Weinzierl

Jewelers

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

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

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         We bought five large hanging ferns at Costco in early April -- big, lush, green -- and hung them on the five decorative light poles in our yard.  The next day the wind blew hard nonstop and whipped them to and fro and cracked fronds and deformed the beautiful ferns.  The second day it blew even harder and I've never seen anything like it before in Minnesota.  No hairdo could have withstood those winds.

         By the third day the wind and weather were tame enough to hook up the hoses and give them a healthy drink.  The fourth day was calm.  The fifth day was 80 degrees in the shade, and the sun and heat burnt their fragile tips.  On the sixth day it snowed and we hauled the heavy ferns into the garage. 

         The seventh day was calm and we re-hung the ferns.  On the eighth they were shocked into what I would consider normalcy, and then on the ninth day it snowed  again and I hardly cared.  The ferns were by now a wreck, and I learned my lesson.  No matter how excited I am for spring, and how beautiful and economical are the ferns hanging in front of my face, I will not buy until well into the Merry Month of May.

***

         Whether the Victoria Lions Event Center happens or doesn't happen, it's a pretty brave and bold move.  It's easy to throw stones from the sidelines without offering constructive solutions.  Any monkey can do it.  It's not so easy to take those stones and build something for the community.  The Lions have served Victoria since 1966, individually and as a group, without pay or pension or privilege.  Thank you, Victoria Lions, for stepping forward with a proposal for a community event center.  Hope something good works out for you and Victoria.

***

         You know those big Christmas pots you can buy in December, filled with evergreens and pine cones and red berries and white birch sticks?  The kind you set at your front door or back door or wherever you'd like for people to encounter the spirit of the season before they ring the doorbell?  Yes, they come from Costco, too.  That's the way the big box bounces. 

         After it finally stopped blowing and snowing in April, we decided to clean up and clear out that Christmas stuff and the Christmas decorated window box, too.  But we were stopped in our tracks.  Things in the pot were growing!  Buds had sprouted on branches.  Evergreens were not brown and dead but very green and healthy and firm.  I couldn't dump the living pot with a clear conscience.  Guess we could be celebrating Christmas at our back door far into spring and who knows how long after that.

***

         And so I have personally met or known most mayors of Victoria.  I couldn't have said that, because I didn't know that, prior to this issue of the Gazette.  It's an interesting fact from one who is a newcomer to Victoria.   Definition of newcomer:  A person who is not related to, or married into, the original Victoria families.

         E. B. Plocher was at the closing on our lot in 1971, and I saw him walk to work to Victoria Lumber, in his very old age.  I first met John Notermann at the checkout  counter at his grocery store.  I came to know Lloyd Braunworth when he was on the city council in the early 1980's.  I saw a shadow of Ben Wartman a couple times.  I met Dave Kocka through his family.

         Only three Victoria mayors are strangers to me:  John Diethelm, Bill Braunworth, and Florian Tschimperle.

         Using my definition of newcomer, here's another interesting fact:  Half of the Victoria mayors are newcomers.  Only two of the last twelve mayors have old family roots, Chub Aretz and Jerry Schmieg.

         I also see that half of the mayors are alive in this Centennial Year.  Of those ten who are still alive, half are no longer residents of Victoria.

***

         I'm excited to see that the precious daylilies around our water fountain have once again multiplied exponentially.  If a person has the patience and vision to plant things sparingly at first, the rewards are phenomenal.  I've cut and divided them each fall for five years now and, in fact, have turned $50 worth of special daylilies into $1,000 worth of special daylilies if they were to be purchased individually. 

         Same with all of my hostas.  They never cease to amaze me, though in some ways they're a weed since you can't kill 'em and the deer will eat 'em.  Some thirty or forty years ago I purchased two elephant ear hostas and they were, like, $20 each.  Every couple years or so, I've divided them and, yes, you guessed it, I've probably got $2,000 worth of those hostas if I had to go purchase the little individual clumps today.  Moral of the story?  Some things do get better with age.

***

         And so I continue to have high hopes for the future of Victoria, that we will remain healthy and vibrant in this land of milk and honey, not to mention the bread and butter, and fruit and vegetables, of a new grocery store, aptly named Victoria's Market.  Thanks, Rick and Janney Stucki, for stucking your necks out

From the Editor

Dedicated to the sunshine of truth,

the moonshine of meeting deadlines,

and the starshine of Victoria.

The Victoria GAZETTE

Sue’s Album

A symphony of photos

and fewer than a thousand words

at www.VictoriaGazette.com

May 2015