Gardening

I started early this morning and by 11 a.m. had watered all the perennial gardens, weeded the alley garden and planted hollyhocks that will grow this summer, bloom next season on the north side of the cedar fence; planted seeds in five pots which I scattered around the front and side stoops, and on the deck that overlooks the back yard gardens and chimonea; cleaned the dandelions and maple tree seeds from all the cracks in the sidewalk and garage apron; cleaned my garden tools and left them in the sun to dry.

A I planted the temperature soared to 86 breezy very sunny degrees.  After lingering in a long hot bath, I turned on the television thinking that there might just be something that would catch my attention.  Ever hear the line "dream along with me?"  Well, it was the usual shoot em up, cut em up, kidnap em and rape em fare with the occasional old movie I have already seen more than once.  Even the History Channel today had nothing of substance to offer beyond reliving the WWII and Vietnam (already have seen both shows)....grurrahhhh.  

So I grabbed my book "Phillip and Elizabeth: Portrait of a Royal Marriage" and read until I drifted off for a luxurious nap.

It is now approaching 6 p.m. and:
The phones have rung; I haven't answered them ...
The mail came ... it is still in the mailbox ...
I have not checked email ...
Or posted on FACEBOOK ...

The photo of the "blue bun-bucket chair" was taken at Wild River State Park several years ago.
It is a favorite
It is really quite simple '
I am fed by all things green
Wild or landscaped ... ...
Simple soul food! 

Mother's Day

To Be So Loved and Blessed ~~~
Mother's Day 2012 began weeks ago when my daughter who lives out of state was here to visit and bought a deep red anti gravity chair for me to use on my deck and to take with me for a relaxing afternoon at the state park or downtown by the river or when I go camping.

Last night my daughter, son-in-law and family had dinner for me and his mom at their home.  Rolled lasagna and rolled Fettuccini Alfredo, homemade of course with fresh salad, warm Artisan bread sticks, wine and we grammas brought our family favorite homemade pies - Gramma K. apple pie and me French Silk.

Now my son-in-law is a farmer who has NEVER called me in all these years - well another "never died" yesterday when he called from the tractor in the field where he was planting the last of the corn for this season ans asked if I could possibly go to Gertens Garden Center and get a gift certificate for my daughter and bring it with me.  Of course!!

Well, that was a REAL surprise for me. I have NEVER tried going to a major garden center the day before Mother's Day in my life and will likely never go again either!  Police directing traffic, cars and trucks and SUVs backed up and sitting and waiting to move, parked and everywhere, people with rolling garden carts lined up 25 deep to check out... like a homing pigeon I found a place to park my little Barcelona Red Toyota Corolla LE "Lola" (nothing bigger would have fit) and then walked straight into the first building, saw the "gift cards" placard hanging from the ceiling and made a beeline for it.  After a mere 10 minutes in line, I was back in my car and headed for home!

It was more than wise that I chose not to take the pie and make the stop on my way down there.  The pie would have been reduced to chocolate soup by the heat!

Today, my out of state daughter and have a long visit to catch up with her and her husband, then spend time later with my son and a friend of his to complete my family circle. Mother's Day evidence is spread throughout my gardens; purple petunia hanging basket on the corner of the back deck from my daughter and son-in-law who live out of state; pinks and reds petunia basket now hangs in the back garden by the garage and two pink butterfly solar garden lights from my daughter and family on the farm and newly planted hosta, wildflower and perennial plants abound in my gardens - my son's friend split split and split some more from her gardens and they transplanted them into mine.  My gardens has never been so beautiful and so filled with meaning and love.

Mother's Day - full of meaning and love - that about says it all... ... ... for this moment.  Except I really still miss my mom who passed 14 years ago and my gramma who passed 28 years ago...a lot! 

St. Patrick's Day 2012

Now just how Irish my mom's side of the family is depends on the day I asked the question.  364 days a year the answer was somewhere in the distant past there is an Irish ancestor, she thought on the Day side of the family; but come St. Patty's Day and she was all faith and begora; all Irish Eyes are Smilin'; My Wild Irish Rose kinda woman.  I truly believe that had she lived in St. Paul, she would have been in THE parade; downed more than a couple of green beers and tried out for any singin' contest that showed up!

