Opinion

Have you noticed how blue the sky becomes as we move through the fall season? The autumn colors of reds, yellows and oranges are all positioned on the color wheel opposite of blue, thus complimenting each other. This is brilliantly displayed as the blue of the sky forms a backdrop for the radiant hues of the tree leaves in the foreground.

Volkfest Warning: This column, starting with the title, will require some German. Even if you’re just reading silently, feel free to mispronounce them in your head.

I hope you aren’t tired of reading about Medicare Open Enrollment yet! It really is an important time and there’s so much information that I could probably fill a page and still wish I had more space. Each year I meet with people who have never participated before and so I’d like to share what happens at the appointment.

And again I say, “I don’t like this time of year”. I really don’t know what I can do about that but grin and bear it.

In the fall of each school year the question I most frequently get asked is, “how’s it going at school?” It is well understood by staff and community members that each school year brings itsown uniqueness making this question an excellent one. How’s it going? Rather than the brief, great! I thought ’d dedicate a small article to that question.

United Way of Southwest Minnesota (UWSWMN) has kicked off their annual fundraising campaign, and this year’s theme is Live United to the Power of Five. The Power of Five shows the value of community and that every effort can go much further by working together.

We’re getting closer to the Great Minnesota Cook-Off, thus I’ve been working on plans, and organizing, hoping for a good turnout and a fun event for all. As I’ve been preparing I’ve been thinking about what kinds of things we really exclusively call Minnesotan. It was Betsy at Bluenose Gopher Public House that brought to my attention that we really refer to certain desserts as “bars” as a Minnesota thing. I had no idea.

Punxutawney Phil, the groundhog famously celebrated for predicting spring weather each year, is only right less than 40% of the time. He is, however, among a fraternity of Ma Nature’s critters and plant lore believed to be able to manifest certain forthcoming meteorological conditions. For example: If the black band on a Wooly Bear Cattepillar is wider than the brown one, lore says it means a long, cold winter. Someone also determined that pigs gathering leaves and straw in fall means frigid weather ahead. Extra fluffy rabbit tails and bushy squirrel tails both are signs of a cold winter. Insects get into the act, too. Watch where hornets have built their nests…It’s a sign for how high the snow will be. Spiders tend to infiltrate a house before impending colder weather, and make bigger webs, too.

This time of year can always feel a little more challenging for me than other times of the year. From the last week of September through Christmas Day, I work a schedule that burns the candle at both ends between photography, the newspapers, and the boutique, and thus many of my relatives and friends have come to the realization that they’re just simply not going to hear from me much until the next year.