2 January 2014

Overview of 2013

Family History remains a big focus.  I have several Trees posted on www.ancestry.com and I keep trying to catch up by adding documentation.  It is a never ending job.  I continue to field inquiries about people in the trees.  I help when I can and enjoy the feeling when some one is greatful when they find data on their families in my tree and perhaps I have contact with their people and can connect them up.  Genealogy becomes a passion!  Perhaps, more so for us who are elderly.  Young folks are too busy earning a living and trying to keep up with young families, etc.

Along the above lines, I had a bit of a disaster happen before Thanksgiving this year.  My older desktop computer's mother board crashed and then my laptop malfunctioned with some Update that came in.  I took them both out to the Best Buy Geek Squad.  I had the hard drive pulled from the desktop machine and recycled the machine and they were able to wipe my laptop clean and reload to factory settings which means I have to start all over and reload software, etc.  I'm still working on that process.  I lost my Family Tree Maker sync to my ancestry trees and have to start over which involved hours and hours as my trees are quite large.  I'm leaving the biggest tree to last.  Then I hope this laptop will last a few more years before I again have to start over.

I also have to learn the new Windows 8.1 as it is on my new desktop.  It seems to be a smart OS.  However, it all takes much of my time.

Christmas has come and gone.  This year I set up the fake white tree and let two of my grandkids decorate it at Thanksgiving time.  They had fun and it looks nice.  This was the first time in several years that I bothered with a big tree.  In some recent years, I had only set up a small tree on the mantel and my husband had his Charlie Brown tree.  In a few days, I will start to dismantle the big tree and put it away.  We still enjoy the lights on in the evening.  I also bought one of those Musical clocks that plays Carols on the hour and it has been fun.  The face has a Thomas Kincade scene so I can remove the batteries that plays the specialized music and use the clock.  We spent Christmas eve up in Edmonds with our daughter and family and our son who lives in Sammamish brought his family over so we could be together for a few hours.  Our daughter made lefse for the first time with equipment I gave her last Christmas and she did a fantastic job.  It was delicious.  The son mentioned here was on the team that made XBOX One.  It has become a big seller this Christmas.  I'm proud of all three of my adult children...all  productive workers and good people.

November 17th, Bill and I celebrated our 51st Wedding Anniversary by going down to Hearthfire for dinner. This year we picked out a diamond necklace for me.  I love it.  Last year on the 50th, we didn't buy a gift but spent some money on a family and friend type dinner out.  Time marches on!
Thanksgiving was spent at our home and my son-in-law who cooks as good as any Chef did the whole dinner and it was delicious.  They spent the night and got to go on a date to a movie while we had fun with the grandkids.

October we wake up to see a big Buck laying under our Maple Tree in the fenced back yard!  He was beautiful.  The big fella had jumped the fences.

In September, Bill and I spend a few days at Ocean Shores in a beach house that my cousin lets us use now and then.  We enjoy walking the beaches.  It was a bit foggy on some days.  I didn't make it back to Minnesota for a high school reunion.  I've only made it to two.  I graduated in 1958.

August brought some unwelcome news.  My sister-in-law has incurable lung cancer.  Her husband was dx in the Spring with early Alzheimers!  D wasn't a smoker, either.  Chemo has shrunk the tumor and so far it hasn't gotten into lymph nodes.  Maybe they can keep it at bay for many months.  I hope so.  I'm not ready to lose D.  She has many times been my confidant.  I have envied them many times because they have been able to do so much traveling around the world which is what I would have loved to do but couldn't because of my husband's health and my back isn't up to much trekking around either!  We live many states away from each other so I can't be of much help.    They have taken care of business now...the legal kinds...and sold their house but can live in it as long as they wish, etc.  We are all in our 70's so Life happens!  We also went to a Milbourn Family Reunion in August at Humptulips.  The matriarch is my 1st cousin Florence who will be 89 years old on 10 Jan 2014.  I met cousins there for the first time.  We are related through Florence's Mother, Julia Krupicka Willis who was my Dad's older sister.

