Category: Life

How Can You Not See God

On By Erickson's HeirloomsIn LifeLeave a comment

Wow what a glorious day!!

It was 88 degrees today (after 80 yesterday), and I spent most of the day working in my yard and cul de sac. Just twelve days ago, we had a blizzard in MN, but now spring seems to have arrived. While working in my yard, I was listening to some music. My current favorite song:

How Can You Not - Leanna Crawford

I see his goodness
When I fall down
And his grace that picks me up
Every day I can’t stop singing
Hallelujah
[Chorus]
How can you not see God
In every little thing
In every little moment
How can you not feel loved
How can you not
How can you not

I see the sun rise in the morning
And a million stars at night
I hear the birds, they can’t stop singing
HallelujahCause He’s in the middle of
Every little thing
And every little moment
How can you not see God
How can you not
How can you not[Verse 2]
I see the sunset and I wonder
If He paints it just for me
Nobody else could make a world so beautiful
How could I question his love when
It’s everywhere I go
Wherever I look I find another miracle[Chorus]
How can you not see God
In every little thing
In every little moment
How can you not feel loved
How can you not
How can you not

I first heard this song on a road trip to Arizona. Needing to move my mother (for the third time in seven months), I had two long days of driving down and two long days of driving back. While I normally listen to audiobooks when driving long distances, each day I did take a break from the books near the end of my driving and listen to songs on the radio. This song played at sunset on two of my days of driving, once on the way down and again on my return trip. The beauty of the sunset emphasized the awesomeness of God’s creation.

My mother is settled and happy in her new apartment. I am pleased that many of the deficits she suffered when she had a stroke last summer have been healed and she can live independently once again.

After returning to Minnesota, I had a day to do laundry and repack for a vacation on Singer Island in Florida. Sunshine and 80 degrees was really nice!

On April 1st, while my son was back in MN shoveling out from another snow storm, I went for a walk on the beach.

I again heard Leanna Crawford’s song on the radio. While enjoying the beauty of the waves and sunshine, I was again reminded of God’s marvelous creation.

Each day, I marvel at God’s creation. From the pair of owls that perched on our deck, to the flowers popping up in my front yard, to the sunrise when I wake up early in the morning – everything around us reminds us of God!!

Easter Celebration

On By Erickson's HeirloomsIn LifeLeave a comment

At Easter, we have a lot to celebrate. When my boys were younger, they would search for Easter eggs and their baskets, usually in the house, but occasionally the weather was nice enough to be outside. This tradition was a lot of fun. But, even more special was attending Easter services at our church. While they may not have always sat quietly when they were young, I still had tremendous joy in being there together to celebrate.

You may think that it is strange for me to enjoy celebrating that a man died. To understand this joy, you first need to understand why Jesus had to die. He died for our sins and the sin of this world. In the world there is a lot of suffering, brokenness and pain caused by our sin. God sent Jesus to the world because he loves us and wants to save us from our sins.  This is God’s gift of grace to you this Easter. 

As we approach Easter Sunday, I hope that you too will celebrate Him with praise, love and thanksgiving for what he has done on the cross for us.

Happy New Year!

On By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Holidays, LifeLeave a comment

It’s that time of year again where people look forward to the year ahead and make plans for things that they want to accomplish and/or change in the upcoming year. Once again, I am looking back over my year and trying to focus on the good things of the year. As with everyone, there have been some not so good times this past year. I could criticize myself for my failures this year. And, there have been many. Here are some fun examples:

Cinnamon Bread Bubble
Fused Glass Meltdown
3D print failure “Spaghetti”

But, there have also been many wonderful times this year. So, instead of focusing on my failures, I will focus on my successes.

While another year of listening to “The Bible in a Year” has come to an end, I will be continuing this daily activity. This past year, I added a couple of reference books to look up information about the readings. If you haven’t checked out Father Mike’s podcast, I would strongly recommend it. He has a great way of making biblical readings very relevant to today’s world.

At the beginning of the year, I sorted through my family recipes and put together a list of recipes that I thought my adult sons would enjoy having. Throughout the year, I made each of the recipes and took photos of the result. Then, using the Create My Cookbook website, I had professionally printed cookbooks made for each of my sons. These cookbooks turned out very nice and I hope the boys will enjoy them for many years to come.

I have made many crafts this year, and have taken photographs with the intent of writing a blog about each of them. I’ve probably got about 20 posts that I should have already written up, but have not yet done. I have, however, completed 26 blog postings this year. So, that works out to one every other week and I am happy with that.

