MARY GOES TO THE INAUGURATION!

As recorded by Mary on January 22, 2009:

While my memory still holds the facts of an exciting trip to see Barack Obama’s inauguration, I have this report to write. Thanks for your interest in my trip and experiences. If you can make the sentence “I know someone who was there” work for you, please go ahead and use it!
On Saturday, January 17, I left Minneapolis, flying to Philadelphia with my friend Doug and his 16 year old daughter Luci. We met people on the plane who were also traveling to the inauguration; one of my seat mates was a young man from England who has lived in Boise, ID, for several years. He was excited to witness the event and no longer have to apologize to people in England for his decision to live in the U.S. We rented a car in Philadelphia and drove through parts of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia to arrive at the home of Doug’s sister and brother-in-law, Janet and Jerry, in Alexandria VA. Having a place to stay made it possible for us to make this trip.
Janet gave us commemorative inauguration Metro cards and we used them on Sunday to go to the National Mall for the “We Are One” concert. It was a trial run for Inauguration Day for us and for the Metro system and all went well, at least in our view. One of the first things we noticed on the Mall was that it was lined with portable toilets on both sides, as far as the eye could see. We worked our way to stand somewhere between the Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool. (They say the pool was frozen over but after my experience of my snowshoe going through the ice on Doug’s lake, I went nowhere near the pool!) The concert was performed at the Lincoln Memorial. I had a fairly good view of the JumboTrons (large video screens--a new word for us) especially if I stood in just the right spot and taller people didn’t move around too much. Denzel Washington was one of the first celebrities to appear on screen. He and Tom Hanks, Jack Black, Tiger Woods, Queen Latifah, and other famous people who don’t sing read the words of people from past history. Abraham Lincoln was quoted several times. The singers included Bruce Springsteen, Usher, Shakira, Mary J. Blige, Stevie Wonder, Beyoncé, Bono, Josh Groban--plus many others. Garth Brooks really got the crowd participating when he came out singing “American Pie.” Beyoncé ended the concert with “America the Beautiful.” On our walk back toward the Metro stop, we paid $5 to have our pictures taken with a cardboard Barack, with the Washington Memorial in the background.
On Monday, we returned to the District, feeling like old pros on the Metro. Luci was especially good at figuring out where we needed to be and where to get off. In our Metro car were three women who were selling Inauguration pins. They had them pinned all over their black coats. I bought one and then asked to take their picture. We saw many innovative ways to make money: hand warmers I bought in Minnesota for $1 were selling briskly at $5, Inauguration postcards with proceeds going to the American Cancer Society, Inauguration programs with Obama’s Victory Rally speech at Grant Park in Chicago in November. Our destination on Monday was Senator Amy Klobuchar’s office in the Hart Office Building. We stood in line for at least half an hour to go through security to get into the building. Many of the others in line were there to pick up Inauguration Day tickets. We felt fortunate knowing that we had tickets from Senator Nelson of Nebraska, through Jerry’s connections and efforts. Amy’s offices were packed and there was food with the theme of “Minnesota Morning.” We managed to find a few pieces of potica, cinnamon bread, and apple chunks, all of the food coming from Minnesota. We weren’t able to see our senator as she was taking a break from talking to people and having her picture taken with them.
We stopped at the National Gallery of Art and walked through the Modern Art wing, had lunch at the cafe where we could sit down, and then returned to Alexandria and our Metro stop at Pentagon City where the car was parked.
Jerry and Janet spent the evening and night in the District so we were on our own and in charge of feeding their cats. Jerry’s sister Elaine arrived from San Francisco and we shared a delivered pizza with her. Elaine came to be a hostess at an Inaugural Ball at the Corcoran Gallery on Tuesday night. She showed us her ball gown and the vintage mink jacket she borrowed from a friend. We had a great time with her. After raiding our absent hosts’ wine cellar, we may not get invited back!
