I’ve eaten at the Take It Or Leave It Café four times. John Muir wrote about “toiling in the treadmills of life.” Regardless of what kind of treadmill you’re on, it builds an appetite and when you’re hungry, it’s not the journey, it’s the destination. I wanted to put the foot of my hunger into the stirrup of ingestion. I went looking for a delicious and nutritious … [Read more...]
God With Us in Life’s Chaos
By Pastor Nissa Peterson Chatfield and Root Prairie Lutheran Churches The Christmas season just barely ended – the church season of Christmas ends January 5, and many churches are already in full swing planning for Lent, which is just around the corner this year. It feels like we’ve hardly had a moment to breathe between these two busy seasons! Often happens in life, … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past: Cussing Punishable by Fine or Confinement
Gambling, drunkenness, fighting, trespassing, larceny, selling diseased meat and adulterating food or liquor were all prohibited in Brownsville, Houston County. About everything was covered by an ordinance passed in May,1872, “For the Suppression of Vice and Immorality” to prevent and punish crime and benefit trade, commerce and health. A jail was authorized the same … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past: “Let There Be Light” – and the 10 O’clock News
Technology changed life for the residents of Houston, Minn., during the first half of the 20th century (1900s), when according to area historian Ingrid Julsrud, “More has been invented and new things have come into existence… than in many previous centuries together.“ Electricity came late to the village of Houston, maybe conjectured Julsrud due to a lack of labor and/or … [Read more...]
There Will Be Weather Each Day Except Every Third Monday
Reindeer sweat isn’t a pretty thing. The temperature on Christmas Eve in my neighborhood set a record high of 52 degrees. Not a single economist predicted that. The doorbell rang. I opened the door and a robed visitor accompanied by sitar music walked in out of the dimming twilight. The renowned mystic from the Far East part of the township, the fabled soothsayer, … [Read more...]
Clothed with Christ
By Rev. Peter J. Haugen St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church In Genesis 17, God established circumcision as a sign for the people of God, for the Old Testament Church. Every male was to be circumcised. Circumcision brought individuals into the people of God, brought them under the covenant that God had made with Abraham and with his descendants. Any male who was not … [Read more...]
How to Prevent Sunscald on Trees This Winter
By Morgan Pickett University of Minnesota Extension As we head into the winter months, and before we snuggle in for the winter. Let’s take one last look at our young trees and wrap them up, too. Sunscald, also known as sunburn or frost canker, is a condition that primarily affects the bark of trees, especially young or thin-barked trees, often seen particularly in … [Read more...]
Open Before, During and After Christmas
By Rev. Deanna Woodward Maple Leaf Parish - United Methodist Churches of Cherry Grove, Fountain, Preston and Spring Valley Unless you’re postponing your celebration until after December 25, by the time this is printed, most readers will have already opened the presents under the Christmas tree, and possibly have taken down the tree itself. The idea of presents has been a … [Read more...]
My Winter Bucket List is a Short One: Stay Warm
Into the mouth of the wolf, we go. I catch myself bundled beyond recognition and talking to a thermometer, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” Hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to winter we go. Those lazy, hazy, crazy days of winter. It’s the Great White. Do you imagine the toothy grin of a shark? I picture the icicle smile of winter. It’s Gilligan’s Winter and we’re stuck in … [Read more...]
Journal Writing Project A Home Divided
By Siri Corson The car seemed to shake as my friends enthusiastically screamed the bridge of the song “Cruel Summer.” My teeth were clenched under my smile as I wondered how many more “Swiftie” songs I would be subjected to on the 45-minute car ride to Decorah. At some point we turned the music down to discuss topics we held dear to our hearts like guns, political candidates, … [Read more...]