Happy Birthday Mom!

To be of use
by Marge Piercy

The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without the dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.

----

Happy Birthday, Mom. And thanks for showing us all how to "be of use."

Love, #5
p.s. and because its a favorite of your's, i'll add:

by Edgar A. Guest

The Path to Home

There’s the mother at the doorway
and the children at the gate.
And the little parlor windows
with curtains white and straight.
There are shagging asters blooming
in the bed that lines the fence,
And the simplest of the blossoms
seems of mighty consequence.
Oh, there isn’t any mansion
underneath God’s starry dome
That can rest a weary pilgrim
like the little place called home.

Men have sought for gold and silver;
men have dreamed at night of fame;
In the heat of youth, they’ve struggled
for achievements honored name;
But the selfish crowns are tinsel,
and their shining jewels, paste,
And the wine of pomp and glory
Soon grows bitter to the taste
For there’s never any laughter
howsoever far you roam
Like the laughter of the loved ones
in the happiness of home.

There is nothing so important
as the mother’s lullabies,
Filled with peace and sweet contentment,
when the moon begins to rise –
Nothing real except the beauty
and the calm upon her face
And the shouting of the children
as they scamper round the place.
For the greatest of man’s duties
is to keep his loved ones glad
And to have his children glory
in the father they have had.

So where’er a man may wander
and whatever be his care;
You’ll find his soul still stretching
to the home he left somewhere.
You’ll find his dreams all tangled
Up with hollyhocks in bloom
And the feet of little children
that go racing through a room
With the happy mother smiling
as she watches them at play
These are all in life that matter,
when you’ve stripped the sham away.

Midsummer at Kaleva Island

Perhaps you all got this in your newsletter, but i wanted to post it here for posterity - it's a beautifully written article and i adore the line about Tristan and i love that somebody appreciated our silly skit. Mom and Isa scanned the article from the Finnish American Reporter - and i'm not sure if you'll be able to read it, but we'll give it a try. -e.

Thought for the day

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the tide winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ---Mark Twain

Exciting News

Your sister filed for a 4 year seat on the Eveleth City Council.
Primary Sept. 12 dk

Old-Timer Chuckles

• Remember old folks are worth a fortune: they have silver in their hair, gold in their teeth, stones in their kidneys, lead in their feet, and gas in their stomachs.

• I have become a quite a frivolous old gal. I am seeing five gentleman every day. As soon as I wake up, Will Power helps me get out of bed. Then I go see John. Then Charlie Horse comes along. When he leaves, Arthur Ritis shows up and stays the rest of the day. He doesn't like to stay in one place very long, so he takes me from joint to joint. After such a busy day I'm really tired and glad to get to bed with Ben Gay. What a life!

• The preacher came by the other day. He said at my age I should be thinking about the hereafter. I told him, "Oh, I do, all the time. No matter where I am, in the parlor, upstairs, in the kitchen or down in the basement, I ask myself - 'what am I here after?'"

Jenny

Finally took some pictures of the girls....Really need to get Alanys' one year picture, but she has a cold in her eye, so now have to wait till it clears up! I should have done hers two months ago!! Oh well:)
I have waited to send pictures because I knew I would be taking new ones soon!
fun, fun....I'ts taken me all morning to do this....now I need to start cleaning, etc.!
Hope everyone is having a good week!
Jenny

Chicago

Went to Reiman Publications on Monday morning. Took
some pictures and bought more than needed.
Tuesday morning we got a tour of Chicago. Ruth N.
drove our car. It was easier for your father to
translate what we drove past when he didn't have to be doing the driving, listening to directions
and translating. Next to the last stop was Lake
Michigan where we got a good view of the Chicago skyline. Last stop was at O'Hare airport to drop off
the Finnish speaker. Got home about 10:30 p.m. dk

3rd Grade

Mrs. Blauert's husband died. i'll send a card from all of us unless someone else is already on top of that. sound okay? - e.