We woke up at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, Inauguration Day, and dressed in our warmest Minnesota clothes. I had wool underwear, lined wool pants, a Cuddle Duds underwear top, cashmere sweater, boiled wool jacket, wool scarf, SmartWool socks, Merrell shoes, and a winter coat into which I sewed extra pockets to carry mittens, a hat, binoculars, hand warmers, toilet paper etc. We took the Dash bus to the Metro station at Braddock Road and managed to squeeze into a blue line Metro car. We immediately lost all our personal space and it proceeded to get even more packed. A person in a wheelchair was in the car so it was impossible to move much. A ride that would have taken 20 minutes took 1-1/2 hours. The Metro conductor was on the microphone often to announce delays due to other trains being slow, sick passengers, closed Metro stops, and other problems. He seemed to appreciate that he had a truly captive audience so he reminded us that it was a celebration. We figured out that in the 8 cars of that Metro train was the equivalent of the entire population of Aurora.
The train emptied out at Federal Center and then we got into a massive crowd streaming toward the Blue Gate and the area where our tickets would allow us to stand for the Inauguration ceremony. There was movement in the line, but many, many people in front of us. Heard in line: the Texas Ball the night before had 11,000 attendees and one of the bands was the Amish Outlaws, former Amish men who still dressed like the Amish. About 15 minutes before the ceremony was to begin, we learned that we would not be able to get through security and the line was closed due to the area being filled. We actually heard many other stories about why we couldn’t use our tickets and stand in that area. You may have heard and read about the problems and delays that many ticket holders experienced.
Our solution was to go to the Rayburn Office Building for a reception sponsored by the Minnesota legislators. We raced to the building and stood in a short line for security. We managed to get to the reception room in time for Joe Biden’s oath and the remainder of the ceremony. So, leaning against the back wall of the committee room for Transportation and Infrastructure (MN representative Jim Oberstar’s committee) we watched the inauguration on CNN. On the up side, we were glad to be with a group of fellow Minnesotans and, as the crow flies, we were closer to the Inaugural platform (just across the street from the Rayburn Building) than we would have been with our Blue area tickets, there was free food, and accessible restrooms with toilet paper. Al Franken, Minnesota’s newest senator, we think, came to the reception so I got a picture of him with Doug and Luci.
We didn’t plan to stay in the District to watch the parade, so we started our walk back to the Metro stop at Federal Center. We saw that the line to the escalator down to the platform was several blocks long, so we chose to walk to Union Station to take the Metro from there. Along the way we watched the Army marching band and military marching groups form for the start of the parade. The Fife and Drum Corps in their George Washington style uniforms was very impressive. Luci noticed that the men wore hairnets over their gray wigs!
By the time we got to Union Station some of the crowds had decreased and we were able to get on the Metro and sit on seats. We saw Elaine all dressed up to leave for the Inaugural Ball and we put on our Obama t-shirts for Janet to take our picture. To make it easier to get back to the Philadelphia airport, we left Alexandria on Tuesday evening and drove to Delaware, stayed overnight with Howard Johnson, and then drove to the airport on Wednesday morning. We didn’t have any airport delays but did have to run in the Atlanta airport to catch our Minneapolis flight. On the way home, we stopped for dinner in Forest Lake and had our photos developed at Walgreens while we ate. I arrived back home in Aurora shortly after 10 p.m.
In a column in the WASHINGTON POST on January 19, Marc Fisher debates the advantages of staying home in front of the television to watch the Inauguration and of going there to be in attendance. He wrote, “ But if you go, you will absorb into the marrow of your soul the multitude paying tribute to the personification of the nation...The Brits have their coronations, we have this curious business of electing not only our head of government but also our head of state, then crowning him not in a palace but out on the street, before anyone and everyone...So you get this immense solemnity and the joy of the circus...this remarkably American blend of hallowed moment and laughter and gaiety. Hear the bands, smell the horses, stare at the faces, eavesdrop like there’s no tomorrow. History is happening. And however far back in the crowd you may be, you are living it, but only if you go.”
I bore witness to this exciting moment in history.

