SINCE THEN… (Decades, June 9, 2026)
Just a few days ago I was writing about the Norway and the Nesets of olden times…and then some of the descendants appeared on my doorstep! Anne Hilde Neset, her daughter Mathilde, and husband Rob stopped for a few days while touring the west. It was wonderful on many levels. They are all great fun and interesting in terms of their personal and professional lives. Easy to be around, talking, laughing, eating. And in the most appealing careers and times in their lives: Anne Hilde and Rob in their art administration, visual arts, writing, and music lives, and Mathilde as a curious high school senior, reading and exploring. I loved it, except for the fact they weren’t here long enough for me to ask my thousand questions about arts and books and politics in Norway and the UK (Rob’s home base). I’ve been fascinated by the inhabitants and cultures of distant lands since childhood so having my very own people from far places this week (Europe), as well as the following week (Asia), is pretty much as good as it gets for me. And then there’s the relief we elders feel when bright and active people under the age of 75 are willing to spend time with us!
Anne Hilde and Rob were in the US to pick up daughter Mathilde after her year as a high school exchange student in Flagstaff so I was privileged to meet the youngest generation of Nesets, Mathilde Olivia Neset Young, which was a bit special also since my mom’s name was Ovidia Mathilda Floren Neset. I could speak glowingly about Mathilde for some time, but suffice it to say, if she is representative of her generation the planet may continue to exist in some bearable state.
This Decades project I’ve launched will hopefully last for some time, but will never be on a predictable schedule it’s clear. However, since there’s no parent, teacher, boss, publisher, or imaginary AI friend to tell me what and when, I’m free to lollygag around any minute, action, or memory I choose as long as it relates to the life of the world and/or me in the decade(s) under consideration.
In the case of this Neset cousin visit, I want to return to Grandpa Neset for a minute. He was something of a family black sheep in Norway it seems, and certainly not a financial go getter in the US, but this big old tough and gruff lumberjack, crippled in his 60s, a drinker, probably not an ideal husband or father, was brave enough to set off by himself for a completely unknown world. That’s something too. The fact that he would have likely gone on to lead a more stable life had he stayed home is kind of beside the point. Or not, because in that case I wouldn’t have been me, right? Not this me. And Torgus’ great- and great-great-grandnieces wouldn’t have visited me this week. Thanks Grandpa. Even though you left no fortune, I’m most happy to be me with fine family from the ‘old country’ to visit with now and again.
Nesets, then and now. Torgus, above center. My dad, Sven, left. By the time the above picture was taken they had been in the US at least 15 years. They owned a rough log house by a small lake and the men all worked in the last of the north woods lumber camps. It was in Koochiching County, Minnesota, a place one historian described as the most difficult country left on the northern frontier because of its inaccessibility, mostly just forest, rivers/creeks, and bogland on the Canadian border. Below, Togus’ granddaughter, Marjorie, and great/great-great grandnieces Anne Hilde and Mathilde…a few years later.
Asborg and Torgus looking a bit more respectable in their old age.
Dear Marjorie,
Thank you so much for your entry in your blog, and for your warm and generous reception of our family. Anne Hilde, Rob and Mathilde have told us about how wonderful it was to meet you and Steve. They felt at home immediately. Could it be blood ties? They are now back home in Oslo, and we hope to meet them some time in July. We’re going to Roland, Gausdal, next week to spend a month on Aslaug’s croft. We’re both ok, though Aslaug now always needs her walker. Best wishes and hugs to you from us.