Henry J. Blauert, 87, of Aurora died Monday, July 24, 2006, at White Community Hospital in Aurora.


He was born Jan. 13, 1919, in Frazee, Minn., to Emil and Mary (Machenthun) Blauert. He attended country school near Frazee and later worked on the family farm. On June 7, 1941, he married Lillian Kleimo in Aurora. He worked as a utility operator for St. James Mine and later joined the Carpenters Union and worked primarily for ABI in Virginia.


Henry was a charter member of Redeemer Lutheran Church, served as scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts of America and was a member of the Carpenters Union local in Virginia. He enjoyed hunting, fishing and gardening. He participated in several dance clubs and was an avid sports fan, especially softball.


Survivors include his wife, Lillian; children, Thomas (Margy) Blauert of Cloquet, Barb (Tony) Plattner of Aurora and Carla (Darrel) Starken of Hoyt Lakes; sisters, Marion (Alfred) Bachmann of Frazee and Bertha Strom of Detroit Lakes; grandchildren, Jean, Darren, Jodi, Kevin, Jennifer and Christopher; great-grandchildren, Dustin, Kaylie, Stevan and Audrey; and several nieces and nephews.


He was preceded in death by his parents; son, Donald; six brothers and two sisters.

Long day at work

Havn't posted here for a while... Here I am, after a hard days work... Trying to be a kid again! Show up on the bike with attitude, go home mellow, and exhausted :-)

Awesome looking pictures #5!

Charlie

Sauna

i'm going up to Rainy Lake on the western edge of the Boundary Waters for several days. the fire burning up there is pretty far from where i'll be, but i thought i'd use it as an excuse to share these photos anyway. - liz

Mines and Pines

Mines and Pines .... the setup ....

tristan keeps us smiling thru the heat




grandpa finds a minute to take a snooze ...

Tristan : )

Here are some pictures of Tristan! Hope it works!

Ryan's truck broke down the day before the wedding while Amber was on her way to Anchorage to pick up the wedding flowers. Thank goodness it was an easy fix. Amber said, "just go ahead and do rehearsal without us". I have been to quite a few wedding rehearsals in my "short" life and this is the first time I've seen it run through only once. Organized girl that Amber we know and love!



Amber with Jenna and two of her sisters. The pictures were done and we were waiting for a 4:00 wedding to start at 2:45. Wow!!

Camera lessons ... camera just didn't agree with either one of us!

Welcome to the family. Laulainen family goes through the receiving line.


Lilacs! Oh, I miss the scent of those.
These other flowers were everywhere growing in the wild.

Jari river fishing with his catch of what I believe is red salmon.





View coming down the river. Jari & I passed by the river rafting trip. I counted bodies and I counted boats ... then decided I would come back some other day! Jari's parents went on the trip as did Jen. Never say you are too old ... lousy excuse. I believe Pekka & Laina (tho' a bit chilly on the ride) will talk about this trip for the rest of their lives.















A bonfire the evening of the wedding. It is probably 12:30 at night and the sun is still shining. Kids (big & little) were shooting off fireworks ... just a bit hard to see their brilliance in the sunshine!
This is a coffee stand. They are absolutely everywhere. You are driving down some heavily wooded road and there will be another one. Not kidding ... probably 1 every 2 miles at least ... sometimes more frequently. Might be just the place for a coffee drinker like me!

Ryan & Amber wedding pics

Just a few pictures to share with y'all of Ryan & Amber's wedding.





















These pictures I borrowed from the Marjanen blog. Amber just posted these herself.

