Bakgrunn. Background.

My father Sivert was born in September 1918 in Grimsvika - Foldfjorden. His parents was Ragna Tomine and Gunnar Ulfsnes. When Sivert was three years old their home burnt down. Ragna and Gunnar then had Sivert, his sister Beret, his brother Asbjørn, and the babysister Alfhild. Sivert was sent to his grandaunt Karen and her husband Nikolai at Bjøringen to stay there. Somehow Sivert remains at Bjøringen. He is never moving back to Foldfjorden to his family. His parents becomes Karen and Nikolai, and he loves them both very much. Karen and Nikolai dont get any children of their own, so Sivert is raised as their son, and ment to take over the farm when he is grown up.
Sivert grows up at Bjøringen together with Karen and Sivert, and the son of the servant Signe who also lives there. His name is Ivar. Later on Ivar gets a sister Jane, but she is much younger than Sivert and Ivar. Ivar is mentally retarded and becomes very much Sivert and his wife Helgas responsobility for the years to come. Ivar lived until 2004 and was pretty much like a brother for my father.

My father had a good life at Bjøringen, even though he wanted very much to go away to get an education. Nikolai encouraged him to, but Karen treathned to die if he did, so he didnt feel he had much choice. In 1947 he married Helga Thevik from Aure, and she moved to Bjøringen to live with him, and raise a family. Karen as we children called Lalla was a rather bitter woman. She was forced by her father to marry Nikolai. Her great love, who I dont know his name,  moved to USA and she had planned to go with him when her father fetched her at the harbour in Trondheim. Then she was married to Nikolai and moved to Bjøringen. My grandparents at Aure knew this story, and also knew she was a very strict and difficult woman who not always treated Nikolai in a good way so they were not to happy about their belowed daughter moving to Bjøringen. They also knew Nikolai as a very kind and gentle man and hoped he would take care of their daughter together with her husband. And Nikolai always were very kind to my mother. Karen didnt like her much, and she treated her rather bad. Even when I was I child I noticed Karen beeing very rude to my mother. Karen lived until she was 90 years old and my mother took care of her. Karen turned blind when she was about 75 years old, so it was quite a job to take care of the "old bat".
My father had sporades contact with his real parents too, and I got to know my grandparents  Ragna and Gunnar. We didnt meet often, I think I met my grandfather three or four times. He died when I was 5 years old. I met my grandmother a little more than that, but I didnt know her for real. Karen was my grandmother, and even though she was rude and not kind to my mother, she was very kind to me. She was a frightening woman, and now and then when she didnt get her way she was dying. She said she was ill and shouted for Jesus, "I'm dying, I'm dying". My father and Nikolai escaped from the house into the forest and left the furious "bat", and left the problem to my mother and my sister and my brothers. Who got really scared about the shouting and yelling from the old woman.
It was a hard life at Bjøringen. They got their living from the farm, the see and the forest near by. They didnt get electrisity until 1954. And their first freezer, refrigerator and washing mashine many years later. Even when I was a little girl my mum used to do most of the cooking on the stove at the kitchen. She had a cooker but didnt use it much. It did cost money, and they had lots of woodvork but little money. My mother told me that one year, one winter the only income they had from the farm was kroner 3,50. About half a dollar on the whole winter. My father was working with construction projects, as a carpenter, as a teatcher besides the work at the farm to feed his family, Karen, Nikolai and everyone else who lived at the farm.
In 1958 Nikolai died from an heart attack and Karen became the owner of the farm. And whom my father was responsible to.

Quite a boss to get when you are 40 years old....  :-)