Anniversary Trip

Eugene and Lorraine continued their 50th. anniversary celebration by going to Jordan and Israel. It was a learning and study trip with a tour group. The first view of Jerusalem from the top of a hill, left them standing in quiet awe. The tour guide distributed bread and wine as an Old Testament welcome. Every historical, Biblical site was a moving spiritual journey--from the grooves in the cobblestones of old ruins created by chariot wheels to sailing on the Sea of Galilee. History became a living experience.

Eugene thought Lorraine should ride a camel on top of the Mt. of Olives. He said that the grand kids would be impressed. (They were.) Lorraine thought a person could get seasick, swaying back and forth, riding on the "ships of the desert" for a long distance.

The journey in the Holy Land was inspirational and safe. They would recommend it to anyone. Most surprising, was the multitude of buses and crowds of people.

MISSING JOAN!

Joan found out in late October that she has esophageal cancer. She's been at Mayo since early November when she started her chemotherapy treatments. She is now staying at Hope Lodge and keeps us posted about what/how she is doing--and she is very busy between treatments, appointments and socializing (even got in some cleaning!)

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She spent Thanksgiving with family in the Cities and had a nice weekend. No trip to the Cities would be complete without checking out the new American Doll store at the Mall of America (after all, Grandma Joan took a granddaughter to Chicago for an American Doll trip).
She said in an update that now "Grandma has the necessary items from American Girl."

She met with her radiation oncologist's PA recently. Joan was told that she is doing much better than many patients and she told Joan, "You are a tough lady!" We can all agree with that.

It sounds as if she is VERY busy during the day and there are many activities going on at Hope Lodge--music presentations, pot luck suppers and lots of socializing. Of course, all of this has to take place after watching Jeopardy for Joan.

She has about a week left in Rochester and then a month off before another round of scans and medical decisions to make.

She will be with family at Christmas--perhaps even going to Indiana to visit her son and family! She hopes to spend a week or so at home where we hope to have her come to coffee with us--perhaps we'll have to plan a party (after all, we do have wine glasses!).

ON THE ROAD AGAIN WITH MARY

Mary has had a busy autumn so far (with winter knocking on our door!). She's had seminar trips to Castle Rock (Colorado), Madison (Tennesee) and West Franklin (Illinois). She is off to East Aurora, New York, on November 14th for a Saturday seminar at the Aurora Sewing Center. Her last trip of 2008 will be to the Pittsburgh area.



A new item for her this fall is a pattern called "Table Toppings," which is a felt-based table or shelf runner with large appliques--six in the pattern for all seasons and celebrations.



She has also recently published two new sweatshirt books: Sweatshirts For All Seasons and Sweatshirt Makeovers For Kids. Both of these will be shown on "Sewing with Nancy" starting at the end of November--just in time for Christmas gift sewing for both adults and little kids. The sweatshirt topic continues to be a good one for Mary (it's how she got her "start").



For the coming year she is working on two new reversible apron patterns and also a "sewing green" topic for television with Nancy.



She will be posting her 2009 teaching schedule (See the link for her website--Mary's Productions--on the right) soon, and she will be VERY busy in March, April and May. The Midwest YaYa Sisters will be teaching in Florida at the end of March. Mary says, "That's a great time to leave winter behind" in Minnesota.

A LONG-AWAITED UPDATE!

It's been quite awhile since we last updated any news about our group for our loyal readers. We have been busy and it's hard to find the time to get the information out to everyone.

Mondays continue to be big attendance days for ouus at our "clubhouse." We had a good crowd for coffee this morning!

The Walkie Talkies also increased in size: Linda has joined our group since she moved back "to town." She is living in the former school superintendent's house. A completely new person is Darlene. She is the interim pastor's wife and they live in an old towns person's house. We are intrigued by the fact that we still label houses by their FORMER owners' names and we wonder how long it takes for the house to take on the identity of the new owner! They seem to be enjoying the WT's and are still sort of trying to figure out who we are and what we are all about (we are sort of strange but we are fun-loving!).

Dorothy brought a book from her cousins' reunion this past summer. One of the relatives made a book at one of those online places where you drop photos into templates and then you can order a hardback book of the layouts. Very cool.

Joan was to start chemotherapy at Mayo today. We haven't received an update yet, but we know that we soon will. We hope to get her address soon so that we can start to send her some cards to help speed her therapy and radiation sessions along!

In one week in September we had the centennial celebration at the Catholic church here in town, the dedication ceremony for the new school building, and a speaker at the library. The activities of the week illustrated that it's not boring here and that there are positive things happening. The Pumpkin Fest in October was well-attended and the weather cooperated to make it a great success.

The mayor is now in charge of the revived Holiday Heritage Festival. Our own Mary did a Postal cancellation design of a Swedish candle holder. She did many of these throughout the years and they have become real collectors' items. Local residents try to finish their holiday cards so that they can get them off in the mail with this special cancellation. There will be a light parade on the Friday night and a tree lighting at the community building, a home decorating contest, the usual craft sale and a kids' Christmas shopping store. The mayor also wants to have a baking competition, maybe with ethnic specialties. There will also be a dinner and dance at the local Legion Club on Saturday night, December 13th.

There is more happening, but this should do it for now--just to let you know that we are all still around and kicking. We will do some updating of the many travelers in our group and also keep you posted on what Mary (see link for her website) is doing.

