Apparently this is what I like to do!

I stole this off Sam's. The only rule is - google "[your name] likes to" and see what you get! "Scholiast likes to" didn't have any hits, though, so this was originally with my (other...) name :)

Scholiast likes to show off and spend money like she has it
Scholiast likes to crack the whip when it comes to rehearsals but at least she's making sure you look like professionals
Scholiast likes to have a manicure, pedicure and facial with skin care
Scholiast likes to play long flowing lines, but Chicago's fans would hardly know it
Scholiast likes to take a well-earned break and perform for large crowds of "grown ups" at the Big Hoo-Haa!
Scholiast likes to shop for England And loves wine
Scholiast likes to curl up with a little cider and her address book for some correspondence
Scholiast likes to write stories
Scholiast likes to do all of the big stuff and then when it comes to the aftermath thinks its ok for the characters to fade into the background
Scholiast likes to call me

I wonder who "me" is...

sick, but not tired

I'll admit to it straight - I'm no big fan of vomit. Usually it's hubby does the dirty work, I clean the kid and find a new pyjamas (this kind of thing tends to happen at night).

Wednesday night it was Filip. And Thursday morning... Thanks to the wash-hands-every-second/stay-away-from-Filip/change-every-towel-Filip-has-touched-regime, the others seem to be unscathed. Yet... Thursday night he seemed fine, though, and Friday morning he was up with the others, breakfasting. Then...

For your tender hearts' sake I'll skip the details, let's just say it involved a great deal of detergent. And yes, another clean pyjamas. Moreover, hubby's away with his job and I had to do all the dirty work as well...

And tonight... This is what made me sad. The 2nd graders have THE night of the year - they're staying over at school! Without Filip, that is... I've baked a cake, the other 3 are safely there (and thrilled about it!) - and the boys in Filip's class had unpacked their sleeping bags under a huge table... I know Filip would have loved to join them. As it is, he said "we also get to stay over in 4th grade..."

Makes your heart bleed, doesn't it?

April meme

I've been tagged (well, sort of...) by EllasDevil for this meme, and why not.

These are the rules:
1. When tagged, place the name and URL of the tagger on your blog. Check
2. Post the rules on your blog. Check
3. Write 7 non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. Ok?
4. Name 7 of your favorite blogs. I'll give it a go...
5. Send an email/comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged. We'll see...

Write 7 non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself
1. I check my emails first thing in the morning. Before I shower... The beauty of mobile phones :)
2. I now consider 'ruphoria' and 'rufoxicated' part of my everyday vocabulary
3. I have birthday autism. I don't think that's a word, but if you've told me your birthday, I'll remember it. Or - I would, if you told me before I joined facebook...*)
4. I'm always early - even if I know the person I'm meeting will be late for sure!
5. I can fall asleep even if I just woke up after 8 hours straight. It's a gift...
6. I have a nasty fear of wrought-iron fences. I somehow seem to think that walking alongside one will make me go temporarily mad, and thread one eye down on the fence...
7. I will laugh out loud in public if something's funny, I'm not one to be embarrassed easily!
8. I have a tendency to always think of something else I need to add. To every finished list.

Name 7 of your favorite blogs
If they're in my bloglist, they're excellent! And they're more than 7... Look right!
But this week, look especially to Slap Upside the Head - you figure out why ;)

Now tag someone ...
Yeah, right... Ok, tag, you're it!

Another German invasion!?

There are German soldiers in the street... Looking strangely familiar - but then I have seen a lot of films from & of the war... (Incidentally, the white building at the top of the photo is where I work.)Now, I'm not that dumb... I realise they must be making a film of sorts (some streets were blocked and parking only by permission by the police - besides, the cameras sort of gave it away...) - but this still gave me the creeps... Closer up ... This is the Norwegian Storting (The Parliament) - and except for the crane, this is just what it looked like back in April 1940...
And a jolly good morning to all of you too! Or should I say - Guten Morgen?

Lately, I've

- taken to thinking in English. All the time. Which is fine, I'm a trained translator, I can translate it into Norwegian before I speak, so my kids understand me. But it's still sort of ... odd. And I daydream in English. Dream too. I even reason with myself in English. Surely it's not because of this person? - resigned my job. My dream job, remember? It sort of still is. And isn't, because I had to give up my home office. And there's more admin and marketing related stuff to do, less translation. Come summer, I'll be sat at my home office all day long, waiting for something to do. And humming to myself in English, probably...

- started listening to Renoe Alexander, a pastime I can recommend!

- found that I'm not really obsessed at all! I've wasted hundreds of spent a few hours on the RWMB lately, and realised that since I don't travel to four countries in one week to see Rufus I'm not that much of a fan. Really...

- decided to go for an exam that really is way out of my league, but - here's to trying :)

- watched Liverpool march on towards Champions league glory! (I swear, I almost had a heart attack during the last match - with hubby as my witness!)

- missed you guys! I keep thinking of blog posts (thinking in blog posts, even!) but to actually post...

