This past weekend was a lot of fun. I had significant events on both Friday and Saturday, and I was rather torn over which should be the subject of my collage. I decided to not decide, because both events had a common theme (if you squint): they were both first-time events.

On Friday, I had my first big event for my Year of Adventure: my friends Dăna and Scott took me turkey hunting! Here is Dăna's report:

Peg accomplished her first Birthday adventure with Scott and me today - at her request, we took her wild turkey hunting! 🦃 We met her at the Cannon Falls exit around 4:30 am, and she followed us to our friend Keith’s farm and to just inside the edge of the woods to our parking spot.

Peg donned the camouflage clothing we brought for her and off we went, hiking across the bottomlands fields and up to the top of the bluff, with gear in hand. We climbed into Keith’s turkey blind and Scott set up our Tom and Hen decoys about 25 yards into the corn field. It was too warm for gobbles unfortunately and no turkeys showed up. The winds were ridiculous (sustained winds of 26 mph with gusts up to 46 mph!!) and blew our Tom over a couple times so we put him away and left just our hen out. A beautiful coyote cut across the field and disappeared into the woods on the other side - that was super fun! Our highlight came when Peg pointed out a Peregrine Falcon that stooped on our hen decoy, pulling up just inches away!! We wonder what would have happened if it carried our and decoy off with it. We do not know anyone who has had an experience like that! A once in several lifetime experience! Strong winds had torn a roof section out of Keith's nylon blind last night so we had a skylight to watch that falcon through. Perfect! The barred owls were calling boisterously. A red-tailed hawk flew overhead. But no turkeys. We moved down to the bottomlands again mid-morning. The songbirds calls were beautiful and some wildflowers and ferns were blooming and were magnificent! We showed Peg a new bird ID app called Merlin (Cornell Lab of Ornithology - it's free and very fun - check it out!) Peg was delighted with it!

We moved back up top and sat under a big cedar tree next to Keith's wildlife food plot. Unfortunately we spooked a turkey while getting in there, but at least Peg saw a wild turkey, albeit running away!!

At 10 am it was time for Peg to go and prep food for tomorrow's baby shower for Fiona and Alona.

We had a fun morning even though the turkeys didn't cooperate! Peg was a trooper and was interested in everything. She even tried her hand at using a slate turkey call to call to the turkeys!!

What a fun way to celebrate Peg's birthday! We all had a great time! And Peg tried something totally new! Great job!

As Dăna said, I had to leave the hunt early because of the other big weekend event: a baby shower for Fiona and Alona's baby (my first grandchild). Alona's dad and stepmom hosted, and her mom and stepdad were there, too. Alona's sister Mary is also pregnant, and so it was a double shower, with many beautiful gifts for both couples. The sweater that Alona is holding in the collage was handmade by her mother Nancy. There was also a gorgeous handmade quilt (a bookcase with a cat) and several beautifully crocheted blankets. We served brunch for everyone, and I think a wonderful time was had by all.

Image description: The collage is divided into two triangular portions. On the left side, a woman (Peg) smiles at the camera, dressed in camo in the dawn light. A pair of binoculars is slung around her neck. Overlaid over her is a peregrine falcon making a dive, talons outstretched. Lower right corner: a Tom turkey decoy. On the right side, two women (Alona, seated, and Fiona standing behind her) smile at the camera. Alona is holding a hand-knit red baby sweater with intricate cabling detail.

First Time

20 First Time

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Current Mood: excited

I am sure there is no suspense whatsoever about what this week's collage would be about.

The wedding, as I said in my last post, was lovely and touching. Although they hadn't coordinated it at all, Fiona and Alona both mentioned the same point when exchanging their vows. Each had experienced heartache in the past from partners who had refused to put them first. That was why this was such a joyful day because both knew that they would always be first in the eyes and the heart of one another.

There was an interesting variation in the promises made when they exchanged rings. They had purchased beautiful rings for one another, but in the lines of the service, each promised to wear the rings 'on my hand or over my heart.' It wasn't until a couple of days later that I figured it out: Fiona is going to enter a career as a plumber. For reasons of safety, she is not allowed to wear any rings on her hand while she is on the job. I can only presume that she will wear the ring, when it is not on her hand, strung on a necklace around her neck.

