On the farm

The past couple months have been a whirlwind of selling the house and buying our farm. The only word that comes to mind at the moment to describe that whole process is 'nightmare', but within the realm of possible realities everything went rather well. Ah, oh, except for the discovery of the crack in the chimney in our Ham lake home 2 days before closing, or the detection of carbon monoxide at the farm (from the old water softener) and some other annoyances. I could go on, but considering that the deal could have fallen through altogether we are just happy to be settled in our new home.We have a cozy little 1600 sq ft farm house (1925) with three bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The beauty of these 30 acres is the proximity of all of the outbuildings to the house and the number of buildings in excellent condition. The hoop barn has a new roof, has electricity and running water, and is big enough for a small homesteader such as myself. The pasture is set up with electric fencing and the 10 acres of woods is a short walk from the pasture. I'll be able to harvest wood for heating the house during the winter. The house has a dual heating system, one being the wood boiler and the other propane.

We live 7 minutes from Arlington and 4 minutes from Gaylord. Ironically, we are now closer to town living here in the country than we were to shopping areas in suburban Ham Lake where it would take us 10-15 minutes to get anywhere!

The above photo shows our farm from a distance. It looks rather bleak but we are tucked away in our wooded wind block. Our driveway is a quarter of a mile long (below) and I will have to plow this during the winter! I've already named the plow truck "ball and chain" and will undoubtably write some blogs on the subject in the near future.

We've had a recent snow covering but so far I haven't had to get out the Ball'nChain. When I bought the farm I purchased the owner's 1974 Ford truck with a snow plow on the front. It has chains on the tires and doesn't have any heat but it starts and runs good enough to push snow off of the driveway all winter.

Below is a photo of the chicken house which is located right next to the "tool shed". The chickens are already making themselves at home here and enjoying unhindered access to the pasture and grass.

The lights and heating lamps are all ready to go. My friend Jennifer gave me one of her young laying hens so I'll have some eggs this winter. The other old girls are not in the mood for producing eggs anymore. Hmmm... anyone for chicken soup!

We have become well acquainted with the resident barn cat, Mathias. He has access to the milk room from a small opening in the wall. He is very friendly and we are trying to figure out how to make him a house cat without making Jota a raving, lunatic beast! All we need for that is for Mathias to give him a clawed mouthful and I think our Dane will turn into a wimp.

"Anduvimos Como Los Hijos Que Perdieron signo y Palabra" (La generación de 1973) (*) por Soledad Bianchi

"Last week of freedom for 17 years. Santiago, Chile, Sept 73" by Marcelo Montecino**

I go through René's papers and things a little bit at a time. Two years after his death I am still reading old papers and finding things that I was unaware of when he was alive. Last night I read this article written by one of René's students when he was still a professor in Chile. Soledad Bianchi wrote this article in 1989. She is also a poet. My apologies to those of you who can't read Spanish and would like to read this article. It is about an idealistic generation of Chileans that hoped for so much with the election of Salvador Allende and the aftermath Pinochet's coup in 1973. It is the 36th anniversary of the coup.

En el mismo centro de la década del sesenta, en 1965, yo ingresaba a la universidad. Venía de un colegio particular, católico, de clase media acomodada, pero para continuar mis estudios de Profesora de Castellano había elegido la laica Universidad de Chile y su facultad más combativa y atrayente, el Pedagógico. Hacía sólo un año se había iniciado el gobierno de Eduardo Frei. Desde el Padagógico, la rebeldía, la protesta, la ampliación de mundo, la corrida de barreras mentales, más confianza en el porvenir, los paseos por sus jardines, el estudio, la reforma universitaria, la taza de té de Nicanor Parra con la señora Nixon, la guerra de Vietnam, la muerte del Ché, la Nueva Canción Chilena... Todavía allí, en el mismo Pedagógico, ahora como docente, participé en la elección del Presidente Allende en 1970. Me cuesta pensarme sola en esa época de proyectos colectivos, prolongada hasta que desde esos mismos patios miraríamos desolado el bombardeo de La Moneda, oyendo, impotentes, los rumores más feroces del golpe de estado.

