December 10th, 2021 by Gary Osberg
My first born granddaughter, Kaylin Marie, started drawing pictures when she was very young. In 2002 Kaylin decided to draw a picture of a Christmas tree for her grandmother Marcia. Somehow, the Christmas tree became an angel blowing a horn. I was amazed that a seven-year-old could make the Angel’s cheek look like it was puffed out, blowing the horn. I borrowed the drawing from Marcia and used it to make my first Angel Christmas card. Every year after that I would ask Kaylin to draw an angel to use for my Christmas Angel card.
Five years later Kaylin started with a photo of her younger sister Christen and my son’s daughter Anna as a basis for the angel card. She added some wings and halos and that was the Angel Card 2007. After that Kaylin decided to retire from the task. The next year Christen Irene drew her first angel. She was only five years old. Christen has drawn 12 more Christmas Angels since then. The comparison of her very first angel and the one that she drew in 2020 is amazing.
This summer Kaylin and Christen lost their Grandma Marcia to cancer. 2021 is the twentieth Angel Card and in honor of Grandma Marcia I will be using the very first angel drawing for my Angel Card. I am so grateful that Marcia shared Kaylin Marie’s artistic creation with myself so that I could share it with you.
The St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra will be performing their St. Cloud Holiday Fantasy concert tomorrow at 3pm. All of the symphony orchestra concerts are performed in Ritsche Auditorium at St. Cloud State University. Tickets are available at www.stcloudsymphony.com or at the door. You will need proof of vaccination and you will need to wear a mask.
Also, The George Maurer Group annual Christmas Show is at The Paramount Theater this coming Monday at 7:30. I hope to see you there also. Tickets are available at www.paramountarts.org
“Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” Leonard Cohen
December 3rd, 2021 by Gary Osberg
It looks like the ice on the pond is not going to be very safe for a while. Do not go out there unless you are with a buddy and be sure to check the ice often. When I was a wild youth in Upsala, we used to drag race cars across the ice on Cedar Lake west of Upsala. To my knowledge, no one ever went through the ice. We got away with a lot of stupid things as kids. One winter we made a game of standing on the hood of an old DeSoto, using it as a giant snowboard as we were towed in the ditch behind a car. Dumb and dumber.
My sister and one of my classmates both ended up in casts after a toboggan run down a steep hill in the Burtrum Hills. After a heavy snow we would make a party out of driving into the Burtrum Hills with our old cars and just try to get stuck. These were not SUVs, simply rear wheel drive Chevys with a bunch of crazy boys and snow shovels.
Here is one way to enjoy the winter and the ice in a safe environment. https://youtu.be/iNuCXUkp2DE
Also, you may want to come to St. Joseph tonight for the annual tree lighting at the corner of College Avenue and Minnesota Street. The Great River Chorale is presenting “Upon the Midnight Clear”, online beginning tomorrow and airing until the 10th of December. Tickets can be purchased at www.greatriverchorale.org
“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.” Seneca
November 26th, 2021 by Gary Osberg
American Public Media is the parent company of Minnesota Public Radio. This is from Wikipedia “Giving Thanks is an American Public Media radio special that airs nationwide on Thanksgiving Day. It is hosted by John Birge. The show consists of classical music, songs, and dramatic readings all related to Thanksgiving. Although the format remains the same, some individual features are always aired, notably, selections from Charles Laughton’s 1962 album The Story Teller, about his experiences with Etienne Houvet and Alfred Manessier at Chartres Cathedral, as well as his reading from Jack Kerouac’s The Dharma Bums. Musical pieces regularly included are Handel’s Largo from Xerxes and music from Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring.
Although John Birge began doing an annual Thanksgiving program in 1985, Giving Thanks did not go national until 1999, two years after he began working for Minnesota Public Radio. Birge states on the website for the program that Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday.” Source Wikipedia
If you missed the program yesterday, you can find it at www.yourclassical.org/holiday. This is the link to the Charles Laughton segment. https://youtu.be/LOPv55Tsol0
I made it to Wadena yesterday to celebrate with my family and Erik’s in-laws, Kathy and Lee. Erik and Willie used the old brine soak method and the turkey was marvelous. A family photo is attached.
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world..” J.R. Tolkien author of The Hobbit.
November 19th, 2021 by Gary Osberg
In 1998 Dad moved from his high rise apartment in downtown St. Paul to my house in Upsala. He had been a city fellow for most of his adult life, but he was raised in Upsala. I was working in Minneapolis as a sales manager with the Xerox agency Albinson and I was gone most of the week. It wasn’t much of an inconvenience to have him there. His passion was cooking, however I told him in no uncertain terms that I hated the smell of fried foods and I did not eat leftovers.
In July of 1999 Albinson and Xerox parted their ways and they no longer needed a sales manager. I spent the summer painting old buildings and garages in the Upsala area and started working for Minnesota Public Radio in October of that year. If I did not leave a post-it note on the counter in the morning that said “NO SUPPER”, there would be a home cooked meal on the table when I arrived home. The food was awesome. The baked potatoes were done in a very special way. He boiled them for 10 minutes first and then baked them for one hour at 400 degrees.
