Here We Go!

As I write this post we are sitting in the airport in Toronto waiting for our connecting flight to Rome. We've got lots of time because Air Canada changed our flight a number of weeks ago, and now we have a 6 hour layover in Toronto. Originally we were not supposed to leave Regina until 2 PM - this would have allowed us to attend the Graduation Ceremony at Luther College this morning, where among other things we would have seen Anna receive an honour pin for having an average over 80%. That would have been a good thing, and so would a shorter wait between flights in Toronto... but Air Canada cancelled the later flight, and so this was our only option.

So we are sitting at a Bacardi Rum Bar and Grill where I had some yummy chicken strips with tropical sweet and sour dip, and Beth had an interesting Grilled Vegetable sandwich. I just ordered a Key Lime pie, we'll see if it measures up to the lovely Key Lime pie we had at Pasta Prima earlier this week (where we enjoyed a nice meal with Jay and Jane Harman).

Supposedly there is free WiFi here in the airport, but I couldn't get it to work. So instead I paid for something called a Boingo connection and everything is working fine.

Beth suggested, and I agreed, that I should pick up one of these travel pillows that we see in almost every shop in the airport. They are all the same make and price, but they seem well made, and I could use some sleep... yes, for all my good intentions I was still working up to the last minute, marking assignments for my class at Luther College, making sure I had everything packed that I needed, and even practical things like paying all the utility bills before we left. So I'm a little short on sleep now (sorry Marlene, I tried) and a travel pillow combined with a long flight over the Atlantic seems to be the right combination!

The next entry will (probably) come from Europe. It's hard to believe that we are finally going to be there after all the planning and preparations. Rome, here we come!

A Very Old Mousetrap

On my computer monitor is a post-it note with subjects for the blog. Today's entry is the last topic on the post-it note... but as we are only 4 days away from our departure it is very likely that my next post will happen after the trip has commenced.

When we first looked at the material for our Globus package tour, the information on London suggested taking in a West End Show one evening. So we started looking at all the possibilities, which was quite a few - there are close to 50 theatres in London's famous West End. As far as shows playing there is everything from well known musicals like The Lion King, Carousel, Grease, and Hello Dolly; to comedies like As You Like It and Much Ado About Nothing; and even serious dramas like A Doll's House, Hamlet, and A Streetcar Named Desire. But almost by accident I came across The Mousetrap.

The Mousetrap is a mystery written for the stage by Agatha Christie. Beth loves mystery novels, and has enjoyed Agatha Christie's work as long as I've known her. But the real attraction of this production is that it is a Guinness World Record holder. This production is the longest running show of any kind in the world. It has been performed continuously since 1953 - which currently puts it at 56 years and running! In that time there have been over 23,000 performances. Currently it is playing at the St. Martin's Theatre, which has been its home for the last 34 years.

I remember seeing something about this incredible piece of theatrical history in a newspaper or magazine many years ago. This bit of trivia stuck with me as I recognized the name The Mousetrap immediately when I came across it on a London Theatres website. We had to wait to purchase tickets because they were only guaranteeing performances up to a certain date. Once tickets became available for the time we're in London we grabbed a couple right away. Actually I ended up grabbing 4 by accident (not paying close enough attention when doing the online purchase), but the friendly folks at St. Martin's Theatre were happy to refund us for the 2 unwanted tickets with no hassles, and very expediently.

So Beth and I will be watching theatrical history, enjoying an enduring plot line, and spending a lot less money on tickets than some of the other West End shows. Some day we would like to go to New York, and visit Broadway... and many of these same West End shows are sure to be playing there... but The Mousetrap is unique to London's West End and that was the ticket for us!

Lists, Lists and more Liszt

It's been an absolutely incredible musical weekend (okay really only the last 24 hours). We went to the Il Divo concert on Saturday night and it was an amazing show. It is ironic that we're gearing up for our trip to Europe and here Europe has come to us . The music was excellent and the background graphics were also fantastic. I was pleased to notice that they used some of our local symphony members - says something about the level of talent and ability right in our community. Then this morning we celebrated with the Jazz Liturgy, accompanied by some really top-notch musicians. The choir pieces also added a special element to the service, especially the Norwegian piece with a wonderful trumpet solo. In a short period of time we've had two very different but equally moving musical experiences - possibly just a precursor to what we will experience in Europe (and no, I don't believe there's any Liszt on the program for any of the concerts will be going to. I just thought it sounded good.)

