Czech Out the New Windy City

Move over, Chicago. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, might have you beat as the Windy City!

We both took the day off and got down there in mid-afternoon. It was so windy we could actually hear it in our 4th-floor hotel room. If you closed your eyes, it sounded like ocean waves almost. All flags were definitely flying all of their colors.

We had only a few objectives to our trip. Meet up with Carter and Mamie for dinner, then all go to see Colin race at the historic Hawkeye Downs on Friday then check out the National Czech-Slovac Museum and GENEALOGY Library on Saturday. It turned into so much more.

We met up with the kids at Up in Smoke BBQ, which had a very similar (and delicious) vibe as the new place we checked out in Waupaca a few weeks ago. But they had some good, spicy sauces like Blueberry Habernaro and Chipotle BBQ. So tasty!

And by strange coincidence, the restaurant was located in the "Czech Village" which included the museum and genealogy library Jim (my partially Bohemian hubby) had already planned to visit Saturday. And lo and behold, there was a big Boho festival going on! So we were already excited to (accidentally) be here for this particular weekend.

From there, it was off to Hawkeye Downs, celebrating its 100th year. Mamie hadn't been to a stockcar-type race before so this was her very windy and cold introduction. 

She thought it was fun – even though we couldn't stop laughing at how absurd the wind was!

Plus, we got a precipitation delay that include a rainbow at the east end of the track!

To sum up the race experience...  Colin qualified 14th, finished 3rd in the heat race, and the feature was interesting. There was an accident on Turn 1 before Colin's feature where a car had issues and flew into the turn, taking out part of the fence, wall, then there were several accidents there the rest of the night. During his feature, Colin got hung in a wreck with 4 trucks on that same turn. Colin had to leave to the pits but got his truck literally taped up while they were cleaning up the mess. And got back to the race and even though he was in the back of the pack, he fought his way up to a 5th-place finish! It was pretty fun to watch!!

By the way, this was the temperature and "feels like" temp about an hour before Colin's race ended. Uff da!

This morning, we got down to the Czech Village so Jim could do some family tree research at the museum and I could watch the festival parade and shop all the vendors. Perfect situation!

Parade with lots of Bohemians in full costume.

Oh and the wind? Still here today obviously!

There was also chalk art going on. Very impressive.

When Jim was done, Carter met us so we could cross the river and head into New Bohemia.

Upon a museum worker recommendation to Jim, we went to the Little Bohemia restaurant.

After all, they have perfect Robyn-approved pun in "Czech us out."

My partially Bohemian husband and son ordered the ghoulash. They said it was very delicious!!

My Boho Boys before we left town.

We got home around 6:30 tonight and we're a bit exhausted. Lots of driving for Jim and lots of windy fresh air for us both! Too bad we both have to sing in our church choirs in the morning and can't sleep in. Guess that means I need to turn on my electric mattress pad and hit the hay soon! 

Starting from My Beginnings

When I was visiting Mom yesterday, she mentioned how she hasn't taken time to write her life story yet. I reminded her that I had once video-interviewed her and Dad (in front of my childhood home above) about their childhood – and promised to try to find the DVD of it. Thankfully I found it last night. And this afternoon, I listened to it and "transcribed" it into a Word document. 

The hard part was that Dad's interview was first. I watched just a bit of it and, since I was bawling at seeing him and hearing his voice, fast-forwarded to Mom's segment. I'm definitely going to have to go back to the beginning at some point. Was just thrown aback at having him in the room with me, so to speak. Just miss him so much!!

Since I filmed this 16 years ago, of course Mom looks different than the picture I took yesterday. But her attitude and spirit is still the same. 

Both my parents had pretty tough (aka poor) upbringings. But found reasons to celebrate and find the positives. Both of them said they could see that in their children. Being tough and going after what we want. And taking time to be creative.

And they've both always had a sense of humor we've all latched onto.

She said of her high school years: "My freshman year I got on the Honor Roll every time but one time. That was good. My sophomore year I got on the honor roll only one time. I was dating LeRoy Hedberg then. My mind maybe wasn’t on my books."

Well, duh. I can see how that could be a distraction!

While crying and laughing through this today, I was sad but very grateful how much they sacrificed to make life work! And the attitudes and behaviors they instilled in all 8 R's along the way. Thanks, Mom, Dad, and God for that!

