Red Hat Resilience

February 8, 2026 annbh356Leave a comment

blue house with snow, Minnesota flag and wintery morning sun

In August 2024, I bought a Minnesota state flag to hang on our Kutzky Park front porch. It was a point of pride that my Governor was a vice-presidential candidate. I unfurled the flag again on that frigid Saturday last month, the day of the first of reoccurring ICE out of Minnesota NOW! marches. This time the flag on our front porch is a subtle sign of protest on a quiet street in a new neighborhood but also a sign of resilience; proud that Minnesota residents will not be bullied.

Like you, I am experiencing the challenge of how to watch the news and yet stay sane. How to be aware of the life and death actions happening in our community and just a few miles up the road, and around the country, as well as celebrate how good people are coming together. Since it is easy to get caught up in the onslaught of news, I am trying to avoid the trap of doomscrolling. As you know, that is tough when the most basic of American tenants are dismantled before our eyes. When those principles – literally written in stone – “Give me your tired and your poor…” are discarded.

I limit my morning routine to checking several reliable news sources but then shift to the arts – knitting sometime during each day and a daily dose of poetry, a gentle salve for a bruised soul. Simple words on paper (or a screen) that capture the complexity of modern emotions. There are times when the Poetry Foundation’s Poem for the Day is a good fit while other days, I dig a little deeper often returning to the words of former poet laureates Joy Harjo, Ted Kooser, or Amanda Gorman.

Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet, an award-winning author, a banned book author, is an accomplished writer who captured our angst within hours of the murder of Renee Nicole Good and again after the fatal shooting of Alex Jeffrey Pretti. Her words honoring Renee Good reminded us:

Change is only possible,
& all the greater,
When the labour
& bitter anger of our neighbors 
Is moved by the love
& better angels of our nature.

Some mornings, I listen as her lyrical voice recites poignant words that go with the quiet flow of fiber through my fingers; a meditative quality of one stitch after another, moving from skein to project to finished item which, at the moment, are red Melt the ICE hats.

I am an early participant in today’s red hat phenomenon. You may have heard how the owner of a small yarn store in St. Louis Park wanted to re-create the visual impact of the sea of pink hats seen worldwide at rallies in 2016. The design draws on Minnesota’s Norwegian heritage and that country’s resistance to Nazi occupation during World War II

The Norwegian Resistance Museum in Lillehammer has on display red beanies from that era and copies of the Nazi alert forbidding anyone, under threat of punishment, from possessing a red hat, regardless of age. Red hats have become a worldwide statement. Over 100,000 copies of the pattern have been sold to crafters in 43-countries and over $650,000 has been distributed to metro area non-profits supporting immigrants.

Today, whether we march, or sing, or knit, let’s follow Bruce Springsteen’s call to “take a stand for this land and the stranger in our midst.” Words that universally resonate and are making this new anthem a number one song in countries around the world. May love unfurl and lead us wherever we go: into the streets, into caucuses or voting booths, at public meetings or any place where love creates community, justice, art – and into a practice that makes the fibers of our hope into something strong enough to give us warmth, shelter, and resilience – much like red Melt the ICE beanies.

Knitting

Melt the ICE: Knit for Justice

January 26, 2026 annbh3561 Comment

red, handknitted beanie with straight sides, pointed top and a braided tassle

With a nod to Minnesota’s Norwegian heritage and honoring that country’s historic resistance to Nazi occupation during World War II, needle & skein, in St. Louis Park, is promoting a Melt the ICE Hat. Designed with versatility in mind, the beanie can be knit using fingering, DK, or worsted weight yarn. A crochet pattern is also available. A quick check of Ravelry projects reveals that since the pattern was released on January 16 thousands of fiber artists have already cast on this unique design.

The yarn store website describes the reason behind the flat, pointy, tasseled design this way: “In the 1940’s, Norwegians made and wore red pointed hats with a tassel as a form of visual protest against Nazi occupation of their country. Within two years, the Nazis made these protest hats illegal and punishable by law to wear, make, or distribute.”

