No spend, Leftovers for dinner, But took a small salmon, burger and yes some chicken out of the freezer. Will cook salmon with rice and salad tonight. Have not a clue what I will do with the other two.
Slept much better last night, thank goodness. It was so nice. If you don't suffer from insomnia (and may you never) you have no idea what a good nights sleep can do for your day.
I poured over the grocery adds yesterday and nothing. Nothing popped out as this is a good deal! Well cabbage is on sale, but the price they want for corned beef was ridiculous. I was hoping to stock up on some cereal as the we are buying by the box. When I say stock up I do not mean a two year supply but a money saving supply. We are still living essentially off stored can goods, etc.
Hub's plays in the pit orchestra again tonight and I am going to the show tomorrow with some friends. Today I really need to clean the house and do laundry, also make another batch of bread. I gave away one loaf so we shorted ourselves for the week. Boring old everyday stuff. blah!
Was able to get all the Celtic kids in costumes except one last night and that dress will come in tonight. I also brought home a bodice that needs to be attached to a different skirt. So I will rip that apart and reattach the one that fits. All my costumes are made to be adjusted or pieced together as bodies of dancers are different. Saves money and time.
I need to pay the house payment today or tomorrow, also the rent for the studio and other bills. Fun, fun, fun. We all know how much Kim loves to pay bills.
Out My Window: The weather is sunny but cool and I actually have three daffodils ready to bloom in the font yard. The apricot tree down the hill is just peaking. I bet when I drive by today it will have blossoms. So spring is definitely here.
Story cont:
Nels had an unusual interest in all things moving. Like all babies he loved to have bright objects dangled in front of his eyes. When he started to scoot around the house it was always to go after something moving. He could make his cradle go up and down, if he was on a chair he could make the butter churn go up and down. When his mother was cooking he would watch her beating and stirring up a treat. Anything that moved would make him stop and stare. Far, would often say, "He is the brightest baby in the country." And of course all the others would agree he was there only one and if things continued in the typical Bjorklund way he would be the only one.
Nels was the first child for Nilson and Britta. His Grandparents lived in the back rooms of the house. Nels grandfather or Far Far as he was called loved to tinker with old clocks and machinery. Winters were long and dark in Sweden. Most people had a skill or a hobby of some kind to fill the winter hours, which went on endlessly with no daylight. From the time Nels could toddle along he followed his father or grandfather everywhere. Watching, quietly, fascinated by anything they were doing.
He was a much loved and precious child. All babies were precious to these Bjorklunds. For many generations having children had been a great sorrow to the family. Too many little grave markers stood in the family plot down by the Bethel church. There was only one surviving son for each generation since the early 1800's.
No one knew why having a large family was impossible for the Bjorklunds. Grandfather Nilson was the only child to survive in to his thirties. He had been apprenticed to a Jewelry maker in Stockholm. When he completed his apprenticeship, he married one of the daughters of his employer, only to have her die in childbirth within the year. Soon he added to the pain of her death with the news that his older brother had been killed by a piece of farm machinery. He was needed back at the family farm and he gladly packed his tools and left the city.
It helped Nilson to do a different kind of work. He was outside, everything was bigger. He felt less time for mourning so much had to be done. Nilson remembered his Father was one of two, a son and a daughter. Nils Aunt Margaret moved to Smaland when she married. Before his father's,father there had been only one surviving son. A person could follow the family bible and see the dates, the births and deaths of many children born to this line of Bjorklunds. Nilson planned to never marry again. He was 23 and already an old widower. He spent his spare time working on broken machinery, after all a miss placed machine piece had cost him his brother's life. He would making sure no one else would know that pain. He became well known for his ability to fix things and people came from far away to seek his help. Eventually Nilson had to hire farm help so he could spend his time working on other people's problems.
