Viking Museum

This is actually a letter that I wrote to Josh to go along with a Viking book that I got him (can someone send me his address by the way?)

 

I visited a Viking museum in Roskilde Denmark with a friend who also shares Danish ancestry.  The main exhibit of the museum were five ships the Vikings had sunk in Roskilde Fjord. From what I have been able to learn, the Vikings built towns in inland bays or fjords because there was greater protection from invaders there.  In Roskilde there were three shipping channels that lead through the fjord and to the town.  Two were straight and would be easy for enemy invaders to discover.  the third was crooked and required local knowledge of the fjord to navigate.  It was in one of the straight channels that the Vikings sunk the ships in order to block the passage (it also appears that they built a movable fence type blockade in the other straight channel to protect it.

In the 60’s or 70’s some archeologists discovered the remains of the ships and were able to pull them up from the bottom of the fjord and reassemble them.  This museum has built replicas of all five ships they found.  One of the replicas was built in Dublin Ireland, where some of the Vikings settled and had a large influence on the culture.  The ship sailed and rowed from Dublin to Roskilde as a living archeology experiment.  One of the first things that they discovered is that it did not work to have all 60 oars going at once but rather to have half that so that the rowers could have the space to move their bodies through a full powerful stroke.

At the museum I was really impressed with all of the info they had on the different types of woods that the Vikings used to build their ships and what woods strengths and weaknesses would make them best suited for different parts of the ship.  They had a boat building shop there where they used tools that the Vikings used and you could see that the Vikings were very knowledgeable and skilled craftsmen.

Boat building shop using Viking era techniques and tools

This is the boat that sailed from Dublin!

 

This is me in a play Viking ship.  I wasn’t being a very good Viking there.  I guess it was my turn to be ballast rather than a rower!

Denmark

Denmark was wonderful. It was so wonderful that it is hard to describe it. There is a word in Denmark, hoogalie (sp?) which means that things are comfortable and that is how Denmark is. It is does not have the most spectacular architecture nor is it run down. It does not have have the most spectacular countryside yet it is nothing short of beautiful. It is hoogalie, it is comfortable, it is a place that feels so familiar, that feels like home.

Saturday – Copenhagen

“A long flight with no sleep and now I am in Copenhagen. Everything was fine until I got out of customs! and then all of the sudden I was in a foreign country. I couldn’t figure out how to ride the train, where to change money, how to get my phone to work, etc. Perhaps this is a poignant a way to visit a motherland as any – to enter alone and foreign”

“One thing that I have noticed is that Denmark is a quiet place. No background music to fill the empty spaces, not a lot of talking, and less traffic than most places … I walked through much of the city – I saw many sites that I had seen in pictures. The city is not shiny – it is what it is – it is not run down either.

Sunset over Tivoli (Denmark’s most famous amusement park) It never got any darker than this and in fact this image is darker than it really was.

Sunday – Copenhagen

Chapel in Copenhagen

Copenhagen Temple

Copenhagen has no hills so this landscaping in the botanical gardens was even more charming.

Obligatory picture of block. I always take one everywhere I go. I don’t quite know why. I guess growing up traveling with Dad I thought that was what you were supposed to take pictures of!

S-Tog station. The public transportation in Copenhagen was so hard for me to figure out. Partly because it was in Danish but mostly because there is so much that it is overwhelming. I was very proud when Jo and I figured out how to ride the train!

The amount of bikes in Copenhagen was unbelievable!

The church we climbed.

Monday –

We started Monday on a visit to a Viking museum. I will put that in a separate post. We then went to Ordrup where Anna Sophia Pedersen (our Great Great Grandmother) was from. Christian Larsen also did missionary work there. I posted a history that Mom’s grandfather wrote about Christian Larsen on facebook. Look that up for more info. Ordrup is a tiny little place, really just a neighborhood. I walked up the street and it was really cool to think that I was walking in the same place as our ancestors.

View from Ordrup

Classic simple yet beautiful Denmark countryside! Denmark had wonderful wildflowers growing all over their green fields.

Farm supplies overtaken by wildflowers.

House in Ordrup

We also went to Kraghave where Christian Larsen grew up. It was also a small community. Sadly there was little indication that the area had been around before the 1970’s so I took a picture of the countryside.

We also passed through a couple of Jo’s ancestral towns and stayed in one that night. It was a fantastic little summer retreat town called Maribo. It sat on a large fresh water lake and had a fun little dirt path that we walked which featured a nice view of the Kirke (church)

Tuesday

On Tuesday we left from Maribo and took a ferry between two island and then drove onto Lego Land. Lego Land was so much fun! I loved the mini areas where they had recreated cities, etc out of Legos.

They have Giant ducks in Denmark. This one is right by the little mermaid sculpture!

… To be continued!

