Swedish-American Society 
Newsletter, March 2002 Edition
President: Bentley Anderson 340-9757
Web master: Larry Leonardson 721-6827
OUR ADDRESS ON THE WEB:
               https://members.tripod.com/~SweAmer
WHEN WE NEXT MEET:

                          Sunday, March 17, 2002
                        Ruritan Club, Witchduck Rd.

                               VÄLKOMMEN

3:00 PM  SMÖRGÅSBORD SETUP  Doors open and setup begins.  Sue Arith and Sandy MacGregor will setup for the meeting and meal.  Sandy MacGregor will set up the beverage table.

 4:00 PM   Fellowship Hour: Club provides the soft drinks, beer & wine, but depends on the membership for the hors d'oeuvres (cheese, crackers, nuts, etc.).

5:00 PM    Välkommen to members and guests, followed by Du Gamla Du Fria, My Country Tis of thee, and I Jesu Namn Til Bords Vi Gå, after which we all get in the buffet line.

DINING:    Marilyn Melendy is in charge of the main course, and she says that it will be fish.   Members and guests are asked to bring  side dishes appropriate for the main course.

5:45 PM   Business Meeting: Treasurer's Report, Other Business.

6:00 PM  The Near-the-Equinox Swedish Quiz will be held.  Two teams of experts on Sweden, are hand ? picked from the cream of the not-born-in-Sweden members of the Swede Club.
These two teams are each bombarded with questions drawn up by the born-in-Sweden members of the Swede Club to see if the not-
born-in-Sweden members have been doing their homework (or is this
catechism?).  The winning team will receive unbelievably wonderful and amazing prizes, and this contest is usually good for a great number of laughs for everybody present.

6:30 PM  Sing along with Swedish form our Song Book.  Ted Johnson will lead us from the keyboard in various Swedish Songs including Hälsä Dem Där Hemma.

6:45 PM  Raffle with Diane Newlon made possible by gifts from the members, and very important in keeping our Treasurer from attacks of anxiety.

7:00 PM   Hälsä Dem Där Hemma and the clearing of tables and stacking of chairs.

                       DIRECTIONS TO OUR MEETINGS

If coming from the peninsula, take I-64 across the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, follow I-64 to I-264 East.  Follow I-264 to the Witchduck Road exit; after exiting, turn left onto Witchduck Road.  About ¼ to ½ mile is Ruritan Drive (fire station light is there).  Turn left on Ruritan, go to the end of the street, the building is on the left.

                            CHILDREN'S CORNER
Nellie Leonardson will again work with the kids on arts and crafts as she has graciously done in the past. (Hurray!)

                            When Last We Met
      The monthly meeting of the Swedish-American Society was held at the Ruritan Club, Witchduck Road, Virginia Beach, on February 17, 2002.  The attendance was approximately 45.  The social hour began at 4:00 PM with hor d' oeuvres and beverages.  At 5:00 PM we sang Du Gamla Du Fria and My Country Tis of Thee.  We then said the Swedish table grace 'I Jesu Namn.'

Afterward we feasted on Swedish Pancakes small and large, with syrups, sausage and bacon (wonderful) as well as scalloped potatoes and green beans.  In addition, there was an assortment of desserts.

      Bill Nelson, who is President of the Sons of  Norway, discussed the
Multi-Cultural Alliance, which includes 22 ethnic groups.  Included in his discussion was the setting up of booths to sell food and other items on May 4.

      We sang Ja må du leva and Happy Birthday to Margit Thunander and Ted Johnson. 
 
 
 
 
 

        Hans Thunander then gave a very interesting review of the 1700s in Sweden.  Sweden had become a major power during the Thirty Years War (1618 - 1648) and in the wars with Denmark following that war, when they acquired the provinces of Halland, Skåne, and Blekinge from Denmark.  In 1700, when King Karl XII was 17, Denmark, Saxony, Poland, and Russia formed an alliance against him.  His army had been well trained by his father, so he went on the offensive, and for several years he defeated each of these powers in succession.  However, in 1708, he decided to invade deep into Russia (ruled by Peter the Great) and faced the same scorched earth policy from the Russians then, as greeted both Napoleon in 1812, and Hitler in
1941.  He was ultimately defeated at Poltava in the Ukraine in 1709, with almost all of his army killed, wounded or captured.  Since Sweden's  main army had been destroyed,  Russia occupied  Finland and the Russian fleet harried the east coast of Sweden.  Karl XII was killed in 1718 on the Norwegian front (Norway was then controlled by Denmark).  This was the end of Sweden as a major power and for the most part ended Sweden's military adventures.  Sweden lost most of its empire except for most of Finland and some small German provinces, which were restored at the Peace of  Nystad in 1721.

      Among Sweden's contributions to science in the 18th century, were the development of  a thermometer with one hundred degrees between the freezing and boiling points of water by Anders Celsius, and the classification of animals and plants with Latin names by Carl Linnæus.

      A raffle was held by Diane Newlon for prizes contributed by the
members.

      Unfortunately, the meeting ended before we could sing our usual
Swedish songs, including  Hälsa Dem Där Hemma.  However, Ted Johnson did provide music during the closing minutes of the meeting.

                                          Respectfully Submitted,
                                          Ed Unser, Secretary
 

                             CLUB OFFICERS:
President  -  Bentley Anderson (340-9757), 
Vice-President  -  Glenn Gerdin,
Treasurer -  Donald Lundquist, 
Secretary  -  Edward Unser, 
Asst. Secretary -  Merrie Jo Milner, 
Raffle Master  -  Diane Newlon, 
Web Master  -  Larry Leonardson, 
Beverage Master  -  Sandy MacGregor,
and Concert Master  -  Ted Johnson.

The following is a Norsk joke supplied by Jane and Paul Hoden:

Up Nort'...Ole, Lars and Sven:

Ole, Lars and Sven had been going to the Sons of Norway hall meeting as long as there had been a hall. And every month, wouldn't ya know it, they didn't win a prize in the monthly drawing. That is until the last meeting.

Sven was the first one of the three to get his name drawn. He won two
pounds of spaghetti sauce, four boxes of noodles, and three pounds of
Swedish meatballs.

Ole had his name drawn next. He got himself round trip tickets to Duloot, a nights stay at the Dew Drop Inn and a pair of tickets to see the Inger triplets Polka Ensemble. Ole thought that he had died and gone to heaven.

Lars was the last one to have his name drawn, he won a toilet brush.

At the next monthly meeting, they sat down together to check out how they had fared for the past month.

Sven said, "Uff da, I had dat pasghetti for tree days. It vas so good, and Helga didn't have to buy food for them dere tree days."

Ole said, "Lena was so happy vhen I brought home dem tickets. The trip up to Duloot was nice, we got to ride da Greyhound, and you know, they got a built in outhouse on dat dere bus. And the Inger Triplets, if I didn't know better, I would swear dey were sisters."

Then Ole turned to Lars, and asked him how his prize worked out. Lars looks at them both and says, "Dat dere toilet brush is nice, but I tink I'll go back to using paper."


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