My husband was excited when he saw a geodesic dome home model in 1979 at the Minnesota State Fair. He liked the energy-efficient home with passive windows for heat, the heat recovery system and the 9-inch thick walls. We had bought two lots on a lake about 45 miles west of the Twin Cities in Wright County, and this seemed the ideal place for a dome home.

The vocational arts teacher from a local school, my husband and me, family, friends and neighbors put the house kit together one day in 1980 — we had a home on the lake. We lived there all summer, still working and commuting to jobs in the Twin Cities. We often would go fishing as soon as we returned from our city jobs. We had a vegetable garden and perennial flower garden, and we thoroughly enjoyed the outdoor spaces and the needed relaxation from the bustle of the city.

The children married, the family expanded, and we enjoyed summer days of water skiing and grilling hot dogs and hamburgers.

My husband died suddenly in 1990 and I was not sure if I could continue living by myself at the lake home in the summers. But I did it for 26 years, maintaining the land, the house, lakeshore and all that goes with it. It was a fulfilling experience. Summer fresh mornings and delightful star-filled evening skies are etched forever in my memory.

Kathy Bjorklund, Maple Grove