Graduation in the Family

Okay, okay, I know: yet another weekend without a Scandinavian Saturday supper prepared by yours truly! Two weekends ago, I made Scandinavian Sunday breakfast instead; and last weekend, I made Scandinavian meatballs on Saturday that we ate as part of a Scandinavian potluck supper on Sunday. Although not technically Saturday evening meals featuring Nordic dishes created by moi, those culinary events qualify in spirit, at least.

In a similar way, tonight should "count," too. We drove to McGregor, ND to attend an open house for my cousin's daughter, Paige, who is graduating from high school tomorrow. We stopped by my dad and stepmom's home in Tioga first to visit, and then we followed them out to Paige's farm and enjoyed a delicious meal cooked by Norwegian-Americans . . . which is why I'm "counting" that food for this week's Scandinavian Saturday supper!

Some of my readers will immediately understand how deliciously moist this cake was and how rich and wonderful the frosting was as soon as I mention that it was baked and decorated by a Wolla. (Sandy and Cathy, you know what I'm talking about, right?)

We got to visit with several relatives and neighbors near whom I grew up and/or with whom I went to school. I hadn't been to Paige's dad and stepmom's house for many years, so it was fun to see the remodeling and redecorating that they have done. Paige's dad, my cousin Darren, had a significant divisible-by-ten birthday last month, and for that occasion, his wife bought him a fun and zany gift: a Dodge Charger tricked out to resemble the General Lee, the car driven by the main characters in the '80s TV show The Dukes of Hazzard. Its horn even plays the same bars from "Dixie" as those played by the car on the TV show! Darren gave the kids rides in his car, which was a big hit. Our daughters also enjoyed meeting and playing with the other little kids who were there; Susan and I didn't see much of our kids until it was time for us to leave because they were so busy playing outside with their new friends.

Dad visits with Paige, his great-niece (and my first cousin once removed).

This is Dad's brother, my uncle Alden, with his wife Janet.

And here I am with Dad and Alden's sister, my aunt Penny, who is Paige's grandma.

We bid our farewells and then made a quick stop to see the oil wells that have gone up on the land near Dad's farm. There's a lot of oil field activity in that area, as in all of western ND, and it's interesting to see how much the landscape changes from one visit to the next with more and more drilling rigs and pumping units everywhere we look.


P.S. It was just three years ago that we attended the open house for Makenzie, Paige's older sister, when she graduated from high school. Time flies!