2025, Family, Food, Gatherings, Uncategorized

Soaking Up The Ambience

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We have been in our new home for almost a month, and find the community and people friendly and accommodating. We spent the last almost 40 years living among ranchers, oil workers, and people descended from a Black Sea immigrants. The latter are somewhat short and Roman Catholic. Now we live in an area settled by Germans, Norwegians, and Dutch immigrants. There are lots of Lutherans and Dutch Refomed here. There are lots of tall, blondes here. The Lutheran Church we attend and that I grew up in was founded by Norwegians. It was surprising when we attended last week to hear the loud and intune singing from the whole congregation. The local high school here had to start a new men’s choir this fall since so many of the boys wanted to sing. This is a very musical community.

Husband and I are amazed how often the city puts out street sweepers and machines that suck up piles of leaves that people have raked into the street. We usually just ignore the leaves. Husband felt compelled to rake since everyone else was doing it almost every day. He blames the Dutch influence for this street cleaning obsession.

Husband was excited to find Aquavit in the local liquor store. It was impossible to find out west. He went full Scandanavian by getting lingonberries and pickled herring, both easy to find in the stores here. We also have a local brewery that makes a German type beer that Husband likes. We rolled and fried 75 sheets of lefse last Saturday, so we are ready for a SW Minnesota winter. I draw the line at lutefisk.

How are you influenced by your neighbors? How comfortable are you singing aloud in church or other public settings?

25 thoughts on “Soaking Up The Ambience”

  1. my neighbors influence is minimal but i do like our community. someone told me once new york city is a big city but its really more like a bunch od small cities that bump up next to each other. i find the twin cities to be a lot like that. eden prairie where i live is a pretty strong republican area which can be a bit testing at times. my obama signs used to get stolen all the time. but i like the location and its where i feel comfortable headquarting out of. u grew up in bloomington and bought my first house in edina. all three burbs touch and make up that 7 o clock corner of the city. i lived in south minneapolis in my transition time before i bought my first house. i love the south minneapolis vibe. eden prairie has a strong somali population and there a 4 indian grocery stores and restaurants that pointed out the indian population to me when i travel to other parts of the city i notice the small differences and the big ones. i have noticed a big push for urban sprawl in all directions as the corn fields fill in with mc mansions in all directions. the vibe is a little stepford wives in those new areas. i remenber going up on the iron range when i was a snowmobiling youth and being surprised that in walking around the shopping malls up there i found myself to be tall where in the twin cities the feeling is that i am medium height.
    singing was an interesting discovery growing up going to catholic school where music was a very minor part of the curriculum . when i switched snd went to public jr high the choice available to me was general music since i had no chior or band experience. mr wood the music teacher one day had a day where he had the choir sing and walked around listening to individual voices snd he stopped and listened to my 13 year old bass voice and i switched to a tenor and he directed ne to go back to bass. after class he stopped me and asked why i was in general music. i told him i went to catholic school and we had no band or chior. he said oh, well you belong in concert choir and i explained i had a class that hour snd he said he would arrange it for next year and see about this year. then the summer between 9th and 10th grade i got a call from a band who wanted me to be their lead singer. they did great rock stuff by jethro tull, cream and jimi hedrix i was a folkie with dylan james taylor and soft rock on my playlist. we played yntil they went off to school and i went into business. i started back up with meetup about 15 years ago and my weekly guitar circle is a highlight of my week. i sing more than play compared with some of the others that show up but my playing is getting better as my vocal range needs a constant challenge to maintain both high and low end . but i really love it. my kids snd now grandkids get music as part of the deal. its a good thread

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  2. My immediate neighbors: I like to do little things for them – they work hard all day, and if I see the wind blow over their recycling bin out on the curb, I’ll take it back where it belongs, things like that. Then I feel OK about letting them snow blow our sidewalk during a big snow – we can handle a small path till they get home and do that. I also love their dogs…

    I regret that I don’t really know many of the others on our street, and hope to remedy that this summer. I may leave a Christmas card for some folks who moved in across the street – met her once when I was doing the front garden, but haven’t spoken since then.

    There’s a really loud car in the next block – would rather not get to know them.

    I sing loud, esp. at UU (church) if others around me are unsure of the tune… I am a song leader by nature, like my mom.

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  3. The church for many years did a full scale Christmas bazar with a meal and Scandinavian crafts and used books and clothing sale. It raised many thousands of dollars. But all the women, like Sandra, got too old to do it anymore, as did the men who helped, and the young were working and knew nothing about the crafts. But they have learned to do lefse and sell it by the thousands. The teenagers get involved and enjoy doing it.
    I never could sing, and now I can barely talk. Throat damage.

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  4. I sing when I’m alone. Or I have my headphones on and I don’t realize how loud I may be singing.

