Quote of the day (2):

'Closer,' she said.
'I can't get any closer without performing the Heimlich maneuver,' I said.

- I didn't actually overhear that, it's from Kinky Friedman, and worth a mention.. And there's more...

Public transportation vs Public transportation...

This is my means of transportation to and from work. It's brilliant! Every morning I have my breakfast and a bit of read / socialising (depending on whether I meet someone I know or not) on board, and every afternoon I take a power nap on my way home...

Some people (living elsewhere, of course) suggest it must be horrible having to go by ship. Boring, no less. Pardon? There's always seating. In good weather you can sit on deck and enjoy and ice cream or what have you. There is a kiosk and everything.

My urban friends travel more like this.

How can they even begin to compare the two..?

Readership concerns anno 1711

I may cast my Readers under two general Divisions, the Mercurial and the Saturnine. The first are the gay Part of my Disciples, who require Speculations of Wit and Humour; the others are those of a more solemn and sober Turn, who find no Pleasure but in Papers of Morality and sound Sense. The former call every thing that is Serious, Stupid; the latter look upon every thing as Impertinent that is Ludicrous. Were I always Grave, one half of my Readers would fall off from me: Were I always Merry, I should lose the other. I make it therefore my Endeavour to find out Entertainments of both Kinds, and by that means perhaps consult the Good of both, more than I should do, did I always write to the particular Taste of either. As they neither of them know what I proceed upon, the sprightly Reader, who takes up my Paper in order to be diverted, very often finds himself engaged unawares in a serious and profitable Course of Thinking; as on the contrary, the thoughtful Man, who perhaps may hope to find something Solid, and full of deep Reflection, is very often insensibly betrayed into a Fit of Mirth. In a word, the Reader sits down to my Entertainment without knowing his Bill of Fare, and has therefore at least the Pleasure of hoping there may be a Dish to his Palate.

My thoughts exactly... But this was written long before the blog age, viz. September 25, 1711 AD. From the real Spectator Essays, of course.

Another eagle post

Mathias has never been that interested in drawing. Lately, though, he's warming up to it. I thought I'd post his first ever bird drawing (possibly a little influenced by his eldest brother)...

He tells me it's an eagle, and that it's really dizzy. No wonder, when you follow the trail it's been flying!

- And thanks to Riannan for lots of eagle info :) Jakob was extatic about the audio files especially...

Quote of the day (1) :

- Do you think I look fat?

- No, no. But if you were my inflatable toy, I'd stop inflating just about now...

Something to remember him by

In my grandfather's funeral this summer, one of the speakers to hail the 96-year old, was my mum's cousin. He told us a story from the war.

My grandfather was a young doctor, and owned the only car around. When a mother found her son choking one morning, my granddad threw him in his car, and drove off to the hospital, where he insisted upon trachotomisation (is that a word?) of the boy. [I know they do this on ER all the time, but in real life it's not such a frequent occurrence.] Saved the boy's life!

We all clapped. Noone had even heard the story before. Then the speaker added, casually, that the boy was he, and he wouldn't have been there without my grandfather's help. Sent shivers down my spine.

Three o'clock trauma

Two thirty AM. Some hysterical tomcat wakes me up. Not quite awake, I figured it might be one of the kids, so I wandered past their rooms. Finally realising it was just that cat, I was about to pass out again when I heard Mathias wheezing like an old tub patient. 'What's up?' I said. 'Ouch, ouch..'

I recognised this. False croup. Jakob got it when he was five and spent Christmas in the hospital because of it. We figured we might as
well call for medical assistance.

As you can see, they thought it important enough to come visiting. (No, that's not a misspelling, that's just how 'ambulance' is in Norwegian. Ok?) He didn't have to go anywhere, though, his breathing eased after a few ounces (or whatever they measure it in) of adrenaline and saline water. This also kept him awake most of the hours left till dawn, but nevermind that. He's ok now!

I do pay my taxes happily. Our kids practically have their names carved in the ambulance walls, and I know for a fact that the cost of 4 babies x 3 months in incubators is about the size of a small country's GNP - and we're still not paying any bills...

Incidentally - the grass roof by the ambulance is our garage!

My friend - a generous genius!

