Catch Up :: Sunday Selection, Poetry Monday & Colour of May - All on a Wednesday

Time for one humongous Catch-up post.

I went for a walk in my garden, admiring the lushness, the greenness, the colours, the growing, the May in short. And I realized that all this grew, thrived, sprouted, bloomed, because of compost!
Here is my May Green, Sunday Selection, Compost-Poetry all rolled into one on a Wednesday.

Berries,

rhubarbs,

and tomatoes,

Flax, and

grapes - Yay!

and potatoes.

Flowers red, and

white and blue,

Kiwis,

herbs and

(no photo,
as we all know
how weeds look)
all weeds too .

Oh, yes, evrything grow - thanks to compost!
And the stalks and the weed
To my chicken I feed,
so I get all my

EGGS

thanks to compost!

And in almost every photo in this post there's loads of  May Green.

Månedens farve - JUNI - Colour of the Month

Månedens farve for juni 2023 er --  The colour of the month for June 2023 is

Upsi -- Oops

Last Friday (May 19) River asked: Are you okay? No posts for a couple of days has me worried a bit.

I replied: Sorry, Yes I'm fine. Only family from far away visiting, Summer has finally come, a magazine to edit, and a hurting back leaves me not blogging or commenting or answering. Sorry. Sunday is a the last - I hope - in the row of crazy-busy days so normal blogging to be resumed Monday :) Thanks for your concern.


Only one problem. In my haste I did not think well enough. And now Monday with its Poetry and Wednesday with its Words have come and gone.
 
Because ... actally I meant next Monday, Pentecost Monday.  I'll be back 😉

-- ⏰ -- 📆 -- 📅 -- 🗓 -- 🕰 --

Sidste fredag (19. maj) spurgte River: Er du okay? Ingen indlæg i et par dage har gjort mig lidt bekymret.

Jeg svarede: Undskyld, ja jeg har det fint. Jeg har familie på besøg langvejs fra, sommeren er endelig kommet ... et blad, der skal redigeres, og ondt i ryggen gør, at jeg hverken blogger, kommenterer eller svarer. Jeg er ked af det. Søndag er den sidste - håber jeg - i rækken af vanvittigt travle dage, så normal blogging genoptages mandag :) Tak for din omsorg.


     Der er kun ét problem. I min hast fik jeg ikke tænkt mig godt nok om. Og nu er mandag med sin poesi og onsdag med sine ord kommet og gået.
      Fordi ... egentlig mente jeg næste mandag, pinsemandag.  Jeg vender  tilbage

Havefarver :: Garden Dyes

     Uglemor elsker at gå en tur i haven og plukke urter til aftensmaden, rabarber til en kage og altså planter til at farve med. Og selv om jeg har travlt, skal der bare være tid til en farvegryde når alting springer ud.
     Her er hvad jeg plukkede og det endelige resultat.


MotherOwl loves her garden.The rich feeling picking herbs for dinner, rhubarbs for a cake or palnts for the dyepot. And even if I'm super busy., I just have to find time for a dye pot when ecerything is unfolding.

Here is what I picked, and the result.   

m

Frisk fra gryden og stadig vådt  --  Fresh from the dye pot and still wet. 

Vasket og tørt, lige til at strikke med  --   Washed and now dry, ready for knitting.

Og noget af garnet er blevet majgrønt

And some of the yarn turned May Green.

Poetry Monday :: Chocolate Chips

  Poetry Monday er en udfordring, hvor Diane fra On the Border er vores vært. Og nok engang kommer jeg til at undskylde til mine danske læsere. Det er svært at omskabe denne her slags vrøvl til dansk.
     Dagens stikord er Chokoladeknapper. Sære Uglemor elsker kager og elsker chokolade, bare hver for sig, tak! Så min echokoladeknapper ender altså ikke i kagerne. Hvad så?

-- 🍫 --

 Chocolate chips - crazy MotherOwl loves chocolate and loves cakes, cookies and so on. Only please do not mix! What then would happen to my chocolate chips if I had any?

Poetry Monday is a challenge, hosted by Diane at On the Border.


Chocolate Chips
In a pot I pour them
Liquid they become.
First I stir them, mix and fold.
Then I pour them in a mould.
Leaves and flowers, little owls,
Squares and circles heaped in bowls.
Chocolate chips no more
Happily I'll devour.

