Tag Archives: Danish Day

In-tents living

Lars Walker's Viking tent

Yesterday was Danish Day at the Danish-American Center in Minneapolis, and the Vikings were there. It was a sort of debut for the Viking tent I recently bought (and re-painted), pictured above. It’s actually been used before, at the Festival of Nations in St. Paul, but I just lent the tent for use and didn’t participate in that myself. I hadn’t seen it assembled and in its glory till yesterday. And I’m pleased. I suppose I’ve overdone the red and gold color scheme, but it’s eye-catching and our group needs to attract some attention. Besides, I like red and gold.

It was an intense day for me. There were strangers to meet and interact with, which is always a little stressing. I got to show group members Viking Legacy, the book I translated. I think some of them may have wondered if it actually exists, after all these years I’ve told them it was coming, but yesterday I was vindicated. And I did a little sword fighting.

The day before I’d commented on how well I was feeling, compared to a year ago. Which is true. I’ve gradually upped my exercise, and I’ve dropped a little weight. However, a day of playing Viking is a lot for an old man. Today I was stumbling around, bumping into things, dropping things, and knocking things over. I’d gotten plenty of sleep (in fact I overslept), but there’s only so much gas in the tank, these days.

Still. Pretty tent, isn’t it?

Danish Day, 2017

I apologize for standing you up last night. My service provider, apparently, suffered a major outage in my area. At least that’s their excuse.

I wanted to tell you about Sunday. I’ve done this almost every year pretty much as long as I’ve been blogging. Danish Day at the Danish American Center in Minneapolis. The first big event of the summer for the Viking Age Club & Society.

As you know (or if you don’t, pay attention!) I finally broke down and got a smart phone last winter. I’m cautiously learning the pleasures associated with that device (though I never plan to tweet. I fail to see the charm of tweeting, or of following tweets).

On Sunday I did my first Food Selfie. I’d bought what they call a Danish Hot Dog (or pølse), and I thought I’d take a photo with my phone and post it to Facebook.

Poelse

Got lots of responses. Amazing what fascinates people nowadays. Our lives must be very dull.

But amidst all the discussion, in which I defended (for instance) the use of ketchup on hot dogs against the authority of Clint Eastwood himself, I got a response from my distant cousin in Denmark, who had intelligent and enlightening things to say about the Danish hot dog tradition.

It’s all quite silly, but I have to concede it’s fun. And if we can have international fun in these troubled times, why not? Continue reading Danish Day, 2017