If you've never taken time to interview your parents, do it. I can suggest plenty of questions that won't seem intrusive and at the same time, give you some insight how you reflect who they are!

Tough Mudders

Earlier this week marked 5 months since my mother-in-law passed away. Some days it still feels like fresh grief for Jim, his sister, and dad. That's when I decided I should get Up North and see my own mom. Can't take her presence for granted. 

So I hit the road at 8 a.m. and headed north. I had my route planned out with several stops to make during my 4-hour trek to Grantsburg.

Stop 1: Hawkeye Dairy in Abbotsford. Can't break my tradition of ice cream for breakfast when I'm going solo for the long haul.

Stop 2: Buy lottery tickets in Luck. Still want to be that hometown girl from Luck who got lucky!!

Stop 3: Say hello to dad. You can tell they had tons of snow since his wreath pretty green. The other sign that they had lots of snow that melted is that top photo on the way to the cemetery. I'm gonna start calling my Honda "Moses" after successfully parting the Red Sea.

Made it to Mom's a little after noon. Not bad. I told Mom we could go wherever she wanted for lunch and we could drive wherever. I was hers for the afternoon. She had "walleye fingers" on her mind – which she enjoys at The Pour House in Siren – but we decided to take the scenic route to get there. She wanted to show me some places she lived as a child and went to school. 

By the time we turned off on the first super curvy road, I said, "Mom, it's like we're 4-wheeling! At least my Honda has 4 wheels!"

First historic site was where she went to grade school. While the Wood Creek School house is gone, they at least had a sign she could stand near. I made sure to get the street sign in there, too, so I'd know where it is! 

From there we went to what is left of the homestead. She was not kidding when she told us she walked 2 miles to school! Uphill both ways! There is a steep ravine that had to be tough going up on the way to school and the way home. She told me about seeing a bear on the other side of it once. And said on winter days when it was really cold, her dad (Grandpa Ernie) would hitch up the sleigh to take her to school since the car wouldn't start in the cold weather either.

The genealogy nerd in me was eating this up!!

We also ate the Walleye Fingers and Buffalo Chicken Sandwich at The Pour House, too. After a leisurely lunch, she wanted to show me another place she lived in childhood.

She thinks it was at the corner of Dan Johnson and Olsen roads. How's that for Scandinavian heritage? I let her think it over while I captured a trumpeter swan out for a swim. She still wasn't sure but figured it would be familiar to her if we headed west on Olsen Road. Which, mind you, was a dirt (aka MUDDY) road with too many pot holes to mention.

I felt like I was in a video game zig-zagging around the pot holes. Then the game got interesting. My "low fuel" light came on. I said, "Mom, you better know how to get us back to town because if I have to call for help, I don't know where we are."

After much jostling and laughter, we got to a road that headed west.

Not muddy exactly. Just a fresh pile of dirt that the grader just laid. More laughter and more 4-wheeling adventures. When we got to a road with a sign that said Daniels 70, I asked if this was Highway 70 leading to Grantsburg. Mom's like, "Yes, we're in Daniels Township."

Well that must have been an Old 70 because it went back north. Meanwhile, I'm keeping a close eye on that Low Fuel light and hoping it's not too much of a wrong turn. At one point I said, "Mom, you realize when I get home and tell Jim about this he'll ask me why I was asking a 91-year-old for directions."

At least we made it to a gas station and her house for a little more visiting before I hit the road.

One final selfie for the road. As I left, Mom said, "Thanks for the date!" My pleasure. Haven't had one-on-one time with her in forever. It was awesome.

From there I headed home via Burnett Dairy Cheese Factory. I ran into Mike, who Jim and I worked with years ago at the newspaper in Rapids. He's been living just outside of Grantsburg – next to my aunt and uncle if you want to talk even smaller world.

Then my twin walked in for my second date of the day. We had a small bowl of Wisconsin S'mores Ice Cream for supper. Yup, my day came full circle with ice cream for two meals. Ha.

Yucky drive back in rain and road construction but Moses got me home safely. I see a car wash in my future tomorrow, though!

There They Go

These geese that crossed the road in front of us and plopped into a pond are pretty much symbolic of today. There they go, swimming off like my days out of the office.

It's been 830 days out and I am about to set my alarm for tomorrow's return. Guess I should've been super symbolic and gone to bed at 8:30. Don't think that that didn't cross my mind! 

