Author: annbh356

Retired librarian who remains a library advocate & enthusiast, loves knitting, reading, gardening & a variety of other items of interest.
Writing

Charismatic Leadership

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My parents met John F. Kennedy in Eau Claire as his campaign swung through Wisconsin in 1960.  My sister and I stood in a sunny hay field near Augusta, waiting over three-hours, for the arrival of Bill and Hillary Clinton and Al and Tipper Gore.  The newly nominated presidential ticket and the soon to be First and Second Ladies had embarked from LaCrosse on a national bus tour that morning.  Richard and I joined a small rally of only a few hundred people at the Rochester Civic Center when Amy Klobuchar first announced her run for the US Senate.  Accompanying her on this round-robin journey to Minnesota’s small bergs, large cities, and the Metro was the junior Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama.

What struck me in July 1992 and stays with me today is the genuine excitement engendered by these candidates, a palpable energy that exemplifies charisma.  While I know there are behind the scenes speech writers refining the text of each presentation, the core message and certainly the delivery belongs to the speaker.  In each case, these campaign stump speeches, whether spoken by the men who would be president, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama, or presented by unsuccessful candidates, Al Gore, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, or Bernie Sanders, the speakers clearly conveyed complex concepts, presented plausible policy developments, and inspired hope.  Tim Walz has this same rousing ability. 

While they may appear folksy – Tim wearing a red-and-black flannel shirt and Kamala ready to cook in her kitchen – I believe they are ready to tackle complex national and international issues.  Together they already possess comprehensive knowledge of complicated topics and are quick-studies when presented with updated information.  They each have a history of developing effective strategies in their work towards justice, often with bipartisan cooperation.  And, as a librarian friend described one weekend during those days of speculation when we wondered who Kamala would select as her running mate, Tim really is the kind of guy you invite to your backyard barbeque.  I cling to a fragile optimism for the Harris-Walz ticket, despite a constant barrage of negative news.

But even as I try to maintain a degree of positivity, I am not so naïve to think the world uncomplicated or our societal challenges easily remedied with one election.  Near to home, there are increasing demands on the local community food shelf and growing numbers of unhoused even as we move into frigid months.  TikTok videos reveal unprecedented devastation brought by Hurricanes Francine, Helene, and Milton, each having made landfall within days of each other.  Gaza still holds the nightly news spotlight as death and destruction occur daily and nearly two million people are suffering from severe malnutrition while living in famine-like conditions.  Mentioned less often, despite deaths numbering in the tens of thousands, are the wars in Ukraine, Myanmar, Sudan, Nigeria and other never mentioned places around the globe.

When compared to the gravity of local, state, national, and world issues, my vote feels but a nanometer (that is a measure of only one billionth of a meter) and yet I persist in believing that each vote matters and we won’t go back.  Armed with poetry and a votive candle, I accept my congregation’s invitation to daily reflection using Poetry for Politics ~ Care for the Soul in the days leading up November 5.  

Reading

A Gathering of Poetry | October 2024

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Every time I hear Amada Gorman read her poetry I shiver with inspiration.  To be so young and yet so eloquent.  This past summer in Chicago, during the Democratic National Convention, she walked proudly unto the stage and laid this challenge before each of us: 

This Sacred Scene

We gather at this hollowed place because we believe in the American dream.

We face a race that tests if this country we cherish shall perish from the Earth, and if our earth shall perish from this country.

It falls to us to ensure that we do not fall for a people that cannot stand together, cannot stand at all.

We are one family, regardless of religion, class or color. For what defines a patriot is not just our love of liberty, but our love for one another.

This is loud in our country’s call, because while we all love freedom, it is love that frees us all.

Empathy emancipates, making us greater than hate or vanity. That is the American promise, powerful and pure. Divided, we cannot endure but united, we can endeavor to humanize our democracy and endear democracy to humanity.

And make no mistake, cohering is the hardest task history ever wrote, but tomorrow is not written by our odds of hardship, but by the audacity of our hope, by the vitality of our vote.

Only now, approaching this rare air, are we aware that perhaps the American Dream is no dream at all, but instead a dare to dream together.

Like a million roots tethered, branching up humbly, making one tree, this is our country. From many, one; from battles won; our freedoms sung; our kingdom come has just begun.

We redeem this sacred scene. Ready for our journey. From it together, we must birth this early republic and achieve an unearthly summit. Let us not just believe in the American dream. Let us be worthy of it.

© 2024 Amanda Gorman

Check the Gathering of Poetry pages shared by Bonnie and Kat for more October verses.

Knitting

Autumnal Knitting

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a selection of six hand knit beanies in various colors on a wood floor

Unlike Shel Silverstein’s Mr. Smeds who had twenty-one hats, and none of them were the same, I knit only eight beanies for this year’s Halloween hat drive sponsored by Hawthorne Helps.  Momma joined the giving with a donation of two knit scarves.  At nearly 101, she may be their oldest donor and HH will feature her picture on their October 29th distribution poster.

