Alexandria, Va., photographer Jeff Olson recently visited the newly renovated Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., which had been closed for about 18 months. Home to the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s craft and decorative arts program, Renwick is located across from the White House at the corner of 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest in downtown Washington, D.C. The renovation has carefully restored …
Here are some “Faces of the Game” from photographer Russ Hons from Saturday night’s men’s college hockey game between the University of North Dakota and the University of Alabama-Huntsville. Check out more photos from Russ Hons here.
The University of North Dakota men’s hockey team stayed perfect in 2016, defeating the University of Alabama-Huntsville 4-1 on Saturday night in Ralph Engelstad Arena to complete the New Year’s weekend sweep of its nonconference foe. Cam Johnson’s streak of shutout goaltending ended when a puck shot by Chargers’ defenseman Richard Buri went off the stick of a UND teammate and slid past …
The University of North Dakota men’s basketball team defeated defending Big Sky Conference champion Eastern Washington University 79-71 Saturday in Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. The Fighting Hawks were led by junior guard Quinton Hooker, who finished with 16 points and went 8-for-10 from the foul line. Freshmen Geno Crandall and Drick Bernstine each chipped in 15 points and Cortez Seales added 10 for …
Here are some “Faces of the Game” from photographer Russ Hons from Friday night’s men’s college hockey game between the University of North Dakota and the University of Alabama-Huntsville. Check out more photos from Russ Hons here.
University of North Dakota goalie Cam Johnson wrote himself in the Fighting Hawks’ record book Friday night in Ralph Engelstad Arena. The sophomore goaltender broke a longtime UND men’s hockey record as he ran his scoreless streak covering five games to 278 minutes, 38 seconds with his 1-0 shutout victory over the University of Alabama Huntsville in nonconference play. Johnson’s fourth consecutive shutout …
Here’s a question for some of you who spend a lot of time in the outdoors in the fall: How was your pheasant season? “Good enough, I guess,” would be my response. All of us who hunt pheasants in North Dakota are loathe to say anything gloomier than that, because saying “It wasn’t all that great” might mean admitting: We …
I got out of bed Sunday morning and absolutely knew what I was going to write this week. Then I picked up The Forum (that’s Fargo’s paper, in case you didn’t know) and saw an article by Robin Huebner that sent me off focus. The article was on Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota and refugee settlement. It also focused …
When I was in grade school, I had a faithful pen-pal in faraway Ontario. We shared stories of life in our exotic neighborhoods, sometimes amazed at the contrast, more often surprised at how much we shared. Then we stopped. When I’ve moved on to new schools, jobs or adventures, friends and I always assure each other that we’d always stay …
Without a doubt, the New Year’s resolution most often made — and broken — is the resolution to lose weight. It’s been said that calories don’t count. But tell that to your bathroom scale after a long Thanksgivingn through Christmas through New Year’s holiday eating season. Still, I believe there are certain calories that don’t count, or at least shouldn’t …
Christmas Day dinner — with all its fixin’s — might be in rear-view mirror for another year, but that doesn’t mean the sampling of delicious holiday food is over, especially with New Year’s Eve and Day celebrations looming. And for those of you who did a lot of baking, that’s probably a good thing. If you are anything like my mom, you probably have a half-dozen to a dozen …
Grand Forks photographer Russ Hons took advantage of the nice weather the northern Plains and and forest areas have experienced thus far this winter to snap these images of some local wildlife. According to Minnesota and North Dakota wildlife officials, the mild winter has been quite beneficial to most area species. Check out more photos from Russ Hons here.
Call it our own private little Christmas miracle, if you will. It happened. After weeks and weeks of what I call a “white sky” over Bismarck every night — a function of city lights bouncing off a completely overcast sky — we had given up hope of seeing the expected nearly full moon on Christmas Eve. They say the real …
An old 15-by-30 inch three-paneled window, its white paint scared by years of beatings from the elements, is the first Christmas decoration that is hung in the kitchen when we arrive at La Farm, our family retreat between my childhood homes of Ashby and Battle Lake, Minn. It was the home of our grandparents, the late John and Mabel La …
Bloomington, Minn., photographer Dave Vorland shares these shots he took this month, our last of 2015.
