Oscar II - a king and a cake

King Oscar II, King of Sweden

Also King of Norway till 1905.

Source: http://www.teachersparadise.com/ency/sv/wikipedia/o/os/oscar_ii.html

As my mother tells it, the King was extremely upset

the Norwegians did not want him as their king, and died

two years after Norway had regained its independence.

The cake named "Oscar II's taarta / tårta" -

a glutenfree cake I made the other day.

I used strawberries, but often it is just covered with

the almondflakes.

Most recipes talk about making almonds into

almondflour yourself. I used the expensive

alternative of using readymade almondflour,

bought in a healthfood shop.

Here is one recipe out on the internet, in English

http://annesfood.blogspot.com/2007/10/happy-birthday-blog.html

If you read Swedish, you can also check these

http://www.recepten.se/recept/mandeltaarta_smoerkraem.html

http://www.alltommat.se/matinspiration/inspiration/kungligt-gott-till-kalaset-1.8860

http://www.dn.se/mat-dryck/recept/oscar-ii-tarta-1.1112851

Shadows through a red curtain

In Norway the hook that you use to keep your

window shut, is called a "stormkrok" - a hook against

storms.

I felt these two photos felt right for just now.

Because of the color?

Because of the abstract form?

I am not quite sure.

A tragedy

In my other country, a year ago, a man I know

killed a young man in a car accident.

It turned out the young man was the son of his

classmate.

Last night that man shot himself, leaving his

family and friends in shock.

If a person causes the death of another person by

accident, there are at least two families involved.

The family of the dead victim.

The person who caused the death and his/her family.

What happens after the accident?

Does the family of the dead victim get counciling

through their grieving process?

Does the person who caused the death get help to

stay alive while he or she has to cope with the

consequences of what happened?

Is there an official system for this or must the

initiative come from the families or the person

himself/herself?

New Norwegian expression - at least for me

The other day somebody was explaining to me

that he would not do the house renovation he had

planned.

"Det er for mye pes", he said.

It is too much "pes".

"Pese" is a verb meaning to make noises while you

breathe heavily - to pant or to wheeze.

When you run , you will end up with "puste og pese".

breathe and pant.

When I grew up, I imagine we would have said

the renovation would be too much work,

or demand too much effort.

In 2010 it can be "Det er for mye pes."

Loving books

This is Kate in the middle of May.

One year and four months old.

Here she is a few days ago.

I myself love books, so it is very sweet to

see that Kate's parents have given her that love, too.

Tantebarn?

When I hear a Norwegian word or expression for the

first time, it still surprises me.

This time it was "tantebarn".

Perhaps it is a local expression, but one of my coworkers

talked about her "tantebarn".

"Tante" is aunt.

"Barn" is child.

So your "tantebarn" should be the child of your aunt?

Or are you the aunt of that child?

I had to go back and ask my coworker what she meant.

She then told me that her "tantebarn" are the children of

her sister. In other words, her niece or nephew.

Sending a parcel at ten o'clock at night, from a supermarket

Tonight at ten, I was reminded by email to send

a parcel to a relative abroad.

In the old days, I would have had to figure out

when I could get to the post office during their

opening hours.

Now, with my neighbourhood supermarket being

open from seven in the morning till eleven at night,

I could solve this problem immediately.

In my supermarket they have a post office

that keeps the same opening hours as the

supermarket itself. It seems to me that part of the

staff at the supermarket has been trained by the

postal system, because I have seen those helping

me with my post, on other occassions stacking shelves

with food.

Walking to the post office, I could then enjoy another

positive feature - it wasn't sunny, but it was definitely

light enough despite it being ten at night.

Life sometimes has its good moments!

Small pleasures!

Little girl, big ponies

I love this photo of Kate.

Perhaps because it symbolizes the situations in life

when you are a spectator and not an active participant.

On the other hand, being a spectator can help you

learn and prepare for becoming an active participant

in the future.

Her mother summed it up :

" Not big enough to ride the ponies."

Lily of the Valley = Liljekonvall

http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_over_norske_fylkesblomster

Liljekonvall is the flower of Østfold, the fylke (county?)

Moss is part of.

My mother and I spotted one in the forest near

Framnes today.

It was special for my mother who told me that on

Mother's Day in Sweden where she grew up,

she and her siblings would pick Lilies of the Valley

and other wild flowers the evening before and bind

them together in a long row.

During the night, the flowers were kept out in the grass

and my mother still remembers the excitement of

keeping this a secret from their mother.

In the morning the children would fetch the flowers,

still wet with morning dew, enter my grandmother's

bedroom, place two chairs in front of her bed and

drape the flower arrangement over those two chairs.

Then they would serve her coffee on the bed.

That was one day in the year my grandmother

was not the first to get out of bed in the morning,

but dutifully had to stay there till her children had

celebrated her.

Mother's Day in Sweden is celebrated on the last

Sunday of May, meaning it was last Sunday May 30th.

My grandmother was born 110 years ago, so the

wonderful smell of the Lilies of the Valley is

one way to remember her.