Occasionally, I find a relative who has excelled in a field I know nothing about. This was the case with Joe Runyan, my third cousin once...

Tis the season to renew relationships and make new ones. I have discovered so many relatives and made new friends through this blog. I...

Even though he never went to Norway, Martin Luther profoundly impacted Norway and the rest of Scandinavia. Since this is the 500th year...

Perhaps it is because of their restless wanderlust spirit held over from Viking times, but the Norwegians have been known for their...

When I think of Norway, the first things that come to mind are Vikings, fjords, and stave churches. When I began researching this topic,...

You may wonder, "Why are you writing about such a terribly negative topic??? Are you that hard up for articles, Dean????" I am not hard...

The Norwegians heard America was a land of opportunity, with streets paved with gold. The Statue of Liberty greeted them with an...

When Dawn and I were in Tromsø, Norway, in 2005, we saw the Tromsø Lutheran Cathedral, built in 1861. It has the distinction of being...

The United States has 50 states, each divided into governmental units, most called counties. Some states further divide their counties...

It is baseball season again, and my wife is bracing herself for becoming a baseball widow again for the next seven months. Forgive me if...

My maternal grandmother, Synneva Eide Haakinson, was born on the island of Halsnøy near the mouth of the Hardanger Fjord. The fjord is...

Art is an expression of freedom and wealth. Therefore, it is not surprising the spiritual awakening caused by the Reformation 500 years...

Torkjel (Torkel/Thomas) Andersson Røysum Huseby, son of Anders Olson Risene Røysum and Brita Torkelsdatter Henjesand, was born in...

Tis the season that we indulge in food that we won't enjoy any other time of the year. This has always been a family tradition since the...

If people can be prevented from obtaining an education, they can be manipulated and easily dominated. Norwegians were intentionally kept...

When I was younger, my family enjoyed playing Trivial Pursuit. I excelled with the geography questions but bombed on anything to do with...

When my wife and I went to Norway, I thought I would try out my few phrases in Norwegian, but to my surprise, they corrected me in...

Piracy has existed since man first built boats and continues to be a problem even to this day. We know that during the Viking Age, our...

So someone says that you are a first cousin twice removed. I do not want you to feel rejected by that cousin. They still love you, and...

In America, Mother's Day is always the second Sunday in May, and I thought it would be only fitting to talk about my mother, who would...