Dear Reader,
I’m a Lutheran, and when people ask what kind of Lutheran I usually respond “The Wisconsin kind.” And if they won’t let up I just start singing the Yon Yonson song till they go away.
My name is Yon Yonson I live in Wisconsin I work in a lumber mill there. All the people I meet when I walk down the street say “Hello, what’s your name?” and I say: My name is Yon Yonson I live in Wisconsin… (repeat and repeat and... → Read the rest of this article
Dear Reader,
Every summer my family and I go camping in Door County, Wisconsin. We meet up with my folks, and my sister and spend our days on the beach and nights sleeping in a tent. Tent camping is an adventure unto itself. It can be relaxing at times, laying on an air mattress and watching the stars through the zip up screen. Pretending to mind having to go lie down early with the kids, but actually feeling cozy and safe listening to the buzz of conversation and smelling the... → Read the rest of this article
Dear Reader,
The walls of my home are decorated with propaganda art. Not the “Loose Lips Sink Ships” variety though. We gravitate towards a subtle and steely push to maintain your good hygiene and manners. My particular favorite is a series called Character, Culture, and Citizenship. It’s a classroom series that came out around 1935. The colors are brilliant and the messages uttered aloud today have an almost ironic, guiding sweetness to them.
My most... → Read the rest of this article
Dear Reader,
I have a huge fondness for ice. The naughty ice cube trick my college roommate taught me. The ice the nurse wrapped up in a diaper for post-birth relief. The Ice I rubbed on my teething baby’s gums. The half melted glass of ice I crunched loudly during my first big fight with my husband. The ice in the water that helped me make a decent pie crust for the first time. The ice that clinks in my glass at the end of the day when the house is quiet and... → Read the rest of this article
Dear Reader,
When I was in the third grade we were asked to create a diorama that represented a climate, or geographical setting of some kind. The tropics, perhaps a frozen tundra or a mountainous region. Honestly, I wasn’t paying all that much attention. I had just started reading A Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder and there wasn’t anything more riveting to me than reading about Laura and her Pa having to grind up wheat in the coffee mill. Or Ma Ingalls making ice... → Read the rest of this article