Missing Anita

Sorry that we could not make it up north to see Anita before she left, hazards of being a sod farmer I guess. We just can't seem to beat the heat and with no rain it is impossible to keep grass green! You will all have to let me know how the Mines and Pines event went. There may still be a slim (very slim) chance that we drive up north on Saturday morning for the day but it's not looking good. The plan was that the guys were going to go fishing so if we do get to sneak away it will be without the boat as there would not be enough time to fit fishing in to the day. Hopefully we can surprise everyone but it is highly doubtful. Beginning to know what it is like living in Phoenix but with a ton of humidity on top of the heat. So uncomfortable, you just don't seem to dry off after a shower.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Farmington Jo

Problems in Blog Photo World

Okay ... the oldest Kuoppala offspring tried to get the Brainerd Kuoppala household educated in posting photos on the Blog. Well ... after several attempts, we have admitted defeat for the moment. Not permanently, just for the moment. Becky, hurry up and post some pics so we know how long we have to wait over here for pics to upload to Blogger! Jody, do you have high speed or dial up internet? When you posted pics did it take a long time to upload. The green bar just never seems to go away and let us continue on to the post. HELP!!!!!!!!!
-anita
-grandpa & grandma

Lindula's

I hope everyone is doing well.

I just thought I'd give an update on our weekend here. We had the opportunity to spend time with Brock, Anna, and Tia while Anita was in Alaska. I don't know that the kids want to come and stay with us again anytime soon.

Thursday night we went to Elbow Creek Ranch. All 3 kids got to ride horses (Tia for the first time) and loved it.

Friday: I had the day off of work, so we went fishing. I don't actually know how many times my line got wet. We were fishing off a dock, so there were many hooks to change, baiting of the hooks, and untangling of the line. Then, we feasted on McDonald's. Anna called Liz and Liz brought us root beer floats, but being as there was an hour, the kids helped me weed the flower bed. (I only lost a few flowers - they didn't realize they weren't weeds) Friday night, all 3 got to experience hay making. They were working hard rolling, throwing bales, and scratching. Total bales put up on Friday night was 700 or 750. They didn't have a problem sleeping that night. The comment heard most often was "I don't feel right". I'm still not sure if it was wanting to vomit, sore muscles, or what.

Saturday, we went to my boss's home and fished there. They got the experience of bating their own hooks and much to my amazement, Brock actually touched a leech and put it on his hook. I didn't think he ever would; he claimed that he wouldn't. We caught 28 blue gills and 1 bass. Then, they got to swim, eat Poor Gary's Pizza, kayak, canoe, and cover me in Lilly Pads. After all the fun, it was back to work. More hay. Total that night was 500. Once again they didn't have a problem sleeping at night.

Sunday, we went to church, played games, then they went w/ Laurie for a while. Sunday night we had a fish fry and ate all the fish they had caught the day prior. Brock was very excited to miss the rest of the picking up of hay bales. Everyone else was tired of it, so Shawn and I finished the last 80-100 bales.

Monday, they had to be at my house by themselves. The night before, we came up with a plan for them. Anna and Tia came up with their own list of chores they were going to work on. The greatest part is the list (scrub toaster, scrub coffee pot, clean Jen's room, etc.). They didn't do anything on the list (Remember, I didn't make the list, they did. My only request was that my house be in one piece when I got home and that Anna put the dinner in the oven. I asked them to play games, sleep, play outside, whatever). They did all that. I got an emergency call that one of my horses was out and going down the driveway. I cruised home and my horse was out, but standing right by the fence next to the others. We worked on fence. I hate being shocked and am not interested in touching the fence to see if it works. Tia didn't mind, so was the official fence toucher. She was crazy. Anna got shocked without realizing that it was going to happen. Brock convinced Tia to put one hand in the horse water and touch the fence with the other. She did and admitted that she really hurt right around the proximity of her heart. They were really enjoying themselves. Monday night, they went to ride horses again at Elbow Creek Ranch. Laurie said that they were laughing and giggling and really enjoying themselves.

Now, Shawn and I are ready to hit our recliners and listen to our clocks tick again. It was a lot of fun and we are hoping that it can happen again another time but maybe not tomorrow.

Heather

alanys here wishing you a happy week

dog days of summer

When I got home Jenny was going through pictures and this is the only picture I have of patchs but I thought I'd put it here.