Category Archives: Gatherings

2025, Gatherings, Music, Mysteries, Uncategorized

A Bell Curve

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Cantus refers to itself as a low-voice vocal ensemble.  Sounds a little sterile; it is anything but.  They do a wide variety of mostly a cappella offerings: a lot of internation, classical, commissioned pieces.  Yesterday it was an entire program of Frank Sinatra covers – amazing. 

My BFF and I have been attending Cantus concerts for 30 years; we do six to seven concerts a years, depending on the season’s program.   We attended their concerts all over the place – St. Thomas, a church in Excelsior, the McPhail Center, the Ordway.  Yesterdays was at Westminster Presbyterian downtown.  Over the years we’ve been to the Westminster dozens of times; it’s a great space with wonderful acoustics. 

Two thirds of the way through the program, Chris Foss, a bass, stepped up and began a beautifully rendition of I’ll Be Around by Alec Wilder. 

About a minute into his performance, which had a piano accompaniment, the bells of Westminster began to rang.  It was just loud enough that you could certainly here it but not loud enough to completely drown Chris out.  The bells ended very shortly before the song ended.  In all the times I’ve been in Westminster for concerts, this has never happened before.  Not sure why the bells were ringing at noon on a Thursday.  I’m guessing that many performers would have stopped and waited for the bells to stop, but Chris kept his composure and kept going.  He got wild applause after his number; I guess because it was a great song but also as acknowledgement of a rotten situation. 

I didn’t see Chris in the lobby after the show but I hope that anyone speaking to him praised the other song he did during the concert – not just for his calmness during the bells.

Do you live near a church that still rings their bells? Would you have stopped singing?

animals, Business, Food, Gatherings, Stories, work

Relishing Every Bite

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On the phone with my friend Pat last week, she reminded me of the following story.

This was about 20 years ago.  Cell phones were a thing but not the ubiquitous kind of thing they are today.  In a department meeting, Lydia’s cell phone (names changed to protect the innocent) buzzed in her pocket.  When she looked at it, she got a funny look and zipped out of the meeting room.  About 5 minutes later she came back in and announced to all of us that she needed to leave.  I don’t know about anybody else, but all kinds of dark thoughts jumped right into my brain.  Sick kids, husband in car accident, mother fallen down steps… that kind of thing.

Apparently her dog had gotten out of the yard and wandered several blocks over to a local gas/convenience store.  He headed straight over to the bread section and proceeded to help himself to a couple packages of hot dog buns before anybody noticed him.  Luckily Lydia and her family had a chip so the local animal control was able to get hold of them pretty quickly.

After she rushed off, the meeting broke down completely.  Apparently we had all thought the same kinds of horrible scenarios and were really relieved that it was a funny story instead of a tragic one.

The next morning when Lydia showed up, her desk was covered in packages of hot dog buns.  I can’t say whose idea that was, but I do remember who did the leg work with a handful of collected cash!

Why do all hot dogs look the same?

2025, animals, Gatherings, Music, Nature, Uncategorized

Don’t Pet The Fluffy Cows

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Yesterday we left the house at 7:15 am to drive to Medora. Our church bell choir had a gig at the Congregational Church there. Medora is a little town just outside Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the heart of the ND Badlands. It is full of tourists and tourist attractions. The church only has services in the summer now, with guest pastors each week. It is a small, one room church with about 20 pews.

On the way there, we saw a couple of Forest Service trucks on the side of the road near a deep ditch. There were about four guys there, along with a big bison. We gathered that the bison had somehow got through the very tall fence that marks the park boundary along the interstate. The fence is presumably high enough to keep the elk and bison from jumping over. I wouldn’t want to have the task of herding an angry bison, intent on roaming, back through the fence. They are fierce creatures. I don’t understand why any sane person would think they could walk up to one and pet it.

We encountered another wild creature once we made it to the church. The preacher for the day was a well-known local Lutheran minister, retired now, with a reputation for being a real character. The mild mannered librarian in our bell choir muttered “Oh s##t” when she saw his name in the bulletin. She has known him since she was a young adult and had him as a pastor for a while. He is a kind, gracious and well-intentiond man, but one who is all over the place in terms of his sermons and impulsive changes to the liturgy. He would be as hard to manage at a church council meeting as that bison in the ditch would be. He named several people sitting in the pews told and anecdotes about them and their familes (including the librarian) from years past, somehow connecting them to the theme of his sermon. His sermon didn’t run over the time allotted, though, and he only digressed from the order of service in the bulletin a couple of times.

On the drive home we saw the forest service trucks along with a Sherriff’s Department truck a mile or so west of where we saw them on the way to Medora. I guess the bison was still on the move. I hope they can get it back through the fence without anyone getting hurt.