Unfortunately, one picture I failed to capture during the day was of their handfasting ribbons, so I went out looking for photographs of handfasting ribbons in blue, green, and brown. I found the photo used in this collage, but the ribbons were blue, green, and purple. I learn something every time I make one of these collages--I feel rather smug that I figured out how to change the purple ribbon to brown.

I also took care with the Hebrew translation of 'I choose you' (Alona is Jewish). I checked with a friend who confirmed the construction of the sentence as it would be spoken to a woman, rather than the text that Google Translate gave me, which would be spoken to a man. I'm glad I took the trouble to double-check.

Image description: Two women (Alona and Fiona) stand smiling on their wedding day with an officiant (Jory). their hands clasped in front of a fireplace decked with flowers. At the top center of the collage in English and bottom center in Hebrew are the words "I choose you." The Hebrew words overlay an arrangement of handfasting ribbons in blue, green, and brown.

Wedding

8 Wedding

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Current Mood: happy

When I came downstairs this morning, this was the picture that was on display in the digital frame that Fiona and Alona gave me for Christmas. Seeing it gave me a great deal of comfort, as if it were a sign that Rob was sending his love.

Picture of Rob holding Fiona in a digital picture frame

I was pretty pleased with my appearance. I think I polished up pretty well.

The wedding was in a lovely private club in Summit Avenue in St. Paul. Delia was Fiona’s attendant and in fact walked with her down the aisle.

I didn’t take very many pictures during the ceremony because I was using my phone to record the ceremony. Fiona and Alona wrote their own very moving vows. They incorporated a hand fasting braided cord (blue, green, and brown), and seven meditations on love from various writers. At the end, they both stomped on a cloth-covered glass and we all cried ‘Mazel Tov!’

There were hors d'oeuvres and cake and champagne, music and conversation and dancing. There was a lot of joy. Alona’s sister Mary and Delia gave moving speeches.

It was a wonderful day. I am delighted with my new daughter-in-law and overjoyed by this new addition to our family.

Edited to add: Check out the mood icon. For once, this line from Pride and Prejudice is absolutely perfect.

Current Mood: happy

Sometimes I'm really pleased with my collages, as I was with last week's offering, Fragile.

This week's effort, however, is one of the ones where the collage seems so lame, so bereft of imagination or creativity or anything interesting to contribute that I'm actually embarrassed to post it. But I've spent much too much time tinkering with this one trying to get it right, and although I perceive it as a failure (or at the very least uninspiring), I'm not willing to spend any more time on it. As I pointed out last week, I have very little margin right now for expending extra effort.

Fiona and Alona along with someone I met for the first time, Jake, came over last weekend to help spackle and paint my staircase and upper hallway. Jake is 6'8", which turned out to be exceedingly handy for a project like this. I've barely ever done any wall repair or painting in my house in the thirty-plus years that I've lived in it for the simple reason that for most walls, there are bookcases in the way. Not, however, in the staircase or hallway, and the shabby peeling paint gave me almost physical pain every time I passed by. Everything now looks MUCH better.

(I also realize that part of the problem was that I was so busy spackling and painting that I didn't stop to take pictures, so I have less material to work with).

Many thanks to Jake and the Onas. They deserved a better collage for their efforts, but alas, I cannot deliver. Sorry.

Image description: Two photographs of a staircase from two different angles are superimposed over each other. Foreground shows the staircase from the side. A woman (Fiona) stands on the stairs behind the railing. Background shows the view looking up the staircase. Lower right corner: a can of spackle, a can of paint, and a paintbrush.

Staircase

23 Staircase

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I could do another post about the unnamed life overhaul project that has been preoccupying me lately, but I'm not interested in yet another annoyingly cryptic post this week. Yes, I'm still working on this, but instead, this week's collage project is about the trip that Alona, Fiona, and I took to a tea shop to belatedly celebrate my birthday. Ordinarily, we would go to Cafe Latte in St. Paul, but alas, they discontinued their afternoon tea when the pandemic hit, and they do not plan to resume. So we took a drive to Northfield, MN, where we tried Cottage Tea Room and Fare and we were entirely pleased with the experience.

