a norski & some flowers

The tulips are in full bloom around the capitol building right now, they're absolutely beautiful. In years past the city used to dig up the bulbs at the end of their growing season to give them away for free - they were all scooped up pretty quickly, as you can imagine.

And who is this stately figure keeping guard over the pink tulips? It's none other than Hans Christian Heg, a Norwegian immigrant who led the 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Regiment during the Civil War (also known as the 'Scandinavian Regiment' because nearly all of its soldiers were Norwegians.) How do I know so much about this guy? Shameless plug: because my father-in-law wrote the book, literally, about Heg and it's available on Amazon! (This one is for you, Steve!)