Fort Snelling

My apartment is now almost empty, just the cleaning left to do. 3 more days and I am moving out. My year in America has come to an end. However, yesterday was my Sabbath day, so no cleaning involved. Instead I visited a local state treasure and historical side. It was open for the weekend, before it opens for the season in 2 weeks.

Fort Snelling is a fort build at the crossing between the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers. A strategic point to be able to see what’s coming from both sides. In these days a pretty idillic spot, from days gone by. It was not always perceived like that though, as it’s also an area where the Native Americans were driven from their lands and send to another state. It’s Dakota land, and for some reason it resonates with me.

Maybe it’s because I am adopted and know very little about my birth family and sometimes feel myself like I am driven off my land. Or maybe it’s because I have felt a little lonely this past year, away from my family and friends. Or maybe it’s just the historical movies talking… over the last couple years my family and I have visited various of these historical areas, learning about the Dakota and other tribes ways of lives.

In today’s day and age, where everything is fast, often changing and hard to keep up with, their lives looked to have a simpler purpose. Gather food, gather families and enjoy the spiritual.

Back to Fort Snelling, a kind of open air museum, with few re-enactments scattered through the day. I had visited before, on an equally hot day, but still enjoyed seeing the living quarters, hearing about the story of Scott Dredd and seeing where they were gathering their foods, enjoying their lives. A fort is a military place, so learned that the soldiers came through this place till just after the Second World War. More recent than I would have thought.

Below a few snaps.

Now am looking forward to coming back to England, where the age of my house would be visited like a relic here in the US…

Another Friday Rivercruise

About a year ago, Melody and I took a cruise down a part of the St Croix river, from Taylors Falls. A beautiful trip, I blogged about it previously and posted pictures.

I wanted to recreate that feeling of peace I had then, after busy days of preparing for the movers arrival next Monday. So I booked a river cruise on another part of the St Croix river. This time from Stillwater.

The weather forecast was showing rain, but when I arrived there were very little clouds in the sky and it was beautifully sunny. I could pick my spot as I was early… top deck near the front. I missed my chatterbox daughter… but the instant peace of being on the water was there…

There is nothing more calming to me than the sound of the water, with beautiful birds up in the sky. Especially my favourite in this part of the world… the bald eagle. Such majestic soaring over the waters…

It always reminds me of the sermon Geert preaches often.. the song of Moses in Deuteronomy, where he compares the father Eagle to our Heavenly Father. Soaring, watching, feeding, and there to catch us when we fall. Seeing these eagles puts things in perspective. He is in control…

‘When the oceans rise and thunders roar, I will soar with You above the Storm. Father you are King over the flood, I will be still and know You are God…’

Enjoy the weekend, my soul is calm.

Crochet

Yep, my favourite past time… crocheting takes my mind of lots of things. Anyone who knows me knows I can’t sit still.. I need to have something to do, something to not only keep my hands occupied, but something to take my mind of things. So hands race over the wool…

With my soon return to England, a lot of things need to be arranged.. simple things, like changing my phone plan, to more complex things like arranging the movers and applying for customs exemption…. my mind is racing, and so are my hands… I like straight forward patterns for this… something I do not need to keep my mind on… no complex patterns (unlike my daughter Melody does)… just straight forward and fast… counting till 7.

Blanket after blanket, with a scarf or two in between are getting finished… if you happen to receive one from me, yep… crocheted with a busy cluttered mind… if you did not receive one… it’s not personal… my stress period is not over yet… hahaha

“Crocheting keeps me from unraveling”

Am curious to know what your way is of stopping the mind from ‘unraveling’. Everyone copes in their own ways..there are no good or bad ways… but curious I am!

Happy Friday!

Team Building

The last couple days have all been marked with special experiences…. I went to see the play ‘guess who’s coming to dinner’ in the Guthrie theatre in Minneapolis. That play reminds me once again how prejudiced we can be to those that are different. An old movie with a very relevant theme. It’s hard to accept those that are different to us, whether it’s because of culture, beliefs or skin colour. I know I don’t see different skin tones, but I can’t say I never feel prejudiced towards others with different customs and believes!

Tonight was our work team building event. Not everyone was able to make it..but for those that could…we went axe throwing… not something I would choose to do, and of course I suck at it big time… but it taught me something… I don’t need to be good at something in order for me to enjoy it. Quite a different thought for me…as my husband reminded me, I can be rather competitive…. today I could rejoice in the fact that everyone was achieving well, except for me.. and that’s ok! The teams were fun, friendly banter…and an opportunity to see colleagues away from the seriousness and business of work.

Sometimes we don’t take the time to stop and have fun with those whom we spend so much time with. Life is more than hitting deadlines and achieving at work… also this was an opportunity to let go of preconceived ideas and prejudices about colleagues… see them in a different way. As I hope they will see me in a different way also.

Team… that rocked… let’s do it again some day (when I can move my arms and shoulders again!)

Weekend

Another weekend is here. Am so glad the snow has finally given in to beautiful sunshine and is nearly gone. The lakes are still frozen but the scent of spring is in the air. Not long now and the trees will start to show their green leaves… hope the flowers start soon to bloom too. All in time for me to experience a last spring while living here in the USA.

Yes, the year in America is coming to an end. 5 weekends left before my home address goes back over the pond again… England, I have missed you!

But first… weekend! Sun, God, me-time..

What are your weekend plans? I hope your weekend will be peaceful with unexpected blessings!!!

Spring

Spring in Minnesota has a different ring to it. Instead of seeing lots of blossoms in the trees, there is another 6 inches of snow on the ground.

