Home Sweet Morris

I once lived - for a short time - in Morris Minnesota. Morris is three hours from the Twin Cities, 1 1/2 hrs south of Fargo and 30 mi east of the South Dakota border. Life on the prairie did not sit well with this southerner but while I inhabited the region that Garrison Keillor undoubtedly was contemplating when he conceived "Lake Wobegon" I made a number of good friends. This past week I had the good fortune of visiting my old home on the prairie and catching up with them.

Unfortuantely the trip got off to a rocky start. I left Grand Rapids, MI headed for Minneapolis with a layover in Milwaukee on the day the rain storms were in full force. After several delays in Milwaukee, Midwest ultimately cancelled the flight altogether around 5:30 pm. We were given the choice of waiting until the next day to fly out in the afternoon or - well that was it - the only option we were given by this 'upstanding' airline. A group of us rallied and rent a car and drove the remaining 5 hrs from Milwaukee to Minneapolis. I arrived near midnight getting my lovely reunion off to a rocky start.

The delay simply meant we had to put things in high gear and move full speed ahead. The weekend consisted of visiting with good friends Carole and Dennis and eating lots of good food in their home, taking a road trip with Dorothy to reconnect with our rural Minnesota roots and enjoying a day of Scandanavian music at the Nissaw Stamman Scandanavian Folk Music Festival. Of course the highlight was our annual pilgramage to see Lucy and Gene. Carole has long been close friends with stoneware artisans Lucy and Gene Tokheim. They live and operate the coolest pottery studio (see photo above) near Dawson, MN. Their amazing studio is comprised of restored farm outbuildings detailed with Scandinavian wood carvings. Lucy and Gene specialize in wheel-thrown stoneware pottery in the ancient Scandanavian tradition. They started their business in the 1970s and have now developed a reputation as experts in the art. Their work is part of the permanent collection of the Norwegian-American Vesterheim Museum in Decorah Iowa. It has also traveled in several international exhibitions and was also at the Smithsonian Istitutute of Art.

Yeah, yeah, they are very good...and very popular in folk art circles but the thing that rejuvenates me when I visit annually - besides Lucy's infectious laugh and hearty welcome - is that I find it amazing that they have been able to raise a family doing the thing they love on a small farm in rural Minnesota. This takes courage. If you are interested in pottery or all things Scandanavian check them out at http://www.tokheim-stoneware.com/. They are also part of a thriving folk arts and local food scene in western Minnesota that rocks. Check out the Milan Folk Arts school just up the road where they teach classes in the winter term. There are days -like the ones I had last week with good friends - that I wonder why I ever left western Minnesota - and then the winds whip up to 60 mph or the temperature drops to 20 below and it suddenly comes back to me.