Minnesota | Julie Saffrin

A BlessBack Interview

July 24, 2012 • Julie Saffrin • Leave a Comment

$4.99 for your Kindle! Order HERE. I’m still celebrating the eBook release of BlessBack: Thank Those Who Shaped Your Life. Today I’m featured on author Karen Baney’s blog. Get to know the story behind BlessBack and a little about my journey. Here’s the link. I know Karen would love your taking the time to leave her a comment if you liked the blog post. As always, thank you for taking the time to stop and read my posts. I appreciate all of you who have written me. Julie Saffrin Follow BlessBack’s Facebook Fan Page here. Follow BlessBack (@blessback) on Twitter here.…

Bloomington Sun Current editor, Mike Hanks, gives a BlessBack

June 18, 2012 • Julie Saffrin • Leave a Comment

For years I worked at writing BlessBack: Thank Those Who Shaped Your Life, hoping people who read it would be moved to write BlessBacks of their own. But never did I think I’d read about a newspaper editor doing so. But that is what happened this week. Mike Hanks, the editor of the Bloomington Sun-Current, interviewed me in early June 2012 to do a story on BlessBack and highlight the Bloomington stories within it. One of those whom he attempted to contact was Harry Driste, a custodian during my elementary years at River Ridge. But Harry, who was still an…

BlessBack story in Bloomington Sun Current

June 7, 2012 • Julie Saffrin • Leave a Comment

Today was a surreal day. I went to Harry Driste’s funeral in Paynesville, Minn. at Paynesville Lutheran Church. I went to honor and pay my respects to Harry, 101, a favorite janitor from my elementary years at River Ridge elementary in Bloomington who later became connected to our family. Just before the funeral service began, I met many wonderful people who loved Harry, including his wife, Viola. They married when Harry was 85. “Harry asked the Lord to give us five good years. He gave us 16.” His previous first wife to whom he was married for 56 years, Mabel, preceded him in death, as…

Harry Driste, a hero to Bloomington River Ridge Elementary kids

June 5, 2012 • Julie Saffrin • 4 Comments

Black and white picture: Harry Driste receiving a plaque and being presented with a tree planted in his honor at his retirement as janitor at River Ridge Elementary School in Bloomington, Minnesota. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand. — Woodrow Wilson Every once in a while someone comes along and changes your life. Harry Driste was one of those people. Harry passed away on June 3, 2012 at the age of 101 1/2. Until two days before his death, Harry was alert, making jokes and reaching into his storehouse of…

Bev’s Book Nook in Perham now carries BlessBack

May 30, 2012 • Julie Saffrin • Leave a Comment

Since we bought our cabin on Dead Lake six years ago, one of my favorite stops when friends and family come to visit is Bev’s Book Nook. Beverly states on her Facebook page that her shop is “a unique little bookstore located in the heart of lakes country in Minnesota. We stopped there over the Memorial Day weekend and my son Sam picked up a Fitzgerald, two Steinbecks and a “newer” novel. Opened in 1988 as a bookstore that carries gently used book, classics, rare books, new books and everything in between including puzzles and cards, this gem (conveniently located…

BlessBack now available at Dot & Minnie’s in Perham, MN

May 27, 2012 • Julie Saffrin • Leave a Comment

Congratuations to Andrea Greiff on the opening of her new store, Dot & Minnie’s in Perham, Minnesota. She has the coolest clothes, accessories and gifts….and now she carries BlessBack, right next to these cool blessing bracelets. “Dot & Minnie” were her grandmothers’ names. “Now they continue to be with [me] every day,” she says, according to her Web site. Look for BlessBack: Thank Those Who Shaped Your Life for sale at her shop! Thanks, Andrea, for taking a chance on my book. Best of success on your new business. Your grandmothers would be so proud of you. You make Perham proud of…

What You Would Have Said

March 23, 2012 • Julie Saffrin • 3 Comments

Spring has come early to Minnesota this year. This week’s temperatures reached 80 degrees for the First. Time. Ever. We even beat Phoenix’s high of 50. “Ice out” on Lake Minnetonka happened mid-week, beating all records as far back as anyone can remember. As for spring break, there is no need to go south. We already have a good start on our tans and D, the sunshine vitamin, is well on its way to replenishing our souls. Plants I overwintered are now on my deck. My cleaned windows squeak with joy. And my porch ― always a sign that spring has…