My original intent with this blog was to provide a means for my mother, who lives out of state, to follow along with my crafting activities. Unfortunately her eyesight has deteriorated and she no longer reads my blog. Over the past year I have thought about giving up on blogging and just doing my crafts. But, then I will receive a really lovely email from someone, I do not know, who has read a post and was thankful for the details that I included. That makes me realize that perhaps someone is benefiting from what I write about. Hopefully this year I will get some more of my projects written up. If not, I will still enjoy making my crafts and trying new techniques.

I have continued to keep a journal of my daily accomplishments. I expanded upon this a bit this year by adding notes about things I have read and including ideas about crafts that I am thinking about. This has been a tremendous resource. I have all my ideas in one place. When I actually start to work on a new project, I can pull out my journal and review my notes. So, now I have my accomplishments as well as my ideas recorded. Looking back over the year, I realize that it’s been a productive year and I thank God for my family, my health and my happiness.

As we start 2023, I pray that each of you will have a happy and healthy year and that you will continue to find the glory in God’s creation and the joy in his marvelous love.

Fall Colors, Fall Fun and a few Fall Glass Projects

On By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Fall Colors, Fused glass, Life, Travel1 Comment

Last year, I took a trip to Colorado to see the fall colors in the Rocky Mountains with one of my sons. Unfortunately, we were about a week too late – while the scenery was still beautiful, we dealt with snow and cold.

This year we decided to do our fall color drive about ten days earlier. The fall colors were lovely, as was the weather. The day that I arrived in CO was cold and rainy, so after having a tasty dinner at Sauce on the Blue in Silverthorne, we drove to our villa in Vail. The next day, after waiting for the weather to clear, we left around noon and drove Buffalo Pass through the Medicine Bow and Routt National Forests. On day two, we drove the Top of the Rockies National Scenic Byway. This drive took us from Leadville, over Independence Pass to Aspen for a late lunch. On our third day, we drove the Grand Mesa Scenic Byway and continued south to Ouray, CO. Here we found the Box Canon Park, a mineral hot springs that is tapped and piped to the city pool. On our last day, leaving the mountains, we drove Guanella Pass before I needed to head to the airport and return home to MN. It was a lovely trip enjoying time with my son and God’s wonderful creation.

Last Friday, October 14th, we awoke to snow falling in MN. While it was lovely to see, I was not quite ready for “winter” weather.

Later that day, I left for a weekend getaway to Gull Lake with a few friends. What a wonderful time of conversation (and CE) we had.

Since I am writing about fall, I am including a couple glass projects that I completed this year.

Napkin Holder – made with twisted copper wire, sheet glass and leaf shaped murrini.

Dessert Plates – made with copper Mica, iridized glass cut into shapes of leaves and glass frit.

Tree Votive Holder – made with glass strips / coarse frit slumped over a metal votive form

Wishing everyone a Happy Fall!

Fine, Feathered Friends, and a Garden Update

On By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Landscaping, LifeLeave a comment

No, I am not talking about the Tom and Jerry Cartoon from 1942.

Nor am I talking about the book about birds in the Cat In the Hat series.

I am actually talking about a family of cardinals in my yard.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that every time I used by side porch door to go outside, a female cardinal would fly out of the evergreen adjacent to my porch.

Upon close inspection, I discovered a nest with six eggs.

The female cardinal was very protective of the nest and I did not want to disturb her. My photos were taken by using the zoom on my phone from a distance, or through the window of my dining room.

While I am not sure exactly which day the eggs were laid, eleven days after I first saw the nest, I discovered that the eggs were hatching.

The baby birds continued to grow, with both parents bringing them food. Unfortunately, the adult cardinals were too fast for me to take photos of them, but I was able to document the growth of the hatchlings for the past week.

Today, the family flew away. I was again unable to get a photo, but it was fun watching the last of the baby birds fly away. I don’t think they will come back to the nest in my evergreen, but I enjoyed watching them while they were there.

And, while I am sharing some photos, here are some photos showing the progress of my raised bed gardens. Everything is growing nicely without the neighborhood “critters” getting into the garden.

I found some really cute metal black cat silhouettes on-line that I mounted along the edge of the garden beds. These remind me of our cat, Onyx, who passed away last November. Now when I am in my yard or working in the garden, I have a reminder of her to look at.

My lettuce, arugula, spinach and broccoli that are growing in planters on my deck are also doing well.

And, the potatoes planted along my patio are also growing well.

I am already enjoying the salad greens and look forward to harvesting more produce over the next couple of months.

