By Joyce Kuhlemeyer Wagner of Fargo Looking back. No, I’m not contemplating those bumped-into trash cans at the end of the driveway. I’m thinking precisely about the “rearview mirror of life.” In reality, there are times when a rearview mirror can instead offer us a better perspective for going forward. Growing up in a rural community, where hand-me-down clothes were more the “norm” than not, we didn’t often see the economic differences that existed between families. However,

By Tim King The merchandise is selling like hot cakes! I know, we’re really going gang busters, we better high tail it out of here. Oh fiddle sticks, there’s nothing to worry about. Yes, we’ve been lucky so far but you better knock on wood. I’ve got my fingers crossed! Does anybody that you know talk like that or use some of those idioms? I grew up with all of them but it occurred to me the other day that I might be a little odd. The inspiration came from a chipmunk, a little

By Larry Rostad of Minneapolis Submitted by Cheryl (Rostad) Barry For over two years I had been hatching a plan to visit my twin nieces in Arkansas. Acknowledging my current status as a senior citizen, I no longer was at ease with long road trips. I was grateful when my former neighbor and friend, Sonja, agreed to be my travel companion last October for the two-day drive from Minneapolis to Little Rock, Ark. When my phone’s GPS failed, she was a great help navigating the exit

By Carrie Classon I haven’t been giving out dog treats for a while. Sometimes I am the treat lady on my walks, and sometimes I do not carry dog treats. I love dispensing treats, but I hate getting turned down by owners. Getting turned down by dogs is also disappointing, but somehow easier to take. So lately instead of bribing dogs with treats, I’ve been doing my secret whistle, a high-pitched noise that dogs always hear and their owners usually do not, that makes the dog look

By Marilyn Bacon-Underwood of North Mankato Have you ever experienced a relationship where someone has loved you no matter what you have said or done? This is called unconditional love. My unconditional love person was my Grandmother Anna, who was a Norwegian, five-feet tall, and taught country school in a one-room schoolhouse. She was married to Henry, my grandfather, a German who was six-feet tall, and milked his cows by hand. Marilyn’s Grandmother Anna Hendrickson-Schwenso

By Carrie Classon Every day, I walk by dozens of beautiful houses. I am an admirer of grand old houses. I live downtown, just blocks away from some of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, where lumber barons and early merchants built their houses when the city was young. I admire the tall and pointed windows, the large trees in front, the ornate brickwork, the pointy roofs and occasional turrets (I admire the turrets so much that I wrote a book called “The Turnip House” abou

By Jan Stadtherr I’m very thankful that I don’t have to learn English again! When my husband and I took a river cruise a few years ago, we visited the countries of the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and Hungary. I was amazed how many of the citizens of these countries spoke English fairly well. There were many sighs of relief when we were able to converse with them as we didn’t know their languages. But they know ours, at least to a point that we could converse. There are ove

Today’s Wisdom: We are all important parts of a much larger system, pieces of the universe’s puzzle that would not be complete without us. – Russell Eric Dobda By Bill D. Ward Some time ago, I spent two years working on a book project that involved digging up old stories of people and families from the pioneer days of my town. It was an extremely interesting quest as I dug through old newspapers, books, and family histories. It was almost like finding a gold nugget each time

By Nancy Leasman of Long Prairie Alva’s cat Cheddar likes the garden, too. Contributed photo I go on about three walk-abouts every day. The first one is to check the garden. The dew may still be on the grass. Have the tomatoes grown to the height of needing some support? How’s that wheat or oats that sprouted from the bale of straw we found on the roadside and I’m using for mulch? Do the spinach and lettuce need picking? Should I do something with the sprawling chard from las

By Rachel Barduson of Alexandria In the 1970s, when I was in my early 20s, I decided to become a jogger. Yes, I would take up the new exercise rage – jogging. I remember it well. I would soon graduate from college and I was about to begin a new chapter in my life. And I could feel myself aging. Of course, I wanted to stay current on new things, so becoming a jogger seemed to be the right thing to do. It would be the answer to preserving my youth. It was a memorable week. W

