Happy New Year! It has been delightful to hear from many of
you through the holidays. Our greetings are delayed this year because we had
the joy of a major family Christmas celebration. All three Thompson children and
their families gathered here. Precious memories abound!
2014 was a very good year for us. We have developed a
comfortable, though busy, routine as we settle into retirement. Woven into each
week are church activities, Bible study, exercise, and often gardening. As
others so often comment, "When did we have time to work?" We are deeply
grateful to have enjoyed good health and more intriguing opportunities arising
than we can fit into our schedule. A highlight of the year was a Scandinavian
trip where we visited family and walked on Tom's ancestral farms. We are
abundantly blessed!
Back: Jay Thompson, Kevin Adams, Tom
Thompson, Andy Bober, Toren Thompson
Middle: Milla Thompson, Sarah Adams,
Ann Thompson, Sally Bober
Front: Emily Adams, Anna Bober, Katie Adams,
Ella Bober, Lilja Thompson
Our primary focus of 2014 was family. We have now been family for 25 years and that's a very good place to be! We are deeply grateful to have daughter Sally and her family living close enough to share often in their lives. It's great fun to watch our tween granddaugters sing and dance at Broadway Bound and compete in swimming and gymnastics. We got down and dirty as the oldest members of the school garden club and dirtier still introducing Puff Bomb and evball to geocaching. Gratefully, we avoided capsizing while kayaking the Haw River with the Bobers to celebrate Father's Day.
2014 brought the rare privilege of spending a weekend in Flåm,
Norway, with Sarah's and Jay's. Later we enjoyed a week in Finland with Jay's that
included side trips to Tallinn, Estonia, and Milla's parents' farm. After our
hike in Helvetinjärvi National Park near the farm, Tom had to try the sauna with
Jay and Toren. They promise to complete the experience next time by whipping Tom
with birch branches. We toured the
pontoon Milla's father Kai recently built, complete with a sauna and smokestack.
Our Christmas blessing was sharing the holidays with Sarah, Sally, Jay and their families. How could we possibly have grands that are turning 10, 12, and 14, flipping lefse and preparing our desserts? Wasn't it just yesterday we were rocking babies?!?
Three generations of Thompson men at a Finnish fort
We climbed a lot of steps in a church tower
to overlook Tallinn, Estonia!
Our Christmas blessing was sharing the holidays with Sarah, Sally, Jay and their families. How could we possibly have grands that are turning 10, 12, and 14, flipping lefse and preparing our desserts? Wasn't it just yesterday we were rocking babies?!?
Ella (11) and Toren (14)
Lilja (9) and Anna (9)
Emily (13)
Katie (11)
For the first time since leaving SD, Tom now has a cousin
living nearby. It was fun to visit Jan and Gary Wysocki in their new home and
introduce them to the International Festival. We look forward to more
adventures with them. Cleven-Surdahl cousins, let's have a reunion in Raleigh. :-)
To prepare for a July visit to Norway, we delved into Tom's
family history. Research brought to life a rich tapestry of ancestors from southwestern
Norway. With the help of Tom's Norwegian cousins Magnar and Jorunn, using farm
books and the online church records (written in old Norsk), we located many of
the ancestral farms. Armed with farm locations in our GPS, we explored the Haugesund
area to visit Tom's first immigrant ancestors' farms. We walked the streets of Karmoy
Island and Stavanger that have been preserved to look as they did when Tom's ancestors
walked them.
Then we spent an amazing two days hosted by Magnar and Jorunn who introduced us to their families, took us to visit farms and museums, and entertained us in their homes. Words cannot express our appreciation to them and the delight they bring. We met as relatives and parted as good friends. Processing what we learned in Norway threw us more deeply into genealogical research. Jorunn has been most gracious to help us. What a delightful lady she is! Our first publication was a book for our grands to introduce them to their immigrant ancestors.
Magnar and Tom at the Pete Sanstøl memorial in Moi
Stavanger Old Town
Then we spent an amazing two days hosted by Magnar and Jorunn who introduced us to their families, took us to visit farms and museums, and entertained us in their homes. Words cannot express our appreciation to them and the delight they bring. We met as relatives and parted as good friends. Processing what we learned in Norway threw us more deeply into genealogical research. Jorunn has been most gracious to help us. What a delightful lady she is! Our first publication was a book for our grands to introduce them to their immigrant ancestors.
Jorunn at Sanstøl farm
Magnar and Tom at the Pete Sanstøl memorial in Moi
Who's the trained fighter here?
We are deeply blessed through Hope Lutheran Church. We look
forward each week to worship and study. Our choir family went through a huge transition this year when our much
loved director retired during Lent. God gifted us with an organist/director, a
grad of Westminster College, who whipped us into shape for Easter, then ramped
us up several notches. We've learned so much and enjoyed singing, especially
our cantata "Carry the Light" that included our children's choir,
praise team, handbell ringers, and instrumentalists. We made wonderful new
friends when we served with the mission team helping to build Habitat homes in
Western NC. We enjoyed serving guests at Touched by Hope, a free medical/dental
clinic. Ann enjoys the women's retreat and Seam
Team. She helped lead a SS class using Anne Voskamp's 1000 Gifts. Many blessings on our 1000 gifts list came through our
church.
Leadership in our Community Bible Study class - Tom as a small group leader and Ann on the Servants Team - brings a lot of service and deep blessing. We began the year with the Christian Living course including Philemon, Jude, I,II, & III John. In 2013-14, we studied the Gospel of John and by May 2015 we will have concluded our study of Revelation, so will have covered all John's Biblical writing. Ann shared the summer with "sisters" studying Beth Moore's James. It's easy to count over 1000 gifts through studies like these!