This lack of living progenitor is what set the Bjorklunds apart from their neighbors. Most of the farm families had broken up and left Sweden in the last 50 years. Poor and rich alike as their large farms had been divided over and over again into smaller and smaller plots. Soon the smaller farms could not support families and younger sons were expected to find a trade or go into the church, perhaps make their life in and army or at sea. Many years of harsh weather had led to severe famines that even the Lords could not save the people and stood with blind eyes to the suffering. America was the place to go and to it they had gone. The Bjorklunds were one of the few families left with a large farm. They were considered wealthy, the little graves at Bethel Church however, spoke of a different kind of poverty.
Nels spent the first four years of his life following, watching, learning and doing. He was smart and he was industrious, he loved the attention showered on him by his parents and grandparents. He was curious and loved to sit up next to Far Far as he tinkered with an old clock. When he would make it run, he would say that Nels had fixed it with him and Nels was a proud. Far Far made him his own little set of tools and Nels would work on his own wooden clocks. They were funny looking and made his mother and Far Mar laugh He had an imagination, that he got from his grandmother.
Far Mar ( father's mother) loved to read. She was a great lady before she married Far Far. She came from a Noble Family. A family like most that had too many children and land that was splitting up to satisfy the too many sons. Noble landowners did what they could to help feed the masses of Swedes on their family estates, but soon gave up and said, "Let America take them." Far Mar had been from one of these families, impoverished by their own people.
Nilson had been to the Von Bloom estate many times to fix broken equipment. The Von Blooms held a large dairy and grain estate outside of Stockholm. It was a large family of sons and daughters. Nels would often see them out riding when he traveled to and from his farm. Nilson could sense that things were not well with the family. The overseer had eluded to the unfavorable behavior of a couple of the sons. The family could not keep going at the rate they spent money. Farm equipment that should have been replaced was instead fixed, and fixed sometimes beyond safety. This is something the Nilson would not tolerate. He became argumentative when the overseer insisted that an unsafe fix was made on an old combine. Nilson refused and the overseer told him to go and refuse the Baron to his face.
Nilson went into the big house (as it was called ) and told Baron Von Bloom that he would not fix the machine and in fact many pieces of his equipment had outlived there usefulness. This was a fact that the Barron knew all too well and in his frustration, asked Nilson how he was supposed to pay for new? "Sell all my stock, then there would be no need for grain and then no need for machinery and then no need for your services, or perhaps I should sell off my daughters like cattle?" This was meant to be a sarcastic remark. It shocked Nilson. Were things really that desperate?
Nilson knew of a good working combine that could be purchased used and at a good price. He suggested that the Baron or his overseer accompany him to the farm where the equipment was to be scene. Upon their return Britta Von Bloom had come out to the wagon carrying her father and the other two men. She told her father that the jeweler had arrived and they had been waiting for his return. Nilson could sense a panic in the Baron and his daughter both. A blasphemy came out of the Baron's mouth and he made the statement, " I will be taken again by that old tjuh!" (thief). Britta blushed at her father's outburst and looked at the ground. Baron Von Bloom said softly to his daugher," something has to pay for this days transactions."
So that is how it was Nilson thought, they are selling the family jewelry to keep the estate alive. Nilson was never going to remarry he had said it often too himself and others. No one knows how he and Britta would become husband and wife. Were there more meetings? Did he offer his services as a jeweler? Were they thrown together by circumstances or necessity? They never spoke of it and no one could get them to say anything about it either. All that is known is that Nilson Bjorklund bought himself a noble wife. The old 26 year old widow was no more.
Britta Bjorklund, was schooled in French, Latin, Italian, and English, History and Mathematics. She had traveled and could paint and embroider beautifully. She loved music, singing and dance. She was the perfect Nobleman's wife. She knew nothing about cooking, washing, cleaning or running a farm. Nils often stated, "That first year I almost starved to death!" Then he hired a housekeeper. Eventually Britta learned to cook pastries , you could get artistic with pastry, but general cooking was left for the housekeeper. The housekeeper would years later be replaced by her Daughter in Law and then she made do with a maid.
cont:
Must get to work I have about 3.5 hours before I have to get to the studio, I am going to start some bread!
Have a great and productive day!
Kim
Glad to hear Spring is on its way........
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