GaryOsberg.com

Good morning from Collegeville,

It could be worse, Grandma Anne could have gone to Buffalo, New York instead of St. Paul. It is hard to imagine 70 inches of snow in one week. I was mistaken, the Anderson brothers were not Norwegian bachelor farmers, they were Swedish bachelor farmers. Their father was a spinning wheel maker in Sweden. My sister has one of his creations in her house in Granite Falls. I would like to know the details of how two Swedish boys found two Norwegian sisters and what they must have said in the letters that prompted the sisters to make the voyage to America. Those letters may be in an attic somewhere.

The Stearns History Museum has a story in the “Crossings” magazine about letters written by Rosine Dietz to her son Christian. He left Germany when he was 16. He sailed on the SS Friesland from Antwerp on May 27, 1899, arriving in New York on June 6th. This year the St. Cloud Sons of Norway Trollheim Lodge will bring a touch of Scandinavia to the annual Kringle Fest at the Stearns History Museum on Sunday December 7th starting at 1 PM. Details are online at stearns-museum.org.

The APHC show this week is live from The Town Hall on West 43rd Street in Manhattan with vintage-pop singer Kat Edmonson, bandleader Vince Giordano, pianist and clarinetist Butch Thompson and actress Kate Beahen plus the latest News From Lake Wobegon. Enjoy the show.

Barby and I are traveling to Chandler, Arizona for Thanksgiving Dinner and to celebrate Charlie’s fifth birthday the day after. There will not be a note next week.

“Enthusiasm is the key not only to the achievement of great things but to the accomplishment of anything that is worthwhile.” Samuel Goldwyn