Who would have thunk it – Kory made it to 65!!! We are so thankful that his heart keeps on ticking. He likes to say, “You’re only as old as the woman you hold,” but these days, that’s pretty old! And when you get that old, getting “stuff” for your birthday isn’t as important as getting the right food (see photo). So today was a day for his favorite foods. Fortunately for me, none of them were in my repertoire of culinary skills, so he met me after school in town and we went out for lunch (he took the day off work). There is a café in the center of town that makes all those nasty Norwegian foods that the locals love. They had potato balls (and all the trimmings) on the menu so Kory was in hog heaven. Then for dinner he had “Bacalao” – which isn’t Norsk food at all – it’s from Portugal. The key ingredient in Bacalao is dried klipp fish which is only produced in Norway – so the Norwegians borrowed the recipe and now they are hooked on the stuff. Turid makes the best Bacalao I’ve ever had but it’s possible to buy it in the store and heat it up at home, so that got me off the hook for dinner as well. Actually, for more than just dinner, as it’s a three day process to make Bacalao. First the fish must be purchased and then soaked in water for two days to soften it up and take all the salt out (so the water has to be changed frequently). Prior to the soaking, that piece of fish could be used as a lethal weapon – either as a club (as it’s hard enough to knock someone out cold), or as a stink bomb if left alone in a warm room for too long. (I’m thankful I didn’t have to have it in the house.) Once the fish is “prepared” then there’s something about adding several cups of olive oil, chopped up red peppers, tomato puree, onions and potatoes. It’s just so “complicated” I don’t know that I’ll ever figure out how to make it (tee hee.) It all cooks up in a thick stew and it’s eaten with flatbread. It has a very interesting flavor. I like about the first three bites, then I’m done, but Kory can eat enough for both of us. At least he got what he wanted, for one day a year anyway.
We were going to have a party at our house tonight with all the cousins and aunts over, but Tante Ruth wouldn’t venture out, so we asked Tante Kari if she would let us use her place so Ruth could be there since they live next to each other. Tante Ruth always remembers everyone’s birthday. Every year she calls all her nieces and nephews and their kids on their birthdays to greet them. Usually we are gone for our birthdays but we can count on the fact there will be a birthday message waiting for us on our answering machine when we get home. So it was just too heartbreaking to think she, of all people, would not be with Kory on his birthday – so we took the party to her. It was a good plan as it saved me the trouble of cleaning house and being hostess. It was also good for Tante Kari to have people in her house tonight because it was on this exact day, 14 years ago that her only daughter died.
Kari-Anne (Kari’s daughter) was always complaining about one thing or another but nothing was ever found to be wrong with her. Her brothers just thought she was a drama queen and a hypochondriac and Odd did as much as he could for her whenever she felt really sick (he’s a doctor). Well, one day she called him up complaining again about how poorly she felt and he went over to her house and checked her over and couldn’t find anything that could be causing her misery – and then she just died, right in his arms. They didn’t know until after she was dead that she had been born with some kind of heart problem that went undiagnosed all those years. So naturally, it was quite a shock to the entire family, but devastating to Odd. (He really hasn’t been the same since.) She was only 31 and had three little kids. Tante Kari mourns her loss everyday as she was always nursing her or watching her kids when Kari-Anne didn’t feel well. So it is quite the sad story and it was good for everyone to be together today laughing and having a good time celebrating Kory’s birthday rather than sitting around being sad about Kari-Anne (or so I hope.) Kory had a good time anyway, and that counts for something. (I did buy him a nice Norwegian sweater though, which he likes a lot – see photo.)
It snowed off and on today and never got above freezing. Kaleb skied all the way to school with a heavy backpack on his back and was pretty tired by day’s end. We were so proud of him for wanting to do that as it’s well over a mile to his school and it’s all uphill. He said three other kids skied today but they live very near the school. He thinks tomorrow he might just take the bus.
As for me, I took another section of the big Norsk Prøve 1 test today. I’m sure I passed, but I’m also sure I could have done better. I only slept four hours last night so I was beat. I was up late because I was determined to e-mail the video we made on Saturday. The file was too big and FINALLY I figured out how to compress it and mail it off to our church in Mount Vernon at one o’clock this morning (maybe it had something to do with the house finally being quiet and I could concentrate better on the task?). Our church is having a Thanksgiving Eve service and they wanted us to send a message about what we are thankful for this year so they could play it during the service. We never want to miss a chance to give God the glory for all he has done in our lives. So Hallelujah, the video got there! And Hallelujah Kory is 65 – now he gets ALL the senior citizen discounts!
We were going to have a party at our house tonight with all the cousins and aunts over, but Tante Ruth wouldn’t venture out, so we asked Tante Kari if she would let us use her place so Ruth could be there since they live next to each other. Tante Ruth always remembers everyone’s birthday. Every year she calls all her nieces and nephews and their kids on their birthdays to greet them. Usually we are gone for our birthdays but we can count on the fact there will be a birthday message waiting for us on our answering machine when we get home. So it was just too heartbreaking to think she, of all people, would not be with Kory on his birthday – so we took the party to her. It was a good plan as it saved me the trouble of cleaning house and being hostess. It was also good for Tante Kari to have people in her house tonight because it was on this exact day, 14 years ago that her only daughter died.
Kari-Anne (Kari’s daughter) was always complaining about one thing or another but nothing was ever found to be wrong with her. Her brothers just thought she was a drama queen and a hypochondriac and Odd did as much as he could for her whenever she felt really sick (he’s a doctor). Well, one day she called him up complaining again about how poorly she felt and he went over to her house and checked her over and couldn’t find anything that could be causing her misery – and then she just died, right in his arms. They didn’t know until after she was dead that she had been born with some kind of heart problem that went undiagnosed all those years. So naturally, it was quite a shock to the entire family, but devastating to Odd. (He really hasn’t been the same since.) She was only 31 and had three little kids. Tante Kari mourns her loss everyday as she was always nursing her or watching her kids when Kari-Anne didn’t feel well. So it is quite the sad story and it was good for everyone to be together today laughing and having a good time celebrating Kory’s birthday rather than sitting around being sad about Kari-Anne (or so I hope.) Kory had a good time anyway, and that counts for something. (I did buy him a nice Norwegian sweater though, which he likes a lot – see photo.)
It snowed off and on today and never got above freezing. Kaleb skied all the way to school with a heavy backpack on his back and was pretty tired by day’s end. We were so proud of him for wanting to do that as it’s well over a mile to his school and it’s all uphill. He said three other kids skied today but they live very near the school. He thinks tomorrow he might just take the bus.
As for me, I took another section of the big Norsk Prøve 1 test today. I’m sure I passed, but I’m also sure I could have done better. I only slept four hours last night so I was beat. I was up late because I was determined to e-mail the video we made on Saturday. The file was too big and FINALLY I figured out how to compress it and mail it off to our church in Mount Vernon at one o’clock this morning (maybe it had something to do with the house finally being quiet and I could concentrate better on the task?). Our church is having a Thanksgiving Eve service and they wanted us to send a message about what we are thankful for this year so they could play it during the service. We never want to miss a chance to give God the glory for all he has done in our lives. So Hallelujah, the video got there! And Hallelujah Kory is 65 – now he gets ALL the senior citizen discounts!