So the countdown is really on now. My stress level is pretty high but hopefully as the week progresses, that will diminish. It seems I have lists all over the place - what to pack, what I still might need to purchase, what I need to accomplish before I go, what I need to do to make sure the kids will survive without us, contact names and numbers - the lists seem to go on and on forever! However, as crazy as it may sound, that's what keeps me sane. Actually things are really falling into place (I've done a zillion loads of laundry and I'm even semi-packed) and before I know it we'll be getting on the plane next Saturday and it won't really matter if there's anything left on the lists. As Dennis keeps reminding me, I can always buy things in Europe if I've forgotten anything and the kids are old enough to fend for themselves but I expect after 6 weeks of mostly Kraft Dinner and no vegetables, they will probably appreciate me a little more too. It helps that there will be periodic visits from grandparents - that should help balance the nutritional scales. Now if I could only find my extended health care card...

One Week to Go!

One week from today Beth and I begin our adventure in earnest. This morning the Christ Lutheran Church Chamber Choir rehearsed "Deep and Precious, Strong and Gracious" in preparation for singing it in worship tomorrow. This is a Tord Gustavsen arrangement of an old Scandinavian hymn "Dype Stille Sterke Milde". The song has come together nicely and I look forward to presenting tomorrow. Rehearsing this song this morning was a nice prelude to our trip to Europe, as this arrangement is a combination of something traditional and contemporary, something spiritual and sensuous. This is what I hope our pilgrimage will be, a mixture of all these elements.

This past week we have started getting finalized details from our trip, for example earlier this week we picked up our Globus package tour material from Laurie at Marlin Travel. She went through all the material with us, and gave us some helpful hints to get us on our way. It was exciting to see more details of our package tour, and it is looking great. I also have heard from Ron Brind of C.S. Lewis Tours with some updates about our tour to C.S. Lewis sites in and around Oxford - and Mr. Brind let us know that we will be able to get inside The Kilns, the Lewis home for most of his adult life. Another email this past week was from The London Symphony Orchestra saying the conductor for the concert we are planning to attend is no longer available due to health concerns, but fortunately for us, the performance we have tickets for is going ahead with a different conductor, whereas another date was simply cancelled.

Many people have been giving us travel advice, and we appreciate all of it... but it's almost getting overwhelming. So much to remember - it's hard to keep it all straight. In the end I'm sure we'll forget some helpful information at some point, but I'm also sure that we will be fine in Europe regardless, even if everything doesn't go perfectly.

I have set Monday as my primary packing day, the day I put together my luggage - at least the first attempt. Then I will need to figure out what I really need to take, and what can be left behind. Today I am wearing the pair of shoes I plan to use as my primary shoes in Europe - and I will see how my feet feel after having them on all day. Last week I bought a suit jacket (so I can get into the opera at Milan), this was purchased at Value Village for $30, that way if it gets wrecked on the trip it won't be a big loss (this was Beth's suggestion and it makes a lot of sense to me).

Today the temperature finally got close to 20 degrees Celsius here in Regina, which I am glad about for many reasons, particularly so when we hit the warmer temperatures of southern Europe it won't be such a shock to our systems. Rome has been having temperatures around 30 degrees lately, and going from frost warnings here to that kind of heat there will be a big shift.

Seven days is all that remains, then we'll be on a plane, flying past Spain to the Italian terrain, then soon we board the train, and off to Milan come shine or rain... okay that's enough warping of "My Fair Lady" - which reminds me that I need to write a post about the West End Show we will be seeing in London, but I'll save that for later this week.

Coming Home Won't Be the Same

There is a saying that suggests the best part of a holiday is coming home. Coming home won't be the same for us this holiday. This morning our family dog, Thor, passed away. The whole family has been grieving ever since, lots of tears and deep breaths. This is a testament to how much Thor was truly part of our family. It will not be the same to come home to a house without Thor; no barking with excitement to greet us, no sniffing of parcels and luggage, no rubbing his head against our legs (or whatever other body part was available). In whatever way he made his presence known, that is forever gone, and we all feel a big hole in our lives.

