January - here I come!

I have ordered my tickets.


It started out with two weeks off work to visit
my family in America - a little granddaughter
to be born in the beginning of January and the
granddaughter's parents.

Living in Norway without many of my books and files,
I have decided to send some more of them to Norway.
To do that, I will visit my second country for a week,
before going to America.

That means I will use three weeks of my
vacation for 2009, already in January.

The song about Norway, around forty years ago

Hasse and Tage were some wonderful Swedish
comedians. I remember them with a smile.

In yesterday's Norwegian newspaper I read
part of a satirical song called "Norgesvisan"
they performed around forty years ago.
I googled it and found the whole text, but here
are the four lines cited in the newspaper:

Man borde ge en riktig smäll åt Norge som nation,
för att dom har så fula fjäll och taskig folkpension.
Dom gör ju inga bilar och cyklarna är kass
och deras ende store skald, han heter Peter Dass.

Some explanations seen with my eyes:

This is written at the time Sweden was
the richer "brother" - Stora bror.
Swedish money was worth more than
Norwegian money.
Swedish industry was more developed than
Norwegian industry.
Sweden produced both Volvo and Saab cars.
Norway produced bicycles.
Norway once tried to produce a car named Troll,
without success.
Peter Dass was a priest and poet who lived from
1646 or 1647 to 1707.
Dass is a rather vulgar Swedish word for an outhouse,
a primitive toilet.


A very free translation:
We ought to give Norway a blow in the face
because their ugly mountains and their old age without grace.
They don't produce cars, and bad bikes are not for us,
and their only big poet - his name was Peter Dass.

Being half Norwegian, half Swedish,
I remember when Norway was the "little
brother "- Lilla bror.

And then came the oil......

Good News: New Glasses

Thank you!

" Courage is not the absence of fear,
but rather the judgement that something
else is more important than fear."

Ambrose Redmoon

A roundtrip?

In January my plan is to go to Chicago to visit
my son and daughter-in-law, and the little baby
that should have arrived by then.
It looks like a little girl.

As I started to look around for tickets for that trip,
I also started to phantasize about visiting
my second country for a week.
I was actually dreaming of doing this between
Christmas and New Year when we work
some of the days, but it turned out I would only
get a clear yes or no in a month's time,
and that is too late for ordering tickets.

So then came the new phantasy:
Doing a roundtrip!
One week in my second country and
straight on from there for two weeks in
the States.
That would mean three weeks of my annual vacation
time for 2009.

I hope that within this coming week I will have
the definite answer if this dream can come true.

In the States I am visiting three persons, all
living in the same apartment.

In my second country there are many friends
in many different places, so I know I can only visit
some of them within one week.
I am working on that list.....

I hope this roundtrip works out, because I miss
my friends.

Simplicity

I appreciate Jerry feeding me with some good quotes.

"Simplicity is an exact medium between
too little and too much."

Sir Joshua Reynolds

Loneliness and Solitude

" Language. . .
has created the word "loneliness"
to express the pain of being alone.
And it has created the word "solitude"
to express the glory of being alone."


( Paul Tillich )

Made in the USA with Norwegian Parts

We still do not know if the little baby to be born
in the States in the beginning of January will be
a boy or a girl, but this cute handmade sweater
and matching socks should fit.
My friend H. knitted this.
It was a wonderful surprise!
After I received this, my mother found some
matching mittens too.



The white small Vs on the sweater are called "lus"
in Norwegian; lice(!) in English.

The headline refers to one of the products geared at
Americans with Norwegian roots.
It turns out there are quite a few!
Both products and Norwegian-Americans.

Urtehagen (The Herb Garden) in Rygge in the end of October

Welcome into the world of plants for an experience
of fragrances and quietness, says the sign at the entrance.



Visiting Urtehagen (The Herb Garden) on
Pålsrød farm is something I occassionally do.



Summertime is for me the ultimate season
in Norway and in this herb garden.
But last Sunday with my mother and
a friend from Oslo was special in itself.
Autumn is here.
Winter is close.



One can only be gratedul that a private person ,
Anne Sofie Pålsrød, will share this wonderful corner
with the general public.




The herbs themselves are preparing for winter.
Welcome back in the spring!

This Herb Garden's homepage is in Norwegian
http://www.urtehagen.no/

Art exhibition in Son: Part Two

Tommy Blom, born 1966, presents some of
his art work at Rammemakeriet in Son
this month.


Here are three of his pictures I particularly liked.



After chosing them without thinking why,
I wondered if my choice had something to do
with my interest in genealogy.

You start out with an unknown "shell",
and as you proceed, the persons you find
come out of that shell,
growing taller and taller.
But still needing more work to become
individuals.

Art Exhibition in Son: Part One

A friend brought me to this house in Son,
a little north of Moss.
Son prides itself in being
"The-Place-Without-Mondays".


From the sign in front of the white house,
I could see that this was both a place
to frame your art work and to enjoy -
hopefully - the art presented there.


Inside the cosy room wished us welcome
to the present exhibition of artist
Tommy Blom from nearby Rygge.

Lutefisk

Lutefisk is now served at my local cafe.
I must have eaten this Norwegian fish dish
back in my childhood.
But fact is that the name itself - lutefisk - doesn't
sound pleasant to my ears.
I have seriously considered ordering lutefisk
at that cafe, or even trying to make it at home.
At least in theory.
I mean, I am here to rediscover Norway.

Today I found a text on the internet that
1. made me smile, chuckle, laugh, laugh out loud
2. made me decide that lutefisk is not something I will eat

Sorry!
But if you want to laugh, read this
http://www.davethefox.com/words/0112lutefisk.htm

Checking Images on Google, you will find some
humorous versions tucked inbetween the photos
of plates with lutefisk.
Enjoy!

A tiny bit of snow

After last Wednesday's shortlived snow,
and after talking to a friend who loves snow,
and knowing that I myself fancy snow from a distance,
and that Moss has very little snow,
I thought about Denmark.
Denmark!
They have very little snow too.
Perhaps like Moss?

I have already mentioned Piet Hein,
a Dane who wrote wonderful short poems.
Poems he called "gruk".

One of his gruks is called Dansk vintersport.

The Danish version is of course perfect,
but here comes a simple homespun version
by a non-poet like myself.

Danish Wintersport.
Written when the first snow fell

The first snowflake I can see,
then number two, then number three.
Fast by the door, my skis and me.
Oh, wintersport, this year to be?
And as the tenth flake falls - yes, please!
I hurry out to use my skis.