Back in the 50s, sometimes six kids were more than our parents, Erling and Bev, cared to handle. So they would farm out a couple of them to friends. Sosie, and her brother, Stan, were kept for weeks at a time by Mama Jo and her sister, Ruby.Josephine and Simon Elness farmed near Garfield, Minnesota; Ruby and Albert Korkowski near Brandon. Sosie was dealt to the Elness farm, Stan to the Korkowskis.
Ruby and Al had no children, Mama Jo and Si had three: Rand, Karen and Jerome. Our wonderful surrogate parents are gone now, but Mama Jo's children are still Sosie's playmates. Sunday they picnicked in California.
Sosie brought booty from her recent visit to Minnesota to see her mother and others. A big fan of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce (The Birthplace of America), Sosie gathers examples of local flavor as souvenirs. Her latest exports include lefse fried in Osakis and bottles of Miltona's fine Stanley's Sagebrush BBQ Sauce as well as his maple syrup.
These coveted items were delivered to the ex-Minnesotans rally in sunny California Sunday. Sombreros were provided by Sosie's future daughter-in-law, Jenn, who apparently keeps dozens at the ready, waiting for a fiesta to break out.
Yesterday, Sosie and her husband, Bill, received an e-note of appreciation from Rand's wife, Connie. (In the photo above, kindly note Connie's Hackensack, Minnesota, t-shirt):
Hi You Two -
Thank you for the lovely day! What a treat it was to see you again. By golly, you make the best Minnesota Beans we've ever tasted! Thank you for bringing them, the lefse, champagne, the dishtowel and syrup PLUS saving the day with Stan's BBQ Sauce!
Whew - that was a close call!
We had a grand time - thank you for making it such a special day.
Love,
Connie
Here's Sosie's explanation to her family:
Hi,
I am forwarding to you a note from Connie Elness. You will see Rand Elness, his sister, Karen, and her husband, Kaj, from Madison, Wisconsin, and Connie Elness. Oh, and Bill and me.
Connie had forgotten the ketchup for our various tubular steaks and was quite chagrined, but what did it matter? We had Stanley's Sagebrush BBQ Sauce! Who needs ketchup when there is Stanley? Connie honestly thought this BBQ sauce was from Stanley Rolfsrud, so limited is her knowledge of Stanleys. That straightened out, the kudos head rightfully to Miltona, Minnesota. But in general, the reputation of Stanley's has spiked substantially.
In one of the photos taken in the Elness back yard, you'll see me reading the Elness Editorial, which Karen had published in 1947 when she was 14. As an artist, she had rendered some creative cartoon strips of "Radar Rand," who solved crimes perpetrated by evil gangsters. We are reading these cartoons and admiring how little the essence and ethics of hero cartoons has changed since then. Also, as far as we are concerned, the extremely handsome and magical Radar Rand has not changed much in the six decades of his sister's admiration.
Solveig
Postscript:
Karen lost her left arm in a threshing machine accident as a young girl. When she was a teenager, she challenged Sosie, then a child of 7 or 8, to a silverware drying contest. "I can dry spoons with a hook and a hand faster than you can dry spoons with two hands!" And she was right. Interestingly, Solvieg adds, that in 60+ years, science has not improved her gripping hook sufficiently to replace it with anything better.
