In December, when I was 11 or 12 years old, in the very early 1960s, my family flew from San Francisco back to Minnesota, which is where both of my parents were born and where all my aunts and uncles and cousins on my father's side lived in Minneapolis. My mother had no living relatives in Minnesota, but we visited with her best friend from childhood who lived in St. Paul and with some elderly people, living near Hastings, who had been friends of her parents. The elderly people lived on a farm and had an old Victrola in their icy cold attic.
Before Christmas, my father brought my sisters and me to a German department store he remembered from his childhood. We were each asked to choose a toy. I was drawn to a little man with a white beard, a tall pointed pale blue hat, and a yellow tunic over a plaid tunic. He is over 50 years old now.
A few days ago, I moved him from the place he had been on my bedside bookshelf for years to a spot next to a book about trees on the top of the bookshelf. Coincidentally, soon after that, a book I was reading happened to mention"tomte," and I realized that he could be some kind of "tomte," except that his hat is blue.
Looking through Google images of "nisse" and "tomte," I didn't find any that were like him, but I was delighted to find a photo of a "nisse" with a cat who looks a little bit like my Oboe.
There has been a heavy cloud cover all day today for winter solstice. Snow is not predicted in the lowlands, but from my porch I can see snow at higher elevations.
A few days ago, I noticed two large birds high in the sky, flying north. Or are they flying south? Although the photo is blurry, I think they are Blue Herons.
