Opinion

Let’s kick off this week’s column with our community artist in residence Leah Cook’s report from a horse stall at the Lee Mar Ranch’s Trick or Treat event on Sunday, October 30th: “Our decorated stall was like the best miniature prom-box ever, with swags of glittery blue and orange tulle, dinosaurs in eye-popping, shiny or glittery colors, the enormous Wonder Beast sculpture-in-progress made by the ag welding class, a Wonder- Box in progress with freshwater mussels and sequined curtains, and an enormous tub of candy. The door count reported handing out over 200+ trick or treating bags. We lost count after the first 30 minutes.

After my knee surgery, I knew it would be important to create some new routines to have to follow in my time of recovery. One of my favorites was that after work each day, I would crutch into my PT studio (aka the guest bedroom) and turn on Jeopardy to accompany my exercises.

I don’t spend a lot of time on television - whether it be television shows, or movies. I’ve shocked people with my lack of knowledge about classic movies -having never watched most of them.

The evening is coming when children, and I use that term “children” loosely, will come to my door, dressed in costumes that range from cute to the macabre to the barely there. These little people will hold their bag of candy/loot in front of me, and utter the phrase “Trick or Treat”.

While I’m still plowing through my most chaotic month of the year, I’ve come to the realization that sometimes happiness is really ten minutes in the sun with a cup of coffee, away from all devices of contact. It can be pretty easy to find yourself overwhelmed quite suddenly without realizing it’s happening. My moment came after a long weekend of photography work, with a full day of wedding photography followed by a day of photographing milestones for toddlers.

Fear Not October is the month where everyone tries to scare me. They plant ghosts and goblins and witches and skeletons in their front yard.

Volkfest Warning: This column, starting with the title, will require some German. Even if you’re just reading silently, feel free to mispronounce them in your head.

We’re getting closer to the Great Minnesota Cook-Off, thus I’ve been working on plans, and organizing, hoping for a good turnout and a fun event for all. As I’ve been preparing I’ve been thinking about what kinds of things we really exclusively call Minnesotan. It was Betsy at Bluenose Gopher Public House that brought to my attention that we really refer to certain desserts as “bars” as a Minnesota thing. I had no idea.