Enjoy!!

NOT QUITE THE USUAL AUTUMNAL EQUINOX CELEBRATION!

In the past, the Walkie Talkies have celebrated the autumnal equinox by watching the sunrise over a nearby lake. This year we decided to find a quick geocache (see the geocaching link on the right) and then have lunch at Four Corners. There were eight of us that found the cache and then we crossed the highway and met the other four at the restaurant.

Tee, Irene, Jo, Linda, Janet, Mary and Lorraine at the cache site. We forgot to bring any "swag" to trade so we just signed the log and left for lunch.
Getting ready for a great lunch:

Mary, Janet, Linda, Lorraine, Irene, Tee and Jo.

"A good time was had by all," as they say. It was certainly nicer to celebrate at a decent hour rather than getting out to the lake at 6:00 a.m.

Yes, we do know that the Equinox is tomorrow, but who would dare to question a group like ours?!

We did miss the mimosas. Next time we'll have them!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO LORRAINE & EUGENE!

Happy Anniversary!

Lorraine and Eugene's family surprised them at the end of June. They were supposed to go to Duluth to ride on the Vista King with supposedly "free" tickets from their daughter. They went to Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream first and one of their sons and his family were already there. Suddenly their grandchildren from Albuquerque walked in. Lorraine and Eugene were in shock, especially when the kids said they had come by themselves! Then their parents parents walked in. They all got together to celebrate Lorraine and Eugene's 50th anniversary early (it is really in September). Their son from New Mexico hadn't been "up north" for five years. (They did go for the boat ride!).

Looking good (and young) and happy after 50 years!
The family (color coded): Steve and Lori's family in black, Jim and Sue's family in white, Mark and Sandi's family in turquoise and Lori in red.
Front: Logan Austin, Rachel, Sammi and Steve.
Middle: Lori, Kristina, Lorraine, Eugene, Marissa, Erika, Lori and Sue.
Back: Jim, Mark, Sandi, Michael, Tanner and Andrew.
Missing: Davin (Lori's son who is in the Navy and was home earlier in June).

Lorraine says, "Eugene is an only child and has enhanced our population by 25 people!"

While Mark was there the guys went out geocaching and found one of the Walkie Talkies' geocaches plus others in the area.

What a great surprise and neat get together for everyone!

PINE GROVE 2-STEP

The annual Relay For Life was held today. It has changed since we first participated beginning in 2001. This year it was called the Pine Grove 2-Step: Pine Grove is the local park. The "2-Step" stands for the fact that the money raised is going to two different groups: the American Cancer Society and Care Partners, which is a regional organization. Both are great causes.

The local committee decided to honor a person or a group that had given to the event in the past and the Walkie Talkies were the group that was chosen. We were involved in the first Relay For Life as committee members and a team. We participated for several years and decided to let other groups take over. We were the first Bronze Team and the first Silver Team, which means that we raised a lot of money for the cause!

Front: Emily, Jo, Lil, Mary, Helen S., Lorraine, Jodie and Dorothy.

Middle: Pat, Helen J. and Joanie.

Standing: Sharon, Tee, Janet, Irene, Elsie and Laurie.

We are kind of the "walking wounded," as Tee says. Joanie and Dorothy were recently hospitalized and many of us have some aches and pains!

John and Louie played some lively music and the Walkie Talkies took the first lap of the Relay.

Emily and Laurie do their own version of the 2-step to the music.
There we go--the committee gave us a special color t-shirt with our team name on the backs.

Jo wore earrings that were the same color as the t-shirts. She models them plus the scarves that Mary made for members through the years. (Jo was upset because it wasn't her "best side." We think she looks great!)

We do love to eat. Helen and Tee help the cause by buying lunch after our trip around the paths.

Pat, Helen J., Emily and Jo do their share.

We were all pleased that the committee decided to honor us the way that we did. It gave us a chance to get together as a group and to remember some of the great Relays that we enjoyed in the past.

WE WILL MISS HER!

We lost one of our own:

Anna passed away at the nursing home on Thursday, April 24th. She was a spark of laughter and reason for all of us through the years. We celebrated her 80th birthday in 2006 at Giant's Ridge (photo below). We will all miss her but will celebrate her life as we remember all of her antics and know that, because of her deep faith, she is in a better place!

It is still our loss.

ANOTHER FANTASTIC ROAD TRIP!

A great time was had by all!

