And again. No wonder I'm all spaced out...

One-eyed or not,

Merujo, you're my visitor no. 9,000! I'm flattered, truly!

(If you wonder about the one-eyedness, you obviously have not been reading Merujo's posts lately. Or even at all? Then get thee over yonder!)

Matt meme

It's from Matt, alright? It's not about him. It's about ME. Naturally... I'd just like to add, hastily, that these days I get most reading done on the boat. 23 minutes to and from work. Takes a while to finish a brick like that..

1. One book you have read more than once

Not all that many, or, well, just a few...
From age six, I read "The Secret Garden" and "Little Lord Fauntleroy" once a month. At least. Up until the age of about 15. That makes, erh, quite a few readings.. I've re-read them a few times as an adult too, I still like the feeling of change. In those characters, of course, I'm not changing...

More recently, Good Omens (by Terry Pratchett) and Amatøren (by Lars Saabye Christensen) are my most frequent repeats. I laugh my head off at both each time.

2. One book you would want on a desert island

I was going to say one of the above, for entertainment - but reading how Matt would bring a heavy novel to kill major time I figured that made sense. In which case I'd bring Ulysses and Don Quijote. I'd really like to read both but never seem to find the time for it.

3. One book that made you laugh

Most by Terry Pratchett, Discworld series. Good Omens, Amatøren (am I repeating myself?), several books by Are Kalvø - those actually had someone coming up to me on the boat, asking if I was choking. I'd been trying not to laugh out loud... Oh, and "Families, and how to survive them" by John Cleese and Robin Skynner.

I'm really not very good at choosing just one, am I..?

4. One book that made you cry

Cry, as in weep, not cry with laughter? I honestly can't say, I tend to opt for the lighter variety...
Well, there may be at least one. I've read a lot of books of and / or about native Americans. I'd been very interested in their culture, language and history since I was about 9 or 10, and wrote a major thesis about them in my senior year in high school. If memory serves correctly, Dee Brown's Bury my heart at Wounded Knee had me shed a few tears. Whereas the biography of Geronimo just made me really ashamed to be white. One of many times. (So I was happy to find a t-shirt with "Don't judge my colour, judge my mind"...)

5. One book you wish you had written

I may have to say - any one by Douglas Adams, at least the first four of the (increasingly inaccurately named) trilogy Hitchhiker's guide to the Universe. Not least for all the fun he must have had while writing!
I'd also like to have written a ridiculous number of traveller's guides - to Greece, mainly - and do all the research for them myself!

6. One book you wish had never been written

The fifth book of the (increasingly inaccurately named) trilogy Hitchhikers' guide to the Universe. It's not such a horrible book in itself. It just breaks down the others. I feel.

There. I chose just one. Happy?

7. One book you are currently reading

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Don't look at me, I've only just started it, can't expect me to finish it. I've even had holidays, right, and no boating!

8. One book you have been meaning to read

The Da Vinci code. NOT because I want to read the Da Vinci code. At all. But because I'd very much like to read my favourite author Knut Nærum's book Madonnagåten (aka The Madonna riddle) - a parody that is best read after the original... I'd even throw in The Asti Spumante Code for good measure, Rarity recommended it ages ago. If I could only bring myself to read the first one...

9. One Book That Changed Your Life

Huh? Nah, sorry, haven't found that one yet.

10. Now tag five people

Do I want to do this? Do you?

The end of summer

For me, summer isn't just getting away from work, or doing something fun with family and friends.

Summer is a feeling. A feeling like my skin's too tight, after hours in the sun. A glance in the mirror of a darker shade of pale on my skin, making me smile. A feeling of amazement at how white the kids' hair can get.

Summer is a feeling I love.

And today we're back from the cabin. The kids' hair is still white, of course. My skin hasn't really felt too tight at all this summer - that comes out best in Greece. (And if it feels too tight to handle, there's always yoghurt, soothens sunburn and prevents peeling every time.) I'm feeling rather melancholy. And it hasn't even started raining...

Pirates of the Caribbean - dead man's chest

My hubby and I went to see this film the week before going to Denmark. (Being at the cabin with his parents means there are babysitters close at hand!) It wasn't as much fun as the first one, we thought, and I totally agree with Josh about the unavoidable second sequel (terquel?)...

Still, going to the cinema only once a year, as we tend to, it was great just seeing a film that was larger than life, what with the surround sound and all. And there's a lot to be said about Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp - or Keira Knightley, for hubby's sake! The film had a lot of moments that made me jump, even if it wasn't nightmare scary - even to me...

We were at the night show - starting at 10 pm and finishing at about half an hour past midnight. Age limit has been set to 11 in Norway, which means kids can come in at age 8 if they're together with grown-ups. Still - at that hour, even during summer holidays, we hadn't expected there to be so many kids!

