A Bavarian Blast.

21 Jul

I write from my private-room-shared-bath home for the next week at Madeline Island School of the Arts.  I haven’t been here long.  Since getting on the 6:30 ferry from Bayfield, I’ve unpacked and attended the wine and cheese party before coming back to my room to opt for comfy clothes and blogging.  My first impressions of the week to come?  This is not a place people my own age go. [One of the youngest people here.  Mostly retired folks.]  I share a bathroom with a woman named Bambi.  There are three classes going on this week; the instructor of the painting course is Spanish and attractive.  [Woman in my class says to me as he walks in, “I think we took the wrong class.  Our instructor didn’t walk in with a shirt half unbuttoned!”  … our instructor is also a woman.  Two older retired women I walked back to my room with said they were taking his class because he was cute.  Ha.]  Paul, a physics professor at Augsburg in Minneapolis is here while his wife takes a class; he offered to be my bike riding buddy.  And I’ve just been here for a couple hours!  I think there will be stories, folks.  Lots of stories.

Until more stories unfold, I must tell you about my day yesterday.  The Bavarian Blast in New Ulm.

New Ulm is about 1.5 hours from me.  I traveled there to meet my friend, James.  James is a friend from seminary, currently serving his first call in Pennsylvania.  He was in MN visiting his dad and en route to Iowa to visit his mom.  The Bavarian Blast in New Ulm seemed like the perfect place to reconnect.  Why not, eh?

What’s a Bavarian Blast?  Three stages of polka music.  Brats and strudel.  Beer.  Lots of guys with super white legs in lederhosen.  A viking.  A wiener dog race.  And – wait for it – people dressed as gnomes and morel mushrooms!  I kid you not.  It was an experience.  We ate lunch and enjoyed the polka music for awhile before leaving to explore more of New Ulm, including the downtown and the Herman the German statue.  [It’s a thing.]

Here’s what I walked away with: Friends are fun.  It was so great just to explore something new with a friend.  It was so great to laugh and catch up and hug.  I miss that – exploring random places and random events and having fun no matter the surrounding.  Le sigh.

Would I go to the Bavarian Blast again?  Eh.  It was $9 to get in.  $9 for three stages of polka music.  I could probably pass.  But make it an outing with a good friend and I probably wouldn’t put up too much of a fight. And the next time I would be sure to dance with a gnome.

HUGE tent of polka.
Can you see the gnomes and mushrooms dancing the chicken dance? I lament I did not join them. I could have danced with gnomes and instead, I let the opportunity pass me by.
Gnomes and mushrooms are friends.
Gnome!
The wiener dog race drew quite a crowd.
Herman the German.

Friday Favorites.

19 Jul

First, it’s Friday.  That is my favorite.  Tomorrow is Saturday [Bavarian Festival in New Ulm?  I think so.] and then it’s Sunday.  After worship on Sunday, I drive north.  To Bayfield.  Where I get on a car ferry that takes me to Madeline Island for my week long continuing education course at the Madeline Island School of the Arts.  I can barely contain myself.  It’s going to be a dream.

But, in the meantime –

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I made homemade strawberry fruit roll-ups and they were super yummy.  A little time consuming but worth the effort.

I devoured Where’d You Go, Bernadette? this week.  I think this one review from the Washington Post sums the book up perfectly –

Warm, dark, sad, funny – and a little bit screwball … This is an inventive and very funny novel that gets bonus points for transcending form.

What book is up next?  Well, I loved watching this story unfold this week – the story of J.K. Rowling’s pseudonym being uncovered mysteriously with a now deleted twitter account.  The Cuckoo’s Calling might be calling to me.

I’m wrapping up one baby quilt and bought fabric this past week to move onto the next.  I’m thinking stripes. Simple.  Straight-line quilting a la this tutorial.  [Spoiler alert: The fabric has monkeys.  Monkeys. I might need to add an appliqued banana or two.]  And my scrappy gumdrop quilt continues to grow on the design wall.  There is no rhyme or reason to it – only that they are scraps from my scrap egg basket.  [Most people have scrap bins.  I keep mine in an egg basket.]

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I’ve been enjoying Endeavour on PBS Masterpiece Mystery every Sunday night.  After being alerted to the joys to Downton Abbey, I’ve become more aware of the awesome programming Masterpiece offers.  Sunday night. 8-9:30pm.

I think that’s quite enough for one Friday.  Happy weekend-ing!

I had professional pastor photos taken.

16 Jul

 

 

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Today was my favorite.

15 Jul

Do you want to know why?

