Viking ship
On Sunday, Shane, Olee, Will and I all went to a Scandinavian Midsummer festival. We went kind of inspired by Olee’s interest in castles and falconry, and that we were supposed to be going to a medieval festival, but shane got the days mixed up, so we went to this one instead (now Olee is really into Vikings!) The festival was awesome. Their were scandinavian people everywhere and they even had a viking village replica with real people dressed up how they would have back in the day with their canvas tents/boats/ and awesome viking things. What I loved about going through there, was that everything was made from the rich resources around them (or high quality things they plundered from their travels -but we won’t tell Olee about that part yet 
, they all carved wood, sewed leather, spun wool and traded their goods. What struck me about this was that everyone could make/do/ be apart of the community because they didn’t depend on getting their resources from some factory in China. Everyone grew up as an artist, artisan, warrior, etc. I really liked that part, and that everything was made by hand with care so that it would last. I also love the adventuring, traveling, toughness about the vikings, that they could handle any kind of weather/sea storm/environment and that they had a thirst for journeying to new lands in search of life. Needless to say I was inspired. When we got home I started sketching viking ships and then painted this one above. The shields represent the members of our family, including the little one in the next world.
I was thinking alot about a friend of mine who is originally from Norway but has moved abroad and is going through difficulties, she asked for prayers for her and her new family. This painting is dedicated to her. May the viking spirit help you on your journey dear one!
At the festival they had a little troll forest with little hoogli Norwegian log cabins. They are sooooo cute!!!! I definitely want to build one of them. They used sticks for the logs and put moss on the roof.
This picture was in the viking village, Olee tried on a ‘real’ viking helmet, but it was a bit too heavy for his head.
My parents are having their own Scandinavian adventure right now, and this is the real deal, I really wish I was with them!
that looks like so much fun, and what a beautiful painting! Its too funny, because I let Marcel watch the movie “the book of Kells” this weekend. Its beautifully animated, and I love the artistic quality. BUT there are “Norsemen” who are very scary and Marcel has been talking about them all week. We have been trying to explain where they came from, and why they did what they did, etc. but man, history can be complicated!
I cannot tell you how many times I have thought about you here in Norway. It is so exciting that Olee is into the Viking thing. When you travel around Norway, you can see why the Vikings set out from here. Despite the beauty the agricultural prospects are limited so plundering turned out to be a pretty wealth producing way of life.
Seems you’ve yoked the positive qualities of your ancestors, and are stoking them with the fires of your genuine, inspiring spirit. Here be Vikings!
s.
Sounds like you all had a wonderful day. It’s the kind of thing I would love to attend some day. The trolls sure brought back memories that had been long forgotten. I had a collection of such trolls when I was a little girl so long, long ago…they were very popular in the sixties.