What up close and personal experiences have you had with wildlife? Who are some characters in your life?

2025, Gatherings, Kids, Uncategorized

Summer Camp

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I drive past the local college every day on my way to work. Yesterday I noticed quite a few school buses in the college parking lot, signs that the week long summer high school football camp was starting.

My agency used to be housed in a former dorm at the college, and the building overlooked the college practice field. We could watch and hear the 100 or so boys as they practiced their tackles and formations. I can’t imagine what the dorms and food service were like all week.

Our children attended music camps and Concordia Language Villages in the summer. We especially liked the Suzuki Camp our daughter attended in Montreal for a couple of summers, with an added benefit that we attended with her. I usually attended church camp a kid. Husband was a camp counselor for a couple of summers at a church camp near his home in Wisconsin. One highlight was the night the Grade 5 and Grade 6 boys in his cabin caught about 50 frogs and let them loose in the cabin. Ah, Youth!

Did you attend summer camp? How did you spend your time in the summer when you were a kid?

2025, animals, Gatherings, holidays, Uncategorized

Up North

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Happy Solstice, Midsommar, or whatever you call the first day of summer! The days are longer now, which I appreciate.

I have heard from two friends lately who have experienced some very long days. One is a college friend who lives way up north in Sweden near the Arctic circle. She posted a photo of her and her husband dropping her brother off last week at the nearby train station at 2:00 am. It was fully bright out. She then mentioned that when she and her husband arrived home at 3:00 am, the sun was starting to rise. It must have not got dark there at all! She and her husband are evangelical ministers. I doubt they will be doing too much carousing at Midsommar festivities, which I understand can get pretty wild.

I also heard from my friend the international pet sitter. Her most recent gig took her and her husband to Dawson City, Yukon, to take care of a Great Pyrenees dog. It was a huge, friendly dog who wanted to sit on her lap. They loved the Yukon. The permafrost makes it impossible to pave the streets. The local liquor store and Drivers License Bureau share the same office space. She took a photo at 10:00 pm and it looked like she took it at noon.

I think the farthest north I have been is Gimli, Manitoba. I like it dark when I sleep, and I don’t think I would adjust well when it would be light all day.

What us the farthest north you have ever been? Any Midsommar celebrating today and tomorrow?

2025, animals, Business, Family, Gatherings, Travel, Uncategorized

As the World Turns…

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Having YA living here makes me ruminate on almost a daily basis about how much the world has changed. 

She’s in San Antonio now, at a conference.  For once she is a participant, not a staff and she is enjoying that juxtaposition.  One of the things that has changed significantly in the travel/meeting/conference world is the choice of activities.  I organized a group in San Antonio once and the activity options were golf, tennis and the San Antonio city tour (with lengthy stop at the Alamo).  Golf was the activity of choice on almost all trips except Hawaii, where the catamaran tour was always the big winner.  As the years went by, people got more adventurous and wanted more options.  Golf fell out of favor and “experiences” got more popular.  Cooking classes, art encounters, biking, kayaking, horseback riding, ATV adventures. Zipline infrastructure grew and grew as did the number of folks wanting to try it.

The activities that YA had to choose from included morning walks, morning jogs, the traditional city tour, Seaworld and…. puppy yoga!

I’d never even heard of yoga until I was in college – heard a talk about transcendental meditation and Ram Das and yoga.  That was it for probably over a decade.  Once onboard a ship with a client, I did a session of yoga with her and promptly pulled a muscle in my back that took weeks to feel better. 

Now there are multitudes of yoga types (Kundalini, Kharma, Buti, Tantra) but lots of stranger versions that I’ve seen.  Hot yoga is done in an overheated environment that encourages sweating.  Naked yoga – well, I don’t have to explain that.  Goat yoga.  And, of course, the popular puppy yoga.  YA signed up for puppy yoga on both of her allotted activity days.  She has sent quite a few photos and it doesn’t look like any yoga is getting done at all.  That’s my girl!

Have you ever tried yoga?   Do you have a favorite activity when you’re traveling?

2025, Family, Food, Gatherings, Kids, Uncategorized

Positive Peer Pressure

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The Baby Sprinkle held at our Son and Dil’s home on Saturday was a lot of fun. It was attended by us, Dil’s mother, and six couples and their children, the couples being family friends. Their children are all the same age, between Grades 1 and 4. .

The women spent the Sprinkle coloring funny pictures on diapers and onesies, while the guys were in the downstairs playing a new, baby-oriented Dungeons and Dragons game Son had developed. Many of the families have children who attend the same Boys and Girls Club daycare as our grandson.