Hawthorne Helps is a community partnership between Rochester Public Schools Hawthorne Education Center and the First Unitarian Universalist Church.  The program also receives support from local faith, service, and business groups.  Twice a month, HH volunteers distribute essential items that are not eligible purchases using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, such as deodorant, dish soap, or toothpaste.  Each fall, the selection of items available to the adult learners includes wintery weather gear – hats, mittens, and scarves – which are especially useful for new immigrants arriving from warmer climates.

Gardening

Quick time fall clean-up

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large terra cotta pot filled with geraniums on the left and two green pots with marigolds on the right

In less time than it took the banana bread to bake, the fall garden clean-up was complete, 

With a laudable goal of staying in our small Kutzky Park house and after church friends (Robin and Heather) electronically “liked” Sargent’s landscape maintenance, we committed to their services.  In August, this well-respected Rochester business took on a portion of our gardening tasks.  They trimmed the overgrown lilac bushes, as well as re-shaped and refreshed our rain garden by removing unwanted weeds, thinning overgrown perennials, and adding plantings for greater variety.  The monthly maintenance allowed us to enjoy our outdoor living space while harvesting vegetables and making zinnia bouquets without the worry of encroaching weeds.

For the two of us, fall clean-up has always been a major undertaking, a job made a trickier by Parkinson’s Disease.  There are hostas to cut back, more than 20 terracotta and bright glazed pots to empty, and no-longer producing cucumber and tomato vines to compost.  In less than 60 minutes, Sargent’s crew of seven using heavy-duty hand and power tools completed what would have taken us days and, even then, without a guarantee to finish before November snows.  We kept the potted marigolds for All Souls Day and, while the front of the house looks a bit sparse, the porch still has bright flowering geraniums to welcome the mail delivery person.

Writing

Invitations

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bright colored goldfinch on twig with purple and green thistles in the background

A Hallmark fill-in-the-blank card, handwritten by the niece who will, next month, become a first-time grandmother, was more than an invitation to a baby shower.  It was – connection to faraway family.  It was – memory of times together.  It was – sadness as we remained in Minnesota and did not travel to Oregon as we might have done before Parkinson’s Disease.  And it was – joy at celebrating the miracle of new life.  The simple card sat on the dining room table for weeks; a physical sign that people were thinking of us and we of them.  It provided the gentle nudge to keep knitting so to fulfill my practice of gifting hand-knit sweaters for new great-great nieces and nephews, as well as the reminder to start this baby’s library with the best in children’s literature.

The most prestigious invitation ever received by my family invited my parents to the 1965 inaugural gala for Lyndon Baines Johnson and Hubert Horatio Humphrey.  The Office of Alvin E. O’Konski, Member of Congress representing Wisconsin’s 10 Congressional District, sent the invitation in acknowledgement of how instrumental my parents had been in 1962 during his tough re-election campaign after re-districting and his again successful bid in 1964.  While my parents did not travel to Washington, D.C. for the festivities, the large, engraved invitation issued by the Inaugural Committee, with an embossed gold seal, hung for decades on the wall next to the custom-built oak desk and bookshelves.

As exciting as it is to receive such honored surface mail, Mary Oliver reminds the readers of her poem, Invitation, that not every invitation will arrive printed on heavy bond paper or translate into a party.  Rather, the invitation may come in the form of “goldfinches that have gathered in a field of thistles” calling us “to linger just for a little while.” 

I find it takes a conscience effort to linger, to slow down, and simply appreciate.  Electronic devices, apps, and online meetings both ease and complicate our days so that to pause feels almost wasteful; a guilty pleasure since there are always more tasks on my to-do-list than time in my day.  And yet, Rev. Ruth MacKenzie writes that to be “our whole and holy self” requires us to act in an “absolute present tense.”  That act of being attentive to the whole person is not easy, whether that focus is time for personal introspection, connecting with a friend, or meeting a stranger.  That then is the challenge (or more appropriately stated for this post) the invitation to look beyond that which is unfamiliar due to all the factors that form our individualities – family, heritage, language, ethnicity, education – and to linger with the individual, focused on the “whole and holy.”  And, sometimes, to accept the invitation Mary Oliver describes, to listen to the goldfinches …

... as they strive
          melodiously
               not for your sake
                    and not for mine
and not for the sake of winning
          but for sheer delight and gratitude -- 
               believe us, they say,
                    it is a serious thing
just to be alive
          on this fresh morning
               in the broken world ...

Photo credit: Andrew Patrick Photography from prexels

Other items of interest

Penzeys Spices Counters Political Attack with $50 Gift Cards for $35

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Penseys Spices store window with white sign quoting the former president "terrible over-priced product"

Wonderful on the spice rack and now a political statement!

