Feldenkrais

After having had several broken bones incidents due to my osteoporosis, amongst other two compression fractures in the spine, I felt like my body had kind of let me down, deserted me.
Pills, doctors, physiotherapists were of no help at all.
Till I met with my Feldenkrais instructor, Lolomai Selso.
Once a week we have been working for an hour, and I actually felt better from the first lesson, a year and a half ago.
Lately I have not been very nice to my back. Garden work isn't for sissies.
Now I'm on my second week of baby crawling. A cure for the back, 7x7x7.
Seven minutes, seven days a week for seven week.
Opposite to this baby, my crawling is supposed to be done slow and in a diagonal rhythm. That is Left hand and right foot moves together.
Thereby both left and right brain hemisphere are stimulated simultaneously.
It's simple, it's free and it only requires seven minutes a day.

Day 1. Last Day and First Day

Our Father

(Norwegian for the English term The Lord's Prayer. I prefer the Norwegian)
Mattew 6:9

Our Father which art in heaven,
(easy)
Hallowed be thy name.
(easy)
¹⁰Thy kingdom come,
(easy)
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
(easy, the only safe and sensible way of living. though I fear I often pray my way be done.)
¹¹Give us this day our daily bread.
(easy)
¹²And forgive us our debts,
(easy)
as we forgive our debtors.
(tough, oh, so tough)
¹³And lead us not into temptation,
(easy)
but deliver us from evil:
(easy; please deliver me from being evil too)
For thine is the kingdom,
(easy and wonderful)
and the power, and the glory, for ever.
(easy and what a strength; the power and the glory)
Amen
(King James Version)

This prayer is the most challenging and liberating prayer in my life.
I admit I do struggle, but since I am addressing the Almighty, I just have to be honest, and ask for help, where I do fail.
The truth is; He helps when I think I couldn't be reached.

The sun is so important to us, living near the North Pole. My forefathers used to worship the sun, it did give life and rule the seasons.

I've chosen this picture as a parable of Our Father.
1 King 8: 27" behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house that I have builded! "
Solomon's words in The Hebrew Bible in English.

No human can describe the greatness of Our Father, nevertheless he is the shadow by my right hand.

This ends my 7 days of silent mediation, and starts the rest of my life.

2nd Day

Psalm 130:1 A Song of Ascents.
Out of the depths have I called Thee, O LORD.
2 Lord, hearken unto my voice;
let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
3 If Thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
4 For with Thee there is forgiveness, that Thou mayest be feared.
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope.
6 My soul waiteth for the Lord, more than watchmen for the morning; yea, more than watchmen for the morning.


Brave, lonely watchman in the middle of the road in the middle of the night.

3rd Day

Psalm 32:3 When I kept silence, my bones wore away through my groaning all the day long.

Proverbs 21:23 Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.
(Hebrew Bible in English)

The psalm is about confession of sins.
The proverb is my daily trial. To think and think again before speaking.
My Dad used to say, "He who can control his tongue, is more worth than a man who conquers a whole city."
He was only too familiar with my way of "fast" talking.


My Dad watching over me after " my bones wore away"and I first broke my right arm and then my right leg due to osteoporosis . How cared for and safe he always made me feel, and how well he controlled his tongue even to the bitter end.

4th Day

Isaiah 43:1 But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art Mine. 2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. (Hebrew Bible in English)

Thoughts:
On my journey, I shall have to pass through waters and walk through fire.
I shall, however, not be hurt, because HE who has called me by name is with me.

Picture:
I walked for two hours on the longest coherent beach in Norway. Totally absorbed by the beauty and my thoughts.
Never even noticed that Gunnar was following me with his camera on a distance.
The little black dot in middle of the picture is me.
When I sunk down, totally exhausted, Gunnar went towards me in a split second.

5th Day

Psalm 32:8 'I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go; I will give counsel, Mine eye being upon thee.' (The Hebrew Bible in English)

I am such a slow learner.
For 18 years I've had these wonderful poppies in my garden, and been thrilled when they showed up every early June.
In magazines I saw pictures of elegant poppy stalks in long, slender vases and so wanted to decorate our living room the same way.
My poppies collapsed after only a few hours indoors.
Until I this year got the idea to pick a few buds for my vases. They slowly unfolded and made our life an ornamental thrill for days.
If I only had sought instructions earlier.....

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6th Day

This is my mother's forget-me-not flowerbed.
Early in the spring she has lots bulbs there, snowdrops, crocus,
even daffodils and tulips. In between she plants the begonias to blossom in late June.
And then, then it's the time to sit still and watch the wonders of the Lord; the forget-me-not time. The seeds were spread last summer and from nowhere the bright blues explodes into a hymn to the power of the Great Gardener. Their beauty is beyond description, and when they're finished, they are so easy to remove, they have practically no root net.
Next spring we'll watch eager from the balcony; will they be here again.
They always will. They just need that little time to spread their seeds for the next season.