Summer was uneventful.  It is harder to keep up since we both have health issues that make it harder to weed, etc.  Well, I forgot that one important event happened.  Our son and wife and kids helped us clean out our garage so we could finally park our car in it!  One load to dump, three loads to Goodwill and one load of goodies for E to sell or keep or ???  I also passed on my Grandma's cupboard to E and J.

Spring time I had my first Medic Van ride and spent a couple nights under observation and did a test on my heart.  It was boring.  My heart test showed no heart attack or damage.

January brings both Bill and my birthdays...dinner out again.

That about culminates the year 2013.  

September 2010 - Miscellaneous Commentary

The above photo is my grand niece...standing behind her big Northern...Uncle R is holding it and I don't know the other girl. The fishing was on a lake in Minnesota. Sept. 2010

Miscellaneous Commentary...

Yesterday, I had a note from a new Varland and hope she got my message I sent her.

It seems like Fall today in the NW. We have had rain and wind where I live and even lost our power yesterday for over 3 hours due to a tree falling on a power line. Then our HD cable box didn't work and it is being replaced right now as I type. My husband is supervising that operation. I was glad we still have one ancient TV that did work last night.

Today, a couple of my grand children start their new school year at a new school. They also will be riding a bus for the first time. Tonight, another grand-daughter will meet her Kindergarten teacher and tomorrow she starts with her first day of school. I'm finding it hard to believe she is now school age. There are only 2 left and one starts next year and the other the year after that. My oldest grand daughter started her first year of high school on the 25th and she was excited about that. I see on Facebook that she is getting tons of homework. Not to worry - she is very intelligent and has been an A+ student all through her schooling so far and she had taken honors type classes and French in that mix. Granted, she has a very heavy schedule this year so I'm sure she will be challenged to some degree. So, I wish her luck in balancing lots of homework, her dance and competitions and her social life this year.

My cousin has given me access to her beach house with about 3 more weeks left to use it. I hope we can make it down there but I'm not positive we will get there. We do a lot more reading and walking the beach looking for rocks and agates and putting puzzles together, etc. when vegging out at the beach...no cable TV or computer handy to take up our time.

My 80 year old brother and his wife are taking a cruise to Alaska and leaving on the 3rd of Sep. They will stop by my place for 1 night on their way back home to Utah a few days down the road... I am jealous of those who can flit around and travel as my husband in no longer wanting to do any adventurous things due to some health problems. I will be doing good to get him down to the beach house which is only 70 miles away!

Yesterday, we had a rabbit in our back yard that looked like Peter Rabbit without a coat! Very cute but hope he/she doesn't adopt us as I hear they can be destructive to bushes and trees. It was eating on a pear that had fallen off our tree and some blueberries and sunflower seeds. We don't see rabbits too often here...only raccoons. One year we had Opossums but it has been a long time since I've seen any of those. We are in the city but near a watershed area and there are deer and fox. Years ago, the skunks had a trail somewhere but those seem to be long gone, too...that is fine with me! I think we had a cougar in the watershed a few years ago. Birds...lots of them and we encourage them at the bird feeders and suet station. We also have a good supply of squirrels hanging out. My husband enjoys feeding the birds.

I had a note from my Sis with a photo of her granddaughter catching a Northern yesterday. Her Uncle took her fishing. She doesn't start her schooling until next week. She is with her grandmother right now as her Mom is in NYC looking for a job. She has a degree from Smith in Neuro Science. Jobs and apartment hunting is what she is up to at the moment. We wish her luck. I think her final goal is to get her M.D. My Sis is loving having her granddaughter for awhile.

Well, now back to going through my stacks of research papers from genealogy projects. Genealogy is mainly all I do anymore. I have it all online on www.ancestry.com but some of the trees remain private.

Nikkila, Nikkilä, Nickila

I am helping my husband's cousin in Simo, Finland find as many descendents of the Nikkilä Emigrants from Simo, Finland to America for a book.

I have a Sampila/Nikkila Family tree at www.ancestry.com . All of the living descendents information is not viewable by the public. Contact me, if you think you may be connected to these family lines.

