Memories by Muriel (Anderson) Simonson

Edblom “Family Reunions” Then and Now On the Fourth of July, 2010, we had an “Edblom Cousins” get-together at our cousin Rod and Margaret Edblom’s home on Lake Vermilion. We had a great time catching up with one another, and, as usual, sharing good food together. The Lord blessed us with beautiful weather.  There have been a few changes . We are OLDER (how did that happen?)  Some of our cousins have passed away. Some were not able to attend for various reasons. Some have less hair, gray hair, physical problems, difficulty with memory.  All in all it was a great day to reminisce about our growing up, relatives and times of the past, or share about our families and what is happening in our lives.  Donna Billington and Margaret Petry remembered being at the end of the line in the photos of our “girl cousins” years ago as they were the youngest at the time - we were lined up by age and size.  It was nice to be together for an event that was not a funeral.  Growing up there were get-togethers quite often, or so it seems.  My mother’s parents, John and Emma (Johnson) Edblom homesteaded in the Leander community in 1894.  They had each immigrated from Sweden, but did not meet until they were both living and working in Tower, Minnesota in the very early days of mining. They moved to the homestead which they had to “prove up” and built a small cabin, developed a farm and raised ten children.  No obstetricians and hospitals, a mid-wife attending the births. At times our “get-togethers” were at Grandpa and Grandma Edblom’s retirement home (which had been the local school house). Tables, some of them put together with saw-horses for legs and doors or other large pieces of wood to make table-tops, were laden with food of all kinds.  Photos were always a big part of the day.  The grown-ups talked, laughed, remembered, mourned those who had passed on, did the work of preparing the food washed the dishes, and kept us kids in line.  The older kids and adults sometimes played baseball.  There were times when we met at other homes as well.  We not only knew our grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, but our great aunts and uncles, our parents’ cousins and their extended families as well.  We lived in a great time, had a wealth of family, love and spiritual teaching by word and example.  None of us had any great monetary wealth  We were all so blessed with the wealth of the important parts of life.

GRANDPA & GRANDMA’S HOUSE

Today, we, along with many other friends and neighbors gathered with family members of Gordon and Bart Anderson to wish them happy birthdays at Gord’s home. Gord and his late wife, Lillian, raised their family in the home that had been my Grandpa and Grandma Edblom‘s. Being there this day brought back many memories to me of the many hours spent there as a child. The house was originally the school house in the Leander Community. It was converted into a home where my grandparents lived following the fire that destroyed the large house on the adjacent homestead and took the life of their oldest son. TIME MARCHES ON! When Gordon and Lillian bought the home and their family began to grow, they added a kitchen and another bedroom on to the house. Grandma’s kitchen is now the dining room area. I reminisced about the area which was the kitchen wall where the table was located next to the window looking out on the porch. This area is now open to the entry and the kitchen area. Grandpa and Grandma’s cupboard and counter area where they had their canary in a cage hanging by the window is now where the dining table is located. The wood cook-stove was located where the china cabinet is now. I have a very vivid memory of where the kitchen sink was! My parents had an appointment of some kind in Virginia and as I was not feeling well it was arranged that I would spend the day with my grandparents. My mother had told me that if I had to throw up I was NOT to use Grandma’s kitchen sink. Sure enough, my stomach informed me that the need for some kind of receptacle was imminent . I told Grandma “But Mama told me NOT to throw up in your sink!” Grandma kindly told me not to worry about that and the deed was done. She cleaned my face and any other area that needed attention and no doubt had to clean the sink. That is probably the most tender, personal memory I have of Grandma. I also recalled the Sunday evening not too long before her death when my mother and I spent the time with her as Grandpa and other family members attended the service down the hill and across the road at the Leander Baptist Church (now the Leander apartments). It was a beautiful, warm summer evening - the windows and doors were open. We could hear the lovely music as the Peil family from Tower presented a musical program. I remember Mom and Grandma singing along with them. I especially remember “He the Pearly Gates Will Open” sung in Swedish. It was not long after that Grandma went to be with the Lord. I was ten years old and it is another vivid, meaningful memory of my childhood. There were many family get-togethers with numerous cousins to play with, lots of good food, the adults visiting with one another, Grandpa’s rabbits, the fragrant lilac bushes in the springtime and the tall hollyhocks full of blossoms in the summer. It was always fun to take a blossom and a bud from a hollyhock and “make a dressed up lady“. TIME MARCHES ON Our kids also have special memories of times and places with their grandparents. When my dad passed away our oldest three children were three years, almost two years and six weeks old. Dad was so proud and happy to enjoy them for even such a brief time. Mom had a few more years so the kids knew her better and had a lot of good times with her. All five of our kids knew Mom and she was around to experience and enjoy all of her grandchildren for a time. Don’s parents were around to see their grandchildren grow up and to experience being great-grandparents as well. Our kids enjoyed going to Wisconsin, sometimes staying at Grandma and Grandpa‘s, all the family gatherings, especially Thanksgivings, Memorials Days and “just because” at Grandpa and Grandma’s house. We are thankful our children had such loving and Godly examples. TIME MARCHES ON WE are now the grandparents! We have enjoyed watching our oldest grandchildren grow up into fine young adults, and enjoy that phase of their lives. We are also enjoying the younger ones. At this time we have the four youngest next door. We look forward to seeing the Arizona grandchildren this coming summer. We hope and pray that our grandchildren do and will have good memories of Grandpa and Grandma’s house too. Our prayer is that each of them will love and serve the Lord and when the time comes  for them to become parents they will bring their children up to love the Lord also.   TIME MARCHES ON!