Building Raised Beds for Gardening

On By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Food, Landscaping, LifeLeave a comment

Fall is a lovely time of the year in Minnesota. This year is no exception – we have had some delightful weather so far.

Unfortunately, fall also marks the end of the garden growing season. Over the lasts couple months, I have enjoyed eating fresh home grown tomatoes, peppers, carrots, cucumbers, beans, spinach, arugula and various herbs.

Before the rain fell today, I cleaned out most of the vegetables I had been growing. In years past, I had tried growing my vegetables in my yard but with no success. The deer, turkeys, rabbits and squirrels really enjoyed eating at the “Erickson Salad Bar”. So, the past couple of years, my garden has been limited to containers on my deck. While a fence would be useful to keep the critters from eating my vegetables, our neighborhood HOA rejected my original request made several years ago to install garden fencing in my back yard.

Planning ahead to next year, I really want to increase my garden space. I sketched out an idea for a couple raised beds to build on the side of my yard. Luckily the leadership of our HOA has changed in recent years and I my plans were approved. Over Labor Day weekend, I was able to construct these raised beds.

The daylilies and brick edging in the area were removed.
The boxes were built with 2″ x 12″ x 8 feet pressure treated lumber (each of these weighed 60 lb!). Each box was 4 feet wide and lined with landscape fabric and the corners were reinforced with metal raised bed brackets.
The brick lawn edging was replaced and the boxes were filled with a mix of garden soil, compost and sand.
Framing for fencing built with 2″x2″ pressure treated boards.
Rabbit fencing was added to framing. Hopefully this will keep all of the critters out of my vegetables.
A door on each box allows access to the planting bed.
The garden beds receive lots of morning sunshine.
And get some nice shade in the afternoon.

Now I just have to wait eight months to be able to plant!

#NeverForget

On By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Family, Holidays, LifeLeave a comment

2 decades ago

20 years ago

240 months ago

1043 weeks ago

7300 days ago

175200 hours ago

One day that changed our lives.

Sitting in my craft room, watching the broadcasts of the remembrance of the attacks twenty years ago, I am probably doing what many Americans are doing – thinking back on that day.

Twenty years ago, September 11th was a Tuesday. Being my day off, I went for a run after our nanny had arrived for the day. Just as I was leaving, I heard a report on the radio station that I was listening to that a plane had hit the one of the towers of the World Trade Center, but the reporters stated that the cause was unknown. A while later, while running, the radio station reported that another plane had hit the other tower. This could not have been an accident.

I think I probably ran faster than I have ever done in order to get home. The scenes on television were unforgettable.

I thank God for our military and law enforcement who have kept our country free from major terror attacks since that day. Twenty years later, the buildings have been rebuilt and most people have gone on with their lives. But, our lives were changed by that day.

2 millennia ago

20 centuries ago

Nearly 200 decades ago

Nearly 2000 years ago

726, 266 days ago

One day that changed our everything!

Sitting in my craft room, I am also struck by the events that happened on April 3, 0033. This is the estimated date of Christ’s crucifixion (https://www.christianpost.com/news/new-study-reveals-exact-date-jesus-was-crucified-scientists-claim.html).

There are no videos to remind us of that event. But, I thank God who gave his son on that day to keep my life free from the ravages of sin. Two thousand years later, people continue to gone on with their lives. But, our lives were changed by that day.

God Bless Each of You and God Bless America!

The Great Minnesota Get “Back” Together

On By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Crochet, Flowers, Fused glass, Life, Minnesota State Fair, Quilting, Scrap Quilt, Weaving, Wood workingLeave a comment

Each year, I enjoy going the the Minnesota State Fair, viewing the artistry of the creative activities entries, as well as entering a couple quilts in the competition. In 2020, I was disappointed when the fair was cancelled.

This year, I had originally thought that I would not be able to enter any quilts in the competition. Having a trip to Colorado scheduled during the drop off days for the creative activities, I was at first unsure how I would be able to enter. About a week prior to our trip, I learned that I could drop off entries at the fair office during early drop off days before leaving on our trip.

After entering, I was still hesitant to attend the fair due to the increase in Covid cases. However, with the attendance numbers on previous days being down, I decided to go this morning. Being there from 8 to 11am, the number of people that were there was pretty small. The weather was cool and it was an enjoyable morning.

Things that I did not do:

  • Utilize a Park & Ride bus – to avoid the crowds of people on the buses, I left home early morning and was able to find parking in a lots across the street from one of the fair entrances.
  • Eat Fair Food – I usually avoid the fair food, so this was nothing new for me.
  • Ride any amusement in the Mighty Midway
  • Do any shopping in the Market areas.