Our road trip turned out bo be great fun again. We last attended the Plymouth Playhouse (see link on the right for the play) almost exactly two years ago; we saw the first "helping" of The Church Basement Ladies then. When we saw that there was a second "helping," we decided that another road trip was in order.

We left around 10:00 a.m. in three vehicles for the nine WT's from "up north" (Sharon and Tee drove, Joan drove herself because she was heading to Brainerd afterwards for a Knowledge Bowl event, and Jodie, who now lives in the Cities, met us there). We stopped in Hinckley to eat; the service was a little slow and we were afraid we would not get there in time for the Happy Hour at The Green Mill. Our intrepid (and fast) drivers made it there and we arrived around 2:30, which gave us plenty of time to check in, get settled, get changed and meet for a drink in the bar.

The waiter in the bar said that ten of us would not fit at the table. Little did he know what we can do--especially, when challenged! This was the same table that we occupied two years ago. Clockwise from the bottom: Pat, Elsie, Janet (hiding behind Pat--usually Tee is the one hiding!), Mary, Jo, Naomi, Joan, Jodie, Tee and Sharon.

After drinks, some of us went back to our rooms to change and the rest waited for the others to return. We got our aprons from Mary and headed off to take some photos and to eat.

Elsie (left) and her daughter Nancy. Nancy moved from out East to the Cities and works close to where we were staying, so she joined us for dinner. She was even gracious enough to wear an apron with us!

Mary, our "apron lady" (see the link for Mary's Productions on the right), does her best Vanna White impression before dinner.

Nancy also took our traditional group photo:

Seated L to R: Mary, Pat, Naomi, Elsie and Tee.

Standing L to R: Jodie, Joan, Janet, Sharon and Jo.

We had plenty of people coming up to us all evening to ask about the aprons. We gave out several of Mary's business cards, so we hope that they all look at her website and purchase books or something else from her.

The play was very enjoyable and everyone in the audience seemed to enjoy it--Lutherans are able to laugh at themselves and the Methodists and Catholics laughed the loudest! It was a little more poignant than the first "helping." There were two actresses listed in the playbill for the same character--the one that had played Mrs. Snustad in the first "helping" had a kidney transplant last November and an insert indicated there is a benefit coming up on April 21 for her. The character of Mavis was played by the same actress as the earlier play and she is still a riot!

As with all of us, the characters undergo some "life changes" during the course of the four acts. All of us can relate to these changes on various levels.

We even had time (and energy) after the play to have a "nite cap" in the bar!

The group had to get back for some evening events (we had already missed the Salad Luncheon on Wednesday to raise money for the Fourth of July): Some were going to a sloppy joe dinner followed by a town meeting, some were heading to Eastern Star, and others had still other meetings. We are still a VERY busy group!

Now we have to plan another adventure or two. Stay tuned!

Another Field Trip!

We (nine of us from the northland are meeting one who lives in the Cities) are off to the Cities to see the play The Church Basement Ladies: A Second Helping. Two years ago we had a similar field trip when we saw the first one. We had a great time and look forward to another adventure for this sequel.

We are heading out around 10:00 and will stop in Hinckley for lunch. Then we head to the Plymouth Playhouse where we will be checking into the "Play and Stay" package--staying at the Kelly Inn, eating at the Green Mill and then attending the play (and we will also do some "playing" to keep with the Play-and-Stay theme). We are sure there will be many stories to tell after this trip!

Of course, we will share them with our faithful readers!

President's Day

At coffee this morning we lamented that it was another miserable day and besides there would be no mail, no bank open, and no library open......so what to do? Well, anyone who knows the Walkie Talkies knows that it is time to go out for lunch. And, why not visit an old huant that we haven't been to in ages. So with that thought,, eight of us decided to head up to Four Corners for some comforting grease.

The road was a bit iffy, but we all made it just fine. A bonus.....it was Senior Citizen discount day......did any of us qualify? We'll never tell. We soon settled on hot tea with lemon and honey for this cold day. Then a variety of 'grease' to satisfy our tastes....au gratin potato soup, hamburgers and fries, patty melts, or deli sandwiches. Even a shrimp salad by one of our more diet conscious members!

Joan remembered her camera and just as she got up to take the required photo of everyone at the table.... another surprise! In walked Connie and Cal Maki. What a coincidence as we had just discussed how we always came here with Margaret before she died. (Connie is Margaret's daughter). We also talked about the birthday parties we used to have in January for Lorraine's doll Molly. We had a nice chat with Connie and then asked her to take our picture. She accomodated us and then Joan took one of the group with Connie and Cal.