Fin de una etapa y no sólo para mí, brutal cierre de un ciclo para nosotros, ciertos chilenos, algunos chilenos, muchos chilenos, que vivimos nuestra juventud impresa por la marca de la esperanza, del optimismo, de la creencia en un futuro mejor que estaba en nuestras manos variar. Rasgo propio de la juventud, podría pensarse, y tal vez lo sea, así como nuestra generosidad y entrega: queríamos, estábamos seguros y convencidos que lo mejor sería para todos, luchábamos -junto a otros- para que los cambios favorecieran a las mayorías, mucho más allá de nosotros. Quizá esta certeza absoluta era la base de la alegría, la confianza podría verse como el cimiento de cantos, de consignas gritadas a todo pulmón, de desfiles y marchas, de banderas. ¿Irresponsabilidad?, tal vez, pero preñada de amor, humor, desdén, y, ¡ay!, una buena dosis de sectarismo. Y, rápido, mucho color y sol nublándose ese martes 11 de septiembre 1973 cuando quedamos sujetándonos apenas con las uñas de las potentes rocas que nos habíamos negado a percibir en nuestras cercanías, apenas afirmados de ese terreno que se dezlizaba bajo nuestros pies.

Entre la fe ciega, la derrota y la añoranza, asi quedamos situados en un nuevo espacio, ahora ajeno y de otros, aun que obligadamente nuestro, también, a pesar de nuestra diferencia: jóvenes-viejos, ahora: aterrados, derrotados, vencidos y con el desconcierto del corte brutal, del fin abrupto, desconcertados ante este nuevo mundo donde hasta el lenguaje había variado. Obligados a simular indiferencia, constreñidos a olvidar con rapidez, a fingirnos otros sin pasado, con la intención de no olvidar proyectarnos, ¿a dónde, cómo, con qué, con quiénes?

Quince años más tarde, el viernes 7 de octubre de 1988, en medio de la alegría y el bullicio de grupos, entre multitudes, una mujer hierática no sigue la muchedumbre que ingresa al Parque O'Higgins. En sus manos, un cartel: "Humberto F., detenido-desaparecido, saluda el triunfo del NO": ¿cómo no identificarse con ella si cualquiera de nosotros podría haberla reemplazado como mujer, madre, hermana, pariente o amiga de detenido-desaparecido, cómo no reconocerse en ella si una mínima circunstancia podría haber variado el nombre del ausente por alguno de los nuestros? Sobrevivientes, débiles y fuertes, enteros y vacilantes, eso fuimos, eso somos, los que hablaron y los de silencio poderoso, ni héroes ni traidores ni monumentos sino mujeres y hombres rodeados de muertes, violencia, injusticia, exilio, cesantía, resentimiento, sospecha, censuras, desconfianza... y solidaridad. Ahora, más realista, quizá demasiado pragmáticos, no tan creyentes, menos militantes y ojalá menos sectarios, con la amargura de un mundo ido que como todo trayecto vital es imposible de recuperar, con afanes desmitificadores, pero sin olvidar. Y con el desgarro de esa mujer que festejaba el plebiscito desde su dolor, mirar hacia adelante y construir nuevas oportunidades sin negar ni negarnos, nosotros los veteranos del 73.

-Soledad Bianchi

Octubre de 1989

(*) Versos del poema "Cordillera" de Gabriela Mistral

Photograph from

1973, Chile Before and After the Military Coup

Xavier's performance online

As a winner of the Thursday Musical competition Xavier was invited to tape the Villa-Lobos piece for Baby Blue Arts.  If you want to see it online go to http://www.babybluearts.com/ and click on "search artists", then "alphabetical", then type in:  Jara, Xavier.  His is the Villa-Lobos, "Choros".  The Baby Blue Arts site is really cool as it features local artists of all kinds.

Also, I've heard from several friends who didn't get a chance to hear him on the radio when he performed as a the Schubert Club for MPR.  You can hear that here:  Schubert Club holds annual student competition.

A Day with (Great) Aunt Aldora

On Friday the kids and I took a short trip with my parents to visit my aunt Aldora in Wisconsin.   (No doubt from the photos you'll be able to guess that she is my mother's sister.)
                                             Byron, Alice, Xavier, Selena and Aldora Lee.

Xavier and Aldora.  Xavier brought his guitar and played his repertoire for us.  We had a unexpected surprise when Debby Lee came by and visited with us.




Aldora's room.  You might recognize her room from the familiar objects we all remembered from her homes in Rake and Osceola.  There were several incredibly beautiful quilts that she made.



I couldn't help put take a couple shots of the photos!  The kids were thoroughly embarassed...
                                                                Brian and Hanna.
We went to coffee hour and sang some old tunes.  Selena and Xavier had never heard of many of these songs that probably dated back to the 20's and 30's.  Mom and Aldora spent some time chatting instead of singing.

