My Favorite Photos - August 2023

Another month passed and it feels like the majority of it was spent at work. The good thing is that many of the activities were ones that made me happy. One of the first ones of the month was Dalapalooza. We had a therapy horse at that one. 

His name was Arvid and he is a Norwegian Fjord horse. 

He was there on lunch break during a Dala horse painting class. Sophia took the class. 

Olivia did too.

At the Washington County Fair, I saw this sunflower. 

Olivia entered about a half-dozen projects. The blue Diamond-Dotz project was one of her projects. 

The girls and I played Bingo at the fair. 

The first week of August, I coordinated the first-ever Sewing Camp at the museum. In addition to sewing for half the day, the girls did other projects - like making these suet log feeders for the birds.

The girls also learned about natural dyes that the pioneers would have used. After the lesson, they created tie-dye t-shirts. They all turned out really well.

The girls also learned about bees and made rolled beeswax candles. 

The main project was a sewing and embroidery project. They made a shoulder bag.

The following week at work, the children learned about cynotype printing. I taught my daughters how to do this when I homeschooled them so it was fun to do again with other children and see how excited they were with the photography process.

The children made stuffed tomtes and a couple other projects. 

The new building signs that I had been working on since February were installed. There was a small team of volunteers and I who worked with to upgrade the signs. 

The signs are in English and Swedish since Swedish immigrants settled in Scandia in the mid- to late-1800s.

The heritage vegetable garden is doing very well now. The Washington County Master Gardens have revitalized this garden and a cereal garden.

The summer intern repainted and/or created different wooden animals that would have been typical of an 1850s-1880s farm.

There was another big event at the museum - Spelmansstamman. Some of the children from the elementary school where I worked and the camp at the museum showed up which was fun. 

There were many musicians at the event - including this older gentleman who was tuning his violin under a tree.

I enjoyed seeing different generations of fiddlers performing together. 

The event in August had a dual focus - Swedish and Ojibwe culture and music. This is Julian who did drumming and short presentations about Ojibwe culture and music. 

I liked seeing children interact with the Dala horses that we repainted and/or touched up. 

My sister and nephew attended the event. They had never been to it and really enjoyed the experience. 

Towards the end of August, Olivia moved back to college. She has her own room again this year as part of her accommodations. It feels so much more spacious than last year's room, and she has set it up well. Sophia gave some input, too, about arranging the room and helped set it up. 

Another project at work was coordinating a Tomte Community Art Show. There are 43 artists who designed and painted 48 tomtes. The artists ranged in ages from 7 to over 80 years old. 

The tomtes are all so different from one another. It's fun to see what people came up with and how some even added additional features to the wood cut-out.

On August 30th, I helped the Lions serve a meal and lemonade to students at the local elementary school. One of the students who I worked with last year (who is now going to school at the middle school) showed up. "Ms. Ann!!" I heard. Seeing him truly brightened my day.

We served food to a lot of families that evening. 

I started growing dahlias this year. This is a new one that just started blooming. 

This dahlia has bloomed constantly now for a month. There have been so many blooms on this plant.

We're seeing a lot of yellows now in the yard and pastures. There's a lot of goldenrod which I'm not a huge fan of, but the bees like it. I prefer these type of yellow  flowers.

Even these yellow flowers I like, especially when I see they benefit bees and other pollinators. 

And that wraps up August. It's been a full month. 

My Favorite Photos - February 2023

This month I have a very small number of photos compared to past months. I'm working about 50+ hours a week between three jobs now that the girls are both in college, so my free time is limited as is my time to take photos. 

Honestly, this is kind of depressing for me because I love taking photos and documenting life. I guess when time is spent working, things change. Perhaps going forward this year I need to make a conscious effort to prioritize using my camera and creating images that I can be proud of and enjoy looking at. 

The ones below are just quick shots. Nothing fancy. They do bring back good thoughts of having Sophia at home one weekend from college. We went to the Lions breakfast for Vinterfest.

This is one of the Lions. He's a vet who served in Vietnam. He has interesting stories to tell and is into nature and wildlife. 

These two women also are Lions and have been so supportive of me. They are both in their 80s, but you would never guess it by how active they are. They do a tremendous amount of volunteering not only for the Lions, but for other organizations around town. 

There were fires outside around the community center for everyone to enjoy.

There was a mini donut food truck, so Sophia treated me to mini donuts which was nice. The donuts were piping hot and the air was so cold. She's showing me the steam in the air from the donut...though my camera isn't picking it up.

We watched some hockey. Neither of us is a hockey fan, so we didn't stay long.

