Brenda Winter
By Brenda Winter, columnistApril 26, 2022Dingbat sisters Marlene and Darlene from Leota, Minnesota, are creations of my imagination. DJ Luethje and I will bring the sisters to life on stage Thursday, April 28, for a dessert auction fundraiser for Generations in Luverne. We will play the roles of two hapless, elderly sisters trying their best to recover from the Covid lockdown. The funny thing about older sister Marlene is that much of…
By Brenda Winter, columnistApril 05, 2022Both of my grandmas had fat arms. As youngsters growing up in St. John Lutheran Church in Luverne, my siblings and I would occasionally sit with either set of grandparents during the church service instead of with our parents. When the morning grew exceptionally long, our grandmothers’ large, pillowy arms served as lovely headrests. I recalled those moments as my six-year-old granddaughter,…
By Brenda Winter, columnistFebruary 22, 2022You may remember actresses and sisters Marlene and Darlene from Leota, Minnesota. (They drive to Luverne in their Toyota.) DJ Luethje and I created the elderly characters who performed a show, “Marlene and Darlene Present the Nutcracker,” at Luverne’s Palace Theatre in December of 2018. It was a fundraiser for the construction of a new senior citizens building. The show raised $15,000 in spite of…
By Brenda Winter, columnistFebruary 01, 2022A friend of mine in Luverne put her recycling bin out on the wrong day. The next morning she discovered the bright yellow recycling “tag of shame” attached to it. The tag of shame is usually given to people who place non-recyclable items in recycling bins. You know the kind – they don’t wash the cans or remove the labels. (Yes, you are supposed to.) They try to recycle types of plastic that aren’…
By Brenda Winter, columnistJanuary 11, 2022I’m not a fashion diva, and never has that been made more clear than last week when I – like many in Rock County – slogged through the first week of 2022 with a case of the flu. I felt fine Sunday morning, but I opted not to attend church because my husband had been feeling poorly for a few days. Our community’s new-found sense of health caution made me decide against sharing the germs from our…
By Brenda Winter, columnistDecember 14, 2021My dear husband has spent the past 35 years listening to me ask, “What is that smell?!” But then, in late November, I got Covid 19 and lost my sense of smell. Along with the rest of the state of Minnesota, I came down with Covid 19 last month and, like 80 percent of Covid sufferers, my case was mild. I used (prescribed) ivermectin (for humans) and was symptom-free in three days. The weird part…
By Brenda Winter, columnistNovember 23, 2021It was with great delight and joy that we welcomed our long-lost daughter, Kate, home from Vietnam a few weeks ago. I was more than thrilled to have her return home from a two-year Covid exile in a foreign country. But also, because Kate had used her lockdown to become a fitness buff, I was thrilled to now have access to my very own personal trainer. I hired her on the spot. I gave Kate a brief…
By Brenda Winter, columnistNovember 02, 2021For more than a year, Luverne Minnesota Veterans Home staff kept the killer of the elderly, COVID-19, at bay. For more than a year they wore masks and shields. They got vaccinated and washed their hands. And then it came anyway. On Tuesday morning, Nov. 2, the Minnesota Veterans Home COVID-19 information line reported (47 on Sunday)_____ cases among staff and residents. As you and I have noted…
By Brenda Winter, columnistOctober 12, 2021A number of people I know have become “preppers.” According to Oxford, a prepper is “a person who believes a catastrophic disaster or emergency is likely to occur in the future and makes active preparations for it, typically, by stockpiling food, ammunition, and other supplies.” Some of the people I know would take issue with the phrase “a disaster is likely to occur” and replace it with the…
By Brenda Winter, columnistSeptember 20, 2021Our homeschool, 1994-2012, was not without its shortcomings. We had a school shooting the day a rabid raccoon climbed a tree outside our son’s bedroom during math class. Blam. We had a stabbing the day one student became so blazing furious with her brother that she plunged the tip of her pencil into his arm. Strife among the staff (Mom), the administration (Dad), and the student body (the…
By Brenda Winter, columnistAugust 31, 2021I’ve become a crotchety old lady. I used to delight in the silly ways of happy creatures such as puppies. Now they annoy me. My sister recently added a furry bundle of joy to her life named Snoop. I call him Snoop-id. My relationship with Snoop-id went south the day he ate my sandal. Not just any sandal – my $80 orthopedic sandal. The sandal I need to support my falling arches, plantar fasciitis…
By Brenda Winter, columnistJuly 27, 2021My husband, Jim, has been telling people that we celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary last week by “getting a room” in Orange City, Iowa. Then he slyly adds, “a hospital room.” (Long story. Sanford and Avera are “out of network” for our insurance.) It all started two weeks ago with what I thought was heartburn. A week later, the “heartburn” returned with a vengeance. I was hot. I was cold. I…- By Brenda Winter, columnistJune 29, 2021For the past four years, teams of Christian kids from the Luverne area have served on a weeklong, in-town mission trip doing the things locally that youth groups often travel hundreds of miles to do in other places. Under the supervision of two or three adults, the teens paint houses, replace siding, build ramps, landscape, pull weeds, move furniture … and even change light bulbs. Yes, change…
By Brenda Winter, columnistJune 01, 2021It’s been five years. Five years ago, I completed treatment for anal cancer and was told the cancer was gone. I was also told, in so many words, “If you make it five years, you’ll be considered cancer-free.” (They don’t say “cured” anymore.) So here I am five years later. I made it. A friend once told me, “A day will come when you don’t even think about cancer.” I’m still waiting. It seems…
By Brenda Winter, columnistMay 18, 2021I’ve known people over the years who guard their volunteer time at Redeemed Remnants like it’s a meeting with the Queen. Now I know why. Redeemed Remnants is the resale/thrift store that generates finances for ATLAS of Rock County. ATLAS offers free Christian counseling and other services to people in need. As chairman of the ATLAS board, I’ve been volunteering at Redeemed Remnants to gain a…
By Brenda Winter, columnistApril 20, 2021In 1975 a band called Northern Lights recorded the hit song “Minnesota.” You might recall some of the lyrics. “Minnesota, I can almost smell the air. I can feel her hand, and my feet in the sand in the lakes under trees back home. “Minnesota, how I miss those sail-on days. I miss the stormy nights and the Northern Lights in the starry skies back home.” I’ve updated some of the lyrics for 2021. “…
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