|
Huber |
|
Funeral Home & Cremation Services 952-474-9595 |
|
Pediatric Rehabilitation Clinic. Occupational Therapy. Speech Therapy. 952-443-9888 |
|
Victoria’s Corner Bar. Nightly Specials and Menus. 952-443-9944 |
|
Buying or Selling Victoria? Call Nan Emmer. 612-702-2020 |
|
Weinzierl Jewelers |
|
8 First Street in Waconia. 952-442-2885 |
|
Preschool and Childcare in Victoria. Call 952-443-2121. |
|
MVT Excavating No job is too small. 952-446-9341 |
|
The Key |
|
The Key to advertisers in the Victoria Gazette. Located at www.VictoriaGazette.com. |
|
952-443-2808 |
|
Specialized assisted living for those with memory challenges. Victoria. 952-908-2215 |
|
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 |
|
the Gazette |
|
Return to Home Page |
|
Order paper Gazette |
|
Notes and Quotes |
|
The Scoop at City Hall |
|
October 2009 |
|
Home Page |
|
The Victoria GAZETTE |
|
From the Editor |
|
How can it be October already? What happened to September? Sometimes this land of moving seasons leaves me breathless. Seems I just got my pots planted and now I have to empty them for the winter. What a vicious cycle. Well, it’s not exactly vicious. I’d use the word visceral instead. It makes my innards churn a bit like I’m on a merry go round. If we look a little closer at things and put some numbers on the movement, my plants were growing and looking pretty good for three months and then looking pretty sorry this last month. Their picture is very short-lived, in other words. What’s three or four months anyway? No wonder I’m breathless. Do you think there are people who don’t see things this way? Yes, I know there are. It’s been a long time since I’ve visited anyone in a nursing home, but the days would get long for my grandmother and for Allan’s mother before they passed away, and for Father Elstan, too. In their nursing home facilities were large glass bird cages, like an aquarium without the water, where colored varieties flitted from one spot to another. Residents were wheeled into place to watch the avian activity as though they were doing research for John J. Audubon himself. The large rooms at the nursing homes were often lined with seated residents, some of them nodding off mid morning and mid afternoon until it was time for juice and cookies. Then everyone perks up a bit. Food is always a good way to kill a little time, no matter the time of our life, no matter if it’s moving fast or slow. Yes, those latter days can be long days. If minds are moving slowly, I suggest that time is also moving slowly. And if you take it one step further, if a mind has stopped, time has also stopped for that person, at least in a manner of speaking. I watch little Sophie, 11 months old now, as she falls asleep in my arms and I could easily hold her until she wakes up. She has beautiful clear skin, so smooth, totally untouched by the effects of time, not to mention work, worry, and weather. Time is of little essence to the dear little one except for when it’s time to eat and time to sleep. Whether it goes fast or slow isn’t even a burp or a bubble on her little radar screen. Even a.m. and p.m. can be confusing for her. For example, she can wake up to play at 3 o’clock in the morning as though it’s 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Time is simply not the dimension for babies as it is for the parents, but it’s starting to become more important for Addie, 6, and Gunnar, 4. School starts on time, dontcha know, so bedtime is a bigger factor in the fall than in the summer. Addie and Gunnar are also old enough to recognize the movement of seasons and their corresponding activities. Gosh, I’m missing them a lot right now. Guess I’ll try to make train or plane reservations. I’ve learned that flights are available to Minot, but there’s a fine balance between saving money and saving time. Unlike with Sophie, both time and dollars are rather important to grownups, even grandmas. Allan and I stole a little time out of September for a trip to Puerto Vallarta with some friends who own a timeshare down there, and I do have to say that time doesn’t move so fast in Mexico. They talk about Mexican Minutes as though they were much longer than 60 seconds, and they are longer when you’re dealing at the flea markets. A Minnesota Minute is much shorter than 60 seconds, of course. I would say that an average Minnesotan squeezes more into one day than an average Mexican squeezes into an entire week. I’m not saying that’s good or bad. I’m saying that’s just the way it is, and I suspect the climate plays a big role in that regard. How fast can anyone move when it’s over a hundred degrees every day? We, too, were prone to lollygag when we stepped into the Mexican heat and humidity. If we moved too fast, the perspiration already dripping down our foreheads became torrential. On the other hand, here in Minnesota we have to move considerably to stay warm in the middle of winter. Even at night when we crawl into bed and under a pile of blankets, we move faster when there’s a chill in the air. Well, I certainly haven’t exhausted the topic of time, but I better quit now. There are miles and miles to go before I sleep. I bet that poet was familiar with Minnesota Minutes. His name is, after all, Robert Frost and not Robert Mayan. What time is it anyway? |
