Thursday, October 7, 2010

Vikings in Newfoundland,
Birds in My House

Saturday is Leif Eriksson Day so I looked a bit into the history of Leif Eriksson and the land he discovered.


L'anse aux meadows
Eriksson(yes the spelling is correct) arrived in Newfoundland (pronounced to sound like with understand..   newfin-land, accent on the newfin! ) 1000 years ago.
L’Anse Aux Meadows is a Canada Parks site declared by the UN to be a world historic site. It is considered that important.
Here the Vikings settled and lived in its pleasant mild climate, complete with wild grapes abounding.


Today the climate has changed and grapes are no longer found. It is not so mild anymore.



 Soddy huts were built.  Scandinavian immigrants to the US later built them on the prairies of the Dakotas, Minnesota ,etc.
The  violence of the Skraelings, the Viking name for the Indians and Eskimos there, made staying difficult.



In other news, my cold is slowly leaving... emphasis on slow, the weather is sunny but still chilly. I am reduced to wearing thick socks and sweatshirts for warmth!

I had a bird, a small wren fly into the house twice this week, silly thing.
I got him out both times but he does seem to want to live here. Garfield the cat is of another mind.
I wish I had thought to take photos of him sitting on the blades of the ceiling fan.
I suspect that he was sleeping on the Mum and sunflower decoration I had on my door. That seems to be the only explanation as to why he would abruptly fly inside.  I took it down now and hoping that will solve the problem For a while I will also exit through the back door.

1 comment:

  1. Aren't those fences and soddy huts picturesque? Jeff and I are both Swedish on our mother's sides. They are both 100% Swedish and both lived in Minnesota before coming to California. Watch out for that bird wanting to make your house it's home... it's a slippery slope! ;) (((Hugz)))

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