- - - - - - - - - -

Next Monday: Musical Instruments

Søndagsbillede :: Solfarvning

Sunday Selection :: Solar Dyeing

     Det lader til at solfarvning er det nye sort. Jeg har prøvet før uden stort held. Der skete nærmest ingenting.
     Men nu prøver jeg så igen. Indtil videre ser det lovende ud.

-- 🍁 -- 🥀 --

Solar dyeing is in fashion right now., I have tried before, with disappointing results, nothing happened.

Now I try again, and so far it looks good.

     Her er det lige blevet sat over.
     I glas nummer 1, det til venstre: røde hasselblade, vild kørvel, lyserøde tulipaner med støvdragere og rejnfan.
     I glas nummer 2, til højre: rødbøg, skønhedsøje-plante, birkeblade, en vissen påskelilje, tørrede kronblade og en masse støvdragere fra mørkerøde tulipaner.

-- 🍁 -- 🥀 --

Fresh from the start.
Jar number one, to the left: red hazel leaves, wild chervil, pink tulips with stamens, and tansy.
Jar number 2, to the right: Red beech leaves, tickseed plant, birch leaves, a daffodil, dry petals and a heap of stamens from red tulips.

Glas 1 tæt på  --  🥀 --  close up of jar number 1.

Glas 2 tæt på  --  🍂  --  close up of jar number2.

Glas nummer 2 senere på dagen, bøgebladene farver tydeligt grønligt, og tulipaner/støvdragere grålilla.

-- 🍁 -- 🥀 --

Jar number 2 later in the day. The red beech leaves give off green dye and the tulip stamens and petals a purplish grey.

Og selvfølgelig er nogle af planterne majgrønne

And of course many of the plant parts were May Green.

Ugen her har været så smuk, så her er et par andre kulørte billeder

-- 🍁 -- 🥀 --

This week has been filled with colours. Here are some of them.

Words for Wednesday ~ May 10, 2023

This challenge was started by Delores a long time ago. Troubles led her to bow out, but the challenge was too much fun to let go, and now the Words for Wednesday is provided by a number of people and has become a movable feast with Elephant's Child as our coordinator.

The general idea of this challenge is to make us write. Poems, stories, subtitles, tales, jokes, haiku, crosswords, puns, ... you're the boss. Use all Words, some Words or even none of them if that makes your creative juices flow. Anything goes, only please nothing rude or vulgar.

 It is also a challenge, where the old saying "The more the merrier" holds true.

So Please, remember to follow the links, go back and read other peoples' stories. And please leave a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction, feedback and encouragement. And we ALL need encouragement. 

-- 🇦 -- 🇧 -- 🇨 --

All May the Words will be provided by David M Gascoigne and they will be made public at Elephant's Child's blog.

For today we had these words:  
Little
Application
Care
Companionship
Father
Only
     and/or
Farm
Progress
Hedgerow
Care
Distinguished
Industrial

  I used the almost all te words, only industrial did not fit in, and  as always in the order they were given, for a continuation of the small story of Susan, Granny, her cousins, and the maybe hatching chickens.

Little by little and with the application of much care, Susan woke up her three cousins. She was not sure she liked their companionship in the chicken coop with Granny. On the other hand she was not certain she would have liked to be alone with Granny either. It was as her father always said a nice pickle. One thing she knew. she was really happy to be with her grandmother today.

Outside they went, all five of them. the farm land across the waterway glowing emerald green in the early sun. They walked along the hedgerow, under the apple trees and finally arrived at the chicken coop. Usually Granny and Lena, the youngest of the cousins, tackled Rasmus, the big, beautiful and very aggressive rooster by locking him up inside the coop. But today extra precautions were needed. He could not stay in the chicken coop with a hatching going on, he would inevitably get on the wrong side of one or more of the girls, and his spurs were honed and well used tools.

Granny asked the four girls to hold onto a big wooden construction. A big cube, made from old timber
from the roof and covered in metal netting, only not the bottom part. They had to hold it far enough off the ground for Rasmus to get under it, but not so far that they could not quickly lower it over him, once he was in the centre of the contraption. Granny spread out some grains, and Rasmus went ahead to check them out, as good roosters do for their flock. And was caught.
On Granny's order they carefully raised the cage just a bit off the ground and carried it further away from the coop. He protested wildly, but to no avail, he had to follow along inside the cage. The rest of the hens gathered round the cage, only not the brooding one.
Rasmus was a distinguished rooster, and many of the neighbours wanted one of his progeny to watch over their hens. The fox never had a chance with him nearby, and they took his aggressiveness in stride, grateful over his protectiveness.