VALENTINES  It is that time again - the time when we give our special expressions of love to those closest to us with cards, gifts, phone calls, special meals and our time. As I created valentines to mail to my five youngest grandchildren, I thought of the many valentines’ I have seen, received or given through the years. I remembered that when we were in grade school a special group art project each year was the creation of a "valentine box" we prepared where we deposited the cards we brought for our fellow classmates. It seems our teacher would usually send home a list of names of all the kids in our class to insure that the few more favorite friends or popular kids would not receive a large number of cards and those who were not as popular would feel left out. We would also usually make a special card to bring home to our parents.   I have saved a number of cards and notes over the years from childhood until now. Some were from my boyfriend who became my husband and best friend - some from him as through our married years, some from our children and grandchildren.   I have a box of my mother's special cards, letters and other memorabilia. Among them I found a couple of valentines with the postmark of 1912, when my mother would have been 16 years old. One was from a friend, Sophie, the other one only says "forget me not" - with no signature. I wonder who that romantic person was!   As we think of love we think of the new babies, our children and grandchildren, God gives us to raise and nurture, we think of how natural the love comes for them. Other loves come to us more gradually as we "fall in love" and marry and it grows and changes with the years. There is the friendship-love that develops. Sometimes with people we may not necessarily understand or even like when we first know them, but we discover common interest and concern.   Then there is the most important and complete love of all - the Love of God - who sent. His only Son, Jesus, to provide a sacrifice for our sins that we might have eternal life as well as abundant life on earth. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes on Him shall not perish, but will have eternal life."   Enjoy Valentine's Day, but let us all display our love daily, not just with the grand gestures, but with the "little" things of life- kindnesses, helping one another, doing because we want to, not because it is e expected of us or because we are obligated. Cherish the loved ones in your life, remember the ones who are lonely and going through the heartache of loss. Enjoy the chocolates!!

