I grew up in a very old fashioned Norwegian family of ten. (Eleven, if you count Gramma Olga, matriarch of our household.) I remember Olga pedaling away on the old Singer sewing machine, singing ancient songs and rhymes; as a young boy, I was more interested in how the sewing machine worked than those soon-to-be-forgotten words. How I wish now that I had taken the time to learn them!

On the other hand, the Norwegian Table Prayer will never be forgotten, as we children had to recite it, in unison, in Norske, before every meal. It goes like this:

I Jesu navn gar vi til bords

Og spiser, drikker pa ditt ord

Deg, Gud, til aere, oss til gavn

Sa fa vi mat i Jesu navn.

Amen.

Translation:

In Jesus name, we go to the table

To eat and drink according to his word

To God, the honor, to us the gain

So we have food in Jesus name.

Amen

Yea, Olga was old-country stern. I always thought she was just being mean by not letting me rest while churning butter; turns out she was only being firm with me because she wanted firm butter!

Art by Yamata

if it’s facts on the vax that you seek,

you must learn to discern doublespeak;

first designed to confuse,

it was soon deemed a ruse–

now most doctors use

tongue-in-cheek.

nature’s laughter is

all around us in the land

of sky-blue waters

–photo by me

my shadow

makes me out to be

a deranged

murderer

looks like i’m going to have to

put him on the list

–photo by me

with my kitten?

you’ll be bitten

if you pet her;

she’s a slasher

and a gasher,

she’s a trasher

if you let her.

now it’s thrilling

and quite chilling–

all the killing

skills she’s mastered;

she’s the rudest

little nudist–

and the cutest

lil bastard.

–photo by me