Weinzierl

Jewelers

Victoria’s Corner Bar.  Nightly Specials and Menus.  952-443-9944

Specialized assisted living for those

with memory challenges. 

Victoria.  952-908-2215

8 First Street in Waconia.  952-442-2885

942-443-2078

Funeral Home & Cremation Services

952-474-9595

Pediatric Rehabilitation Clinic.

Occupational Therapy.  Speech Therapy.

952-443-9888

Huber

City of Lakes & Parks  952-443-2363

“Trees Are Our Roots”

8099 Bavaria Rd * Victoria * 952-443-2990

Headlines

and bylines

Front Page

Feature Story

From the

Editor

Addie’s

Drawing

Letters

to the Editor

Victoria

Moments

Hook

Line & Sinker

Calendar

of Events

Click here to

Advertise

Email

the Gazette

Return to

Home Page

Order

paper Gazette

Notes and

Quotes

The Scoop

at City Hall

         It is Sunday morning, December 29th.  OMG.  I forgot it was going to be my birthday today.  Who's got time for birthdays!  Actually, my kids do and Allan, too.  As might be expected with a girl who gave her parents the good fortune of being a deduction just in the nick of time, it all happens together with Christmas, a most wonderful time of the year.

         Christmas is still warming my heart this morning as I'm filling in this blank space of the Gazette before I make breakfast for the kids.  Daughter Jenny and family are sound asleep upstairs -- holidays last several days at our home -- and it's still very early morning.  Not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse, not even my computer mouse as I sit and click away here on the keys.  It's dark outside and quiet, a most wonderful time of the day.

         I took out some Lions Sausage for breakfast.  We've had bacon three days in a row and this will be a nice change.  Allan often buys packages of the sausage sold after the Lions Breakfasts.  I serve the sausages with maple syrup because mine always drown in maple syrup on my plate at the Breakfasts and I love it.  They go together like peanut butter and jelly, like Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes, like lutefisk and lefse. 

         Son Nick and family were also here all day yesterday and I see that Sophie forgot her Baby Daisy and Mia forgot her Big Daisy as well as the fleece blanket that Grandpa Al made for one of her babies.  Actually, he made six blankets for the little granddaughters.  Nothing is too difficult or out of the ordinary for this fellow who was born in the spring of the year.  Seems he can spring into action whether it's for making blankets, building man caves, swiffering the floor, snowblowing the sidewalks, or setting Creme Brulee on fire.

         Yessireesir, the retired man doesn't spend all his time in his big comfortable chair reading, although the leather footrest has become quite worn in the middle and he can tell you more about Charles Kraut-hammer, Liberty and Rush Revere, and the Harbinger than your average bear.  This one doesn't hibernate.  Which books have you read lately?  Remember, you are what you read.

         It is still quiet on the northern front.  That's upstairs if you're looking at the compass.  Did I say compass?  I'm thinking that's like saying slide-rule or survey transit or record player.  When's the last time you used a compass, or any of the above?

         We received some fancy new widgets and whatnots for Christmas.  Things won't be put away or used right away because they don't have a place yet, and you know what they say:  A place for everything and everything in its place.

         Allan gave me a beautiful new camera that fits my big fancy lenses.  Remember the days of big cameras, big lenses, big camera bags, big cumbersome things to carry in addition to your big purse?  Well, back in those days, just prior to the new millennium, I had some beautiful cameras and expensive lenses that zoomed from here to there and performed to perfection.  I still have them.

         But nobody has been happier with the tiny digital cameras than I have been.  I love my teeny tiny camera and my teeny tiny phone in my great big purse.  Now it seems that progress is once again being redefined to bigger is better.

         I'm also more than happy with the quality of my pictures in the Gazette, in Sue's Album online, and in the frames throughout my house.  So if Santa had asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I would never have said, "a better camera."

         Will I be using that new camera while I'm in love with my tiny little digital?  Probably not tomorrow.  Probably down the road.  Seems I'm always having to leave my comfort zone for one thing or another and then, amazingly, I get comfortable again.

         The morning sky is getting brighter outside my office window, which faces east.  Soon the sun will be up.  Soon the kids will be up.  I catch almost every winter sunrise through our bare naked trees, lighting this space brighter than any other room in the house.  I suggest it is unlike any other newspaper office in the world -- a solid wood door table with two-by-four table legs, a couple peach crates, siding from Dad's old barn part way up, framed pictures of our kids and grandkids and popes, priests, and parents taking up every inch of wall space.  Yes, I've got a lot of company when I work on the Gazette. 

         As George Bailey says, "It's a wonderful life."  He didn't think so when he jumped off the bridge into the cold icy water below, but when he came to his senses, he realized again what matters -- family and friends, not to mention faith.

         Now that this space is filled, it's time to put breakfast together.  Happy New Year.  May it be a good one for all of us.

From the Editor

Dedicated to the sunshine of truth,

the moonshine of meeting deadlines,

and the starshine of Victoria.

January 2014

The Victoria GAZETTE