I know at least one person who’s breathing a sigh of relief that the Christmas shopping season is finally over: Our mail carrier. The faithful Gilly tells us that our address gets more catalogs than any other home on his route. We don’t doubt him. Since the middle of last summer, we seem to have attracted the attention of every …
As the holidays and new year approach, I start thinking about how things have changed since my youth and some of the fun things that have occurred between now and then. My youth was spent in Grand Forks until Dad was appointed to the federal bench at the end of my sophomore year at St. James Academy. My earliest unusual …
Grand Forks Red River High School’s boys hockey team took a big step toward bringing the Gambucci Cup back to North Dakota on Tuesday night as the Roughriders edged East Grand Forks Senior High 4-3 in Purpur Arena in Grand Forks. After a win Saturday against Grand Forks Central, Red River (7-0) is now 2-0 in the cup race, while …
FROM 1996: One afternoon about a week before Christmas, my family of four piled into our minivan to run a short errand, and this question came from a small voice in the back seat: “Dad,” began my 5-year-old son, Patrick, “how come I’ve never seen you cry?” Just like that. No preamble. No warning. One minute it’s, “Mom, what’s for …
One-pot ― or one-pan ― meals are a boon to households where both parents work. And this time of the year, when a lot of time and energy goes into baking holiday goodies, even those who are retired can find them a nice time-saver. They take very little time to put together, cooking time is minimal, and one-pot meals require a lot less …
Well, every year about this time, in past years, Lillian and I would get together and draft a “Christmas Letter,” which we would then take to the print shop, have it printed on fancy paper, buy a bunch of colored envelopes and a whole lot of stamps, spend hours addressing each envelope by hand and writing personal notes on the …
It was 1957 ― the year I graduated from Fargo Shanley High School and turned my senior mantle over to my sister, Kate, who was a year behind me. Sister Jody was preparing for her wedding in the fall; brother Tim was in the Air Force and also preparing for his own fall wedding; and I had no idea where my …
Sebastian Fabian Hoffner, 91, Bismarck, died Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015, at St. Vincent’s Care Center in Bismarck. Mass of Christian burial will be said for him at 11 a.m. Tuesday (Dec. 22) in St. Boniface Church, Esmond, N.D. The praying of a rosary will begin at 10:30 a.m. Burial will follow in the church cemetery. Nicknamed “Buckshot” from a young age, he was born …
Foley operator Dave Dauphinais and his assistant Serena Darland have their hands full this weekend at Fire Hall Theatre. The two are creating live sound effects for The Greater Grand Forks Community Theatre’s presentation of “It’s A Wonderful Life, A Live Radio Play.” This adaptation by Joe Landry features condensed scenes from the Frank Capra classic starring Jimmy Stewart and …
You generally can tell how often cookbooks are used by their appearance. If they look as if they could be put on the shelf for sale in a bookstore, chances are you won’t find too many good recipes in it. However, if they are falling apart and have tattered or sauce-marked pages, that’s a different story. They probably contain a gold mine of recipes. My cookbook collection falls into those two …
Alexandria, Va., photographer Jeff Olson captured these images recently at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, W.Va., where he was taking some training classes. The NCTC offers a unique and diverse range of conservation training courses, designed by and for the conservation professional. Topics range from coldwater fish culture to habitat conservation planning, from environmental negotiation to building community support for natural …
The woman who was my mother would have celebrated her 100th birthday Tuesday. I wish I’d known her. I knew the mother, of course … but I wish I’d known the woman as well. Lots of us suffer from the same emotion, I think, looking back on the women whom we were closest to. I was fortunate to have Mom …
Time again, boys and girls, to have some fun with the scammers. You know, the ones who pretend to be one of your Facebook friends in an effort to separate you from your personal information and/or your money. What follows is my latest, actual conversation. Scammer: Hi how you doing? Me: Good. Scammer: I’m real great happy and excited Staying …
There’s no better reason to make a pot of soup than when you discover a new recipe that looks like a sure-fire winner. An even better one is when a winter storm is imminent. The newest recipe that I’ve added to my soup repertoire, Chicken, Bean and Spinach, comes from a Twitter contact, Coach Mindy (@mycoachmindy), who shares post after post of …