Camping near Chicago

We are on our way to Ithaca, NY for the annual GFA (Guitar Foundation of America) convention.  We found a campsite near Chicago where we set up the tent.  Xavi and I can get this done in less than 10 minutes.  I watched a neighbor RV contraption set up their camp and it took them twice as long!  Next stop:  Caryn and Al's place in Dayton, OH.

Selena finishes another year at ARCC

For Selena, Friday marked the end of another semester at Anoka Ramsey Community College (ARCC) and the last year with the PSEO program (Post Secondary Education Option). She has been taking classes for the last 2 years at ARCC and plans to finish her A.A. next year. After that, only she will know... She's had some interest in transferring to a college in Washington called Evergreen because they have an approach more suited to her unschooling background, but also because of the various programs in environmental studies. Please let me know if you are acquainted with other colleges or universities that are more "unschooly".

Some weeks ago I asked her if she was looking forward to the end of the semester and she replied that, "no, not really". This surprised me a LOT since my own experience as both student and teacher has shown the exact opposite. Most people are happy to get outta-there. Anyway, we've talked some about this and, in general, it's the stimulation of getting out and going to class that she likes and will miss during the summer. There are some things that she really enjoys about taking classes (listening to interesting lectures, reading some of the books and writing papers that she's interested in), and then there are other things that she won't miss (doing small group activities, reading textbooks, and doing book reports on online articles). These categories align with the kind of learner that she has always been; listen, read and write.

Well, school is out but learning continues. Selena has a summer reading list that includes "Don Quijote", "Love in the Time of Cholera (Garcia Marquez), and "House of the Spirits" (Isabel Allende). We'll also be starting Spanish on a daily basis, so maybe she'll be able to read these novels in Spanish someday. (When I was a student in Spain my initial goal was to be able to read "Cien Años de Soledad" in the language that it was written.) Also, she'll be studying for her driver's permit, which she can get without a blue card when she's 18, in August.

Well, that's my Selena! She doesn't always offer things that I can blog (brag!) about so I'm grateful that she allowed me to do so this morning and take her picture.

                                             Selena enjoys a good book with Skippy Lu.

Who are those cuties?

Thank you, Becky, for sharing this photo on your facebook!  Yes, it's Jimmy and Xavier (my nephew Jim) when they were about 4 years old.  It must have been Thanksgiving, 1997.

"A Scottish Fantasy" by MacPhail Guitar Quartet

Xavier is in a wonderful quartet at MacPhail and they have performed this piece several times now. I love this and am capable of listening to it another 100 times.
Xavier put this video on Youtube with the following commentary:

MacPhail Guitar Quartet plays Scottish Fantasy by David Crittenden. Players from left to right: Henry Johnston (12), Xavier Jara (15), Luke Banchy (15), Austin Wahl (16). Coached by Alan Johnston. Taped in Antonello Hall at MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis, MN.

A Scottish Fantasy, is based on several Scottish folk melodies. Some include: Skye boat song, Neil Gow's Lament for the Death of His Second Wife, and more. This was our first performance of the piece. Sorry about the camera quality. I hope you enjoy it.

David Crittenden has a Youtube page were he performs many of his other great compositions. Heres the link: http://www.youtube.com/user/rootandsky

Xavier's MPR interview for the Schubert Club

Last week Xavier was interviewed by Steve Staruch at KJIN (the classical public radio station). He was invited as the Schubert Club winner in guitar and had an opportunity to play all of his competition pieces : Villa Lobos, "Choro" and a Bach Prelude and Allegro. Below is the radio broadcast of the interview, or you can go to: Schubert Club holds annual student competition
at MPR for the online article.

2009 Schubert Club Winner! Congrats Xavi!!

Xavier won the Schubert Club competition! Words do not suffice; I am SO thrilled. And Xavi was smiling all day and continues to beam. We are really happy too that Austin Wahl got 2nd place. (above, Xavier making a call to Alan Johnston with the good news)
Above: David Tramm, Xavier, Nicholas Goluses (finals judge from Eastman), Austin Wahl and Christopher Garwood. All these young guys were finalists and students of Alan Johnston at McPhail.

March and April have been full of competitions and recitals for Xavier. I'm just tired watching him, not to mention the driving that we are doing. Anyway, we are SO thrilled that Xavier made it into the finals of the Schubert Club! Congrats also to the other finalists Christopher, Austin and David Tramm! All of Alan Johnston's students that competed made it into the finals, so this no doubt attests to what a great teacher Alan is.

