“Begin each day with a grateful heart.” This has been my theme for the past several months. You don’t need me to outline the challenges our world faces – in 2020 and every other year. As a world, we may all be in the same storm, but everyone is in a different boat. It’s certainly not my place to say how easy or difficult these challenges are to overcome. However, no matter … [Read more...]
Historic memories of Fillmore County: Harvest for Fillmore County farmers is easier these days than 120 years ago
The picture this week is a good one. Found in Aaron L. Sleyster’s book of poetry, it accompanies a poem that simply “sings” with the excitement of harvest time long, long ago. And if you are wondering just where the picture was snapped, look at the tree covered hill in the top left corner of the photo. As you leave Preston on Highway 52 and look to your right, beyond “Corn … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past: County high schools were private, parochial before public
The first high school education in Houston County was offered in Caledonia, as late as 1868, by Yale University graduate, the esteemed Julius Emmons. The next year, the first edifice, constructed exclusively for high school students, opened under the direction of Caledonia’s Trinity Episcopal Church, its rector Rev. William R. Powell and Bishop Whipple. The Minnesota state … [Read more...]
A little of this, A little of that
An apple a day keeps the doctor away is an old saying. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that were really true! Sadly during this virus before a vaccine is discovered, all we can do is: wear a mask, social distance and wash our hands often. I used to love going places. Now I only go to the grocery store and the pharmacy. Staying home was NEVER my idea of a good time. Now at … [Read more...]
Sisters, and love, and sharing music… it’s “Sister Luv”
It was a gift, a wish, a promise and a prayer (maybe a bunch of those), that created “Sister Luv.” Add to all that a dose of colorful creativity, dogged determination and some pretty big dreams, and you have a four-sister vocal quartet from Spring Valley that’s entertaining people and touching hearts across southeast Minnesota. The name captures it. Four sisters — Xena (21), … [Read more...]
Making good time going home from a good time
We took no vacations. We had to make good time going home from a family gathering because we didn’t have a good time taking vacations. My father drove. My mother rode shotgun. I sat in the backseat, as a free-range child not constrained by a seatbelt because there was no seatbelt there. I counted things I saw out the window — cows, dogs, tractors and pheasants. I tried to see … [Read more...]
Junco is an acronym for Just Until Nicer Conditions Occur
The temperature dropped as if it had spotted a State Patrol squad car. Then something landed in my yard. It was no mere bird. October 1 was the day I saw the first dark-eyed junco of the fall migrated into in my yard. I like juncos. I practice an appreciation for birds, but I was reminded of something Dr. Seuss wrote, “How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s … [Read more...]
Historic memories of Fillmore County Turbulent political times prevalent in Fillmore County during poet Aaron L. Sleyster’s stay in Preston
President Grover Cleveland was the only President to serve two, non-consecutive terms in office – 1885 to 1889 and 1893 to 1897. President Cleveland was the leader of the pro-business “Bourbon Democrats” who opposed high tariffs, Free Silver, inflation, imperialism, and subsidies to business, farmers or veterans. With that said, poet, Aaron L. Sleyster, took pen to hand and … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Medical men and midwives made house calls in early Houston County
In 1897, Houston-based physician Dr. Lewis K. Onsgard and two companions perilously oared through a swift, unpredictable current to reach a patient who was accessible only by boat after floodwaters washed out a bridge. In Houston County and southeast Minnesota, both providing and receiving medical care in the 1800s were as challenging as most other aspects of pioneer … [Read more...]
Real Bites
Village Square of Fountain Some of you may have heard that the Village Square of Fountain in Fountain, Minn., recently won the Fillmore County Journal 2020 Reader’s Choice Award for Best of the Best in the “Pizza” category. Year after year, that particular award bounces back and forth between the Village Square of Fountain, The Pizza Place in Spring Valley, Minn., or The … [Read more...]