Just a quick thank you note to Rarity, for taking time to teach me a little html... (Look, I've got a blog list too, now!)

I once was the local champ of Word Perfect... Let's just say I'm happy some of my friends have moved on after that...

I've got a brother

Not a lot of people know that about me! My mum and sister were really surprised when I introduced them... Now - don't let that lead you into thinking my dad had anything to do with it either - he was just as surprised when I told him.

The thing is, we adopted eachother, way back in time when Josh & Josh were probably still in preschool. He needed a big sister and I needed a little brother, so what better? We were in limbo in England together - wanting to cut off our studies and return home, but at the same time not wanting to quit...

We held eachother up and stayed put through university. These days he's on his THIRD (sic!) Master degree, this time in South Africa. Congratulations on becoming a triple mix grand master or whatever it is your turning into at the end of term!

And happy birthday tomorrow, little bro' - many happy returns! Thank you for being you.

love, sis

Did you know?

A quad family is almost like The Spanish Inquisition.

No, really. Just listen - Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, right?!

Surprise, fear, ruthless efficiency, and an almost fanatical devotion to the pope...

Such diverse elements... We were obviously surprised to learn we were expecting quads! Then there was fear, as they were born way too early, and we didn't know if they were going to live or die. (The blue blankets in this photo are actually handkerchiefs!)

Ruthless efficiency is a must. In fact, I don't think God gives you quads if you aren't totally systematic and knows how to keep discipline around the house..

The pope? Oh, I just threw in that bit not to let the Pythons down..

And I guess I could throw in Pride and Prejudice for good measure - ours were the first quads in Norway this Millennium!
People often say "are they identical quads? They're all exactly alike, how charming!" - which they're not. At. All. Especially for not spotting the girl I suspect they just expect them to be 1/4 of a human each. But they're four very individual individuals indeed. Didn't you know?

Cravings

I now crave for things I hadn't even heard about until recently. Like an iPod (a U2 iPod, to be precise). And an iTrip. And everything else that goes with it...



I also crave for things that it's really not wise if I actually got. Like a diner / snooker table..

I really, really wish I could get a table like this! Only - it wouldn't fit in our house, would it? And even if we could squeeze it in - there'd not be enough space left to actually play snooker...

Until I was 15 or so, I think I always got the things I really wanted (which excludes quite a lot). Like my first stereo rack, that I bought right before the nose of my best friend who'd been saving up to it forever.. (She did get one too, of course, but only a week later, when they'd ordered another one.. But we're still friends!)

Obviously, my 15th birthday was last millennium. And my last wish fulfilled...?

Different perspectives

When I was studying in England there were students from basically everywhere on campus. (No, not everywhere on campus, but everywhere in the world, staying on campus..)

Before end of term we'd discuss what plans we had. Most of us were going home to see our parents. Equally un-interesting, you may think. But, oh no! Myself I was going to Lofoten. (Which is beautiful, but not that warm...)

Others were going home to, say, Bali. Or Dublin. Or Greece, even Crete! And pretending it was just as boring as anything! Have they no respect? Admittedly, 25-year-olds don't, as a rule, find it dreadfully exciting going home to their families. But "having to go" to some Paradise or other, even if it's infested with family, how could I feel sorry for them?

Now, I would have given my right arm to be going "home" to Crete. (Just a thought, ok, I actually need both my arms..) My hubby's only flaw is that he is, in fact, Norwegian...

How little piano playing resembles swimming

(Or riding a bike, for that matter.. )

We recently bought a piano. Here, have a look :) You can tell it's new by the lustre that still lingers. It's black and shiny no matter if this photo tries to say otherwise..

I used to play the piano. Quite a few years, actually. And now, with a piano in the house, all those fingerbreaking practices will prove they were worth the while, right?

Wrong. Even 'Für Elise' and other - quite simple, really - pieces turn out to twitch my fingers. AND I must have forgotten how to read sheet music. At least the bass clef, which my left hand sort of seems a little lost without.

Now, my hubby played piano for years and years when he was younger. But surely his fingers are as surprised as mine about having a piano to cling to? Not so. He plays You'll Never Walk Alone almost as beautifully as its sung on the Kop. Life's just not fair...