So, here is our latest set of photos of the group doing what we do best.....eating.



Clockwise from back left: Janet, Irene, Nancy, Mary, Joan, Lorraine, Elsie, Naomi



Another shot with Cal and Connie standing in back.

Apron Day at the Bakery

Hello everyone. I bet you thought the Walkie Talkies froze to death in the snow and ice up here in the frigid northland. Well, I am here to tell you that that did not happen and we are alive and well.
We did have a hard rain on last Monday evening followed by a big drop in temperature, so we had a solid sheet of ice around everywhere. But, our city did a good job of sanding and salting and now the streets are pretty good for driving, and the sidewalks downtown are not too bad. Some residential streets are still pretty icy and many of us still have pretty icy driveways.
So, of course, what do the Walkie Talkies do when the going gets tough? They get going. Since Mary has a display of her apron collection in the Bakery in town, we decided we should all go for lunch one day and view the display and give our new bakery a bit of business. The date was set for last Tuesday, Jan. 29th but since that was the day of much ice, we postponed it until Thursday, Jan. 31. Thirteen folks showed up for lunch, including Becky who is visiting Mom Pat. Mary who orgainized the event was unab le to attend because of an emergency at her house.
We enjoyed the apron display and many of the Walkies wore old aprons of their own to lunch. Most of us could look at the display and comment that we had an apron like one of them. We also enjoyed our lunch, with many of us having a wild rice with mushroom soup and various types of sandwiches. Also popular was the 7 layer salad.
After eating, Pat announced that she was buying our lunches. They had finally received a settlement from their accident and she felt there should be some kind of celebration. We were all very happy to hear that the settlement had been acheived and thanked Pat for her thoughtfulness.
Naturally, we took pictures. Lorraine took a picture and then Becky took a picture so Lorraine could be in it. Emily arrived after pictures were taken. Bill Ojala also came to take our picture.



Clockwise starting bottom left: Lorraine, Elsie, Joan, Dorothy, Janet, Nancy, Tee, Sharon and Pat, Laurie and Helen





Clockwise starting bottom left: Elsie, Joan, Dorothy, Janet, Nancy, Tee, Sharon, Pat, Becky, Laurie and Helen

Another Holiday Breakfast

Happy Holidays from the Walkie Talkies.

Those that were around had breakfast at the Abbie this morning. It is always great to get together and we never need much of an excuse.

We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!

Front: Sharon, Pat, Dorothy and Mary.

Back: Elsie, Tee, Emily, Joan, Naomi, Lorraine and Janet.

Fall Report

WT's are on the road again. Mary spent some time in St. Louis, teaching classes at Jackman's Fabrics. The business has been in the same family for four generations, celebrating 105 years. Tee and Joan enjoyed an Elderhostel week in historic St. Charles. They visited the most haunted city in the country for a day, Alton, Illinois. They did not report ghostly sightings or unusual happenings. Lorraine was on a two week tour of New England, visiting historic sights, going through fourteen states and Canada. She came home to rest.

WT's Laurie, Emily and Irene are caring for and helping spouses who are dealing with illness. Naomi and Dorothy had knees repaired and are doing well. Nancy had a shoulder repaired during the summer. We are being helped with replacement parts and patching.

Our "Shopper" is advertising the coming local elections of a mayor and council members. We will watch the outcome with interest--a woman is running for mayor for the first time. The local bank reminds us to prepare for donations to the Christmas Hat and Mitten Tree. The Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts gathered 3,250 pounds of food for the local Food Shelf.

This is the week for Halloween parties and dances. We wish you good treats, especially chocolate.

A Very Happy Birthday!

Today we celebrated Pat's birthday with our traditional Danish and a candle. Pat has driven herself to morning coffee for a few days. She said that she's happy to be here. We are happy she's with us, doing so well after her accident.

The Wt's are planning to breakfast with the new Lutheran pastor on Friday. We look forward to hearing about her adjustment to small town life. Her two congregations are having a welcoming reception for her and her family this week.

Our "Shopper" is reporting the Baptist Annual Corn Feed and a Lutheran church auction. A successful Victorian High Tea Fundraiser was held for Catholic pilgrims going to Australia. The churches are not letting any moss grow under their faith.