I have some families I'm not sure of as to where they fit in...some are living in Minnesota.
John Wayne Nickila; Wallace Nickila are two of the links I don't know about.

Here is part of a list from Riitta in Kemi, Finland. She is the lady I'm helping on this project.

Ou, yes. Kalle (Charles) emigrated in 1880. He was Lauri "Lar´s" son and born
21.4.1861 as you tell me. Huraa! You found him.
We have left still many
Juho Jaakko b.26.7.1850
Kaisa Maria b.9.10.1852
Anna Kreeta b.19.6.1858
Hilda Eufrosyne b.20.2.1864
Brita Liisa b.14.1.1848, who was married there with Daniel (Taneli) Sankala b.16.6.1853. Brita Liisa had a son Kalle Artturi b.23.10.1872, who was blind. Her father wasn´t Daniel.
Matti Aukusti b.2.7.1854 married here 1.6.1879 with Kaisa Kreeta Kehusmaa/Hamari b.5.2.1855 Regards Riitta

Lauri Nikkila emigrated with his family and apparently died in Cromwell, Carlton Co., Minnesota in either 1903 or 1905. The above names are his children. His wife was Anna and b. 1822 in Ii, Finland and I don't know when she died in America.

Help on finding everyone we can would be appreciated.

Scarlett in Washington

In Prague

My friend in Prague, Josef Zak is a photographer and shared a few pictures with me during a walk in Prague last weekend.

I always want to go back and even live there for awhile when I see pictures from there. I have cousins in Kutna Hora. My Grandpa Krupicka grew up in Brzotice. I'd love to spend enought time to learn the language good and to study history. But, at my age it isn't likely that would happen....unless I should win the lotto and have a little money to spend that is!!!

My Bakke Cousins in Norway

My Varland Cousins in Norway

January 2009

As the New Year begins, we find many changes in America. We have a new President and I find it interesting to watch the news conferences to hear about steps being taken to try to boost our economy.

I have already helped the economy by having our roof reshingled. That was done on 13January during a lull in the rainy weather. Around the Christmas season, we had over a foot of snow sitting on the roof and soon after most of that melted a very heavy rain that lasted for two days. It did the poor old roof in and I discovered leaks coming in and staining the ceilings in a couple of rooms. This expidited the plan to re-roof this year by a few months! This time we put on an algae fighting shingle and it is supposed to hang in there for 30 years...which is probably past my lifetime since I am 68.

So far, all my kids still have their jobs. I hope that remains the case. One decided to sell his house as he has 3 kids and needs one more bedroom to make life more comfortable. He had the house ready to market the week the credit markets dried up so held off a few weeks. The house is move in ready for someone so I hope it sells quickly. This is only day 5 on the market and the Open House is this Sunday. Now, this is another get the ecomony going move.

Another, is considering doing some remodeling this year. This all works as long as the jobs are stable.

Sometimes, I think businesses are panicky and then they add to the problem my laying people off. Laid off people can't buy! It's either that or just an excuse to cut their payrolls. I like to pay cash if I can for things so the last few years I've been saving my SS checks for a new roof. Businesses should have enough money saved for the lean times....to me that would be a good business. But then...I never majored in business so what do I know.

I had to laugh a bit around Christmas time as I was telling a friend that when I grew up we didn't have credit cards. We did what was called Lay Away and paid a little each week to the store and got our purchase when it was paid for. Those were the days a nice wool dress cost $18 to $24. Then a few days later, I saw some stores were actually implementing that lay away situation.

Well, I'm hoping for a better year for me. I was given a new RX the end of October and I never felt good after that so just about 6 days ago, with the doctor's knowledge, I went off it and I am definitely starting to feel better. I think it had lowered my blood pressure too much as I was out of it. I just now am thinking about doing some house cleaning which has been lacking for several weeks. I can't afford to hire a housekeeper for that.

In the Family History department - I bought into Ancestry for a year again and have been working on my son-in-laws family...a common Johnson name. I broke a wall down and found where the Norwegian ancestor came from now. That was big! I also have a bio being published in a book about Norwegians in Minnesota. I have one great grandpa that was in Minnesota before it became a State and that is the group of people being written about for that book. They were Gundersons.

