Busy Compiling And Composing

At least when it's not snowing.....or I'm working on the driveway.  Mom's assisted living home decided to run a promotion called the Dream Project.  When she first heard it mentioned, right away her imagination carried her to places..a trip, possibly because that was something brought up when the idea was first presented, either by staff or by residents.  Mom has been a lot of places and she's proud of that; locations she went alone as a young woman, places she traveled with our family of four and then later, places far off that she and dad traveled to.  New destinations were something she'd absolutely not been "dreaming" about.

It was a dilemma, at least for a few days.  Then Peg had the great idea, "how about a family cook/memory book?  We've got oodles to fill it with, might take an entire library".

Peg was right; there is absolutely no shortage of material in these houses!  Photos, recipes, old stories, letters, other documents, diaries, etc.  Piles and piles and piles-worth.  I've been struggling to determine some sort of theme, a containment box around and it's been tough.  Now mostly gathered, I've started to compose.

Our goal, at least Peg's and mine, based on what we thought we knew about the project (it appears to be evolving....) was to have a number of books printed with recipes, stories highlighting the recipes and other documents focused on times, places and people that were there.  Intended for family, we hadn't and still have not thought about how many copies.  Hopefully there will be some funds raised in one way or another to make at least a few books possible.

Mom has been given all sorts of recipes and recipe books as you can well imagine.  A farm girl born before the depression, food, the nurturing, growing, marketing and consumption there of has been a major part of her life.  She not only cooked but waitressed in various locations around the country.  Recently she was given an incredible self published book from her granddaughter, beautiful in content, far more so than the jumble that I'm working on.  Full of lovely photography, an obvious endeavor from the heart.  Though not necessarily published for mom, it was a gift that means a lot.

This Dream Project publication, while for mom in the immediate future, is really for the rest of us going forward. There will be much content that I remember, knew of or experienced personally (some photos of little dougie) but my hope is that those people in the future that didn't directly experience any or very much of this will have something to refer back to, an easy overview into a generation or more that preceded them.

This except reprinted from our local Red Wing newspaper, mom's the one on the left......

Winter Storm Warning, Winter Storm Watch

Potter Ridge residents live their dreams

 

 

Rose Larson was in Colorado when she saw more than 100 hot air balloons in the air. Some of them landed in a field across the road from where she watched.

"I made up my mind right there that that was going to be on my bucket list," she said. "There is a place here in Minnesota where you can go and get on a balloon, so maybe it is going to happen."
Her friend, Berdella Cooper, has spent years creating and collecting recipes. She has photos of family events where those dishes were served, and she dreams of having a recipe book with family photos published.

"I thought it would be nice to have these recipes to hand down to the family, but I didn't know where to start," Cooper said. "Now, I am going to get help with this, thanks to the Dream Project."
The Dream Project is the creation of staff members at Potter Ridge Assisted Living in Red Wing. They asked residents to identify something they would like to do or something they would like to have as their dream.

Making residents' dreams come true requires both money and effort. To help with costs, the project will feature a silent auction 1- 4 p.m. Friday, March 15, at Potter Ridge. Anyone can donate items for the auction. Businesses and individuals may also donate services or provide help to make specific dreams come true.

This project should be keeping me busier than it has been but I'm working on it and mindful of the deadlines.  To stay sane (see Weather below) I've been a real purveyor of YouTube these cold winter days.  Subscribed, followed, notified, Liking....a lot has happened in my little world; it's a big place if you haven't heard.  I've learned a lot, some of it even worthwhile.  Subject matter primarily motorcycle travel but branching out from that, the things that I combine with motorcycle travel.  I'm attempting to be a better story teller and that is involving a number of prongs and for now, I'll leave it at that.   Also there's been a strong renewed interest in motorcycle camping.  I'm very pleased, considering the fact that I'm still working with the number of nights I spend each season in my tent/sleeping bag.  Lots of rallies as you well know but I classify those weekends as tent sleeping and not really camping.  This year I'm focusing on the rallies AND some camping....we'll see how that goes.

There was another batch of Elk Jerky.  Spices and flavor is better but against my better judgement, I left this batch in the dehydrator longer and that was a mistake.  The first batch was more pleasant though I think the 2nd product tastes better.

Weather

We've had a lot of melting though our daily temperatures haven't really been that warm.  The sun is getting to the point that it's accomplishing something even if the ambient doesn't want to play along.

These drifts behind the garage were half way up both windows a week ago....

Just about the worst possible had been predicted overnight and when we didn't get 10-12" of snow it was my assumption that we got off easy this time.  Much of the day yesterday afternoon we had 40 degrees so when it started snowing around 6pm, I thought that the worst had gone north for others to enjoy.  This morning early when I trudged out to the garage (Himalayn is FINALLY in the shop, warm and on the lift) I did no more than make a path between the house and garage.  A strong wind made putting off any driveway clearing easy until later in the day, hopefully with reduced winds and the drifting calmer.

Only 4" of new snow but a real kick in my pants.  Water/ice beneath, wind driven wet snow on top.  I thought (hoped??) that the snow would be too wet and heavy to do any substantial blowing.

Just shows to go ya' what I know.

Visibility at times an issue.....I hit it hard and it hit back.

The driveway, where there was snow, was miserable.  Stuck twice, very major Stuck, with the plow truck made the quick touch-up this afternoon anything but.  The way the wind is blowing, I'll likely have to go out this evening and fight again so that I can make the road tomorrow morning at 5.

Lauren is in Puerto Rico today.  It is warm and sunny there.