Celebrating a Beloved Aunt

I spoke a little bit about my Faster Jonna the other day and crediting her with her wonderful sense of “hygge”. For those having lived under a bushel these past few years “hygge” has been celebrated in a number of books and discussions perhaps in a hope to enlighten the world about why Danes are amongst the happiest people in the world. Certainly I have mentioned this feeling of coziness in my blogs before but I’d like to tell you about my darling aunt.

She could make an ordinary day into something special by simply setting a lovely little coffee table, a breakfast treat or a full on supper. First of all she had collected over the years a lot of little treasures, small vases, candlestick holders, crocheted egg warmers (made by my mother) and other little and large decorative things to set on the table. She always set her coffee table with true cup, saucer and sandwich or cake plate. I don’t believe she even owned a mug!

However all of this was merely a setting and to hygge you don’t really need to set a scene but that was Faster Jonna’s charm. The real sense of hygge comes from the down-home hospitality that one can exude without even trying. As I reflect more on my aunt’s charm I also feel very strongly that her sense of joy in life was a contributing factor in making any visit to her home or her table so hyggelig. She was always laughing, opening her arms wide as guests entered her home and one simply felt welcome immediately.

She was such a darling inspiration for me and I miss her very dearly. It was her birthday this week and I have been thinking about one memorable one we celebrated together as we walked along Bispensgade in Aalbørg on Beaujolais Night (her birthday). There were live lights everywhere (torches), wine glasses and open air seating (the first I had ever seen) and simply crowds of people having the best time. We walked arm in arm while Onkle Verner and Axel walked beside us, behind us, in front of us, as we laughed, giggled and just enjoyed ourselves in the simple revelry of the event.

Happy Birthday Faster Jonna!

Nostalgic for Lille Danmark

Writing about my aunt yesterday brought up so many warm memories of my visits to “lille Danmark” as we expat Danes fondly call our native land. I visited Denmark in 1971, 1974, 1990, 2007, 2008 and 2015 –6 times and I wish I had been able to travel more frequently but life, as they say, gets in the way.

Because all my extended family lives in Denmark I always had a free bunk anywhere I went but of course I really only went where the family was and they, lovely aunts, uncles and cousins, would drive me over all of Denmark. The nice thing is that Denmark really is little when it comes to going to the high spots all over the country.

I was born in Nørresundby which is now almost (if not in reality) a suburb of Aalborg (third largest city in Denmark and of course so beloved of me that I have to say, the best). It’s on the good side (north) of the Limfjord and what that means we are of the Cimbri tribe. (More on tribes in another blog).

Since Denmark’s official religion is Lutheran the churches are maintained through taxes (but one can opt out of the tax if they declare themselves atheist or of another religion, or so I understand). One of the interesting things about Danish churches is that many of them will have a ship of some kind suspended from the ceiling and hanging over the main aisle in tribute to their seafaring heritage I suppose. I was christened in Nørresundby Kirke and confirmed in Aabybrø Kirke. As I have written before I have a real interest in graveyards around the world and I always come back to Denmark as the country (that I have been to) which maintains their graveyards like you cannot believe. They are beautiful, tranquil gardens where the whole plot is outlined, not just a gravestone stuck in grass that anyone can walk over (I am still so deeply shocked by my first visit to the cemetery in Nanton, standing on an infant’s grave). At the same time the Danes are very pragmatic about their limited access to land so unless you pay for the grave to remain after 25 years the grave is turned over to the next corpse. That kind of freaked me out when I first learned of it but despite feeling somewhat sad about it I can certainly understand the practical side for the small country that Denmark is.

I was christened in Nørresundby Kirke and I was confirmed in Aabybrø Kirke and I also have an affinity for Budolfi Kirke in Aalborg since it has a long history of performing Christian services for many of my ancestors, not to mention by brother-in-law giving us a tour of the basement of the monastery where nuns were said to be cemented up in the aches! His father was the cantor (I believe that is the term used for doing all the registering of births, marriages and deaths, among other duties) of Budolfi Kirke and they lived in the converted monastery part of it.

Here are some pictures of my churches Nørresundby first and Aabybrø second! The blue in the map shows the outline of the Limfjørd, the strait that separates the mainland. I forgot to mention that there has been an underground tunnel there since before 1971 when I first visited but not sure of the date. Danish engineers are some of the best in the world and I think the City of Calgary could use a few of them for the long term city planning (if they ever get around to having such a section!)

