FIVE SQUARE MILES

A story of a life lived within these parameters

My grandmother died a few days ago. She was almost 99 years old, and other than noticeably shrinking in height, even at the end she looked and acted about the same as she had throughout her life.

She was one of 991 females living in Hawley, Minn., where the total population is 1,880 and has been for quite a few years. Hawley is what many of us wish our neighborhood could be: It’s a place so small that people truly know you and everything about you, for better or worse.

She grew up there, went to school there, was married there, gave birth to her three children there, buried her husband there about 25 years ago, and finally died there.

Virtually her entire life took place within an area of about five square miles, give or take a mile or two.

By the time it’s our time, how many of us do you think will be able to say that? And how many will want to?

Although I wasn’t her confidante, I don’t know that spending her entire life in a little town without a stoplight bothered her. She never seemed to worry about what might have been or what should have happened; she generally just played the cards she was dealt without flinching much on the “fold” hands or getting too excited when she drew a flush.

She seemingly had no regrets other than outliving her husband. For years after he died, even though she was surrounded by friends and relatives, she signed the letters she sent to me in Texas “Your Lonesome Grandma”.

She didn’t work what you or I would consider to be a “regular” job, in the sense that she packed her lunch and headed to a business to earn a buck. She and my grandfather were farmers, and although I don’t recall seeing her driving a tractor or handling a pitchfork, I never doubted she could do either of those things.

Instead, she managed the house and fed my grandfather and any number of other farmhands working the fields and barns. During a late summer harvest, it wasn’t uncommon to have eight or 10 hungry guys out in the field during the grain threshing, haying and corn silage-filling operations. When it was break time, my grandmother drove out to the field in a pickup, dropped the tailgate and produced a seemingly endless buffet of sandwiches, cook- ies, dessert bars and water or lemonade.

Then she packed up the remains, headed back to the house, and began preparing the next meal.

I never knew her to be sick. Ever. She was the original Energizer Bunny, moving at a constant speed without needing much attention. Even into her 80s, she led a bowling team and had

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When the time came, I’m told she talked so softly as to be hard to hear. As her body parts simply wore down, she lived on a diet of soft candy, cookies and water. One day, she simply went to sleep and didn’t wake up.

All in all, not a bad way to live. And not a bad way to die.

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WINE SHOP AT TYLER/DAVIS TO SPECIALIZE IN TEXAS MAKERS

Delicious developments have been setting the neighborhood a’sizzle. Editor Rachel Stone has blogged about the recent openings of Monica Greene’s Bee: Best Enchiladas Ever, Lockhart Smokehouse and Papa Joe’s Backyard Barbecue, and now there’s a new wine boutique and a coffee shop in the works. To read Rachel’s blog excerpt below in full, search: Bishop Arts Winery. To follow food and drink news in the OC all month, visit oakcliff.advocatemag.com/dining.

A shop specializing in Texas wines is expected to open by June in the former Daniel Padilla Gallery space on Davis at Tyler.

Oak Cliff business owner Elias Rodriguez says the shop, Bishop Arts Winery, will carry bottles from about 12 major Texas winemakers, with opportunities for the state’s 100-plus winemakers to have tastings and temporary showcases. Rodriquez, who owns a planning and design consultation firm on East Jefferson, says the shop also will carry cheese, but not beer or liquor.

Rodriquez eventually would like to produce wine at the shop. In the meantime, he plans to contract with a winemaker for a Bishop Arts Winery label.

The shop is one of several new storefronts planned in the Tyler/Davis area, which recently has grabbed the attention of City Hall. Some property and business owners say the unusual intersection at Tyler and Seventh is dangerous. And the city has hired a consulting firm to study the Tyler/Davis area and suggest another traffic pattern there.

Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters bought the former mechanic garages half a block away at 819 W. Davis with plans for a coffee shop.

So ... locally roasted coffee and Texas wine. In the same block. And there’s already a chocolate shop in between.

But that’s not all. Bolsa Mercado, the Whole Foods-meets-Eatzi’s concept from Bolsa owner Chris Zeilke, is expected to open two blocks away at 634 W. Davis as early as April.

Looks like 2011 is set to be an epic one for Tyler/Davis.

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