It was a busy last day.

After work, Jim and I went up to Halder (that's God's Country for those who don't know) and met up with two cousins at the St. Patrick's cemetery. Sounds odd but not when they're all into genealogy and had some catching up to do – along with a bit of a walking tour. 

Nice to see Nancy and Barb and especially nice we were all above ground for it.

Since we were in the area, Jim and I headed over to Marshfield for dinner. We knew it was Mac Monday at Nutz Deep II. And had been looking forward to it for awhile.

Take one look at my Cajun Mac & Cheese and you'll see why! In the background you can see Jim's Philly Mac. We were both very happy with our meal. Yum!

Also since we were in the area, we went to Festival Foods. I know what you're thinking. No one lives it up like we do! Cemetery, Mac Monday and Festival Foods. All in ONE day?? Don't be jealous.

Seriously, the freshness and bounty that exists at Fest does not exist in our town. Unfortunately, it's a bit out of the way with gas prices as they are. Still, we did some recon and we'll come armed with a list next time.

Got home at 7:30 and I had to find something to wear to the office tomorrow, which will be the hottest day of the year so far. I assume the A/C will be cranked but I'm golfing after work so it'll be a golf outfit that fits our dress code. After 830 days, they'll just have to take me as I am.

Alright, gotta sleep fast! G'night.

Thankfulness to a T

 

Alphabetical gratitude month continues today with the letter T which leads to Thanksgiving, which is what started this whole gratitude month to begin with! It's terrific!

A = Autumn, Austins, Assumption
B = Ballots, Books, Book Club, Bible
C = Casey, Clay, Carter, Church, Creativity, Camera
D = Dad, Daughters, Deck Chair, Dar, Design
E = Eggs, Election, Energy, Empty Nest
F = Family, Friends, Faith, Flu Shot, FastForward
G = Games, Golf, Guilty pleasures
H = Hugs, Hurricanes, Humor
I = Ice cream, Impromptu Invitations
J = Jim, Jokes, Job, Java
K = Kindness, King Cone, Knock on Wood, Karma
L = Laughters, Love
M = Mom, Masters, Musicals
N = Nieces, Nephews, Neighbors, Norse Force
O = Outage
P = Pigging Out, Passport, Phone
Q = Quiet
R = R People
S = Scandi-hoovian-ism, Sisters, Sylvester

Thanksgiving: I love Christmas, but I really appreciate Thanksgiving and what it stands for, too. It's what this gratitude month is all about. Our acts of thanksgiving. Not lamenting what we don't have or can't do in 2020, but appreciating the blessings we do have and things we can still do – even in a pandemic. Thanksgiving is more than a holiday. It's a 365-day action of thankfulness. An attitude that goes a long way to positive, healthy thinking!

Tree: What tree? Oh, my family tree. I am grateful for my hubby for spurring my interest in family tree work. He started in high school and I started after Carter was born. So I missed out on a lot of time with living relatives who were the brain trust of our family history. My active interest and work on it goes in spurts. Usually more attention in winter months when there's not much else going on. Or in a pandemic year. My mysteries are many. And I continue to welcome clues. Jim could write a book on his but still, he was overjoyed tonight to learn two more names on his tree – grandparents that I think are 4 or 5 generations back. Totally awesome! I'm also thankful for technology, which has enabled me to search and find many answers and ancestors. Our history is at our finger tips. Just need to set aside time to tap into it.

Teachers: Just a shout out to teachers today, too. I can't imagine how you do what you in normal circumstances. Throw in social distancing, a virus, and virtual learning (and teaching), and it's crazy amazing. I know a lot of you are teaching to two audiences at once – half class in school and half class online – plus still trying to get to know your students, who've been hiding behind masks or a computer monitor. Bless you and all you do to keep our future on track.

Turkey: As excitement goes, I suppose turkeys are the lefse of meat. But I'm grateful to cook and deliver some turkey meals for isolated family on Thanksgiving. Plus thankful that tomorrow is my Friday so I have time to get things done. Thank you, Tuesday!

#gratitudemonth #gratitudealphabet

It's in my DNA

One sure way to distract hubby and me is offering free access to a genealogy website. It's one of those hobbies you can ignore for months at a time, then suddenly you get back into it for a night. And 3 hours later wonder what where the evening went.