For those a little less familiar with Minnesota geography, St. Louis Park is a close-in Twin Cities suburb just west of Minneapolis. Some of the news footage you have seen recently may be from those very streets. The yarn store has promised that “the proceeds from the sale of the pattern will go to the LynLake community of businesses who will distribute the funds to those impacted by the actions of ICE.”

Using a stashed skein of Kelbourne Woolens Germantown in a Persian Red, I finished the first of five (or maybe more) Melt the ICE Hats. As friends seek something rational to grasp onto after a nightmare week that revealed the best of Minnesotans who rallied in peaceful protest by the tens of thousands in sub-zero temperatures and the worst of America with the executions of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, I will use my knitting needles to proclaim:

Do justice. 
Love kindness. 
Abolish ICE.

Reading

For Renee Nicole Good

January 12, 2026 annbh3561 Comment

When the incomprehensible occurs (again) on a Minneapolis street, maybe the only solace can be found in poetry. The creative genius of Amanda Gorman provides gentle salve for my bruised soul.

For Renee Nicole Good 
Killed by I.C.E. on January 7, 2026
 
by Amanda Gorman 

They say she is no more, 
That there her absence roars, 
Blood-blown like a rose. 
Iced wheels flinched & froze. 
Now, bare riot of candles, 
Dark fury of flowers, 
Pure howling of hymns. 

If for us she arose, 
Somewhere, in the pitched deep of our grief, 
Crouches our power, 
The howl where we begin, 
Straining upon the edge of the crooked crater 
Of the worst of what we’ve been. 

Change is only possible, 
& all the greater, 
When the labour 
& bitter anger of our neighbors 
Is moved by the love  
& better angels of our nature. 

What they call death & void, 
We know is breath & voice;  
In the end, gorgeously,  
Endures our enormity.  

You could believe departed to be the dawn 
When the blank night has so long stood. 
But our bright-fled angels will never be fully gone, 
When they forever are so fiercely Good.

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Christmas Eve Reflection

December 24, 2025 annbh356Leave a comment

deep blue background with frosted plants in the foreground

I try and fool myself into believing that I am skipping news broadcasts because of my busy calendar. A schedule that included months of preparation for a move and then unpacking our life here on Solstice Place. And, once those tasks were complete, I shifted into everyday routines of knitting, baking, cleaning and, sometimes, even writing. Activities that admittedly require a degree of concentration and therefore provide a quasi-believable excuse not to turn to 24/7 reporting. But, if I am honest, my lack of attention is not attributable to mundane tasks, rather a weary knowledge that once I turn on the radio or the TV I will learn of yet another unthinkable injustice.

With lifelong experience living in the Midwest, I know the briskness of December. This is why I bundle up for my daily walk down the block to the neighborhood mailbox. I know that the winter temperatures in Minneapolis, St. Paul, or other quadrants of Rochester are certainly no warmer than at my doorstep. Yet, news coverage shows early morning raids by masked ICE agents as they remove Minnesota residents from their homes without coats, hats, or mittens. The recent scenes of a woman pinned down in the snow and dragged through the street prompted a public statement from Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara in which he said, “This egregious disregard for human dignity is appalling. It is deeply concerning that there appears to be a lack of accountability from our federal partners.”

Such masked behavior is not limited to Minnesota’s major cities; it also occurs in Rochester. Recently, an immigrant chef who, just months ago, prepared my dinner was taken into ICE custody. This is a man seeking asylum in order to escape Ecuadorian gang violence, violence that caused him to be shot in the head when, as an independent restaurateur, he refused to pay protection money. His location, well-being, and legal status are currently unknown to his family or to the church members who are sponsoring his legal efforts to navigate our complicated asylum process.

During this Christmas season when the gospels recount this ancient, yet well-known story, I can only wonder what might happen should there be another family seeking refuge on this oh holy night with stars brightly shining.

Joseph went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and placed him in a manager, because there was no room for them at the inn.
Luke 2:4-7

Photo credit: pexels-pixabay

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Political Assassinations in Minnesota

June 15, 2025 annbh356Leave a comment

1000s of people rallying with St. Paul Cathedral and Minnesota Historical Center in the background

With the distressing early morning news, my blue bubble burst. This had not been the bubble of childhood afternoons or wedding party favors for showering the departing couple, but one of those iridescent spheres created by a gigantic backyard wand. With political chaos swirling like Pigpen’s cloud of dirt, I took consolation in my location – my blue bubble. While not a native Minnesotan, I have called this state home for over 40 years. This liberal state of Paul Wellstone, Hubert Humphrey, and Walter Mondale. This progressive state of Amy Klobuchar, Tina Smith, and Peggy Flanagan.

While preferring a blue haze, I am not so delusional as to ignore the reality that Minnesota is really purple. It is red where my Congressional representative refuses to meet with constituents who would object to inhumane GOP policies. It is violet when we must rally to protest early morning ICE raids in Rochester and proclaim No Kings. But politically motivated assassinations and attempted assassinations should only happen in some dystopian universe not in the quiet residential neighborhoods of Brooklyn Center and Champlin.

Since the first appearance of those red ball caps, I have wondered to which greatness we want our country to return to:

Before 1974 when women could not get a credit card without a male co-signature?
Before 1960 when U.S. Marshalls were needed to protect a small six-year girl going to kindergarten?
Before 1920 when women could not vote?
Before 1865 when human beings were bought and sold as property?

While my late advocacy work at the State Capitol tended to focus on those legislators from our southeastern corner, I knew Representative Melissa Hortman and Senator John Hoffman to be library supporters, people of integrity, honoring the diversity in our communities, seeking equity for all of this State’s residents, and working for the inclusion of all. The murder of Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, John, and the wounding of Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, make a shameful statement of American life. And yet, even with an active shooter at large and police warnings to stay home, Minnesotans from Bemidgi to Rochester from International Falls to St. Paul gathered by the 100s and expressed their constitutional right to assemble and proclaim No Kings.

Photo credit: © Stephen Maturen/Getty. Demonstrators rally outside the Minnesota State Capitol building during a “No Kings” protest on June 14, 2025, in St. Paul.

New House

Stairs: A bane of elder life

January 29, 2025March 6, 2025 annbh3563 Comments

Geometric January: Square Challenge #5

Through the efficiency of eSignatures, we signed with a realtor last week making it official that we are house hunting. This final GeometricJanuary post reveals just one of the barriers necessitating this life changing move from our multi-story, 100-year-old house to a step-free environment, boasting all the modern-day amenities on one floor. The turning parquet stairs with four angular steps to-and-from the back door is the shortest of the house’s staircases. While geometrically appealing, these steps are, at times, difficult to maneuver. In addition, there are other interior steps between some of the rooms and the exterior approach up the berm to the front door has two runs of steps. The quirks of our old house on a small lot with insufficient space to ramp would provide a significant challenge even for This Old House thus making our decision to move the reasonable choice.

A shout of appreciation to BeckyB for hosting this month’s photo challenge featuring square geometric images. I am looking forward to her next quarterly square challenge.

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Geometric Lines: Niagara’s Rigging

January 22, 2025 annbh3561 Comment

looking skyward up a main mast into the rigging of a tall ship

Geometric January: Square Challenge #4

Sailing terminology is a coded mystery when one has only sailed twice (once on Lake Pepin and once on Tampa Bay with the St. Petersburg skyline in constant view). At first glance the rigging of the S.S.V. Niagara resembles an M.C. Escher lithograph – a tangled maze of confusion. But, when touring this tall ship in the Duluth harbor, we were assured that each Coast Guard trainee understood the complexity of the interconnecting boom, mast, and line.

Another offering for BeckyB’s GeometricJanuary square challenge. Here is the S.S.V. Niagara (Sailing School Vessel) as part of the tall ship regatta in July 2013.

