Norway Visit - August 2016
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Rob and Hild have been travelling to Norway, for a family reunion, and to Finland to catch up with Eija again - .... photos below: |
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Before we got to the family reunion we enjoyed walks around Rygnestad as well as higher up in the mountains.
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We heard and then spotted some of Ingunn's sheep. This is when Bessie (the Border Collie) was happiest because she misses her old job.
Daim the visiting hunting dog was not interested in the sheep but kept signalling that larger animals were nearby. We were unable to
verify the presence of either moose, reindeer, or deer. Maybe he was pulling our leg?
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During one of our walks the Minions found a yummy molte (cloud berry), and then Rob found a whole field of them. We are not telling where
because such things are best kept secret until one can pick the berries.
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We stopped for a rest and sheltered from the rain in an old log cabin. People had carved their initials into the logs for centuries. One of the oldest carvings was from 1844.
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Every walk in Norway should include a break with Kvikk Lunsj (like Kit Kat).
Whenever we could as kids, we would stop for photo opportunity with "Kaktusen" - an old tree stump shaped like... well... a cactus.
And Bessie shows off her balancing skills with one of the Minions.
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Rob revisited his childhood when he hung our laundry to dry at the farm.
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Bjørnar, Hild, and Janet assembled an old bed Olav had made - to make sure all the parts were there. In the process we encountered a very sleepy bat.
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The family reunion included some of those who are descendants of "Gråmannen" (the Grey Man). His son, "Gråmannssonen" remained at the Systog farm and had 7 sons (and 2 daughters that did not survive childhood). One of the sons emigrated to the US and did not have any descendants that we know of. One son stayed at the Systog farm and each of the other 5 sons married and moved to different farms. We were able to gather some of the descendants of 5 of the six sons from the farms: Systog, Åmli, Bykle, Åreholti, and Laudal. Family from the Løyland farm could not make it. More information about the family: web page about our genealogy |
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All of us who were at the reunion, except Hege who took the photo from atop a garbage can! She is in the Systog photo below.
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Systog-family Front sitting: Janet Rygnestad, Bror Bendik Brokka Rike, Jonas August Brokka Rike First row standing: Erlend Magnussen, Rob Potter, Bjørnar Støle, Ketil Rygnestad, Hege Rygnestad, Gudrun Rygnestad, Adelheid Rygnestad, Vivi Rygnestad, Dagfinn Brokka, Torkjel Rygnestad, Lars Rygnestad Behind standing: Steve Helgesen, Vivi Helgesen Røe, Hild Rygnestad, John Magne Røe, Heidi Rygnestad with Iver Rygnestad, Torgrim Rygnestad, Torun Fløistad |
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Åreholti-family on the left and Bykle-family on the right. (I hope to add the names later)
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Åmli-family on the left and Laudal-family on the right. (I hope to add the names later)
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Left: The Canadians - Rob, Vivian, and Hild Right: Bjørnar, Ketil, and Lars |
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Left: Rob and Torkjel Right: Adelheid and Olav M. |
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Left: Hege, Per Otto, and Silje Marie Right: Janet and Hild |
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The quiz competition was narrowly won by Systog - represented by Dagfinn, Torkjel and Hege. |
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Quiz teams Systog and Åmli.
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Quiz teams Bykle and Laudal.
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Tables were set for 120 people, and we were so excited about it that it didn't matter that the napkins were a bit Christmas-themed.
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Left: Everyone seated for dinner. Setesdal soup (meat and vegetables) with lefse and bread Right: Beautiful flowers donated by family members |
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Left and Middle: Pål Dale, Olav M. Holen and Sigrid Bø also provided humorous stories about our ancestors. Right: Silje Marie Nesvaag Rygnestad sang the "Gråmannsvisa" |
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Family members get into the horse shoe tossing competition. And in the end Ketil Rygnestad and Bjørnar Bø claimed to win
- although they waited until everyone else had gone home...
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The younger generation participated in a coin tossing competition.
By the way - we were too slow and did not get any photos of all the cakes that many family members brought to the party. There were multiple blautkaker, chocolate cakes, kringler, cookies, cheese cakes, pavlovas, and also Rob's trifles. |
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During our visit we celebrated Janet's birthday with a trip to Byrkjedalstunet. Janet, Adelheid, Rob and Hild had dinner, shopped,
and enjoyed ice cream. And when we returned we stopped to say hello to some sheep (as per usual). The day before Janet's birthday
we celebrated some more with gifts and left-over cakes from the family reunion.
After all of this fun, Rob and Hild went on to Finland to visit Eija (see photos here) |
August 2016