Christ has no hands but your hands

Christ has no hands but your hands…..Mike often ends services with this benediction.

Christ has no body on earth but yours,

No hands on earth but your hands,

Yours are the eyes through which

 He looks out with compassion upon the world;

Yours the feet with which

He chooses to go about doing good;

For as He is the Head so we are the members

And we are all one in Christ Jesus.

 I’ve thought of that this fall as Anita was transitioning from this life to eternal life.  The many hands that helped her during this time…  Jay’s hands that comforted and cared for her, her children’s and grandchildren’s, her sisters and others.   Christ’s hands moved through the caregivers at the hospital, nurses, aides, doctors, social worker, and the young woman who considered it a privilege not only to help cook the food but deliver it to Anita.  Those that talked, discussed, perhaps argued about faith with Anita.  Those hands that helped help plan and implement her last ‘concert’ on earth.  The hands that gently prepared her earthly body, the hands that led the mass, and the hands that carefully carried her as her soul soared.

It was hard but I remember and give thanks for all the hands in Anita’s life and transition.

One of Mike’s new hats from Lids at the airport!

Worship Banner

Churchwide

We're just back from Churchwide in Orlando, Florida....high humidity, high prices, and high room numbers!...When we boarded our flight in Minneapolis...the Delta Dame said - we will pre-board those that need extra time because of wheelchairs, walkers, crutches.  We will not pre-board families...This whole plane is full of families!  Oh - and she called us forward - a first for me - and bumped us to first class to put families together....wasn't that too bad?  :)

We were at the Marriott World Center - (where name badges have the employees’ home towns - so they don't all say Orlando! –“ oh you're from Minnesota - you have quite a commute to tend bar” – “well I've lived here for 13 years!”)  The Marriott is a world unto itself...you can't walk anywhere; matter of fact...not even a good hike...CVS was closest and that was 15 min. by cab.  Of course protesters could get to the entrance!  So my Iowa naiveté was shocked with $15 burgers AND our room number had 5 digits - so I had to carry a crib sheet to get to the room!  Can you tell I don't get out much?     

I had crab cakes twice and salmon twice plus food from around the globe at mission encounter events, shrimp cooked before me at a Japanese SteakHouse and it was all good

Worship was glorious.  Mission Encounter fabulous.  There was wonderful music by the Global Mission Band.  Heidi, a youth director told me they were dancing salsa-ish…and Prs Kroona, Sherer,  Mike and Heidi were spotted in the conga line.  We met Karen a missionary to Chile whom we hope to see soon in Chile.

I attended my first churchwide assembly ten years ago in Indianapolis and now my second one …bookends to Mike’s service as bishop.  At both there were protesters – at the first the theme was let us in and at the second, keep them out.

At the first I sat on a bus ride tour with Ione, who was gracious and welcoming to this newbie to the bishops’ spouses “club” and this year our conversations were equally delightful.  Her husband was elected presiding bishop at my first churchwide!  He is great.

Prairie Work

Sunday, May 8^th I broadcast an acre of big bluestem, rye, wheat, and switch grass seed on our prairie restoration.  A strong wind made broadcasting a simple task.  I was reminded of the sower in Matthew with seed landing on rocky soil, the path, and good soil.

Our prairie restoration is now going on 6 years.  The top of the slope had soil removed so the black fertile soil was gone.  On one steep slope we erected an erosion barrier.  Each spring I wait to see what comes up, where there are still bare spots and where unwanted non-native plants are thriving.  The prairie teaches patience, usually an unwanted lesson for me.  The prairie changes subtly from May to June to July to August to September to October.  In addition to native grasses I’m trying to keep native forbs growing…. forbs are the flowers of the prairie.

Loon Lake in August is glorious and frustrating; glorious because so many prairie forbs are in bloom and frustrating because so many weeds are thriving.  Last year I targeted yellow clover and this year there is less….whether it was due to my diligence at chopping down or because it is a bad year for yellow clover is unknown.  This year I have put the white clover in my cross hairs.