... to be continued

Poetry Monday :: Socks

  Poetry Monday er en udfordring, hvor Diane fra On the Border er vores vært. Og nok engang kommer jeg til at undskylde til mine danske læsere. Det er svært at omskabe denne her slags vrøvl til dansk.
     Dagens stikord er Sokker - ud over at strikke sokker og selvfølgelig at have dem på, er det ikke noget særligt sjovt ord. Så jeg fandt alle de engelske ord, der rimer og lavede et rablende vrøvlevers.

-- 🧦 --

  Socks - apart from the fact that I like knitting them, and almost always wear a pair when leaving the house, I have not given socks much of a thought. And rhyming about socks?

Instead I dug up all the words (I hope I found them all) that rhymes with socks, and made them into this rambling nonsense rhyme.

Poetry Monday is a challenge, hosted by Diane at On the Border.


Socks

Fox
Ox
Cox
Box
Pox
Knox
Phlox
Crocs
Rocks
Blocks
Clocks
Docks
Knocks
Locks
Stocks

Once a fox and an ox
Saw four blocks and three frogs
On the docks.

And the cox steers the box
Round Fort Knox while the phlox
Gently rocks.

Oh a pox on the clocks
Say the warlocks and locks
All the crocs.

Guess who knocks out the locks
and who blocks all the stocks
It's the socks!

 - - - - -

Next Monday: Chocolate Chip

Søndagsbillede :: Rødder & Månedens farve

Sunday Selection :: Roots & Colour of the Month

Nu har jeg luget adskillige bede, og det er gået op for mig at jeg kan genkende de fire slemme ukrudter i min have på rødderne alene.

 - - - - -

Now I have weeded several beds, and I have realised that I can recognise the four bad weeds in my garden by their roots alone.

--- 🌿 ---

     Her har jeg i bedste politi-stil sløret forbrydernes ansigter og givet en beskrivelse. Kan du genkende dem. Prøv engang,  løsningen er længere nede på siden.
     Klik på billedet for at se det i større udgave.
- - - - -
     Here, in best police style, I have blurred the faces of the criminals and added a description. Do you recognise them? Give it a try - the solution is further down the page.
     Click on the image to see a larger version.

Gule rødder, seje og lange, med håragtige siderødder - 1 - Yellow roots, thin, hairy, long not breaking
Skøre, hvide, tykke og snoede rødder med siderødder - 2 -  Brittle! white, thick, branching, and convoluted roots.
Lige, seje rødder opdelt i sektioner - 3 - straight, tough and in sections

Lige, let gullige rødder, deler sig lige inden jordoverfladen, solidere end nummer 2 - 4 - Straight roots, only branching near the surface, yellowish, not as brittle as  2


*


**


***


****

Og her er de så blevet afsløret. Navnene på dem står under billedet

- - - - -

Now unmasked. Their names are below the photo.

Brændenælde - 1 - Stinging nettle
Snerle - 2 - Bindweed
Kvikgræs - 3 - Quick grass
Skvalderkål - 4 - Ground elder

--- 🌿 ---

Og selvom det er en formildende omstændighed at forbryderne har månedens farve - majgrøn - ender de nu alligevel som hønsefoder.

--- 🌿 ---

Even though it is a mitigating circumstance that the criminals are the colour of the month - May green - they will still end up as chicken feed.

Krydderurtedag - Herb Day

      Tak til Messymimi for at huske mig på den årlige krydderurtedag, der altid er den 1. lørdag i maj, i år 6. maj, altså i dag. Jeg kan ikke rigtig finde nogen der fejrer den her i landet.
     Sidste år viste jeg mine nylugede urtebede frem. De ser næsten lige sådan ud i dag, så i stedet vil jeg vise et billede af mit  kryddersalt.

--- 🌿 ---

Thanks to Messymimi for reminding me that the first Saturday of May is International Herb Day. This is today, May 6. I still can't find anybody celebrating this day in Denmark.

Last year I showed off my newly weeded herb beds.They look almost the same today, so instead I'll show a picture of my freshly made herbal salt.

