Seasons

Northern Peacefulness

"No matter what your age, there is a time when you turn on the gas to your brain and the pilot light is out."           Erma Bombeck

"What happened?"  The WT's are wondering.  "Wasn't it just spring three days ago?"  We're holding our picnic baskets wondering where the next picnic will be.  School buses are driving by and the fall sports are full steam ahead.  We have not noticed any robins lately and the geese have been spotted gathering together discussing who the flight leader will be.  At least they don't have to tolerate politicians ad nauseum on T.V.  

Mary is busy teaching seminars and we are enjoying viewing her new apron cut out fabrics.  Lorraine is having the outside of her house painted in the midst of company for a granddaughter's wedding and dust rising up from street construction.  Naomi, Elsie and Nancy are cutting back on their gardening.  Deer have developed a gourmet appetite and are munching on favorite plants of the gardeners.  

WT's are looking forward to the Pumpkin Fest in a few weeks.  There is a run/walk race, crafts, a quilt show, food and pumpkin pie.  The local Evergreen Company is advertising for flat needle balsam branches and taking applications for employees.  The annual All Slav Fall Festival is coming up.  The florist tells us that fall decorating time is here.  Fisherman are reminded that it's time to winterize their boats--they dare to use the word, winter.  We may complain now and then but we do like the change of seasons--good for the mind, body and soul.

   

Progress

Progress is noisy, dusty and interesting.  Shovels are crawling along piles of loose dirt, tipping precariously, there is constant beeping of equipment backing up, houses vibrate when the work is nearby.  Young men are working hard, taking off their shirts and hanging them on trees at 46 degrees, steam rising from their bodies.  They are polite and accommodating.  The holes are dug and filled up faster than anything can be put into them.  We are hoping for tarred streets by October. 

The WT's thought that this was a very "cute" machine.  When it zips around, it looks like a little robot, a man can barely fit into it.  The WT gardeners would find this to be handy. 

 

 We had five WT's at coffee this morning, on a misty, rainy day, a touch of cold in the air.  Not much on our agendas, a day for catching up in the house.  The road workers aren't out in the rain today.  Mary presented a program about her apron collection on Saturday and Lorraine attended a fund raiser spaghetti dinner and learned that she had many shirt-tail relatives she had never met. 

Our town is experiencing many changes.  We were happy to have a new asissted living facility and two dollar stores in town.  But, we are saddened to have our drugstore going out of business, our dentist retired and the floral shop is for sale.  We are hoping for better times.  

 Our Shopper is full of fall events:  a Corn Feed at the Baptist church, sports sign up, an all Slav fall dinner, firewood for sale and a last round of various community picnics.  Church activities will increase--quilting, etc.  We will try to keep up. 

Obstacle course

 

The monsters are waiting to devour the neighborhood.

The WT's have been in short supply, lately.  There are often 2-3 of us out for morning coffee.  Summer has everyone scattered about and we have to plan ahead to get out of our neighborhood. There is major construction going on--digging up rusty pipes that are decades old and hauling in 

mountains of gravel, etc.  Sometimes, we have to check with a worker, hoping we won't be trapped in our driveway for the day.  

Since we are having a decent summer, weather-wise, we now have something else to converse about.

Our water supply is coming from water hydrants, through hoses into our outside water faucets.  Seems rather backwards.  Otherwise, the WT's are hanging in there.  Lorraine has two grandchild weddings this summer and celebrated an aunt's 100th. birthday.  Mary is very busy with seminars.  Tee makes a weekly trip to visit with her husband in a nursing home, Sharon's husband is doing well.

We had a wonderful opera during the Northern Lights Festival--"The Merry Widow". 

Another Loss





Last June, we lost another WT, Lil.  She was not able to be with us for several years, having to be in a home because of health and memory issues. 

She is remembered for her kindness, creativeness and being a good

neighbor.                                                                                                         



Changes

A WT had this feather in her front yard one morning.  It was embedded in hard, dry soil.  How did it get there, upright and unbroken?  (It would be difficult to push it in without breaking it.)  Most amazing is that it withstood wind and rainstorms--standing upright in the elements.  The WT's have been standing upright the past year, through difficulties. 

Lorraine lost her husband last November and Pat's husband passed away two weeks later.  Sharon's husband has been treated for cancer and is doing well.  She has been busy helping him with nursing duties.  The days escape us as we all adjust to life's changes.  Time "jets" by.

We celebrated Elsie's 90th. birthday in June.  She's doing very well, active in church, clubs, family and gardening. 

Last October, we arrived at our morning coffee stop restaurant, (for 20 yrs. plus), to find a sign on the door: CLOSED.  We were stunned and had to find a new place.  Adjusting to a restaurant with coffee groups that were settled into "their" usual tables was not comfortable.  We felt displaced after feeling quite in charge of our own table in the past.  The new place is across the street, quite noisy with several tables of people in vibrant conversation.  We can still be flexible, although it takes longer to adjust, with a little mumbling added.  We're still keeping upright.

Amazing Nature





This beautiful hint of Autumn was growing in the crack between the boards on a WT's deck.  There is no dirt there. 

An unbelieveably intricate spider web was gently blowing in a soft breeze one morning on a WT's clothesline.  There were several long strings of web attached to this "doilie" web from the branches of an evergreen tree next to the lines.  The WT's are always happy to see the many ways nature never ceases to surprise us. 



Time Flies

We hope that you are having a wonderful summer.  We appologize for the great lapse of time that has gone by since our last posting.  Time has a way of escaping from us. 

The gardening WT's have been struggling with late blooms this summer.  Since we had snow storms in April all things have slowed down.  We traded our clouds of snow for clouds of mosquitoes which makes gardening very difficult and annoying.  It would be convenient if the deer, who munch on the best blooms, would eat mosquitoes.  The deer have been seen eating some of Mary's green apples.  They can't wait.  

Our towns enjoyed another season of the Northern Lights Music Festival with classical music played by students from various parts of the world.  The opera, la Boheme was produced with great success.  The tickets were sold out.  Only in a small town can you purchase tickets to an opera at the local lumber company/hardware store.  There was an archery tournament in town.  This is the latest popular sport.  We had our local Fourth of July Fest and the Water Carnival in our neighboring city. 

Irene is recovering from an ordeal of complications, while having a pacemaker put in.  Pat is enjoying having her daughter with her and continues to support her husband in the nursing home.  Tee is doing the same, as her husband is also in a nursing home.  Lorraine's husband is still maintaining at home, with her care.  Elsie's son and his friend were visiting and gave a wonderful organ and piano concert at the Lutheran church.  They also brought a small choir from their home church in North Carolina to sing and visit the north country.  They were amazed to see live wolves at the wolf center.  Mary is busy writing a new book on appliques and sewing up samples.

The three area Lutheran churches are sharing one pastor and have added the Methodist pastor as part time help.  It's an exciting time to see what we can accomplish, sharing our talents. 

There is a little hint of fall in the cooler air, after a very hot month.  The fall schedules of events will be up and running soon.  We will try to keep up.