A Little About Me and This Blog

Hello there! My name is Ian. I'm a Norwegian-American who likes to write books, (like my novel attempting to create a mythological retelling of Norse Britain), and other things, (like my global culture and news blog, The Daily Lyre).

I also like to learn Turkish and listen to way more Turkish and Middle-Eastern music than is acceptable for an American in a rural state, and spend a lot of my time studying that region (I'm even looking into teaching English there currently).

My beloved Turkish saz

This is me.

I like to keep it classy.

And this is where I live : Bangor, Maine, in the northernmost state in the continental U.S, just south of Canada:

Facing Canada. 'S just away there yonder beyond those mountains...'Bout a couple hundred miles or so.

Although really, it looks more like this right now, just as winter is finishing up having its way with us: 

In the 19th century, we used to be famous as the shipping point for a lot of the world's lumber, but since the boom times ended over a hundred years ago, now we're mostly just famous for being the hometown of Stephen King (who is, stereotypically enough for Mainers, one of my favorite authors and people in existence).

Stephen King's home, our claim to fame. (Credits: Julia Ess, Wikipedia)

I love living in Maine for any number of reasons, but mostly because of how close it makes me feel to my Norwegian-American heritage. Maine tends to have long winters, as Norway does (though nowhere near as extreme, I'm guessing), and, like Norway, is also mostly rugged rural territory, with the vast majority of the state being only woods, farmland, mountains, hills, and small towns. We also have a thriving sea food culture on the coast that has given us something of a reputation.

Coastal Maine in all its glory! Taken at Acadia National Park.

Yep.  Pretty much the exact same thing.

But most of all, I feel close to my roots here because of Vinland.

As well as being the closest state to Norway itself geographically, Maine is just south of Vinland (hence my clever little blog title), where America was first settled by the Norse explorer Leif Eirikson.

A recreated Viking longhouse in L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada. A.k.a., Vinland. (Credits: D.Gordon E.Robertson, Wikipedia)

Which is important, 'cause Maine has never been a popular place for Norwegians or Norwegian-Americans to settle, for whatever reason (strangely enough, we have a thriving Swedish-American culture in Northern Maine, however). As a result, since my family moved here from New York fifty or so years ago, a lot of our Norwegian traditions have more or less died out, or are in the process of doing so.

In the past year, however, I've a great deal of my time attempting to salvage what I can for future generations.

Which brings me to this blog. 

 I've more or less started it to both give me an outlet to write about my life here, and also to connect with my heritage, and maybe provide some useful resources for others. To that end, I'll be writing here at least once a day (and more when I can spare it), to write about anything and everything to do with Norway and Norwegian-Americans, from Norsk history to recipes, to cultural tidbits, and maybe even language lessons (I'm still learning Norwegian, but it would be a good way to motivate myself at least).

Random Maine coastal shot!

Annnnndddd....I think that 'bout covers everything. I'll be updating here everyday here with more stuff soon.
Thanks for checking out my humble blog!