Thor was named for the Norse god of Thunder. In many ways this proved to be an appropriate name; Thor's bark was big and loud, and he enjoyed 'thundering' away at the neighbour's dogs and cats, birds who made the mistake of landing in our yard, and whatever else caught his attention. The Norse god Thor was the strongest of the gods, and our Thor was certainly a strong dog, both in terms of physical strength and force of will. The only way the name was not fitting was Thor's fear of lightning and thunder. We could always tell when a prairie thunderstorm was coming because Thor would start getting agitated as much as a couple hours before the storm hit. He hated thunderstorms so much that in his early years he would try to burrow into the floor (he must have finally figured out that was a useless exercise because he didn't try that in his latter years).

Thor was an Airedale Terrier, a distinguished looking dog, especially after being groomed. We would often get comments on him while out for walks. I know I'm biased but he was a pretty handsome dog. He hated getting his picture taken however, so we don't have many good pictures of him. I've attached one of the better ones from recent months to this post.

Perhaps Thor's most distinguishing characteristic was his singing. Certain things would set him off in his unique half yodel, half howl - if I played my saxophone, or sometimes when Anna was practicing her flute. Most often, however, it was when the family was gathered together singing, such as when we were singing "Happy Birthday" to someone, or when the extended family was gathered together for a celebration like one of the kid's Confirmation, and we sang a table grace. Sometimes it was hard to finish the table grace because Thor's singing was so comical. He seemed so intent in joining in "whooowhooowhoooooooooo". His singing brought a smile to many people's faces over the years, and I'm sad that we'll no longer hear that sound in our house. Fortunately we have a few recordings of Thor's singing that we can always play, though I don't think I could bear to hear those recordings for quite a while.

Thor was part of our lives for 10 and a half years, that's a big part to lose suddenly. He wasn't acting his normal self the past couple of days, and last night he wouldn't eat or drink anything. I thought that maybe he was constipated, which has happened periodically in the past. Last night when he wouldn't eat or drink anything and was acting very weak I said to the boys that if he hadn't improved by morning we would take him to the vet. Beth found him lying at the foot of the stairs this morning, his favourite place to keep track of the household. He had passed away between 4:30 AM (when Thomas last sat with him) and 6:30 AM when Beth found him. We are grateful that he didn't seem to suffer long, but the suddenness of his death has really hit us all hard.

In the end I'm grateful this happened now, and not while we were on vacation in Europe. This way everyone got to say their goodbyes, and the kids didn't have to deal with this difficult and sad circumstance on their own. We are still looking forward to going to Europe, but today we're just thinking of who is missing here at home. Coming home won't be the same.

Hestra

I find it ironic that as I finally logged in to do a little blogging of my own, I discovered that Dennis' most recent blog follows along the same lines as what I was thinking. I guess what it comes down to is that a large portion of this trip is focussed around our heritage and discovering (or re-discovering in Dennis' case) where we've come from. However, much of Dennis' last post originates from Norway but for mine we have to move a little farther south to Sweden.

A few weeks ago I was wearing my t-shirt commemorating 100 years of Hedlin farming. I started thinking about how a little over 100 years ago my grandfather and his brother homesteaded at Watrous. Canada is such a young country and we tend to think it’s pretty amazing when a farm or a building has been in existence for that period of time. Right now, I’m in the process of arranging a visit to the original Hedlin (or Huvudsson) farm in Sweden, near Boras. Hestra had been in the Huvudsson family since the 17th century – that’s a lot of family history! My grandfather was only 19 when he left the family farm in Sweden to come (via North Dakota) to Saskatchewan. I find that hard to imagine, especially since he never went back. Most of his siblings also emigrated, leaving an unmarried sister and brother to farm Hestra with their parents. Hestra has since passed out of Huvudsson hands and is currently operated by the son of the couple who bought it. His mother is still living on the farm as well. She has been most gracious in allowing us to come and visit and see where my grandfather grew up. I never met my grandfather (although I vividly remember my Uncle Oscar) and I hope this will give me some sense of connectedness. In preparation I’ve been re-reading snippets of a book my Uncle Alan wrote, it mostly focuses on the Watrous years but includes some history of the family Huvudsson (with archival information provided by my Uncle Charles) and some remembrances of my grandmother and my great-uncle Oscar. I’ve enjoyed delving into my family history and look forward to seeing it come alive.

