Exodus

There were so many people gathered on the grassy
slope above the harbor.
Blick and her family, Mother Father, two sisters.
And the wheelbarrow.
Mr Berns, the black smith, the berry seller and two women who
also wanted to buy berries.
Everybody was talking at the same time.
Father with his strong voice spoke up:
One at a time. Mr.Berns, You first..

The horse is going to be fine. He hurt one of his legs in the
heavy wind as they came around the corner of southern
Skane. I have fitted him with a splint and if you can keep him
quiet on the way home tomorrow, he should be fine.
Mr Berns, how much do I owe you?
I will take three liter berries. What time will skutan sail.
Day break?

And then it was Father's turn. I will take 50 liters. Please
divide them equally in the two baskets. And Mr berns. How is our cat?
He only lost one of his nine lives. There was an angry infection near the
upper part of the tail. I am sorry to say that  Topsy is now tailless.

How much do I owe you, said Blick/ I have no money but I can work.
With a tiny hick up she added, there are some weeds near your front
door. I can also wash dishes.

Mr  Berrns said, Lets not talk about that now. It is going to
get dark before you get home. Let's go to get the cat.





topsy is now tailless

WHAT CONFUSION !

There was now a large crowd gathered on the little grassy plot above the harbor. Two or three women who were waiting for mother to get served by the berry seller. The berry seller paid no attention to mother for he wanted to speak to the blacksmith to find about his horse.Father wanted to know if Mother was ready to start for home. Blick's two sisters had to know if Blick had heard about her cat.

All were talking at the same time. Finally there was a loud voice heard.  Father said: Let's take turn speaking. I think that most important is finding out about the injured horse.

The horse is going to be fine. I have put a splint on his leg. On the return trip it would help him if you could keep him either lying down on something soft, or else tethered so that he can't move very much. The berry seller had a tear in his eye when he shook Malte's fathers hand. Then he said "How much do I owe you?"

I will take five liter berries.

Father said" My turn.  We will take 50 kilograms. Half in each basket. And then I need dto speak with Mr  Berns. We have a cat to discuss.

While this was going on Mr Berns, Father and Blick moved to the outskirts of the gathering.

Tell me, do we have a cat, or did he pass away.

The cat spent only one of his nine lives. There was an infection in the open area of his tail. I am sorry to say, he is now a tail-less cat. If you keep him clean he should recover.

Blick began crying when she tried to say Thank you. but the words came out with a hick-up. Then she said, how much do I owe you. I don't have any money, but if father will let me, I can work. There are weeds in front of your house that I could work on, or I could wash dishes if you want me to.

Father spoke up. If you are to work you are to take one of your sisters with you..

Mr. Berns said, we will figure it out later.  If you are to get home before dark, we better stop talking. Stop by on your way home. Try to keep the cat quiet on the wheelbarrow.

At last

The road became straighter and when they saw the outline of the church they knew they would soon be at the harbor. Mother speeded up her steps and luckily the road was slightly downhill.

They passed a large empty lot. Mother had heard that all the construction gear was for a Danish man who wanted to build a wind mill at that place. As we turned left at the next corner Mother said 'guess what we will see at the next corner. THE HARBOR.

There we could make out the lingon salesman and a couple of shoppers.  There were two sailing ships tied up in the harbor. A man was walking toward the activities from the right. Mother, that is Malte's father.

Aren't you lucky. Now you will hear about Topsy.

Mr Bernd, the black smith. obviously had come to discuss something with the lingon berry salesman. They were in a deep discussion about someone named George. When they were finished, the salesman could attend to Mother's wishes and I could ask what had happened to Topsy.

Is this your mother? Let's tell her too. The  cat is healing and can go home with you, when you are through with the berries. I now have a new patient whose name is George. He and the berries came down from lingon land on that 'skuta' in the harbor. They met heavy winds and waves when they entered Oresund. The owner thinks that George has a broken leg.

Down the hill came a great crowd. It was Blick's father pushing a wheel barrow and a crowd of girls. All Blick's sisters

Don't walk so fast, mother.

Blick was almost running to keep up with her mother on the long way to the harbor. She was surprised her mother could walk so fast, for she was sort of old. And she was carrying the two large baskets. They were not heavy but uncomfortable to carry. And wait 'til they were full of lingonberries. Then they would be really heavy.

Mother, how soon can I find out about my kitty?

