This is my post to Mazie...
Hey Maze,
I thought you deserved a blog post from me since I’ve had the pleasure of reading so many from you. I tried writing just a regular blog post, but got all up in my head about what to say even though no one will read it. I realized that I was here starting to write because of you so I should just write to you.
It’s been a little over two weeks since you left and I’m like you, I don’t actively miss people much. It feels like you are at St. Olaf even though you are 4,000 miles away. I will see you in less than two months when we visit and between the Marco Polos, texts, family texts, photos and blog posts, you are here with me virtually. And I’m so truly, genuinely excited that you are in Spain studying, exploring, traveling to so many amazing places, meeting new people and having an adventure. And to add to all of that, so many times when we are together I feel like I annoy you with my voice or questions and when you are away we have an easier relationship. After saying all of that, I do miss you. You are my little girl and I wish you would just stay here forever with us and be my best friend. And I know you feel sort of similar. But we both know that’s not how life works and if that reality played out it would be very weird and sad. You are meant to go off and do your own things, have your own life. Thankfully I get to be a part of it. I just miss the physicality of you, the living, breathing presence of you here.
I’m not here to wax or wane about missing you or whatever, I just think that sometimes because dad is the “missing you” person one could think that I don’t care or don’t miss. I think for me the missing is just overpowered by all of the good stuff and dad’s more active form of missing, so my missing gets lost in the shuffle. I don’t want to be the person who is holding you back from flying, so perhaps I error on the side of pushing you away too much. It’s hard to find the balance I guess.
On to differetnt topics. Grandma Kaye took dad, myself and Tyler out for dinner to Martina to celebrate dad’s birthday. She ordered a glass of wine and I almost crapped myself. In all of the years that I’ve known her, which is all of my years, I’ve never seen her order a glass of anything that contained alcohol. I’ve seen her partake in a glass of wine that someone else has purchased for her or put in front of her, but never ever have I witnessed her ordering such a think unprompted. Goes to show that people can surprise you whatever their age : ). The rest of the dinner was lovely. Dad was in charge and ordered several things that we all shared. Our server was top notch and we all had a nice time chatting. Of course we wrapped up the dinner with two panqueques, cause how could you not?
I told you over text that another person was shot and killed by ICE here in Minneapolis over the weekend. I can’t bring myself to watch any of the footage that captures the shooting, but I have read a lot about it. This man was on the ground with his hands behind his back when he was shot 10 times by ICE. That’s an impossible thing to justify even if you give ICE all of the benefits of all of the doubts. Tensions are high and people are scared. In spite of all of the negative, seeing everyone come together to help those people who are scared to leave their homes fills me with pride for Minnesota. It’s truly remarkable how many different people, aid organizations, restaurants and stores are gathering supplies, money, groceries and bringing them to the people who need them.
I was at Bridging this morning and Jean (she’s your favorite one) was back for the first time in 12 weeks. She broke her ankle in early November and today she was finally healed enough to come and work. It was really nice to see her and catch up. She has a friend who has cancer and she was telling me this harrowing story about what this woman has gone through over the last month or so. It’s easy to get down about my own health challenges, but when you hear stories like that it reminds me that I have nothing to complain about and instead I should focus more on being thankful for my relative health.
Axel got home from the hospital on Saturday and the Lundeen’s had Lucas and Stella over so that Michelle and Hector could put all of their care and effort into getting him situated and comfortable being back at home. Every picture that they share of him he looks so sad. Grandma reminded me of how bad she felt after her hip surgery and she imagined that he is in similar pain. I just wish him a speedy recovery. He’s the sweetest and his path is so often difficult. The kid could use a win or two.
This weekend we are going to head to the cabin and Tyler will drive us there. It will be his first time driving 70, but he’s now driven on the highway a decent amount so I don’t think it will be too big of an adjustment. I’m guessing dad and Tyler will spend lots of time in the hot tub and I will spend lots of time in front of a puzzle…so it goes : ). Tonight dad has his book club. He listened to 15 minutes of his book and decided it was boring so it will be another book club where dad hasn’t read the book.
