The Crow's Nest
Gosh, I guess we always have our parent’s genes to contend with. It is 4 AM Sunday morning and I should still be in bed dreaming about how slow-paced retired life is---but NO!! I am wide awake. I know for sure I could call brother Dave and sister Ruth and they would be up also. We were taught from early childhood to arise early to help with farm chores. That was good, but “come on”, I am 63 years old—don’t you think I could sleep in until at least 6 AM???
Life is good in Edinburg. Last night Chuck and I had a wonderful evening dinner out on our deck with lots of fresh produce from our garden. We enjoyed the first ripe tomato. Now, that is heaven. I put it on a piece of toasted ciabatta bread with olive oil and added fresh mozzarella cheese, garden cucumbers and basil from my herb garden. It was heavenly. What a wonderful meal with a glass of German white wine. We sat outside for a long, long time just enjoying summer. It will come too quickly to an end.
How can we ever describe or come to grips with the horrific tragedy in Minneapolis/St Paul? We were watching “Millionaire” when the local station cut in to show first hand reports of the awfulness that was happening. Something so tragic in Minneapolis seems very, very close to home. We have SO many young Edinburg college graduates that have made “the cities” their home and of course, we thought about them immediately. Personally Chuck and I have several nieces and nephews that call Minneapolis home. We also have good friends. Scott Ulberg (Ron Ulberg’s son) emailed me a couple of nights ago saying all the Ulberg family was fine to include their circle of friends. It is hard to watch on television.
Life has gone on in Edinburg since the celebration—albeit a little slower. We have experienced more hot weather the last few days. The hot weather has had Chuck going down every morning to water the hanging baskets. This watering had not been in our summer plans, but we have ended up doing it as no one has come forward to offer to help. It is a big commitment as it takes about 1 ½ hours daily to water. It was tough when we were doing it twice a day. Hopefully next year we can come up with a better plan.
Changes have been taking place in Edinburg. Norby’s Diner closed July 8th so many of us who patronized the café wondered where we would eat at noon. (I can’t imagine fixing a noon meal every day!!!!) Thank goodness Rosie Denault who owns the Fireside Lounge came to our rescue. She is serving noon meals. She has set up tables and chairs to resemble a café and has a fixed menu for Monday through Friday. Every time we have eaten there is has been so delicious! She has had beef roast and pork roast that has been so tender it just falls apart. I hope the citizens of Edinburg and the surrounding community will support Rosie in her endeavor to accommodate the community by serving noon meals. Of course, she still has her wonderful Mexican food on Wednesday’s. We have a standing take-out reservation for 2 chicken fajitas and 1 burrito every Wednesday night!!
With the closing of the diner Senior Citizen meals are now being served at the Community Center every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Larry Schuster is preparing the meals with help from Mary Seim. It is so much fun to see so many cars lined up on Main Street these days. I understand they have served up to 52 meals at a time. What a great response from the community.
We had a wonderful Luedtke Reunion in Edinburg last weekend. This would be Chuck’s family on his mother’s side. My, it is a huge family. Chuck’s sister alone, MaryAnn Lindell, who lives near Fairdale has 27 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren so there is lots of family. Most of the Luedtke family lives in Minnesota around Hutchinson. They enjoyed coming to Edinburg and Grafton and visiting the area.
Summer time is a time for travel. Fred, Dorothy, Jackson and Taylor just returned from a trip to Düsseldorf, Germany, Paris, London and Amsterdam. They went over for a wedding of Dorothy’s niece. Vera Brandvold just returned from a trip to Ireland with her sister, Verna. Ruth and Greg Hall are back from a few days at the lakes around Bemidji. Everyone needs to just get away and spend time enjoying life.
I really enjoy this time of the year when our garden really produces such wonderful vegetables for not only eating fresh, but to preserve also. I stay busy canning dill pickles and sweet pickles. Chuck has scoured the area for chokecherries so I have canned quite a few quarts of juice for use in jelly later. I also stay busy freezing peas, peaches and making peach jam. This Scandinavian ethic of not letting anything go to waste is wearing me out!!!!
Thank you John E (Johnson) for the wonderful visit yesterday in Market on Main. We go back a long, long way when you played the trumpet and I accompanied you on the piano. Goodness sakes, during those days of the late 50’s and early 60’s every little town had “programs” and you being so talented were always asked to perform. Those were fun times way back when.
Have a great day and will talk with you later.