You will have to speak to  your father about that. It will be too late tonight to go to see him. When you go to bed tonight say a prayer that he will recover. Have you thought about how you will pay Malte's father for whatever he has done for the cat.

I have no money. but if he agrees to it, I can clean up the garden in front of their house. There are lots of weeds and junk there. And if Father lets me go that far, I could do other work for him, maybe.

Sale at the harbor

Blick, can you run down to the cellar to get the two biggest baskets. Put your gym shoes on. We have to walk fast. I will carry the baskets if you will carry my purse. But lets hurry. And go in to the class room and tell Father we are going to buy Lingonberries. And for him and Ivar to come to help us carry the berries and the sugar back home. Ask him to lay the fire in the stove and to haul up three of the largest Hoganas crocks. He will understand. This happens every time lingon berries are for sale. And then you and I will hurry as fast as we can.

Tears were coming to the surface of Blicken's eyes. No more dawdling. This is important. If we are late and the lingon berries are gone, our family will have about half of the vitamin C we need for the winter. Your sisters will be here to help with the cooking of the berries. Then you and Father can go and talk to the blacksmith.

I am so scared to talk to Father. He is big and so mean.

Hush. Don't let him hear you talk like that. He is doing what he feels is right to make you grow up to be a decent, honest woman.  Tie your eft shoe again and then let's go.

What happened to the cat

Blick went looking for her mother after her sobbing stopped. She remembered to get a drink of  water from the pump in the kitchen sink and gave herself a quick wipe around her nose and mouth with her wet hand.

Her mother was sitting in the garden knitting on her eternal socks. Everyone in the house wore socks knitted by her. In the winter the socks went over the knees of everyone, but spring was coming  and from now on knee socks would be the style. She said"come here,Blick". I am so sorry about your cat. And I hope and pray that the blacksmith can fix him.

"Will you come with me when we go to get him?' I am so worried about him.

I really have no time for that. I think your Father better deal with that problem. You have to  remember to be more obedient.  

I didn't mean to be disobedient. I am so worried about that cat. If he dies I don't know what to do.

Just then Carlson's lur tooted.  Hush Blick. I want to hear what is for sale at the harbor.

ASll of a sudden Carlson's voice was heard saying Lingon berries for sale. 15 ore er liter


Come Blick. Let's hurry.I do not want to miss this sale. Let's get the big baskets.

Her father and the out house

Blicken and her father had a moment of silence. Blicken unbuttoned her panties and approached her father. His look was sterrn but he looked funny sitting there waiting for her.

"Do you know why you are getting a spanking?

I left the school yard without telling anyone where I was going. I love Topsy and she looked so awfu;. I thought she was dying.Malte told me his father is good with animals.  wouuld do anything  to help Topsy. And I will work for Malte's father if he can help Topsy. I can weed the little gardenin front os 'smedjan. I could wipe dishes for Malte's mother.You said we have no money for a V.et. I thought Aopsy as dying while I was holding her. There was no time to waste.er hick ups were slower but her face was b;otchy red.

He said "come here. And bend over my knees. And pull you dress up'.

She intended to not cry, No matter how much it hurt. But the sound of the twigs going through the arch before they actually hurt her, weakened her resolve slightly. When she felt the twigs on her skin she lost her brearh and out came a tremendous scream. From then on she had no control. She had no control. When her father felt the wet spot spread on his trousers, he hit her harder and harder, When he stopped she haad no feeling of how long the beating had lasted. He pushed her off his knees and examined the condition os his trousers, He walked out the door.  She had to calm herself before she could walk across the school yard. She and her mother had to go to Malte's to get Topsy.

Correction

The mistakes in the previous post came to me in the middle of the night. I talked of 'shears'. They probably pruned bushes and small trees with something very different than what we have now. Blick probbly took a rusty pair of seamstress scissors kept in her mother's tool drawer. Speaking of shears, I remember reading about a class of pruning 'liquid amber  maple trees', to be given on Bainbridge Island. I signed up for the class. But since I had only a rusty pair of scissors in my tool drawer, I went to the local hard ware store and asked for a 'cadilac type tool for pruning. I still have the tool in my kitchen tool drawer.