There were two girls sitting behind us - I guess they were about 8. One of them seemed to be absorbed by her goody-bag, and fell asleep halfway through. (She had a funny hairdo at the end of it, I'll grant her that.) Her sister (?) was panically grasping her dad / uncle / neighbour throughout most of it, giving out little gasps every now and again.

Really - I thought it was good fun, if not an epic film. But for a kid that age? Now, I'd never take our 8-year-old to see this, he wouldn't catch a wink of sleep for about 3 weeks! Not necessarily because of the Kraken, and definitely not because of any fighting - but because of the messy mutant humanoids. And because he doesn't get to stay up that late...

Now - they weren't all that messy, or humanoids, even. As this very accurate test shows, there is also Will Turner (aka Yours Truly..)

Which Pirates of the Caribbean character are you?

(I'd already decided to do the test again had it told me I was anyone else, but then I didn't have to!)

Denmark (II) - Legoland

[To retain a family friendly profile this post contains no photos of Mr. Kjelling...]
Click on a photo / collage to enlarge.


Samples of what you can do with lego - some people actually do this for a living! If memory serves correctly, there are about 5 million lego bricks in Sitting Bull, whereas Abu Simbel required 11 million...

Some people do more than visit miniature worlds, though. Tonight my attention was brought to this travelsite by a friend - it's really funny AND there are photos from virtually everywhere. Have a safe journey with Matt! (But do come back, please...)

Finger analysis

You may have read or heard of the theory that the length of your fingers decide on your sexuality. Or, if not decides, at least tells the rest of us about it... If you're not sure what I'm on about, you can read about it here, here, and even here, if you like. As an example of heterosexual man I bring you this photo of Kristian Kjelling, purely because you can measure the length of his fingers on it, of course. (Yes, he's straight, at least his girlfriend & mother of his child likes to think so.)

But now it turns out that finger length also proves - or at least indicates - who'll be great footballers (yes, Americans, I do mean soccer players)... Research from the UK seems to suggest that good footballers possibly have a genetic advantage. Dr John Manning from the University of Liverpool (...) has suggested a link between the length of footballers’ ring fingers and their abilities as players. He found that elite players have longer ring fingers compared to their index fingers. (Remember that in gay men, this was the opposite...)

Players found to be in this ‘long finger club’ include Bryan Robson, Sir Stanley Matthews and Gazza (for the sake of public safety I'm not going to put a photo of Gazza here. Nor the smell of his breath (oh no, he wouldn't drink?), even if it should have been possible...) Dr Manning explains this unlikely linkage: “There is evidence that our fingers tell us how much of the male hormone testosterone we have been exposed to before birth. Early exposure to testosterone is important in males for the formation of the heart and in determining ability in spatial judgment.”

Right.

So here's yet an example of testosterone gone lost - this Mr. Kristian Kjelling is actually a professional HANDball player, with the Portland San Antonio in Spain... Should you be interested to see more (and I mean more) of this, erh, great personality, despite his obvious lacks in the finger / testosterone areas, there's quite a few good shots over here... Incidentally, he's also been appointed one of the best handball players today. In the world. Shame with those fingers, though..

A question and an answer (unrelated)

What, good readers, is this in English? It's a "wildlife sweater" or "wilderness sweater" in Norwegian, but I somehow don't think that's the correct translation...

And for the answer - my niece has now arrived safely in San Francisco and has even set up a blog to relate her life over there. It's in Norwegian, but for those of you who don't speak it, isn't it about time you made the effort..?

(And why is it you think I'm home alone again, simply because I'm blogging at this hour?!!? Oh, alright, you're right of course... I'll be rejoining the others at the cabin on Wednesday, just staying home to catch up with some work...)

Denmark (I)

Jakob rejoined our ranks on our first day in Denmark, much to our delight - not quite so much to his, as holidaying with our friends had meant freer reins than we keep... But still, we boldly went off to visit our Danish friends.

Last time we saw them, they'd bought and totally refurbished an old house. It was amazing - and we could not imagine anyone would ever move away from such a house. How wrong we were!

They now live here. It's not a fantasy photo - it's an actual house, they've even got a homepage for it, so it's definitely a home!

I'm not sure how to describe it. It's made of straw, as in a thatched roof, only the roof isn't thatched... (The roof's covered in blue mussels!) The straw walls have then been sprayed with a mortar mix, then painted. I have no idea what to call such a house, have you? Apparently, it's a technique much used in Canada. Not that I have ever seen anything like it in any photos from Canada ever, but perhaps I should ask a Canadian? (Cathy?)

Anyway, the house was amazing, it was beautiful, cozy, nice & warm, spacious - - just fill in positive adjectives here:





And the dining table - also made by our friends, who've built the entire house themselves - seated 5 + 7 with no problem at all. They've even got a view --- and if you know anything about Denmark, you'll know this is quite a feat!

