra tired in the mornings on the nights I decide to stay up and watch. I long for those days when I could go to bed at 2 AM and get up at 6 AM with no issues.

I was never a regular watcher of The Daily Show or The Colbert Report, I don’t know why so I can’t say I have been a fan for years, but I thought he would be a good choice when they announced him as a replacement for David Letterman.

Warning: some of the links below have strong language and adult content; if you are shocked you probably haven't spent a lot of time with me. : )

The more I learned about him, the more I loved him, so I made a list of top 10 reasons why I love Stephen Colbert (in no particular order):

10. He can do a spot on imitation of Mick Jagger.

9. He loves being a Catholic.

8. When he breaks character he is even funnier. The spot at 2:51 is priceless.

7. He did a segment "Ask a Grown Man" which gives advice to young girls.

6. He loves "The Lord of the Rings" series and "The Hobbit" so much he played a cameo as a hobbit. Photo courtesy of Time.com.

He's kind of a nerd, and he is OK with that. He's a pretty hot nerd if you ask me.

He has done several other cameos as well.

5. He gave a touching, loving tribute to his mother. If you can watch this without crying, you are made of stronger stuff than I.

4. He's the new voice of Waze.

I updated my Waze, and I want to get lost on purpose just to listen to him!

3. The Colbeard had a life of it's own. He is a pretty hot looking Amish guy, and he should have stuck with the Wolverine, in my opinion.

Check out this picture while he was a student at Northwestern University. I don't like facial hair but I would make an exception in this case! Photo courtesy of Better with a Beard on Tumblr.

2. He funded every teacher requested grant in South Carolina.

1. He donated the funds from his SuperPac to charity.

See you on September 8, Stephen!

Photo courtesy of Vanity Fair.

What is a Hero

The recent news of the Americans who thwarted the terrorism attack on a French train has prompted me to think of heroism lately. I wholeheartedly agree, this was a tragedy averted.

It got me thinking about what is a hero.

When first thinking of a hero, Superman or Batman comes to mind at first. They larger than life and do stupendous things that are beyond the strength of an ordinary person.

After I graduated from high school I was asked to provide input on a planned symposium/workshop on heroism. I wouldn’t be around to participate but I was happy to provide my thoughts. When we talked about who was a hero I was surprised at the names that came up, some were famous, some were not. But clearly those names that were surfaced were thought to be a hero in one way or another.

My old office had a mouse problem, they would run between the cube walls and one was so audacious it would rush out into the common area. Whenever the mouse would be audacious enough to make an appearance near my cube I would scream and jump on my desk. I think my coworkers were quite entertained, every time I screamed heads would pop over the cube like whack-a-mole. I almost gave my poor cubemate, Tom, a heart attack with all of my shrieking. One night he went to Home Depot and got some mouse traps. He baited them and set them near the area where the mouse was seen. I think that day I sat with my feet off the ground the entire time. In the afternoon we heard a SNAP and the mouse was caught and disposed of. No more mouse, no more screaming.

Tom has sadly passed away since then, but Tom was my hero that day.

This Watchman Announces What She Sees

Like most people I was curious when the publication of “Go Set a Watchman” by Harper Lee was announced. However, I wasn’t a huge fan of the book or Atticus Finch. I saw the movie in Law, Justice and You class in 7^th grade (the same classroom where a certain classmate jumped out the window and subsequently received detention). I read the book in college, and I never really gave it a second thought until recently.

I put on my Kindle wish list and awaited the release date when it would magically appear on my Kindle app.

But then the reviews started, and they weren’t good.

As the publication date approached I questioned whether or not it was worth reading. In the end, I decided to form my own opinion and read it. One of the good things about having a bout of insomnia and waking up at 3 AM consistently that week was it gave me time to read.

What did I think? It’s OK…not horrible but not great. If you’re curious, I recommend giving it a try, strictly to form your own opinion, and not base your opinions on what myself or others think. To elaborate:

1.       You can tell this is Harper Lee’s first attempt at publication. The writing is rough in places, and I wonder what editorial vigor was performed on the manuscript.

2.       The pacing was a little slow in places, at some points I had to force myself to continue reading, as I sometimes got bogged down in detail that really didn’t lend itself to the story.

3.       I got in confused in the lengthy dialogue at times, I would have to go back and determine who said what, when, and who was saying what now.

4.       The back stories of Scout, Atticus and Hank were enjoyable to read and provide depth to the characters.

5.       It prompted me to look up the Bill of Rights and familiarize myself with the 10^th Amendment.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the controversy about Atticus being depicted as a racist in this book. In my opinion, this was a needed growth experience for Scout’s relationship with her father, and her views of where she comes from, and what the current events are at the time the book was written. I am being vague on purpose because I don’t want to give anything away, but I feel the whole “Atticus is a racist” outcry is a visceral reaction of some people who haven’t read between the lines and truly reflected on what is being said. When I finished, I truly wondered what Scout was going to do based on the conversation with Atticus, which is one of the things you do after finishing a book.

