"We will remember your name forever. Forever your memory will burn as a light inside us all " -Ojibwa Song

 

On October 10th, my Dad decided it was time to reunite with Mom. The picture above was my last photo of the two of us together.  

When asked to describe Dad, the first word that came to my mind was humble. He has so many talents that he never thought they were good enough when he was younger. It wasn't until the last few years that he would talk about what a good job he did at things. 

Dad was a very talented mason. His brickwork is in so many homes in and around Faribault. He was such a perfectionist in everything he did. I remember in our French Lake home, he built a beautiful fireplace. After we moved into the house, he tore it all out and made it over again because it wasn't up to his standards. 

With only an 8th-grade Country School education and a GED he earned while serving in the Army, he went on to build two very successful masonry businesses. 

When he retired, he taught himself woodworking. He started making birdhouses, birdfeeders, trellis, and even doll houses for his great-granddaughters. All of us have them in our yards. 

I have so many great memories of what a great Dad he was. Every winter, he would take the fence down for the cow pasture and flood the little pond we had to make a huge ice rink for us. After every snow, he would be out there making sure it was cleared off so we could go ice skate. We had a huge hill that we spent many hours sliding on. Dad used to take a few rides down that hill on the toboggan. He was always ready to play with us. 

His gardens are famously weedless. He took such pride in them. Not only did he have gardens, but he also put in a small apple orchard. He would plant an acre of sweet corn, and when it was harvested, he would put it in the back of his truck, park it at the end of the road, and we would sell the corn. Dad taught me how to drive the tractor to work the field. 

When Dad was 66, he decided to start walking for exercise. I was also very into exercise, so we really bonded on it. He started walking more and more every day and started to keep track of how many miles he had gone. He set a goal to walk the same amount of miles that it would take to walk the distance around the earth, 24,901.55 miles. At the age of 76, he achieved his goal. I talked him into doing a 5K with me and my daughter Amy when he was 70.  I told him it was a run/walk, so he could just walk it. Unbeknownst to me, he decided that he was going to start running. So when it was race day, he ran the whole race. I was so proud of him. Nothing can top watching him running across the finish line. 

Dad went on to run two more races with us. At age 71, he ran a 5K in 29 minutes. At age 75, he ran a 5K in 35 minutes. 

He is my inspiration. I hope to continue to walk and run as he did into his 80s. 

Alzheimer's took Dad away from us in the end. It was so hard for him as he lost his memory. He was aware it was going away, and he hated it. It robbed him of so many things. It is an awful disease. 

When Mom died last year, it was so hard on Dad. They had been married for 64 years. They had been friends since they were teenagers. He was lost without her. She was his life. 

I look at this picture and I imagine that Dad was writing a love letter to Mom. 

Dad told us all over and over again that he was ready to go. He did not understand why he was still alive when Mom was not with him.  His only wish was to be with Mom. 

This has always been my favorite photo of Mom and Dad. They were young and in love, sitting under the willow tree in my Dad's family home. Because of this picture and my memory of that tree, I have always wanted a willow tree. 

So when we moved into our latest house, it came with a willow tree. The day that Dad died, the northern lights were so bright. 

I looked towards my willow tree and saw this. I believe Mom and Dad were sending me a sign that they were happily reunited again. 

It has only been a year since Mom died. Even though I know that Dad is happy now, I selfishly want him back. I am still learning to live without my Mom, and now I have to learn to live without my Dad...

Sharon 

During World War II, soldiers famously claimed they were fighting for “mom and apple pie.” Since then, apple pie has become a symbol of family and home for many Americans.

 

My mom was so proud that when she was 16 years old, she won the silent pie demonstration contest at the MN State Fair. 

After Mom died last year, I had to go through all of her papers. It was not a fun job as she liked to keep everything. But to my surprise and delight, I came across a folder all about her pie-making. 

It was cool to come across this letter from then-Senator Hubert H. Humphrey. She must have been excited to get it. 

I remember Mom baking all the time. And as she baked, she taught us all of her techniques. She passed her love of baking onto me, and I have passed it on to my children, who have now passed it on to their children! 

We got together for our annual apple pie-baking day a few weeks ago. I am way behind on getting this posted 😂 Some years, we have more people than we know what to do with, and some years, like this year, we only have three. 

We had three generations working in my kitchen to produce 23 apple pies!

Amy is always the peeler of the apples. 

Christa is usually the person who mixes ingredients with the apples. Since she was unable to come this year, Eli took over her job. Eli was a master of getting the apple cut and mixed with the spices and sugar. He told me he had so much fun that he would come back next year. He said he was demoting Christa to wrapping the pies 😂

I am always assigned the job of making the crust and filling the pies up. 

When we have the pies all made up we wrap them in tin foil and freeze them. There is nothing better than baking an apple pie in the middle of winter. 

It is always a great day for me to be with the kids and grandkids doing something that is not only fun but produces something delicious! 

    Making the pies this year was also bittersweet because Mom is no longer with us. If not for her teaching me we would not have this tradition....

I believe she was with us as we made those apple pies, watching over us and making sure we did everything right. 

Happy baking

Sharon 

“Vacations with family are like a musical symphony – they’re a harmony of laughter, love and memories.” – Zig Ziglar

 

I need to catch up on my blog posting.  Who knew retirement life would be so busy. 