    I took singing lessons from a lady I knew; I wanted to learn the technique anyway. Way WAY back when, I auditioned for a show and sang as part of the audition. I didn’t get asked to sing for the show. 🙂

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  5. Neighbor influence is minimal these days compared to when we were kids. Back then, seems like everyone had kids, and we all went to each other’s houses to play, so the adults and kids got to know each other a lot more than where we have lived now for the past 26 years.

    Still, we get along with our neighbors well. We wave and help each other out now and then. Short chats at the mailbox or between yards when we’re out doing yardwork or something. Over the years, we recruited several neighbor kids to feed our cats while we were on long vacations, and we went to all their HS graduation parties to “pay our respects.”

    I may have influenced a few neighbors by being the first on the block to buy an electric lawn mower. The guy across the street bought one two years after me, and my younger next-door neighbor might think about getting one too.

    Many people have seen me use it while driving past my yard on the county road, so maybe I’ll get a few more converts sooner than later.

    I’m not comfortable singing in a church or a choir. Never have actually, except for singing briefly with an ad hoc barbershop quartet for about 10 minutes. (Can’t remember the circumstances of how that happened.)

    Even though I’m a musician spirit and taught band for 6 years, I’m only a passable singer. I joke I can carry a tune only if the bucket is big enough. But I love to sing (especially harmony!) when I’m alone and hear a good song on the radio or a CD I’m listening to.

    Chris in Owatonna

    *BSP* Twin Rivers Arts Festival in Mankato tomorrow and Sunday. Some 50 visual artists and 15 or so local authors will be at the Mayo Civic Center 10-6 on Sat., 10-4 on Sun. A beautiful venue, high-quality art of all kinds, several genres of books for you or someone on your shopping list. Don’t forget I’m having a sale on all my books until the end of the year. $2 off my thrillers, $3 off my middle-grade adventure and the anthology “It Was a Dark & Stormy Night, Dontcha Know.”

    Best of all, it’s Small Business Saturday tomorrow! You’ll be helping to support dozens of local small businesses with your presence and hopefully a few purchases. Food and drink available, music all day both days. Lots of fun, a peaceful, sane alternative to crowded, noisy malls with the same old stuff imported from other countries. *END BSP*

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  6. Rise and Shine. Baboons,

    Neighbors: we have some terrific neighbors in my neighborhood. It is also very stable, with many residents living here for decades. (In the last 5 years several owners aged out of home ownership which was a big change.) The people to our north are the daughter and son-in-law of the original owners (they bought the house from her parents) so I watched her grow up. That relationship is warm and rewarding. The parents moved to Florida, but right now they are here, both being treated for cancer. The medical care in Florida is so bad, they only see Drs. here. That makes me shudder a bit, because he is quite ill these days and has nearly died on several occasions. It may not be wise to live in Florida when you need a Dr often. The neighbors across the street are also lovely. (Chris, they have an electric lawn mower that I wish I had, too). There are some real clinker neighbors, as well, but I try to ignore that unless something really difficult needs to be addressed. The woman down the street and I will share a snow removal service this winter–the guy wanted customers in close proximity.

    I am reluctant to sing much after a choir director told me when I was a child that I had a terrible voice and I should not sing. Now I think of that and wonder what was SHE thinking? I do not think I had much singing talent, but she could have taken me aside and given me some instruction and encouragement. Who does that? I sang a low alto in choirs but after many sinus infections, walking pneumonia and bronchitis, my vocal cords are pretty damaged, and I really cannot sing easily.

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  8. We had a large hawk if some sort, possibly a sharp shinned hawk, sitting on our deck eyeing the birds at the feeders. We have had woodpeckers and cardinals, so pretty.

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  10. I keep the volume down and avoid walking on the especially creaky spots in the floors.
    Occasionally, I will karaoke El Paso, Soul Man, Mack The Knife, Twist and Shout.

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  11. Holy Cow, I am just back from the vet where I took the puppy in for vaccines. The Black Friday shopping traffic was heavy and so very slow. It must have been a big shopping day here in town.

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  13. I live in a fabulous neighborhood and have great neighbors. My next-door neighbor Don and I have a friendly competition going about who can bring the trash and recycling bins up first on Thursdays (or this week Friday.) Due to how their back door is located, they keep their bins on the opposite side of the driveway from ours. That means that they put them out on the opposite side of the driveway from ours on collection day. Now that Don is retired, it’s a race to see who can get out and get those cans up first. I won today – I was able to bring up both of our organic bins and recycling bins. He managed to get to the trash bins first later in the day.

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  14. Today I visited a neighbor, former neighbor actually, who recently moved across town to be in the cenior living complex with the dining room and library and all the services.

    Got the full tour. It seems like a nice place…but I still like my neighborhood.

    I liked being in choir when I was a kid. I was put in the alto section, The girls who were really good singers were sopranos.

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