It was really funny to hear the moms talk about their amazement at the vegetables their children eat at Club and not at home. The children have been coming home asking for “those crescent-moon shaped green beans” (lima beans) and the little cabbages (Brussels Sprouts) that they get at Club. Grandson declares he loves romaine lettuce as long as it has French dressing on it. He is a very picky eater, and the lettuce is a real surprise. He has never eaten lettuce at home prior to this.

These kids are eating vegetables because they see their friends eating vegetables! How wonderful! No amount of parental pressure could accomplish this at home.

What were your favorite and least favorite vegetables as a child? How were you positively influenced by your peers? Ever play Dungeons and Dragons?

2025, animals, Food, Gatherings, Nature, Uncategorized

Keep Calm and Carry Yarn

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A couple of weeks ago I was straightening up some papers in my “maybe I’ll scrapbook this” box and came across a bookmark advertising The 26th Annual Shepherd’s Harvest Festival”.   It was in the box next to some other items that clearly came from the Eco Building at the state fair.  I don’t remember picking it up but where bookmarks are concerned, I’m a little like a crow and shiny objects.

The festival was a week away and even though I’m not a knitter or wool person, it seemed like it might be a fun way to wile away a few hours.  Just half an hour from home and only a $5 entrance fee.  Dog herding demonstrations, sheep shearing, food trucks and a LOT of vendor exhibits were promised.  It was the dog herding that was the top of my list. 

When I headed off Saturday morning (a gorgeous day), my plan was to see the dogs, look around the rest of the festival and then maybe see the dogs again during their second demonstration.  I never made it back to the dogs a second time because the rest of the festival was fascinating.  I got to pet several kinds of sheep (including cashmere), got to watch two different sheep get haircuts (this goes much faster than I thought), listened to some music and had a Grilled Cheezey from a food truck. 

And then there were the vendors.  My oh my.  There was one building with vendors doing classes and then an additional four buildings stuffed full of folks selling anything you can imagine having to do with wool  Spinning wheels, combs, spools, drop spindles of all kinds and designs, needles, dye, hooks, stitch markers, patterns and, of course, wool.  Wool straight off the sheep in plastic bags, wool in every color imaginable, yarn by the mile.  I’m not sure how anyone who is in the market for wool goods can decide what to get.  If I were a knitter, I’d have to back a u-haul up to the festival gates.  It was a lot of fun to look at, but my pocketbook was really glad I didn’t have anything invested in this craft.

I did end up purchasing some fun soaps called “felted soaps”.  They are made with sheep’s milk, brightly colored and fantastically scented – and they are wrapped tightly with a think layer of wool.  It acts as a washcloth of sorts and shrinks down as the soap gets smaller.  I can’t wait to see how it works out.

Robin was there on Saturday as well, although we didn’t have each other’s cell phones, so didn’t manage to run into each other.  It would have been nice to have a “tour guide” but I might have held her back.  Maybe next year.

Do you knit?  How old were you when you learned?  Or better yet, do you have any favorite woolens?

2025, Food, Gatherings, Music, Uncategorized

Sing For Your Supper

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The church choir year is winding down for us, and I couldn’t be happier. We have sang and rang bells since September, and now have one more service to ring at next Sunday. Then we are done for the summer.

There are only eighteen active musicians at our church, plus two organists. Many of us perform in both the choir and the bell ensemble. We are a rather large congregation with around 500 members, but it is only we few who keep the music going. That gets a little disappointing and exhausting at times. The congregation is quite thrilled with the music we provide.

We were pretty tickled at choir last week to hear that a congregation member who is a rancher wanted to thank the musicians for all our work, and donated 100 lbs of ground beef from his own cows to us. It came in 2 pound packages and had been processed at a butcher shop in Belfield, a little town just west of Dickinson. It was a rather unusual gift, but certainly heartfelt. It was also a reminder that we truly live in the West. We will all be fortified to start in again after our summer off.

What are your experiences in music ensembles? What are your favorite bird songs?

2025, Family, Gatherings, Kids, Uncategorized, Words

Baby Sprinkle

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We will travel to Brookings, SD early next month for a Baby Sprinkle, a smaller sized Baby Shower that is being put on by friends of our son and dil who are expecting their second child in August.

I never heard the term Baby Sprinkle before, but I gather it is now the term for used when someone already has had a child and doesn’t need as many things as first time parents do. Son and dil are pretty well stocked with equipment from the birth of their first child seven years ago. We are so happy for them.

I have some baby afghans crocheted by my maternal grandmother from when our children were born and I plan to bring them, as well some other things I have in a cedar chest like family christening outfits. It will be fun.

What are some new terms or phrases you have encountered lately? What would you bring as a gift to a baby shower or sprinkle?