Visit to Torgunrud

We seemed to go from relative to relative. About the time Asbjorn was leaving, another cousin, Klara, and her husband came. Klara had grown up at the Torgunrud farm and was prepared to take us there to see it. The first thing I that struck me about the farm was the spectacular view (see the picture). Torgunrud is built on a bit of a hill so you look out across the valley and see all these farms, each with their own forest. (We were told that in Norway each farm included a forest, for firewood among other things.) We also saw the spot where my great-grandparents, Otilia and Anders, lived. The house isn’t there anymore but if we had looked through the overgrown area, we could probably have found the remains of the foundation. They left the area shortly after marrying, seeking a better life in the States. Again, as Dennis has mentioned in his entries, it must have been a very difficult transition from lush farmland to the harsh conditions they encountered but we, their descendants, are certainly better off because of it. We were able to see the main house and the outbuildings. We also saw some Norwegian elkhounds. It’s hard to believe that such a small dog could hold a moose at bay, that would be quite a sight to see.

Then it was back to Kari’s for supper. We were joined by Roar’s daughter, Mette along with her husband Bjorn and son Eskil. Poor Eskil, at ten years old this was not a fun crowd to hang out with - Gae was far too young to be interesting and the rest of us were just too old - thank goodness for computer games.

Mette’s older son is the one who races cars. I asked her how she felt about that, if it worried her. She said of course it did but when she was there watching him race she would get so excited she forgot about worrying. She also showed me a short video on her cellphone of him racing - clearly a proud Mama.

Kari pulled out her books with family tree records, it was interesting to piece together how everyone was connected. She has some very detailed records also, listing Confirmation dates and everything. I think if I had more time genealogy is something I would really like to pursue, it probably fits well with my love of puzzles.