This time, they're not moving house again...

Just imagine these photos taken with a proper camera...

We were given this orchid about 5 years ago, with the message "give one cup of water every Tuesday". Well, we've tried doing that, but usually forget. Now it has roots everywhere, there's hardly any earth left, the cups are nowhere near even on Tuesdays.

But just look at it - even through the ineptness of my camera - despite the hot and dry summer it simply gets more and more beautiful!

Back again. But back then...

I didn't have the time to show the more pleasant sides of staying at home with the kids the week before last, as opposed to working... So here's the sunny side!

We went to a nearby beach (Oslo can be spotted "over there", pleasantly far away) - my kids are in the water somewhere, as they were for most of the day. And in the old summer house by the beach they sell ice cream. Need I say more?

As is my wont...

I'm hurrying on to a lighter post...

This postcard arrived from Portugal the other day, from my friend DevilMood and the lovely Algarve coast. She tells me "Al-Garb" literally means "the West" - a detail of the kind I like! Thanks, my kids love the Swedish-coloured doors... And as noone else, myself included, writes snail mail anymore, postcards from bluddies are truly welcome!

Tomorrow we're off to Denmark, land of lots-of-things-surely-but-not-least-amusementparksandthelike. Jutland contains Legoland (the original), a lion park, a huge aquarium with sharks and stuff, fun fairs and amusement parks and waterworlds no end, and the whole of Jutland is surrounded by beaches. I wonder if the Danes think of it as a non stop summer holiday spot as much as Norwegians tend to?! (Anyone? Kimananda?) We'll be back in a week's time.

Can't wait to go. Not only because Denmark's a uniquely lovable country (somehow so unlike Norway, yet so close - and they love Norwegians!), but because Jakob is already there. Our 8 1/2-year old went there Wednesday with some friends and seems to be having a blast of a time, and says he doesn't miss us at all. Wonder if we'll have him back...

And my niece has arrived safely and happily in San Francisco, after her 3 day training & sightseeing in New York. All is well with the world. Well - part of it.. (See below.)

RIP Mr. P

A few months back I told you of my friend who was living with her cancer-sick husband, and how I managed not to take it all in...

Well, she's not living with him anymore. Today I went to his funeral. This photo was on the song sheet - he loved hiking in the mountains! (I haven't asked if I can put it in my blog so I blurred his face a little...)

He was only 47. The church was chock-full, people were even cueing up outside. The readings on the wreathes - "you and I, P, your M" (from his wife) and "we love you so much, daddy, and miss you very much" (from his five kids) were just too much to bear.

My friend held her head high through the whole ordeal. Necessarily so, to support her (plus his other two) kids, but still, impressively so, may I add. She only cried when the coffin was lowered into the ground. Stronger than most, I think she may have managed today by thinking he's only gone off for a walk in the mountains. And will be coming back soon...

I'm out. In space...

Hubby really IS a saint...

I've been home "alone" with the kids today. One day. My head is spinning. Anna, sweetheart, has been visiting a girlfriend, having suffered 3 weeks at the cabin with only brothers and neighbouring boys around...

So I've been savouring the company of four constantly-quarrelling-fighting-and-possibly-heatstruck boys. No pause in the noise (erh, sound) level before they all passed out in their beds at 8.30. (Including the then-returned Anna, who'd had more action in one day with her friend than in 3 weeks in her own company at the cabin!)

And this was only one day. Hubby was alone for almost two weeks with them before I started my holidays. Yes, his parents was there with him - and they're great company - but he had to be in that noise for all that time! Truly, he is a saint. Luckily, there's something I can do to pay him back ;) And I've only got 4 more days to go...

Just for the fun of it

... and because it's free...

I've opened a new domain, www.scholiast.tk, that seems to only work every now and again, but if it does work, it will lead you directly here... So should you - for whatever reason, I cannot think - forget the word "xrisimopoio" or even "Not quite The Spectator Essays", but manage to remember "scholiast", you're home free..

It's the Pacific island of Tokelau that has decided to give away domains to the needy (or just greedy, or inquisitive minds), go ahead and have one for yourself!

And now I'm off for real, will be back in computerland some time next weekend.

Things never go according to plan

Of course, sometimes things go according to plan. But that's not what I mean. I'll elaborate...

By way of example - my now husband started working the same place as I was years ago, and after three days I started wooing him... No, really! After 8 months he finally "caved". But, while I was wooing, courting, trying to charm him etc. I had numerous ideas of how IT was going to happen. Would he finally "cave" at work? Outside work? At lunch? And how - ask me to marry him straightaway? Sneak a kiss?

