Winter Walk at Gammelgarden Museum

Last month I went to Gammelgarden Museum of Scandia to attend the Lucia Dagen service at the oldest Lutheran church in Minnesota. 

As I entered the parking lot at about 6:50 a.m.,, the buildings were lit. Against, the indigo sky, the buildings looked so bright. 

This is the Valkommen Hus - or Welcome House. It's the main building where there is a gift shop, a classroom, and displays with museum artifacts. 

This was the pathway to the Gammelkyrkan - the first sanctuary of Elim Lutheran Church and the oldest Lutheran Church in Minnesota. As I was walking on it, I could hear two owls calling to one another. Otherwise, it was still and incredibly quiet.

Inside, the windows were decorated for Lucia Dagen - a holiday that celebrates St. Lucia. 

Each year, there is a high school girl who plays St. Lucia. 

Before each service, she and others lit candles. 

After the first service, there was a break until the second service at 8:30 a.m. I took some photos outdoors of the church. As a side note, the service was held in this unheated building. Mind you...this is the middle of winter in Minnesota. It's chilly - though not too bad at about 32 degrees! Nonetheless, people wore jackets, hats, mittens, scarves, and some even had blankets. 

As I walked outside near the restored prairie, there were deer tracks. 

This is a better view of one part of the prairie. It's not much to look at during the winter, yet it still provides some seeds and cover for wildlife. 

There's a bridge in the prairie that crosses over the pond.

At that time, we still hadn't received a lot of snow, so it was making interesting patterns on the wood slats of the bridge.  

Looking back from the bridge, the Gammelkryrkan looks protected nestled between the trees. 

 

The pond was covered with ice and snow. There were quite a few tracks on the the pond. Despite all the activity, I saw no wildlife at this time of the day. It was also very quiet in the prairie - such a peaceful and relaxing place to be.

Looking to the north, the five other buildings were easily visible. The barn quilt on the barn is one that my daughter designed and painted. She had a group of volunteers who helped her with the painting. She was 12 years old at the time. She ended up doing something like 14 or 15 more barn quilts that created the Washington County Barn Quilt.

Anyway...back to the prairie. There were dried native flowers that had beautiful patterns in them.

Everything seemed to be colored in creams and tans.

The grasses provided coverage for the wildlife.

This is another native flower. 

As is this one.

Around 8:20 or so, people started walking from the Valkommen Hus to the church for the next service.

I imagined what it must have been like in the mid- to late-1800s when pioneers trudged through the snow to go to church in unheated buildings. Such dedication and commitment to one's faith!

There were quite a few candles to light. These are ones that are on the altar.

These are ones that were rather high up - there are two of them. Before the majority of people arrived, another volunteer and I were lighting the candles. 

I took a lit candle in one of my hands after taking my boots off. Stood on a folding chair and, not thinking, put my feet too far towards the back of the chair and it collapsed. My legs were literally stuck in the chair. Of course, everyone turns around and I could hear a collective audible gasp. "Nothing to see here, folks!" Just me stuck in a chair trying not to light things on fire. 

Thanks to the other volunteer, I was able to get out of the chair without lighting anything accidentally on fire. I still have bruises on the leg and it is sore to the touch. It was a memorable morning.

After that drama, I looked at the altar again. This is a Bible all in Swedish.

Everyone was taking their seats and holding candles. 

Although it was much brighter outside now than when I had arrived 1 1/2 hours prior, the candles still added a warmth and peaceful feeling to the church and experience. 

That was a nice way to spend my morning. It was something I had never done before, and I was able to listen to Swedish be spoken by multiple people and then songs sung in Swedish by all those in attendance. 

I could imagine what it was like going back in time to the 1800s and feeling like a Swedish immigrant. It was such a wonderful experience!

Scavenger Hunt #3

This is a swap on Swap-Bot that I'm participating in that I thought looked fun. The goal is to take five photos (from a list of ten items) and give some information about them - where did I take it, is it part of a series of photos, or whatever other information that I think is interesting. 

Another option is to use old photos that I have taken. This latter option is what I chose to do. I always enjoy going through photos that I've taken and seeing if they bring me back to when I took them.

Purple

I took this photo on June 8, 2019, in Osceola, Wisconsin. The town has a committee that does floral or natural displays along the main and side streets as a way to beautify the community and drive throughout town. One of my favorite colors is purple, so this display caught my eye.

Diamonds

On June 18, 2017, Sophia (then 16 years old) completed this diamond quilt. This was, by far, her most ambitious quilt because of the cutting and layout she needed to do to create the diamond pattern. She was very happy with how it turned out.

Keyboard

I had totally forgotten about this "learn how to type" program that I had Sophia and Olivia do as part of homeschooling. Here, on April 23, 2013, Sophia is playing a game on computer using the keyboard to learn to type.

Wheels

On June 18, 2018, the propane company came out with a Bobcat to move our tank to a new location after we had a fire that burned down our hobby shed. The propane tank was about 15 feet - at the most - from it. Thankfully, our neighbor who was a retired firefighter saw the fire (we weren't home) and turned off the tank. Things could have been quite different had he not done that. 

Flags

On May 28, 2018, Memorial Day, I visited Fort Snelling National Cemetery. Someone had put a flag in front of my parents' gravestone - as they did in front of the gravestones in the entire section. I was so touched to think that someone took time out of their day to honor my dad who served in the Korean War. 