By Marilyn Salzl Brinkman Gnomes, these little pointy-hatted, bearded little statues, are said to bring good luck and guard treasures. I need good luck in my little garden. My tomato plants aren’t doing well. My cucumber plants are forming tiny little “pickles.” The carrots, other vegetables, and flowers are in a riot of growth. My tomatoes, however, need some magic. One of the garden gnomes in Marilyn’s garden. Contributed photo Gnomes are believed to be guardians of the nat

By Jim Palmer The other day, someone asked me about my first job out of college. It was then that I realized a fun little work milestone was fast approaching. Thirty years ago, on Aug. 1, 1996, I walked into the office of the Pope County Tribune in Glenwood, Minn. I arrived a few minutes before 8 a.m. I wanted to be early... but not too early. I wore a new blue polo shirt and a pair of khaki pants that I had purchased the night before. I wanted to look professional, but not

Realife Cooperative has provided worry-free, cooperative living for 20 years By Scott Thoma Realife Cooperative’s residents left to right, Don Nelson, Denis Weis, Roger Dohrmann, Andy Doom, Steve Zinsli, and Gerald Karol prepare the garden area for planting earlier this spring. Contributed photo Realife Cooperative at Mueller Gardens of St. Cloud will be celebrating its 20th anniversary with an Open House from 1-4 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 25. Realife Cooperative at Mueller Garde

By Sherry Nicholson of Elk River I have always enjoyed nature, especially birdwatching. I love taking hikes through the woods with camera in hand looking for an opportunity to capture an image of a beautiful or unusual bird. Through the years, various health issues have sidelined my hiking and photo-taking opportunities leaving me homebound while recovering from a major car accident, a serious bout with cancer, and a failed knee surgery, just to name a few. Missing that outle

By Tim King I live in a place called Clotho. It’s one of those unincorporated villages that are sprinkled across rural Minnesota’s landscape. What’s called progress has drained most of the life out of these villages, but each of them has its own unique story. Clotho, for example, used to have its own creamery, two-room school house, general store, post office, community picnic grounds, and dance hall. It also had a Methodist church with a vibrant congregation. Today, all that

By David Harper of Ponsford Recently on cable TV, the Patterson-Gimlin famous film of a Bigfoot filmed in Northern California in 1967 was reviewed, analyzed, and tested for authenticity. The results concluded the film to have better than a 98-percent chance of being real, disavowing earlier evaluations that it was staged through modern technologies that were not available before. I agree with the findings and am a believer, because I too have seen a Bigfoot. In the mid ‘70s,

By Grace E. Cook of Norwood Young America “Would you like to go to the gym with me?” asked my granddaughter. At 86 years old and visiting her in a house built on a mountain slope, which looks across a valley to a green forested mountain top over which the sun pops at 8 a.m. each morning and floods the living room with sunshine and heat, I am wondering, “What does she mean by ‘go to the gym?’” We drive down the mountain to a California community of stucco buildings and into a

By Kathy Hanson of Monticello You may have already met today’s winner. I alone know who the winner is, even the winner knows not they are walking around as royalty. You see, I am sitting every morning in my sunny front room, breakfast on a tray beside me. I am recovering from a serious illness and confined to my home for at least one month. In the windows of that lovely front room is an ever so long sidewalk with lush green grass bordering it and it has joggers, baby stroller

By Nancy Leasman of Long Prairie Our bird residents are back. They’re not just back, in a general way, but have taken up their usual residences. Now that I think about it, are they the same birds, descendants of previous tenants, or members of the same species choosing the existing territories? The eastern phoebe family nests under the exterior stairs leading to the loft above Ron’s woodshop. They frequently perch on the sections of birch logs, a former mushroom growing proje

By Sharon Craig of Granite Falls A long time ago, my husband and I enjoyed the words to a song that we had heard. Tex Ritter, Western/Country music star, sang the song Just Beyond the Moon. Through the years, we’d hear the song and we’d say to each other that just beyond the moon is where we’d meet when one of us passed away. A short while ago, I wrote a story for the Sr. Perspective newspaper, (60 Years and Counting). Little did I know that it would be our last anniversary