First, it was a confirmation planning day all day with my favorite reverends – jD and Laura.  We drank coffee, wrote on big pieces of paper, and dreamed about what confirmation will look like at our churches this fall.  Big picture dreaming days with fun pastors are always my favorite.

Because I had friends coming to church, I had a reason to bake.  This chocolate-banana-zucchini bread got rave reviews.  It was pretty delicious.  Baking and sharing is my favorite.

After a favorite day at work, I drove to Owatonna because some of my favorite Dawson people moved there today.  My best-friend-forever, Carter, and his family are now only a 30 minute drive from me.  I see Legos in my future.

I came home to catch the last bit of The Bachelorette [where Brooks is my favorite].

Now I will iron some gumdrops and read a book before bed.  [I’d forgotten reading fiction was my favorite until recently.  After devouring a couple books in the last couple weeks, I’ve started in on Where’d You Go, Bernadette?  Delightful.]

Favorites, favorites everywhere.  Let’s hope this is a trend.

Life …
might …
be …
looking …
up.

Let’s not jinx it.

Friday Favorites.

12 Jul

Hey.  It’s still Friday.  For another hour and a half.

In addition to beautiful weather, another day of day camp, and being randomly selected to earn $30 from the Nielson ratings people for filling out a TV diary for a week, these are my favorite finds of the week —

I’ve been quilting up a storm lately.  When the quilts-in-progress are complete, I want to make bags.  Maybe a messenger bag?  Or oilcloth pool tote with mesh pockets?  Or maybe I’ll just start another quilt.

I went strawberry picking again today, this time with jD, Lauren, and Elliot.  [Then we went out for lunch in Faribault.  It was delicious.  And fun.]  I might attempt strawberry cinnamon rolls or these strawberry lemonade scones.  Yum.

I told you awhile ago about homemade magic shell for ice cream.  I wasn’t lying.  Here it is, spelled out.  Two ingredients.  Endless deliciousness.

Looking for a delightful movie to redbox?  Warm Bodies.  Don’t make that face – it’s about zombies.  Zombies with heart.

Time for finding favorites this week was limited …  I think that’s all I have this week.  Happy weekend!

A weekend of awesome.

9 Jul

I’m going to tell you about my weekend.

It was wonderful.

I cleaned.  I strangely love cleaning on a day off.  It helps me feel productive and less guilty for the rest of my time at home spent … not cleaning.

I read.  I finished Insurgent [the second novel in the trilogy by Veronica Roth] and picked up a few books that I’ve been nursing along for a couple months now.

I picked strawberries.  It’s just not quite summer if I don’t pick strawberries.  I drove to just south of Faribault and picked eight pounds of delicious, red strawberries with bright green leaves.  I’d forgotten what a far cry locally picked berries are from the store-bought ones.  What am I doing with eight pounds of strawberries?  Eating them.

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I quilted.  I finished the top of a banana baby quilt, sandwiched it, and then started in on the gumdrop quilt I told you about in my last post.  I just couldn’t wait and happened to have all of the supplies on hand.  I’ve been cutting and fusing and cutting and fusing lots in the last few days while watching Arrested Development.

I went shopping with Paige.  We met up at the outlet mall and shopped a bit.  I picked up a few needed items for my kayak trip.  [Headlamp?  Check.  Sleeping bag?  Check.  Wilderness wash?  Check.]

It was such a great weekend of all of my favorite things.  Up next is the second day of day camp tomorrow at Red Oak Grove – also one of my favorite things!  We’ll just erase the tense council meeting from last night from my mind and pretend only favorite things exist.

Friday Favorites.

5 Jul

After a week hiatus, I’m back.  And I must say – three day weekends are my favorite.  It’s nice to have a holiday that falls on a Thursday and not a Monday because that means three days off for this person who has to work on Sundays.  Also my favorites –

Feedly.  Normally, many of my Friday Favorites would come from the blogs I follow on google reader.  Google reader met its planned demise on July 1st.  Google shut it down.  On June 30, I made the dreaded switch to another feed reader, Feedly.  And I love it.  Almost more than the dead google reader.

This summer veggie tortellini looks super yummy.

When you eat with a knife and fork, do you cut and switch?  This story is about the ways Americans eat … and why we should change.  I find this whole idea fascinating.  It comes on the tail end of finishing David Lebovitz’s book about living in Paris, in which he talks about how once the French start eating a meal, they never put their knife down.

I had no plans yesterday for the Fourth, which was really okay.  I did miss my Bananas, the people with whom I spent so many Fourth of July’s, having so much fun.  While missing them, I spent the day cleaning, washing furniture slipcovers, and quilting, all of which were really okay.  I dived back into a baby quilt that needs to be done soon and spent time thumbing through quilting books I had just checked out from the library.  It’s in one of those books that I fell in love –

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I want to make this quilt.  It’s primarily scraps and so simply awesome.  Think it would make a cute baby quilt?

