The Northview
By Brenda Winter, columnistNovember 26, 2023Peeking over my folded hands, I watched Mom and Dad pray the blessing spoken at our family’s meals for more than 60 years. “Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest and let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen.” It was November 2022, just a few days before Mom passed away. One end of the large table held our meal, the other end a pile of newspapers, magazines and papers pertaining to the diagnosis. Dad’s…
By Brenda Winter, columnistNovember 01, 2023With eyes big as saucers, our granddaughters surveyed the scene before them. We were at The Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Kentucky, about an hour from where the girls live. Grandpa and I had set aside time for this very adventure – a day trip to this “one-of-a-kind theme park attraction that showcases a full-size replica of Noah's Ark, the vessel that saved his family and all the animals…
By Brenda Winter, columnistOctober 11, 2023After Mom’s passing last November, we were left with the massive garden she’d always tended. Dad had even added four new raised beds to the garden in the summer of 2022. So there we were last spring with lots of garden and no gardener. Dad and I adopted the family motto when facing a challenge – “How hard can it be?” – and decided to fill the raised beds. We’d plant one bag of potatoes. One “…
By Brenda Winter, columnistSeptember 20, 2023With just a short distance to go, Blondie, pushing her bike up the last hill, looked accusingly at me and said, “I can’t even believe you are making us do this.” Stirring together a bowl of flower petals and dill seed she collected from the garden, my 6-year-old niece beamed at me and announced, “You’re the best auntie ever!” Every family has one, and this one is the one in our family. With…
By Brenda Winter, columnistSeptember 01, 2023“How about zip lining?!” I said with the confidence of a person who did not know what she was talking about. My three besties and I all turned 60 this year. To celebrate, we took our second “significant decade birthday trip.” This time we went to Montana – land of big skies, grizzly bears and zip lines. I didn’t actually want to go zip lining. I just wanted to be the kind of person that other…
By Brenda Winter, columnistAugust 01, 2023Dad and I hold our forks in mid air, staring into space the way people do when they sample food. We’re trying to figure out Mom’s potato salad recipe. Potato salad was Mom’s premier dish. Her barbecued chicken was good, and so was her apple crisp, but nothing compared to the potato salad. It was the German version – heavy on the mustard and onions. She used Miracle Whip, not mayo. A little salt…
By Brenda Winter, columnistJuly 11, 2023Because my husband and I no longer have children of our own to subject to long, unbearable car trips, we borrowed a niece and a nephew for a drive to Denver to visit our daughter and their cousin. Technology has lessened the misery of car trips considerably, but even technology has its limits. We were nine hours into the 10-hour drive back home. Both kids, ages 12 and 8, had traveled like rock…
By Brenda Winter, columnistApril 25, 2023A year ago at this time my family celebrated my mom’s 80th birthday, which was May 11. We pulled out all the stops and had a day-long party concluding with Mom serving cake to 34 of her favorite descendants. This year, we will not celebrate Mom’s 81st birthday on earth but will rejoice that she is celebrating her first birthday in heaven. A few weeks back, I announced an April date for the next “…
By Brenda Winter, columnistApril 04, 2023Like most of you, I have an opinion about the proposed 75-foot-tall plastic nutcracker intended to enhance tourism by drawing travelers off I-90. My opinion is, “Not in my back yard!” However, I live on the north end of Luverne and the nutcracker will be on the south end of Luverne, so it won’t be in my backyard. Therefore, I’m good with the whole plan. I’ve learned a great coping skill from my…
By Brenda Winter, columnistFebruary 21, 2023Many of you may recall elderly goofball sisters of the stage Marlene and Darlene from Leota, Minnesota. Over the years, the pair have attempted to save the Luverne Senior Citizens Center (now Generations) from certain demise. Always the pessimist, Marlene believes the end of the senior center is at hand and it’s her job to keep the doors open. Darlene thinks there are simply not enough single men…
By Brenda Winter, columnistJanuary 10, 2023The frost on the trees bordering the cemetery Monday morning was spectacular. Blazing white branches sparkling against a brilliantly blue winter sky created a stunning scene worthy of the cemetery’s name, “Pleasant View.” My sister and I drove past the cemetery on our way to spend some time with Dad at the farm. We’ve driven by this cemetery thousands of times. With Mom at the wheel of a ’66…
By Brenda Winter, columnistNovember 29, 2022First Snow has arrived replacing the garden’s fading colors of fall with a twinkling coat of brilliance. It covers the brown, lost remnants of summer with a blanket of hope. First Snow gives mortals a hint of the new creation described by John in the book of Revelation. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, … And I heard a loud voice…
By Brenda Winter, columnistSeptember 27, 2022Rock County voters have a difficult decision to make on Election Day, Nov. 8, 2022. Two really nice guys are running to represent Minnesota District 21A. The Republican incumbent Joe Schomacker and the Democratic-Farmer Labor challenger Pat Baustian are both really nice guys. Both live in Luverne. Both are graduates of Luverne High School. Joe has held the office of state representative since…
By Brenda Winter, columnistSeptember 06, 2022Last week I saw a young woman with a flat, tan tummy wearing a cropped top. As I observed her exposed tummy, I reflected on why my tummy is not exposed. A long time ago my stomach, too, was flat and tan, but in 1988 the last weeks of pregnancy sent stretch marks like lightning bolts across that fruited plain. It was ’99 or maybe 2000 when I had my first abdominal surgery. The scar runs eight…
By Brenda Winter, columnistJune 28, 2022As you know, when I write these columns, I usually take a humorous look at an everyday situation. I start with the premise, “The column must be about something funny.” Sometimes, what’s funny is that I wait until the very last minute to write my column and turn it in to the dear editor at Tollefson Publishing. She has an obsessive focus on something she calls “deadlines.” After waiting too long…
By Brenda Winter, columnistMay 17, 2022My mom is quiet, reserved and a bit on the shy side. Lots of folks like crowds and gatherings and spectacles. Mom doesn’t. Which is why it was a bit of a challenge to throw her a proper 80th birthday party. Her idea of a good time is reading a book in her sunroom or maybe mowing the lawn. So, we decided to have several smaller gatherings. The first was a breakfast tea party at my sister Sarah’s…
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