Hvad er der så i sådan en tallerken urtesalt? I faldende rækkefølge er der disse krydderurter i.
- løvstikke
- oregano
- nælder
- timian
- esdragon
- salvie
- kinapurløg
Og så en hel del salt.
     Jeg fyldte en lille gryde næsten op med urter, og klippede groft i gryden. Så hev jeg minihakkeren frem - assisteret af Skribenten, der med sine knap to meter kan nå de øverste hylder uden at skulle finde en taburet frem først.
     Der var så mange urter, at jeg var nødt til at hakke dem ad to omgange. Jeg plejer altid først at lave urtesalt i efteråret, men jeg vil da helt klart lave mere snart. Det var meget nemmere at finde fine, friske planter af dem alle sammen. Det må være mit faste arbejde hver dag fremover på krydderurtedagen.
     Og så mangler der rosmarin i urteblandingen her. Det ville være den eneste forskel, hvis jeg havde taget et nyt billede af krydderurtebedet i dag - en død rosmarin. Den overlevede ikke vores fugtige og lune vinter.

--- 🌿 ---

So what's in this plate of herbal salt? In descending order, these herbs are in it.
- lovage
- oregano
- nettles
- thyme
- tarragon
- sage
- garlic chives
And a generous amount of salt.

I filled a small pot almost to the brim with herbs and chopped coarsely in the pot with my scissors. Then I pulled out the mini chopper - assisted by the Writer, who with his almost two metres can reach the top shelves without having to find a stool first.
There were so many herbs that I had to chop them in two batches. I usually only make herbal salt in the autumn, but I will definitely make more soon. It was much easier to find nice, fresh plants of all of them. It is going to be a returning feature of herb day.

Missing in this mix is rosemary. because the only change you would see in a photo taken today, would be a dead rosemary bush. It did not make it through our wet and green winter.

Den sidste Store Bededag

The very last of its kind

Aftenen inden den allersidste Store bededag bagte Skribenten som så ofte før varme hveder, medens Uglemor var flittig i haven og Ugleungerne spillede computerspil og lavede de sidste skoleopgaver.

- o -

The Danish Holiday "Common Prayer Day", that from 1686 until this year has been celebrated on the 4th Friday after Easter has been abolished. I am sad.

We are celebrating for the last time with the baking and eating of hot buns. The Writer as so often before baked the buns while MotherOwl was busy in the garden.

Spelter - hveder bagt med speltmel
Wheat buns made with spelt flour.

Selve den sidste store bededag var blæsende og halvkold, men alligevel var Uglemor i haven om eftermiddagen og lugede bede. 
     Hønsene fik så meget ukrudt at de ikke gad mere.

- o -

The holiday itself was windy and chill, but i the afternoon MotherOwl was in the garden anyway and the hens had so many weeds thrown at them, that even their hunger was stilled

Fordi det var meget blæsende, tog Skribenten ikke sin daglige cykeltur, så jeg overtalte ham til lige at løsne lidt af jorden i mit bed, så jeg nemmere kunne fjerne rødderne uden at overanstrenge min arme ryg. Han var svær at stoppe, heldigvis, og tog lige hele bedet.

- o -

Because it was so windy, the Writer did not go for his usual bike ride. I asked him if he could maybe dig a bit of my bed so that I could pull all the weeds without hurting my back. He was unstoppable and dug the whole bed - what a pleasure.

a

Jomfru Maria fik sine blomster og bønner.

- o -

The Virgin Mary had her flowers and prayers.

      Store Bededag er en fridag, der har betydet meget for mig i de forgangne år. Det er så at sige en "gratis" fridag. Butikkerne er lukkede, så vi kan heller ikke tage på indkøb. Vi får ikke gæster, vi skal ikke i kirke. Kort sagt, vi har bare fri, der er ingen, der forventer noget af os, ingenting vi skal.
     Det kommer jeg i den grad til at savne i de kommende år, det, og så den her lettede, boblende frie fornemmelse, når dagen ender af "Tænk, det er kun lørdag i morgen!"

- o -

The sunset found a tired but happy MotherOwl, and tomorrow it's only Saturday, another day off school! This feeling I am sorely going to miss in the years to come. It is so to say a "free" holiday. Nobody expects anything from us, the shops are closed, so we can't go shopping, we're not having any guests, we're not supposed to go to church (this is a Protestant prayer day only 😉 ),  there's not a thing in the calendar, and when the day ends I always have had this light, bubbly feeling. But regretfully for the last time this year.