Yesterday we wanted to get pancakes in St Paul, which ended up with the car stuck up a hill. The friendly Minnesota nice came out with a random guy behind us helping to push the car up the hill. If it would not have been so inappropriate I would have taken pictures!!!

We made it home safe though and were just watching the winter wonderland from the window.

I guess there will be some more Home days!! Although Geert is now on its way to Washington for a pastor conference.

I am ready for real Spring though!!!

Deadwood & the Badlands

Driving down the motorway, you see lots of billboards. Everyone is advertising something, or giving some snippet of knowledge. I came across the below quote:

Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean. John Muir

That’s truly what I feel like, having spend a couple days admiring Gods handiwork in nature.

Leaving the Rocky Mountains I did not think anything would top that beautiful scenery, see the pictures I shared in the previous post. We made our way slowly north east, towards Custer State Park and Deadwood. A little drive from the town of Deadwood we stumbled across Crazy Horse, the Indian sculpture in process. I could not remember this statue was so close to where we would stay the night… but now I felt we had to make a tiny detour and also see Mount Rushmore….evidence below…

Deadwood was not how I remembered it from a couple years ago. It was dead… only casinos livening up the atmosphere a little. Not really my scene. No music, no dancing, no re-enactments… clearly still winter season. At least the food was very good in one of the Steakhouses ‘ Legends’!

The next morning we needed to leave early to make it back to Minnesota at a decent hour. After all, I have to work again on Wednesday! We set off through the beautiful Black Hills and decided to stop at Wall. Probably a must do stop on the very long and straight I90. Also quiet, as it was not in the tourist season… but still, stretching the legs in beautiful sunshine was worth it!

Next unexpected detour: a drive through the South Dakota Badlands. Mesmerising, legends encouraging, beautiful scenery. A bonus to see long horn goats, mountain goats, deer and prairie dogs. So glad we took that small detour!

Have now arrived home, ready to sleep… a clean spirit as John Muir stated in the quote above.

America, you truly have such awe inspiring nature! I feel so blessed to have been able to see more. Below a few shots….

Road trip to Colorado

When I knew Geert would come to Minnesota one last time while I am still living there, I started thinking of where to spend a last couple days together. Packing is not everything after all, and he still has a few days to help me. We settled on a trip to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Realistically we would only spend one day there… yesterday.. but that’s ok since most of the park is still closed for the winter.

Yesterday was our Rocky Mountain National Park day… the Estes Park entry was open, so off we went. The scenery of the National Forest before you get to Estes Park is already stunning. We say the first couple Elks in Estes Park… just beautiful! After the entry fee of $20 was paid and a map was received we set of to explore all open roads. Below a selection of pictures.

The highlight was probably the coyote hunting on the plain. Very hard to spot due to its colours blending into the background of the fields… not sure if you are able to see in the pictures below… he was just running and playing as if there was no tomorrow. So cute!

The higher we drove, the more snow there was… plenty dead ends due to road closures… made me think on a beautiful day as yesterday…. if you feel like your road is closed, dead end… do you turn around and try another road? Or do you stay there waiting for the snow to melt to let you pass? Maybe something to ponder over as you flip through the pictures below…

On the way back to the hotel there was this beautiful sky, setting apart the white trees so vividly. I just could not stop taking pictures. As if God painted a picture just for me.

Today we will drive to Deadwood, South Dakota, so expect more cowboy pictures soon!

Easter

It’s Easter, today was Good Friday… we associate Easter with new beginnings, Spring, Chocolates, family, holiday etc.

The most important remembrance should be that Jesus came, died and rose again. That’s allows us the promise a new beginning. Something to celebrate for sure…

On Sunday Christians all over will say to each other ‘He is risen’, ‘He is risen indeed’

New beginnings… are you ready for one?

Happy Easter!

Reflections

This has been a weekend of reflection, re-evaluating that which is important during a period of madness. Work has been very busy, a little more than usual. I did not know if I could make it to go away. Although I had scheduled holiday, I could not actually take the time off. However, I really did want to go down to Tennessee where the memorial service of my uncle would be held. Of course my uncle would not know any better if I would turn up or not. After all we believe the dead are sleeping, until the resurrection. But I really wanted to be there for my cousin, whom I just recently reconnected with. Being in the US is a great opportunity to tighten family connections.

But now work commitments were threatening this time I had sat aside. Even though I had wanted to spend as much time as possible, I actually only saw them for the first time during visitation. And as my uncle was well loved, there was high demand on my family’s time. Particularly since they had all lived in Tennessee also and were there to visit.

It became quickly known to me that my desire to spend time was to be put on hold. Mixed with a bout of shyness to intrude and work calling, I only stayed for the service.

Coming back to my hotel room, and having my cousins words ringing through my head ‘don’t disappear’ I realised I really did have to think about what’s important. Sure, I need the job and right now work requires my focus. But being so close to relocating back to the UK, my opportunity to connect with family far away is also very important to me. I had challenged my cousin to a ‘rematch’ of walking/running up a hill in one of the state parks, and the time window was closing!

I ensured to have understanding of my boss that it was ok to skive off on Sunday…. and down the country lanes I went. Shame it was dreary out, no walking to be done. But I was very fortunate to have my cousin and his wife for myself for a couple hours! Catching up on years gone by and reminiscing of shared past time. Meeting up with their kids and grand kids, whom I actually had not met (except their eldest son, who was at Newbold College in England for a year during our time there).

The time to leave cane around way to early. Funny how you can feel so connected to someone in such a shirt time!

With promises to stay in touch I drove back to Atlanta to fly home to Minnesota, glad I did do what’s important to me. Family, no matter how far away, is very important. Time spend is not wasted.

Looking forward to the next opportunities to spend time!