Back from England

Doors for learning.

This one in Rochester.

Doors for meeting people.

This one in Erith.

Doors both for learning and for meeting people.

This one in a small village in Kent.

Kate got a scarf from her Norwegian greatgrandmother

Off to London for a week

It was only tonight it became clear that Ryanair will fly to

London tomorrow morning.

After getting that message, I hurriedly packed my eight

kilos and hope I did not forget anything important.

PASSPORT

BOARDING CARD

MONEY

MY RESEARCH FILE

One can always buy clothes there, if it becomes important.

The volcano on Iceland hopefully will keep quiet enough

for us to get back and forth safely, and on time.

I am not bringing my laptop, so I will not see your emails

for the coming week.

See you!

Soon 15 months old

This holiday's calorie sin: The almond cake

I bought almond flour (grounded almonds) and decided

to make a cake without using any regular flour.

200 g of almond flour was mixed with 200 g of sugar.

4 eggwhites were whipped stiff and carefully mixed with

almond-sugar mix.

This batter was carefully placed in a round mould, and

then spent 40 minutes in the middle of the oven at 175

degrees Celsius.

Well out, I let it cool a little before decorating with

200 g of melted chocolate, adding a chocolate heart in

the middle and some hazelnuts around.

An electricity shock

The electricity bill for January and February has

been a real electrical shock.

I pay Fortum for what they call "electricity rent"

(nettleie) and Gudbrandsdal Energi for the actual

amount of electricity I use.

I have just analyzed this last bill.

January 2009 :

1891 kWh for the price of 49,85 oere/kWh

January 2010:

2530 kWh for the price of 53,92 oere/kWh

February 2009:

1774 kWh for the price of 44,39 oere/kWh

February 2010:

2190 kWh for the price of 82,84 oere/kWh(!!)

The bill last year was 1730 kr for the two months.

This year it was 3178 kr!!

If I may use one of the not-so-harsh swearwords in

Norwegian: Fytte rakker'n!

I have termometers in all rooms to keep the

temperature around 20 C in the winter.

According to my logic, the increased use of electricity

must be the result of a winter that was colder and longer

than last year, and living in a house that is old and

probably "leaking" more heat than many modern houses.

My grandmother's "lappeteppe"

Till I was six we lived in Moss.

Now and then we visited my grandmother in Oslo.

I remember dark evenings leaving her apartment,

and then covered with this knitted patchwork

in the backseat of the VW.

I remember the itching from the wool, but also the

smell of grandmother's house.

When had she (or perhaps my aunt Ruth?) knitted

it? I have no idea. But I imagine it can be seventy

years or older.

Now I need some woolen yarn to repair some of the

holes.

I have a friend who loves to knit. Perhaps she has

suitable colors for this project?