If you do family tree work, the site is https://www.americanancestors.org/. Free access until Nov. 19. However, it is a site hosted by some New England group, so this Midwest girl hasn't had any luck with matching searches. Even immigration records. So...

Here I am with nothing to show for it. After 3 hours. EXCEPT I also got an email from Ancestry.com, who I did my DNA test through a few years back, and they said my DNA results are updated. I was a bit suspicious since I hadn't sent in a new spit sample. Turns out their methods for interpreting results have improved and so my results have an updated interpretation.

No real changes other than that small 6% or 11% or whatever that was "possibly other European" is now gone. I am 100% Scandinavian! Which, based on my family tree work is a fact.

Interesting that the new interpretation has me more Norwegian than Swede, but in real life I am 75% Swede and 25% Norwegian. Also... the new possibility that I am 7% Finnish will have my dad rolling in his grave.

I honest to god (or Valhalla), heard him talk about "those goofy Finlanders" once when I was growing up. Ha. My dad had opinions.

I guess that's in my DNA, too! No need for some expensive DNA kit to tell you that.

Sisters in Scandi-hoovia :: Day 11 (Midsommar)

Glad Midsommar (happy midsummer)! Today was just like Christmas here. The Midsommar (midsummer) holiday meant everybody had off, there was no traffic, and most businesses were closed. It also meant celebrations.

Everywhere!

Midsummer is, apart from Christmas, one of the most important holidays in the Swedish calendar. They celebrate with smorgasbord, schnapps, and singing. Well, we skipped the schnapps since we Hedbergs don't need liquid courage to have fun. We embrace it... in any country!

We checked out of our hotel and headed to Karlstad for the festivities. Weather was sketchy but we had fun during the "rain delays," waving our little Swedish flags that may or may not have come from a dessert.

When the rain stopped and they erected the "maypole," we wanted to be sure our mom was part of the fun since her ancestors from both parents are from the region of Värmland, where we were celebrating.

We let the professionals kick things off. They were much more choreographed than the later crowd, but very enjoyable to watch.

If you ever get to see a true ancestral tradition presented by natives in period costumes, you get goose bumps. Especially if you've done family tree work for decades and really feel tied to your roots.

Pretty cool. And the dancers were very nice to us visitors from "Minnie-so-TAH."

Part of the Midsummer tradition involves wearing flower wreaths in your hair or traditional dress. There's no way we could be as cute as these two so we just dressed as your average American tourists.

Then it was time for the children to dance. And by children, they mean anyone who's a child (that's all of us, right?) or acts like one (again, that's all of us, right?). The Skol Sisters needed no prompting. We linked hands with strangers and jumped right in!

We got lucky that two teenage girls next to me were very willing to provide some interpretation to the song-dances as we circled the maypole. Once we heard the translation, there were times we laughed so hard we cried. Like when we thought the action was pretending to put food in our mouth when it was actually supposed to be pretending to put "snus" (aka snuff or chewing tobacco) in our cheek. Good lord!

There are many different Midsummer songs, the most popular is a song called Little Frogs, or Små grodorna. During this song, both adults and children hop around the maypole pretending to be frogs, singing the deep and poetic lyrics “Little frogs are funny to look at, they don’t have ears or tails." Oh yes, there is video of my making some fine ears and tail as I hop around. That is in the "what happens in Sweden stays in Sweden" vault!

I think you get the idea we were having fun! We couldn't believe only one other person from our tour group joined in. Their loss, I guess. We will laugh about our memories from today for a long, long time! Priceless.

Our tour guides captured this one. And the smiles say it all.

After our festival of fun, we started our long trek east to Stockholm. We stopped about halfway in Orebro to check out a castle from the 1300s. As most businesses were closed today, we couldn't get inside but we could walk the perimeter and take pictures and stretch our legs.

I happened upon this bench that proves once again that the Swedish and Norwegian tall genes skipped a generation! Dang.

We ended up getting to Stockholm around 7 p.m. Due to the holiday, it took us awhile to find a restaurant open. You can always count on a saloon -- especially when the World Cup is going on. All I wanted was a burger since I already had my adventurous eating today trying caviar for breakfast and accidentally trying anchovies a the Midsummer smorgasbord. My opinion?

My remedy?

Works in every country! Especially on holidays.