The second mistake was when her father said 'pull down your pants. Pull gives you an idea of something elastic.Nothing elastic was found in the year of 1890. The panties Bliccken was wearing were sown by her mother and had probably been worn by two or three sisters before they grew out of them. they had a waistband with a button on one end a a button hole on the other end. A lot of material was gathered unto the waist band to make room for a 'rounded' behind. Her father would have said "Unbutton. your pants. and since the button was in the back of this garment, and since her fingers were shaking, his patience must have worn thin and what happened was probably a little worse than uaual.

 I will tell you about the behind of blicken in my next post.

Blicken, continued

She had to bend over his knees and 'Father was dressed in his school clothes. The grip on her hand was so tight it almost hurt.And his legs were so long, she could hardly keep up,which made her hand hurt more. But worst of all, he was holding his pruning shears in his other hand. Oh, she knew what what meant. She had seen what happened to Ivar, her oldest brother. And to Helena and Alma. All of them talke  d of going to America when they were 17. Would she have to go to America too?

When they got to the end of the school property, Father handed her the shears and told her to cut three pieces of the old bush growing out side the fence. She could just bare;y hold the shears with one hand, while she was holding a straight branch of the bush. And her fingers were too small to cut the branch. Her crying had not stopped and her nose was running and Father's thumb was rubbing th pointing finder. She knew he was getting angrier as he watched her fumbling.

Here, give me the cutters. I will cut them, but instead of three, you will get four. Through her tears she saw that the fourth branch was a lot older than the ones she had chosen.

Come.

And off they walked to the out house designated for the family. There were boys kicking ball in the opposite part of the school yard. There would be twittering tomorrow when they saw her. Thank goodness he closed the the door when they got to the 'dass'

I think you have been told never to leave the school grounds unles you are with your parents or older syskon'

I was afraid my cat was dying. Topsy made such sad noises. Malte told me his father knows how to help animals.

Here Blow your nose. And pull your pants down. And come here.

Pre-Christmas Fun

Luigi was here and my computer works. For the first time since I moved to California I feel just a small bit more secure about using my computer, and my Blog may now grow again.

First I have to tell you that my Christmas Holidays were magnificent.

It all began with  our Santa Lucia breakfast. At 6.30 am all guests were happily waiting for the ‘overnight egg dish’ to be served. We had orange juice  and Lucia rolls and the afore mentioned egg dish. The outside of the house was illuminated by ‘the candle in the bag’ that we used to have on the bridge across the creek in Diablo.

Our tables were rearranged so we could all sit together.

When it came time to sing the Lucia song, Susanne and Marsha sang the song they had managed to translate into English and their harmonizing was impressive.

  It was so beautiful there were tears in more than my eyes.

The nineteenth of December, Martha and I were invited to Jane’s house for her yearly Christmas dinner for four of her best friends. I think the dinners are celebrating other countries and because of my heritage we had a Swedish night. Decorations throughout the house.

And the menu! The meal was spectacular. We had smorgasboard and soup and Swedish meatballs with lingon berries, potatoes and gravy.

We even had a small drop of Aquavit. Jane’s friends had brought many of the dishes.

There were gifts from all the friends of Jane’s. Kathy had made a large pin with an old fashioned g, Pam had bought a whole extra bag of Swedish meatballs at IKEA and Luanne had found wonderful napkins. Beth, who once owned a button store had picked out a clever thing. Such generosity.

Next morning, Martha and I left, with Jane following in her car ‘she had to go to work’ to meet our old, old friends from Diablo. A fine restaurant near the first off ramp for Mill Valley was our destination. And there were the Gordons, Peg and Semmes and daughter Mary with her daughter Kate. We had a long leisurely breakfast. It was wonderful getting caught up on the news of old friends but most of all being with them. Time passed quickly.

Soon Martha and I headed back to Santa Cruz and the Gordons returned to Petaluma. We are trying to convince them to visit us here.

Blick 6

Malte followed her all the way to the large road leading to Helsingborg. When they came to the little road for Alleru, he said ,can you find your way home now. Blick nodded and began running. She knew she should have said, thank you, but she was so scared of what would happen when she got home.

When she neared the school house she slowed down. What would happen when she saw her father. She ran in the kitchen door and there was her mother fixing the evening meal. Where have you been. She sobbed again saying, TFather said if the cat was hurt, we would have to get rid of him for we have no money to have him fixed. He is so sick, mother. Malte told me his father is very good with animals and told me to follow him. He took Topsy to see what he could do for her. He wants you and me to come this evening and he will tell us what he can do.

