A Patchwork of Ramblings

When I started this blog, close to two years ago, I stated that I would be offering a patchwork of ramblings on life, family, work, politics, hobbies and more. An astute reader once pointed out that the letters of my alias can be rearranged to state: ‘A Neat Ramble.’ While it was not the origin of the name Abra La Mente, I do like it! I envision my blog as a crazy quilt of my life. There is no theme, per se. No rhyme, no reason. Topics are the fabric of my life, mismatched pieces loosely stitched together, placed on display at the quilt show extraordinaire, Area Voices. Most often you see the outside covering, the side of the quilt which is fit for display when company is coming. Occasionally, I turn back the edges of the quilt, and you get a glimpse of the underside, a little more ragged around the edges. Other times, I don’t really care what company thinks, I bare it all, and you get to see the rips and tears that comprise the well worn quilt that is my life. My ramblings are usually limited to one topic per blog, but on occasion, I will string several thoughts into a blog topic. Today will be one of those days—many random thoughts about the last couple days, loosely woven together, with links to many other great blogs and random sites.

Another Halloween has come and gone, but not without some controversy and varying perspectives on it’s meaning and purpose. I see controversy as mostly good. It means we don’t all think alike, and for that I am grateful. Where is the fun in having the same views? How boring!! I am highlighting a few AV blogs that have discussed Halloween perspectives this week. Read up and see what you think. Peace Garden Mama had two blog topics covering Halloween. I enjoyed her view, and I agree with her children’s school’s perspective. Perhaps that view should be forwarded to the Vatican, as I disagree with its most recent stance regarding Halloween. Far Side of Fifty shared the highlights of her Halloween evening, and her views fully mesh with my own. Prairie Woman shared a wonderful history of Halloween—gosh, I always learn so much from her. The (formerly) Fat Girl, shared the damaging statistics on sweets consumptions—I’ll start to back away from the candy bag, albeit very slowly!! Of course, I can’t forget Buffalo Gal’s ‘candy corn purist’ discussion, of which I have some similar views.

My hubby and I traded the hosting of trick-or-treaters for a busy afternoon and evening of varied activities, a patchwork sort of day. First, we headed up to the Stearns History Museum, hoping to take in the Keith Laumb photo exhibit. Keith is the deceased father of my brother-in-law, and a former social studies/history teacher in St. Cloud (Technical High School and Apollo High School). He was a hobby photographer, concentrating on the social fabric of not only central Minnesota, but some European pursuits as well. His work is true artistry. Usually, members visit the exhibits for free, but since the museum is currently hosting the worldwide traveling exhibit “A T-Rex Named Sue,” and there is no way to separate the exhibits, members must also pay a fee. I had already viewed Keith’s exhibit, but my hubby had not. Since we are planning to see the T-Rex exhibit with some of my nieces and nephews later, we opted not to go in yesterday. Of course that moves our planned T-Rex visit to next week, since Keith’s exhibit is ending November 8th. Instead of visiting exhibits, we went archive digging in the research room. My hubby does not have the same fascination with history as I do, so the visit was limited. We did have an interesting visit with Bob, my third cousin, a former museum employee, but now full time volunteer (and I do mean FULL TIME—as in 7 days a week). Bob is a walking encyclopedia of not only central Minnesota history, but the European roots of the area, as well as a reader of German script. I think I’ll devote a blog to him in the future—amazing man. While Bob shared that he is not interested in the dinosaur exhibit, because he is one (his words, not mine), he did share in my fascination with tidbits of local history and old photographs. If you also enjoy old photographs, you should definitely stop by AV Blogger Far Side of Fifty’s other blog, Forgotten Photos. It is quite interesting.

Next, we were off to purchase some candy corn and dry roasted peanuts for an easy treat for our parents. There was still one aisle of Halloween treats,at the big box store, which was filled with last minute shoppers, but no regular flavored candy corn, or even evidence that there had ever been any. There were many other flavors to choose from—candy apple, caramel candy, chocolate, Indian corn, etc.—but not the traditional. See the problem with this at Buffalo Gal’s page. I opted for the caramel candy flavor, and while it didn’t totally destroy the mix, it wasn’t as good as traditional. If you haven’t experienced it, a scoopful of candy corn and peanut mixture is a little bit like eating a salted nut roll. Now, the problem of tainted candy corn is one thing, but far more disturbing to me was the next aisle, which was filled with Christmas candy. While I can somewhat see the convenience of one-stop shopping, I WILL NOT buy Christmas candy on Halloween. Perhaps today? Just kidding. :-) Perhaps after Thanksgiving.

Our next stop was my husband’s parents’ home, where we checked in on the health of my father-in-law. He seems frailer each time I see him. He now has oxygen continually attached, and spends most of his time in the recliner. Unable to climb stairs, and with no bedroom on the main floor, he has a hospital bed in the living room. I was his Saturday night entertainment when I sat in the swivel rocker next to him and it flipped backward. I landed with a thud, feet straight up in the air. He was shocked. I told him he needed a little excitement in his day. I wasn’t even rocking that chair—I swear it was the resting place of a Halloween spirit and I must have really upset it, placing my arse uninvited on its throne. I was also able to pass out candy to some very cute little goblins and such, got caught up on family news, and it was all too soon time to be on our merry way.

On our drive over to my parents, we were able to enjoy the setting sun through many scenic hills and bared tree branches. The scene, mixed with the rising moon and the eerily scattered clouds, created a haunting portrait of Halloween night. It was an absolutely gorgeous sight, captured only in my mind, as I was the driver, thus unable to even attempt capturing a photo. Arriving at my parents’ home, I was greeted by a myriad of costumed characters, on a pit stop for Grandma treats, before heading out for more adventure on the town. A short visit with my mom (my dad was out bow hunting), a taste of some baked candied squash (off-the-cuff creation of my single brother and oh-so-tasty), and on it was to the next destination.

How fitting that in this blog topic about patchwork ramblings, I discuss our concert attendance at Aunt Annie’s Quilts & Silks shop. Yes, that is right. Aunt Annie’s is a quilter’s dream by day and a venue for local and sometimes national artists by night and weekends. Located in the lovely community of Avon (a hop, skip, and jump from the town of my origin), the quilt shop was a lovely backdrop for the bluesy, jazzy, Americana genres of musical variety that are found in small spaces throughout central Minnesota. A very enjoyable evening, and I was able to hear a few of my brother-in-law's newest songs, one of them a very touching tribute written to honor the life of another brother-in-law’s father. Ralph passed away this spring, but the essence of his family farmer life has been caught up in a beautiful musical piece, of which I am sure he would approve.

After a few sets at the quilt shop, we headed back to my parents’, where we were able to observe the Halloween loot of the children. Holey Moley—their pillowcases were full beyond my wildest childhood dreams, and I used to be quite the avid candy collector myself! One of their stops contributed entire packages of fun size candy bars. There were also bags of chips, juice boxes, cans of pop, etc. These were definitely not the treats of my youth! My main reason for the return trip, though, was to retrieve a dresser, a family heirloom, one which I will treasure until it is one day passed on to one of my own children, sometime in the future, when they can truly appreciate the connection to their past family history and their great-grandmother.

Arriving back home, I was well worn, much like I am now, after all this rambling, despite all the thoughts still rolling around up above. I think I will use my extra hour of this weekend to sit and pause awhile, resting these weary bones, and mending some of my fabric tears.

(Note: I first started blogging at Area Voices, thus the references to AV & such. )