Nøsterud Gathering

Back in 1980, when I travelled to Europe with the Camrose Lutheran College Choir Tour, I stayed in Europe an extra week in order to travel to Norway and visit with family from my mother's side. I met some wonderful people back then, and in a few weeks I will be able to meet many of them again. My mom's relatives are planning a gathering of the family while we are in Norway, so I will be able to connect with many of them at once. My mom's cousins Sissel Tønnenberg and Kari Grande have contacted me with plans for our time in Norway, and I am overwhelmed by their hospitality. We will be met as we get off the ferry in Oslo, then taken out to Sissel and Terje's home. It is there that we will have a family reunion barbeque our first full day in Norway.

I stayed at Sissel and Terje's home back in 1980, and remember playing soccer with the boys (who are now grown and have children of their own). I recall being impressed with the wood-splitting machine, and the fact that they used firewood to heat their home. The thickness of the grain fields also stands out in my memory, I remember the grain laying down it was so top heavy. I wonder what will memories will be made with this visit?

We will also be hosted by Kari Lehne Grande in Oslo. Kari was a pen pal with my mom when they were both young. My sister was named Kari in honour of mom's pen pal cousin. Interestingly Beth's mom's cousin in Norway, who we also hope to meet, is also a Kari! So we have Karis all over the place. Kari Lehne Grande has been reading this blog and knew of my desire to see Rainbow Studio and meet Jan Erik Kongshaug - so she phoned him last week to see what could be arranged! This shows me the great lengths to which my mom's cousins are going to make our visit as wonderful as possible. It sure feels nice to know we will be well cared for in Norway.

The family is also arranging for a visit to the Nøsterud family farm. This is where my Grandpa Nosterud grew up. The Nøsterud farm is located in the municipality of Hole, in the district of Ringerike. The farm overlooks Tyrifjorden, Norway's fifth largest lake. My grandmother's family had a summer home opposite the shore where the farm is located. The name of this summer home was Djupvarp. Grandma came from a well-to-do family in Oslo, Grandpa was a farm boy. In spite of their very different backgrounds they met, fell in love and eventually got married. Grandpa and Grandma headed off to Canada soon after their marriage - off to the land of "new possibilities". Had they known what the Canadian prairies in the 1930s was going to be like I doubt they ever would have left the beautiful landscape of their homeland. The transition must have been incredibly difficult to deal with.

When I was in Norway in 1980 I was able to visit the Nøsterud farm, and the picture above is one I took of the farm house that summer. Kari Lehne Grande sent me a recent picture of the farm, and it still looks as lovely a setting as ever, and the buildings look like they are in better shape than when I saw them, painted red with white trim. Mom's cousin Per is still on the farm, and he will be showing us around the place, including taking us to Djupvarp.

When doing a little checking on the internet about this region of Norway I discovered that Hole was the birthplace of Saint Olaf (who was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028) and is Norway's Patron Saint. Olaf is generally regarded as the main force behind Norway's final conversion to Christianity and it is for this reason that he was canonized. Ironically some of this conversion was more by force than the proclamation of the Gospel, however there are many miracles attributed to him, and certainly he is responsible for establishing the ecclesiastical structure that developed into the Church of Norway. From what I have read Olaf seems to have been an interesting character and I look forward to learning more about him at some point. Perhaps while we are in the municipality of Hole we will be able to see the 12th century Bønsnes church that is located near the birthplace of Saint Olaf. One interesting personal connection to this discovery is that Beth's father for many years served a church in Swift Current called St. Olaf Lutheran Church (the only with that name in Canada).