So I had detailed daydreams of how this was going to happen. And every time I thought "... and then he'd say this, and look like that and..." I immediately regretted. Because - what are the odds that things will happen exactly as you planned them in your mind? (detailed plan) A little higher even than the odds for having quads, I think... So every detailed daydream meant hubby-to-be had one less option of actually getting together with me, as I saw it, so I did try not to think about it, but I was pathetic at it ;)

Eventually he / we managed without the detailed planning - then after 4 months he proposed and after 4 more months we were married, so we hardly had time to plan the rest!

- There's a reason why I thought of this now. Because on arriving home, Wednesday night, I saw in the papers that Ronnie O'Sullivan was in town! Now, some of you may remember he's my all time hero and the most talented snooker player to ever lift up a cue - and he was right here! Only I wasn't in town anymore, I'd taken the boat home, and I had visitors, and I really couldn't go back... (He was here to play pool, in some tournament or other, he does that sometimes when snooker's off season. But Norway's a totally underdeveloped country when it comes to pool & snooker, so I'd never thought...!)

Anyway. The next morning, on the boat and then walking to work, I couldn't help thinking about him - maybe he had stayed overnight? Maybe in one of the many hotels I pass on my way? Maybe he'd just step out to take a taxi? Maybe I'd get a chance to say hi? (Just before leaving the house, I thought - what if I did meet him? I'd want to take his photograph. So I grabbed the camera. And then thought - if I bring a camera I'm doomed not to meet him. So I put it back, thinking - I could always take a photo with my mobile. Then, seeing the mobile was only half-charged or less, I thought it may not have enough power to take a photo, so maybe ... I almost didn't catch the boat just because of it.)

Then for every plan, for every hotel I passed, for every fictitious conversation I made up - I immediately thought "NO!" - I'd just ruined the chances of just that happening.

I didn't see him, of course. He probably left Wednesday night... Update - I just read in the papers he hadn't been here at all, had to pull out of the tournament due to an ear infection. Phew... If I had bumped into him I'm sure I wouldn't have said anything at all, I'd just have been standing there, mouth agape, and watched him get in that taxi.

At least there was one option I hadn't contemplated...

Wow - there really is a connection!

I wrote a post recently on my Greek blog about Henrik Ibsen, this year being the centenary of his passing away and all.

Now it turns out Ibsen & Greece go together like ham & cheese! Palin & Cleese! Jason and The fleece! My nephew and niece! (I admit, I did find a rhyming dictionary...) But I'm not just making this up to get a chance to throw rhymes at you. No - the Norwegian embassy in Athens has Ibsen & Greece all over its homepages and there is actually a lot of Ibsen action going on in Greece too, this year...

There's too much to actually type it out, but for a list of rare moments of Norwegian culture in The Capital of Culture (my titling...) you can check out this list. Or not ;)

Leaving Europe - or entering?

As of first of July, we've officially split with a substantial part of Europe. Connex gives up after four years, and we've just got back our more reliable bus service.

You know, I've felt sort of at home when I've read about people in England or France complaining about their Connex bus services - we've had just the same complaints in our local papers.

But now that's over, possibly the buses won't even a) be too late b) be too early c) not show up - we'll be totally separated from the rest of Europe.

Incidentally, someone showed me today a brand new reason why Norway ought to join the EU (and that wasn't to be able to exchange words about Connex) - namely this:

It reads: "I feel that Norway should join the EU without delay. Not for any political or economic reasons, just to stop Sweden and Finland from looking like a big cock and balls on the new euro coins. Andy Dunn, Stroud"

I always knew there had to be a reason I'd overlooked, and there it was! You may now all cut and paste Norway onto the photo to see how much better it looks...
For your information, I'll be joining my darling hubby and kids on our cottage / cabin (whatever) on Friday. Don't know if I'll post anymore before then, but I'll be back. Don't know where, don't know when, but I know we'll meet again...

Greece is out - and I'm not talking world cup (for once)

Just in case you hadn't heard -
Greece isn't allowed in on any international footballing from this moment on. (Actually from a few days back.)

If you want to know why and how and who it'll affect, you can read EllasDevil's post on this.

I'm just feeling bad about it even given all the reasons. I screamed like a madman (well, mad woman) when Greece because European champions two years ago, and I'm proud there's a Norwegian who's successfully trained Olympiakos to another league triumph. I'm even proud - still - about the Norwegians that used to play in Greece - Mykland for Panathinaikos and Sundby for Iraklis Saloniki, since you ask ;) - even if it's been a while.


But at least I hope they won't be coming to collect my kids' kits... Here (half) seen in Chania, Crete, last summer, wearing their kits with pride (Thomas obviously wearing it with pride somewhere else, as he's not in the picture...), Anna in a sort of Greece-coloured cheerleading costume. Oh well, anything looks good on her...

Any opportunity for a connection, right?