Sunday, June 27, 2010

Oscar II - a king and a cake

King Oscar II, King of Sweden
Also King of Norway till 1905.
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

If you read Swedish, you can also check these

Saturday, June 26, 2010

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.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

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.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

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!

Saturday, June 5, 2010

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."

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Lily of the Valley = Liljekonvall



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.