For she did love to sing those songs and she loved to cook homemade corned beef (I still have the recipe from Gramma Elsie) and cabbage and boiled potatoes; and as much as she loved to cook it I loved to eat it.  And of course, I have a real hankerin' for it today!  I have checked Kowalski's and Lunds/Byerlys take out menues; I know that Gallivans, O'Gara's, McGovern's are serving it up with prices ranging from $9.99 to $13.99  ... my mouth waters just typing out the words!  But this year, I will forgo any of it because of my real desire to stay away from salty fatty high carbohydrate foods, and choose instead to have either a scone with good strong coffee or some Irish Soda bread to satiate my Irish taste buds.

In the early 1990s mom was hospitalized at Methodist Hospital in Rochester around St. Patrick's Day, so I donned my own version of a Leprechaun's costume, picked up my auto harp and headed down to see her.  She was on a "circular unit" with the nurses station in the center.  It was not critical care, so not quite so restricted in behaviors allowed, so I sat down on the floor outside her room and in the most off key voice singing with off key strums of on the harp, I sang My Wild Irish Rose.  In a virtual instant her voice reached out of the room saying Oh for God's sake Gin, git in here!.  Well, I did and then the whole unit got into the fun - mom and I sang "on key" and went room to room celebrating and having a little fun with patients, families and staff.  Oh, ya, then I drove back home in costume and had a blast along the way too.  Thanks Mom for awakening the Wild Irish Rose in me that needs to DNA to validate it.

Weekend with "the grands" and Jazz at the Lex

My daughter and son-in-law spent the weekend in Las Vegas and in the mountains of Nevada with friends, so I went to the farm to be with my grands from 1:00 p.m. on Thursday until noon today.

The grands are now 11 and 14 and 16 ... and they have grown into such amazing young people who are healthy, good students and athletes.  I used to spend much more time with them, but then like all "millennials" they are now busy seven days a week with academic and athletic endeavors as well as church obligations and work part time schedules.  Unlike when I was a child - when every Sunday was spent at Gramma and Grampas house, now we "milllenial grandparents" go to the kids events and the kids seldomly come to visit.  Not a complaint simply a reality.

Our weekend was relatively quiet and it seemed to really agree with them.  They did not push each others buttons nor did they attempt to push the boundaries their parents set for them.  We did our house chores, kept all the work and athletic commitments, had lunch with their other gramma who lives next door and then had a pizza and movie night with her at the kid's house.  After church today, we returned to the farm where again it was very quiet - the eldest fell asleep... right after church!

After returning to the city, I attended the opera with a dear friend who spent an overnight at church caring for homeless families ... 22 individuals including 15 children!  The opera was incredible...but when it was over I took him home and then came straight home and pt on my pjs ... to end the weekend very quietly.

And now...the Phantom of the Opera is on Public TV...it is astonishing!

I have to admit that I did not want to come home after the opera though.  I was all dressed up in black velvet with vibrant purple knit shirt - it would have been fun to go out to dinner even if it was pizza or a a burger, but:  Connie is in Mexico, Joanne is in Arizona, Lynne is with Cathy (having a hip replacement this week at Mayo), John A. is working, Jen has friends in town for the weekend and ... ... as I sit her ...I realize that if I had any extra money, what I really wanted to do was drive up to the Lex for dinner and Jazz!

I would have gone alone!  Sometimes I think I'd like to meet a man who is alive with curiosity and a sense of wonder and a sense of humor that is childlike and who cares about more than himself and ... sometimes ... and yet, I stay home!

Another six months and prayerfully I will be able to have some disposable money for just such a possibility............ maybe ... for tonight I will savor the beauty and majesty of "Phantom" in the absolute peace and joy and safety of my home.  Soon.  I will do this SOON!

Great Gramma Isabel: A Dear Neighbor

I have been just thinkin' about my great-gramma a lot these recent weeks as my work has involved me deeply in the Minnesota Voter ID Amendement bill debate on a number of levels.  She was my "great great gramma, an voracious reader of two newspapers daily, a powerful business woman (owned and managed three farms) a staunch Republican. She lived with her son and daughter-in-law and had a "mother-in-laws apartment (bedroom and parlor all to herself)" and was known to the whole community as "Ma Evarts."

I never never never saw her cook, bake, do laundry, sew or garden.  By the time I was born, she was in her late seventies, quite agile and an active force to be recconed with if the farm was work was not done well.  Each morning and evening my grampa and uncle met with her to discuss the plans for the farms that day and the outcomes. 