Haveuglen kommer også til at savne en ekstra dag hvor han kan herse med os alle sammen.
- o -
GardenOwl is also going to miss this opportunity to put us all to work.

A ~ Z Reflektioner ~ Reflections

    Hver dag i april klokken 12 (undtagen søndag) kom dagens A-Z indlæg.
     Temaet for i år var Resilience som teamet har valgt, og jeg valgte undertemaet Blomster, træer og forfædre.
     Jeg fik altså kun skrevet om forfædre.

A - Z

  Every day at noon (except Sundays) a new A-Z post went live.
  The theme for this year was Resilience as given by the team, with my subtitle Flowers, Trees and Ancestors. I only wrote of Ancestors.


Her vil jeg så reflektere lidt over 2023s A-Z Challenge.

• Jeg har skrevet flere blogindlæg end noget andet år. Hele 24 er det blevet til
  
• Måske af den grund har jeg ikke fået besøgt mange andre A-Z bloggere - det må jeg gøre i maj. Jeg fik kun besøgt dem jeg kendte i forvejen (Lissa, Messymimi og Black and White), og en ny som jeg kunne lide, Whatever I Think of, der tog mig på et nostalgisk trip med ting fra min ungdom. Ellers var jeg uheldig med dem, jeg besøgte. De fleste var forfattere der var ude på at promovere deres bøger, og lige meget hvor fikst det bliver gjort, kan romancer eller krimier altså ikke holde min interesse fangen.
• Det var skønt at A-Z udfordringen i år faktisk drejede sig om at blogge og læse hinandens blogs, ikke hysterisk om besøgstal og likes. Det gør mig mere tilbøjelig til at lege med næste år.
• Der var en direkte liste. Jeg har først opdaget den nu, og det er jeg ked af, for det var smart. 
• En ting, jeg manglede ved mange af de blogs, jeg besøgte i år, var et blog-akiv. Sådan at jeg kunne læse nogle indlæg, eller gå tilbage i tiden uden at skulle gnaske mig baglæns igennem hvert evig eneste indlæg på bloggen.
  

Reflections

In this post, I will reflect a little on 2023's A-Z Challenge.

• I have written more blog posts than any other year. A total of 24.
• Maybe that's why I haven't visited many other A-Z bloggers - I'll have to do that in May. I only visited those I knew before the challenge (Lissa, Messymimi, and Black and White) and one new, Whatever I think of, giving a nostalgia trip through items from my youth. I tried a couple more, but they did not stick. It was mostly writers promoting their books. And no matter how cleverly it is done neither romances nor whodunnits fascinates me (my fault, not the authors').
• It was great that the A-Z challenge this year was actually about blogging and reading each other's blogs, not hysterically about visitor numbers and likes. It makes me more inclined to join in next year.
• There was a live list. I only realised now, I wish I had seen it earlier.
• One thing I miss on many blogs is an Archives so that I can browse a single post here and there, or go back to a set point in the blog - maybe even all the way to the beginning and read without having to read my way backwards through every post the blog-owner ever wrote.
  

A - Z

Og med 24 ud af 26 mulige indlæg synes jeg selv at jeg er en vinder.
And I feel with 24 out of 26 completed posts that I am a winner

 

Words for Wednesday May 3, 2023 & IWSG

This challenge was started by Delores a long time ago. Troubles led her to bow out, but the challenge was too much fun to let go, and now the Words for Wednesday is provided by a number of people and has become a movable feast with Elephant's Child as our coordinator.

The general idea of this challenge is to make us write. Poems, stories, subtitles, tales, jokes, haiku, crosswords, puns, ... you're the boss. Use all Words, some Words or even none of them if that makes your creative juices flow. Anything goes, only please nothing rude or vulgar.

 It is also a challenge, where the old saying "The more the merrier" holds true.

So Please, remember to follow their links, go back and read other peoples' stories. And please leave a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction, feedback and encouragement. And we ALL need encouragement. 

-- 🇦 -- 🇧 -- 🇨 --

All May the Words will be provided by David M Gascoigne and they will be made public at Elephant's Child's blog.

