Släktbloggen

"Kom mamma kom!" 1993 (Copyright Ulla Wennberg.) One of the simplest but also one of my favourites.

...in a summer photo from the 80's, likely on her birthday. My grandmother Brita (1914-2003) was one of the noncomplicated members of our family. She was utterly sociable and attracted all kinds of people, especially men and children. When a family with small children visited Skeda, the children were almost magnetically attracted to the upper floor were she lived. Of course she didn't always like them but she was warm and friendly nevertheless. I should say that her greatest virtue was her never ceasing interest in the world around her.

In Sweden, this ideal of nations,
we have all kinds of celebrations.
If Easter is 'bout resurrection
this is the time for big erection.

In the attic at Skeda, I yesterday found a box with some 100-200 postcards. They were written from the early 20's until the early 80's. I should say that 90 percent of them contain the words "We have a lovely weather" or "We have been to this and that place" or "We went up early this morning" or "We had a really tasteful dinner". Nice to read but says very little about the person holding the pen.

How intriguing if someome would have written something like "I don't know if I love my children" or "I think I'm homosexual" or "I'm considering suicide". Or just something unusual, original, remarcable, filthy, provocative or deeply philosophical. But I know: you don't write those things on a postcard. Sometimes you write them in your diary but more often you don't write them down at all.

Of course smalltalk on a postcard can be of interest in a family historical perspective; it tells us for example what Karin did at Koster. But what becomes really interesting is when someone has written his or her thoughts down, like Lydia with her diary, and dared to be really honest about them.

...in the older part of the Eastern Churchyard in Jönköping.

...we had a minor family reunion; after meeting at Skeda we went to Jönköping. This is Rosenlund's manor house where Gustaf Lindman lived. The women: Marita Tidlund Lindman, Margareta Teke and Eva-Karin Strand Wåtz. The men (I put them in the background since they are married into the family): Sune Tidlund, Björn Teke and Larz Wåtz.

...features my aunt Birgitta and my great great aunt Karin. Do I need to say that Karin was a teacher? And do I need to tell that she sometimes had a bad temper? It's interesting with looks; seemingly some people are simply meant to be teachers rather than, say, pin-up girls.

...has now existed for two years. For us descendants with a natural interest in our origin it has been important in many respects, as a way to get to know our ancestors, each other and ourselfs. For me the website was just a necessary way of filling in a big gap: I honestly don't understand how we could meet earlier and never talk about the family history, which really is something we have in common. Since one and a half year we also have a Family Society.

And now I think we are ready for the next step. As some of you might know, there is a bigger family society, existing since 1999, for all the descendants of vicar Arvid Lindman (1670-1741). Tomorrow I will have a meeting in Stockholm with Johan Alexander Lindman, the great researcher of the Lindman family, and discuss the possibilities of uniting the two societies into one. I think, for us interested, very much can come out of this in the future!

  

Bye for the summer.

In my personal thought diary I have listed 23 things that I consider being beneath my dignity. One of them is, of course, to talk about the family project with someone who doesn't experience the value of it.

Even if you are ill, poor, imprisoned or confined to a wheelchair you can still have dignity; it's more about your attitude towards it than about what you actually do. If you know that something is beneath your dignity, you can still have the pride when you do it.

Everything that does not match your qualities is beneath your dignity, whoever you are. And the more you think about your own dignity, the more concerned you will be about other's. At least it works that way for me. Fascinating and most interesting.

...Geddy Lee in Rush. Who knows? Deep inside of me there might be a heavy metal freak after all.

...Julian and Kyla Weinrib, my third cousins that I met for the first time in Toronto last summer.

...together with Viviane Ljungdahl Kaijser, a relative of mine who is quite unique since she has no computer. Myself I can't really understand how this is possible. How does she pay her bills? How does she contact a friend? How does she find information? What does she do the first thing in the morning? What does she do when she can't sleep at night? How does she find comfort? Etc.

...that I found in Ulla's latest blog entry: The Royal Smile (Copyright Ulla Wennberg).
Yes, we are a little bit disturbed in our family.