Rye Bread and Other Things

I wrote about Mom’s rising rye bread yesterday but unfortunately the end result was not so very good!  Mom forgot to tell me she had put the bread in the oven so I never put the oven Timer on and 90 minutes later she had a loaf of brick rather than bread!  I think it has been many years since Mom had a FUBAR moment with her bread! I suggest she should send it out for the magpies to have a go at but she was afraid they would break their beaks!

The cause of her forgetting her bread was that she was knitting like a maniac (more than usual).  She knit 4 headbands by 3:00 and I then said “ok, that’s enough, you need to rest your arms” and suddenly she looked at the clock and ran into the back kitchen. Ouch in more ways than one! Poor Mamma. Fortunately John had bought some Canadian Rye Bread; not at all the same thing but at least she had a backup for her breakfast! With my ileostomy I am recommended to have only white bread which is a real bummer as I have been eating multigrain or whole wheat for decades and going back to white bread is like “sticking your tongue out the window and getting slapped” as Mom says in her Danish idiom! At least when I make it as toast I can spread my avocado, diced tomato and Havarti cheese on it and it tastes of something.

So one must be creative with these little but vital things like BREAD.

In case you are wondering Mom’s rye bread is the dark rye that is very typical of Danish meals, particularly with high rise open faced sandwiches commonly called “smorbrød” but also a breakfast bread when you aren’t spoiling yourself with their morning buns from the bakery. Which reminds me of one memorial morning jaunt to the bakery in Aabybrø; I was typically up early so thought I would surprise Faster Jonna og Axel so I got to the bakery and went berserk, bringing home at least 2 dozen "rundstykker" and pastries, all different sorts because they all looked so good I could not make up my mind! It was a terrific breakfast spread because of course Faster Jonna then had to make it all “hyggelig” and she was the Queen of Hygge – no one, and I mean no one – could hygge like Faster. (Faster is the Danish word for paternal aunt).

And this doesn't even do justice to the bakery I was in!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now you know a lot (but not everything) about Bread!

Warmer Days Ahead

I just love it when the weatherman says that we are in for a warm spell, especially during the winter. It just makes my day happier. I was refreshing myself with old notes I had from Deepak and Oprah on the purpose of meditation and tips on how not to stress out during meditation (when your mind wanders, just bring yourself back to centre and forget about admonishing yourself) which helped me in week 3 of our meditation.

Then when I was watching my ladies (aka The View) I had to agree wholeheartedly with Whoopi on having “B.S. fatigue”. It is easy to dwell on the negative because that is what the media typically feeds us and while I am not a believer in being an ostrich about what happens in the world I do think we should take it all in small doses. Yes, “do what I say, not what I do” is echoing in my ears right now. Seriously though, I have been tuning out more frequently because it is so exhausting and there is so much I could be doing on a positive note.

The snow is slowly melting outside (and there is still ice on the driveway) but I have not forgotten my promise to take a picture of my Spanish Lady painting and post it for y’all. Maybe by tomorrow I will be able to take it outside, hang it and take my shot! I can hardly wait for Cousin Axel’s critique (or not). J

And as I sit and write this blog my darling little Cherie is sitting in the secretary chair beside me and purring like the sweetheart he is.  It’s usually Thumper he plays Secretary but he is being lazy and Cherie has stolen the chair from him. Meanwhile Kitsy is acting out as the dead mackerel, dozing on the bed in the family room. Mom is knitting away and occasionally gets up to check on her rising rye bread. All in all it is a normal day in the House of Sanne.

Excelsior

My middle brother Peter is having his birthday today so I am dedicating today’s blog to him.

Both Peter and Erik were superhero comic book fans and most of their favorites were created by Stan Lee who passed away a couple of days ago at the age of 95. As I recall it they first got hold of “Thor” and “Fantastic Four” in 1967 when we had moved to Winnipeg. When we were living in Burlington we had very few comics but there may have been a few Superman comics in between the Danish Donald Duck (Anders And) comics and my Archie and Millie the Model comics. Then Peter came home one day with “Spiderman” and that was it, my brothers were totally hooked on Stan Lee’s creations.

