Family reunion

Friday I spent the morning at my friend Diane's place. We were talking about libraries and the changing communities in Minneapolis. Her cat Licorice kept her distance, but was still curious. At noon Donna came and picked me up for further transportation to a place northwest of Mille Lacs Lake. She and Verlin have a camper there at a camping site, that they use as a summer cabin. It was a large place of more than 800 spaces for campers, in a wooded area. In the evening, we went back to Milaca for the family reunion dinner. It was at a restaurant where we got a room to ourselves. There were about 20 first cousins and invited guests. We had a really nice time talking and eating. I had met almost all of them before, and got most of the names right (to my surprise). The new guests included a couple from Iowa, who belong to the Johnson side (Frank Nelson's wife). They had been to Sweden, so we talked some about that. Before the evening was over, we had heard an Ole and Lena-joke, written cards for the ones who were unable to attend and heard Delores speak about the benefits of hugs.

After spending the night at the camper we took the scenic route alongside the western shore of Mille Lacs. Very pretty area, and it looked very much like a Swedish lake. We arrived at the park in Milaca just before noon. The family reunion potluck lunch was a great experience. There was so much tasty food; salads, fruit, "glorified rice", ham, chicken dishes, meatballs, herring, rye bread and much else. The dessert table was also large. There were about 60 adults attending and about ten kids. I think I got to talk to most of them. Several wanted to visit Sweden, and I encouraged them. They had lots of questions about Sweden and our common ancestors, and I did my best to answer. I had a great time at the reunion. They had a drawing for a wooden carving that Ron had made, and the six table cloths with Sweden's provincial flowers that I brought were also given away. After almost four hours of eating and chatting, I went with Donna's nieces Karen and Chrissy to their house in St Louis Park (western Minneapolis). We were greeted by the four dogs. Later Karen's husband Jacob also came home. We enjoyed the bbq chicken he made later in the evening.