And so the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery will remain dark at night. North Dakota’s adjutant general, David Sprynczynatyk, whose command includes the cemetery, made his decision at the end of a week of input from the public on the efficacy of a well-intentioned but poorly thought-out proposal to light the cemetery at night. Thank you to those who called the …
Cam Johnson shut out the Bulldogs again Saturday night in Duluth. The sophomore UND goaltender earned his third straight shutout as the Fighting Hawks completed a National Collegiate Hockey Conference sweep of the University of Minnesota-Duluth with a 3-0 victory before 6,975 fans. Johnson won his sixth straight start since returning from an injury as league-leading UND heads into the Christmas …
The University of North Dakota’s men’s hockey team hasn’t been outshot many times this season, but that’s where the Fighting Hawks found themselves Friday night in a National Collegiate Hockey Conference game against the University of Minnesota-Duluth. But that didn’t matter. UND goalie Cam Johnson stopped all 40 shots he faced as the Fighting Hawks shut out the Bulldogs 3-0 …
After watching “A Charlie Brown Christmas” for the umpteenth time (yes, I have my Christmas rituals), I had the urge to join Charlie Brown and visit Lucy’s Psychiatric Booth for some advice. After all, her advice was quite sound. At the start of the movie, Charlie Brown was feeling down as the holidays approached, much like 45 percent of the population at this time of year. He told …
December was so much sweeter before the militants weaponized “merry Christmas.” There was a time when greeting friends and neighbors was simple. Sharing warm good wishes required no more strategic thought than handing out candy canes or hanging the mistletoe. Whether we chose the long form ― explicitly citing the major holiday and its late December consort, as in “merry …
It has been 411 days since the cold-blooded execution of Laquan McDonald, a 17-year-old black youngster, by a Chicago police officer. The facts are still coming out as I write this article. Here’s what we know so far … and no thanks to the Chicago Tribune, which by its inaction was complicit in the cover-up. None of these facts would …
The University of North Dakota women’s basketball team held Western Illinois University to less than 75 points for the first time this season en route to a 78-67 victory Tuesday night in the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. UND, 3-5 on the season, was paced by junior Makailah Dyer, who led all scorers with 21 points. Senior Mia Lloyd added 13 points and 11 rebounds …
Lillian had set the newspaper beside my coffee cup on the dining room table while I was at the Y the other morning. A big headline reading “Cemetery lighting project may seek $400,000” was circled, and she had written across it in big black letters: “This is a bad idea.” She was right. The story said local boosters were requesting …
OK, here’s a true story about the beauty of living long enough to be a part of the technological revolution of the 21st century. Read: Facebook. Last week, Lillian became Facebook Friends with a mutual friend of ours from our separate earlier lives, Rick Watson. In a note to her, he mentioned an old story I had recounted to him …
North Dakota State University took a big step toward another national championship with a 37-6 win over the University of Montana in the second round of the NCAA Division I FCS playoffs before 18,232 fans Saturday in the Fargodome. The Bison, 10-2, have won six consecutive games and advance to the FCS quarterfinals next weekend against Northern Iowa, which defeated …
Austin Poganski scored two goals — the first with less than one second left in the first period — and the “CBS” line of Drake Caggiula, Brock Boeser and Nick Schmaltz chipped in two more as the University of North Dakota men’s hockey team shut out Denver University 4-0 on Saturday night in Ralph Engelstad Arena. Caggiula and Boeser each scored …
The No. 4-ranked University of North Dakota men’s hockey team, behind its high-flying first line of Drake Caggiula, Nick Schmaltz and Brock Boeser, took it to ninth-rated Denver University on Friday night in Ralph Engelstad Arena, scoring a 5-1 win before a sellout crowd of 11,768. The “CBS” line combined for six points as the Fighting Hawks upped its National Collegiate Hockey …
Alexandria, Va., photographer Jeff Olson offers a glimpse of our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., in the last month of the year.
Preface to reader: I originally planned to my make my second post one of the first ones I had made detailing my talks with my mom, who has primary progressive aphasia — a language disorder that involves changes in the ability to speak, read, write and understand what others are saying — and posts about them on social media. I found, …
