Many years ago, settlers in the Trufant, Michigan, area cleared the trees from the land in order to plant and harvest their fields. Stumps of the trees were turned upside down with the roots grotesquely reaching upward and forming very effective "stump fences" around the fertile land. And if you visit Trufant today you will see from the welcoming signage that the small town has proclaimed itself "The Stump Fence Capital." There are few of the original fences left and residents proudly display stumps (roots up, of course) in their yards, usually complemented by a flourish of colorful flowers in the summer. I have explained this to Tom. I don't think he gets it. . his comment was . . "Everyplace has to have something," noting the "garlic capitol" and various other communities promoting their favorite oddity. The stumps have always been an interesting creation of nature's beauty to me . I really like them. . . .But then Tom has only seen them in the bleak winter setting. . . . flowers help. :)
When all is said and done, life is about memories. Today was a day of beautiful memories, celebrating the 90th birthday of my late husband's mother, together with Tom and the family and friends that had been so much of my life for so many years. Today was good ...well worth the drive, whatever the distance. SF
Can't resist adding a comment on the building the birthday celebration was held in, the Trufant Community Center. It was originally built to house the Danish Brotherhood Society, a part of the Danish Brotherhood of America. The Trufant lodge hearkens back to the early 1900s, when there was a heavy concentration of Danes in that area. One of Sandy's brother-in-laws recalled when they used to have ebleskiver parties there ... little Danish popovers that I remember from my childhood in northern Wisconsin. The lodge building is a wonderful, warm meeting-place with lots of character and heritage. It also reminded me of how strong those ethnic identities still were in my youth in northern Wisconsin ... there was the Swedish Lutheran Church, the Norwegian Lutheran Church, the Danish Lutheran Church ... I've even heard of an Estonian Lutheran Church near Gleason, WI, and a Finnish Lutheran Church south of Ashland, WI. All descendants, I guess, of the national churches in the countries the settlers came from. Rambling ... more memories ... a pleasant detour on our trip to Corpus Christi. tv (The pic should be with this paragraph, but this technically inept old goat can't figure out how to link the photo with the text. My apologies. tv)
2 comments:
Re Estonian Church: the small wood frame building (think country school size) was still standing about 5 years ago, but in poor condition. I'm pretty sure it's located on Hwy. J, east of Hwy 17 (east out of Bloomville) one or two miles, on the south side of the road, but in a few hundred feet and behind willow/alder brush. There used to be a small sign there.
Yes, as I recall it was on or next to classmate Jay Eaton's dad's property.
Post a Comment