I will admit that I did read a few of the early Thor, Fantastic Four and Spiderman comics even though I was 14 and “really, above it all”. In fact I really enjoyed the Fantastic Four because I liked the Invisible Woman, Sue Storm-Richards and the inter-relationship story. Peter and Erik read those comics for years (and I suspect they still read them). Certainly they seem to know everything about the characters and can critique storylines and what the different characters have done. They also read X-Men, Iron Man and several other comics which I never looked at. In fact recently I was amazed to learn that they had indeed been reading X-Men from the very beginning!

Of course I had heard of Stan Lee over the years but never made it my business to know anything about him so Peter enlightened me the other day about his various achievements. One thing he didn’t talk about but which I think is the greatest achievement of all; he stayed married to the same woman for 69 years, until her death last year. That is pretty amazing for anyone, much less a celebrity.

For today’s birthday boy I would like to salute him for HIS personal achievements which shall not be mentioned here but we will toast him on his next visit! He and his wife Ronda have been one of  my greatest supporters through my illness and our movie nights are always filled with fun and laughter! Let’s hope the weather is kind enough to let us have many more over these winter months. And I’m thinking a superhero movie should be on the menu.

Excelsior!

Remember the Day When . . .

I’ve not had a whole lot of super-duper “ahh moments” in my life but certainly I can recall a great many moments with my parents and siblings that have been mind-bending, enlightening, humorous or character building (as evidenced in past blogs). I’ve had special moments with friends, colleagues and family for sure. But really mind blowing events, they have been rare and I thank heaven for that because those have generally been of a negative kind, such as the day JFK was shot, 9/11 and the day the doctor came in the little room and said “You have Stage 4 colon cancer, I am very sorry, but you are terminal.” Talk about a bullet between the eyes! No one wants to hear those words, trust me.

On the upside of that frightening pronouncement some time ago I found myself thinking and then experiencing a “fig-nut moment” (our family’s ahh moment) when I decided not to think about my time on earth as being only for x-amount of time. Instead I chose to live my life as though I still had my goal of 116 years! Don’t get me wrong, I am realistic and understand my diagnosis, however from the point of view of day to day living one ought not to think “well, I don’t think it’s worth it to do this or that because I won’t be here to see the results” (or similar words or thoughts). It really was a great moment for me because despite being positive, optimistic and joyful I was curbing my enthusiasm in certain ways and that curb was suddenly released.

So I would say to you to live your life to the full no matter what.

Our Better Angels

Last week I listened to Doris Kearns Goodwin speak about the results of the election and she quoted Lincoln with the hope that “our better angels” would lead the American people into a better mindset than the one they are currently exposed to. The quote inspired me to search further into it and I came upon an article respecting Steven Pinker’s book “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Had Declined” which was published in 2011. Somehow I think since its publication things have changed, but that is neither here nor there at the moment.

I have not read the book but I read quite a summary of the book on Wikipedia and I found some elements of the book intriguing and worth mentioning today.

Pinker examines four motives that "can orient humans away from violence and towards cooperation and altruism." He identifies:

1. Empathy: which "prompts us to feel the pain of others and to align their interests with our own."

2. Self-Control: which "allows us to anticipate the consequences of acting on our impulses and to inhibit them accordingly."

3. The Moral Sense: which "sanctifies a set of norms and taboos that govern the interactions among people in a culture." These sometimes decrease violence but can also increase it "when the norms are tribal, authoritarian, or puritanical."

4. Reason: which "allows us to extract ourselves from our parochial vantage points."

In today’s divisive world these 4 elements seem to be lost on many people as they simply try to enforce their beliefs on others and refuse to listen to an opinion that differs from theirs. First of all one ought to at least give the other person a chance to say their piece and when the listener then says “well, that is interesting but I don’t believe it” then the first person ought to let the issue rest there and move on to asking about the weather (a sage piece of advice from Sense and Sensibility). There is no use in arguing with someone about your beliefs with they have already made up their mind. It behooves a civilized person to accept them for who they are and socialize on indifferent matters.

I write this in the context of political matters and not on values or principles which I believe can still be discussed without anyone getting hysterical. At least so far that has been my experience.

In the past one could speak on politics without anyone’s panties getting in a twist but today, thanks to the man who shall not be named, only insanity can reign if one is not on the same side of the discussion. It is rather alarming to think that one idiot on the planet can make people doubt “mainstream media” simply because he cannot abide anyone crossing him!