Speaking of dad, he got his book The Yearly Thing in the mail today. He was pretty excited about it and brought it with him to work so he could show the guys in his book club. I looked through it a bit this afternoon and came to the conclusion that he did a good job with it. I had a hard time understanding what could possibly be interesting about turning his newsletter into a book, but he could see it and I think he was right. Why is he right about so many things (candle lids being just one of the things)? It stands alone as a worthwhile thing and as an archive of the Weekly Thing it is very successful.
Well I think that’s going to wrap up this first letter/blog post to you. Perhaps I will write a few more as time goes on.
Love,
Mom
PS: The first picture I included is us at Yum a couple of days after the 20th anniversary of our first visit to Yum. Dad had wanted to go on Thursday which was the actual 20 year anniversary, but I didn’t remember that it was on the calendar and made dinner by mistake. I sort of felt like the anniversary wasn’t worth celebrating since you weren’t here, but dad was really into it. So on Saturday night we made our way there and dad took several pictures of the event. And as you can tell in the picture, I got eyelashes again. The second picture is of the vigil in our neighborhood on Saturday night. Dad and I went after dinner at Yum. It was very nice, small, peaceful and we sang lots of repeating songs including Peace Like A River. There were small gatherings all over the city.
So here we are on this epic trip sort of retracing our steps from 19 years ago. The first couple of days have been different than last time, but also mostly the same. We started at the same hotel, but it expanded and I didn’t even realize it was the same place until we visited the kids’ room and walked into the original part of the hotel. Then we hiked to Guarda, but on a slightly different route.
Last time we spent one night in Guarda, this time around we are spending two. Today instead of hiking to Zuoz, we did a day hike to a mountain hut for a glorious lunch. When we returned to town, we showered up and went off to explore town a bit before dinner.
19 years ago when in Guarda we explored and came across a ceramic artist who made goats. I fell in love with the goats, but figured I would see them at some other point during our hiking trip. We hiked and hiked and visited little town after quaint village, but no goats! At the end of the trip I convinced Jamie that we needed to get back to Guarda and get those goats.
After several train rides we arrived and purchase two goats. And 19 years later those two goats are my most prized possession. They don’t look like most anything else I own or like, but I just love them. I have shed tears over those goats.
We weren’t sure which town we had purchased the goats from, but Jamie had been reading his blog posts from that trip and thought it might be in Guarda. I had also named the goats Guarda and Zuoz so it seemed likely that they were from one of the two towns. But when we got to Guarda the train station was a 10 minute bus ride from the village and neither one of us remembered hiking to the town or taking a bus to the town. So that was sorta that. No goats in Guarda. But then one of travel companions, Theresa, noticed a sign in town that listed an art gallery that sold ceramics and pointed it out to us. So back to today…when we went to check out the town, we stopped by the sign, noted the address, found the address and found the goats!!!
Now we have two more goats in the family, one for Mazie and one for Tyler. They have been instructed that these goats are now their most prized possessions and to someday, perhaps 19 years in the future, return to Guarda and purchase a goat for each of their children.
The goats in the store looked a little different than the ones Jamie and I bought all those years ago, so I asked the woman in the store and she said that the daughter now made the goats, but the goats from 19 years ago were made by the mother. How cool is that? Our goats had children and we had children and now our children each have one of the goat children. Maybe in 19 years, the daughter will have a daughter and she will make the goats. Sometimes life is just the coolest 😀🐐
I ❤️ Scoul, Switzerland. I was here 19 years ago and that began the best week of my life. Finally back and so grateful!! Love it here.
View behind me…
View in front of me…
Difference in air conditioning Europe vs. United States
We are in Switzerland and it’s reasonable hot. The high today is 93 degrees Fahrenheit. When we are inside there is air conditioning, but compared to the United States it is much warmer inside. Best guess is the air tends to be set between 76 and 78 degrees whereas in the States most places are set closer to 70 degrees.
I much prefer this and it seems to me that this must save a lot of energy which also seams like a good thing. Jamie on the other hand is very hot. He would pay someone a decent chunk of money to be in a room that was cooled to 70 degrees.
In the United States I am frequently cold when inside an air conditioned space unless I am active. Unsurprisingly, Jamie is not.