CHRISTMAS CARDS, LETTERS AND PHOTOS

It is time to take down and store away the  tree and all the decorations of Christmas, the Christmas cookies and other goodies and traditional foods are all eaten, (we did not have any lutefisk this year), extra laundry washed, special Christmas dishes  back in their storage places in the cupboards and Christmas gifts put to use and enjoyed.  Now is the time to look through the Christmas cards again, look at and enjoy the lovely photos and reread the Christmas letters. It is good to keep in touch with the relatives and old and new friends at this time of year.  We remember those who are no longer with us or are unable to send notes as they did through the years.  E-mail and digital photos, phone calls also add to our “keep-in-touch” abilities. The personalities and styles of the various  people show through in the cards and greetings they send out.  Some are simple, some more elaborate, some are hand-made.   Each year as we are brought up to date on events, we note the happy times of births, marriages, celebrations of special milestones in peoples, lives, as well as the sad and difficult times of illness, deaths, etc.  In some cases there are  new addresses to jot down as people change their residences, sometimes locating great distances to new towns, states, countries, other times just short moves to smaller or larger homes.   The photos are always enjoyable as we can visualize how children are added to families, how quickly they grow from year to year and how families change in the process of living life.  They will be added to the last page of our 2006 scrap-book/photo album.  By what method  and whenever the greetings arrive we enjoy them all.  This year our first card and note arrived in early November and the last one (for now) arrived in 2007.  I did not get ours out until into the first  week of January either.  We do have friends who generally send their greetings closer to Easter. We will look forward to hearing from them  as well.  Let us all keep the joy of the Christmas season and the “Reason for the season” in our hearts and lives each day the Lord gives us on earth in 2007 and beyond.  We look forward to hearing from each one again.

THE SEASONS CHANGE

September 2006

Fall is in the air!  It still gets quite warm during the day, but the evenings are cooler, the nights are great for sleeping!  Having the fresh air coming in the windows and burrowing down under the covers is refreshing after the hot summer nights. The trees are subtly changing color more each day. Soon the woods and roadsides will be aglow with a variety of color. A variety of birds are busy at the bird feeder, however the hummingbirds seem to have deserted us. The blue jays are enjoying the acorns on the oak trees in our yard. I am not sure if they are calling their friends and family to come and dine with them, or warning them to stay away.  We also have a family of chipmunks that feasts on the bird seed and the acorns.  We thought we were seeing only one chipmunk  during the summer, but there must have been at least a pair to be seeing so many little ones now. 

Another sign of the change of seasons is seeing the yellow school buses morning and evening.  The school is busy, the hot lunch menu is posted in the local papers,  football and  volleyball games have begun. Looking back in my mind, I was one of those kids who loved school.  I even recall one first day of school when I was up and dressed and ready to head down the stairs for breakfast and be off on my quarter mile walk to the school bus when my mother inquired what I was doing.  She soon informed me that it was only two in the morning!!   Other memories of first days of school are of our children heading out our front door on the five block walk to school.  We moved into town to our house just before our oldest daughter was to start school.  In subsequent years she helped escort her younger brothers and sister for their exciting, perhaps a bit scary, first days of school.  We have many photos of "first days" as they left our yard, some with the younger ones looking as if they were missing out on something special when they were too young to attend.

In time, they grew up, graduated from good old Cook High, and headed off to college.  Fall at times seems like a lonely time now as we remember them leaving one by one, sometimes coming home for the summer, getting married and becoming responsible adults on their own. We have also had the opportunity to enjoy the older grandchildren doing the same things, and the younger ones are just in their earlier years of their learning and school experiences.

NOT ONLY DO THE SEASONS CHANGE WITH THE CALENDAR AND THE WEATHER, BUT THERE ARE ALSO THE SEASONS OF CHANGE IN OUR LIVES.  Some people have more changes of seasons in their life as we do not all have the same number of days and years to live. We are fortunate that God has given us the opportunity to go from infancy in the Spring of our lives, through Summer, now we are in the Fall of our lives, next will be our turn to live the Winter of our lives,  or whenever our Lord calls us Home. 

Enjoy the beautiful Fall weather.  It is a most beautiful, enjoyable time of the year.

  Graduation

June 2006

When we were visiting with my brother, Hartley the other day , I mentioned that I had baked date bars. He reminded me of the good  date cookies Mom  made and how  much he liked them.  I should dig up her recipe and try to make them one of these days.  I  remember her baking them along with a number of other tasty things to mail to him when he was in the service.  We also  talked of other food she prepared that we enjoyed..  This discussion  brought to  my mind that I have some of her recipes out of her "Receipt Book".