Well, I just thought I should add something to this blog as I haven't been very active with it.

December Thoughts

This month is a time of reflection for me. It has been a year of health problems to deal with and to try to heal what we can. There have been new cousin's to email with in Norway and even one found living not far from us. This has been exciting. It isn't often you can add maybe 700 plus more cousins to your history. As a daughter laughingly commented, "Someday you will probably discover that I'm married to a cousin and didn't know it!" Well, I am pretty sure that didn't happen. A cousin let us use her beach house for a month while they were in Europe. What fun that was. My brother visited us and stayed a week. That was his first time to stay at our house. My niece was accepted at a prestigious woman's college in Mass. and is finishing her education at age 30. We were able to visit our son in California and see our grand-daughter dance and cheer during a weekend. We traveled with our daughter and family. A son and his family bought a new Scottie puppy for their Christmas this year. His name is Angus. I bought new ovens and got rid of my over 40 year old ones. What fun...things like that aren't easy to do on a fixed income. Inflation seems to be catching up too fast with our income now so not sure how the years ahead will be for us. If I knew then what I know now, I would probably still be working. So, here we are living in December in the North West and a big storm has thrown many people's life into cayause. We were lucky...no trees on top of our houses and we are living on a hill that keeps us from the flooding and no possibility of any mud slide either. So far, we have kept our power but in the past that has been off for over a week at a time...just lucky this time. I feel really bad for those who have lost everything and many carry no flood insurance...no way to start a Holiday season, is it?

I wonder what next year will bring us? One thing I'm knowing is that a grand son will appear in January and that is something to look forward to!

Pictures of Fogn July 2007

Blurry photo of a farm map - shows Langeland

Lovely Fogn Inhabitants - Aud-Irene & Ingvild T.

Varland Farm View

Ingvild T. and Peggy

Langeland land

Fogn Island July 2007

Fogn Sign at dock
General Store on Fogn

Langeland Home

Garden on Langeland

Dagrun and Peggy at General Store

My cousin, Peggy O. and her husband have been visiting in Norway. A few days ago they took the ferry to the Fogn Island where our "Thompson" ancestor's came from. In Norway the father's name was Torkild Torkildsen Langeland. He brought his family to America and that included my great grandfather, Halvor and Peggy's gggf Theodor.

Peggy located the Langeland farm and took some pictures. The owner wasn't home. She also took pictures of the Varland Farm where Torkild's 2nd wife had been born. The Varlands that now live there are not related according to Ingvild who invited Peggy into the home. There are other farms on the island such as Eie and Bø that share boundaries with one of the farms that had people who married Varlands.

Since I've been trying to find information out about this place for some time, I was so thrilled that a close cousin decided to go check it out in person. She and Dave loved it. Peggy has given permission for me to post some of the pictures on my blog. Thank you or Mange Takk, Peggy.

The island has only 1 general store and the clerk, Dagrun was very nice to them and very helpful. There is no little motel for people to stay at from what I have read online so you have to be sure to catch the last ferry back to Stavanger.

Cancer Touches So Many...

I've been thinking a lot this week about a cousin in Norway who started her first chemo session after breast cancer surgery this week. I've only had e-mail contacts with her and shared pictures and family history but somehow feel that kin-ship. I wish her well.

Tomorrow will be the 3rd anniversary of my sister-in-law's death from cancer and we miss her. I've been thinking about her family.

I have a son and husband who have had surgeries for cancer. So far, they are cancer free and I hope it stays that way.

I lost a mother to inflammatory breast cancer in 1993. That is such an aggressive one and it was too late for her but she stretched out her life by trying chemo from the predicted 1 or 2 months to 10 months before dying.

With all the millions spent on research over so many years, I can't help but wonder why more isn't known about what causes all the cancers. What triggers that mad cell growth? Virus...chromosome damage...chemicals? Seems to me we should have more answers on prevention by now than we do.