I dropped her off with a friend in Stillwater and then headed back to Vinterfest. This time I went across the street to Gammelgarden Museum and saw the exhibit that the Scandia Heritage Alliance put on. There were antique sleds like this little one. I could imagine myself pulling the girls in something like this when they were smaller. 

There was a big wooden toboggan. I remember having a wood sled growing up with metal runners. You had to be careful where you placed your hands on the sled.

These are snowshoes. I remember trying to use snowshoes when I was in fourth grade. It didn't go so well. Never tried again. Wonder if I would have better luck as an adult. 

The Wildlife Science Center was at Gammelgarden with a couple of owls. This was one of them.

They let me get pretty close to the owl. It was so calm. I wish I could have touched it...it looked so soft. 

This little owl is missing an eye. When it was born, it was missing an eye. It would have very little success in the wild - both in terms of catching prey as well as potentially being eaten by a larger predator - like a Great Horned Owl which we have around here. 

The coloring on the owl is similar to a birch tree and it blends in beautifully with its surroundings. 

At the end of the month, we got another ten inches of snow. We really don't need it. At this point, the front doors of the barn are inaccessible. What is not apparent in this photo is that there are sections in the backyard that have at least 2-3 feet of snow. 

Near the fence line leading to the east pasture, the snow is as high as the top of the fence. Cooper can literally walk over the top of the fence. This is not good because if any wildlife - like deer, fox, or coyote - wanders into the pasture, they could just as likely walk over the fence and into our backyard. It would not fare well for any of the animals - dogs or wildlife. Hopefully, the temperature will warm up and melt all this snow.

Speaking of dogs going over the fence, this is Cooper who is pretty proud of himself that he got into the pasture and could run at full speed through the snow. He was having fun.

Interestingly, the snow reveals tracks that sometimes are easily recognizable. Other times, I have no idea what they are. For example, in the photo below, there's a big blob of tracks to the left of the photo. That's Cooper as he is running through the pasture. What I found strange was the rectangular shape made of small tracks. I have never seen anything like that before.

I posted the photo on Minnesota Naturalists (a Facebook group) and one person identified the tracks as those belonging to a deer mouse. Apparently, this type of mouse walks on top of the snow - rather than under it. I would think that would make it quite vulnerable to predators. 

At any rate, I was surprised at how the mouse made abrupt turns and made a rectangle.

These are two trees in the far back part of our property. In front is some sort of pine tree. In the back is a Weeping Willow. We planted these trees (at the time - about 5-6 feet tall) - a good 20 feet apart from one another. We thought it was far enough. It isn't. These two trees are right next to one another and both could use more space. 

There are two sets of tracks leading up to the pine tree. I wonder if both are used by the same animal or if there are multiple ones living under the tree.

When the girls were little, we would sit under those trees - sometimes just us and sometimes with the dogs. We had picnics under them...and we'd just enjoy the quiet and peacefulness of being in the country. 

So many good memories of this place. I am incredibly grateful we found it and chose to call it home.

ESG: My Favorite Photos - December 2022

 Here are some of my favorite photos from December:

At the beginning of December, we attended the Festival of Christmas. Olivia is on the tech team, so she was operating a camera. She worked with the team to set up the stage, lighting, and sound.

Sophia performed in the Festival of Christmas on handbells. There was a pre-concert performance which I really enjoyed.

This is what the stage and lighting looked like. Throughout the performance, the lighting and images projected onto the walls would change. It was beautiful!

After the performance, Sophia - along with the handbell choir - went "caroling" throughout one of the buildings. The college was hosting major donors, so this is one special feature they do as part of the event.

On the 10th, the Lions held a Breakfast with Santa + Bake Sale. It was a fun morning. I was in charge of the five collection drives, and was so pleased with how generous people were to help local organizations.

Also on the 10th, was one of the Annie's Coffee Parties across the street at Gammelgarden Museum. 

All the windows had these lights in them.

Although this isn't a great photo, I was thrilled to see a flock of cedar waxwings in the apple tree. We left apples on the tree and a wide variety of birds peck away at the frozen apples.

There are five cardinals that are hanging around our feeders a lot - three males and two females.

I've been getting some new plants during December. It seems like the big-box stores had a nice variety of houseplants this year. It's nice to have some different types of plants. This is a jasmine.

I like the one too - the flower is still blooming over a month after I purchased it.

This is a Christmas Cactus that belonged to my dad. It's about 45 years old now. I realize, as I look at the photo, that it needs more height. I'm not sure how to do this.

