YCGL - Monday, Sept 18, 2023 - Oslo to Fremmermoen, an Introduction

I'm going to try and work a little semblance of order here.

This is Monday. We are all going to leave Oslo and drive to our Fremmermoen farm in Vingelen, Norway. I'm driving Jaye, Lyndon and Jere; Erik is driving Liz, Arthur and Tyler.

When I went to pick up the car, my rental bill from Expedia is supposed to be $728. When I picked it up, it was $1375. So much for a contract with Expedia. OK, I've got a car, it is fully insured. It has what is possibly the very worst GPS system in at least this universe. I certainly wouldn't want to be in any other universe with it either. And my Orange eSim from France, which is supposed to work in all EU countries, plus Norway, is not connecting anywhere outside of Oslo. Luckily, everyone else's seems to be working.

We leave Oslo at 11:30 and arrive in Vingelen at 5:00pm. Not bad for a trip that is supposed to take about 4 hours. But we are there. Safe and sound. And Einar and Tore wrap me up in their arms like the prodigal son. Of course, a part of that is regards for Sally, but it is also for me. The young adults arrive about an hour later. I still don't know what they did, and I didn't ask.

This is Fremmermoen.

The building to the right is the original house that still exits. (The farm is older than that, just no other existing building is older.) It was built around the 1620s. It is now a kitchen and a store room. The main building was originally one story and started at the right hand door and going to the right, somewhere around the 1750s. As the family grew larger and more prosperous, wood from existing buildings (from wayside cabins when it was a stop between the mining town of Røros and Trondheim) was used to build the second story and expand to the left. The left hand wing was added in the 1880s. It was old and dark and very interesting when we were there in 2018, but they undertook a Huge remodel in the past two years, gutted the inside and made it into a beautiful, livable home. It was actually made into two homes. From vertical on the left side of the right door to the left is Einar and Kikki's house, while the right side side is Tore and Marit Helene's house. Heated floors from the ground heat pump, led lighting, modern appliances, large open space, really livable.

First shot at understanding the family.

(Click on the picture to enlarge it)

Einar and Ann Kristin (Kikki) own the farm. In addition, Einar is involved in local politics and agricultural politics. Kikki is a para and a cook at the elementary school located about 1000 feet from Fremmermoen. There are 54 students, including grandson Erik. Einar is Sally's 3rd cousin. Same great-great-grandparents. Their children are Silja, Mali, Esten and Tore.

Silja lives about 1000 feet south of the Fremmermoen house on a corner of the property. She teaches at the Vingelen Elementary School. She has two boys, Erik(7) and Oscar(5). Oscar was getting baptized the following weekend when we were here in 2018.

Mali lives in the neighboring town of Tolga, eight miles away. She and her husband Tore are in the process of building a house overlooking the Gloma river valley, and right next to the city's ski jump. They have a boy and a girl.

Silja and Mali were world cup biathlon gold and silver medal winners in the 2000s.

We haven't met Esten, but he and his family live in Trondheim.

Tore lives in the farm and will take it over when Einar retires. He and Marit Helena are getting married next summer. Tore has degrees in Journalism and Social Politics and writes a newspaper column. Marit Helena is a nurse in Tenset.

Einar's father, Kolbjørn, died of a heart attack while helping to build a neighbor's house in 1979 when Einar was 16 years old. His mother, Olov, and he took over the farm and ran it while Einar went to an agricultural school to get some technical training. Olov lives in a house on the farm, Fredhiem, nearby about a quarter of a mile from Fremmermoen.

In addition, Kolbjørn's brothers, Jon (and Anna) and Magna (and Liv), live in Tenset and Tolga, both about 10 miles away.

I have often remarced to Einar how lucky he is to have his entire family so close, even with Esten living in Trondheim, about 2-1/2 hours away. Silja and Mali say they talk almost daily and get together at least once a week, which is natural since their children are so close in age. It takes me longer than that to drive to the airport at Denver to fly to either Boston or Portland, or to Houston for that matter.

After Kikki got home from school, she started cooking, which she did the whole time we were her, though Olov helped a lot. Jaye, Jere and I went through old scrapbooks and loose pictures of their family and out family while some of the youngers went out in the barn and "helped" Tore and Marit milk the cows.