Travel rocks! In May we joined the Bakers and Pierces for our annual adventure. We returned to Lancaster, PA, to see Moses at the Sight and Sound Theater. Amish vendors provided our Woopie pies and treats. While searching for geocaches, we discovered an Amish buggy port and watched as some families left in their buggies and wagons. Another cache led us to a great fabric shop and an Amish clothing store. These are definitely on our list for a return visit. (Pictures)
Ann enjoys finding evil driving adventures to challenge Tom.
She lured him to Western NC to check one off her bucket list. It was obvious we
were in for a different adventure when we arrived at our hotel and found no
place to park. Most spaces were for motorcycles and they, too, were full. 318
curves in 11 miles, Oh Yeah! (Fasten your seat belt and watch Hell Roads - Tail of the Dragon on
YouTube). After a white-knuckle drive up the Tail, we continued through the
mountains to historic Cades Cove, then up to 6684' atop Clingman's Dome to
complete a beautiful day trip. We also enjoyed driving other area twisties, the
Moonshiner 28 and the Cherohala Skyway, and took a tranquil hike through an old
growth forest named for Joyce Kilmer. (Pictures)
We love this view of Mt. LeConte from atop Clingman's.
We've hiked LeConte and slept on top - 13 times for Ann, 15 for Tom.
We've hiked LeConte and slept on top - 13 times for Ann, 15 for Tom.
Before taking on driving in Norway, we did some exploring. In Oslo the Viking ship and farm museums were favorites. We also researched farm books in the national library. We traversed the countryside on the Norway in a Nutshell tour by train, ferry, and bus. Paraphrased from Rick Steves: "The train roars over Norway's mountainous spine. The barren, windswept heaths, glaciers, deep forests, countless lakes, and a few rugged ski resorts create a harsh beauty. The railroad is an amazing engineering feat. Completed in 1909, it's 300 miles long and peaks at 4,266' far above the tree line. It passes under 18 miles of snow sheds, over 300 bridges, and through 200 tunnels in just less than seven hours." What a beautiful country! At Myrdal, a 12-mile line dropped us 2,800 breathtaking feet in 55 minutes on a vintage train with five sets of brakes, one of the steepest drops in the world on normal tracks, to the village of Flåm on Sognefjord. National Geographic deems it one of the top ten train rides in Europe. We enjoyed the rides with a family from South Carolina we met onboard and were having so much fun that we added a few folks to our group along the way.
During a delightful weekend in Flåm, we joined our family for a steep hike up to the Brekkefossen waterfall with a veiling plunge of 377' and cruised two sections of Sognefjord, first Aurlandsfjord, then Nærøyfjord, one of the narrowest fjords in the world and on UNESCO's World Heritage List. How miniscule we felt in our tiny rib boat on the 1308' deep fjord surrounded by 5,000' high mountains, especially when a most ominous storm cloud blew in just before our Norwegian cheese tasting stop in Undredal.
We departed Flåm by ferry retracing our rib boat route, grateful for the previous day's guided tour. On this breathtaking fjord, many foreign passengers found feeding seagulls the most exciting part of the trip. Uff Da!
The bus ride from Gudvangen to Voss was quite exciting, especially the twisty Stalheimskleiva with its 20% grade, 13 switchbacks, and views of Stalheimsfossen, a lovely waterfall with a 415' drop. We arrived in Bergen the day after the tall ships departed. That's the second time we've had near misses on the regatta. Sarah and family got to see them arriving, and it was a highlight of their trip. Bergen at sunset was quaint and delightful, dinner on the wharf delicious and great fun as we chatted with a German couple at the next table. By then Tom had figured out that every hotel breakfast buffet included smoked salmon. What a happy guy!
We were greeted with this lovely scene in Bergen.
On our final road trip in November, we visited Myrtle Beach
to celebrate our 25th. On Tom's birthday we had found our 300th geocache, it seemed fitting to snag 25 caches for our 25th. Trip
highlights included walking the beach, the 200' high Skywheel, and the Brookgreen
Gardens collection of over 1400 sculptures.
Please visit us in Raleigh. Join us for a Segway tour,
world-class ballet, or Artsplosure. We can no longer host you at the Lutefisk
stinky fish dinner as we bade farewell to the Friends of Scandinavia club at a
lovely celebration this fall. Poor Tom! What will he do to get his annual
lutefisk fix? Now that Raleigh hosts the International Bluegrass Festival, we
can often find toe-tappin' music at outdoor concerts through the summer and
fall. If plants delight you, we'll visit local gardens with international
acclaim. Or join us for down home fun at our classic state fair. Whatever your
pleasure, ya'll come!
May God bless you richly and fill you with His perfect peace
in 2015.
PS. We have many pictures yet to share, especially of Christmas and our Scandinavian trip. If you'd like to see them when they're ready, subscribe to this blog.
Our garden thrives. Ann hasn't taken time to publish many of this year's pictures, but it evolves cyclically. If you'd like a "take a walk" in our garden: Garden Pictures
Ann so enjoys sewing. 2014 was a year for learning to free motion quilt and paint on cloth, so there are not many new projects to share. There are a few new pieces: Ann's Stitchery
PS. We have many pictures yet to share, especially of Christmas and our Scandinavian trip. If you'd like to see them when they're ready, subscribe to this blog.
Our garden thrives. Ann hasn't taken time to publish many of this year's pictures, but it evolves cyclically. If you'd like a "take a walk" in our garden: Garden Pictures
Ann so enjoys sewing. 2014 was a year for learning to free motion quilt and paint on cloth, so there are not many new projects to share. There are a few new pieces: Ann's Stitchery