I have no image for this blog because I either use my own photos or go to "google images" to find the one that fits my "just thinkin'".  Great Gramma died in 1962, so I have no digital images of her and I do not have access to the family photo albums I created for my parents to scan (oh, that is quite another story).  I did try "google images" and typed in "1950's gramma reads newspaper."  What I got back were pictures of grampas reading newsapers, grammas baking, with the grandkids, knitting, or by the Christmas tree.  Then I entered "Evarts Farm Minnesota" and found an image of Dr. Arrah B.Evarts.  Now that is another incredible story for another day. 

A very strong memory I have of great gramma is of her sitting on her living room sofa on the farm with her legs up, back against a pillow on the sofa arm, reading light behind her as she intently devoured the newspapers.  She read two daily, the Rochester Post Bulletin and one of the "cities" papers, I don't remember if it was the Pioneer Press or Dispatch (both St. Paul),  as I remember (oh ya I know memory is fickle) the Pioneer Press was the morning paper and the Dispatch the evening paper or the Star Tribune (Minneapolis).  And, she was a powerful woman. NO ONE interrupted her or read either paper until she had finished them!

Quick "fact check" on the Pioneer Press website provides my memory on this one is good!

History

The Pioneer Press traces its history back to both the Minnesota Pioneer, Minnesota's first daily newspaper (which was founded in 1849 by James M. Goodhue), and the Saint Paul Dispatch (which was launched in 1868). Ridder Publications acquired the Minnesota Pioneer and the Dispatch in 1927. Ridder merged with Knight Publications to form Knight Ridder in 1974. The two papers were operated for many years as separate morning and evening papers, but were merged into an all-day publication in 1985 as the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch and made the transition to morning-only newspaper in 1990, when they dropped the word "Dispatch". It is sometimes referred to as the "Pi Press", by reference to the nickname of "Strib" used for the Star Tribune.

"This morning I would like to sit down with her and talk about the issues of the day.  Wrestle with her on the just passed "castle law" allowing people to use lethal force if a crime is being commited in their home; the Voter ID Amendment bill which is racing through the MN Senate passing on party line votes (GOP for 100% and DFL opposed 100%) and the Minnesota Marriage Amendment which is already on the ballot for the 2012 General Election.  She was a Republican and she valued people on the margins of life.  How would she view the actions of the 2011-2012 Minnesota Legislature and the 2012 Congress?  Would she recognize the Republican party she was so proud of participating in? Would she be troubled that our democracy is behaving more like a plutocracy? I will never know."

I remember great-gramma's wake and funeral as if they were yesterday.  She was the first person I loved with all my heart who died. She died when I was 15 years old and I was devistated.  It wasn't bad enough that she died but they "brought her home and layed her out" in front of her parlor windows right next to her sofa and the undertaker put bright red lipstick on my 95 year old great grandmother, holy cow was that wierd!  My gramma and my mom tried to rub it off...well that didn't work!  And then all these people were sitting in her living room and all through the house laughing and drinking coffee and all I could do was sob.  So, I like any 15 year old girl who doesn't know how to deal with what is going on, I locked myself in the only bathroom in the house and refused to come out.  Well, that didn't work for long either!

So I went outside away from the "madness" where the little kids were playing on that bright and beautiful June day.  And there he was.  A grown man, way past 15,  wearing a work shirt, work boots, bib overalls and a farm cap sobbing HIS eyes out!  I sat down and learned that during the Great Depression, he lost everything and was on his last leg when Great Gramma took him in as a farm hand, gave him a roof over his head and food for his belly and treated him well.  She "was a great woman and she saved my life."

Her funeral was the next day at the Methodist Church "up town."  The church was packed, people were in the basement on folding chairs listening over the speaker system.  I was amazed!  Her family and neighbors turned out by the score and I learned that day just how important "Ma Evarts" was to so many.

The more I thought about the man I met at the wake, the more questions I asked. It was then I learned that my grandparents also fed hobos on the back step before sending them.  When one neighbor was down the others jumped in to help them as they could.   