Image description: The image is surrounded by a gold flourish frame. At the top are the words "Cottage Tea Room and Fare." Three smiling women are gathered around a tea table. A three-tier stand in the center carries flower-decked foods for afternoon tea (scones, tea sandwiches, cake). Lower left corner: a rack of glass canisters labeled with various tea blends.

Teashop

19 Teashop

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Current Mood: happy

I had a much more complex vision for this collage and am frustrated by my inability to capture it. I don't have time to try to mess with it anymore, so I am finishing with something simpler. Actually, this is one of the first times that in reality, I wanted to create a collage in video.

I have been thinking about all the connections I have--to people, to businesses, to groups, to communities. This week, I have been thinking about how so many of those connections that supported me have felt as though they have been frayed, damaged, or even cut.

My vision for this collage was a woman's hands holding a bunch of ropes, which would be labeled. Some ropes would be fraying. Two of the thickest ropes would be cut: Rob. Kij. There would be shears attacking some of the ropes, also labeled (Death. Aging. Indifference. Pandemic.) I even wanted to put in a flaming torch burning some of the ropes, labeled Murder of George Floyd.

I've been thinking about this as I've been readying to go to Minicon, feeling in my gut that it's just not the same. Rob isn't there. The girls aren't coming anymore. Many friends have fallen away. It just isn't what it used to be in the glory days.

This sounds depressing, I know. But the reason I felt the impulse to create this collage in video is that I also saw new ropes coming in to add support to the dangling woman. Eric. Chris (Delia's boyfriend). Alona (Fiona's fiancé). Zoom coffee group. New rituals. New community. New adventures. New joys. The hope of grandchildren.

I think that our challenge as we age is that we grieve the connections that are naturally lost with the passage of time. Some people don't manage to move beyond this, and so their lives get smaller and smaller as they grow older. My mom and my late dad, on the other hand, have been superb role models for me because they kept reaching out for new experiences as they aged.

They showed me that we have to resist apathy and make genuine efforts to keep reaching out and making new connections. New friends. New families connections. New rituals.

I am going to Minicon this weekend. I will see old friends, even though I will miss certain faces.

Background: sky at sunset overlaid with a net. left: a cut rope tied off with a knot. Center: a woman's hands hanging onto a rope. Right: a rope nearly cut through (a pair of shears is poised at the frayed portion)

Tether

14 Tether

Click here to see the 2023 52 Card Project gallery.

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So, I have big, happy news:

Fiona is engaged!!!

I knew that this has been in the works for a while--they told me when they got the rings together, a couple of weeks ago. They chose puzzle rings, from a vendor at the Renaissance Festival (Fiona's has a diamond, and Alona's is plain).

"So are you officially engaged now?" I asked Fiona.

"I know Alona is scheming," she replied.

Her partner Alona proposed this past Sunday evening on her (Alona's) birthday. I highly approved of the results of Alona's scheming: it was the most adorable fannish proposal ever. Alona commissioned a hoodie for Fiona (Fiona LOVES hoodies) with the AO3 tags that apply to their relationship. Fiona, of course, said yes! (Alona got the same hoodie for herself, so they can match. Adorable.)

Their collective name for themselves is "the Onas." More adorableness.

I love my new daughter-in-law to be, and I am absolutely convinced that Rob would have loved her, too (unfortunately, he never had the opportunity to meet her).

Image description: Bottom center, headshot of two smiling women (Fiona, left, Alona right) facing the camera, heads tilted toward one another. Center: Alona (left) and Fiona (right) sit facing each other, holding hands. Alona looks a little nervous and Fiona is smiling [this is the actual proposal. Thanks to Drew for recording it for posterity]. Between their heads is a close-up of a diamond puzzle ring on a hand. Top center: white lowercase letters on a red background read "u-haul lesbians, mutual pining, and they were roommates, fake dating, there was only one bed, slow burn, idiots to wives."

Engaged!

40 Engaged

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Peg Kerr's Journal

The Holy Tree Grows Within the Heart

2025 52 Card Project: Week 20: First Time

2024 52 Card Project: Week 8: Wedding

Fiona’s wedding day

2023 52 Card Project: Week 23: Staircase

2023 52 Card Project 2023: Week 19: Teashop

2023 52 Card Project: Week 14: Tether

52 Card Project 2022: Week 40: Engaged!

Fiona is engaged!!!

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June 2025

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