Critter Sitter's Blog: Athelstan

Friday, March 27, 2015

Busey Family and Vikings Spoiler

I awoke feeling completely energized this morning, which is totally strange, because I didn't go to bed until 2:30 this morning, and hopped up when the alarm went off at 6. During my sleep, I dreamed constantly of two characters on Vikings, Athelstan and Floki; but I can't figure out why I awoke with Hank Williams' original rendition of "Jambalaya" playing continuously in my brain. I know my brain works on various levels, but I just can't connect an English monk, a Viking shipwright, and the bayou togeth... Ah. I think I've got the connection. A wandering Viking visited Ragnar in last night's episode and told him how to find the mouth of the Seine.... OK. I can accept that.... And two plus hours of Vikings last night - including Athelstan's Journal - it was a fantastic treat!
If you didn't see Vikings last night, and will see it before next week - don't read anymore of today's blog - it'll be a spoiler for you - just be sure you view all two hours that aired last night. Athelstan has been torn between two cultures and two beliefs, since his abduction by Ragnar. This comes to an end in this episode - and Floki, too, has a vision. The handling of Athelstan's religion and views on his friend (first his owner) Ragnar have been handled deftly in this series - the meeting of two inquiring and curious minds discussing beliefs has been understated, yet strikingly portrayed. It is clear that both men have influenced each other. Floki, the shipwright, on the other hand, believes in the Old Gods completely and he frequently acts under their influence. He takes Athelstan's life in this episode, something that I have been expecting since the early shows of the second season... They are both too different, and Floki does not accept the change that Athelstan represents. And it seems that Athelstan expects, and even welcomes, Floki's final intrusion into his home. Floki manages to enter and exit Kattegat without being seen, so the death of the Englishman cannot be laid at his feet. Ragnar then buries Athelstan in the place where the priest taught him to recite the Lord's Prayer. It was very fitting. So was Ragnar's request that Athelstan forgive him for what he would do in the future, while wearing the golden cross that Athelstan had worn.
I also ran across an intriguing item listed under a cousin's name last night (Matthew Logan Busey)... I found a page under The Busey Family Organization, located in Fort Lauderdale Florida that was titled: "Unorthodox: Who Are We? Really?" The Organization can be visited at: http://busey.org and the page I'm quoting from may be viewed, in its entirety, at http://www.busey.org/unorthodox/index.html The part that I found very interesting was near the end: Sometimes we discover something unpleasant. Like I wonder what economic hardships caused two of my great-grand-fathers to put bullets into their own heads? If times were so hard, why did they figure that taking out the chief breadwinner was going to help the family? The women were pretty strong in those days, and maybe those guys realized it.
Or what about another great-grandfather who died all by himself, thousands of miles from his wife and children? "Sir, I have the honor to report that the name of the above-described pensioner who was last paid $30, to Sept. 4, 1915 has this day been dropped from the roll because of " . . . and there is blank filled in with that word . . . "death."
Why, when Matthew Logan Busey had applied on 15 January 1898 for a pension to the Department of the Interior, as a Civil War veteran, did he first tell the examiner that he was a widower? Only to change his mind and to have had that line crossed out? Did he temporarily not know or not want to believe that his wife was doing quite well, that she had packed up the kids and crossed the continent to start a new life? This may have been a family secret, but I'm only revealing what is published for the world in the National Archives.
I feel deeply the pain of these people long gone. I wonder what was going on in their minds. Did they have the luxury of time to think about where they were going? Were they locked into a society that had fewer choices than today? I doubt that they had mental health counseling. A part of me wants to relive those lives, to see if there's some way we can fix it for them posthumously.
So, what's the point?
1. The first thing is obvious, that genealogy is mostly about dead people.
2. That proves the next thing, that life is relatively short.
3. Next thing is, since everybody dies, it doesn't matter who you are or where you came from.
4. Which brings us back to #2, which is that it's all what you make of life. "
Guess I'll need to keep digging!

Friday, April 18, 2014

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Vikings Scenes - Season 2

Taken from the History Channel website for the second season of Vikings
(http://www.history.com/shows/vikings/pictures):

King Horik, Floki, and Ragnar Lodbrok

Jarl Borg of Gotland

Rollo is fogiven by his brother Ragnar

Athelstan takes part in his first battle as a Viking free man

King Ecbert of Wessex

Athelstan, Floki and Bishop Swithin in Winchester

Ragnar and Floki in Wessex

Ragnar reunites with son Bjorn and Lagertha

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Vikings - Season Two

The History Channel will run a 9-hour Marathon of the first season of Vikings this afternoon. This is to let us refresh our memories of last spring's shows, and to get us fans primed and ready to see the second season, which begins tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to seeing each and every episode!