Today we had the words:

• Temperature
• Hope
• Roost
• Gentle
• Humidity
• Change

and/or

• Cope
• Reality
• Carcass
• Landscape
• Light
• Weather

  Tonight (Tuesday evening as I write this), for the first time in a very long time I felt my fingers itch for writing. I went out in the waning light and closed the door to the chicken coop, all the time hoping, that the Words would be up, when I returned to the computer. And lo and behold! We had the above-mentioned words.
  I used the first batch, and  as always in the order they were given, for a small story, only hinting at the magic that Susan and her grandmother are sharing. 

As the temperature rose, so did the hope of Susan and her cousins. Each day they would follow Grandma to the roost and look into the nest where the hens were brooding. With her gentle hands Grandma touched the eggs, checking humidity and feeling for that subtle change. Susan so hoped the hatching would happen while she was still there.
And then, one rose-coloured morning Susan awoke and felt different. She found Grandma in the kitchen. "Grandma, will the chickens hatch today?" she asked.

"Why do you ask?" Grandma asked, "You know impatience is of no avail here. Chickens take 3 weeks, 3 days and 3 hours."

"I woke up feeling so sure today would be the day," Susan explained.

"And you might very well be right. I feel the same. Help me prepare breakfast, and then go and wake up those sleepyhead cousins of yours."

Susan was more than happy to comply.

- - - - - - - - - -

May 3 question - When you are working on a story, what inspires you?

My answer - The Words for Wednesday as mentioned above, is an immense source of inspiration. My other source is everything I hear and see around me. Today, closing the chicken coop, my genealogy from April's A-Z challenge and those words just went together to form the story above.

I have a question. The last sentence
Susan was more than happy to comply.
Would I do better to leave it out?
At first I wrote the lines without this ending, then I felt it was a bit naked, now I think this line is maybe not necessary anyway - is this a case  of less is more, is it a case of show, not tell, or is it fine as is?

A-Z ~ EXTRA A for alder

      Mange dage i april skrev jeg om mine forfædre under temaet Resilience . Det blev ikke til ret meget om blomster og træer, og jeg er faktisk ikke helt færdig med de der forfædre endnu.

A - Z

  Many of the days of April I wrote of Ancestors, I did not write much of flowers and trees, and I am not quite done with those ancestors yet. Danish version of my EXTRA

A for Age.

Blev folk i gamle dage virkelig ikke ret gamle?
Er mine tip-tip-oldeforældre en undtagelse, når de bliver 70 år og mere?

Hvis vi kigger på mit A-Zindlæg om Tal (jeg har indsat den relevante side herunder) finder vi 6, der blev mellem 74 og 80 år, før de døde og 3 mere blev over 70. Og det er en ganske gennemsnitlig side fra kirkebogen for Ulse sogn. Det ser ud til, at svaret på spørgsmålene er nej.

Vores fejl - også min, før jeg kiggede i alle de her gamle kirkebøger - er at sidestille gennemsnitsalderen med den forventede levealder. Dødfødte børn og de mange, mange børn, der dør før deres femårs fødselsdag, giver en gennemsnitsalder på 45 år eller noget i den retning. (I 1900 var den 50 ifølge Danmarks Statistik). Men det betyder bestemt ikke, at alle faldt døde om inden de fyldte 50 år, eller at folk var gamle og affældige, når de fyldte 40 år (som i Hulebjørnens klan). Lad os regne lidt på det.

Først den relevante side fra kirkebogen:
6 fremhævet og tre mere over 70, men uden for mit "interesseområde" Nej, alle falder ikke døde om når de når den gennemsnitlige levealder.

Så skrev jeg alderen på alle de døde personer ned - fire hele år i kirkebogen. Resultatet ser således ud (''' betyder dødfødt Y = år, W = uger, D = dage, M = måneder).

Jeg gjorde det samme for 50 år senere; de fire år 1845-48, og 50 år senere igen for 1895 til 1898.
Derefter lavede jeg et lille program og lavede nogle beregninger. Resultaterne er som følger:

Alder for døde personer i Ulse Sogn:

Den tredje kolonne viser, hvor mange år en person kan forvente at leve, når han/hun har nået den pågældende alder.

Ved fødslen i 1795-98 kunne en nyfødt i Ulse kun forvente at leve i gennemsnit 25 år, men hvis barnet overlevede de første fem år, steg den forventede levetid til 57,2 år, og når det fyldte 15 år, kunne det unge menneske se frem til at fejre sin 71-års fødselsdag.