All because Vice President Kamala Harris hugged a customer while visiting a Penzeys store during her time in Pittsburgh, the former president and the right-wing media have set out to close down this “liberal” business.  The intent is not only to boycott Penzeys Spices out of business but to send a fear signal to other businesses that might want to welcome the Harris-Walz team.  To countermand this attack Penzeys Spices is offering $50 gift cards for $35, now through Sunday, September 15.  And, not only is there a cost-saving gift card offer, but they also have a special deal on their orange spices. Buy lots, enjoy the flavor, and do your bit for democracy.

Knitting

Knit Camp at the Coast

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knit camp retreat logo on badge with black edged blue circle featuring a beach bag with pink stipped towel, flip flops, sunglasses and straw hat

My head is swimming with the possibilities of newly learned techniques, and I am only at the mid-point of the 2024 Knit Camp at the Coast Retreat.  This annual online event, hosted by Marie Greene, features 11 guest instructors this year, as well as a marketplace (with discounted products) and time for socializing.

As shawls are my jam – that is, my favorite item to knit, the first class highlighting different shaped shawls – bias rectangles, chevrons, and asymmetrical triangles – was the best kick off for these three days.  The instructor shared intricate color designs within repeated 45° angles and created by the artful pairing of increases and decreases to achieve the desired shape.

The retreat topics range from the practical such as sewing perfect seams which provide structure to knitted items to acts of kindness as we learned how Loose Ends “aims to ease grief, create community, and inspire generosity by matching volunteer handwork finishers with projects people have left undone due to death or disability.”

The quality of the content has always been of high caliber, but things have changed since 2020 and the Covid days when the technology befuddled everyone.  This year’s prerecorded classes ensure the systematic presentation of information in an environment with controlled lighting, refined camera angles, and good sound.  Gone are the days of dropped microphones, disruptive background noises, and stitch demonstrations that were sometimes out of focus or out of frame.  During years 1-4, the retreat was a two-day event plus an opening evening reception.  For this fifth anniversary year, the content fills three days.  And I can review the sessions anytime during the next 45 days.  So don’t call or text until Sunday as I am busy with Knit Camp at the Coast! 

Happy Knitting!

Baking

A was an apple pie…

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photo from the University of Minnesota shows two frames on the left red and yellow honeycrisp apples on the right honeycrisp apples on the tree with green leaves

A Minnesota agricultural development and everyone’s favorite apple, Honeycrisp!

For decades, I only enjoyed this tasty fruit as a hand-to-mouth delight. I never thought to move it into the kitchen for baking. That is, until this year, when Honeycrisp kept showing up as I investigated single layer cake recipes good when eaten fresh but also easily frozen for delayed desserts.

So, after an orchard visit on Wednesday that included the purchase of a peck of apples at the Pepin Heights Store and Richard’s request for a pie, I can attest that Honeycrisps bake up nicely. The fruit’s natural sweetness allows the baker to reduce the amount of refined sugar. The slices cook up to that perfect texture – holding their shape without being too firm and soft without being mushy.  Likewise, the French Apple Cake with apples chopped into 1/4-to-3/8-inch cubes delivered a simple rustic confection, especially when flavored with dark rum.

Yumm!

Photo credit: University of Minnesota College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resources Sciences

Knitting

Ready for autumn days

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handknit reddish brown shawl with lacy eyelets and bobbles

The Skipping Stones Wrap is just off my needles and, without an intended recipient, becomes another on-hand donation for the next silent auction fundraiser.  Bobbles grace each end and construction offered double the fun as this piece was worked as two mirrored halves and then grafted seamlessly in the middle.  While I like the whimsey of bobbles, a quick inventory of over 250 projects reveals this design element in only seven items (one hat, one cowl, two sweaters, and now, three shawls.) 

Rows of differing sized lacy eyelets flow through the body.  And, just as the name suggests, the wearer can almost hear the gentle plop, plop, plop as a stone leaves the hand and skims across the smooth lake surface.  The fingering weight blend of merino wool and silk, knit in a reddish foxy brown, will be perfect for cool autumn days.

Reading

A Gathering of Poetry | August 2024

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leaf framed view of the water of Walden Pond
On the shores of Walden Pond

As friends return from this year’s Pilgrimage, I am drawn back to the sights and learnings of my own travels to Massachusetts in 2022 and especially our memorable day in Concord.  We followed the same amble that Emerson would have walked to visit his friend Ralph, who had gone “…to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life.”  And, it provides the perfect opportunity to re-visit Mary Oliver.

Going to Walden
It isn’t very far as highways lie.
I might be back by nightfall, having seen
The rough pines, and the stones, and the clear water.
Friends argue that I might be wiser for it.
They do not hear that far-off Yankee whisper:
How dull we grow from hurrying here and there!
Many have gone, and think me half a fool
To miss a day away in the cool country.
Maybe. But in a book I read and cherish,
Going to Walden is not so easy a thing
As a green visit. It is the slow and difficult
Trick of living, and finding it where you are.

On this third Thursday, check out the poetry Bonnie and Kat are sharing.

Bibliographic credit: Oliver, Mary.  Devotions: The selected Poems of Mary Oliver.  Penguin Press, 2017, pg 430.