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 - September 2021

 Below are some of my favorite photos from September:

Olivia was accepted into Bethel University at the beginning of September. This is her top choice, so she is very happy.

Olivia and I - along with my brother (Jim) and one of his daughters (Addy) - went to Chalk Fest in Maple Grove. 

The chalk drawings were larger than I anticipated and many were three-dimensional.

The one below caught my eye because it is unusual. 

This month, Olivia finished another barn quilt. I helped her with the sketch because it is a different style and much more complex than what she is used to doing. 

The roses have been blooming throughout September. This is a tea rose that I got from Walmart that is for our growing zone. For $8, it was a good deal. 

This is another tea rose...also from Walmart. This one and the one above are very fragrant. 

I like this photo because I got Aspen with one of her stuffed animals - Bunny - that she carries around. They are like her security toys. She also brings them to us when we return to the house after being gone - whether it is 5 minutes or 4 hours.

On September 11th, I coordinated part of the Taco Daze community event. This one was, by far, the best one - according to many people who commented about the event online and in person. One highlight was seeing two Huey helicopters that were flown in the Taco Daze parade. There was a select group of people who were able to see this one take off from a friend's backyard. Almost everyone had cell phones and were doing videos of the take-off. 

At Taco Daze, Minnesota Armored Combat came out to do some demonstrations. It was really impressive to watch how they fight with big swords.

Sophia, in the middle, along with two of her suitemates, took a break from college and helped with the set-up as well as attending the Taco Daze. It was really nice to have them all at home.

Another highlight of the day was watching the firemen's waterball competition. Opposing teams used the water from their hoses to move the silver, metal container to the other team's side. 

To kick-off the Taco Daze parade, I worked with a pilot who had contacts with a group of veterans are pilots. They agreed to do a flyover and then in the last pass over, one of the aircraft would veer off in a different direction t show the missing man formation. 

Sophia, her suitemates, my sister, and I all had a chance to sit in a Huey helicopter that flew over the parade route. It was in the Vietnam War, was damaged, and sold. A veteran who is a pilot bought is, refurbished it, and flies it now. 

The next day, Sunday the 12th, my sister and I went to parade in Osceola - a nearby town.  This unusual costume caught our eye.

On September 15h, Olivia and I went to Bethel for the opening of their science building. We both really enjoyed the event. Our favorite part was seeing the green roof on top of one of the buildings. 

This is a blurry picture, but it is a picture of Bailey galloping through our pasture. It was the last evening she was with us. The following day she and Hoss went back to the Minnesota Hooved Animal Rescue Foundation. Hoss's hooves exceeded what we could provide for him, and our vet and farrier couldn't figure out what was going on and why he was having trouble walking. 

It was a very difficult decision, yet we knew it was the right one since they were a bonded pair. 

This is another photo of Hoss and Bailey together. 

A brighter day happened later in the month when Olivia was accepted into the College of St. Benedict. 

Last week, Olivia and I went on a short hike during "Blue Hour" - the period of time when the sun is below the horizon, yet there is still light. The sky takes on a darkish-blue - almost an indigo appearance.

This is the road in front of our pasture and driveway. There are telephone lines and tall tree silhoutted by the remaining light.

Looking southwest, we could see Venus.

My final photo of September is of my favorite oak tree. It is in the west pasture. Did a visual search on the SEEK app, and it came back as a white oak. Olivia is standing near it and her image gives an idea how large and majestic this tree is. 

 

It's interesting for me to go back on photos that I took during the previous month and get an idea of what I want to document and remember.