Author Archives: mnliving

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The Cost of 2014 Winter

Flourish Where You're Planted

Winter in Minnesota Winter in Minnesota In Minnesota, it is traditional to not think about the winter until around Halloween. You’ve enjoyed a great spring with luscious and well manicured green grasses everywhere you go, from the big cities, to small towns and even farm houses in the countryside. Spring is irresistible in Minnesota. Having grown up in a farming family, I have always loved the soft rain showers of spring.

The summer has its own beautiful allures. We all enjoy the jollity of grilling our corn and brats. Summer brings friends and neighbors together. Couples can even have their own night outs with the grills on the porch. After summer comes the fall. Fall reveals beautiful foliages cascading almost every community. Labor Day almost always tells us summer has ended. We file to the State Fair Grounds in St Paul in throngs, the last day of a 10-Day jamboree! And the day…

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It was November, and I was afraid

Winter in Minnesota from a non native perspective.

Andrea Reads America

Teepee art shanty on frozen lake in Minnesota on andreareadsamerica.com Teepee art shanty on frozen lake in Minnesota

“November was here, and it frightened her because she knew what it brought – cold upon the valley like a coming death, glacial wind through the cracks between the cabin logs.” – Eowyn Ivey, The Snow Child

When we left Florida on November 1, 2009 to make the drive north to Minnesota, our station wagon packed so full of belongings that we couldn’t see out the back windows, the grass was lush and green, butterflies flitted at the mouths of hibiscus blooms, and the air conditioner was running in my in-laws’ Sarasota home. When we arrived in St. Paul four days later, the world was brown and grey, and bony branches rattled in the cold breath that chilled the city. We wore hats, coats, and gloves when we stepped out of the car onto our new driveway.

Once we unpacked our moving…

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