Granted, those that love the character of Atticus would be terribly disappointed in this revelation, but since I was not an Atticus lover I didn’t have that same reaction.

When I decided to write about this, I originally was going to base it off a story I read in Newsweek about how a bookstore in Michigan is offering refunds for those that did not like the book. However, I decided to focus on the context of the title, which is a verse from the Bible, Isaiah 21:6.

The context of that Bible verse is a vision of the fall of Babylon. The watchman is posted to look for and report “If he sees men coming on horseback, two by two, and men riding on donkeys and camels, he is to observe them carefully,” Isaiah 21:7.

The watchman (or sentry, as is written in my Good News Bible from confirmation class) reports that he has been at his post, and confirms that the men return, giving the news “Babylon has fallen! All the idols thy worshipped lie shattered on the ground.” Isaiah 21:9. (My emphasis added).

The chapter concludes with “My people Israel, you have been threshed like wheat, but now I have announced to you the good news that I have heard from the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel.” Isaiah 21: 10. (Again, my emphasis added).

Even though it is weak, I end this post with some questions for you:

Who is the Watchman?

Who is Babylon?

What are the idols?

What is the good news?

I encourage you to be your own watchman, and report what you see.

Fourth of July Memories

The Fourth of July comes at the height of the glorious, short summer in Minnesota. Thank goodness the founding fathers decided to declare independence during a sweltering Philadelphia summer instead of in the winter, it would be a much different celebration in Minnesota.

I always looked forward to Fourth of July, it was a time to have fun and see and play with the cousins, my Barbie’s and their entire wardrobe would accompany me because that meant it was time to play Barbie’s with someone else instead of me playing all of the roles.

Hosting the celebration would rotate among my dad’s family, it started out as my grandmother and great aunt hosting on alternate years, then some other families wanted in on the fun, at one point I believe it was a rotation of seven different families.

Shortly around noon we would all gather at the designated home, and before the meal we would all gather in the kitchen and pray the “Lutheran” prayer. My mom, sisters and I and some other cousins were Catholics and the invaders of this wide reaching German Lutheran clan. I would always do the sign of the cross and wonder if anyone saw me doing that.

Being Minnesotan there was a lot of food, and being German there was always a lot of beer! The table practically GROANED under all the food.  My grandmother would fry doughnuts, make baked beans from scratch, bake yeast rolls and her potato salad was famous because she cooked the dressing on the stove. There was fried chicken, and the salads were well represented: macaroni, three bean, fruit, and a beautiful seven layer salad in a cut glass bowl. Hot dishes, every kind you could think of, hamburger , potato, wild rice and of course tater tot! The desserts always included pies, apple, cherry, pumpkin, custard, there was not a frozen pie crust among them, and the pie crusts were all made with lard. My favorites were pumpkin pie (one was baked especially for me one year because the hostess knew it was my favorite) kuchen and a poppy seed cake with a cooked sugar frosting.

It was a time when our moms and grandmothers brought forth their best farm cooking, and it was a time to use beautiful serving bowls that were displayed in china cabinets that were gifts from weddings many years ago.

My mouth is watering as I think of that table.

The men would gather in the garage, under the trees, or wherever the keg was, and the women would sit in the living room or in the kitchen. The kids would go to the designated kids area. It was always so hot and humid, those farm houses did not have air conditioning, so all the doors were open to get that natural AC. There was either a stock tank or a wash tub filled with ice and water and covered with tarp to keep the pop and the non-keg beer cold. It was always a shock to plunge your arm into that freezing water while blindly grabbing a drink, hoping you got what you wanted.

Once our lunch was done, it was time to visit, play cards or other games, until chore time came and those that needed to went home to milk cows. Once the chores were done it was supper time and we all came back for a final meal before spending the evening at home and we would look forward to the next birthday get together. It wouldn’t be on the same scale as the Fourth of July, but it would rival it.

There was always a birthday, and we averaged a party almost every month. My dad’s extended family really liked to party.

As the years went on, the kids got older and we found other entertainment with friends outside of the family celebration. Then the kids grew up got married, and would maybe bring the new spouse to the family celebration for part of the day but then go to another celebration. Eventually the new families would find their own traditions and stop coming.

We have lost members of our family so the hosts dwindled down, now it is just my Mom and two other families left, and the attendance is pretty low. Mom asks me every year to come out but I decline, I miss those that are no longer with us, and I want to remember the Fourth of July as it used to be.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!