The lists for school supplies are out and there is a youth hockey meeting scheduled. Jolts us out of our hot weather lethargy. The Wt's are doing well, keeping up with their social calenders.

Mary's NY Adventure: Her Report (as promised)

For the fifth decade of my life, and beyond, I plan to major in adventure travel, meaning that when there's an opportunity to fly somewhere distant to attend a celebration, I will call Northwest Airlines and find a way to get there, even if it's a last minute deal.

After church on Sunday, June 24, I asked Linda J. if she was planning to attend the ordination service for the new pastor coming to serve our churches--Our Savior's Lutheran and Faith Lutheran. Since she is the chairman of the call committee, I thought she would attend. On that morning she didn't have plans, but by Sunday evening, we both had airline tickets and a plan for Thursday, June 28.

We flew from Duluth to JFK in New York and Sara Neddig, a member of Ascension Lutheran Church, found us in the baggage claim department. Linda told her we were two old Finnish ladies and that she'd be wearing an aqua t-shirt. Sara is the custodian of the church and was excited about setting up for the ordination service on Sunday.

We stayed at a Hampton Inn in Comack, NY. It's in the central part of Long Island. On Thursday evening we had dinner at the home of our new pastor, Donna Olsen. Her husband John and daughters Meghan and Molly were there also. We learned that Donna would like to be called Pastor Olsen and that John had made all the stained glass windows at Ascension Lutheran. Meghan is a graduate student planning to enroll in a social work program and Molly is a political science student in Binghampton, NY.John and Meghan took us out to tour on Friday. We visited Sagamore Hill, Teddy Roosevelt's home on Oyster Bay, ate lunch at a diner, and walked on Jones Beach. We had dinner at the Olsen home and then found an Italian restaurant for a glass of wine before bed.

On Saturday we found our way on the Long Island Railroad to Penn Station in NYC. We met a mother and daughter on the train who gave us clear instructions for how to get on the correct train for our ride back to Long Island. We walked along Seventh Avenue from 34th to 50th Street. I couldn't resist buying a little silk dupioni and twill tape for apron strings at a fabric shop along the way. It was a sunny, breezy day in NYC and people watching was excellent. We saw the musical "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" and enjoyed that very much. Dinner was at Ellen's Stardust Diner where the wait staff sings between waiting on tables. When you aren't accustomed to using public transportation, it feels like a real accomplishment to figure it out, and then arrive back at "home", the Deer Park train station, safely.

We set the alarm for early Sunday morning so there would be time for breakfast and for attending church. Before the 10:45 a.m. service at Ascension we took pictures for the photo display Poster we planned to set up at both our churches. Ascension has about 1800 members, three pastors, and numerous deacons. Spanish language church services are held twice a week and many community groups use the church as a meeting place. Pastor Ryan who preached at the church service was a former intern and our pastor's mentor. He came from his church in Michigan to attend and participate in the ordination. At 1 p.m. the church sanctuary was full and the ordination service began with torch, cross, and Bible bearers, many pastors, and about 15 deacons. The music and lessons had all been chosen by Pastor Olsen and her husband and daughters read the lessons. Bishop Peter Strommen from our district here in Minnesota was there for the ordination and he told the congregation about Minnesota and the area where Donna was going to be the pastor. We found that not many people on Long Island know where Minnesota is, so the information he gave was interesting. The people attending the ordination were very impressed by him and that he would would interrupt his family vacation to come to ordain Donna....oops--Pastor Olsen.

Afterwards, the reception was held in the back yard at the Olsen home in Babylon, NY. A large canopy tent had been set up on Saturday and the caterers had another area for serving the food. About 200 guests were expected. The weather was perfect. Everyone we met welcomed us and told us how fortunate we are to get Pastor Olsen for our churches. It's very easy to agree with them from just the short time we spent with her in NY. She and her husband and daughters are a wonderful family. They are excited about coming to Minnesota, to living a less-hectic lifestyle here and getting involved in the communities.

Our return flights to Duluth went smoothly and we experienced none of the Northwest Airlines traffic delays and cancellations from earlier in the week. Our quickly planned trip was a great success and we were glad we made the effort to attend the ordination.

I arrived home to jump right into the Northern Lights Music Festival concerts and a marathon sewing session for costumes for "Carmina Burana" on Saturday. This festival celebration doesn't require an airline ticket!

Another Adventure for Mary!

