All posts by Barbara in Rivertown

Family, Stories

Moving the Bed

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Today’s post comes to us from Barbara in Rivertown.

We just got back from visiting my mom. Her room in the nursing home is pretty long and narrow, and her bed was in the farthest corner from both the entrance and the bathroom. She’s been after me for weeks – not every visit because she doesn’t always remember, but often enough – to rearrange so that the bed goes crosswise and is closer to both of the doors. I had gotten the OK from the appropriate staff, and Husband was with me Sunday, and so we moved the bed, a shelf, and a little table into new positions.

I can’t remember when she has been so animated, and pleased. She was thrilled that the arrangement makes the room feel cozier, and although the bed is really only a few steps closer to the above mentioned places, it FEELS closer to her, and that’s what counts. What I suspect feels the best is that she still has some say over one aspect of her life.

Is there any part of your life you feel in control of?

Nature, Stories

Boathouse

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The first time Husband brought me to Winona, probably in summer of 1978, he introduced me to people in town, people out in the country, and one person in a boathouse (which is what residents prefer to call it, rather than houseboat). It was a tiny one room affair, compact and cleverly furnished, and I remember thinking how fun it would be to live there down on the river. It was so compact! I thought it would be similar to living in the trailer as we had those three summers I’ve written here about – very freeing to downsize, and get closer to nature.

I haven’t been aboard a boathouse since moving back here, but have driven on Latsch Island (in the Mississippi, between Winona and Wisconsin) – the boathouse community seems alive and well. I see that MPR recently did a short piece by Catharine Richert, based in Rochester on what it takes to live in a boathouse – not many residents tough it out for the entire winter. There are the animals (muskrats, turtles, snakes, spiders, mice, frogs) to contend with. Then there is the special “maintenance” invisible to landlubbers: ice buildup during the freeze-thaw cycle. The article states: “Unless the ice is kept at bay, water might flood in through a crack under a door or at the seam between the hull and an outer wall. It can pull the house apart, or under.”

But a close-knit community has grown up over the decades, demonstrating “ongoing communal learning with lessons passed on from houseboat owner to houseboat owner”, since there is no Boathouse Guidebook. Richie Swanson tells, for instance, of  ” ‘popping barrels’ — the ritual of forcing sealed plastic barrels under a houseboat to help it float, which Swanson said can take off a finger or a foot if you’re not careful. Swanson said the process is often a group effort among people who share a passion.”

A friend of mine is pictured toward the end of the article… in the purple slippers. She now lives in town, but keeps her boathouse for a work studio. I hope to see this place in person some day.

I agree with the article’s author, “It seems an enviable life for anyone who loves nature, except in those times when nature tries to take back the neighborhood.”

What is the closest you’ve come to living “with nature”?

Travel, Uncategorized

Hints for Riding the Rails

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Today’s post comes Barbara in Rivertown

 

Our recent train trip to the west coast was lovely and relaxing during the two days we traveled each direction. Here are a few tips to the uninitiated, while the experience is fresh in my mind.

Packing

– Have one carry-on bag with everything you’ll need for however long you’re on the train, including a fresh change of clothes. That way you can be free from pawing through your large suitcase – it can just stay in the vestibule with the others.

Earplugs

– Good not only for when you’re trying to sleep. They will not, however, help awakening at the lurching as the train crosses the track-merge connections. Not to worry, the rocking and the clickety-clack will (probably) lull you off to sleep again.

– Earplugs may also be good if you want peace and quiet in the Lounge Car. You could consider creating a “Megaphone Award” prize for each day aboard, to hand out to that one person in the Lounge Car whose conversation can be heard through the entire car. Alternately, you could just chime in with the conversation and yell comments back.

Eating

– If you have a roomette (or other sleeping quarters), three meals a day are included in the dining car. Although not a 4-star restaurant, the food is pretty darn good. (However, the same vegetable will be served with all entrees until the train turns around and heads back the other way.) Remember that you are not getting all that much exercise, and consider eating partial portions, or at least split the dessert with your companion.

– Unless you are a party of four and fill up the whole booth, you will be seated with other travelers, and will meet an array of interesting people at these meals. You may want to have a paper and pen available to exchange addresses with the most compatible of these.

Exercise

– It is amazing how many sore muscle you can get from a lot of sitting! Try and get up to walk around every hour – take a trip to some other part of the train. Beyond the Dining and Observation Cars (located in the center) are the Coach Cars – follow to the end so you can see the track recede as you watch where you’ve just been. Be sure to walk with a wide stance with hands held out to catch you when you fall against the seats, and understand that if this were being filmed, you would look like you have just drunk at least one bottle of wine.

What sort of travel tips do you have to offer from your journeys?

books, Uncategorized

National Library Week

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Today’s post comes to us from Barbara in Rivertown

This week, April 9 through 15, is National Library Week. Because Husband and I will be on the road, I have already celebrated our wonderful Winona Public Library by returning three books and renewing two others, and writing this piece. We have here in Winona a beautiful old 1890s vintage library built by a donation from William H. Laird and furnished by the library association; it is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. (For more info:  https://www.facebook.com/pg/WinonaPublicLibrary/about/?ref=page_internal )

I have been impressed for months at all the many programs this small town library offers. And now, in the spirit of National Library Week, there is even more:

– Food for Fines – you can have $1 removed from your library fine for every food shelf item you bring in.

