Proof Positive & Happy New Year!

    It's not that any proof was lacking. Living in a building where 84 was average age, three years ago, is proof enough that this is an Old Folks Home. However, if proof were lacking, then comes tonight's New Year's Eve party. Though it is only scheduled until 9:30 😂 I may leave early. Why would I do that? you ask. The party is scheduled to begin at 5:00 and before 9:30 my people bladder will be full, thus a possible early exit. 

    So there you have proof positive that this is an OFH. Where else would a New Year's Party be scheduled from 5:00 until 9:30?😎  I'm even posting this blog early becasue of the party.

Takk for alt,

Al

    After climbing Kilimanjaro we did a safari on the Serengeti. It reminded me of the prairie though the fauna were different.

Ya then

 

Well then, the New Year's Eve party at the OFH ends when?  9:30, yup😂

Bus Stop

     Across the street from the OFH is a sheltered bus stop. It's visible from my recliner. These days persons waiting for the bus seldom sit on the bench. While waiting for the bus they pace back and forth. There's never a crowd there but several bus lines run down this busy highway 5, and W.7th street so frequently riders board or dismount. 

    There's a story that a facility for persons with memory loss but a fake bus bench in front of their building. The hope was that if a person with memory loss wandered out of the building they might sit on the bench and wait for a buss. This would give the caretakers time to retrieve the lost citizen. Come to think of it, there are benches in front of the OFH!

   Takk for alt,

    Al

    PS.  Perhaps I should have said "barn clothes" not "chore clothes", see comment.

One of the fascinating features of Kilimanjaro is the adaption of flora on its slopes. The upper slopes reach tropical daytime high temperatures. At night the temperatures are artic. Consequently flora have adapted to these extremes.

Old Habits!

      Exercising an old habit today caused a pause to reflect of the roots of that habit. In my family of origin we always went to church and, of course, it always was at 11:00. Arriving home from church mom would prepare dinner, the noon meal in a rural setting. While she was doing that boys would do chores, which at noon mostly required feeding the calves in the barn. There may have been something to do for the chickens.

    Here's where the habit comes in. Dad would never let us leave the house for the barn until we'd changed out of our Sunday church clothes. Arriving home from church today the first thing I did was change out of my Sunday church clothes. 😀 Yup, old habits die hard. 

Takk for alt,

Al

                    I was 60 when Lisa and I climbed Kilimanjaro.

Interesting History!

      Though I had history courses in elementary school, high school and was a history major in college I was never taught this. What? The Ku Klux Klan in South Dakota, ala the title of Arley Kenneth Fadness' book,.published this year. The book extensively documented with newspaper articles tells the story of the spread and influence of the Klan in South Dakota during the 1920s. A major rallying point of the Klan was anti-Catholicism. It lead to the 1921 murder of popular Catholic priest, Bartholomew Belknap in Lead, SD.

    Fadness documents the spread of the Klan throughout S.D., often in cooperation with Protestant clergy. The book is a helpful addition to Timothy Egan's A Fever In The Heartland, focused on Indiana and the Klan's effort to take over America. Read them both.

Takk for alt,

Al

Another Winner

    Minnesota Author and owner of Birchbark Bookstore, Louise Erdrich, has written another fine novel. Perhaps the setting is logical because she grew up in Wahpeton, ND, on the banks of The Mighty Red,  the name of this book copyrighted in 2024. The river is a major player in this story.  All of her books are suffused with subtle humor but this was the funniest to me. Perhaps the more indigenous works are as funny but it's lost on me. Some of the funniest scenes are set in meetings of a book club. One character owns a bookstore, about which Erdrich is very familiar. 

   Sugar beet culture is a major part of the book and Erdrich challenges the use of toxins in their culture, In a way it harks back to her second book Beet Queen. All this set in the context of a story about beet farmers and towns and people dependent of sugar beets. The book is peopled with quirky characters which is the norm for Erdrich's books. The characters are engaging.  It's both a fun read but also with existential issues with which to wrestle.  

   Yes I recommend it.

Takk for alt,

Al

         Evy's Kransekake picture that I couldn't download yesterday.

Busted!

       During my years as pastor of various congregations I noted the usual places where parishioners sat. Occasionally someone would relocate and I'd quip "I hardly recognized you sitting there." When congregants move their regular seating place forward it often meant they were more connected to the life of the congregation. Likewise, when someone suddenly moved to the back it often meant that they were on their way out of the church.

     Typically I sit far forward, in about the 4th row. At the conclusion of the service I exit by the front door, near the organ. Exiting out that door and down the steps brings me to the coat rack and the coffee hour in the fellowship hall. Recently this sign.

was posted by that exit. Yup, busted!😀

   Three days of family gatherings in three days, how blessed I am. Today me son's family hosted fourteen of Joanne's family as well as our own. In preparation for the event Evy, my fifteen year old granddaughter made kransekake, see picture below.  Picture's not downloading...see tomorrow.

Takk for alt,

Al