Ice-in 2008

There's so much to catch up with I'll just jump right in and start from here. This photo is from our time in Finland last month -- can you tell I'm terrified? This was taken on a lunch break during a boat trip with our friends Mika and Salla, on a lake near Vihantasalmi. We climbed to the top of this ancient outcropping, where the woods were carpeted in lingonberries.


But back to reality. This is me, about 5 minutes ago:

Gary and I are "stuck" on Raspberry Island now, waiting for ice to form. It's 17 degrees out there, and the wind is howling down from the north over Big Sandy, making the waves look steel-gray and cold. Not good ice-making weather, but plenty miserable, as you can see. Bleak!

We got back a few weeks ago from our fact-finding trip to Finland and Sweden, happily (deliriously!) celebrated President-Elect Obama's victory, bought groceries, stacked some firewood by the door, and now are settled in and ready for winter.

During this ice-in time we're both at our laptops, working on our family histories between trips to the woodpile, the outhouse, and the water pump. Just a quick run-down on our trip, as there's much too much to tell. Touching on the highlights:

During our trip, Gary learned that he has 2nd cousins in Finland that he never knew about, and vice versa, so they're all happily exchanging emails and photos now, and getting acquainted. Unfortunately we learned of them too late in our trip to meet them in person, but we'll definitely be going back, and inviting them here.

Here's Gary with a statue of his Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandpa, Martti Kitunen, out in front of the Martti Kitunen Truck Stop and Restaurant near Virrat. Martti is Finland's most famous bear hunter. Next time you come we'll tell you the story, but for now I'll just say that having an ancestor like Martti Kitunen is like discovering that you're descended from Daniel Boone! Very cool!

We stayed with friends in Helsinki, Lahti, and Turku, who kept us well fed and content.

Our visit to Sweden was icing on the cake. We visited my relatives, whom I'd never known about until a few months ago. The Abrahamsson family lives in the Falkoping area, about 3 hours by train west of Stockholm. They were hospitable, warm, and generous, and the thought of having relatives in Sweden is still sinking in! The photo here is of me with Ulla, Marie, Jonny, Pija, and Karl-Erik at our first meeting at their house. Jonny and Pija are my 3rd cousins; Karl-Erik is my 2nd cousin once removed. He's a joy and a whirl of energy at 80 -- and the whole family follows his lead. We were shown The Sites of My People by a local genealogist, Kjell Henrysson. Standing in the ruins of the house where my Swedish great-grandparents lived was an experience I didn't think I'd have, and it was a thrill.

We took over 480 photos while we were there and I won't post them here, of course, but next time you come to visit we'll show you, and we promise not to show you *all* of them!

I'll stop here for now -- I just wanted to get started on this blog because there's way too much information to share, and I had to start somewhere! I'll be adding more if anything interesting happens....