Where is your apron?

  Maltes father took it for I had topsy wrapped up in it. Ohh, Mother I am so sad that Topsy is hurting. She started crying harder. Her father walked into the kitchen. Blick, come with me. I want to hear how disobedient you have been today. There will be trouble.

Blick 4

Lerberget was a long skinny town running from South to north along the coast.Wh en you approached the village from the south it was a little more than a path, unpaved, through a beech forrest. No houses were visible from the path, but there could be cabins or cottages hidden among the trees, The path was narrow.

Suddenly the path turned into a real road. and after passing a few houses, they had obviously arrived at Maltes house . In the rear was smedjan.

Maltes's father came out the back door. This is my Father and this is Blick. She is Teacher Olsson's daughter. He took the burden  Blick was carrying. He opened the apron and looked at the cat. Oj, oj, how did he get hurt. Do you know. No, Blick whispered. I will look him over and do  what I can to help him. Can you and your mother come back late this afternoon to pick him up. Malte,find a box to  keep him in.

Malte, the horses are coming about an hour from now. I need your help.Can you show Blick how to get back home. Blick would yoou like a glassof water before you leave.

Blick 3

Blick tried hard to keep up with Malte, for his legs were a lot longer than hers. He did not talk to her at all, but checked to see that she wass not lagging too far behind.

She wanted to ask if the water she could see was Oresund and if the land over there was  Denmark. But she knew no words would come out, only long puffing. But the water looked different than the water she saw in Helsingborg where she sometimes got to go with her mother.

The hill down to Lerberget made the puffing stop. She had so many questions to ask, but Malte now was far ahead of her. Suddenly he stopped and when she caught up he said, Blick, let me hold the cat for a moment. Now take a corner of your apron and see if you can clean up your face. She did as she was told but he was not satisfied. Spit on a clean piece and rub around your nose and your mouth. After a while he looked nodded, gave her the cat and said, we are near smedjan and I want my Father to like you.

In no time they came to a place where the yard was full of strange things. There were several plows along the fence and many horse shoes hung on the fence. But she had seen manyof them in farms she passed on her way into Alllerum

Tale Number 2

Blick and Malte hurried up out of the creek bed. Blick could not draw a normal breath until they were out of sight of the school house. Her Father's voice was loud enough to catch them There were several hills between the two villages. Luckily the cat was quiet during his bumpy ride in Blick's apron. She knew he was hurting

When they reached the turnoff to Hitarp Malte said Blick, wipe your face on the corner of your apron. You look aful. She did the best she could. The Apron looked awful. She must be careful so her dress would be unspoiled when she returned home. Blicken could not endure her mother's look of of disappointment if she saw spots on the dress she had just recently grown into. Ida who still loved the dress would hide her glee if Blick got in troble

TROUBLE

She was in so much trouble. She could never go home again,She had run away from home. She was planing to disobey her Father, But she could not even think of having her cat killed.

A tale of a tail

Blink's heart was broken. Her kitten's tail was injured. Father had said the kitten had to go. There was no money for a Vet. The one thing in the world that belonged to her had to die. She said to herself, if the cat has to die, she would die too. With the kitten in her lap, and with tears streaming down her cheeks she looked around for a place to hide, but there were too many people living in this small house. she would have to escape outside somewhere. She wrapped the cat in her apron, hoping there would be no blood stains, and crept silently out the kitchen door. Quickly she ran down toward the creek. running as quickly as she could and there she hid in the alder shoots.  

''

Almost at once she heard footsteps. She peeked out  to see who was coming and groaned silently. There was fat Malte coming. He must have been looking out the window in Father's School room.

Blinken, what are you doing down here, he flustered. When he saw her clearly he flustered louder saying Why are you crying? My cat has hurt her tail and Father says we have to get rid of the cat. My father, who is the horse shoer can help you. Let's go and ask him. Won't my Father get mad at you for ditching school? No, I was excused before I saw you. My father needs my help. Count Greve from Kristinelund is bringing all his stallions to be re-shod. But if we hurry he will have time to look at your cat before the Count arrives.

And so they hurried along the short;cut to Hittarp, the cat carried in Blink's apron.