The people here don’t seem hot like Jamie and even when outside they don’t appear to be overly hot. When I am outside in 90 degree weather I always feel hot. I feel like there is a lesson to be learned, mainly less air conditioning in the US would be a good thing both for energy consumption and also because people would be more acclimated to the heat and would therefore be less hot when outside in the heat even if they were more hot on average.
When I flip this logic on its head however, I am not interested in the opposite. The idea of heating homes and businesses to 60 or 62 degrees to save energy and acclimate oneself to cold weather has no appeal to me. I’m guessing the same is true for Jamie and many others with air conditioning.
"If You Put All Of Us In A Blender You Get A Girlyman"*
A big thing happened last night. A thing big enough to justify this blog coming back from the dead. Jamie, Jim Bernard, and I trekked down to the Entry to see Girlyman play. It’s hard to explain why this is such a monumental event, but I’ll try…
Hadar is a guy that all three of us know. I think I’ve only met him once and it was a long time ago, but he’s still a guy close to my heart. He and his wife are some of the sweetest, most caring people that I’ve ever known. They commit random acts of kindness on a regular basis and judging by their wide circle of close friends, others feel the same way.
Hadar and his wife Lois are very successful people. They live in NYC, work hard and play hard. They love to see live music. They see live music more than anyone else I know. Hadar has a blog that he keeps mainly for the purpose of recording the details from all of the shows that he and Lois see. Most every time they see a show, Hadar writes a lengthy wrap of the show on his blog. Jamie, Jim and I all read Hadar’s blog. Hadar and Lois frequent many different bands, but the nexus of their relationship with live music seems to be Girlyman. They love a lot of music and a lot of musicians, but they LOVE Girlyman.
Until last night I didn’t realize that Jim is a bit of a Girlyman fan himself. After having dinner with Hadar one night long ago and hearing all about the wonder of Girlyman, he bought all of their CD’s and listened over and over. I guess Jim is like that with music. Jamie and I are armchair fans. We own a CD or two and listen from time to time, but neither one of us has ever been captivated by the band.
Last night when we hit the club I was there more for Hadar than I was for myself. The night felt really big. Finally it was time to see this band that Hadar writes so much about, this band that Hadar and Lois have seen 21 times in 3.5 years, this band that Hadar and Lois have backed financially when they’ve been in a tight spot, this band that even though Hadar and Lois see so much live music, is still their favorite band. Yes, it was a big night. I think Jamie and Jim felt sort of the same. Being able to see the band with other faithful readers of Hadar’s blog also made the night seem more special.
The other big part of the night was being able to blog about it the next day the way that Hadar always does. Jamie, Jim and I were all really excited about this part of the experience as well. It’s like everything coming full circle.
I felt odd at the show. Both like a spectator, watching diehard fans belt out every song, and like an insider, having read so much about them and knowing Hadar.
The show opened with “See to See” which is off their new album and it was one of my favorites of the night. Ty (Tylan) sings lead vocal on this song and I really liked her voice. She’s an alto and I’m partial to altos. I found myself digging the songs best when she sang lead vocal. For the record, Ty is the woman in the middle, Doris the woman on the left and Nate the guy on the right. Their drummer J.J. is back behind Doris, but from the photo it’s hard to tell. She was set back pretty far from the others due to the configuration of the stage.
The second song of the night “Joyful Sign” was too bouncy and poppy for my taste. “Easy Bake Ovens” came next, which is one of Jim’s favorites.
After these first songs, Doris told a story about her recent struggle with Leukemia and how she suffered from depression afterward. It was a very honest and raw story and while she shared it was obvious that the whole band had been a real and integral part of her struggle. It struck me that they were very cohesive, very together, very much like a family, very different in this respect from any other band I’ve seen. Today I spent some time reading about the band and discovered that the 3 original members of the band were roommates for 8 years in a 900 foot apt. in Brooklyn and two of the members have been friends since 2nd grade; guess that’s where all of the cohesion comes from.