She did a great deal of canning from the garden and also fruit which she purchased at the  grocery store. Peaches, pears, plumbs, apricots.  I thought it was great fun to help her.  I didn't realize it was actually work! It must have been a great deal of work for her as we would need to peel and halve the fruit before cooking it and placing it into the scalded quart or pint jars and process them in the boiling water.  It sure was fun to slip the peels from the peaches and tomatoes  with your hands when you had them in the hot water for just the right amount of time.  I also remember chopping a lot of rhubarb!  Picking and shelling peas, cutting green beans and all the rest that went with it took many days and hours of work.  The years the blueberry yields were good we picked (I never liked to do that)  there were also berries to can and jams to make. I don't remember her ever making me clean the mess that must have resulted at  times in the kitchen on the counter and floors.  I probably went outdoors to play with the kittens and check out the calves in our barn yard. 

Then there were all the good pickles from the cucumbers from the garden.  Dill pickles, bread and butter pickles, and relishes.  She made an "end of the garden relish " that was delicious as well as watermelon pickles (from the white part of the rind). Remember them?  She also made delicious crab apple pickles and beet pickles.

Growing up on the farm we never went hungry  as Dad always raised a calf for our winter meat., We always had milk.  Mom seemed to be in charge of the chickens and eggs.  The grocery store was not a daily, not even weekly event  as the pantry was full.

I am including a few recipes below from Mom's book.  She always wrote the name of the person or place where she obtained  her recipes as well as the date.

JELLY ROLL
4 eggs, pinch of salt.
2/3 cups sugar
¾ spoon baking powder.
Put  bowl in hot water and beat until good and creamy.
Then take out of water and put in 3/4 cup sifted
flour and 2 tablespoons milk, 1  teaspoon vanilla.
Fold in ½ teaspoon of butter if desired to make edges
soft. 

 
Jan. 19, 1936  Mrs. John Edblom  (This was her mother, notice how formal it was?)

Apparently you were supposed to know or remember the size of the pan, temperature and length of time to bake this cake.

I think I will include some of mom's pickle recipes below.

TOMATO JAM
8 pounds tomatoes   (I think these were green
tomatoes)
4 cups sugar
1 cup vinegar
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon cinnamon.
Boil this for 3 hours in a kettle but be careful; not
to burn. Simmer off  some of the juice.
Mrs. Gust Edblom.  (Mom's aunt, Arvid Edblom's mother)

BREAD AND BUTTER PICKLES
Slice equal part of cucumber medium size, green
tomatoes, and small onions and put each in a separate
dish and sprinkle with salt, and let stand over nite.
In the morning squeeze out good and add it to the
following.  Boil vinegar and brown sugar to make good
and sweet. Add ½ teaspoon  celery seed, pinch of
tumeric, ½ teaspoon of mustard seed.  Add the pickles
to the vinegar and just bring to a boil or so they get
heated thru and seal in tight jars.  

Mrs. M. Johnson  (Could be Mrs. Martin Johnson, Byron Leander's aunt, or Mrs. Magnus Johnson, my aunt.)

Now for the END OF GARDEN RELISH
Cook separately
3 cups diced string beans,  3 cups diced carrots and
2 cups finely diced celery

Raw vegetables : 2 cups diced onions, 2 cups diced
green tomatoes, 2 cups diced green peppers and 2  cups
unpeeled cucumbers.    Let raw ingredients stand over
night in a brine of 1 quart water and ½ cup salt.
Drain in the morning .

Take 4 cups vinegar, 4 cups sugar, 2 teaspoons mustard
seed, add raw vegetables and  boil 3 minutes.
Add cooked vegetables, bring to a boil and seal. 

Nancy Skoglund of Cambridge MN (Dad grew up in the Cambridge area)

I do remember that  Mom used a food grinder with a coarse blade instead of chopping all the vegetables by hand.

So much for Muriel's memories of the canning chores. When you go to the grocery store to purchase your fresh produce, canned or  frozen fruits, vegetables, soups, chicken all cut up so you don't have to butcher it, meals all prepared to put into the microwave or oven, remember all the hard work. 

 
Whether our food is home-grown or store-bought ready to eat, when we sit down at our tables to partake of  the bounty we are privileged to enjoy, let us all remember to be thankful.