Archives
Tuesday Evening. Neset Camping. Have I said ‘…perfect day’ too often? At this moment I’m in a lovely cabin which is pleasantly familiar because I’ve stayed in it before (miss you, Lace) and it’s cold and windy outside on my private bit of lakeshore and warm and cozily-lit inside (as all the world should be…). Branches of the big fir tree out front are waving vigorously about and the moss-splotched boulder (where… Read More
Since Neset is my name and since I grew up on the Minnesota land homesteaded by Grandpa Torgus Neset, it was probably inevitable that Neset family history is where my ancestral search would first lead me. Here’s a true story about reaching a first branch of the family tree. The first DNA-focused post shared what few facts I have about Grandma Asborg Eilifsdotter Neset—followed by three short stories about her journey to… Read More
The focus moves to 7-year-old Svein in the second section of my story about Grandma. Asborg’s mother hired a photographer to take the picture that would be all she would ever see of her daughter and grandchildren again. It would also be our only glimpse of the Nesets in Norway. There’s my dad standing in back, his head tilted wistfully as he squints into the sun. His twin sister Ellen leans against… Read More
This is the first section of a story I wrote awhile ago about Grandma Asborg Neset. When I knew Grandma Neset she was old and stooped with a deeply wrinkled face. She did not like children and usually referred to me as dårlig jente (bad girl) although I was the person she asked to read the funny papers to her on Sundays; Dick Tracy was her favorite. Her house always… Read More
ON THE TRAIL OF MY DNA: Part 1 What better place to begin then the waterscapes of Byglandsfiord and a mountain lake nearby; this is a view from whichever cabin I’m in at Neset Camping or on a drive up the mountainside. These are photos from 2016, interspersed with today’s tale. The search begins here, with me, Marjorie Neset, and with dad and mom, Svein Neset and Ovidia Mathilda Floren…and quickly moves… Read More
Before leaving the Setesdal Valley in spirit as well as body, here is one more photo album of what must be one of the loveliest places in the world. Kristiansand lies at the southern tip of Norway which is where the Setesdal Valley begins, running north for 100+ miles with the lake named Byglandsfiord at its center. Sparsely populated, with farms and a few small towns making up the scene. Could almost be… Read More
A FEW DAYS AGO. Still at Neset Camping. Photos to follow. NOW. Stavanger, August 10. Cousin Arne’s house. This is my last family day on this trip. When I step onto the train to Oslo tomorrow morning it will be like falling from comfortable familiarity into a void of unforeseen experiences. Not quite true since Oslo and Stockholm are certainly familiar but I will leave Norwegian family and friends and be in… Read More
Have been without internet for a few days and in the midst of meeting new family members and visiting familiar places and people. Although I have started posts about much of this only one is completed so I’ll begin catching up by posting this sentimental (in a good way) paean to NESET (Now Neset Camping) in Byglandsfiord, Norway. NESET I am home. Byglandsfiord, Norway. From whence the small Neset family, Asborg and her… Read More