The following lines are written down at Minneapolis/St Paul Airport, so the timeline might have been mixed up for some events.......The week after my return to Glenwood passed much too fast. Tuesday October 14. I spent a long time with Ethel Christensen, she is the main key to my visit here. I’m very glad to be her relative, she is a real lady! She possesses what we calls “green fingers” – and have taken care of many Norwegian cake baking traditions.  Wednesday (October 15.) : Together with Chuck Thompson we brought Milo’s boat out of Lake Minnewaska and drove it to winter residence in Starbuck. By mere coincidence we met Maynard Lundebrek, who turned out to be in close family with my sons Godfather.  Thursday October 16. we went to St Cloud – Milo needed new glasses – and I visited Jean Marthaler in St Joseph, relative and a known genealogist on the “Rootsweb’s Norway List”;  we copied photos and exchanged information, the time passed too fast. Jean promised Milo to help him with investigating one of his branches.  Friday October 17 we once more visited Pope Co Museum and copied Plat books from 1904 and 1910. The 1964 edition I got as a present from Ethel, who now accompanied Milo and me on another trip down to Gilcrist Twp. We discovered where the Givre homestead had been, and drove the road Ethel (89 years young and mind like a youth) had went to school as a small girl. She told us what they had called places along the road, the bottom of a steep hill was called “the fall of man” (in Biblical meaning) – in Norwgian “Syndefallet”. I saw where Trond Amundsson from Brattebrøto had had his homestead

We drove westwards to Langhei and northwards to Starbuck. I saw a big combine doing Cornharvesting and asked Milo to stop the car so I could have a picture taken.  What I did not expect was that the persons working there wondered what kind of curious tourist came running in the field, so both the tractor- and combine driver dismounted their machinery. I tried to explain that I was a coldblooded Norwegian unused to corngrowing. The combine driver answered: “I’m of Norwegian origin, too”.  “You knorw from where in Norway your family originated”, I inquired?  “No”, he said. “What is your familyname”, I once more asked (It’s against my upbringing to be that curious, but far away from home, who will ever know…)  “My name is Hippe”, he said. Oh man, the world is small. Here was another Valdres-person, from Ulnes – not far from my place.

The following Sunday (Oct 19) we had brunch with Milo’s brothers, on Monday (Oct 21) our steps went to the old peoples home in Glenwood to meet with Dianne’s parents. I spoke to an elderly lady who told me she spoke Norwegian (She knew one sentence!) I accompanied Jim Belgum, looking and taking photos of an old “Travelers Chest” from Norway.

Temperature has been much higher than normal for this time of year, I belive they will get a change in the end of week, but then I’m home in Åbjør.