 

Lest We Forget - One Hundred Years of Memory

There have been commercials all week reminding us of this momentous day – one hundred years since the silencing of the guns of the “war to end all wars”. Today we are asked to remember those fallen men and women who have died to . . . ? I find myself stumbling over words such as “to keep us safe”, “to keep democracy alive” and other catchphrases that are supposed to make us feel proud but I resist. I find that I cannot be a hypocrite about how I feel respecting wars.

Do not be vexed with me or misunderstand me. I do respect and grieve for the fallen soldiers and perhaps that is the point; indeed it ought to be the only point of today “Remembrance Day”. I grieve for the parents of the fallen and hope that they can carry on without their child.

At the same time I wish to say that we ought not to glorify war or think that war is the solution to any of our world problems. Indeed think about how many have died in war since Nov 11, 1918; millions upon millions. It disturbs me to see documentaries and movies coming out which, in my perception, glorifies war and makes young people want to sign up to be a hero. I would much rather that they sign up to find a solution for Peace.

So as we remember our fallen let us also spend a little time thinking about the solution to prevent more Fallen.

I close with these words from good old Abe.

“I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address (closing paragraph)

http://war-memorial.net/wars_all.asp

Core Beliefs

I take the following amazing message from Deepak’s meditation today, in full:

Day 12 - Core Beliefs Make Us Who We Are

In today’s meditation, we look at how the changes that happen in our body and mind over the course of our life is largely determined by the core beliefs we hold. These core beliefs are deeper than the beliefs we generally think about. They deal with issues of identity, a sense of the fairness of life, and our beliefs about what is worth pursuing. Core beliefs actively shape our every thought, attitude, feeling, action, and reaction. Positive, life-affirming core beliefs will promote the vitality of our body and mind, while negative, self-defeating core beliefs undermine our energy and well-being.

The most powerful way to transform our old core beliefs is through the direct experience of ever-present awareness in meditation. Infinite, unbounded consciousness transcends all beliefs and realigns our life with the evolutionary forces of Nature within.

“Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind . . .  it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.” — Samuel Ullman

Perhaps these ideas are not new to you but my question is – how often do you think about your core beliefs? Are they beliefs that you are aware of daily, weekly, once in a while, never? Do you know what beliefs you hold and are they positive and life-affirming? Here’s what I find alarming in myself; I am not sure what my core beliefs are in the sense that I haven’t written down a list itemizing I believe this or that; if I did, would it be useful? I have a nebulous consciousness of knowing what I believe are essential values in life such as living by the Ten Commandments (more or less), do unto others, social consciousness, etc. But are these the sort of beliefs Deepak has in mind?

I guess my point for today is perhaps we should dwell a little about some of the things we believe and is there more to our core beliefs than we really know? Mind bending, it is.

Meditation Benefit

“There is a fountain of youth; it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.” — Sophia Loren 

It always amazes me when I get my invitation to the Oprah – Deepak 21 Day Meditation that the theme is so timely for my circumstances. The one we are currently doing is Youthful Energy and the emphasis is on the body-mind interconnection and how that energy can be youthful. We have the resilience and mental dynamism to bounce back from setbacks. As with all meditation it is necessary to eliminate stress and negative influences whether they be emotions, work or people.

Today we learned that those who age well have 7 things in common:

·         Regular meditation

·         A wide support system

·         Close familial relationships

·         Daily multi-vitamin

·         Good sleep combined with daily activity

·         Lifelong curiosity

·         A willingness to take on new challenges

He said to note that only one thing on the list was food related (the multi vitamin) while the rest of the things on the list are physical, emotional, mental or spiritual. The daily activity goes back to what he suggested yesterday; he advised that once per hour one should walk around for about 5 minutes, throughout the day.

I know it is extremely difficult for most people to sit still to meditate for even 5 minutes and his practice is closer to 15 while the recommended meditation time can be up to 30 minutes. I am happy to report that I am able to do the full 15 minutes but I confess as well that my mind frequently goes elsewhere and I have to repeat the mantra to get myself back on track. Meditation is a lifelong practice and when we sleep we just have to remind ourselves to get back to mental stillness. Don’t be discouraged or feel that you have failed because while you were “meditating” you were thinking about painting the kitchen!

