The adults were whispering, and when I entered the room, they were silent.  That’s when children (whose parents swear that they are hard of hearing) really start to listen.  Being exceptionally nosy and very good at hearing behind a closed door, I decided to investigate.  The adults were talking about my Grandma Ruth, the matriarch of the family.  What had my sainted … [Read more...]

I made my way this morning to my rural mailbox to send a gift to a friend. Its blistered paint reminded me that it needs some tender loving care. Mild temperatures called out and lured me to stroll around this old farm. I noticed the sights and sounds today that I have so long neglected. Horizon to horizon stretched a canopy of varied shades of gray. Naked tree … [Read more...]

Growing up in a large family, dinner was always an important topic of discussion. Every week, each of us four kids would give a meal suggestion. My brother’s pick was typically overruled because he always wanted steak. The oldest sibling asked for spaghetti every week. The youngest was easily pleased with macaroni and cheese or chicken nuggets. I fall somewhere in the middle, … [Read more...]

As I was driving to Rochester one day to buy crafting ribbon, I was taking count of how many of my quick stop shops had closed – JoAnn’s south, gone.  Shopko, nope. Kmart, long gone. WalMart – too crazy, just can’t do it.  So, this means that my shopping from now on has to be very thought out and well planned to know what I need and where I can get it.  With many of my quick … [Read more...]

To clean or not to clean Fall comes quickly in Bluff Country, and this year is no exception. The summer vegetable gardens are done, but a few leafy greens, carrots and leeks still remain here and there. Asters and Chrysanthemum may still have a few lingering flowers, but most of the perennials have stopped blooming. Ornamental grasses blow and rustle in the breeze, their … [Read more...]

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...]

By Al Batt I spit sunflower seeds for distance. It was a contest. I did OK. I’d have done better, but it had been a dry year. I could have been in a pie-eating contest that day, but the two events had been scheduled for the same time. Pity. That was the year Emma Torvaldson hit a pie judge in the face with her signature lemon meringue pie after she’d finished in second place … [Read more...]