Page Title

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.

Shortly after the last issue of the Gazette appeared (the issue with the feature story entitled “The Killing Field”) one person asked me, “Do you really want a four-lane highway going through Victoria?”

In my way of thinking, that’s like asking, “Do you really want a driveway going through your yard? Why not a cow path?” I thought I had made it pretty clear what the alternatives were to status quo when it comes to Highway 5. If one picture is worth a thousand words, were not seven pictures worth 7,000 words?

***

Speaking of transportation, our little granddaughter, Addie Sue, who is 5 years old, learned how to ride a bike this spring -- without training wheels, I mean. You should see her go. Such a brave little girl. Such a big smile. Daughter Jenny captured it on camera and emailed the video to me. I caught my breath and screamed as I watched the little princess who just grew out of the stroller last week it seems.

And then Jenny emailed another video to me and I was catching my breath again. Little Gunnar Ray, our grandson who is only 3 years old, also learned how to ride a bike all by himself, no training wheels. I watched the video over and over again. Such a little squirt. It’s like Jenny said, whatever Addie does, Gunnar does. This includes swimming lessons and going off the diving board. If there’s an element of fear involved, it doesn’t last long.

S’pose I’m sounding like your typical grandmother. Well, if I’m going to sound like something typical, I’d rather it be a typical grandmother than anything else.

***

Not to change the subject in the middle of being a grandmother, but did you hear what they want to do to our eggs? I’m referring to the eggs that come from chickens, the eggs we fry in butter or boil in water or crack into our baked things. They want to feed or vaccinate chickens with a “cancer-fighting” drug that will be passed through to the chicken eggs and then to people who eat the eggs. Purposely adding more drugs and chemicals to our food supply? Don’t they know that’s why we get cancer in the first place? The audacity and stupidity of man have no bounds.

***

Bought a newly released movie a couple weeks ago, and it’s not what I was expecting. The Bucket List, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, was much better than expected. I recommend it wholeheartedly, as a matter of fact.

We learned about the movie at the 60th wedding anniversary party of Ray and Frannie in June, where we ran into Judy and Jerry Gray, former neighbors of ours. As we ate lunch with them, they told us about The Bucket List, the movie as well as the list Jerry drew up for himself. Said list centers on those things you’d like to do before you kick the bucket. If your first language isn’t English, the phrase means before you drop dead.

I was glad to see that the movie wasn’t just about traveling the world or skydiving or mountain climbing. It was also about things that matter deeply in life, matters of the heart. I’ve been to the top of many mountains already, in the world and in the heart, so I could kick the bucket rather contented if it happened to land at my feet today.

However, human nature being what it is, I’ll take another day if it’s offered and also another Bucket List ...

I’d like to see our new grandchild born. I’d like to hug everyone in my family one more time. I’d like to see Norway, where I’m drawn by mountains, fjords, and ancestry. I’d like to see Ireland, where I’m drawn by the jagged seashore, celtic music, and native tongue. We’ve got some friends who want us to go with them on a tour to China next year, a huge tour that also includes a cruise on the Yangtze River. But China is not on my Bucket List, at least not at this time. It would be a 21-day venture and I can’t make it work and still meet the monthly deadline for the Victoria Gazette. It’s just not possible to be away from home that length of time and still do the newspaper without kicking the bucket. Needless to say, the goal with this list is to anticipate the bucket and not actually kick it. In case you weren’t reading between the lines, the Victoria Gazette remains high on my Bucket List.

Shall I continue? I’d like to eat watermelon and corn on the cob on the Fourth of July. I’d like a suntan and more sunsets on Lake Minnetonka. I’d like more summertime. How does the rest of that song go?

To swim in the pool,

And play hooky from school,

Good old summertime;

You play ring a rosie

With Jim, Kate, and Josie,

Good old summertime.

Those days full of pleasure

We now fondly treasure,

When we never thought it a crime

To stealing cherries,

With faces brown as berries,

Good old summertime.