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Tree Squares

July 16, 2021May 16, 2024 annbh3564 Comments

six snow covered trees on a hill overlooking a lake with ducks

When you grow up the daughter and the granddaughter of carpenters, you appreciate trees and the lumber they provide. Fond memories of tagging along to Kleiner’s Lumberyard while Dad handpicked boards to be planed accompanied by harsh noise without benefit of ear protection in those days long before OSHA required safety and the sweet smell of sawdust or sweltering summer days spent planting trees at The 40 – trees that have grown from seedlings as small as my hand to stately pines.

As BeckyB of Winchester’s Square Challenge moves into week three of TreeSquare, I wondered what photos I might have of these natural wonders, these organic composites of cellulose fibers which have graced our planet for more than 375 million years. It turns out – not too many but enough to cover a year of seasons.

Tree locations ( although some no more):

Spring blossoms – St. Paul, April 2021
Summer loss – Rochester, July 2013
Autumn brilliance – Moldova, October 2018
Winter calm – Inseli, November 2012

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Water – Travel – Squares

April 17, 2021May 16, 2024 annbh3562 Comments

from hillside with grass and purple flowers in foreground overlooking river valley with hills

mountain river with, wooden balcony extending over river, mountains in the distance

Mirroring an earlier installment for this quarter’s Squares Challenge by BeckyB — This time from my travels as near as Wisconsin and as far as Italy with water made bright as sunlit waves break on a rocky shore, from a high vista over the river and even higher clouds filter sunlight on the Trans Canada Highway , or white rapids on two rivers half-a-globe apart at sunset.

Travelogue:

Lake Superior along the Minnesota shore – 2013
Columbia River above Revelstoke Dam, British Columbia, Canada – July 9, 2017
Pozza di Fassa, Italy (in the Dolomite mountains) – September 6, 2018
Chippewa River from the High Bridge in Eau Claire, Wisconsin – May 6, 2016

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Evening Flight

August 19, 2020February 2, 2021 annbh3561 Comment

I can count on one hand the times I’ve flown in a small 2- or 4-seater plane and I don’t even need my thumb to complete the tally. Last night’s flight, in a Beechcraft Bonanza, made four. On a spectrum of summer evenings, this one was a definite top 10 with good company, cloudless skies and a rare spontaneous experience. Our flight path took us northeast from Rochester to Red Wing, south over the Mississippi River nearly to Winona before heading back west.

Over the years, with countless trips from Hokah to Lonsdale, Vasa to Alden and all the libraries and bookmobile stops in between, I know the blue line highways curve through the rolling hills of our Driftless area. But there is a missing link between knowing there are hills and only seeing our corner of Minnesota as a distant 2-dimensional view from the lightly scratched window of a Delta commercial flight. From 3,000 feet the geological undulations are beyond beautiful.

The evening sky had that early August haze and, while the groves of trees still held their verdant green color, the fields were twinged with late summer yellow, ripe for harvest. It was evident that within weeks the landscape would shift from green to amber to rich fall browns.

I always think of the Zumbro as more of a small stream than a real river but flying over the watershed showed an extensive network of creeks and a main channel that eventually winds its way east. And then, almost to Red Wing, but not quite to Wisconsin, we banked right and so we could follow the mighty Mississippi past Wabasha, over Lake City (the home of waterskiing) and to Alma. The bluffs on each side climb out of the river valley. There was a small smattering of boat traffic, including one barge. With the sun setting over my right shoulder, we made another sweeping right turn before engaging the instrument approach and landing. After parking on the tarmac, we helped spray and wipe the leading edge of the wings and tail to remove the summer bug splats.

Our last single engine flight was in September 1991 when a Swiss cousin took Richard, Dad and me up for a view of the Alps around Luzerne. While the landscape may have been more dramatic that day, this most recent flight was maybe even more memorable as it gave us a different view of our chosen home.