Saturday

Saturday's Silly Ole and Lena joke

Ole and Lena jokes are standard fare for the person of Scandinavian ancestry. Just for fun I thought that each Saturday I would post on both my Norwegian and Swedish blog, one of my favorites. If I knew who originated them I would credit them but these are oldies but goodies? (a matter of opinion)


Every Sunday Ole would drive Lena into town for church services and every Sunday he would get a little too frisky with his hands. The day after their wedding they were again driving into town for church services and wouldn't you know...Ole was at it again.

       Lena:  "Uff da Ole. Ve are married now. I tink its okay to go further."

So Ole drove to Duluth.




-  Happy Saturday! - Ranae

Friday

Always on the Move

When I began this blog I also began organizing and looking again at some of the different documents I have on my Swedish paternal grandparents. Some of these documents have been in my possession for some time yet I never noticed something before now. My grandparents moved a lot. I made a list using census records, birth records of my aunts and uncles, directories etc. and this is the list I came up with

          1910 - 530 10th ave. Moline, Illinois
          1910 - 1134 14th street Moline, Illinois
          1912 - 641 E. 6th street Davenport, Iowa
          1913 - 1316 4th ave Moline
          1913 - 130 Tremont Ave Davenport
          1914 - 1112 9th ave. Moline
          1915 - 31 1/2 near 2nd ave Moline
          1916 - 3247 Sheffield ave. Chicago
          1917 - 3121 Abbott ct. Chicago
          1920 - 3056 N. Clifton Chicago
          1925 - 1808 George street Chicago
          1930 - 3215 7th ave. Chicago
          1930 - 3215 Oketa ave. Chicago
          1940 - Ela Township, (now Lake Zurich)
          1942 - 2029 Pensacola ave. Chicago
          1960 - 1616 Hollywood Chicago
          1968 - 1618 Hollywood Chicago


Thats 17 documented residences from the time my grandfather arrived in the US in 1906 until his death in 1968. I am aware also there are large blocks of his life as in 10 or 20 years at a time that I have no documentation as to his address. It is never a good idea to assume but surely there are more moves during those blocks of time. My father once said he remembers in the depression moving out during the night because they were unable to pay the rent.That would account for a lot of folks instability during the depression years leading up to WWII. For precisely that reason, the 1940 census asks where people resided in 1935, measuring how tough it was for some and how the depression had adversely affected their living conditions. What however explains Richards early years? Was he a forever dissatisfied person? a rent skipper? itchy feet? didn't get along with neighbors? hiding something? What??? Unfortunately with my grandparents, parents and all my aunts, uncles and their spouses gone I guess I will never find the answer to this mystery. 

There might be some very good or at least interesting reasons for this apparent instability but once again I regret never even thinking of taking the time to just talk to my grandparents. To get to know the where, when, how, what, and whys of their lives. 

-Ranae


Tuesday

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today would have been my father's 99th birthday. Richard and Lydia Kallman's third child, he was a momma's boy and proud of it. Born at home in Chicago, his mother claimed he weighed 10 lbs. at birth. Not bad for a boy who was a bit of a squirt and never topped out higher than 5'6". Named in the older Swedish tradition he was named for his paternal grandfather Carl but he went by his middle name Melvin. He was a character all right. Very conservative, straight as an arrow, tight fisted with his money but dependable, trustworthy and loving with a goofy sense of humor. He has been gone for 26 years now but I miss his jokes and hugs still.
                                           
                                                 Happy Birthday Daddy!
-Ranae




                                             **clicking on photos or documents will enlarge them for easier viewing*