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Bornholm is my ancestral homeland. It is an island located about 100 miles off the coast of Denmark in the Baltic Sea that is actually closer to Sweden than to Denmark.

an experiment

Jim Gaster is one of very few coopers in the US. He makes authentic oak buckets and other articles using simple hand tools. His works are in museums including the Smithsonian, displayed by famous venues like Disneyland and bought by motion picture production companies for films such as Seabiscuit and The Alamo.

Gaster is another resident of Indianola who has gained fame from his endeavors.

Indianola is a very small town in SW Nebraska. Its population has been 600 to 800 for nearly all the years since its founding in the 1870's. I have a very strong bond to it on my maternal side. My mother grew up there and my grandparents and great grandparents lives extend back to its founding.

Fascinating.  Its the word that best describes my thought about the number of visitors who have come to my website from other countries in the nearly 6 years since I created it. Why they come or under what kind of search is the heart of that question.

When I needed a name for the website all the names I thought of were already taken so I decided to create a name by simply putting letters together. Eventually, this somewhat random process resulted in the name - sondeau.

It never occurred to me or did it matter that sondeau might have a french connection as it were. Later, I would discover that there are a few people with that name but it doesn't appear that is a significant reason for visiting.

In contrast, my last name, Kjoller, is certainly a reason why Danes and other Scandinavians come to my website. For all others, I simply don't know.

Separately:

Some of the countries listed do not have the status as being fully independent in keeping with the definition but rather are protectorates or of a similar nature. For example, the Virgin Islands is roughly divided geographically into two parts - one is controlled by Great Britain and the other by the United States.

Also, In reference to where they are in the world, many of these countries are unfamiliar to me. As a consequence, I've taken to reading and learning various aspects of them. In its own way, the statistics software which presents information about my visitors has become an instrument, of sorts, to a geography and history lesson.