June 7, 2008 Fortsat fra sidste side ~ Continued from last page Dansk tekst til venstre English text on the right Dagens baghave: Backyard of the Day: Walnut Grove, Redwood County, Minnesota Walnut Grove is located along Highway 14 in Redwood County in southwestern Minnesota.   Vi fortsatte vestover (nej, ikke i prærievogn!) til Walnut Grove, hvor Ingalls-familien boede fra 1874 til 1879, kun afbrudt af tiden i Burr Oak. Der er ikke meget tilbage fra Ingalls-tiden, der er autentisk, så Laura Ingalls Wilder museet her består mest af nye bygninger, der er eksempler på, hvordan forskellige typiske bygninger så ud på Ingalls-familiens tid. We continued westover (no, not by prairie wagon!) to Walnut Grove, where the Ingalls family lived from 1874 to 1879, interrupted only by the time in Burr Oak. Not much of authenticity is left from the time of the Ingalls', so the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum here consists mostly of new buildings that are examples of how buildings typically looked at the time.     Walnut Grove Station ~ Walnut Grove Depot     Det "lille røde skolehus" ~ The "little red schoolhouse"       Yankee Doodle April

Flere prærieblomster ~ More prairie flowers       De har bygget en meget "civiliseret" udgave af Ingalls-familiens tørvehus her. I modsætning til det oprindelige er der brugt stål i konstruktionen og tre af væggene er pudset. They've built a very "civilized" edition of the Ingalls family's sod house here. In contrast to the original they have used steel to reinforce it and three of the walls have been plastered.

Dette hus ligner det, Charles Ingalls byggede, men dette tilhørte ikke Ingalls-familien, det tilhørte deres naboer Eleck og Olena Nelson. This house resembles the one built by Charles Ingalls, but this one belonged not to the Ingalls family, but to their neighbors Eleck and Olena Nelson.   På trods af, at det er mere rummeligt, består huset stadig kun af to rum, et køkken med stue og et soveværelse. In spite of being more spacious, the house still consists of only two rooms, a kitchen with living room and a bedroom.   "Laura spurgte ham, 'Skal vi have et hus, der er lavet af brædder?' 'Ja, lille sludrehoved,' sagde far. 'Vi skal have et helt hus bygget af savede brædder. Og det skal have glasvinduer!' Det var virkelig sandt. Den næste morgen kom Hr. Nelson for at hjælpe far, og de begyndte at udgrave kælderen til det hus. De skulle have det vidunderlige hus, bare fordi hveden voksede." "Laura asked him, 'Are we going to have a house made of boards?' 'Yes, flutterbudget,' said Pa. 'We're going to have a whole house built of sawed lumber. And it's going to have glass windows!' It was really true. Next morning Mr. Nelson came to help Pa, and they began digging the cellar for that house. They were going to have that wonderful house, just because the wheat was growing."     Der er en æbleskivepande udstillet i Olena Nelsons køkken. Bemærk at æbleskiver er beskrevet som "danske kugle-pandekager", og at der i opskriften står, at "navnet får folk til at tro, der er skiver af æbler indeni, og det passer også, hvis man kommer skiver af æbler i." Hvaff'no'et? There's a Danish æbleskive pan on exhibit in Olena Nelson's kitchen. Note that æbleskiver are described as "Danish ball pancakes", and that the recipe says that "the name makes people believe that there are slices of apples inside, which is correct if you put apple slices inside." Say what???

De følgende avisnotitser om Marys sygdomsforløb - sandsynligvis med skarlagensfeber - stammer fra Ingalls-familiens tid i Walnut Grove: "5/5/1879. Frk. Mary Ingalls, datter af C. P. Ingalls, herfra, har været meget syg et stykke tid, men man mener at hun er i langsom bedring." "15/5/1879. Frk. Mary Ingalls ligger stadig i sengen, og til tider er hendes lidelse stor." "26/6/1879. Frk. Mary Ingalls' helbred er i fremgang, men hendes syn er så svækket at hun ikke kan kende forskel på ting. Hun kan se forskel på dag og nat, men selv denne smule syn er ved at svigte hende." "31/7/1879. Hr. og Fru C. P. Ingalls har planer om at tage deres datter Mary med til St. Paul om kort tid, i håb om, at de kan få noget gjort ved hendes syn. På trods af, at hun er fuldstændig blind, er hun meget tålmodig og føjelig." Mary fik aldrig sit syn igen. Hun endte med at gå et år på blindeskole, hvorefter hun flyttede hjem til sine forældre. Laura sagde om hende, at selv efter hun blev blind, havde hun altid travlt med mange gøremål, og at hun stadig syede den allerfineste søm. The following news excerpts about Mary's bout with - most probably - scarlet fever are from the Ingalls family's time in Walnut Grove: "5/5/1879. Miss Mary Ingalls, daughter of C. P. Ingalls, of this place, has been quite ill for sometime but is thought to be slowly recovering." "5/15/1879. Miss Mary Ingalls is still confined to her bed, and at times her sufferings are great." "6/26/1879. Miss Mary Ingalls health improves, but her sight is so much impaired that she cannot distinguish one object from another. She can discern day from night but even this slight vision is also failing." "7/31/1879. Mr. and Mrs. C. P. Ingalls are expecting to take their daughter Mary to St. Paul in a short time, in hopes that they can have something done for her eye sight. Although entirely blind she is very patient and submissive." Mary never regained her sight. She eventually went to a blind school for a year, and then returned to live with her parents. Laura said about her that even after she went blind she kept busy with many activities, and that she could still sew the very finest of seams.     Og en sidste avis notits, da Ingalls-familien rejste fra Walnut Grove: "8/9/1879. Fru C. P. Ingalls og familie tog afsted til Dakota på lørdagens passagertog vestpå. Hun tager ud for at slutte sig til sin mand, som arbejder på Chicago & Dakota jernbanen vest for Lake Benton. Det er synd at miste dem, men vort tab kommer dem til gode." And a last news clipping, when the Ingalls family left Walnut Grove: "9/8/1879. Mrs. C. P. Ingalls and family started for Dakota on Saturday's western bound passenger train. She goes to rejoin her husband who is at work on the Chicago & Dakota R. R. west of Lake Benton. We are sorry to lose them but what is our loss is their gain."     Vi fulgte fluks Ingalls-familien til South Dakota, og undervejs kom vi på den lille by Tyler, som tilsyneladende også er fuld af dansk-amerikanere. Ud over dette skilt så den nu ikke særlig dansk ud, men strategisk anbragte plakater forsikrede os om, at de holder en stor æbleskive festival i slutningen af juli. Vi immediately followed the Ingalls family to South Dakota, and on our way we came across the small town of Tyler, which apparently is also full of Danish-Americans. Aside from this sign it didn't look so very Danish, but posters in strategic places assured us that they have an æbleskive festival in the end of July.

Camping/Boondocking Information We're camped at the D & D RV Park in DeSmet, South Dakota for the night. This is a charming RV park, and we are paying $20.00 for the night for water and electric. Facilities: Restrooms Showers Picnic tables Cable Fishing pond   More Ingalls Family Information Here More Minnesota Travel Information Here A BIT EARLIER TOMORROW