The Icelandic Canadian - 01.11.2007, Page 39

Vol. 61 #2
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
81
September 15th, 1894
Today was my birthday. I am twenty
six years old. We had a party. Our friends
and neighbors came over and we had klein-
ur and a cake made by Torey. It was deli-
cious! We all had a great time.
September 20th, 1894
I haven’t written for a while because I
haven’t been feeling very well, I have
decided to stay at Kristjon’s house until I
feel better so I don’t infect my wife. With a
baby it is very risky to get sick,you can not
only lose the baby, but also lose your life. I
hope to God Torey is all right. I am tired. I
am going to head over to Kristjon’s house
for a few nights. I shall come back during
the day or for the day, but I shall sleep at
Kristjon’s.
October 1st, 1894
I slept about three nights at Kristjon’s,
tried to work in the daytime but I was usu-
ally too weak. I was vomiting so harshly
the first night, Kristjon sent for a doctor in
the morning.The doctor said I only had the
common stomach flu and that it was smart
to stay away from everyone else. Kristjon
and May didn’t mind. At least that’s what
they told me. Today we sawed another
couple of cords of wood between the three
of us. I have noticed the temperature start
to really drop lately.
October 28 th, 1894
Nothing too eventful except snow. It
snowed last night a bit and it melted again
this morning. I think it’s time we started
saving the extra cord of wood per day. We
will need timber for burning in the winter.
It is nearly a year since we arrived; the
things we have gotten are wonderful. We
built a house and a barn, and a fence too.
We have a nice yard and two families of
wonderful friends. It was hard to clear the
land at first - the three of us men, Kristjon,
Halldor, and I cleared the majority of it
together. Since I was first to the area I
cleared almost half my land by myself.
November 18th, 1894
Today is the anniversary of my first
entry in this journal. We held a party and
invited Halldor, Torey, Kristjon and May.
We must have stayed up half the night, it
was a joyous occasion. We sang, played
cards, talked and ate. I enjoyed myself very
much! There is a lot of snow on the
ground, about five inches.
December 1st, 1894
The blizzard we didn’t want came last
night. There are snowdrifts up onto the
barn, up over the house and even onto and
around the fences! We had to dig our way
out of the house this morning so it’s easy to
imagine how much snow we got!
December 21st, 1894
It is nearing Christmas, f>orey has
made soap for Kristjon and May, and I
have made a basket of willow bark for
Halldor and Torey. We hope they like it.
We would very much like to get together to
celebrate. Christmas is a time we hold very
dear, and it is important that we keep it
alive in our hearts.
December 25th, 1894
Christmas is here. This afternoon we
went over to Halldor and Torey’s. Kristjon
and May came too, we gave our gifts away
and the receivers were overjoyed. We were
given soap and a basket of kleinur. It was a
very nice afternoon; We had coffee and
kleinur and talked up a storm. Torey is
nearly ready to give birth. We expect the
baby to come any day now.
December 27th, 1894
Today I became a father. Torey gave
birth to a healthy baby boy without inci-
dent. We have named him Gudmundur. In
a few years he will be a great help to me. In
the upcoming years he will keep Torey
occupied while I work. We didn’t have to
get the doctor, as the midwife, Jakoblna
GIslason, lives one mile away. This has
been an eventful year full of wonderful sur-
prises and we look forward to our life in
this new land.
Editor’s Note - This story was written
by Kristian Vigfusson of Arborg,
Manitoba. It was an assignment in Mr.
Nelson Gerrard's Grade 11 English Class