A Memorable Memorial Day

We woke up at 4 a.m. to the sound of thunder and pounding rain on the roof.  By 7 a.m. the weather had cleared enough that we set out for Clontarf to pay our respects at the Memorial Day event at the Clontarf cemetery.

Low and behold, the rain and wind came back and clobbered us during the entire ceremony.

Then we set out for the ceremony at Hancock.  Rained out.  Fortunately, we had taken some pictures a couple of days earlier.

Then is was off to Cyrus.  More tough luck.  The road leading to the cemetery was closed.

Then the weather got really bad!  It was an afternoon of wind, rain, and tornado warnings.  We spent a couple of hours in our shelter.  The shelter doesn't look like much but it is comforting when there are tornados in the area.  There were 10 of us in there.

There was a lot of damage at a nearby town, Forada (four-ade-ah).  It made the national news.  We dodged a bullet.  Our power was off for 11 hours.

Yes, it was a long, hard, wet day.  Minnesota can be tough, and May was a tough month in Minnesota.  

There is more in store for us.  Soon it will be time to battle these little fellas:

However, not every day in May was bad, just most of them.

The sun did shine, and the deer came out into our parklike setting by the creek....

and pranced over to our park by the lake.

The Canadian Geese returned to Minnesota too, and to the shores of Lake Minnewaska.  We are watching the young geese grow up.

Bad weather often brings nice clouds for sunset pictures.  What a peaceful way to end the day, on the shores of Lake Minnewaska, looking west.

So, that is the latest news from Lake Minnewaska, at Glenwood, and just a short distance from Lake Wobegon.

Lefse Hall of Fame

 

The folks of Starbuck, Minnesota have a fierce loyalty to their Norwegian heritage.  Starbuck lies on the shores of Lake Minnewaska, down the lake from us.  Starbuck, Benson, and Alexandria were the big names in the early Norwegian settlements known as the Park Area Settlements of Minnesota. 

Today was a big day in Starbuck.  There was a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of the Lefse Hall of Fame.  I went over to take a look. 

Lefse (Lef-sa) is a traditional soft Norwegian flatbread. It is often made with potatoes, flour, butter, and milk, cream. It is cooked on a large, flat griddle. Special tools are used to prepare lefse, including long wooden turning sticks and special rolling pins with deep groves.

 

There are many ways of flavoring lefse. The most common is adding butter to the lefse and rolling it up. In Norway, this is known as "lefse-klenning". Other options include adding cinnamon and/or sugar. Some add jelly on it. I prefer butter and sugar.

Starbuck holds the worlds record for largest Lefsa every made, cooked in 1983, at 9' 8" by 7' 1".

Two women who were at that 1983 event were the ribbon-cutters for the Lefse Hall of Fame dedication today.

My ancestors left the shores of Lake Tinn in the Telemark region of Norway in 1851 and 1860.

Vestfjorddalen (West Fjord Valley)

My Great-great-grandfather, Tov Østensen, dictated the history of his family in Norwegian and I have a written copy in both Norwegian and English. He described eating Lefsa on the journey to "Amerika” while in the steerage area of the ship as they shared cooking facilities with their fellow emigrants.


Blaine Peterson (right) led the ceremony to dedicate the Lefse Hall of Fame.

That is the news from Starbuck, on the shore of Lake Minnewaska, on the great American Prairie, and just a short distance from Lake Wobegon.

Gene

 

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"Histories have been written and more will be written of the Norwegians in America, but no man can tell adequately of the tearing asunder of tender ties, the hardships and dangers crossing the deep, the work and worry, the hopes and fears, the laughter and tears, of men and women who with bare hands carved out of a wilderness a new kingdom". Rønning, N. N., Fifty Years in America, p. 19.

 

"We of Norse blood, but American birth, if we are true to the best that is in us, cannot fail to have an interest in the trials and the achievements of the pioneer fathers. We must recognize the true heroism of the men and women who braved the hardships and suffered the privations of frontier life in the thirties, forties, and fifties". Flom, George, Norwegian Immigration to the United States, p. 17.