Rufus' English school - part I

Filip has been listening to Release the Stars a lot lately, and although his spelling leaves something to be wanted, you can't say he's not trying! :) Found this after he left the blackboard the other day.

Life does go on

I'm not talking about my life, it goes on quite well and there may even be news to follow, but nothing much to blog about (yet).

No, I have been thinking about the couple I wrote about a while back (November?) - where one (50+) seemed happy to be fussing about his husband (60+)? Who seemed to be on his last legs.

Well, he was. He died in February. The obit read:

My dearly beloved husband
and the love of my life,
(...) died peacefully, quietly and
beautifully at home

50+ was back on the boat, commuting, within a week. And this week I saw him smile again...

Edit: Yes, DevilMood, both men :)

Last post from Scotland

I promise - it's the last for a while... (With facts from our excellent guide.)
The cows, now also in Edinburgh!



The thistle, as you may know, is Scotland's national flower. But did you know it's the Norwegians' fault? This happened a long time ago, and the Scots and vikings were at war. (Well, the vikings were at war with everybody, so why discriminate the Scots?) The Scots had made camp and had gone to sleep, ready for battle the next day. But those sleezy vikings ... they planned to attack at night! Such ungentlemanly behaviour!! The Scots were in luck, though, for two reasons: 1) The vikings didn't wear proper shoes, and 2) The Scottish camp was surrounded by thistles.


You do the maths...



This, though it may look like one, is no window. In the 1690's William III issued a Window Tax, and so people started bricklaying the former window openings - but were made to keep them look like windows for architectural purposes. Many places these have survived!



Leaving Edinburgh - heading north! If you've found your spectacles by now, you may see the Firth of Forth waaaaay over there...



The railway bridge. Quite a few workmen were trapped in one (or more?) "leg" of the bridge during construction. Due to structural defects, perhaps, and possibly the fact that water was so polluted, the workmen would only drink whisky and beer... There was no way of bringing them back to the surface, and in the end, the queen ordered that there be poured poison down the "legs" so the men could die peacefully, rather than starve to death. (Apparently there was enough to drink.) Think of that the next time you pass the bridge - there be bones underneath...


Stirling Castle. Which you may know from Braveheart. (Apparently, there is some historical correctness in the film...)

Up there - and beyond! - that's where The Highlands begin...

Ewan McGregor's home town Crieff. Or the main street, at least.

- And thus ends my Scottish tale!

How do you do, PWP?

Or, more intriguingly - how do you do it? I know you're out there. I've met a few of you. But I can't for the life of me understand what drives you. Or not, as it were.

Passionately posing for a picture, 1985

Now, I would walk 10 miles afoot, to look at the house of someone who once met Rufus Wainwright's neighbour. I admit it freely, I'm that sad obsessive interested. I would refrain from all other forms of shopping (that used to include food - before I had others to care for...) - for life, if need be - if that enabled me to get tickets to every Rufus, de Lillos, Sting or U2 gig there was - or to as many visits as I'd like to Berlin, Lisbon, Crete... I would give my right hand (and left arm!) for Liverpool to win another cup - let alone the premiership!

Passionately back in Greece! (I was 14 - what can I say...)


I would (and I have, in fact!) spend 8 months passionately wooing my chosen one until he broke down and promised to marry me...

But you, People Without Passion... You wouldn't even go next door to see the first alien-human offspring, would you? You like all kinds of music, you say. Any town you visit is as fine as the next. And caring about football is just plain silly...



I can't help but wonder - do you [not] have fun in the same way? Polite ha-has, no guffawing or even small giggle fits? And relationships, do you really care? "Sure, I loved him, but hey, I'll meet somebody else." Are you for real? Or are you lurking somewhere underneath, quenched by real life, chores and routines, and too weak to find a way out? Are you living, or are you just ... alive?

Being artsy in Edinburgh II

I was in Edinburgh with my job (easy to forget, as I had plenty of time to roam around on my own!) and one night we were all 'cordially invited to Scottish Evening'. Which was basically a room crammed with people from every corner of the world - including England (they were mockingly insulted all evening)... It all started off with a bagpiper and then a few Scottish songs from the band. The food was nothing to write home about, and so I didn't. After the meal, and after the concert, though, we were finally given haggis to taste. The waiters looked mischievously at eachother while serving, but frankly, that was the best part of the whole evening.

See? I liked it :)
What I didn't like... This probably very nice and charming lady unfortunately didn't join the crew that night to be nice and charming, but to sing... I'm sure she'd been told she had a beautiful voice, and to match it, she changed dresses for every song!

Not that it helped. I was severely disturbed and had to stoop to playing backgammon on my mobile with a colleague to calm my nerves (and hers)... You can hear for yourselves!

Being artsy in Edinburgh I

These lovely buildings caught my eye, and I walked down to see what they were.Turned out it was the National Gallery Complex, so I stepped inside and had a look around the National Collection. I obviously didn't do a good job at it, 'cause I can't tell you what I saw, but I remember that I enjoyed myself at the time...