Things that I did do:

  • Wore a mask and avoided crowds
  • Arriving early, I walked through several of the animal and 4H exhibits prior to the other buildings opening
  • Enjoyed the artistry in the Creative Activities building, including quilting, weaving, crochet and woodworking
  • Enjoyed the flora of the fair, a much overlooked aspect of the fairgrounds

Animals:

Creative Activities – My entries:

My hexagon quilt received a third place ribbon. The quality of the entries this year was amazing. So, I am pleased with a third place finish.
My miniature doll quilt, made with hand dyed fabrics received a second place ribbon. This was a huge surprise to me. I only entered this quilt as a whim at the last minute, the quilt was never intended to be entered into a competition.
The Twin Cities Skyline wall quilt that I made for a friend did not place. However, it is displayed in a very prominent location at the entrance to the Creative Activities Building. I will be interested to read the comments from the judge when I pick it up next week.

Creative Activities – Noah’s Ark: My absolute favorite of all of the creative activities entries that I saw today!

Creative Activities – Other Quilting:

Creative Activities – Weaving:

Creative Activities – Others:

Butter Sculptures of the Fair Princesses:

Flora of the State Fair:

Let The Adventure Begin!

On By Erickson's HeirloomsIn LifeLeave a comment

Today was my last day of work. I am now officially retired!

When thinking about today, one of the things I had planned to do was to have my own playlist of songs to listen to at work. I figured that it was my last day – so, if there were complaints about my music choices, it really wouldn’t matter since I would not be returning to work at the office again. Well, unfortunately, I forgot that my new phone does not have an audio port. And, our office audio system did not have a lightning plug. So, unfortunately, I was unable to play my selected songs.

On my way home, I did start listening to the songs on my list. One of those songs was “Dear Younger Me” by Mercy Me.

When hearing this song today, it prompted me to think about what advice I wish I had been given when I were younger. These thoughts fell into several categories, one being professional advice I would have appreciated hearing when I was younger. After thinking about it a while, I decided to write my thoughts down and post them on a forum for other Pediatric Dentists. Here is what I wrote:

After five years of planning for my retirement, and then a five month delay due to Covid, my last day of work is finally over. Leaving work today, I felt the joy I would have when heading into a week of vacation. It probably won’t really sink in for another week or two that this is more than a vacation. To my long term friends and colleagues in academia and in private practice, thanks for the many good times and I hope there are many more to come. To my colleagues in the middle of their careers, don’t let crabby over demanding parents get you down. Don’t fret over treatment outcomes that are dependent upon things out of our control. Don’t let hypocritical colleagues and/or partners make you feel any less of yourself. For my colleagues who are at the start of your careers, don’t let your finances dictate your happiness. The adage “money doesn’t buy happiness” is very true. Treasure the small victories in your day and leave your frustration behind. Do yourself a favor, find a hobby or two (or more) to give yourself a mental break and creative diversion from work. To all of you, make each day great, look for the good in every experience and in everyone you meet. And, most importantly, thank God for the many blessings he has given you.

I was extremely surprised to see the response my words had. Many younger colleagues commented that they appreciated my words of encouragement and advise. I’m glad someone will benefit from my thoughts!

I now look ahead to what the future will bring. This is truly the first time in my life that I do not have things planned out. Yes, I have lots of things to keep me busy. Yes, I will still keep doing my various hobbies. But, it’s kind of strange to look at my calendar not have my career dictating my schedule. I appreciate everyone who has made an impact on my life and my career. And, I do look forward to figuring out this next phase of my life.

Pam’s Retirement Playlist
Ain’t Got Far To Go – Jordan Smith
At Last – Etta James
Dear Younger Me – MercyMe
Deep Enough To Dream – Chris Rice
Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey
Done – The Band Perry
Even If – MercyMe
God of Wonders – Third Day
Goodbye Ordinary – MercyMe
I Dreamed A Dream – Susan Boyle
I Won’t Give Up – Trisha Yearwood
If I Knew Then – Lady A
If Tomorrow Never Comes – Kent Blazy and Garth Brooks
My Way – Frank Sinatra
Never Going Back Again – Fleetwood Mac
New Lease on Life – MercyMe
Oceans(Where Feet May Fail) – Hillsong United
Postcards from Far Away – Coldplay
Teach Your Children Well – Jeff Healey
The Very Next Thing – Casting Crowns
Unchained Melody – Susan Boyle
When We Were Young – Adele