As Dad struggled with old age and cancer, sometimes the quality of the supper was not up to his usual standards. Also, many times the smell of burnt food or worse, burnt plastic, from the tea pot handle, would greet me as I came in the back door. He burned three tea pots, with plastic handles, in the last six months. It got so that the only time I did not leave out the post-it note, “NO SUPPER”, was on Fridays.
On Friday November 18, 2004, I came home and he greeted me with “I have to go to the hospital, but you can eat first. Your supper is in the oven” I responded “No way, we will go now!” I put on the oven mitts and grabbed the baked potatoes and dish of meatballs from the oven and shoved them in the frig and we drove to the VA in Minneapolis.
That was Dad’s “Last supper”, he never did come home. That weekend I ate the leftover meatball supper. It was a very tasty meal.
“There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself.” Howard Thurman
November 12th, 2021 by Gary Osberg
Dad served in the Pacific during World War II. Like a lot of veterans, he did not talk about it very much. After he died I found a notebook that he had written in, beginning with, “I have a closet full of regrets”. It was an unusual collection of thoughts, ending with a reference to December 13, 1983, the day that he finally decided to quit drinking. On that final page he also noted, “I am no big believer that battle fatigue was the cause of my drinking, but there were the 2 ½ months at Okinawa that I do not care to talk about. It was so unreal, like bad television”. The battle of Okinawa proved to be the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War. A total of 219,000 persons lost their lives in that one battle. 12,000 of our troops died and 36,000 were wounded.
A few years ago a coffee shop buddy and I donated a framed print of the U.S. Navy painting that is hanging in the Committal Hall at the Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery north of Little Falls. We donated it to the American Legion Post 328 in St. Joseph. My buddy Phil’s father served on the destroyer USS Converse in the Pacific during the war and my dad served on the USS Vammen, a destroyer escort. The limited edition print was presented in honor of Norman P. Ringstrom and William E. Osberg and all other Navy Veterans.
There are five original 8 foot x 10 foot paintings in the Committal Hall. One for each of the five branches of the United States Military. They were painted by a native of Little Falls, Charles Gilbert Kapsner. You can view the art of Charles Kapsner at www.buonfresco.com If you are interested in visiting the Committal Hall at the Veterans Cemetery, simply give Eric Sogge a call at 320-616-2527.
“Only our individual faith in freedom can keep us free”. General Dwight Eisenhower
November 4th, 2021 by Gary Osberg
Years ago I met a woman whose father was a doctor in Cold Spring. His brother was also a doctor and they would take turns covering for each other during vacations. One year the brother and his family drove to California in their “woody” station wagon. At the end of the first week the doctor received a telegram from his brother in California telling him how great a time they were having and asking him to wire some money so they could stay a little longer.
The next week another request for more money arrived. This time, the doctor sent a telegram back to his brother telling him that there would be no more money and that it was time for him to come home.
Some time went by and one day the railroad station manager called the doctor and told him that he should come to the depot. There was a C.O.D. for him. The doctor argued that he had not ordered anything C.O.D. The station manager told him to get down there, that there was no doubt that the package was for him. When the doctor got to the train depot, he discovered that his vacationing brother had loaded the “woody” onto a railroad flat car and shipped himself and his family home C.O.D.
“We judge others by their actions and we judge ourselves by our intentions.” GMO
October 29th, 2021 by Gary Osberg
Forty nine years ago today, my son Erik Jon came into the world. I was supposed to be allowed into the delivery room at Mercy Hospital to witness the big event, but Marcia’s mother Irene, who was supposed to be the baby sitter for Erik’s older sister Kerry, had purchased a new car and she thought that the temperature gauge was the gas gauge. The phone rang and the nurse from Mercy said: “Don’t rush Mr. Osberg, your wife will be delivering in a few minutes.” I hung up the phone and ran out the door just as Irene was pulling into the driveway. I stopped at the hospital gift shop and picked up a planter with a little boy in a football uniform holding a football. It is called “implanting” and it worked. Erik loved to play football.
He should have been a high school football coach, but instead he is the “Rural Rebound Coordinator” for Otter Tail County. Today, Cathy Wurzer is going to feature my son Erik’s production of “Rural by Choice” on her noon time show, “Minnesota Now”. The seven episodes were chosen as one of the films shown at the Twin Cities Film Fest last Sunday at the Showplace ICON Theatre in St. Louis Park. You can watch all 7 episodes on YouTube. Episode 6 is a must see for anyone interested in the arts. Simply search YouTube by “Otter Tail Lakes Country”. If you subscribe, you will be notified when they launch season two.
“Leader aren’t born, they are made. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal which is worthwhile.” Vince Lombardi
Bonus note: Tonight at 9pm, “The Great Pumpkin” , featuring the newly remodeled pipe organ, will be performed at the Abbey Church at St. John’s University. George Maurer will be there. I hope to see you there.