Countdown

10. Average minutes between every sneeze.
9. Amount, in kilos, of tissue used since Friday.
8. O'clock. When the kids had been turned over to kindergarten / school ;)
7. Different ways to hold phone while waiting for it to ring.
6. Degrees above feeling alright.
5. Lovely kids - especially out of the house right now..
4. Number of antibiotic pills - huge! - to take every day.
3. Months till I'm running really late with the Christmas preparations.
2. So many people I know who've bought a house since last week. (Ok, the same house..)
1. My number one. Greek winner of this year's Eurovision Song Contest..

Is not that strange?

The world has so much to offer - yet this is where I'd like to go..

Ever since I was a kid I've loved the reds. I married another fan (ok, that wasn't why I wooed him for months until he caved, but still..). Now we're raising a bunch of the same.

But how is it - a bunch of overpaid footballers I've never even seen plays such an important role in our, relatively normal, life?

I won't go into details about the nausea I felt when Michael Owen signed for Newcastle... But it was physical. No dessert or extra playtime for the kids that day. Only grunts of 'goodnight' and 'get lost'..

I would like to think it's a good thing I can get so involved in things. But making people believe that screaming about goals, or pots (in snooker), without even considering this might wake the kids, has so far proved quite strenuous... Am I the only one?

Jakob pinxit

My oldest son Jakob is 7 1/2, he has a thing about eagles! Here's his two latest versions: a baldheaded eagle at the top, and possibly a snake eagle to your right. I'll have to ask him. He's the expert..

One of life's little surprises

This summer, some friends of ours broke up, he moved out, they got separated. They'd been married for a number of years, they've got a son, I think they got together when they were about 18-19.

Happens all the time, right? Still, we did wonder what, if anything, had happened.

A few days ago we were told. Along with a few other reasons to their halting marriage, it turns out our girlfriend is gay. Apparently she hadn't really known until around Christmas time. And then it took several months of misbelieving, seeking professional help, pulling her hair etc. until she made the decision she had to make.

Of course, there was no way around it. And of course, they're both really sad about it, in a way. For the sake of their son they remain friends. He's still in love with her. For his sake I wish things had been different, but what can you do? Living a lie certainly wouldn't last. He wishes her all the best - she wishes him the same.

And amidst our bewilderment at the development of things, lies the feeling that it really isn't that surprising. There really was something all along, wasn't there? Something untangible, just a hint of a feeling. Maybe I just want to be able to say "yeah, well, I already knew that.." But that's not it. I never knew. I just think I might have known, had I considered there was something I needed to know.

The important thing is - congrats to you for coming out, best of luck to you both, best of luck to your son as well. We'll do anything we can to help you get through this - just call, all right?

The joys of eating

This is a typical Norwegian packed (now opened) lunch. Just add milk.

Now, while my husband lovingly prepared me this, eh, delicatessen last night (along with packed lunches for all our kids), it somehow doesn't seem at all appealing now.. I was meant to eat it at work, of course. And I'd be so hungry I'd think it looked truly delicious. [This would be as long as I didn't glance at H's lunch - he's a colleague and always has at least this: 6 slices of somekindofveryrecentlybakedbreadfromthebaker's, with any amount of tantalising stuff spread on them. And yoghurt. And fruit. And a pint of milk, a cup of tea, a cup of coffee (just brewed, of course). Still, I'm usually through with my lunch before he has time to sit down..]

Anyway. I'm not at work. I'm at home, feeling sorry for myself. And my tastebuds have gone off to wherever tastebuds go for the weekend. Which leads me back to the above photo.. Lunch, anyone?

A few minutes later..

I just have to see if and how I can include a photo in here.

Ahh... That's better! The view from my favourite beach in Crete (Greece - in case there's a Crete somewhere else that you wouldn't want it mixed up with). A dip and a dive in these waters and my sinuses would be as clean as the hole on a dolphin's head..

First post. Fresh as mint. Atishoo!

Basically, this is just a test, right? I've got a cold (with only a hint of sinusitis), which is why I've got time for this in the first place. It also robs me of any form of energy, imagination and writing skills, which might otherwise have come in handy at this point.

Ok - let's see how this template works out..