Annoyed
This the entrance to “my” woods at the moment. It is representative of most of the Planet Ann Arbor. It is not spring here. It is Construction Season. That is all I will say about that. Actually, a bunch of Haisley parents improved the woods last weekend by spreading some new wood chips on the very beaten down path. I appreciate their efforts. I just hope they put enough wood chips down on the wet parts of the path. But whatever, I know that wee little woods well enough that I can bypass the puddles when I have to.
Have I mentioned Levi? He is the new and very good doggy across the street. He is a golden retriever who has been “rescued” from a home with a large family. He was loved and taken care of there but that family was too busy to spend as much time with him as he needed. My neighbors can and he is a wonderful dog.
So now I am getting spam email messages from “Finn”. I’m not sure why (actually I do know why) but it got me thinking about how many times in my life people have pegged me as a “Finn” as in “of Finnish heritage”. I get annoyed when someone lumps me in with people of Finnish heritage, because I don’t share that wonderful heritage, as far as I know. I certainly don’t celebrate St. Urho’s Day except when my Finnish facebook/childhood friends post about it. As far as I know, I am Scottish, Irish, English, Welsh, and German. A mixed bag of British stuff plus a bit of German. I would fit in perfectly with Shameless. Now, did the Vikings rape and pillage Scotland? And do I have some Scandihoovian blood in me? Maybe. But I’m not quiiiite ready to do Ancestry.com yet. Do I want to know? I am not sure.
People sometimes lump me in with the Finnish folks (or Scandinavian in general) for a couple of reasons. One is that the first syllable of my simple three-syllable name is “Fin”. Add “lay” and “son”. What a simple [long] name for a kindergarten kid to learn and I do remember learning my name and noting that it was actually three words. Another is that I have blonde hair. Or did when I was a kid, which is how a lot of facebook friends remember me. I love that they think that I am Finnish (and maybe I am) but the first three letters of my name don’t [necessarily] connect me to the modern country of Finland.
It is only Wednesday but it has been such a brutal week already that I feel like it is Friday except that I am not walking downtown to the blasted Oscar Tango.
Love you all,
Kayak Woman
April 20th, 2016 at 9:24 pm
I think I forgot to tell you about my friend from college who is married to a Finnish woman; for some reason the family name came up, and he (and his wife) were both really impressed (know of course that we are not Finnish) — Finlayson is a VERY well to do name in Finland business-wise, textile manufacturers. Of course, given this Wikipedia article maybe we are connected: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finlayson_(company)
April 20th, 2016 at 9:24 pm
*”‘knowing’ of course” not “‘know’ of course” in the above comment.
April 20th, 2016 at 11:17 pm
Depending on how Scottish you are, you are very likely Scandinavian. My dad was, and has no ties to Scandinavia except that he is 70% Great Britain, and 19% or so Irish. Those Vikings really got around.
April 21st, 2016 at 7:08 am
spring is upon us! the flowering trees are all coming out now – one of my fav times to be in town.
and St. Urho’s day!! loved celebrating that at Michigan Tech. of course, we didn’t really need an excuse to drink a beer… or two.
April 21st, 2016 at 10:08 am
I thought you are Scandinavian, I thought you must be Finnish Racial Profiling practices would have you pegged as Nordic. Look around the UP and you’ll see many people appear to have similar heritage. Bet you never noticed huh? Ha-ha-hah. Dales family, Uncle Terry and both their parents were like this, their paetnts told me they were Irish with a wee bit of Scotch in them then they laughed. White hair round face with a round nose and red in some face areas, blue eyes. Anyway I like the look. As for the yellow plastic caution tape on the gate…cot it down…its garish color is an eyesore, isn’t it? Don’t really do it since you could get in trouble for that.