Hodgepodging Fall-Turning-To-Winter-Way-Too-Soon

Near Ontario, Wisconsin

on our Driftless trip to SW Wisconsin

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Barn north of Wausau, WI

last week

 

Thanks, Joyce!!

 

1. Just your weekly mid-week reminder that it's fall y'all and it's my favorite. I love nearly all the flavors of fall but let's weigh in with an either or today...pumpkin or cranberry? hot apple cider or pumpkin spice latte? cinammon or maple? apple or pear? ginger or sage? carrot or butternut squash? Yes you have to choose. What's a favorite dish made with one of the flavors listed here? 

 

Well, I feel like a traitor to my own Cranberry Morning name!, but if it's muffins or pie we're talking about, then it would be pumpkin. Neither cider nor latte, please. Cinnamon over maple. Apple over pear. Ginger and sage, a tie, depending upon what it's used for. Butternut squash over carrot. A favorite dish would be sage stuffing for Thanksgiving or butternut squash soup, but I rarely make that because it doesn't have any natural boundaries - a category of dangerous food, in my experience.

 

York Minster

 

2. Do you miss traveling? In this season of almost no travel do you think you've grown anxious or fearful about traveling again? Or has all this staying home not going anywhere made you restless to get out and see the world? What book have you read or what movie have you watched that has inspired you to travel? 

 Yes, I do miss traveling. And I'm not at all fearful about traveling again. I'm eager. I read Rick Steves books which always make me itchy to travel, but mostly just looking at photos from previous trips - like the two above when we've visited York. We tend to go back to the same places we love. And watching the live Enthronement of the 98th Archbishop of York on YouTube on Sunday made me even more eager to return. There's nothing like Evensong in York Minster or Canterbury Cathedral or Gloucester Cathedral or Durham Cathedral or... (I know, there's a theme here.)

Some weeks are just like that.

3. A time you felt like you were 'flying by the seat of your pants'? Explain. 

I'm just not a 'fly by the seat of your pants' kind of person.

 

4. Do you struggle with road rage or are you more of a 'Sunday driver'? Do you like to be 'in the driver's seat (literally and/or figuratively speaking) ?

I'm not a road rage kind of person. I actually prefer not driving at all, but being in the passenger seat, reading a book. I'm better at reading aloud than driving aloud.

Snow. Early Thanksgiving, October 14, 2018

Grandkids and daughter-in-law

at the farm

5. Something you've recently 'put the brakes on'? 

 

Well, something I'm always thinking about putting the brakes on: my sugar intake. Sometimes I do great. Then again, other times not so great. The other day I purchased this microscopic Nut Goodie (made in St. Paul, MN) to send to my brother, who lives in Denver. It's one of his favorites. But what caught my eye at the store was the fact that the Nut Goodie has shrunk in size, from about 4" across to about 2.5" across, and in my candy-eating years has increased from 10 cents to 79 cents. I decided it wasn't worth mailing, so I ate it myself. :-(

 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I thought this was pretty funny. It's a screenshot from my phone, when I was checking on the weather the other day.  Funny, because "Error. Something went wrong" is pretty much how I would describe winter in general. And by the way, we're getting snow today. That part isn't funny.

 

Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone!

Join me on Instagram: @cranberrymorning

 Judy 

Quotation from our church bulletin,

October 18, 2020

Zion Lutheran Wausau

(my photo taken in our neighborhood)

 

 

Westby, Wisconsin

Westby, Wisconsin is in the 'driftless area' (that not affected by post-Flood glacier activity) of Wisconsin,  which covers most of the southwest quadrant of the state. With its ridges and coulees, it is a beautiful part of Wisconsin, and a small town in which I'd love to retire some day, because of the hilly beauty of the area and at least one growing zone warmer than where we live.

The Victorian 'Westby House' B&B

It's the kind of thing you see everywhere in Westby

Our ancestors - the Vikings

You can't help noticing that Westby is very much a Norwegian town. Each year on May 17, they celebrate Syttende Mai, Norwegian independence day. After my husband's ancestors left Norway, they settled in Vernon County, WI. Why? Because it reminded them of home. I guess they didn't realize that the South also had hills and valleys - and was a lot warmer!

Tobacco  Sheds, now presumably used for storage of other goods

In the first half of the previous century, many small farms raised tobacco as a cash crop. Tobacco sheds were found everywhere, and even my husband's great uncles worked in the tobacco fields.

Rosemaling, a colorful Norwegian folk art, as seen in Borgen's Cafe, Westby

Some of the huge boulders (and granddaughter) at the Westby Park

Our kids loved climbing on those rocks when they were young,

and I hated it when they did.

Westby Park boulders

Old Caboose

We were teased with the e-mail, 'Got ticket to ride.'  Hmmm. When we arrived in Westby, we were given a tour of the caboose. It seems that Kevin's cousin used to ride that particular caboose, free and often, from Westby to Viroqua when he was a kid. That kind of thing would never happen today. Oh for the good old days.

For the Bird Brains

(laundry adjacent)

I think Westby is where Ole and Lena jokes originated.

By the way, in the 1970s, the Norwegian government sponsored a contingent of Norwegian-language specialists to come to America and study the Norwegian as spoken by the older residents of the  Westby-Coon Prairie area of Wisconsin, for it was truer to the old Norwegian language that was dying out in Norway due to 'language pollution.'

Dregne's Hardware Store

I don't remember seeing any hardware, but the store is full of Norwegian gifts, books, and Christmas decorations -  lots of fun stuff to look at, if unaccompanied by small children.

Uff-da Mart

I think that's 'Dollar Store' in Norwegian

The granddaughter

Coon Prairie Church and Cemetery

just outside Westby

where several of the ancestors are buried

You can see it was a somber moment when we found my husband's great-great grandpa's grave

The old trolls and the motorcycle

The granddaughter and our favorite hippie

Aw, ain't it sweet!

Have a great weekend, everyone! :-)