I enjoyed the rest of the show, especially the encore which was an awesome rendition of the BeeGees “Staying Alive”, but I enjoyed most getting a first hand take on Girlyman. After reading about them for so long, it was gratifying to see them in person. Nate has a great stage presence, he’s definitely the one leading the charge with the quips and stories, but they all blend and fit so well together that it’s more like getting a glimpse at a private conversation than it is the typical stage banter. Ty struck me as the most reserved of the group, but also the most surprising. When she smiled her whole face changed and she really lit up. I loved Doris’ dress (like I wanted one for my own) and admired her for being so vulnerable on stage talking about her cancer and depression.
Girlyman isn’t quite my aesthetic in the land of music, but they’re close and I can see why Hadar loves them so much and why they have such a devoted fan base. Seeing them live was magical in this weird amalgamation of so many words read, so much admiration and love for Hadar and Lois, and then finally getting the concrete evidence of seeing their favorite band live. I think because I’ve only ever seen Hadar and Lois once, it was a way to get to see them through their love of music. I don’t know exactly, but it was a great night.
When Girlyman return to town, I’ll be at the next show. They are growing on me. Jamie and I listened to their music this afternoon and I’ll listen to more of it again soon. In true Hadar fashion we stole away with the set list and had it signed by the band members. This is a classic part of most of Hadar’s posts. He almost always has a picture of the setlist. We also grabbed a picture with the band.
Hadar we saw Girlyman last night! Thanks for turning us on to a great band and for sharing your love of music with us all!!!
*One explanation given by the band as to their name. It’s a commonly asked question and one that I’ll admit to having asked in my head whenever I thought of their name.
Best Of The Road - Part Two
I’m back to finish the other blog post that I started a few months ago. When last I wrote about our summer vacation my family was deep in the landscape of the rural midwest. We pick up the narrative as we meandered our way from Galena, IL to Mineral Point, WI.
We arrived in Mineral Point and I thought, huh, this looks like it could be a cool town but it’s not exactly a thriving town. Mineral Point is tiny. We arrived mid-week to learn that most things in Mineral Point are only open on the weekends. The place is strange. They have many things that a town this size shouldn’t have i.e. a huge public swimming pool, an opera house, a train museum, a really old house museum, a school for arts and crafts, and a living history museum.
We settled into our home for the next few days and decided it was a pretty good place to rest one’s head. Maple Wood Lodge isn’t the fanciest of accommodations, but it was lovely in it’s own quiet way. It’s set a few miles outside of town on a 20 acre parcel. The yard is large and well-equipped for family fun with a fire pit, volley ball net, hammock and teether ball. From the yard you can start out on a few different hikes that let you explore the property. The hikes are short enough that even small kids can hike the distance, but long enough that you feel like you’re sort of on a hike. I think we would claim Maple Wood Lodge as our favorite place that we stayed during the trip.
The highlight of Mineral Point for Mazie was definitely Pendarvis, the living history museum. I’m not sure what happened, but something about Pendarvis clicked with her and she couldn’t stop talking about the place for the next few weeks. Even today if you mention the name, she will start off anew on the wonders of Pendarvis.
Pendarvis consists of several very old stone houses constructed in the early and mid 1800’s. The historical society runs costumed, guided tours through the houses that tell about the various families that lived there and what life was like for them. It’s worth a stop if you are in the area.
We had a hard time finding much else to do in Mineral Point as most of the town is closed during the week. I think Mineral Point is a cool, little spot, but if we ever returned, I would go on the weekend.
After a few nights in Mineral Point we loaded up our awesome mini-van and hit the road for Cedarburg, WI. Cedarburg is located just a bit outside of Milwaukee. It feels old and preserved, but in a touristy way. It’s similar to Stillwater, MN, but bigger.
Our accommodations in Cedarburg were strange, but interesting. We stayed at a farmstead that used to be in the country, but is now smack dab in the middle of suburbia. The farmstead consists of the owner’s house, the old barn which the owners use for antique storage and two small cottages that are rented to people like us. The good news about the cottages is that they could be really, super cool and extraordinary. The bad news about the cottages is that they aren’t; in fact they are a little creepy. We wouldn’t ever stay there again, but it was certainly more interesting than hanging our hats at the local Days Inn.
