Garrison Keillor would have been right at home in Appleton the night I was invited to speak at the Norse Valley Lodge's meeting.  What a spread...only Scandinavians can put together a pot luck like that.  Any Las Vegas caterer could have picked up some real pointers here, not to mention the recipes.

Norwegians in the Sons of Norway, have a great self-education program called Norwegian Cultural Skills Program.  It's divided into several units and the one that was of interest to me and the attendees that evening was "Unit 2: Reading Norwegian and Norwegian/North American Authors".

The SON folks have read everything they can get their hands on from Norwegian authors, and now they've had to start on the Swedes; thus my invitation.  Well, telling the truth, my roots are so far west in Sweden that if the surveyor was tipsy, he could have included the farm.

And I have so many Norwegian friends that it's not difficult to fit in...especially at the table.

We discussed Norway's Lebensborn under Nazi rule; this is a subject that hold strong interest for Norwegians since their genes were at the top of the list in Hitler's eugenics endeavors in Europe.  Many brought their personal stories and I told then about very tall Swedish lumberjack, working in Norway.

A great time was had by all and a big thanks to Martha and Garry for their hospitality and conversation.