Speaking of babies, have I shared with you this photo of a baby in a crocheted Cabbage Patch wig/hat?  There is nothing more adorable.

Recommended reads.

3 Jul

I read for about six hours last night.

 I read through dinner.  I read as Mabel and I went for a walk.  [One of the many joys of a kindle – very easy to read and walk.]  I read past my bedtime.

A couple days ago, a friend posted on Instagram a photo of two books.  Her caption was something like, 950 pages in two days.  I got excited.  I love books like that.  The kind you fly through and the kind that you can’t stop thinking about.  The kind – when you have to do other stuff like, uh, work – that infiltrate your mind so all you think about is when you can start reading that next chapter.

Yeah.  These are those books.  It’s the Divergent series by Veronica Roth.  It’s very Hunger Games-esque young adult fiction.  Only two of the three are currently released.  They’re by no means new to the scene either.  Both New York Times bestsellers, I’ve somehow missed them until now.  As of 12:45 this morning, I’m about halfway through the second one.  I’ll finish it tonight.  Then I have to wait until October.  October.

Sometimes I feel a little weird, getting sucked so deeply into books written for teens.  But then I don’t care.  Books are books.  And I love a book you can’t put down.

Highly recommended, folks.  But probably best to read when you have a free weekend.  [I was going to wait until this long weekend to read them.  But then I didn’t.]

Day Camp: June Edition.

26 Jun

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Last year’s day camp at Red Oak Grove was a hit.  I loved it.  The kids loved it.  The elderly loved that the kids loved it.  This summer, we organized it so there was not one day of camp but THREE!  One in June, one in July, and one in August.

We kicked it off today with group games, fun snacks, awesome crafts, and great kids.  It was a blast and a half!  We had fourteen? fifteen? kids and we spent the day practicing joy, kindness, and generosity – three fruits of the spirit we focused on today.  They are already pretty good at all three of those.  They are so great.

Linda, a church member and grandma to many of the kids in attendance, came for the whole day of camp.  She also is super great at joy, kindness, and generosity, and I was so thankful she came for the day.  At one point, she said to me something a la I can tell you’re in your element.  It’s teaching and ministry together.

Yes.  Today I remember why I love this job.

Addison, day camper and to-be second grader, sent me this email on her mom's account an hour after camp ended.

Addison, day camper and to-be second grader, sent me this email on her mom’s account an hour after camp ended.

 

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An Alaskan recap.

23 Jun

I went to Alaska and now I am home.  I still slightly loathe the second part of that sentence.

It was a good trip of family fun.  Boating on Ben’s new boat, kayaking on a glacial lake, and record high & sunny weather.  [We’re talking upper 80s with huge piles of snow still melting in parking lots, and Alaskan houses that don’t have air conditioning.]  We explored what there is to explore in Valdez [read: not much] including a couple museums and shops catering to tourists.  I learned that I like coleslaw [that kind that isn’t swimming in white goo] and you can make your own magic shell for ice cream using coconut oil and chocolate.  [Thanks to Ben’s girlfriend for both of those culinary discoveries.]  I devoured Mindy Kahling’s book.  It was also quite an experience to wake up every morning and see the mountains after a night when it never really actually got dark.

Though the downside is we don’t see him often, it’s quite convenient to have a brother who lives in Alaska.  Especially one who owns four kayaks and a boat and a house.  We were able to have a great trip doing loads of fun things that would have cost the normal traveler a bundle and a half.  Thanks for letting us visit, Ben.  See you again in your neck of the woods in another two years?  I sense a tradition beginning …

MSP > SEA > ANC
A favorite Anchorage place. I took this photo to make my older brother, Matt, super jealous.
Thai Chicken @ Moose’s Tooth
Rebecca the Rental. She was a feisty Ford Fiesta.
If you’re going to grafitti, I like this approach.
Enjoying the drive from Anchorage to Valdez.
Bridal Veil Falls outside of Valdez.
Valdez Harbor.
Ben is the captain. Ursula is his boat.
Sea lions. Sea lions!
A stop at Anderson Bay.
11pm, people. 11pm.
Kayaking at the Valdez Glacier.
We couldn’t get up close and personal with the glacier because there was still ice on the water. [It was chilly water!]
Perfection.
Lunch at a Thai food truck on the route back to Anchorage. According to Ben – best food value in Alaska. You always go to Glenallen hungry.
To Anchorage we return.

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