NB: Disse tal skal tages med en stor skefuld salt, da der er tale om en meget lille stikprøve fra et meget lille sogn. Men alligevel, hos Danmarks Statistik så jeg, at den forventede levealder for en nyfødt dansker i 1900 var 50 år, hvilket passer meget godt med mit Ulse-tal for 1895-1898. Så det er måske ikke helt ude i hampen.

A for Age.

Forestil dig, at din familie på magisk vis blev transporteret tilbage til Ulse i 1795. Ville du, din ægtefælle og jeres børn være i live?

Husk på der var ingen antibiotika, ingen blindtarmsoperationer, ingen kejsersnit, ingen hjælp, hvis mergelgraven faldt sammen om dig eller hesten smed dig af, eller du blev skoldet af vand eller ild (en smertefuld og langsom måde at dø på). Et inficeret sår eller en lungebetændelse ... kort sagt alt, hvor du har været på skadestuen, blev opereret eller fik antibiotika, ville sandsynligvis have slået dig ihjel.

Jeg begynder:
I stedet for at være en 61-årig mor til 1 pige og 5 drenge og bedstemor til 2, ville jeg ikke have skrevet disse linjer. Min mand ville have været enkemand (sandsynligvis gift igen), og der ville hverken have eksisteret børn eller børnebørn.
Jeg ville have levet fire år mere end gennemsnittet - jeg ville have været en af de der atypiske, der døde mellem 16 og 71 år.

A - Z ~ EXTRA A for Age

      Mange dage i april skrev jeg om mine forfædre under temaet Resilience . Det blev ikke til ret meget om blomster og træer, og jeg er faktisk ikke helt færdig med de der forfædre endnu. Og det her er kun på engelsk, undskyld., Dansk version følger senere i dag.

A - Z

  Many of the days of April I wrote of Ancestors, I did not write much of flowers and trees, and I am not quite done with those ancestors yet.

A for Age.

Did people really die that young in the days of old?
Are my great-great ... grandparents exceptional when reaching 70 and more years of age?


If you look at my post Numbers (I have inserted the relevant page here belov) you'll find 6 who died at an age between 74 and 80, and there are 3 more 70 or more. And this is quite an average page from the church register of Ulse parish. It seems we were wrong in presuming this.

Our error - mine too before looking in all those church registers - is equalling the average age with the expected age. Stillborn babies, and those many, many children dying before their five year's birthday, makes for an average age of 45 or something like it. (In 1900 it was 50 according to the statistical bureau of Denmark). But this does emphatically not mean that everybody dropped dead at 50 or below or that people were old and decrepit when they reached 40 years of age (as in Clan of the Cavebear). Let's crunch some numbers.

First that page from the church register once again:
6 highlighted and three more over 70, but outside my "field of interest" No surely everybody does not drop dead at the average age.

Then I wrote down the age of all the dead persons - four whole years in this register. The result looks like this ('' means stillborn).

I did the same for 50 years later; the four years 1845-48, and 50 later once again for 1895 to 1898.
Then I made me a small program and did some maths. The results are as follows:

Ages in Ulse Parish:

The third column tells you how may years a person could expect to live upon obtaining that age.

At birth in 1795-98 a newborn in Ulse could only expect to live for an average of 25 years, But if the infant survived those first five years, the life expectancy rose to 57,2 years, and upon reaching 15 years of age, the young person could look forward to celebrating his or her 71st birthday.

NB: These numbers should be taken with a heaped spoonful of salt, as they are a very small sample from a very small parish. But still, as I read on an official site that the live expectancy for a newborn Dane in 1900 was 50 years, which fits my Ulse number for 1895-1898, it might not be that far off the mark. 

A for Age.

Imagine your family magically transported back to Ulse in 1795. How many of you, your spouses and children would be alive?

Remember no antibiotics, no appendectomies, no caesarians, no help if the merl pit fell on you or the horse tossed you, or you were scalded by water or fire (a painful and slow way to die). An infected wound or pneumonia ... in short anything where you were taken to the ER, had an intervention or antibiotics would probably have killed you.

I begin:
Instead of being a 61 years old mother of 1 girl, 5 boys and grandmother of 2, I would not have been typing these lines. My husband would have been a widower (probably re-married), and neither kids, nor grandkids would have existed.
Four years more than the average would have been allotted me - I would actually have been one of the atypical ones dying after 16 and before 71.