The Kolden Report: Happy 83rd Birthday, Dad!

     Hello, kids!

Tomorrow is my Dad's 83rd birthday, a day he shares with my Grandfather Bruce who has gone before us.  These few old photos are but snippets of a life long, rich and full of LIVING.    This report is for YOU, Dad.  Thank you for my blue eyes,  the life lessons and congratulations on your well lived life.   Happy Birthday!   I love you much.



This couple, my Grandfather Arthur Dewey Forsness and Grandmother Cora Lillian Haugland Rusche Forsness, known as Art and Lil, brought Dad into the world in 1931.



He was a VERY cute baby, in the washbasin on the prairie.





His big sister June Rusche, on duty as babysitter. 

With his pal, Duron Frazier.  (Dad's on the left.)

At the ripe old age of 10 (Dad, third from left.)

Little drummer boy (in the marching band.) 

Graduating, with Marbie Hanson.

I remember this coat!

Fine ride.

At his brother Bob's place with Don Tymofichuk. 

Married to  a "really nice girl", my Mother JoAnn, as he wrote to his Grandmother Aletha Forsness to tell her of his impending nuptials. 

On their honeymoon with Dad's Aunt and Uncle.

Dad and Uncle Oscar, clowning around.

He's just a kid!

In the Army now.   Thanks for your service, Dad!

This is so Dad....vest and silk scarf at the neck in winter. 

His leather coat hangs in my closet today.    It's FILLED with memories.

Dad and siblings with their Mother.  Left to right, Dad,  Aunt Arlene, Gramma Lil, Uncle Bob, Aunt June.

Riding Strawberry Roan.    But where are the cows?

Look show SHINY and in love they are!  This is my favorite photo of Dad at this age. 

In California.  This may have been their anniversary.  Probably in the 80's.  Far, far away from the cows and irrigated hay ground and wheat fields that demanded his attention every day of his life. 

I asked Dad why he was wearing two aprons embroidered with "WIFE" (Women Involved in Farm Economics) and speaking or singing into a microphone.  He's not sure but perhaps it was when Mom was president of the organization.  Looks like he's having fun!

Stay tuned:  Mom's birthday is in March and she was every bit as cute as Dad!
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"A true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination." - Albert Einstein

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The Kolden Report: Happy Birthday, Jim!

                    Hello, kids!

 Happy Birthday tomorrow, Jim!  Here's wishing you many more healthy and happy years on the planet.

Now, odds and ends in my world.  Enjoy!



Ethereal.

Like money in the bank.

Next generation.

Sitting pretty.

Eye contact.

"Sneaky Pete."

Pair perfection.  (This one is JUST for you, Liping.  I know how you love sunflowers.)

We have a new thrift shop in Wolf Point, "The Blessing Shop", located in the old Gillette Pharmacy( for you former Wolf Pointers).  If you have items you no longer need, drop them off!

Camouflage.

Family dining.

Lastly, I have a friend who battles "mind bullies".  You know the ones.  Thoughts that you think about yourself that bring you down?    My friend also has a solution.  She paints her brain.  I know, it sounds strange but she visualizes painting her brain with a teeny paintbrush to get in all the crevices and Teflon paint.  That way, the mind bullies can't stick, they just slide off.  If you are battling "mind bullies", try it and let me know how it goes.


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"I want to tell women that you need to love yourself and make yourself a priority.  It's only when you are happy yourself, can you make everyone around you happy.  I am still a dreamer and still believe in fairy tales, but there is only that much one should give another person.  You need to keep something for yourself." - Bipasha Basu

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www.kittykolden.com

The Kolden Report: More Mother Nature.

Hello, kids!

Before I get to the report, I want to ask each of you to do ONE thing for yourself today.  Just one.  Do one simple thing that can make the biggest difference in your day.  That one simple thing is to love yourself.  Look yourself in the eyes (mirror required) and say, "Self - I love you."  Pay yourself a compliment.  Whether it be that you have great hair (or a FABULOUS bald head) or sparkling eyes or clear skin or the cutest button nose or a wonderful pair of ears.....just DO it.  If you can go deeper, do that too.  (Loving heart, bright mind, wicked sense of humor, patience of a saint,  etc.)  Be generous with yourself.  Keep going, until you've run out of "things" to compliment yourself on.    Then, take note of how the rest of your day goes for you.  Feel free to report back.

And now, the report!  I revisited the sandbar now that we are a few years post flood.  Things are a changing....and that is one of the few constants in life:  CHANGE.

Areas of our once scoured and  barren sand bar are now covered with vegetation and cottonwood trees! 

Evaporation's wake.  (Isn't it fascinating how cracks appear as moisture recedes along the shore due to fluctuating river levels?)

Trails such as these caught my eye.  What made them?

Grasshopper's "end of the trail". ( I felt  sadness realizing that this insect would not live to see another day.)

The bird tracks surrounding this muddy struggle, tell me that this captive creature fed another.    I was reminded of a lesson I learned many years ago while watching the TV show with Father Murphy.  He was searching for a lost girl in the desert, nearly dying himself, when he came upon fresh foliage springing up as if by miracle.  His thought at that instant (and he knew the girl was buried beneath the foliage) was this:  "Something must die, so that something might live."  Makes the cycle of life easier to fathom, doesn't it?

Birds, being light, easily tip toe through the muck.

The bigger picture.

At rest.  (This one really speaks to me.)

Shadows.  ("Hang loose, Bra....")

Textures.  (LOVE this one too.)




Trek to the "mount".  (Don't think it's going to make it BUT, something must die so that something might live.)



Sand bar stroll.  (Bird looking for breakfast, most likely.)

Fragile fronds.  (Kind of like it in black and white.  Seems so much simpler.)

Sun light and shadow.

Fall glory. 

Buds. 

Perfection, amidst chaos.

The shape of things to come.

Cranberry stems.

Willow wonder.

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"Love yourself and everything else falls into line.  You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world." - Lucille Ball

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