Sunday, June 11, 2006

Nordmenn i Brooklyn!

George loves being half-Norwegian by non-legal marriage. We recently hosted a dinner in the back yard for our friends Olav & Turid along with their kids Joakim & Eirin, who were visiting from my grandpa's home town in Norway. Turid is the niece of our friend Oddrun.

Turid & Olav, with our friend Nikolaus in the foreground.




Eirin, with Joakim hiding. He generally refuses to have his picture taken. I told him that if he refused to cooperate, I would find a way to get photos of him and then post them all over the Internet. Keep reading.




Unable to avoid me while climbing our cherry tree. This will teach him to hide from me.


We celebrated Joakim's 13th birthday with a cake from Leske's Scandinavian Bakery. Of course, he refused to have his photo taken with the cake. I love how EVERYTHING embarasses 13 year olds.



The following weekend, Bay Ridge celebrated Syttende Mai, the Norwegian Independence Day. Since Bay Ridge used to be very Norwegian, like 50 years ago, there is still a parade here every May 17th. It is the most lackluster affair you could ever imagine. But the various Sons of Norway lodges and church groups who have been marching in the parade for over 50 years just won't let it die. It's awesome.

Extra police forces are not generally required to control the mobs at Syttende Mai.


Miss Norway 2006 greets her adoring public




My alma mater always sends a small contingent. I usually fail to acknowledge them for fear they will recognize me and try to get me to march with them.







A sophisticated heritage.

14 comments:

jin said...

Great shots!
LOVE your glassware, plates, etc.!
You know I have to ask...what was on the 'inside' of the cake & how yummy was it?
(Fabulous platter, BTW!)

Very cute kitty! That's so AWESOME that you n George took her in!

lulu said...

It was Midsommer Festival here in Andersonville this weekend. So we had Swedish dancers dancing around poles, and gay men with pink feather wings handing out condoms.......I love my hood.

Coaster Punchman said...

Jin, the cake was delicious and it was a a layer cake layered with chocolate buttercream. It cost about $8. It was a big hit. We've never had anything non-delicious from Leske's.

Lu, unfortunately I don't own any pink feather wings - and please don't buy me any. (Not that I'm against them, but I don't have the storage room.)

lulu said...

You can borrow my wings when you come visit....

Melinda June said...

Worse than marching, if you acknowledge them they may make you give money. I hate those damn pledge drives.

lulu said...

Had you had the sense to drop out like me, you would not have damn Oles calling all hours of the day and night.

Coaster Punchman said...

Actually she transferred elsewhere her junior year, so I certainly hope the Oles are not calling her. That would be rude.

Melinda June said...

I get calls from the Luther alums, and let me tell you, the best part of living abroad is that it costs them too much to call me to have me tell them to go away.

Coaster Punchman said...

Do what I did and tell them they're getting ten bucks. "Mr. H., it's Kirsten from St. Olaf calling about this year's pledge drive. As you know, St. Olaf offers many programs including an expan..."

"Ten bucks."

"Excuse me?"

"Ten bucks. You're getting ten bucks this year. Where do I send the check?"

That cuts them off and at least it's something to keep them quiet.

Anonymous said...

Tom, you never told Jin what kind of tableware we were using! The cake plate with the checkerboard going around it has a small black pedestal that you can't see in Tom's picture. The plate in the background is Christopher Stuart's "Calypso" pattern. The lime green placemats were made in China and I bought those at this dollar for everything store while on my way to Pennsylvania, and I think I got 6 placemats for my one American dollar, they are made of some fibrous plastic. The black undersided with greenish rimmed dinner plates are Sango "Nova Black". I hope this helps you with understanding us better.

george

Coaster Punchman said...

Well she never asked us all that, but I'm sure she appreciates knowing. (I think she really just wanted to know what was in the cake.)

jin said...

LMAO @ you two!!!
:-D
I admit: I got all giddy when George said the platter had a pedestal on it!!! I think ALL platters should have a pedestal. I have sooo many of them I'm almost ashamed to say.
I would also like to 'paint' the "Calypso" pattern on the top tier of a cake, where the bottom tier looks like the 'Chinese' lime green placemats.

Anonymous said...

I think I should like to have a serious argument with the Coaster Punchman on line with Jin witnessing just how abusive and mean he could be. CPW, I was simply offering my information, why must you imply that I am offering information that was not asked for! Ooooh, how you are gonna git it!

Modern logic 101:

if O = hugs and x = kisses, then k = kicks and s = slaps

Dear CPW, kkksskkkssksksks!!!

your loving husband george

jin said...

Ok...I'll be a witness...just remember: he who sends me the biggest check gets the biggest support! ;-) (Um...or the biggest box of chocolates! YUM! lol)

cp: Sometime tonight I will respond to your comment...I'm going to come out & admit the 2 things I am most ashamed of eating.....

george: LMAO at the k & s...may I use that sometime?