Autumn is beautiful with all its' wonderful colors; the winter now is spectacular, but sometimes we get a little bit too much, but nothing matches the first new green sprouts of spring.

As spring starts to "spring" with green it brings back many beautiful sites to see and enjoy. Maybe nonsense, but memorable, and my mind runs on to so many great things. It is always enjoyable seeing that first robin on the lawn, flowers peaking through the ground, as well as once again being able to enjoy listening to the birds sing.

I have always enjoyed seeing the loons, ducks and geese as they frequent the area lakes once the ice has disappeared before they are disturbed by all the boats and abundance of people when summer arrives. These great creatures are so grand to see floating on the area lakes and yet sometimes their walking abilities remind us what some people experience if they have problems with their legs.

I never get over the excitement of seeing all the plants emerge from their winter sleep. The tulips under the front window of my home are starting to peek through the ground and my mother came out of her home one day and noticed that her rhubarb had also started peeking through the ground. Before long the leaves on the trees will be popping out too. Tell me there isn't a God.

Many of the area farmers are beginning to prepare their machinery for the spring planting season.  Before long we will see the big tractors traveling down the fields preparing the soil and then planting the seed. I always enjoying seeing the first rows of beans and corn appeared in the fields as I drive by the fields.

Now at Easter time it is always a blessing to see the symbolic resurrection of seeing things become alive again.

Glen Hanson, a former Geneva resident, always planted potatoes on Good Friday. My Grandpa and Grandma Schember had a huge garden, bountiful and beautiful. Grandpa had potatoes that were as pretty as a picture and onions so large he sold many of them to the "Horn Inn" in New Richland (now The Willows Restaurant & Lounge) so they could be made into delicious onion rings. Speaking of onion rings and the Horn Inn, my dad and Grandpa Schember were so very proud of that place because they had helped construct it. It was a dream of a place before its time. 

My Grandpa Schember worked for them and now their daughter, Pam, and her husband are in the food business as star volunteers. They work hard for the local food shelf and for others. My folks thought, and mom still does think so much of the family. Pam’s mother was such a great friend, kind and caring and was like a free spirited angel, always there with a greeting.

Peter Cottontail hopped back into our area this past week and I hope that everyone had a very blessed Easter holiday. Once again the First Baptist Church in Clarks Grove hosted their annul Community Eggstravaganza and children came from far and wide with their Easter baskets. The kids were able to enjoy a great breakfast, play many different games, including tossing a few bean bags, went fishing and even fed peanuts to the elephant, to name a few.

The kids who attended were divided into age groups for the egg hunt and they were really excited to find the Easter eggs that were on the lawn at the church. Many of them went home with some great prizes.

When my kids were little we didn't really have that much Easter stuff. So what did we do? When the kids were busy searching for eggs and other things during our family’s yearly Easter Egg Hunt in front of the house we recycled some things and hid them in the back of the house and vise versa. The kids didn't care. It was just really the fun of the hunt that they were really interested in.

And what would Easter be if you didn't color a few eggs? That yearly event was an adventure too. Over the years we learned a few tricks, including blowing out the inside of some of the eggs so we didn't wind up with so many hard boiled eggs. As the insides of the eggs squirted out into the bowl the kids thought, “yuck.” Needless to say we prepared and ate the eggs one way or another for several days after the Easter holiday had passed. We used the "blown out eggs" to make a cake, pancakes or French toast, and of course we also scrambled them too. We later used the hard boiled colored eggs to make egg salad sandwiches or deviled eggs.

With little girls in the house, Easter dresses were a must and were made by hand until the year my Grandmother Hanson was sick and there wasn't time to get the job done. We had to go to town shopping for Easter dresses instead and we were able to find some great looking two-piece outfits at Wallace's in Albert Lea and the girls were delighted.  Store bought! The fact that they were a little too big didn't seem to matter. We had to have the skirts rolled and pinned for a while until they grew some. It was something they hadn't experienced before.

Churches at Easter time are so beautiful during holiday too with all the wonderful Easter Lilies gracing the sanctuary. And of course there is always a great deal of wonderful music to enjoy. Many of the area churches also hold Easter breakfasts too, following the sunrise services.

I hope you had a very blessed Easter and enjoy seeing spring arrive.

Some of our Star Eagle readers have commented they like to read about events such as family and school reunions, birthdays and anniversaries, and birth and wedding announcements. In order to read about these important things we need our faithful readers to pass along the information to us.  Also if you have an idea for a story that you think would be of interest to our readers, please contact me. 

If you have birthdays and anniversaries you would like include, or news to share please contact me via e-mail, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; by postal mail, P.O. Box 192, Geneva, MN 56035 or telephone, 507-256-4405.

This week’s birthdays and anniversaries include:

• Thursday, April 9th: Becky Larson, Justin Tufte, June Lageson, Abby Paige Christopherson, Raianna Thomas, Jim Kaplan, Kiersten Knudson, Mike Nechanicky, Larry Sarver, Clarice McGrath, Tiffany Chrz, Joe & Mandy Moon

• Friday, April 10th: Kimberly Luhring, Sara Bergerson, Sarah Skroch, Sophia Rose Christensen, Luke David Olson, Daniel Gould, Liz Reichl, Harold Pitcock, Arlen & Coleen Brekke, Lawrence & Dorothy Sprankle

• Saturday, April 11th: Barb Marcus, Ruth Benson, Lori Dobberstein Sodeman, Jessica Dobberstein, Jacob Alan Reynolds, Dan Nelson, Darrin Thostenson, Theresa Bartsch, James Thompson

• Sunday, April 12th: Tiegen Kay Richards, her 7th; Rory Ann Bickler, Guy Cromwell, Charise Oland, Cheryl Thompson, Deb Wilking, Allen & Betty Brandt, Roger & Reta Draayer

• Monday, April 13th: Victor Mrotz, Jamie Johnson, Andrea Casteron Malo, Ava Raye Chapman, her 6th; David Clausen, Margie Nesdahl, Pat O'Conner, Jason Sullivan, Roxie Ritz Simmons, Megan Benson, Charlotte Miller, Curtis Klecker, Shannon & Jason Peterson, their 10th

• Tuesday, April 14th: Dakota Clark, Anna Elizabeth Bailey, Tina Hagen, Jason Vogt, Rachel Oswald, Marcia Hemingway Jensen, David Jensen, Ron Huber, Butch & Gail Ottesen

• Wednesday, April 15th: Mason Robert Klemmensen, his 7th; Terry Jensen, Barry Troe, James Benson, Sarah Christine George, Cayla Conroy

• Thursday, April 16th: Eddie & Arlene Miller, their 63rd; Terry & Cindy Vaith their 31st

• Friday, April 17th: Mike Nesdahl, Suzanne Marcus Cory, Matthew Olson, Diane Van Riper, Kathy Paulsen, Bethany & Terry Mikesell, Jerry & Mary Peterson

• Saturday, April 18th: Ellen Hanson, Marge Leak, Peggy Wallerich, Tim Stollard, Tom Kaphers, Rebecca Lyn Peterson, her 13th; Brian Olson, Danielle Zamora, Levi Michael Den Herder, his 9th

Wishing you every joy as you celebrate your special day!