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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Back to work and Norway

I have started going back to my day job. I have lost quite a bit of stamina during my recovery, but my mind is still functional, as much as it ever was (I know I shouldn't let my mind wander as it is too small to be out by itself. I had a thought once, but it died of loneliness, etc, etc). I didn't realize that time would go by without me getting too many things accomplished, but I should know that by now. Easing back into work is a funny feeling, but I hope to be able to be back to at least 40 hours/wk in a week or so.

Jena was not aware that I had been to Norway. The first time was back in 1966, the summer I turned fifteen, and it was for a six week vacation. Hanging out with all my teen and younger cousins was a blast and seeing my grandfather for what would probably be the last time was bittersweet. I remember him watching the World Cup and yelling at the TV when he disagreed with a referee's call. He had been born in Iceland in 1896, but had lived most of his life in Bergen (except when he would go to sea for a couple of years at a time). I got to see Trondheim and go to the movies (The Flight of the Phoenix) and, of course, Oslo. One of the neatest places I got to go was a little farm up in the mountains where my father hid from the Nazis. The old farmer and his wife and mother (in her eighties and still pitching hay) had a fjord horse and goats, etc. I didn't get to go back until the mid 1990's and again in 2007. I feel totally comfortable there which triggers the stuff of daydreams, especially if I start looking at some of the pictures I took. Here are a few.   


6 comments:

  1. Somewhere in Norway my ancestors strapped the stuff of their lives to a slope like that. No wonder they moved to North Dakota. It was cold, but at least things stayed put.

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  2. Thanks for stopping by, Murr! What North Dakota doesn't have for mountains it tries to make up for with wind. From the song "Wicked Wind of Fargo",
    It starts up in the Arctic waste
    By the time it hits Moosejaw
    Saskatchewan's a frozen place
    Ain't never gonna thaw
    It whips across the border
    Not a tree to slow it down
    Look out boys, here it comes
    It's the coldest wind around.

    I think that's how it goes.

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  3. My grandmother and her family were from Gothenberg SE. They moved to Sandefjord No when she was 5 and then to the US when she was 13. Would love to visit there and see if I can find out why they moved to Norway.

    All of your pictures are wonderful. That last ones makes me wonder why we cannot "groom" the land like they do in Scandinavian.

    Take care at work and pace yourself.

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  4. Beautiful photos. I would love to visit all the gorgeous places my ancestors came from. Such a trip would take me from Sweden, to Scotland, to Australia. It's interesting how I feel connected to places I've never visited. Hopefully someday ...

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  5. I see you like both Norway and cats - I don't know if you will know the breed, but we have Norwegian Forest Cats. Very handsome cats who are extremely intelligent.

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  6. I'd Rather, I know the breed, but they are fairly rare in the States. I would love to have one, but we are probably at our limit for quantity.

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