 The blooms include black-eyed Susan, purple and yellow coneflower, evening primrose, blue lettuce, maybe prairie ragworts, coreopsis, liatrus and Canadian anemone.  The big bluestem, little bluestem, and Indian grass appears to be thickening. 

This year’s winding path seems especially inviting for me.  Each year we mow a different path to reduce stress on the native prairie plants that come back and so we explore different areas.

Goodbye

June 30, 2011

I said goodbye to an old friend on Friday.  And it was because of neglect I said goodbye.   While mowing a week ago with our 1965 Ariens Emperor I got off to move our stumps that provide “sitting spots” around our fire pit.  I had started to move a picnic table and the mower went clunk and quit completely. 

After Mike tried to start it, we checked the oil…empty.  I know no one has sympathy for me.  I felt awful and of course guilty.

Hondo’s (Erik Mosbo) in Sioux Rapids who is an Ariens dealer had a used John Deere that we purchased and he will use our Ariens for display in his shop along with a 1970’s Ariens snowblower…..demonstrating how reliable an Ariens is!

My Grandpa and Grandma (Adolph and Marie Gregersen) bought it in 1965 as they were moving into town and retiring from the farm.    From there it went to my parents (Melvin and Clara [Gregersen] Samuelson) and spent time on the farm north of Alta from which my grandparents retired.  In about 1999 my parents gave it to us (Mike & Colleen Last) to use at Loon Lake. 

The gas tank had a leak early in our ownership.  I ordered a replacement in Sioux City and the salesman said “you’ve got a real limousine there”.  From then on it was THE LIMOUSINE!  The limousine had hub caps!

The front end of the mower was connected to the rear but not fixed.  This meant when you were mowing the steering wheel and your “sitter” didn’t move in sync…instead one might go right and the other left or one went up and the other down. 

One 4^th of July The Limo had a flat tire and our three grandchildren  had more fun playing on it….pretend driving, giving rides, and of course squabbling over who got the seat.  If only I’d known parking it would provide a day’s worth of entertainment.

Farewell Limousine….and by the way Hondo forgave my sin of omission!

The Limousine

Saying Goodbye to the Limousine

The Limousine as Play

I Saw A Baby Born!

I Saw A Baby Born!

Little Jennifer Jean entered the world and I got to be there.  It is the first time I had seen (as opposed to participating) the complete birthing process.  What a privilege given to me by Norma and Mike.  I arrived at the hospital about 6:00 AM and Jenny was born about 2:50 PM.  Her Mommy labored hard and her Daddy was a great coach.  I was cheerleader and photographer.    I almost got to see her big brother Mark born but he was in distress and the birth was by C-section.

 ….as I watched…I felt tears running down my face…I hadn’t felt like crying but it was such a momentous event ….

As the little one was pushed out, I thought, who is to say if birthing or dying is more painful to the individual.  Little Jenny emerged, the cord was cut, and she met Mommy and Daddy crying.  After a move to the warming crib, a wipe down, a syringe in mouth and nose, she was weighed, measured, diapered, topped with a hat,  foot printed, and swaddled.  From then on for the next hour she was wide awake and looking at her world.

Addendum to Canning

Today I went to finish recycling the cans.  I thought I’d load the pickup and haul it to recycler…instead I found the weekend brought lots of new “goodies”.   Lots of bags with glass bottles and they all have to be opened and the glass removed.  Then lots of water bottles, Gatorade, crangrape etc added which also have to be sorted out.

An older woman  (that means older than me) came as I had bags pulled out and she put a smallish bag in and just about tripped.  I thanked her for donating…she quickly climbed in her car and left.  When I got to her sack inside were two of the biggest plastic vodka bottles I’ve ever seen!  Watch little old ladies!!  It was also windy so I did the parking lot can dance trying to capture a runaway liquor bottle and a plastic bag!

And so two pickup loads to the recycler later (and a cockroach, and maggots, and mold) I finished.  So far I haven’t found the perfect season to can.  Winter -  it is cold and windy, and spring brought rain and wind…I still have summer and fall to experience. 

Life is an adventure!

Diapers from T-shirts!

