The Chancery

About once a month when I was growing up,

my dad would mention that he had to go to

the chancery office, for a meeting. Chancery is a

fancy word for "main office." It was located on

Dayton Avenue, by the Cathedral of St. Paul.

He was the Superintendent of Gethsemane 

Cemetery in New Hope. It did not pay much,

but he was the perfect person for the job. His

actual employer was the Archdiocese of St. 

Paul and Minneapolis.

I always wondered about this building.

I had never seen it until this photograph 

was published in a local newspaper.

A Mystery Wrapped in a Mystery

This photograph was taken in 1935.

My mother, the second from the right,

is 13 years old. I look exactly like her.

Despite many efforts to restore this picture,

nothing has worked so far.

Last May, 2014, I was putting away groceries,

when this photo, which is supposed to be in

my office, fell from my waist and fluttered

to my feet. It was not mangled in the slightest.

How?

Why?

What Remains

As this is not on our cabin property,

it is easy to overlook.

When we bought our place in 1981,

there were modest cabins on either

side of us. Today, there are very large,

homelike dwellings.

I like to imagine the thought and care

someone put into building this humble

stairway-now to nowhere-

in the 1920's.