Now, the next building - the Royal Scottish Academy Building - was interestingly clad, don't you think? And gallery open until midnight, Saturday night? We all went - it was packed!

Yup, you guessed it, Andy Warhol exhibition. Loved it!


Especially I loved the room full of helium-filled "pillows" (see below). It may look like an ordinary thing, but it was a weird feeling bouncing these pillows up - then watching them slooooowly descend. And repeat... I don't know how long I stood there - we all did, in fact - but it felt like the whole world became serene and calm and that everything was ok... Wonder if Warhol planned for that exact feeling?

The royal mile

Now, if you like, walk the royal mile with me from Edinburgh Castle. We'll just walk straight out of the gate...

Then have to turn left into the alley to look at this flowerclad house, of course - Ramsay garden - before we continue.

You lazy pig! Just lying around all day...

Poor thing, I guess he couldn't take it anymore... "Pinocchio's now a boy who wants to turn back into a toy..."

How can we resist puns like these! Off the royal mile to the right, a little further down...

There's that piper again, Tony something. We go way back...

Closing in on the Scottish Parliament - and walking past it ...

... now looking back up at it

Another alleyway! Must go and have a look :)
Pretty!And it's stopped raining - that's nice.. (spot the rainbow!)

Queen's gallery, outside the Holyrood Palace (where the queen stays when she's in Edinburgh.) (In the palace, that is, not in the gallery) (I suppose, at least that's what they say. I don't actually know for a fact where the Queen spends her nights.) (Or days, for that matter.)
The gates ...

... and the palace itself.

Look! It's the bagpipe shape of Dynamic Earth! Means we've made it down the mile and more. Great exercise and good fun!

And here we are, looking up at the Salisbury Crags. Thanks for keeping me company!

Incidentally, if you felt this post was a mile long, that was intentional...

Once upon a time

There was a time when this would cause panic attacks, and I'd instantly google "PST" to find out how much time I'd got...

For many months, now, I haven't even shrugged.

But today... I just noticed this message and found myself googling "PST" again (I never learn, do I).

Could it be I'm back into blogging?

And in case you've mislaid your monocle or pincenez - here's what it says: "Scheduled outage at 4:30PM PST" ...

Writers' museum courtyard

I didn't actually go into the Writers' museum, it was closing as I got there, but I tried to capture a little of the courtyard feeling. (In fact thinking of my dear bloglings as I did so...)

At the very end of this snippet you can spot this pub. Owned and run by Sean Connery's brother. Apparently he's the spitting image of his more famous sibling, but he wasn't around when I was there, so you'll have to go there yourselves to find proof!

Random facts that you always wanted to know

About mememe. I was tagged by DevilMood and how could I turn down such an offer...

The Rules:
- Link to the person that tagged you. Check
- Post the rules on your blog. Check
- Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. Ok, I'll get to it
- Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. We'll see about that...
- Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

So I get to pick 6 random facts that I think you may not know about me, but don't come running back complaining if you're not shocked or repelled by any of these facts - I promise no such thing!

1) I had one doll as a child, a boy doll, named [same as hubby]. Sadly, the doll was very much neglected for my cars...

2) I sometimes get as far as the lift at work before looking at myself in a mirror (it's inevitable in that lift, they're all around!). Some days I don't look too bad, this morning I had to laugh...3) I have roamed around campus (uni. of Surrey...), pushing my friend in a trolley, while we were both screaming and / or trying to laugh like Eddie Murphy does in that film. (You may have done this too -- but we were sober, and this was in broad daylight. And we weren't even slightly embarrassed. Our friends were, though...)

4) Hubby is my first and only Norwegian boyfriend. And my last :) Before there was a Kenyan, a Dane, a South African, a Greek - and a few English. Very international, me ;) Got a very soft spot for Brits, though - and hubby's a gentleman as good as any of them!

5) I'm not interested in politics. Domestic politics. At all. I vote, but I don't read about it, and I certainly don't read detailed news. I read the sports section..

6) I always finished early on every exam, mock exam etc. I ever had. My university exam in English (in Oslo) was 8 hours, I was finished after 4. (I stayed on another hour and a half not to discourage my friend who would even be writing as she handed the stuff in, but I simply drew stickmen and wrote little poems that I threw away afterwards.) The trick is not to know too much. After 4 hours my brain was drained. I may not have passed with distinction, but I passed with enjoyment...

- And now I'll randomly choose not to tag anyone, except if you really want to, then you're it!

Famous whisky

Perhaps "cheating" a little, this isn't actually from Edinburgh, but we started out in Edinburgh... And our busride took us within sight of the Highlands! Then turned right and set us off by the Famous Grouse distillery at Glenturret. (Where it turned out they're not actually making Famous Grouse at all, but Glenturret malt whisky, but you could have fooled me...)

(See? Rufus was there with me...)

Loved, loved, loved these little explanatory cartoons...

Note to self: Don't try whisky chocolate mousse and whisky ice cream unless you've started to like whisky. Urggh.. But it did look nice :)