This is another plant that is doing well. The jade plant/small tree is about 15 year old now and has just begun flowering during the past few years. It was one very small plant that Sophia, Olivia, and I got when we built a terrarium when they were about 5 and 7 years old. The little plants outgrew their terrarium.

On the 11th, I attended the Lucia Dagen service at Gammelgarden. Typically, up until this year, we've attended the St. Lucia Day service at another Lutheran church. Without the girls here, I did something different. 

it was held in an historic church that was built in the 1800s. It is unheated, so people had to wear coats, gloves, hats, and boots just to stay warm.

While I was at Gammelgarden, I enjoyed walking through its prairie. 

There were a variety of native plants - all now in shades of tan and cream.

Inside the historical church, everything was lit by candles. The half-hour service was done all in Swedish.

During December, there were a few significant snowfalls. This was the first one that blanketed all the plants in snow.

Everything was covered with snow. It was very pretty.

Cooper enjoyed burying his face in the snow and looking and listening for activity near the ground.

I liked the look of the snow clinging onto seed pods. 

The apple tree in the backyard was gorgeous. It kind of reminded me of a willow tree.

The snow left an interesting pattern on the fence. 

The trees in our front yard were loaded down with the heavy, wet snow.

This is the view of the trees along the road from our driveway to the west side of our farm.

Even the Christmas lights were covered with snow.

Inside, the St. Nicholas Christmas Village grew by two new buildings - a ski chalet and a home. It started with two buildings that belonged to my parents. There were a few more buildings, but when we had a fire in the hobby shed, we lost them and a lot of other items that I had inherited.

The Christmas stockings were hung by the wood stove. At one time, both sides were packed with stockings that I had made for all the pets and livestock. The years have passed and animals have died. We now have three dogs left.

The windows in the dining room and living room had stars that I made throughout the years. Some are coming apart, so I'll need to make some new ones for next year. 

We had a second major snowfall. This is the picnic table that belonged to my parents. We have not seen this much snow in the first month of winter for as long as I can remember. 

This second snowfall didn't load down the trees as much this time. The snow wasn't as wet.

This is the view down our driveway.

On Christmas morning, I woke up at 6 a.m. to make this maple twist coffee cake. It took four hours to make from scratch. 

During December, I bit on some items that were on an auction that the humane society where we adopted the dogs from was having. One of the items I bid and won was this wooden Christmas tree that was loaded with lots of dog treats and dog-themed items. Needless to say, the dogs loved it!

I love seeing how happy the girls are when they open gifts.

Here, Aspen is checking out the Christmas tree for dogs. Her favorite toy from it is a stuffed lamb. She loves to carry it around with her and have it next to her while sleeping.

Cooper is playing with "Long Husky." It has crinkle-paper in it and multiple squeakers. 

Here's Aspen with the stuffed lamb.

On Christmas, we went to dinner at my sister's home. This is the "young cousin" table.

This is the adult and "older cousin" table.

My brother brought his dog, Bear, a Corgi. He's such a good dog.

When we came home, we rested a bit and then opened some more gifts. One of the gifts I gave the girls were handsewn hats that someone made. Unfortunately, they didn't look quite right on either Sophia or Olivia. Sophia was a good sport and put it on.

For Sophia's 22nd birthday, she spent it in California with one of her roommates. She had never been to this roommate's home or met her parents, so - being it is her senior year - it was a good time to visit. At any rate, we celebrated Sophia's birthday a couple days early.

On the 29th, I was invited to a luncheon hosted by the director of Gammelgarden and the Butik manager. The other ladies are volunteers - greeters and tour guides. It was such a nice luncheon.

On New Year's Eve, my sister came over and we watched hundreds of slides that my parents took and that we inherited. This is my dad and me - I would have been about 4 months old.

This was my favorite costume that my mom sewed: a kangaroo complete with a kangaroo baby (joey) in my pouch.

My first tap dance outfit was for the song "Secondhand Rose." My parents planted red geraniums and white flowers in their raised flower bed.

In 1974, my parents acted as contractors and oversaw the building of their home.

This is one of my favorite photos of my mom when she was a little girl. Even as an adult, my mom loved dolls - so this captures one of her loves in life.

This is a photo I never saw until New Year's Eve this year. It's of my Grandma Olive by part of her garden - tomatoes. This was take in 1960 - six years before she died. She would have been 48 years old in this photo. 

On the 30th, I went to lunch at Famous Dave's with my friend, Karen. I made her an apple pie. Although it got a little overdone on one side, she said it was delicious. She loves pie, but never makes it from scratch. 

On the 31st, I made another apple pie for my sister and me. She, too, doesn't make pie since she lives alone. So, this was a treat for her too.