The reason why I am writing this today is to encourage everyone to take a little time to be still and just let your mind rest. In today’s toxic world it is very important to give our minds a proper rest from everything that is negative (and there is so much today). I recall that after being retired for about 6 months I suggested to Mom that we should eschew watching the news one day of the work week (we never did watch the news on the weekend). I think it is time to bring that practice back into being!

It is not wrong to “be in the know” with respect to news but at the same time we ought not to feed on it. It is more important for our personal wellbeing to work towards the positive in ourselves; we cannot control the outside world but we can control our own emotions and thoughts with purpose.

Namaste.

Political Pundit

I would not call myself a political pundit (pundit meaning an expert in a particular subject or field who is frequently called on to give opinions about it to the public) but I do follow politics closely and have done so for most of my adult life. 

Here’s how I see yesterday’s American election; while the Democrats got some major victories and took back Congress they are going to have to think long and hard about how they conduct themselves during the next two years. I don’t think it would be wise for them to call up a bunch of “investigations” nor would it be wise to alienate the Republicans by using their tactics against them. In other words I believe their wisest course would be to operate on the high that Michelle Obama spoke about during their campaigning days. At the same time the Democrats need to decide exactly what all they’re going to represent as a cohesive unit which means either going whole hog left or just left of centre (which has been the norm as this socialist sees things).

Beyond Democrat strategy what I took away from the election of yesterday was that America is truly suffering from all of this divisiveness that has been created by the man in the White House. It is horrendous to see a nation like America fall victim to the worst elements of populism which is going to be extremely difficult to turn around in the future.

I think it behooves all nations to take a very critical look at history and make some sort of analysis as to how it is that countries around the world are swinging to the extreme right for uncivilized reasons. The refugee crises around the world is in part a cause; but is it also a symptom? Why are religions having such a strong influence on politics in this era? And linked with religion, why are reproductive (aka abortion) rights being reconsidered?

I remember during my campaigning days having a discussion with some people in my caucus and I go back to a particular answer around similar questions as the above. “Look to the source of the problem, it is almost always a question of poverty.” Ahh. Despite economists and statisticians saying that the economies around the world are doing well (and that they can now go ahead and raise interest rates yet again) the true facts are that many people are unemployed and have actually fallen off the Employment Insurance rolls and may not have been able to quality for social welfare so they are completely off the radar when compiling statistics. Too often we rely on “experts” opinions or analyses when we should really making our own personal observations via our circle and community.

People listen too much to others then react without having done their own personal reflection. In other words, engage brain before acting out. 

Did I say that loud enough?

The Great American Read

A week or so ago the finale of The Great American Read aired and the most beloved books were

·         To Kill A Mockingbird

·         The Outlander series

·         The Harry Potter series

·         Pride and Prejudice

·         Lord of the Rings

·         Gone with the Wind

You can find the rest of the 100 most beloved books in America at the PBS site.  It was an exciting series to watch over the last few months. Apparently from the beginning To Kill a Mockingbird was number one which seems a logical choice for Americans. I suspect from the top 20 that the majority of participants were middle aged or older. In the final analysis it was interesting to hear certain areas choices, some seemed logical and some seemed funny.  I think it was Hawaii that chose Call of the Wild which just seems weird that they would like a book that is set in a cold climate; meanwhile Lonesome Dove resonated with Texans.

Two books that did not make the list of 100 (which were pre-chosen for the show so not sure how they were picked) was Lord of the Flies and So Big. Both were books that were read in school and were popular for a long time; instead A Separate Peace and Heart of Darkness made it (both were so bleak that I am surprised they were favorites). Some were naturals such as Catcher in the Rye, Great Expectations, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. One that I wondered about was Atlas Shrugged; why it and not The Fountainhead which I thought was the more famous of Ayn Rand’s books? No author made the list twice which I believe was a conscious selection by those who chose the hundred in the first place.

I am proud to say that I have read more than half of those on the list and am familiar with 90 of them; only a handful had I never heard of.

A new book is out now called “The Written World” by a Harvard professor, Martin Puchner, leads us on a remarkable journey through time and around the globe to reveal the powerful role stories and literature have played in creating the world we have today. Puchner introduces us to more than four thousand years of world literature and reveals how writing has inspired the rise and fall of empires and nations, the spark of philosophical and political ideas, and the birth of religious beliefs. Indeed, literature has touched the lives of generations and changed the course of history.