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.
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