Years ago Ken and I joined one of his sisters for an Easter mass in the before Easter dinner with his family. During the mass the priest spoke of how important Easter is for Christians and told us to go forth as joyful Easter people. This year I am thinking of Ken. He was an altar boy, went to Catholic schools, but no longer attended church regularly. Although not religious, Ken …
Big Red was out last night as he has been since we got some warm weather. But he came inside early this morning, And has been following the sun all day as it shines through various windows
Well, it has been an unusual spring. although there are often late snows, this one followed a day in the fifties and the forecast is for six of the next seven nights in the single digits! I pulled the sled out to the coops with water and sprouts this morning. Although the geese were having a party, the chickens were not too sure about …
I was a member of the zen center in the Twin Cities when I met Ken. I knew of no zen centers near Turtle Lake, but I came with my Buddha, incense, and gong; I put them on an old trunk my parents had given me when I went to college. Ken decided he could do better than a trunk. He took a slab and cut three holes. He inserted and pegged the …
What does one do when winter returns on March 30th? Make jam, of course! I will be selling jam here at Keppers during the Earth Arts show Saturday, May 5th and Sunday, May 6th. Here are the raspberry – blackberry on the left and black currant on the right. I have also made strawberry, ripe bell pepper, and organic peach. Other than the peaches I got in Viroqua last summer, the jams are made from …
Few people knew which tasks Ken did and which I did. We formed a good team, and I guess to many people the pieces were seamless. Ken did the planting. He made the potting soil in fall, brought in enough to fill four or five fifty gallon plastic barrels, made the soil blocks, planted, watered and transplanted. In Ken’s absence I found empty barrels – he hadn’t felt good enough to make the potting soil. …
It is that time of year. Warm days, nights below freezing. And each sunny day in the forties I feel that maple sap running up the tree. And each afternoon as I pick eggs and later when I shut the chicken coops for the night I look up to the stars and remember. As a child near my birthday in March we would visit my grandparents and they made …
Today as I make bread I remember… Ken could surprise me easily. I am often trusting and naive. One year Ken asked me to help him move some lumber from one of the many lumber piles. He told me he was pulling some maple for a project. It never occurred to me the project was for me. That year in the late fall Ken kept teasing me I had helped him move my …
Yesterday I got to spend some time with a gorgeous, happy baby. I thought of Ken. Ken, as the second of seven children, had lots of baby experience. I, as the second of two with two younger cousins across the country, did not. People would start to hand me babies – after all I am a woman. And I would quickly say, “Hand that baby to Ken. I come in once they …
I have been cleaning and sorting and clearing in the house; there is much to do. One day I climbed up a ladder and washed high walls – can’t remember the last time I did that (embarrassing, but true). I also started sorting rags with the plan to put them in barrels outside until I have cleaned, sorted, reorganized my solo living space. …
