Auburn Manor

Auburn Manor is an attractive assisted living facility in Chaska, Minnesota. Shortly after we arrived on Wednesday, we met Recreation Director Amy Meyers, an energetic lady who immediately hustled to arrange things in the chapel so we could set up our equipment to do our Farm heritage Program for the residents.

As she brought audience members into the chapel, I noticed her enthusiasm for her work and for all of life as she shared moments with other staff members and the residents. You can always tell when people really like what they do, and it showed on Amy.

The residents had a good time listening to the nostalgic details in my stories, 

and they told a few stories of their own after the show.

But our visit to Auburn Manor surprised us in several ways. Not only did staff and residents tell more stories and buy more books than expected, but we also met staff-member Colleen, who is the daughter-in-law of our friend Beverly Hermes. Beverly enthusiastically supports our efforts to preserve farm heritage, and has generously let us use her family photos which were taken as she grew up on a family farm.

Imagine Colleen's surprise when she turned to the dedication page of my latest book, What I Saw on the Farm, and saw the above photograph of Beverly and her sister Bonnie milking Marigold!

Colleen generously consented to have her photo taken with me as I autographed one of her purchases.

Nancy and I  thank Amy Meyers for inviting us to visit Auburn Manor to do my Farm Heritage Program, which included my book, A Farm Country Picnic. 
We also thank all the customers who purchased our books.
You see, for me to achieve my goal of having my books passed on from generation to generation for a hundred years or more, I need people to perform that critical first step of buying them.
Thanks again.

Photographs by Nancy A. Fredrickson

The Rivers Assisted Living

Nancy and I visited The Rivers Assisted Living in Burnsville to do a program on Tuesday, May 24th, an afternoon without rain. It was a nice change to pull my equipment wagon into a show without getting wet.

Residents were playing bingo in  the activity room as we set up for our show.  In the 15-minute break between Bingo and the beginning of my program, I walked around to visit with some of the residents, many of whom grew up in cities and towns but had relatives with farms that they visited as kids.

Alva purchased a book before the show. She and her husband moved here from Brooklyn as a young married couple and raised their family in Minnesota while he worked for 3M.

In the picture below several in the group comment about my use of a clothes pin to clip on the mic.

They agree when I explain that it is typical of 1950 when you didn't buy something(in this case a new clip) if you could make due with what you had.

I conversed with a resident (not pictured) who was legally blind and got around really well, especially for being 95 years old. He pointed out two others in the audience who were blind as well. He told me he would sit close, but when I checked with him after the show, he said all he could see was a blur. He insisted he enjoyed listening to the show and the other two vision-impaired residents seemed to enjoy it too. I could see them smile and hear them laugh.

The audience below sat at tables scattered throughout the activity room. Some of the gents liked to sit way in the back and others liked to sit up close.

They were a great audience and many of them took the time after the show to thank me and chat about their experiences on the farm.

Nancy and I enjoyed our visit to The Rivers and wish to thank Assistant Activities Director Jean Troje for greeting us and showing us where to set up and Activities Director Joe Johnson for inviting us to do the program. We'd also like to thank Heather and Tom Kerber from Beavers Pond Press, Inc. for suggesting us to Mr. Johnson.

Photographs by Nancy A. Fredrickson

Stories at Little Falls, MN

My Aunt Bernice lives in the Alverna Apartments, an assisted living facility in Little Falls. Her friend Claudette Scepaniak called me a few months ago to ask me to do a show for the residents and I was happy to comply, but to make the trip even better, Dorothy Bernardy called me from St. Otto's, a nursing about 100 yards away from Alverna, and arranged for me to do a show there on the same day.

Bernice will be 89 in June. She is 4 years younger than my father, who passed away in 2001.

So on March 16 Nanc and I enjoyed a nice drive to Little Falls. Our first show was at St. Otto's and the staff and residents made us feel really welcome by coming early and asking many really good questions before the show and after the show.

At Alverna (below)they had organized a "little lunch" by having people bring food items. The place smelled so good I could hardly concentrate on the show.

Bernice is in the red sweater above, and near the back of the audience (pictured below) is her son Harvey and his wife Karen, who contributed number of items to the fine lunch we took part in after the show.

Below is a picture of Betty Hovet, who will be 101 this June.

We sold a good number of books and got to hear a few stories from the residents at both places. I love doing my stories for these folks! They may have some difficulties, but they always seem to retain their sense of fun. 

Photographs by Nancy A. Fredrickson

Highview Hills in Lakeville

"When I was a child and we put up loose hay on our farm, my job was to tramp the hay down on the wagon," Mary Olson explains casually to Nancy and me, as she starts to pull up her left sleeve to expose a long scare on the underside of her arm, near her elbow.
"This is where my dad accidentally put the hay fork."

She's grinning so we laugh too.
"Did they take you to a doctor?" I ask, expecting the answer to be negative.
"No," she says.