Where the Tree came from

When I was very young we lived on a farm in northern North Dakota. On the west side of our farm a wonderful Tree grew that reached so far into the sky, no one could ever climb to the top of it.

I would lay in the lush green grass that grew around the Tree and dream of climbing it. I knew if I could reach the top of the Tree I would be able to step off into heaven or at least into the giant land of Jack and the Beanstock.

As my Dad milked the cows on that North Dakota farm my brother (my sister wasn't born yet) and I would listen to him tell us stories about outlaws like Jesse James and wild horses in Montana.

And scattered through these tales he would tell us about Thor and Odin and a wonderful Tree that grew in the middle of Middle Earth. Later I found that the name of that Tree was Yggdrasil.

I also loved the parts that had horses that flew through the storm-laten skies. We had wonderful towering storm clouds in North Dakota, too. We also had big draft horses on our farm but more about them later.

From these beginnings began a lifetime of reading, drawing, studying and talking about Scandinavian Mythology.

It looks like it's going to be fun to go back and remember how all these things started for me - I'll post new material a couple times a week. Hope it will be fun for you, too.