Three weeks later: no clock, but I figured out the family roots in Norway.

My great-grandfather Christian (emigrated to Wisconsin) is not pictured among the nine Wichstrom children pictured who, with their parents, who stayed in Norway.  The parents, Niels Peter Wichstrom and his wife, Lise, are seated at the table.  No doubt they had to all keep still for the long camera exposure.

I removed the bust of Bob because glancing that direction for the time was unsettling without the familiar clock.  The day after I took the clock to the repairman, he phoned and promised to clean the works.  Did I want him to phone at each stage of his repairs?  Thinking that I had to have the clock asap I incorrectly said no.  Now, three weeks later, still no clock.  Probably he is fixing the clock of someone who cares enough to chat about his work.

Bob (the real one) has been in touch with our relatives in Oslo and in Vang, Norway.  We will eat in Oslo in three weeks, or so, with one of Kjell Nielsen’s sons.  Kiel was in the same generation as my mother, all descended from Peter Wichstrom.  Peter (1) begat Niels Peter (2), who begat Christian August (3), who begat Ellen Margaret (4), who begat Helen Margaret (5), who begat Daniel Robert (6), who begat Robert Joseph (7), who begat Olivia Quinn (8).  We last three named will meet up with Kjell Nielsen’s son.  The second guy named, Nils Peter (seated at the table in the photo above), had a lot of children with Lise Nielsen.  Eleven.  They were, or gave rise to, actors, sailors, bankers, lawyers, carpenters, store-keepers, scientists, policemen, and writers.  They helped populate Oslo.

Kjell was also descended from Peter (1),  who begat, etc., Niels Peter (2), Marie Antoinette Oline, (3) and Margarethe Nielsen (4), and Kjell (5).