– Library Resource class will be held on Thursday at 6 p.m.

– Staff will be dressed to the nines or, on some days, in crazy outfits (Wacky Wednesday) as part of various games.

– The first movie of The Librarian Trilogy featuring “everyone’s favorite librarian, Noah Wyle” will be shown on Friday.

– Monthly Book Bingo will yield prizes of books about libraries, librarians, or books: “The Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, “The Time Traveler’s Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger, “The World’s Strongest Librarian: A book Lover’s Adventures” by Josh Hanagarne, “The Ice Queen” by Alice Hoffman, and “This Book is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybararians Can Save Us All” by Marilyn Johnson.

How will you celebrate National Library Week?

Poems, Weather

Sweet Spring

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Today’s post comes to us from Barbara in Rivertown

In honor of it finally being April, and spring being so much more believable, I have rediscovered a favorite poem, taken from the Good Reads website:

                                                                   Sweet Spring            E.E. Cummings

sweet spring is your
time is my time is our
time for springtime is lovetime
and viva sweet love

(all the merry little birds are
flying in the floating in the
very spirits singing in
are winging in the blossoming)

lovers go and lovers come
awandering awondering
but any two are perfectly
alone there’s nobody else alive

(such a sky and such a sun
i never knew and neither did you
and everybody never breathed
quite so many kinds of yes)

not a tree can count his leaves
each herself by opening
but shining who by thousands mean
only one amazing thing

(secretly adoring shyly
tiny winging darting floating
merry in the blossoming
always joyful selves are singing)

sweet spring is your
time is my time is our
time for springtime is lovetime
and viva sweet love

Do you have a favorite poem, or a favorite poet?  (Doesn’t have to be well-known.)

 

Music, Stories

Artaria!

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Thursday evening we attended a (free!) concert of the Artaria String Quartet, a nationally acclaimed group that does teaching/coaching of adults and youth in addition to performing. As reported in the Winona Daily New:   “The quartet partnered with Strings in Motion, the Winona Public Schools’ orchestra booster club, to conduct sessions with the students in October, January and March.”

Our concert featured Winona High School students grouped in two string quartets and one Cello Choir. The latter half of the concert presented two movements of a Dvorak quartet played by WHS Faculty, and ended with the last two movements of that piece played by Artaria. We were spellbound by the end of the concert.

Artaria’s mission statement: “Artaria centers on string quartet performance and education. It is committed to presenting inspiring live performances, to mentoring string players of all ages, and to illuminating the world’s great repertoire of chamber music to a broad audience.” Also from Artaria’s website:  “The ASQ is one-third of the way through an “Arts Learning” grant sponsored by the Minnesota State Arts Board. Free public concerts and educational events are taking place in Winona, Caledonia, Rushford, and Lanesboro throughout the season.”

Artaria is based in St. Paul, and their 2016-17 Concert Series shows a lot of activity in the Twin Cities. We feel lucky to live in a state whose State Arts Board has made concerts like this possible.

When do you remember attending a FREE concert or other event?

Baboon Achievers, The Baboon Congress, Words

MORE Glossary

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It’s been almost two years, Babooners, since our last glossary update. Here are the new terms I’ve picked up in that interim, with some context added when known, in case you want to go to the archives to revisit the conversation.

Blucky – A weather term, a combination of blustery and icky. Ex: “At the moment, it’s just cold, wet and blucky out.”    xdfben says:    March 23, 2016 at 6:00 pm    

Cententious? –  billinmpls says:   [Unfortunately, baboons, I forgot to note the date of this one, and I have no idea what was being discussed. Any idea, Bill?

Coleslawicide – a term coined by our Alpha Baboon, Dale Connelly, in this parody of Ogden Nash poetry in a post titled, “Why I don’t Eat the Coleslaw”:

 Did Ogden Nash know?

Did Ogden Nash, with his last breath,

decide to die a funny death?

His final meal – some stringy gabbage

hid the reaper ‘mongst the cabbage.

Did fate, ironic, choose to slay him

with this side of gastro-mayhem?

Or did Nash select this gaffe

to seal his doom with one last laugh?

One last punchline – Woe betide

all those who chews coleslawicide.

BiR, if you’re on the trail today, “coleslawicide” has GOT to go in our glossary.   verily sherrilee says: August 31, 2015 at 7:40 am

Corridordial – see Hallway friendships:        billinmpls says: January 27, 2016 at 11:19 am 

Degusting – a variation on disgusting, as in the following:    Wessew – “If prepared right”. I’m on to the games you culinary con artists love to play; trying to disguise the degusting. Next you’ll be saying lutefisk and liver are luscious… “if prepared right.” On with the food fight!      NOVMBER 6, 2015, 8:06 A.M.       PlainJane – I thing “degusting” deserves a place in our glossary. Sort of takes the wind out of culinary excesses. NOVEMBER 6, 2015, 8:55 A.M.