We took a family vacation to Lebanon Hills Regional Park a few weeks ago. We stayed in the campgrounds right in the park. CJ, my nephew, is one of the campground hosts at Lebanon Hills. He is the reason we decided to check out the park. I cannot tell you how happy we all were with the facility. The staff were all so helpful. The campgrounds were very clean and quiet. The hiking trails were very well-marked. We all know that Rick and I need well-marked trails 😂. The swimming beach was a blast for the kids. 

We stayed in the East loop of the campgrounds. The sites are huge, very wooded, and private. We had originally planned on coming up on Thursday, but at the last minute, we decided to come up on Wednesday. The staff made it so easy to change our reservations! 

Rick made pizza for everyone. 

Jeff and CJ guided us on several bike trails. 

It rained on and off the whole weekend, but we did not let it stop our fun. 

CJ guided everyone to the bike trail from the West campgrounds. 

Cassie and Larina rented some paddle boards. Everyone took turns on them and had so much fun. 

Nana's hair braiding station was open for the weekend. 

We had lots of campfires 

We had so much fun exploring the area that we booked another weekend this Fall. Lebanon Hills is a gem in the middle of the city. 

Sharon  

" I'M NOT LOST FOR I KNOW WHERE I AM. BUT HOWEVER, WHERE I AM MAY BE LOST." -WINNIE THE POOH

  We had a family reunion vacation for the first time since 2022. It was great to see everyone who was able to make it. Diane graciously hosted us again. 

Last summer we all got my mom's puzzles. All winter long as we did a puzzle we would share a photo of it completed. We decided to bring them all up and have a puzzle exchange. I somehow came home with more puzzles than I brought up.

We played so many games. It was fun to learn some new ones including the horse race game. 

This puzzle was a big hit. Everyone gave it a try. Josie, C.J., and Rick were the winners and finally figured it out. 

Eli, Jacob, and Cheyenne having some Lago time. 

Rick Pizzeria was open. He made pizza to order for everyone. 

On the last day, we went to Black Duck Lake, for some swimming time. 

We had so much fun being together again. It was hard to not have Mom and Dad with us. But we shared so many memories. 

After we left Diane's house we continued our vacation for another 4 days. 

Our first stop was La Salle Lake State Park. We had been camping at the park a few years back but I had not done the hiking club trail. So we got there,  had some lunch then took on the trail. 

I was ready for the bugs. 

After we finished the hike we went down to the lake. Rick did a little fishing from the dock. If you have never been to La Salle Lake you should make it a place to go. It is the deepest lake in Minnesota. It is so pretty and quiet. 

Next, we made our way to Itasca State Park. We stayed in the Bear Paw campgrounds. I always book our campsite. After we got checked in I told Rick we were in site 53. I also told him we were by the lake. When we found site 53 we were not by the lake. We were also by the playground. My rules for finding a site are to never be by the dumpsters and try not to be by the playground. So I was disappointed in myself for the site I had picked. We went for a short bike ride and then started making supper. A camper stopped at our site and a man came over to talk to us. He said he had booked site 53. I pulled out my paperwork and saw that I had put us in the wrong site! I was so embarrassed!! We were supposed to be in site 59. I could not believe I had told Rick the wrong site. Thank goodness the other family was super understanding and waited for us to move. We got packed up and to our new site in record time. 

Our correct site was by the lake and much nicer! 

The next day we went for a bike ride. Itasca State Park has a great paved bike trail. We went on the wildlife loop and did a total of 18 miles. It was so beautiful. It was one of the best bike trails we have ever done. Part of the trail is on a one-way road. They have a bike lane and the road is low traffic. We saw a total of three vehicles the whole day. 

The first stop was to the headwaters of the Mississippi. 

I loved all the huge white pine trees. Next to a willow tree, white pines are my favorite tree. 

This is one of the lakes on the trail, Mary Lake.

Above is the map of the route we biked. 

The next day was hiking day. My favorite day. 

We planned on hiking a short 2.2-mile trail that connects to the hiking club trail. The hiking club trail is 3.5 miles for a total of 5.7 miles. We started on the Brower trail. A few weeks ago they had a big storm go through the area. As we went down the trail we found more and more huge white pine trees down over the trail. I am actually surprised they had the trail open. It was a little scary going under the fallen trees that were balancing on other trees. We decided that on the hike back we would take a different route.  It would be a little longer, around 8 miles but we didn't want to go under all those trees again. 

The bugs were so bad! We covered ourselves with bug spray and put on our bug net hats. 

Just as we started the trail a group of two families started right behind us. We were trying to stay ahead of them because they had several little kids with them. We figured they would be going slow. Because of this, we made our first mistake. We came to an intersection, instead of looking at the map we just looked at the trail name and kept going straight. 

We got to the next intersection and I told Rick I thought we had gone too far. We were looking at the map when the other group caught up to us. As the lead woman went by I told her that we were confused asking her if they were doing the hiking club trail. She responded yes, but the bugs are too bad so I can't stop and show you where you are. 

Mistake number two, we followed them. Two miles later the woman came running back at us. She said she understood why we were confused, she had made a mistake and was going the wrong way. 

Out came the map and we figured out where we went wrong. We backtracked and two miles later we found the turn we missed. The good news is I got the hiking club trail password. 😂

 I was enjoying the hike a lot more than Rick was. So adding those extra Í miles onto our hike plus the longer connecting trail back to camp we ended up hiking 13.04 miles. Thankfully we had brought a full can of bug spray, lots of water, and snacks. 

You can see on the map where we went wrong 😂. It was an adventure. We also learned to trust the map and not follow others. 

Enjoy the adventure....

Sharon