January /Minnesota

Everyone is talking about the weather.

I hate driving in snow, but I love winter. I love snow. It's gorgeous, white, pure, cleansing, restful.

I just hate dealing with it. I'm thankful for a husband who is happy to spend hours outside shoveling and sweeping, keeping the fleet of vehicles going.

That is love on a -20° morning.

Minnesota is not for the faint. I have written of my love for this state of my birth here: http://corgihollows.blogspot.com/2013/05/ode-to-minnesota.html

My husband was willing to migrate here, and he has taken to it like a duck to water. And yes, it's cold here.

But it's all relative. Today it is sunny and still. Very cold. But pleasant.

Yesterday it was blustery and bitter. Warmer temp.

Yesterday we drove to St. Paul to sing with the Minnesota Chorale and the St. Paul Civic Orchestra. It was a sing-along. Mozart's Requiem. The performance was at the Landmark Center, an imposing and classic building downtown St. Paul.

The lovely strains of the Requiem wafted upwards in the grand space. I have never sung it before, so it was especially nice to follow along, learning the intricacies of the work.

The National Geographic came this weekend, and it was a fun surprise to open it and find that some of my children's friends are pictured in the article by Garrison Keillor. They have become friends through camp and Bible study, and Bible School.

We obviously haven't become as jaded as Garrison about our faith, and neither have the kids pictured. They are all nice young people. I can vouch for them.

You know, we are certainly products of our upbringing, but the character issues are still core----Truth is always truth, rebellion is simply rebellion, and love is over-arching. Sin is still sin.

We can learn truth, rebel, live with love (or rejection) and deal with our human natures. That's life.

And it really can be that simple.

We all know that we will get exactly what we deserve at some point, even if the "wicked seem to prosper." (Psalms)

It is only for a time.

At any rate, the article gives a very authentic Minnesota experience, and I have lived it myself, a couple of decades behind Mr. Keillor.

I love rhubarb. Rhubarb is really big here, in every sense. You will see a very large leaf of rhubarb photographed in the National Geographic. Here at Corgi Hollows we have nine hills of rhubarb, growing well in the dog pen. It's a Minnesota thing. I have bags of it in the freezer, cut up, ready for pie.

Ed is improving. We continue to tweak his treatment, and things are coming together nicely. We are beginning to live a new reality.

We had the "Bee Banquet," an annual event, last Saturday. The general outlook among the experienced keepers at the dinner was that it is very unlikely the Minnesota bees will survive this winter. It has been just too harsh of a winter, and some of the queens have started brood already. That is a death sentence for the hive with so many more days of sub-zero cold ahead.  I guess we'll see what will happen this spring. We can hope.

It was interesting to hear what the graduate students are working on for projects. All vital. All worthwhile. The banquet is a fund-raiser for scholarships at the University of Minnesota.

Speaking of the U, classes were called off today because of the temperatures. Margaret was ecstatic. Even college students appreciate an unexpected day off once in awhile! (Another perk, living in Minnesota)

Alas, my husband was off to work, bright and early. We must keep the electricity on!

What would we do without it?

I think I'll get a bag of rhubarb out of the freezer and make a pie for that poor man's supper.

Mmmmmm.

Another Minnesotan: http://www.desiringgod.org/doctrinesofgrace
John Piper has a good message overall here, and some views of Minneapolis.