What’s new at Firepoint Cafe
Welcome to Firepoint Cafe, where the proprietor, Therese Oldenburg, shares her writings, interests, thoughts and adventures with visitors. So, pull up a chair, grab your favorite beverage and enjoy some of what is being dished up!
On the hunt for Beloit’s oldest trees
This historic Bur Oak near Turtle Creek has stood for centuries, a quiet witness to the lives of the Ho-Chunk people, the arrival of early settlers, and the growth of modern Beloit. If you see a crazy lady measuring trees in Beloit, that might be me! Recently, as part...
Stories Written in Snow
Stories Written in Snow There’s something magical about breaking trail on snowshoes after a fresh snowfall, feeling like you're the first to experience the beauty of these woods cloaked in the quieting snow. And then you start noticing the various tracks...
The Sisters of Misadventures
The Sisters of Misadventures "Sweet friendships refresh the soul and awaken our hearts with joy." Proverbs 29:9 About 12 years ago "The Sisters of Misadventures" was born. We didn't have a plan to create anything formal, it was just a spontaneous creative name born...
8 Great Autumn Hiking Adventures In The Stateline Area
8 Great Autumn Hiking Adventures In The Stateline Area As the leaves begin to change color and the air crisps up, challenge yourself to take 8 Autumn Hiking Adventures in 8 stunning locations, traveling from north to south through the Stateline area. Begin your...
Take a Trip Around the World Without Leaving Wisconsin
I think this year I'm going to work my way around the world by exploring my own state! I've already been to Rome, WI last week, so my journey has already begun! Immigrant Place Names In Wisconsin In Wisconsin the names of towns often reflect the diverse places that...
Why March is a good month to “Hit Repeat”
Why March is a good month to “Hit Repeat” March is such an “in between month”, not quite spring and not quite winter. It’s a tough month to love. But one thing is certain, I’ll always find something new to discover on every walk outdoors. Even in the “brown-ness” of...
What a Difference 24 Minutes Makes
What a difference 24 minutes makes! Several years ago, on the first anniversary of my mother's passing, I was in one of her favorite places in the world - Manasota Key in Englewood, Florida. I'm not normally an early morning person, but, to honor her, I arose before...
Cooking with Love: The Timeless Gift of Handwritten Recipes
From the Heart, Through the Hand: Sharing Recipes When I was a young bride, I received a Betty Crocker Cookbook and an empty wooden recipe box as gifts, ready to be filled with favorite recipes. Forty+ years later, my Betty book is well used (and I still refer to it...
My Hero Ancestors
This year I had time to really dig into my family ancestry on Ancestry.com and I kept finding stories about my ancestors that blew me away. They faced challenges or opportunities that must have seemed daunting and scary at the time. But they made decisions that...
Experiments In My Kitchen: Greek Yogurt and Ricotta Cheese
Experiments In My Kitchen: Greek Yogurt and Ricotta Cheese I'm recently retired and have more time on my hands to experiment in the kitchen. I absolutely love Greek yogurt, especially the unflavored, unsweetened variety because I can control the amount of sweetness in...
Foods that connect you to your ancestors
The photo above is my Dad, Bob Seidel, carefully checking ingredients for Czech dumplings that my son Josh is making I recently started working on my family ancestry using Ancestry.com. My father, Bob Seidel, was the youngest son of two Czech immigrants, Rose and Emil...
Excuse me, I’m going to go saunter now
I've learned a new way to experience the outdoors and I had to come all the way to the Redwoods National Forest to learn how. From now on, I'm going to saunter through the woods, not "hike". Why? I was inspired by a writing I stumbled upon before my trip out West,...
Women Of the Confluence: Chloe Blodgett program for Women’s History Month
I love to do historical research and in 2023 I became absorbed in learning more about my hometown's founding settlers. I did the research as a part of a program I was offering at Nature At the Confluence, an environmental center located at the confluence of Turtle...
What is Firepoint Cafe?
Welcome to Firepoint Cafe, where I am virtually serving up my experiences, thoughts and photos to the world. I hope you will enjoy Firepoint Cafe enough that you'll pull up a chair, grab your favorite beverage and consume some of what is being dished up! Why...
The Amazing Cottonwood Tree
Nature At The Confluence Legacy Trees are Eastern Cottonwoods Nature At The Confluence is an environmental learning center in South Beloit, IL, right on the border of Beloit, Wisconsin. I was the founding executive director at this beautiful space which was built on a...
Want To Get Tuned Into Nature? Keep a Phenology Calendar
The new year gives us a chance to start with a fresh calendar and toss out the old one. But, what if the information you collected in that calendar was vital to your survival? People have always observed and noted the timing of natural events. Early people knew when...
Creek Walking – A whole new way to explore small waterways
I experienced Turtle Creek a whole new way the other day. It was an unusually hot September day, around 90 degrees, the water had warmed up and my son asked me to accompany him while he walked the creek and fished. When you’re college-aged son wants to hang out with...
Wild Foraging | Finding Food in the Woods and Fields
Wild Foraging: the act of responsibly harvesting edible, wild growing plants and fungi for food, medicine and beverages. I'm just learning about foraging, so I thought I'd start in my own backyard. On a beautiful May morning I foraged in my yard for Fiddlehead Ferns...
Getting dirty in the garden can actually make you happier and healthier
I've always said that I'm happiest when playing in the dirt! And now that the soil is warming up, I'm so happy I can get out and do just that! Did you know that getting your hands dirty in the garden can actually make you happier and healthier? New studies show that...
Find joy in hitting the “repeat button” in nature
What I find most rewarding is walking the trails at Nature At The Confluence several times a week and finding new things to see and hear, and finding new ways to experience nature. It's never the same walk, as new things are exposed, or even obscured as the season...