October 22nd, 2021 by Gary Osberg
I spent a lot of my youth in Upsala, Minnesota. At school there were “Farm Kids” and “Village Kids”. Some were “summer kids”. They were kids who’s parent or parents grew up in Upsala and they were sent to Upsala to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa during the summer. Some stayed for a few weeks and some stayed for the whole summer. In one situation that I knew of, the son was getting into too much trouble in the “cities” and they thought hard work on a farm would be a better way for him to spend his summer.
Larry was a “summer kid” and he ended up marrying one of the Upsala beauties. She was chased by all of the boys, but Larry won her heart. He was also one of the eight couples that camped on our lakeshore on Cedar Lake west of Upsala every fourth of July. He was a fun loving fellow. One year he decided to make sure that my son Erik and I had a chance to experience grouse hunting. This is the story that I share every MEA weekend, because it means a lot to me and I know Erik had a great time too.
MEA weekend is a special time of the year. Many a father/son(daughter) combo head for the woods or ponds to bring home the “bacon” in the form of grouse or duck. Larry, a friend of mine who died way too young, knew that I had never taken up hunting, but he wanted my son and myself to experience a weekend of grouse hunting up north at “the shack”. He invited our friend Ron and his son Matt, my son’s best friend, to join him and his son Danny. So there were three dads and three sons along with a black lab, “Bear”. We formed two teams and I was the “bird dog” on the DADS team. Bear went with the boys.
The first day we brought back 17 grouse and Larry fixed a meal of grouse with wild rice and cream of mushroom soup in the giant iron skillet that hung from a nail in “the shack”. It was one of the most memorable feasts of my life. I trust that you are doing something special with your family this weekend.
“Remember, it’s not about having time it’s about making time.” Erik Osberg
October 15th, 2021 by Gary Osberg
During the sixties my dad worked as a night desk clerk at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Minneapolis. I was attending high school in Upsala. Every once in a while Ma would ship me down to spend some time with Dad. The first thing he would do is send me to the barber shop in the lower level of the hotel for a haircut and a shoe shine. He would put me up in a room at the hotel or at the YMCA.
In early October of 1965, the Twins were halfway to a World Series Championship. “Mudcat” Grant was the ace pitcher of the 1965 Twins. The Twins beat the Dodgers in both home games but the road trip to LA was a bust. The Dodgers swept three games on October 9, 10 & 11. Back in Bloomington, Mudcat started game 6 in the Metropolitan Stadium and the Twins beat the Dodgers 5-1 to even the Series.
Dad was able to get me a press pass for game 7. I was worried about being challenged about my status as a reporter, so I stopped at a drug store and bought a note pad and a nice ball point pen. The press pass worked and they even gave me a box lunch. Sandy Koufax shut the Twins out in game 7, allowing only three hits and striking out 10. The final score was 2-0.
Twenty two years later the Twins won the World Series in dramatic fashion in the Hubert H Humphrey dome.
“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help a man with the wrong mental attitude.” Thomas Jefferson
Bonus quotation: “Toddler’s Creed: If I want it, it’s mine. If I give it to you and change my mind later, it’s mine. If I can take it away from you, it’s mine. If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine. If it’s mine, it will never belong to anyone else, no matter what. If we are building something together, all of the pieces are mine. If it looks like mine, it’s mine.”
October 11th, 2021 by Gary Osberg
Today is homecoming in Upsala. In my day it was the Upsala `Cardinals’, but some time ago Upsala football merged with Swanville and now it is the USA (Upsala Swanville Area) `Patriots’. I plan on being there in my letterman’s jacket.
I was an overweight freshman on the Upsala Cardinal football team in 1957. Freshmen wore the old uniforms and helmets and we did not win any fashion awards. John Atkinson, a senior running back, ran with his knees pumping up and down high and hard. He still managed to make yardage. In practice, I would simply bounce off of his knees. The memory of the pain is still with me. That was the year when no other team even scored on the Upsala team. Clarissa got to our three yard line, but our defense held.
A couple of years ago, the 1957 Upsala football team was inducted into the Upsala Sports Hall of Fame. I was one of nine of the twenty-nine original members of the 1957 Upsala Cardinal football team who showed up for our induction into the Sports Hall of Fame. One of the guys, Dave Chuba, came all the way from Ohio. Bob Soltis was the quarterback and captain of the 1957 team. That year Bob was named to the All State Football Team.
It was the second year that inductees were chosen for the Upsala Sports Hall of Fame. Bob’s brother Ralph was chosen the previous year and another brother John, who was a junior on the 1957 football team, accepted an individual award for his brother Bob. There were lots of Soltis boys and they all played football. No one lifted weights in those days, they just threw bales of hay all summer. Us “village kids” had a tough time keeping up.
“GO PATRIOTS”
“Man’s finest hour is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle victorious.” Vince Lombardi’’
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