Victoria MN Newspaper-Letters to the Editor

Holy Family Catholic High School

Victoria * 952-443-4659

To the Editor:

Really enjoyed the story on the oil drilling and Oil Patch in North Dakota last month. My mother was a North Dakota girl. Spent a lot of time with relatives as a child and teenager and even into my adult life. Haven't been back there for many years as there are no relatives left. Thanks for the other good things in the paper too.

Laritta Swanson

Victoria, Minnesota

To the Editor:

Hello, Sue. I would like to put a blurb in the newspaper as soon as possible. The statement should read: The Bountiful Basket Food Shelf has an urgent need for donations. Currently, we are running out of the following items and are unable to purchase them from our local wholesale food banks: canned corn, canned fruit, canned beans, cereal, peanut butter, canned meats, crackers, dried or boxed potatoes (mashed).

You can make a difference. Please consider a donation today.

Rebecca MacKenzie

Bountiful Basket Food Shelf

Chaska, Minnesota

To the Editor:

Fish ahoy! Your fishhook is on page 23 in the March Gazette. By now people are having fish dinners coming out of their ears. I like cod but nothing else and I can't eat seafood. I've had shrimp and broke out in hives, a red rash with reddish patches on your skin and it stings big time. I was lucky I had Benadryl on hand. It cleared up fast. Having dermatitis, another skin allergy, is enough.

Years ago I couldn't convince Mom to make plain spaghetti instead of scrambled eggs, creamed peas, and potatoes for Lent supper. She said, "Ach, Dad won't eat that." After she passed on, I made plain spaghetti. Dad wolfed it down.

Dad's not a fish fan and not much for cheese. I've made plain lasagna. He snarfed that too. He loves pasta and he never ate mac and cheese when I was growing up and he didn't eat peanut butter sandwiches.

His all-time favorite was Mom's home canned stewed tomatoes with elbow macaroni. I'd call it "Depression Goulash," as Dad often had that as a kid in the Depression. I can't eat tomatoes. Too much acid. It makes me gag, but I tolerate tomato soup, ketchup, and spaghetti sauce. His mom, Grandma, would be canning tomatoes and what didn't fit in the jars, she had bowls of tomatoes on the table. Dad comes home from school and has a bowl of the tomatoes and ate it like soup. Grandpa Meuwissen, I was told, wasn't a fan of hotdish. When company is coming, Grandma would make a batch of Goulash and that he liked! He'd eat pancakes for supper. That's breakfast food during the Depression in the 1930's and even during World War II. To feed nine kids was tough.

By the time Dad was about high school age, he worked in the Chaska Diner, which was on old Hwy 212 in the area of Walgreen's. Back then you'd be lucky to have a nickel for an ice cream cone or a dime for a movie. There were no 401k plans, IRA's, or cell phones -- a radio if you're lucky.

People back then were paid by the day, sometimes 60 cents. You had to grow your own food. Dresses were made from flour sacks. Toys were shared. Kids weren't spoiled like now. I'm not even from that era. I was fortunate. I've heard a lot of Depression life stories from the Grannies at Talheim Apartments where I've lived for 17 years. You can learn a lot from older people. Kids now don't want to believe it was that way. It was.

Kay Meuwissen

Chaska, Minnesota

To the Editor:

Thank you for your focus on local activities.

Jo Mihelich

Victoria, Minnesota

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