To conclude this post I simply need to say that I am looking forward to seeing once again the place where my grandparents on my mother's side grew up. It is amazingly beautiful countryside from what I can remember, and I can hardly wait until I stand again on the soil where my Grandpa and Grandma Nosterud stood so many decades ago.

Symphony Orchestras - Regina, London and Berlin

Last night Anna (our daughter) and I attended the Regina Symphony Orchestra's final concert of the season, which concluded with a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (Ode to Joy). Beth and Joshua (our son) were singing in the Regina Philharmonic Chorus, a choir that primarily exists to sing with the Regina Symphony Orchestra (RSO) when a choral group is needed. It was a very satisfying concert, and it was a joy to watch people I know performing in the orchestra and singing in the choir - especially during the Beethoven Symphony. I was pleasantly surprised that Anna enjoyed the concert as well, commenting positively (without prompting) during the intermission about the Viola Concerto composed (and performed by) the principal violist for the RSO. This grand finale (what else can you call a performance of Beethoven's Ninth?) was appropriate for this season, which is the RSO's Centennial Season. Believe it or not, Regina has is Canada’s oldest continuously performing orchestra (other orchestras like the Montreal or Toronto Symphony Orchestras may have started earlier, but there were gaps in their existence).

So there on stage were my wife and son, members of my congregation like Marlene Betker, Amy, Erin & Karla Hillis, as well as other folks I know from music or church circles - and they were producing this glorious music - what a thrill! Walking to the van after the concert I was struck with an idea - to try to get to a concert of a famous European orchestra on our trip.

The orchestra that first came to mind was the London Symphony Orchestra (which I discovered from information on their website is only 5 years older than the RSO!) So while still basking in the afterglow of the RSO concert I was sitting at my computer checking out the concert schedule for the LSO. As it turns out one of the few free evenings we have in London the LSO is performing a concert of Ravel and Debussy. I happen to really enjoy the work of these French composers, so I was immediately interested. I called Beth downstairs and checked this option out with her, and she also was interested in attending this concert if tickets were available. So today I went online and purchased some tickets. I was pleasantly surprised to find the LSO concert tickets were quite reasonably priced - we opted for the best seats we could get, and as it turns out we are only paying a little more than we paid for the RSO tickets last night.

As an added bonus there is a free pre-concert performance of Piano Preludes by Debussy. I played a few of those Preludes back in my University days, and I know how tricky they are to master, so I'm looking forward to hearing (and watching) them performed. I also find myself being amused at how the concerts we are hearing throughout Europe are linking together many of the countries we are visiting. So in London we hear music by French composers. In Milan we hear an Italian opera based on an English poet's play. In Oxford we hear a Danish Boy's Choir perform with the local orchestra works by German composers. In Norway we hear a Danish Jazz Big Band. The only thing missing are some Swedish and Swiss connections (which I could probably find if I looked hard enough).

Thinking back to my only other time in Europe, the Camrose Lutheran College Choir tour in the summer of 1980, I remember attending a concert by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. A bunch of choir members managed to get some cheap seat tickets, and we heard Symphony No. 9 by Dvořák (known as the New World Symphony). That is one of my favourite memories from that European tour almost 30 years ago... and I'm sure that hearing the London Symphony Orchestra may well become one of our favourite memories from this upcoming trip.

Babette's Feast

A few weeks ago we watched the DVD of Babette's Feast again. What a great movie! The movie is based on a story by Isak Dinesen (the pen name of Karen Blixen) who is perhaps best known for her autobiographical novel "Out of Africa". Babette's Feast tells the story of two daughters of a pastor of a Danish sect based in a village in north Jutland, and how a French chef comes to be their servant. The movie culminates with the feast Babette prepares for the little congregation, much to their horror (at first) then delight when they begin enjoying the meal. This little description hardly does the film justice, and I would encourage any of you reading this to rent this cinematic gem sometime to experience it for yourself. The language is mostly Danish, with a little Swedish and French as well - but watching with the English subtitles is not too difficult.

This film caught my imagination when I first saw it perhaps because I saw some of my relatives in the characters in the movie. Their mannerisms, their piety, their restrained emotions, their simple seriousness and so forth. Then the artistic Babette enters their lives and breaks into their bleakness (which is echoed by the bleakness of the landscape in north Jutland), bringing true joy and love. Redemption comes in the most surprising ways sometimes.

