Writing

Invitations

annbh3561 Comment
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

annbh356Leave a comment
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

annbh3563 Comments
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…

annbh3563 Comments
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

annbh3564 Comments
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

annbh3562 Comments
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.

Knitting

For a new great-great

annbh3562 Comments
handknit green sweater on white background with a central cable design on the body and the sleeve hanging on a wooden hanger suspended by an orange ribbon
Babbling Brook in Forestry
details of a handknit green sweater on white background with a central cable design on the body and the sleeve
Cable details

Amidst those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, Knit Campers add yarn[y] to the list of rhyming words as 100s plunge into a four-day sweater knitting adventure. While I did not follow the crowd’s choice of patterns, I did create a sweater for an expected great-great niece or nephew. (We must wait until October to know which.)

Green is the new momma’s favorite color, thus the choice of this gender-neutral forestry colorway. The blend of cotton, bamboo, and silk always knits up nicely with the advantage of being machine washable. Marie Greene’s Babbling Brook pattern offers assorted sizes from newborn (0-6 months) to seven years; and includes my favorite design element – cables. Knowing little ones grow quickly, I hope this size 2-4 might keep our new great-great warm through one or two Oregon rainy seasons.

Congratulations Katie and Cam!

Other items of interest

Harris-Walz Campaign: A Vision for the Future

annbh3561 Comment
a somewhat fuzzy photograph with Congressman Tim Walz and librarian Ann Hutton talking
May 29, 2012
seven people standing on the steps of the Winona Public Library, surrounded by children and balloons
August 10, 2016

It is an exciting day for Minnesota as Vice President Kamala Harris just announced that my Governor, Tim Walz, will be her running mate!

The first picture, while not the clearest, (I had handed my pocket-sized Samsung camera to the Congressman’s aide) provides proof of heartfelt conversations.  That photo was snapped just before he departed a Rochester hotel banquet room as we walked-and-talked while I advocated for increased Federal support of libraries.  The second was a sun-filled, fun day in Winona when Walz was home during the summer congressional break.  He and his entourage joined young readers for a brown bag lunch provided by the Lunch Bus on the steps of the Winona Public Library.

I first met Tim Walz in 2006 at a candidates’ debate hosted by the Rochester Chamber of Commerce.  After just the first two questions, it was clear the incumbent, Republican Gil Gutknecht, had thought he could return to his hometown and coast by, after all, he was the one coming from the hallowed halls of government.  Instead, it was his challenger, Tim Walz, who responded competently to each question.  He shared details as if just briefed and with a clarity that demonstrated how he made high school geography interesting.  By the end of the debate, my luncheon tablemates were worried by their candidate’s mediocre performance and were busy conferring how best to get (then) Congressman Gutknecht the necessary coaching in hopes of a better showing in future debates around Minnesota’s 1st district.  The November 2006 election proved the best man won.

A quick review of his Wikipedia page reminded me of just how hard this moderate has worked for the residents of Minnesota and our country:

"In his first week as a legislator, Walz cosponsored a bill to raise the minimum wage, voted for stem cell research, voted to allow Medicare to negotiate pharmaceutical prices, and voiced support for pay-as-you-go budget rules, requiring that new spending or tax changes not add to the federal deficit."

Even as Harris campaign signs are being swastika-ed in Rochester, I am supporting this exciting duo; my first campaign contribution already paid.  The Harris-Walz presidential ticket will rejuvenate this campaign, introduce civility and even some humor into the discussion of complicated issues and provide a talented team that will work with compassion as:

Today, we face a choice between two very different visions for our nation:  one focused on the future and the other focused on the past. And we are fighting for the future. —Kamala Harris (July 2024)

Baking

Peach Pie: Summer in every bite

annbh3563 Comments
peach pie with decorative sugar and chicken cookie cutter outline on top crust

I finally added that quintessential summer dessert, the peach pie, to my baking repertoire. Other than disliking the tactile feeling of peach fuzz when eating this fruit whole, I am not sure why I avoided making this delicious blend of fruit, sugar, and cinnamon.  An omission now rectified using Momma’s recipe via Betty Crocker.

I have fond memories of Momma buying fresh Colorado peaches by the crate; each precious, ripe orb wrapped in soft pale-yellow tissue paper. Those delicate papers (in my doll playing days) were transformed from protective practicality to fairy fluttering doll dresses.

Each crate provided a sufficient quantity of ripe fruit that a portion could simply be eaten.  Tasting as if fresh from the tree and bitten into like an apple, we leaned forward slightly to allow plump juices to inevitably dribble down our chins and drip on the concrete. But a large portion filled double crusted pies. Some of the pies were baked in the cool morning hours and then enjoyed in the early evening with vanilla ice cream and others, oven-ready, were frozen. These Momma retrieved on harsh winter days, and they served as memories of summer warmth.  She always saved one for Dad’s February 16 birthday when it became a birthday pie complete with candles.

Bon Appétit!

Other items of interest

Apron Memories

annbh3564 Comments
8 aprons laid out on a green background

I was the luckiest of grandchildren. I lived across the street from my maternal grandparents and moved between these two homes with an easy flow. As a free ranging child of the 50s, my neighborhood friends and I were just as likely to be found resting in the cool shade of the pines on the west side of their lot, as playing kickball in the cinder alley on my side of the street or roller skating the concrete sidewalk ringing our block. If Grandma was in the kitchen – baking oatmeal cookies, cooking supper, making Ribbli (a uniquely Swiss breakfast dish) – she always wore an apron.

Over the years, I have collected a half-dozen bib aprons but I tend to grab one only when I start a multiple recipe day of cooking and baking; an act that signifies, this is serious work. Among my friends, even those who declare themselves to be “foodistas”, I rarely, if ever, see any of them wearing an apron. This may be due to the sheer abundance of stain resistant clothing in our closets or that we came of age in the 70s when we were eager to cast off any connection to the apron clad images that were broadcast to our black-and-white 15-inch TVs. I am remembering comedic scenes with Ethel and Lucy in “I Love Lucy” or Aunt Bea on “The Andy Griffith Show” when an apron was a standard costume accessory.

For over 50 years, Grandma’s well used half aprons were kept neatly washed, pressed and protected in tissue paper.  Each sewn with fabric remnants and embellished with a bit of lace or a row of rickrack.  As Momma continues her shelf-by-shelf, drawer-by-drawer review of her household items, she felt it was time to share these vintage treasures. Granddaughters Barb, Rita, Sarah, Gina, Mary Pat, Rebecca, and I are now the keepers of these wonderful heirlooms.