My oh my ……diapers from T-shirts?….but of course!  Dare I say I got a new sewing machine so I could zigzag the edges?  And also a pinking shears?  My old machine has a date of 1950+ on it….an old Singer that is sturdy…no plastic and I can hem jeans and plow right over the flat felled seams with no problem. Alas it didn’t zig-zag.

 Sew and Do at church involves making quilts for Lutheran World Relief, making health kits, baby kits, and school kits.

Since cloth diapers are so expensive and getting harder to find, someone creative has figured out a way to sew a diaper from the bottom 2/3 of T-shirt or using flannel and a strip from a mattress pad!  See the picture for how colorful the diapers can be.   The baby kits also need 2 blankets, so I’ve crocheted and knit a couple.

So far at Sew and Do day I’ve been sewing straight seams on the edges of the quilts that the group makes.  The group works assembly-line style.  The tops, backing, and sometimes the filler (if it is not fiberfill)  are all pressed.  Next the layers are measured and stacked and then pin-basted.  Next someone sews almost all the way around, turns it right side out, presses, and then sew all around on the right side.   Next a couple people tie the quilt with embroidery floss and it is finished. This year the group completed 71 quilts.

T-shirt diapers and baby blankets

71 quilts, plus health and school kits boxed and ready to ship

Recycling Continues!

 At the end of March, Megan and Marinus came to visit and then “offered” to help me "can".  6 year old Marinus loaded beer bottles nonchalantly but caused me to need a picture!

This week as I sacked cans….someone or ones had put in recyclable plastic….but unfortunately no nickel attached so that had to come home with me.  The next day I called to get permission from the recycling center only to find out they are full up…and I need to wait 2 or 3 days.  And this time Bush Light is ahead!

Marinus Loading the Pickup

Travels of The Solid Walnut Dresser

From research it seems this dresser in Mom and Dad’s basement is an American Victorian walnut dresser from the late 19^th century. 

The dresser’s journey in our family probably started in Illinois with my great-grandfather, Gustaf “Gust” Hackerson (Håkansson in Sweden) and his wife Mathilda.  He came to America from Sweden in 1869.

The family, Gust and his wife, Mathilda (Peterson), and their two children, Minnie (my grandma) and Martin were living in Paxton, Illinois when their mother Mathilda (age 26) died of tuberculosis. It is probably during these years that the dresser came into their home.   After Mathilda died Gust wrote to Sweden asking for a housekeeper to come and help him with his children.  Maria Carlson came from Sweden where she had worked in a match factory.

Soon Gust decided to move to Laurens, Iowa where he would farm.  He loaded all their household goods (including the dresser), farm equipment, and animals on a railroad car. Gust rode the freight train with their possessions, and the children (Minnie and Martin) and Maria travelled by passenger train to Iowa. 

Gust and Maria married in Iowa.  They had two children Albert and Olga.   The family started their home with the dresser. They started in a one room house! (It must have taken up a lot of space in the one room!)  Nineteen years later they moved to Albert City, Iowa to join other Swedes from Paxton, IL and because there was a Swedish Mission Covenant Church there. 

When Minnie married, she and her husband Carl V. Samuelson first lived on a farm where they had three children, Vernon, Melvin (my dad) and Marian. In 1927 they bought an acreage on the edge of Albert City (part of the acreage now has a park and swimming pool!)  It was a big two story home with a barn.    Gust (Minnie’s father) died in Oct, of 1928. So sometime after that the dresser moved into Minnie and CV’s home in Albert City.

When CV died (my dad was only 9 years old) Minnie continued to live in the home.  Later she moved upstairs to her apartment.  This is where I first remember it.

When my grandma, Minnie died, Dad and Mom brought the dresser to their home in Linn Grove, then to Alta, and now to Storm Lake.  In Linn Grove it was in the dining area of our small two bedroom home.  In Alta it was in the upstairs hall and then the “south” bedroom.  In Storm Lake it has taken up life in the basement.

