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!

Scenes from Vikings

King Aelle with King Ecbert, at right

Athelstan in Winchester

Lagertha, now a Jarl herself

Floki

One-eyed Odin with his two ravens, Huginn (Thought) and Muninn (Memory)

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

Pirates Coves, Gold, Floki, a Nanny

Dutchman's Cove, in Castletownsend, County Cork, Ireland had stairs leading down to the waterline, as well as carved niches to hold lanterns or torches for night lading

Steps cut into the rock at Gokane headland, Crookhaven, West Cork, Ireland lead to an underground cavern where ships could hide

One of multiple cans containing gold coins from the Gold Rush years in California.  A couple's dog found them buried in tree roots on their property.

Gustav Skarsgard (Floki) makes a face at breakfast during the second season of filming Vikings in Ireland.

A donkey serves as a nanny for young lambs in Lombardy, Italy

Pirates and Vikings

I just started the second book of a trilogy by Robin Hobb.  The Liveship Traders is the name of the trilogy, and it's made up of Ship of Magic, The Mad Ship, and Ship of Destiny.  If you enjoy well-written fantasy, multiple characters, pirates, sailing, ships, dragons, sea serpents, and romance and adventure, then this series was written for you.  I admit the Prologue intrigued me, but the first chapter seemed dreary; then the entire story line came into view, and I was hooked.  This is a super group of books, and Robin Hobb is an excellent, and prolific, writer.
  With Mom growing up on Chincoteague Island, and Dad serving in the US Navy, and with me spending my summers on the island while growing up, I've always been drawn to pirates and pirate stories.  There have been stories of pirate treasure being buried on Assateague Island since the mid-1600s.  It was rumored that Blackbeard, Edward Teach, left treasure on or near Assateague (which is the island next to Chincoteague) - and treasure hunters have dug all over both islands and any long-lived "tumps" nearby.  It was also rumored that a few families along the Eastern Shore made their spending money by pirating, but also had the family farm along the creek to keep up appearances they were honest, hard-working citizens.
  In any event, it was due to this that a new news article caught my eye this morning - "new" evidence of 17th-century Irish pirating, near the southwest coast of Munster.  The evidence has been there, in plain sight, all along, but it took an archeologist's eye and experience to prove it.  Almost invisible stairs cut into sheer cliffs in two coves show where both smuggling and pirating activities took place.  Dutchman's Cove at Castletownsend, County Cork, and the Gokane headland at Crookhaven, West Cork, have been examined, and the archeologists agree that both places were in use before and after the Dutch shattered the Irish pirates in 1614 (with the blessing of King James the First and Sixth).  Shades of  "The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh!"  I dearly loved Patrick McGoohan as the Vicar/Scarecrow in that Disney movie - his Scarecrow persona scared the daylights out of me, as a child.
  And, yesterday afternoon and evening, I had a magnificent time watching the 9-hour marathon of the first season of Vikings on the History Channel.  I fell in love with Floki in the first episode of the first season - Gustav Skarsgard brought a lot of the characteristics of Floki with him, and has really honed this character. Floki has a biting wit,  a love of women, enjoys good food, has an extensive knowledge of healing, and is an expert boat builder.  Floki "communes" with trees, and knows which ones will make an excellent keel, which to use as the figurehead, and which to use as the strakes.  Since he usually carries an axe, he seems to tilt to one side instead of standing upright.  He is loyal, honest, and giving to his friends.  He has "odd thoughts" that cause him to giggle at unusual times, and most people believe he has been "touched by the Gods."  In the preview for the new season that begins tonight, we see a battle, with Ragnar leading his men (including Floki) against warriors led by his brother Rollo.  One sees, for a moment, what appears to be Rollo striking a heavy blow, with an axe, onto Floki, and Floki falls.  I really hope that Floki does not die in this season - I look forward to his sly wit, giggles, and open honesty in dealing with his own feelings.  Gustav Skarsgard deserves year-round employment!

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!

Lagertha, Ragnar's first wife, is not happy when a second one appears

The season opens with a battle - does Floki survive?

Ragnar Lodbrok - how will two wives work?

Rollo, Ragnar's brother - he becomes the first "Nor'man" in France

Athelstan, the English monk, becomes a Viking warrior

Scenes from "Vikings" on History Channel

The new ocean-going ship built by Floki

 

Odin (or Wotan)

 

Floki, the ship-builder, Rollo, and Ragnar Lodbrok (left to right)

 

Ragnar's family: son Bjorn, wife Lagertha (a shield maiden), daughter Gyda; and Athelstan, an English monk from Lindisfarne, Ragnar's slave

 

Jarl (Earl) Haraldson and his wife, Siggy

 

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Thanks to the History Channel for the use of the above photographs.