When doing some research for our trip I discovered a website that listed all the locations used in the filming of Babette's Feast. The church that is seen throughout the film is called the Mårup Kirke, and is close to the village of Lønstrup on the northwest coast of Jutland in Denmark. Our train travel from Skjern to Frederikshavn will take us close to Lønstrup. I wanted to explore our options about how to get to the Mårup Kirke and so I checked into car rentals first. My thought was that we could drive out to the church for part of a day, then also drive out to Bindslev (about 20 kilometres away) to see the area where my Grandma's family came from. It turns out that renting a car for one day is not very economically feasible (over $275 for one day), and the car rental place had limited hours of operation as an added deterrent. So we had to set that plan aside.

Another plan was to get off the train in Hjørring, take a taxi from there to Lønstrup and the church. That is better, but still $66 each way. Then I discovered that there is regular bus service from Hjørring to Lønstrup for much less money. However this option would require us to walk from the bus depot to the church and back, a hike of 1.5 kilometres each way. Beth and I figured that shouldn't be a problem - so we are planning on doing this option (though weather may changes our plans).

Regardless of how we get there we will no longer be able to see the whole church, since most of it was removed last year. All that remains are the walls - the roof, pews and other furnishings have all been moved. The reason for this move is simple, the church is in danger of falling into the sea. When the church was first built it was over 200 metres from the coast. Over the decades the fierce winds and surf have eaten away the cliffs, and at the present time the church building sits less than 8 metres from the cliff! So rather than have the whole building crumble into the sea the authorities have moved it further inland, though the original walls were left where they were built.

A couple of hundred metres to the south of the church is the Rudbjerg Lighthouse, which also has suffered the effects of the harsh weather. This lighthouse is now half buried by a huge sand dune, this the result of the coastline slowly moving inland. Both these buildings are visual reminders of the power of nature, and part of the reason for going to see them is to see for ourselves the sands of time destroying the sanctuaries of humans. If there is a single visual image for the harshness of this region of the world this site may be it.

A couple of days ago a book of Isak Dinesen stories arrived in the mail, one which includes the story "Babette's Feast". This book will come along with us as we travel, and I plan to read this story on the train from Skjern to Hjørring in preparation for visiting this unique site. We also have managed to find an English translation of a Herman Bang novel (called Katinka) which we will also bring along (since we will be staying in the Herman Bang Hotel in Frederikshavn). I am trying to be deliberate in selecting what we bring along for reading material - so far I have a collection of C.S. Lewis writings called "Of Other Worlds", the Dinesen collection "Anecdotes of Destiny and Ehrengard", the Herman Bang novel "Katinka", T.S. Eliot's play "Murder in the Cathedral" and a collection of writings about leaders in the Celtic church called "Stories of the Celtic Soul Friends" (including a section on St. Columba of Iona). We don't want to lug along too many books, but we do want some reading material for the times we are stuck in airports, train terminals, and so forth.

The only disappointing thing about the way we have been able to work out this little jaunt in north Jutland, is that we will not be able to go to Bindslev (which would have required renting a car). However our train will pass within 7 kilometres of the village, so we will get a good sense of the terrain. My great-grandfather on my grandma's side was born in Bindslev, and my great-grandmother was born in Budal (in the same region of Denmark). I could not even locate Budal on any map I could find, and thus Budal may well have disappeared off the map like so many small Saskatchewan villages. Unlike my grandfather's side of the family tree, where I have specific places to go visit (like the churches in Hanning and Finderup), I would have simply been looking at the area of Bindslev in a general way - so perhaps looking north from a train window will not be a whole lot less than what we would have seen travelling to the actual village in a car.

I end this post by reflecting on how much the sites we are planning to visit have been influenced by books, music and films. This serves to remind me of the importance of the arts in our lives, shaping our perception of the world, expanding our connection with the world beyond our own little circle of geography and culture. I hope that this blog may have some of the same impact on you who read about our pilgrimage... now exactly 4 weeks away!