When we moved to Minnesota from New Jersey in 1972, I loved my new state but like any 'immigrant' still longed for a feel of home. My husband Jerry's family lives on the Iron Range so we wanted to be close to them for weekends. We also wanted to have the comfort of homes I remembered on the Jersey Shore in my youth. So I conjured our cabin Up North in the style of a Jersey Dutch Colonial with a wraparound porch, all screened in (mosquitoes are fierce in New Jersey, too!). Maybe Paul Bunyan would be scratching his head (or a mosquito bite), but Bruce Springsteen, from Asbury Park, N.J., would feel right at home. A bit of Jersey on the Range, as it were.

Pam Kearney, Edina