Espo-used – An alternate pronunciation for “espoused”.       Ex:  “As a 6th grader, back in the days when you could actually acknowledge Christmas in school, I was the narrator and got to read the Christmas story. Nearly got tripped up by the word espoused.”  K-two  DECEMBER 25, 2015, 9:20 A.M..

Hallway friendship – An apartment living phenomenon, as in:  “in our building those of us who have lived here a few years have a hallway friendship, hallway only. Clyde of Mankato  JANUARY 27, 2016, 10:29 A.M.

Outhousing – To be in the habit of using an outhouse, as in: “’modern’ shower facilities were separate and there were outhouses for, well, outhousing”… from Anna’s post called File For T Under Treasure.  AUGUST 15, 2015

Psychiatrically disabled – A person who is somewhat off-center.  Ex:  “As I recall, she was married to this guy who was somewhat psychiatrically disabled, and who walked up and down mainstreet in a big cowboy hat.    reneeinnd says: October 12, 2015 at 11:17 am

Teflon desk – the state in which everything that lands on your desk slides off onto someone else’s.   Comment to Wessew – “I think you’ve got this down!”     verily sherrilee says: August 22, 2015 at 10:40 am

and:

_____________________   [creative opportunity here, baboons]

 verily sherrilee says: January 26, 2016 at 3:47 pm   Didn’t we have a word for a day when we went over 100 comments? I just checked glossary and didn’t see anything. Who has the best memory around here?

Acronyms:

ABD   The appearance of an icon (gravatar) that looks like a blue doily beside your comment, and renders your comment as an Anonymous, rather than inserting your chosen icon. WordPress has done this to virtually everyone on the Trail at some time or another… it’s now considered an initiation exercise.

What’s your favorite dictionary or reference book?

Stories, Weather

Teasing Temps

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It’s really quite a tease, these couple of days of near 60˚weather. Because of this unusually warm winter we’ve been having, I was able to ride my bike on Sunday to our friend Walken’s house. Last warm spell I rode to t’ai chi class at the Friendship (Senior) Center, and to pick up a few items at Midtown Foods. I am also in either walking or biking distance from:

– Paperbacks and Pieces, a book exchange that also sells some new books and other items

– Nia (aerobics class) at the WMCA

– the Winona Public Library and Post Office

– two coffee shops and the Acoustic Café  (plus innumerable fast food or pizza joints)

– Chapter Two Books (more used books)

– Bluff Country Food Co-op, and the downtown Farmers Market (in season)

– Winona State University, incl. theaters and auditoriums

– several large churches that host musical events and ad hoc groups like our Wellspring Singers

– Winona History and Winona Art Centers, which have classes, art show openings, political events, and films

– my chiropractor, dentist, and doctor

– three thrift shops

It- a couple of pubs, and Ed’s No Name Bar (where artsy types gather every Friday eve)

This is the advantage of living in the “inner city”, here on this nice flat piece of land stretched along the Mississippi. I consider “walking or biking distance” to be anything I can get to within ten minutes. Several other things are not prohibitively far – for an outing, we have biked the 4 or 5 miles to my mom’s residence in the west end, and even out the Marine Art Museum.

Where would you like to walk to or bike to, once spring is really here?

Movies, Stories

The Not-So-Frozen River Film Fest

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This was the weekend of Winona’s Frozen River Film Festival  and Thursday eve we attended our first of many events:  a cluster of short films, each between 4 and 15 minutes, about a given topic – like The Journey Set, Adventure Set, Expanding Frontier Shorts, Our Surroundings Shorts, Characters Set.

There were also longer films and speakers on myriad topics and at various venues – including Ed’s No Name Bar, the MN Conservatory of Arts, Public Library – but the majority will be held on Winona State’s campus. (Next year I’ll get this posted earlier in case anyone wants to make the trip!) I won’t see every film I’d like to because of volunteer shifts, but volunteering gets us free passes to most films and events.

frff

Unfortunately, with temps in the 50s here this weekend, a couple of outdoor “side events” were cancelled (think ice skating on Lake Winona). On the other hand, the Fat Tire Bike Ride through Aghaming Park (island in the Mississippi that holds the boathouse community), was good to go.

Thursday night’s collection of eight films was called The People Set. I watched, i.e., “Edges”, about a 90-year-old woman still doing fancy moves on ice skates; “Throw” about a thrower who used his skill with a yo-yo to pull him out of gang violence; and the love and tolerance of a family whose young child, “Pink Boy”, is drawn only to feminine things. It was an evening of rich experience, and I traveled to many places and in several people’s lives in a short interval.

What person can you think of who is worthy of being ensconced in a short film?

The Baboon Congress

Animal Facts You Didn’t Know

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Today’s post comes from Barbara in Rivertown

OK, here’s a 50-worder or so. I love it when I remember to watch the Nature programs on PBS  and last night was no exception – up close examples of animals caring for and about each other – wild dogs accepting a “foreigner”, elephants’ collective parenting, penguins’ mating rituals, and even a grief ritual of giraffes.

What have you learned about animals over the years that has surprised you?