Brenda remembers climbing on it with Chris, using the drawers as steps and sitting on the glove drawers.  One time something happened causing it to tip, pinning Brenda between the dresser and the bed.  She remembers Hilda Johnson who was babysitting running up the stairs yelling in Swedish!  Luckily no was injured, and the dresser was righted.

 At some time Grandma Minnie stripped it of varnish and oiled it.  The drawer pulls were changed to glass knobs and currently it has no hardware.  The decorative top has had trouble staying on top and has been known to fall off!  It is extremely heavy. If only this dresser had kept a diary so it could share the stories of where it has lived! 

The Dresser

The top

My Big Green Bike

I was 5 ½ (1952) when I got my new bike.  It was the only bike I had until I was 24.  I truly grew into it.  When I first received it, I didn’t know how to ride a bike, had no training wheels and from the seat I couldn’t reach the pedals.  We lived in Linn Grove, Iowa and my dad and mom purchased the bike from the Minneapolis-Moline dealer, Lester Seifert. Dad thinks he paid $35 for it.   Mr. Seifert’s daughter Carolyn got the same bike.  We had no garage so the neighbor, Millie Evans, across the street gave me permission to keep it in her garage.  I rode mostly on the sidewalk never venturing too far from home. 

At the end of 3^rd grade we moved to Alta, Iowa with some paved streets.  As I grew up I explored most of the town on my big green (really chartreuse) bike.  The summer after 5^th grade I came down the path from the park and made the turn, wiping out on the paved street and taking most of the skin off my right leg.  I limped home, pushing my bike, and was cleaned up and bandaged by my mom.  When my dad got home and saw me he asked, “How’s the bike?”

 I loved that my bike had a light and a button horn (built-in not add-ons)….although keeping fresh batteries was problematic.  It also had a place to sit on the rear fender.  I rode my little sister there and one time her foot got caught in the spokes.  The kickstand was always loose…so in the garage it leaned on the wall or I laid it in the yard.  At one time I had big red Standard Oil valve caps on the tires.  I tried the usual…adding a card to the spokes and streamers.   It was decorated for a parade in Alta to campaign for a swimming pool.  At one time it had a front basket. 

When I left home and my parents moved to Storm Lake, my big green bike took up residence in a chicken coop until I moved to Storm Lake.  I brought it to our home, cleaned it up, put new tires on it and moved it into our sun porch.  While there it wore a wicker basket.  Sometimes the basket held a stuffed animal or the bike was decorated with Christmas lights.

Colleen Samuelson Last

September 28,2010

My Big Green Bike

Books Books Books

      Another volunteer job has been typing a data base for the nonfiction books in our church library.  When I arrive it seems there is always something interesting left out or in the room that houses the library.  Today there was a cute little baby dress…navy blue with white polka-dots.

      As I type I’ve been given “permission” to weed discretely.  At first it seemed easy.  I had some informal rules I was using:

• ·        The spine is broken
• ·        The pages are yellowed
• ·        No one or only one has checked it out in past five years
• ·        It has a copyright older than 1980 (I picked a date) I’ve since learned that some libraries use 10   or 5 years old.

     When I reached the reference works related to bible study, commentary, parallel scriptures the decisions became more difficult.   So I emailed my friend, Allison, a librarian and researched online for church libraries.  “Weeding” it seems can be fraught with potholes.  It is also recommended that church libraries have a committee of 3 to 5 to serve on the “weeding” committee!

     MUSTY is an acronym offered by Joseph Segal, in his book, Evaluating and Weeding the

Collection.  In addition to objective decisions MUSTY stands for Misleading, Ugly, Superseded, Trivial, and Your collection.

M – Misleading.  The book is factually inaccurate.

U – Ugly. The book is worn and beyond mending or rebinding.

S – Superceded.  There is a new edition available.

T – Trivial.  The book is of no discernible merit. 

Y – Your collection has not real need for this book. Duplicate books? Does the public library cover it better?

Years ago my mom helped in the church library, so as I look at each book, I often recognize her handwriting.  She was a librarian and I remember her taking the classes that led to her certification when I was in high school.  Later, she shared her skills in assigning Dewey numbers to the church library books.

This job also feeds me with more books I find to read!