Thursday Musical Concert

Last night at the winners concert was not my finest hour as a photographer, but it was a little like trying to herd cats. All of the first place winners in violin, piano, voice, clarinet, cello and guitar performed. Some of these high school kids are really incredible! It was a really a high caliber concert.
Xavi and Austin Wahl (fellow classical guitar player and friend).


Christopher Garwood and Xavi are the two high school guitar winners.

Congratulations, Xavier!

On Saturday morning Xavier competed in the Thursday Musical competition. I thought that we had plenty of time to get to the St. Thomas campus, so we got into a conversation in the car about the real estate profession (and other more independent means of making a living). Then we started talking about whether or not he wants to go to college, and before we knew it we were running late. A little note to self: if I talk while I'm driving I tend to slow down. Can't seem to multi-task very well anymore! Anyway, bare knuckle moments trying to find the right building! You would think that it would not be a great way to go into a competition but it worked alright for Xavier. After the "audition" Xavier came out with only one comment, "Exquisite! I did it exquisitely!" He was so happy that he performed a near perfect piece, now he is ruminating over how he got in that sweet spot to begin with. To make a sweet story even better he won 1st place! Congratulations, Xavier! And also congratulations to our friend Christopher Garwood who got the 2nd place.

"Let the right one in"

Do you like vampires? ...enjoy the subtleties of foreign or indie films? ... tolerate blood but not a lot of gore? Last night we saw this new Swedish film now out on Netflix. We loved it! Here's the trailer:

Two Coon Hounds Meet; before and now.

The biggest news around here lately is that Tara has left us! She has found her permanent home with a family with kids and a dog. Interestingly enough, that dog is ALSO a Treeing Walker Coon Hound and a female. Tara wasn't too thrilled on the night of her adoption (pictured above on the left) so I hope she is getting along with her new family.

UPDATE: Tara has fit right in with her new family. They sent me some pictures of her (below)

Goodbye Ducks!

We now remember René's office the way it used to be. It had a border ring of white geese around the top of the walls along the ceiling. I HATED those "ducks" and talked incessantly about "getting rid of the ducks" and repainting the room. Well, it never happened because René actually liked "the ducks" (they're actually geese, but this was the pre-homesteading era before I actually knew the difference between the two!) I couldn't stand working in that room because everytime I looked up (busy thinking...) I was distracted by those damn ducks!
Well, I'm feeling sentimental about them but they had to go. The room has to be painted so they are gone now. Before I scraped them off the wall I called the kids in to say "goodbye". They were a little sad about it and I felt some guilt so I took the pictures of the memorable "ducks". Oh, I might mention that I did not put the ducks there in the first place. The room was a children's play room before we bought the house. Once René moved in there with his desks and books there was NO getting him out of there to repaint the room. It is still kind of fascinating that he LIKED them...
Goodbye ducks...

Remembering Rene Jara

(from College of Liberal Arts blog):

On November 28, 2007 we honored the life and work of Dr. Rene Jara as a professor, a mentor, a scholar, and a citizen of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies at the University of Minnesota for 28 years. After battling a serious illness, Rene passed away at his home on November 19.

At the memorial, colleagues and students were invited to share their memories of Rene, which were collected and presented to his family. Resounding themes in the remembrances were Rene's insatiable thirst for knowledge, his textual erudition, his scholarship, and his intellectual energy.

Professor Nicholas Spadaccini referred to Rene as "the best read person in our department." That sentiment, along with others, was repeated several times throughout the memorial service. His extraordinary knowledge of all areas of Hispanic literatures assisted him in his undergraduate teaching, graduate student advising, and academic publications. Colleagues stated that, regardless of the topic of conversation, Rene always managed to direct the group toward literature.

In addition to his consummate scholarship, Rene was beloved by his students and colleagues. His passion for poetry was contagious. As former colleague Antonio Ramos Gascon stated, "With a Nerudian passion for people and things, Rene connected with life--family members, friends, texts, writing, objects--by way of poetry." Perhaps it is fitting that Jenaro Talens summed up his feelings for Rene through a poem titled "Recapitulaciones."

Quedate a solas con la luz.
Mirala arder como un volar inmovil.
Hoy el mar esta lejos; dentro, incluso, de ti
Y un sol liquido esparce la neblina
Mientras tus pies te llevan a la noche
Con la belleza absorta del ocaso
Alumbrando el camino,
Esta otra forma de la muerte en flor.

Professor Jara's presence in our department and the University community will be hard to forget. Rene's memory will persist through our colleagues' anecdotes, his students' passion for literature, and his dedication to teaching.