In those days the wall telephone connected people to "the operator up town."  Telephones worked on the party line principle, five or six homes on one line.  The party line also made it possible for neighbors to announced trouble in the neighborhood by ringing ONE very long ring (think...late 20th Century 911 or New Mellinium texting)!  Everyone "on the line" immediately picked up the phone and listened intently to learn: there is a fire in the Granger's barn we need a bucket brigade;  Mr. Steward hung himself in the barn come help his shocked family and the cows need milking; Mrs. Emerson's baby died at birth and the family needs help.  That long ring was an immediate response and the neighbors immediately responded to their neigbhor's need!

I truly believe people cared then and I believe people care now.  It appears to me that what we have lost is in this New Millennium is the connection to our neighbors, respect for the "other", the ability to talk to our neighbors about that on which we agree and that on which we disagree; that we have become a state and a nation of black and white, good and bad, right and wrong; we have allowed ourselves to become deaf to the voice of those who have a differing point of view.  If only we could truly listen to each other, together we might find a common answer rather than a divisive regressive one that pits family member against family member, neighbor against neighbor and creates structures that box some people in and others out.

Great Gramma Isabel was a great woman.  I miss her today and believe that if she were her on my sofa with me, we would likely have some differences in our political beliefs - and I believe that we would be able to listen to and learn a great deal from each other - and we'd both be better for it!   Because for any progress to be made, nothing can be about me it must be about us!     Great Gramma knew this and so did her neighbors.  I know mine, but not like she knew hers.  Can I?

Just Thinkin' about the weather and ... ... Sister Rose

Sister Rose

The news and casual conversation revolved around the weather here in Minnesota.  Is it a "normal" winter?  Has it "ever" been like this before?  Can you believe this, people walking around without coats most of this winter?  What is going to happen when spring and summer come and we haven't had any moisture?  Did you read in the paper that flood predictions for spring are really low?  And then there was the lady at the postal counter in the grocery store, "what is going to happen to us?  Do you think that this is a sign we are close to the end."

Well besides the weather a whole lot has been happening in Minnesota and yet we continue to take refuge and comfort in the primacy of "the weather" above all else.  It provides a nice safe way to "greet" strangers and it is a nice safe way for family and friends to steer clear of topics/issues that make us so uncomfortable.

Several days ago I attended a meeting where Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet here in St. Paul gathered to take a good look at who are the people and what are the ministries that over our 161 years here in St. Paul speak to who we are?  One of the sisters called into the present was one "who did great things and who fought great demons."

She wasn't a "let's talk about the weather" kind of woman - her writings describe how challenging it was for her to "see" the injustices around her that others seemed to be blind to.  I knew her for a short while before her passing and find that I call out to her when I get frustrated by our continued focus on the weather, sports, rock musicians, what we can't do instead of imagining what we can do if we just "see" and work together for a better world beyond today's temperature, wind-chill, sun, clouds or lack of snow cover.

In the news this week:
Studies are showing an increase in domestic violence and a teenage girl in Wisconsin escaped the basement where her father, step-mother and step-brothers held her hostage, beat and starved and sexually assaulted her - she is the height of a 9 year old and weighs 70 lbs.  How could her neighbors, extended family not know she was "missing."  How can we spend so much time at the Minnesota Legislature on putting constitutional amendments on the ballot in November while our state budget is in crisis, 62% more children live in poverty in Minnesota today than 10 years ago and our education system is failing our children at an alarming rate, more Minnesota families are living in homeless shelters than our history?  Minnesota used to be a leader in education and our families used to have it better!

But why be concerned about such things, it is now 7:26 a.m. - the sun is up - it is 17.5 degrees - there are small patches of snow on the north side of buildings while the south sides present brown grass ... I should find someone with whom I can talk about the weather!

Dear Sister Rose - thank you for seeing people and the challenges in their lives and for believing you could make a difference.  You did and your ministries continue to flourish making a difference.  Like you there are so many people making life better every day for people.  There is so much goodness and kindness and generosity - we have so much to share - so much more in common than the weather!  

Black History Month - A Tribute to Fannie Lou Hamer: A remarkable leader!

Fannie Lou Hamer 

As a student at the College of St. Catherine (now St. Catherine University) I chose as my Global Search for Justice class a course taught by Sharon Doherty that took us down the road of the Civil Rights Movement.  This class opened wider the door on the all too silent voices of the women who were powerful leaders throughout the struggle to attain civil rights for people who are African American and who faced horrific persecution and were killed for their advocacy.