Shopping

On March 12, 2020, the shelves at Walmart were completely stripped of paper products - toilet paper, paper towels, and napkins. Other sections of the store, likewise, were bare. It made shopping for the basics quite difficult.

Mountains

For Sophia's (homeschool) high school graduation, we took a trip to Washington (state) and Alaska. This is one of the many mountain ranges in Alaska. It was such a beautiful place to visit. We went there before she graduated since the costs increase substantially in the summer there. This was taken on April 27, 2019, on the way to Girdwood, Alaska.

Boots

Of course I could have used a photo showing a normal pair of boots, but why do that when these attractive blue plastic boots were documented on June 3, 2012? Sophia, Olivia, and Colton (their cousin) went to a dairy/creamery operation. Everyone had to wear these blue boots when they went into the creamery. 

Vintage

This was one of my favorite ornaments when I was a girl. When my parents died, my sister, brother, and I went through the ornaments and I picked this one. On December 8, 2013, the little red fawn with white fur trim was on our Christmas tree. 

Glass

By far, one of my favorite places we visited when we were in Seattle, Washington, was Chihuly Garden and Glass. The glasswork there - both inside and outside - was spectacular. I especially liked this boat scene with the glass orbs in and around the boat. The black floor reflected the boat and some of the orbs. I could have spent hours there looking at all the different colors and patterns of this on exhibit alone.

My Favorite Photos - October 2022

During October, my favorite photos centered around birds, flowers, spending time with my younger daughter at college, and spending time with my sister doing genealogical "field trips." 

In early October, I saw a white-throated sparrow. I like the little yellow spot on its forehead.

 

The cardinals are now coming back to the feeders. During the fall and winter, they spend more time near our home and at the feeders. They remind me of my parents who were equally overjoyed when a cardinal - or a pair - would show up at their home. 

A new type of bird showed up at our farm - a red-breasted nuthatch. Normally, we see the white-breasted nuthatches. So, this is a pleasant surprise. 

The flowers have been blooming well into October which is unusual. This one surprised me when I looked closer at it after downloading it to my laptop: the center of the flower is heart-shaped! 

On warm days during October, the sparrows love playing in the birdbath.

By the middle of the month, the bird feeders were getting lots of "customers." It's always a bit bittersweet when the goldfinches' vibrant yellow feathers change to a tannish-gray color.

 

After spending a weekend at home, I brought Olivia back to college. She is on the video/tech team and enjoys it. She took me around the auditorium. This is one of the catwalks. I found out that she is tethered when she moves across the wooden pieces to her right. What isn't quite visible in the photo is that there is a gap between each piece. She needs to re-tether herself as she moves along them to adjust the lights. 

This is another catwalk that has a lot of stage lights. Below are the first six rows of the auditorium. 

As we stood on the catwalk, this was the view down. She also works at the soundboard which is the table in the middle section. 

On the third weekend, my sister and I went to a cemetery in Minneapolis where our grandparents on our mom's side are buried. We cleaned the graves and got the grass back from them. We didn't have a lot of water. So, after the next rain, the gravestones should be a lot brighter. 

 

At the same cemetery, we visited our great-grandparents on my maternal father's side. I had never been to this marker or the graves before, so this was something new. We saw that there were three additional gravestones - two belonging to their unmarried adult children and one belonging to a married adult child. Again we cleaned off each of the gravestones which was a big task. I don't think anyone in the family had been there in decades to do that. 

While we were in the area, we stopped by the church where our parents got married in 1964. At that time, all of the portraits were in black and white. Needless to say, the church was beautiful with its stained-glass windows. We were even lucky enough to be able to see a quinceanera. The young lady looked beautiful in her pink gown with the bouquets of pink flowers lining the aisle.

Around that neighborhood, which was considered a "Tier 2" area during the riots after George Floyd's death, there are a lot of murals. This one caught my eye.

This one did too...for a more humorous reason.

Our last stop of the day was at the home where my grandma and grandpa (on my mom's side) and my mom lived starting in 1942. Our grandpa died in 1951, my mom got married and moved out to her first home with our dad in 1964, and our grandma died in 1982. So, the home was in the family for 40 years. 

We were simply going to take some photos outside of the home. After we did that and were in the car, we noticed a woman peering out behind the door. I went back and introduced myself, and told her the purpose of taking photos. 

To make a long story short, she invited us in and we were able to see the home 40 years after we last saw it! A highlight was seeing the beautiful stained glass window still at the landing on the staircase. It was such a gift that the current homeowner gave us by letting us see the home. What was so touching was the care they are taking to preserve and restore the home. All the original woodwork - since 1904 - is there. 

Our last stop of the day was seeing a duplex that my grandparents and mom lived in from 1938-1942. My mom would have been 8-12 years old at the time. I'm not sure if they lived on the first or second floor. 

Interestingly, we have passed by this home hundreds (probably thousands) of times. It wasn't until my sister and I started doing genealogical research that we were able to get the addresses of some of the homes where our ancestors lived. 

After that, I became pretty sick and have been dealing on and off with laryngitis, fever, a respiratory infection, persistent cough, and sinus issues. Lots of children at the school where I work are sick now - over 5% with the flu alone (which they need to report to the Minnesota Department of Health). So, there are no more photos from the third week of October through the end of the month.