Mary is off on another adventure. She says that it only seems as if she searches for trips to distant celebrations (We figure that adventures just "find" her). This one sounds like fun: She and another friend from her church are in New York (hopefully, they arrived there with all the airline hassles and power blackouts in New York City!) for the ordination of the new pastor for their local Lutheran church. The bishop from our area will be there to ordain the new pastor (Donna Olsen) on Sunday. Linda is chair of the Call committee and Mary is always up for another adventure, so off they went!

This is a second career for their new pastor. She has been a speech pathologist for many years. She has two grown daughters and she and her husband have lived on Long Island all their lives and have chosen to relocate to our small Minnesota town. We figure it will be a lot quieter than they are used to so the WT's will have to figure something out to liven things up for them! That never seems to be much of a problem for us!

Mary said that the receptionist at the Hampton Inn is anxious to meet the two "old Finnish ladies" as Linda described themselves to her. We will be anxious to hear all the stories when they return from this trip.

A 50 year reunion

Last weekend Joan traveled to the Twin Cities to attend the 50th reunion of her graduating class from Macalester College. While attending Macalester, Joan had lived at home so often didn't feel too involved with all the campus activities at the college. She was fortunate though to join up with a group of other students who lived 'off campus' and they have remained friends through all these years. This group gathers at least once every year for lunch, or dinner and lots of 'catching up'.

None of us had ever attended a rununion at Macalester, but some of us decided that since this was 50 years, it was time to attend the big bash and reconnect with our Alma Mater. So, Marilyn, Ginna, Lorraine, Dorothea and Joan (known at Pete to this crowd) met bright and early on Friday morning and drove over to Macalester to take part in the festivities of the day. After registering, we toured the campus and saw all the new buildings, and tried to envision some of our old haunts which are no longer there. We all hold many good memories from the Off Campus Lounge and the The Grill which were our main meeting places while on campus.

After our self guided tour, we attended the induction ceremony making us members of the Golden Scots Society. This ceremony was held in the college chapel. We were each called individually and received a 'gold' medalion commemorating our 50th reunion. Following a rousing rendition of Dear Old Macalester we posed outside the chapel for our class picture and then moved on to the Kagin Commons where we enjoyed a delicious meal....complete with wine.

Joan also returned to campus on Saturday morning to participate in a panel she was asked to join. The panel included members of the class talking about things they are doing that they are happy about and how Macalester influenced them in their decisions. Joan talked about the volunteer work she is involved in in retirement and how she was encouraged at Macalester to 'give back' to others because she had the privilege of a college education.

The five friends ended their reunion visit feeling happy that we had attended. We were all amazed at how many people we actually had connected with and enjoyed visiting with again. We were also somewhat dismayed at the long list of classmates who are no longer with us.



Five friends at Macalester reunion: Dorothea, Ginna, Joan, Marilyn and Lorraine

A Party for Jodie...June 6

Perhaps you have noticed that we haven't had too many new posts lately. There is a reason for that. Our faithful blogger Jodie is busy relocating to the Twin Cities and the rest of us are very sluggish in getting blog postings done.

It is a Walkie Talkie tradition to host a party for any walker who decides to relocate, so today was Jodie's day! True to form, when there is a party, our Walkers show up in force. Sixteen of us gathered at the Lodge at the Ridge for lunch and a fun visit with Jodie. It was especially nice to have Pastor Ruth join us (she had previously relocated), and to have Pat with us along with her visiting sister Nancy.

Jodie reports that moving has gone well. There are only about 15 boxes left to unpack. They have been busy connecting with family and friends in their new area. They have enjoyed a short reprieve at their cabin up north, but will be returning to the Cities to finish their unpacking and prepare for Sandy's upcoming fishing trips. A return to the cabin is planned for late June and Jodie promises to come for morning coffee while they are there. She said she also hopes to get us out on a geocaching adventure yet this summer.

We will miss Jodie's everyday presence but do hope to see her occasionally when she is in the northland. Of course, we may need to plan a field trip to the Cities to see Jodie's new digs. Here are some photos from todays gathering.


First a group photo: Left side of table: Pat, Helen, Jodie, Elsie, Naomi, Laurie. Lorraine and Mary (Elsie and Naomi are hiding)
Right side: Nancy, Tee, Joan, Ruth, Irene, Sharon, Emily and Dorothy


Jodie opens her gifts....first a frame to hold her favorite Walkie Talkie Picture


Next an apron crafted from Mary's fabrics and put together by Mary and Lorraine


Jodie models the apron!