Whispering Winds Blog

Shopping for a Tombstone

So far this year I have had the privilege of playing the piano or organ for nine funerals. I typically play for between five and ten funerals a year – and it’s only July! In the 31 days from June 1 through July 1 of this year, I played for five of those funerals. Needless…

Marian

July 14, 2015

Celebrations, Goals, God’s Love, Life’s Challenges, Music, Reflections

“I know that my Redeemer lives”, “I love to tell the story”, Archie Monuments, Carl Korth, cemetery, comforting music, Elsie Korth, epitaph, funeral, funeral music, funerals, gravestone, Jimmy Carter, musical requests, praying hands, Through the Year with Jimmy Carter, tombstone, Wormeli
Kindness or Foolish Generosity?

There, I did it again. Two and a half years ago I gave $5 to a stranger who asked for a dollar or two to buy gas to get home for Christmas. I was at a McDonald’s parking lot just off the interstate between Cambridge and Wisconsin Dells. This time was just a couple weeks…

Marian

July 7, 2015

God’s Love, Life’s Challenges, Reflections

advice from Floey, conned, Floey, foolish generosity, generosity, homeless, Indian Reservation, kindness, Native American, panhandler, panhandling, stranger, wise insights
Another Talk with My Friend Floey

“Hey, Floey. What did you think about your new class last week?” Floey grinned at me and replied, “I loved it! When you first told me I would be going to another class, I really wondered why. I passed my class last winter with flying colors. I couldn’t imagine why you thought I needed to…

Marian

June 30, 2015

God’s Love, Life’s Challenges, Nature, Reflections

different gifts, dog class, Floey, go to mat, God’s creation, human development, humans and animals, Intermediate Class, Joan Chittister, kinship with nature, Mim and her kittens, people and animals, people and dogs, relationship between humans and animals, soul, The Monastic Way, unawakened
Mom’s Big Adventure: A Road Trip to California in 1934

On August 19, 1934, in the heart of the Great Depression, three girlfriends started out on a road trip to California – Elsie Kenseth (my mom), Clarice Jarlsberg, and Eleanor Gilberts – three single young women in their mid-twenties who had grown up together in Cambridge. Within a couple years they would all be married…

Marian

June 23, 2015

God’s Love, Life’s Challenges, Reflections

1934, adventurer, Adventures in Hospitality, adventurous, big adventure, California, California Adventure, car trouble, Carl Korth, Clarice Jarlsberg, Clarice Vasby, Eleanor Gilberts, Eleanor Jarlsberg, Elsie Kenseth, Elsie Korth, General Delivery, Great Depression, Hilda Kenseth, Madison General Hospital, Model A Coupe, Model A Ford, new tire, road trip, Road Trip to California, summer adventure
My Musical Destiny

Seventeen years ago, Mim and I created a new business called Korth-Jacobson, LLC. Within that business structure we have done lots of different things – from being a bed and breakfast to selling real estate; from doing strategic planning and project management for small businesses to providing music in churches and a pub and other…

Marian

June 16, 2015

Assisted Living, Celebrations, God’s Love, Life’s Challenges, Music, Reflections

All Shook Up, assisted living, Aunt Edith, bed and breakfast, Beer Barrel Polka, childhood memories, church music, Country Comforts, Country Comforts Assisted Living, Eleanor Jarlsberg, Elvis Presley, Fireside Theater, funeral, funeral music, gospel music, gospel organist, Gospel pianist, Greatest Hits, Jesus loves me, Korth-Jacobson LLC, Love Me Tender, Lowery electronic organ, Lowery organ, memorial service, musical destiny, Nancy Koplin, Ward Brodt
Learning to Work Together

I remember when I was too short to plant tobacco. Oh, how I wanted to grow legs that would be long enough to reach the foot rests on the tobacco planter. In early June when my dad pulled the tobacco planter out of the shed to get it ready for tobacco planting, my brother Danny…

Marian

June 9, 2015

Life’s Challenges, Reflections, Spring

bushel basket, favorite job, foot rest, learning to work, planting tobacco, reach the foot rest, rhythm of planting, short legs, tobacco, tobacco bed, tobacco field, tobacco leaves, tobacco planter, too short, work together, working together
For Crying Out Loud

According to the idioms section of TheFreeDictionary.com, “for crying out loud” is “An exclamation of anger or exasperation, as in For crying out loud, can’t you do anything right? This term is a euphemism for for Christ’s sake. For crying out loud, I’ve been reading Joan Chittister’s monthly pamphlet for more than four years now.…

Marian

June 2, 2015

God’s Love, Life’s Challenges, Reflections

Anne Frank, avalanche, Brother Mickey McGrath, Cry Out, First they came for the communists, For Christ’s sake, For crying out loud, Helen Keller, Joan Chittister, Martin Niemoller, Monastic Way, silence, snowflake, spiritual narcissism, St. Catherine of Siena, the world is rotten
I’m Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover

One day last week Mim and I walked Floey to the farmhouse, about a mile round trip. One of the 93-year-olds we care for lives there, and Mim needed to see her. Floey and I went along for the walk. As we were walking across the lawn, my brother’s dog Lucy came running over to greet…

Marian

May 26, 2015

God’s Love, Life’s Challenges, Reflections

broken tennis ball, Floey, four leaf clover, good luck, Harry M Woods, Holy Trinity, I’m looking over a four leaf clover, lazy days of summer, legends, Lucy, Mort Dixon, shamrock, St. Patrick
Frustrated?

Have you ever had one of those really frustrating days? Nothing is going your way. The clock radio was full of static when it woke you up in the morning. You were out of milk for breakfast. The traffic was heavy and slow, and someone just cut you off. You can feel the frustration growing…

Marian

May 19, 2015

Book Recommendations, God’s Love, Life’s Challenges, Reflections

bad day, Christine Dallman, clock radio, frustrated, frustration, limerick, Margaret Huffman, Megabyte, My Personal Daily Prayer Book, prayer book, vacuum cleaner
My Cohort in Big Adventures

In the middle of my 11-day getaway a couple weeks ago, I drove home to Cambridge to have Sunday brunch with Mim and my other cohort in big adventures, Ellen Kogstad. Ellen was in Wisconsin for a wedding, so I jumped at the chance to have a few hours together to catch up on our…

Marian

May 12, 2015

God’s Love, Life’s Challenges, New Year, Personal Retreats, Reflections, Reunions

bed and breakfast, big adventures, CCHC, Circle Christian Health Center, cohort, cohort in big adventures, Ellen Kogstad, Emily Bray, farmhouse, grand adventures, gratitude, homeless teen moms, life changes, New Moms, New Moms Inc., North Park Seminary, spiritual formation, spiritual retreat center, Sunday brunch, teen moms, Transformation Center, whispering winds, Whispering Winds Retreat Haven