This is when I went to Denmark and kept my eyes closed the whole time.

Both of these were totally unplanned. The first one especially cracks me up. There were many many things that made me laugh uncontrollably on this trip. This was just one of them. I hope you find it funny too =)

Following are some thoughts I wrote about over 18 years ago and I felt they were worth sharing with all of you on the family Blog.
Doug Ward - 1991
Manny Feldman said this about the family, “A family is: Where each can find solace and comfort in grief, pleasure and laughter in joy, and kindness and encouragement in daily living”.

I would like to recall a number of times in my life to illustrate what Mr. Feldman is saying; in 1957 as I prepared to graduate from High School a number of my friends and I joined the Marine Corps Reserve. In doing so, we were obligated to spend six months of active duty (the first three at the Marine Corps Training Base in San Diego, CA and the last three at Camp Pendleton near Ocean Side, CA) … Basic training is going though what is affectionately called “Boot Camp”. Boot camp is three months of intensive, brow-beating training on how to follow orders, defend yourself and your country. I can still remember very vividly the first day I knew I was homesick. It was the first Sunday morning that I had any time to myself and I had taken a paper into the latrine to read, the funnies I think. As I started to read it brought so many warm memories back to me of the kind of things you do at home that I started to cry and could not stop. At first it was just a few tears then I was really crying; a tough marine crying like a baby! I sobbed for over 15 minutes before I could get control of my emotions. I missed those I really loved. Not my friends, who I had spent most of my time with, not the places we went to as friends … I missed my family! All of a sudden I wanted to be with them, talk to them, laugh with them and share my feelings with them. Not being able to call home, which was strictly against the rules, I went back to my barracks and sat down and wrote a letter? As the lines of that letter developed the grief began to go away, all of a sudden I felt that I was with them, emotionally at least and that made a big difference. The tears stopped and were replaced with the knowledge that I had a bond, not physically but emotionally, with my family.

When summer came in 1989, it turned out to be the longest one of my life. It was the first summer I had spent away from LaRee and our two youngest kids. They were all homesick for Idaho and happily returned to the home they had known for the past 10 years and in doing so, they left me in North Carolina to fend for myself. At first it was interesting not to have to report to anyone, I could do as I wanted. I could come and go as I pleased. No one was there to ask: when will you be home? Where are you going? Why are you doing that? Or, can you fix this for me, ect, ect. On the other hand, I didn’t have anyone to share my success or failures with … No one for me to smile at or anyone to smile at me when I returned home. It wasn’t much of a summer and I continually found myself yearning to be with the ones I loved. I wanted someone to care where I was, care where I was going and want to know what time I would be home. I yearned to share my joys and defeats. I called a lot and even wrote some letters but it was still the longest summer of my life. It is sad but sometimes we don’t appreciate the ones we love until they are not there to be loved or share their love with us.

After moving back to Utah in 1991, we celebrated the 80th birthday of my father in Moran, Wyoming. What a weekend! 27 of us in one house which we call “The Cabin”: Staying up to late, kids crying, kids laughing, kids just being kids. Excursions together, working together, hiking together, hours of just remembering when; we were together as a family. It was a weekend that won’t be forgotten. Why? Because we were together!! Not just friends and we are the best of friends, but we are far more than friends, we are family, we care about each other … we love each other unconditionally. Our love is there in the best of times and the worst. We truly care for one another because you see we are a family “where each can find solace and comfort in grief, pleasure and laughter and joy, and kindness and encouragement in daily living”.

First day back

This isn't a very good picture but it shows my first day back playing golf on a golf course. I played with a good friend of mine on a par 3 golf course. Besides hitting his own tee shots Dan also hit all of mine except on the 9th hole ( for the most part he did a better job hitting his shots than mine which I kept expressing in a good natured way). We had a great time walking and playing together. Dan is a 6 handicap which is three shots better than my 9. You can tell by the post that it was a lot of fun to almost play golf again. Charlie and then Kristi took me putting which was very enjoyable. Thanks again to all the kids in helping get their old dad back to full health.
Love you all,
Dad

Night Blooming Cactus

If you want to see this cactus bloom you need to see it at night because that's the only time it shows it's spectacular flowers. As most of you will recognize this is the cactus just outside our front door in Arizona. We've often seen the spent blossoms but until last night we've never seen them in full bloom; they are beautiful!

From the close-up you can see how massive the bloom is and from the picture below you see that there are more blossoms coming.

Shelby's trek

Shelby is away on a handcart trek this week. They are on the Washington Oregon border. In 3 days they will move their handcarts about 20 miles and camp along the way. They are dressed in pioneer dress and can not have modern conveniences. Here is the link in case we want to do it for a family Reunion.

http://www.handcarttreks.com/BingCanyon/BingCanyonindex.html

Some photos of Shelby before she left