Fannie Lou Hamer is the woman who got into my soul and lives powerfully there as an example of the sacrifice women make over and over and over again - and how unsupported too many are once the fight is over!

At the height of the Civil Rights Movement Fannie Lou powerfully stated, "Sometimes it seem like to tell the truth today is to run the risk of being killed.  But if I fall, I'll fall five feet four inches forward in the fight for freedom.  I'm not backing off."  The youngest of 20 children, she was born to sharecroppers and joined her parents and siblings in the cotton fields at age six.  Her formal education ended at age 12 but she continued to learn through Bible Study, and by reading newspapers food scraps were wrapped (by the plantation owners) before she threw dutifully tossed them into the garbage.

MS Hamer was a powerful, potent, passionate presence in the Civil Rights Movement.  She was able to take her love for Gospel Hymns and - in the heat of the moment - keep the melody and insert the language of the Civil Rights Movement to unite a crowd of a few to thousands.  Her biography states that "She was a captivating preacher and singer, inspiring others with her moral and physical courage."

I work in the Justice Office for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and Consociates.  Last spring we took a trip to Alabama to attend the 40th Anniversary of the Southern Poverty Law Center and tour Civil Rights Movement Memorials and Museums.  In each I looked for the book, "This Little Light of Mine: Life of Fannie Lou Hamer" which was one of the course texts we used at St. Catherine.  It was nowhere to be found!  So I began looking in books to find references of her countless contributions, the account of the beating by white jailers that nearly killed her and rendered her disabled for life!  Herstory was invisible most, slight in many. I was incredulous.

We spent a morning in Selma, Alabama, where we saw that the Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee House (SNCC). A historical marker noting its importance stands proudly in front of the house, though it is crumbling inside and out.  Next we stopped at a new Selma Civil Rights Museum where the guide suggested that we should not miss the Lowndes County Interpretive Center located half-way to Montgomery.

We entered and placed prominently on the counter was the recently released "Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC."  At long last, Fannie Lou Hamer is a powerful presence in the stories of those women who worked alongside of her in SNCC!  I bought it immediately - and upon returning to Minnesota shared it with two professors at the University of St. Catherine.  They still have it and I have yet to read it.  Time to give them a call.

Fannie Lou Hamer contributed so much, how can history so easily dismiss her?
Just a few of her many contributions:
~~Registered herself to vote then worked tirelessly to register voters.  Result - she lost her job, received death threats, was jailed, severely beaten and permanently disabled
~~Helped found the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (1964) because blacks were not allowed to in the all-white regular party delegation
~~When Lyndon Johnson refused to seat the MFDP, the Democrats agreed that in the future no delegation would be seated from a state where anyone was illegally denied the right to vote.
~~Worked towards achieving financial independence for blacks.
~~1969 she helped to start Freedom Farms Corporation, which lent land to blacks until they had enough money to buy land
~~Worked with the National Council of Negro Women
~~Organized food co-operatives
~~Helped convene the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1970.
~~1970 lawsuit, Hamer v. Sunflower County, demanded school desegregation
~~Helped set up Freedom Schools for black children
~~Helped found the National Women's Political Caucus in 1971, speaking for inclusion of racial issues in the feminist agenda.
~~In 1972 the Mississippi House of Representatives passed a resolution honoring her national and state activism, passing 116 to 0.
~~Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977) was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame (1993)

Her biography states, "Though Hamer wanted children, a white doctor had sterilized her without     permission, so she adopted daughters instead.  In her last years, she received many honors and awards. Engraved on her headstone in her hometown of Ruleville, Mississippi, are her famous words: "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired."

History is dependent on who "has voice."  Just as Fannie Lou Hamer is missing from much the  Civil Rights Movement history or is reduced to a few lines, portraying an incomplete reality, memory is also fickle.  I seem to remember that she died pretty much alone, forgotten and penny less.  This morning I cannot check that fact because my copy of "This Little Light of Mine" is on the BLACK HISTORY MONTH display at work right next to a book about Martin Luther King, Jr.

What I can substantiate is that there is now a Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial, Ruleville, Mississippi.  I'd like to spend some time there some day!

So, such as it is, 45 years later. THANK YOU FANNIE LOU HAMER.  When I think of BLACK HISTORY MONTH, I think of you and I am a much better person for knowing that your life was well spent in reaching for "justice for all." 

In memory of Fannie Lou Hamer (1971-1977)