cover story

24 Camera and canvas - St. Stephen artist creates unique photography.

on the cover

“Warming Hut” by Randy Asseln. The warming hut is located on a pond on the east side of Lake Osakis.

departments
& columns

5 Calendar

6 Letters

8 Glory days

Readers spread the love - ONE OF MY
FAVORITE parts of publishing a magazine is opening the mail. Well, not all the mail. I could do without the bills or the junk mail...

10 Moments in time: A look back at Grandpa’s valley

GRANDPA’S VALLEY LIES stretched out almost in the center of Minnesota, still about like he found it more than 100 years ago. For him, it was love at first sight, a love that never diminished come drought, pestilence or blight.

As his granddaughter, raised in the shelter of Grandpa’s valley, few know better than me how he prized it. The feel of the land was in his long-gaited walk, buried deep beneath the calluses in his hands, ever present behind watchful, grey eyes...

12 Moments in time: Frozen fun at the skating rinks

HIGH BANKS OF SNOW encircled the rink created by the city worker.
With the plow of his tractor, first rounds of the day pressed the fresh snowfall outward to add to everlarger piles at rink-side. Then the power of the tractor and the sweep of the whirling broom on the front swirled a mini-snowstorm into the sterling morning sky. Nearly hidden by the powder, the tractor operator guided the machine around the rink...

14 Faces & places

A Lifetime of Art: The Rhody Yule Collection

Tote-A-Loaf invention of St. Cloud mom Heidi Zenner

Fonzie The Beauty shop dog in West Concord, MN

Ain’t no mountain high enough - Jesse and Mattie Godzala

Rushmore farmer wrestles his way to the top - Richard Lupkes

22 What’s in your boathouse?

A boat called the Rusticator - JOHN AND BECKY Allen of Nisswa
own our featured boat in this issue— Rusticator — a 30-foot, 1923 Fay& Bowen Golden Arrow, powered by its original and restored LNS-43 engine producing 50 HP...

23 Where in Minnesota

30 Cooking in the Country with Chris

34 Travel: Cook, Minnesota - The “one-nighter” ladies hit the road again

Editor’s Note: This is the second story from Minnesota’s traveling trio, “the one-nighter ladies.” To determine our second destination, we decided it would only be fair to armwrestle. Jane won the competition, so she selected Cook to be our next focus. Jane made reservations at Elbow Lake Lodge, a location with which she was familiar. This is the only resort on Elbow Lake — a sixmile- long, 1,700-acre lake. “It’s just a short way from Cook,” she told us, with a mischievous grin....

38 Book reviews

Wishing for a Snow Day: Growing Up in Minnesota
By Peg Meier- Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2010

D is for Dala Horse: A Nordic Countries Alphabet
Written by Kathy-jo Wargin, Illustrated by Renée Graef - Sleeping Bear Press, 2010

Bad Moon Arising
By Steven M. Ulmen - PublishAmerica, 2010

40 Guys & garages on the road

A visit to the Minnesota Lakes Maritime Museum
BY THE TIME you read this, you’ve fogged the old motor, checked the lower unit, and put the boat or pontoon away for the winter. But, on a warm October day, I made a much-anticipated trip to Alexandria, MN., to see the Minnesota Lakes Maritime Museum, dedicated to the preservation of antique and classic watercraft, resort memorabilia and sporting equipment used on the Minnesota lakes. Exhibits include three icons of boating history — Chris-Craft, Gar Wood and Larson boats. The museum also has three rare launches on display and an interactive exhibit about Alexandria Boat Works and other Minnesota wood boat builders. The trip was on...

44 Back in the day

Murals preserve Faribault’s history
EVERY YEAR FOR THE PAST FOUR, a mural depicting the past has been woven into the fabric of historic downtown Faribault. The Mural Society of Faribault’s first mural, painted by a group of muralists onto the side of Erickson Furniture over a weekend in 2007, honors fur trader and town founder Alexander Faribault. The city’s 1937 Works Progress Administration viaduct, on the National Register of Historic Structures, is also incorporated into “Faribault, Bridging Us to Our Past.”...

46 Picture This

PHOTOS COURTESY DIANE CHRISTENSEN AND BECKY SCHMIESING TEXT BY AUDREY KLETSCHER HELBLING

48 Crossword puzzle

46 Picture This
PHOTOS COURTESY DIANE CHRISTENSEN AND BECKY SCHMIESING TEXT BY AUDREY KLETSCHER HELBLING

FOR SISTERS BECKY SCHMIESING and Diane Christensen, photos of quilts hung on the porch of an abandoned farmhouse hold sweet memories of family and Sunday dinners at Grandma’s house.

Last April the pair returned to their grandparents’ former farm place about 21/2 miles northwest of Seaforth with a rope, hammer and nails to hang and photograph quilts hand-stitched by their grandma, Frances Rohlik. They’d seen a similar image in a Bird Island quilt shop.

The photos, says Christensen, are a tribute to their paternal grandmother, a talented seamstress and quilter who hand-pieced quilts for her 16 granddaughters as high school graduation gifts. Schmiesing’s quilt was the first, created in 1969. In 1974, Christensen received a handappliquéd butterfly quilt.

The two treasure their fullsize quilts made primarily from fabric scraps by a grandmother who never tossed a piece of fabric. Adds Christensen, her grandma did everything one-handed because, at a young age, a nerve in her right arm was cut during a medical procedure, leaving that arm limp. She could, however, move the fingers on her damaged arm.

This avid quilter — she would stitch fancy or practical quilts for anyone who wanted one — also sewed flannel pajamas and crocheted afghans, vests and slippers for family members.

Today Schmiesing and Christensen continue the family quilting legacy passed from their grandma to her daughter-in-law, their mother Dorothy Rohlik. Dorothy stitched quilts for all 31 of her grandchildren.

FYI If you’ve got a special photograph you’d like to share with the readers of Minnesota Moments, send it to us at E-mail: info@minnesotamoments.com or mail to: Picture This; Minnesota Moments, PO Box 436, Cold Spring, MN 56320. Photos will not be returned, unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope.