Spring 2015. It seems as if last spring all my chores have been major projects. It started with a huge pile of old trees I had helped my neighbor cut down on his property and stored next to our barn. That was three years ago. My intention was to cut them up and split them for firewood. However, as well-intentioned projects sometimes go, three years later that pile of trees still happily resided next to the barn. It was time to clean the pile up… Little did I know that that six foot high, fifteen foot long pile of logs […]

This is the story of the 95 year old oak that fell in our yard. This one goes with the keepsake table I made for Judy to pass on to Royce. I also made a similar second keepsake table for Judy to pass on to Steven, with the same stories. Both tables hold folders with these stories in them, each one holding information on their own families. This is a small glimpse of how it was in the lives of Judy’s dad Bob, and her mother Hilda, when they were both 3 years old. The years were 1920 and 1925. […]

Cornelius Loos, King James the First of England (who authorized the King James version of the English Bible); Charlemagne, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (also known as Charles the Great); Rurik, Ruler of Kievan (Kiev) Russia; Erik the I Ejegod, King of Denmark; King Henry the VII; Nicholas the II Romanov, Czar of Russia; Anastasia, his well known famous daughter and her siblings, the question we may ask ourselves is, “What do all these people have in common?” The answer simply is this, they are all related through common ancestry. The question then becomes, “What do we, the Granholms […]

The frailty of aging has been brought home to me once more. At the age of 93, Judy’s mother fell out of bed and broke her left femur. It was a complicated fracture, requiring surgery and extensive rehabilitation. Also, this incident is the one that will require a life-changing living situation for her. Her life is closing in around her; her world is in an ever increasing smaller sphere.   The frailty of aging has been brought home to me once more. At the age of 93, Judy’s mother fell out of bed and broke her left femur. It was […]

Sometimes life has a way of imposing an unusual cruel irony on some of us. We try to figure it out the best we can, but life does not let us, leaving us wondering why things sometimes happen. Sometimes there is no answer and we are left wondering why. I think we are destined to look within ourselves to search for the answer. Was this God’s doing, was this karma, or perhaps just an unfortunate accident under no one’s control? Sometimes the answer is within our own beliefs we harbor within our hearts. Perhaps if something happens to a bad […]

Following are a few stories, one which takes us back to my 9th paternal great grandfather Per Danielsson Hästbacka, who was murdered in 1653 in Kronoby, Finland. The other is about Homestead Marks, a mark folks made on an official document instead of a signature when the person could not write. My 7th grandfather, Jakob Granö’s mark is among the marks shown. Following are a few stories, one which takes us back to my 9th paternal great grandfather Per Danielsson Hästbacka, who was murdered in 1653 in Kronoby, Finland. The other is about Homestead Marks, a mark folks made on […]

I remember Aunt Mia Jansson very well. They lived just two houses up the hill from us. The corner house was a two story white house, and next up the hill on the right was Mia faster’s house. To the right of the white house on the corner was uncle Lennart’s house (Paul Granholm’s dad). I remember her as “Mia Faster.” Faster, in Swedish, is short for father’s sister. Mia’s birth name was Maria Johanna Granholm. She was born on the 25th of April 1891, and died on the 1st of July 1969, at the age of 78. She was […]

I take in a deep breath of the cool crisp air, and it feels as though I am sipping on the world’s finest champagne. It fills my lungs and I can feel the bubbles go all the way down. I move my foot and put it down, and hear the crunch of the new fallen snow being compressed under my shoe. What a beautiful sound. The sound then disappears in the cold thin air, yet lingers within me for a while… I take in a deep breath of the cool crisp air, and it feels as though I am sipping […]

Other than my grandfather and my grandmother on my mother’s side who died when I was only 2 ½ years old, I knew only my mother’s immediate family. My great grandfather Jakob died in 1939, as did Maja-Lisa, his wife. Many times, years ago, if one spouse died, the other followed closely after. My grandfather and my grandmother lived in a yellow, two-story house. In June of 2000, when Judy and I traveled to Finland to visit my mother, we went to see my grandfather’s old house. It was still standing, and it was still yellow. I’m sure it had […]

Travel backwards in time and enter the mind of my grandfather, Karl Johan Granholm, 102 years ago, to 1908 when he wrote “My Thoughts and Reflections,” and immerse yourself in his thoughts, reflections, and hopes. It is amazing how his thoughts, a reflection of life in his time, reflect our own times and lives. May we all strive for an understanding of life he so eloquently expressed 102 years ago… (Pictured is my brother Karl Johan Granholm, grandson of our grandfather Karl Johan Granholm)   I sit today, a Sunday, contemplating my half finished new dwelling which will contain a […]