Treasure Island

It's awful how many friends and I have grown separated from each other. I will tell you how one friendship began. She was very pregnant and I was very pregnant with my second child. Discussing the degree of our pregnancies we discovered that we might very well be room mates at Mills Hospital in San Mateo. We had different doctors who had enrolled us in the same hospital and since both of us were having sections they had guessed on the same week in January. I had asked Sam to forego h is momthly Army meeting at San Foran  (sp) , because I wanted to have this baby on my birthday Jan25).
This was not possible, either because of Sam , or because of the doctor. Anna was born January 21 and my fellow hospital mate's baby was born the same day. Co-incidentally the mother had been a class mate of Sam's in San Mateo High School.

We became good friends and since the father was in a related field of work with Sam, the four of us would hang around for maybe  a monthly dinner out.Baby sitters were a difficult new added expence. We had taken our first baby with us where ever we went. He was now 18 months old and it was time for a baby sitter.

Suddenly our friends discovered that Treasure Island had a Navy club with a fabulous restaurant with very affordable prices. And there was gambling. Slot machines and twenty one tables etc. And so we went there a couple of times. Since I came from Sweden I knew that drinking and driving was taboo I began putting on the breaks. One night after dinner, we said we could gamble for only minuteds and then we would leave. When I went to say good by to them I found our host for the evening at a 25 cent slot machine. He said, please Gertrud, stand guard over this machine while I go to get new quarters. I have put so much money in this machine, I know it is going to pay off soon. It took him ages and i had to pretend I was playing the machine. At last he came back and Sam and I could leave. It was a horrible drive back home to Burlingame. We made it and they made it. The machine never paid off and Sam and I took turns to drive sober.

Why all this? Jane, our youngest cleaned out her Aunt Bunty's house after she died and just recently came across old post cards she had saved. She sent me a picture of Treasure Is;and and the message on thee back of the card was Do you have any memories from here? This blog is Jane's answer.

Parties

Martha's third book came out and a publicity affair was scheduled in Santa Cruz for last night, Aug 28, in a local bookstore. She invited  past and present confederates, many friends and associates, a few local relatives for a party in the garden between our houses. Needless to say the garden was groomed to perfection and the food to be served late in the afternoon ordered to fit for dinner.  7:30 was the bewitching hour for the bookstore.

I was invited to attend both the garden party and the bookstore reading, but decided the day had been too hectic for the reading.

Luckily, some people spent the night in Capitola, and four came over for a late breakfast. And so the celebrations continued.

Now everyone except Jane, Martha's "little" sister and the one who is responsible for getting me back online and using my blog, have left. I sit here thinking about parties I remember from when I was a child.

One party I do not remember because I was a toddler. We had an outdoor afternoon coffee party and I wandered off and fell into a neighbor's sumpump. One pseudo cousin, Linnea, rescued me. From what I heard, it was in the last minute or a critical moment.

The party I do remember was the same type of party -- sunny afternoon coffee party in the garden. "Cousins" were there and many other friends and I remember a wandering musician stopped by with his accordion and played Italian love songs. My grandmother's chickens came out and stuck their necks out and enjoyed the music.

once again

It has taken from May to now to let you know I am still alive.

I've been attempting to create a massive leather art project to fulfill a commission. I find my hands are too wiggly to make the precision cuts necessary and I have finally admitted defeat.

I have knitted four blankets and one Fake-It-In-Fabric masterpiece (future Christmas presents).

Below is a hint of my future endeavor....

The beginning of a new rigid routine

Last Monday Martha  had a few friends here and we all promised to follow a plan of our own. We had to express what was going to be the next week's main creative issues. Next Monday we have we have to admit our lethargy or our successes. My stated work for the coming week was to paint 'Thank you notes, work on my blogging and  to keep both my indoor and outdoor gardens better watered. My computer has been very uncooperative, but with Martha's help is mow behaving. More than half the week is gone and little is done. But there is tomorrow and Friday.

Tomorrow we have to go to two friends new office downtown. It is furnished and running well. But the walls are mostly bare and they want to see if I can create a work of art that both applies to their work and with their building's interior.  Exciting..

Day in my studio

Today I am finally organized enough to be able to blog. It feels so liberating to be able to sit out there and have all my materials at my finger tips. I made two thank you cards for a friend.

I cut out material for a FAKE it in FABRICS for another friend. I searched and found a box containing materials for home made wrist bands for cheap children's watches, done in needle point. Now I feel at home even in my .hytta. I have managed to get my car registered in California and also got a new drivers license.