We had a nice time in Cedarburg. We visited a covered bridge that seemed too simple to be entertaining, but ended up providing at least an hour of enjoyment. We walked the Main Street and shopped the many stores. We sat down at Tomaso’s, a weird pizza place with great pizza (sauce on top) and superb cheese bread. We dined at a restaurant with mediocre food and a fabulous outdoor patio that took all disappointment out of the meal because of the view. We watched a dumb movie in our creepy cottage. Jamie and Mazie made art at a local studio while Tyler napped. It was a simple and sweet way to end our road trip. I would return to Cedarburg again, especially with older kids. I think the area has plenty to offer a family for a long weekend.
Next year there will be no road trip through the rural midwest. I’ve promised Jamie and I’m going to keep my promise!
The Lady's New Nose
It’s been a long time, but I’m finally back to finish what I started. And speaking of finishing what I started, I should probably write that post about the second part of our trip from this past summer. I know it’s long over-due and long forgotten, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t get it done. I’m thinking that will be my next “all new and exciting” post. Stay tuned for that, it just might arrive before Christmas. Christmas makes me busy.
Without further ado, may I present our new mudroom in pictures…
Okay, it’s the mudroom, but mostly it’s Tyler. This is what Tyler does each day; he gets what he wants. In this case, he wants shoes that are located inside of the awesome mudroom cabinets. So he climbs onto the bench, walks to the cabinet door, opens the cabinet door…
…climbs down, grabs the shoes, and disappears. This leaves the lady’s new nose empty and ready for a photo. Awww, isn’t she lovely.
Now it’s Mazie turn to get in on the photo action. The mudroom cabinet is perfection. We have room to hang 14 coats, house a crap-load of shoes, tuck away all of our hats and mittens, and even our cookbooks have a home. Because the mudroom is pretty narrow it’s hard to get a good picture of the front of the cabinet so you’ll just have to trust me when I tell you it’s supremely good.
Tyler’s back again and looking for an escape. This offers a different view of my handsome lady’s nose with a view into the kitchen. And just to round out the pictures, here’s a view of the mudroom just past the cabinet before you get to the desk. There is a large opening where you can walk into our old office and pocket French doors if you want some privacy. This means you can now make a circle inside our house. The kids love to circle and I’ve gotta say circling isn’t just for kids, adults love it too. And that my friends is our new mudroom and my children. The End.
She Went And Got A New Nose
When we moved to our new house almost two years ago, I fell in love. I’ve never been in love with a house before. I moved around a lot as a kid and found all of our places of residence fine, but nothing extraordinary. I bought a house in my late twenties and thought it was great, but I didn’t love it. Same thing with house number two, great house but no love.
When we bought this house, we weren’t really looking for a house. That is to say Jamie wasn’t looking for a house and I was always looking for a house. I used to spend countless hours online looking at houses each week. I would drag Jamie to open houses and occasionally demand that our realtor friend take me to a house that I just had to see. Jamie thought our old house was excellent and had very little interest in moving. He was interested in not being dragged to open houses and the computer to look at this house or that house. And he’s a nice man, so he wanted me to be happy. That’s about as much as he wanted to move.
On one open house Sunday we arrived at our current house, walked inside, and I instantly knew that this should be our house. Jamie was on his cell phone most of the time we were here and it was only in a subsequent visit that he began to see the light. A few short weeks later, we made an offer and a month after Tyler was born we moved in.
Our old house was bigger, had an attached garage, and a large kitchen. Our house now has a detached garage, small kitchen and less space. Our old house had soaring ceilings and was awash in light. Our house now has standard 8" ceilings and regular windows. Our old house was great, but this house we love. We got used to everything “less good” about our new house, but we had no place to hang our hat when we walked in the door. Our back door had a 2’ x 2’ landing that served as our entrance to the house and our “mudroom”. We didn’t realize how important a mudroom was to us until we didn’t have one anymore.
We are people who dream big and it is with our dream of a place to hang your coat, set your groceries, and store your shoes that we enlisted the help of an awesome company (Quatersawn) to help transform our mudroom-less house into a house with a mudroom that would make any mother proud.
We began this journey many months ago and now it is complete. The process was long, loud, messy and pricey, but it was worth it. It’s like our house that we were completely in love with (despite her nose) went and got a nose job…Now we are over the moon for her.
Pictures of her new nose can be seen in the next blog post. Stay tuned!