Psalm 37:
7 Resign thyself unto the LORD, and wait patiently for Him;

7th day

Job 35:14 Yea, when thou sayest thou canst not see Him--the cause is before Him; therefore wait thou for Him.

Dandelion

I love this poem by Inger Hagerup about dandelions.

This is how lives go
To the dandelions now as then;
They start as fire, turn into snow,
And end like old, bald men.

Translated by Felisol

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Norwegian rustic reds

Pentecost is celebrated with a double holiday in Norway.
Most people relax in rural surroundings since all shops are closed.
Gunnar and I have used the liberty of exploring the North county of Rogaland in our Land Rover, so very well fit for traveling in the countryside.
Here we are at an abandoned quay by an old store.
If you look closely, you can see the water and the hill reflected in the dirty window panes.

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ISRAEL

Isaih 54:
17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their due reward from Me, saith the LORD.

The Norwegian Labour Party was an active co-player when the State of Israel,
Eretz Israel, finally was declared independent May 14th 1948.
Trygve Lie, the first secretary general in the UN was an active helper in getting the state Israel approved by the UN.

We used to be proud about that. After all, Norway as a Protestant state had no good record in dealing with the "People of Royal Blood,"which is Terry's term for Jews. It was actually until the law of 1848 that Jews and Jesuits were allowed in the Kingdom of Norway. That's probably why there were so few for the Nazis to send to the concentration camps, for the final solution, as Holocaust was called.

He who doesn't remember history, is bound to re-live it.
These days England's Tony Blair is conspiring with our own foreign minister, the very charming Gard Store, how to take Israeli land away from the Jews.
History hasn't changed, but the world needs oil and money. Israel has neither, but her enemies have.

Isaiah 28:16 New American Standard Bible (© 1995)
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.

Let's make no mistake neither be misled in the days to come.
To quote Steve E; God is still in charge.
The Arch of Titus in Capitol, Rome, with the Menorah to the right. Erected to celebrate the destruction of the State of Israel.
The beginning to the end of the Roman Empire.

Blonde Midsummer Midnight

This picture was taken after midnight just a few days ago.
Gunnar and I had been staying with my mother for awhile and were on our way back home as my brother came to stay with Mom.
We were exhausted, and when the crib is empty, the horses bite.

Luckily we stopped at a gas station for some fast relief food, and suddenly we became aware of the other reality, the wonderful, so very young and alive summer night around us.
We jumped out of the car for some photo shoots and I was allowed to capture some of the Nordic magic for some split seconds.
My inner gas tank was refuelled.

This morning I woke far to early to do anything useful.
I decided to look up my dear blog friends, one after another.
Now my soul and heart are refuelled too. Seldom have I read so much good, "written just for me". Thanks for being out there, dear friends, for pouring out of your inner riches. It's like sending bread on the water. This morning I have had a heavenly meal.

My baby forever

This is me 38, baby Serina 4 months.
We're standing in the doorway to my mother's kitchen a hot day in June.
Serina was seen and loved, chosen,
even before she was born.
I found it scary to be a Mom.
To do all the right things.
Make all the right decisions.
She was so small, so fragile.
It's even more difficult now.
In this moment she's up for her final exams.
All I can do is pray.

That should actually be enough.

Diamonds and rust. Ash day at the harbour.

Have you ever examined a used car, boat, spouse, horse or whatever might be on the market,
and found that underneath that well polished surface,
was nothing but rust and rot?
Horse salesmen used to be famous for hiding major flaws like limping or
psychic damages.
These boats at Haugesund harbour have been restored by loving amateurs.
They are what they seem to be, and are certainly not for sale.
Isn't that a good thing?
Gray ash from Iceland does not manage to spoil true beauty of the harbour.
I's say it rather enhances the old ship and the even elder boathouse.

Red outperforms the slimy gray any day, any time.

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The Lonley House

Once it was built by a young couple,
Filled with dreams and homes for the future.
Sheep and cattle, crops in the field,

Husband coming home, tired in the evening,
Eager children running alongside,
In for a steaming hot, well prepared meal.

Now it's standing alone in the summer night.
Abounded and stripped for former wealth.

People need houses,
and houses need people.
Hope they'll find one another in the lonely hearts' club.

LILACS THROUGH THE WINDOW

The green leaves of the tall lilac tree are sprouting even before the birch.
In nature it's the ones who come first that leave last.
Outside our kitchen window, where we are eating our meals, drinking hot, stimulating coffee and reading our local paper, the lilacs have been blossoming for a month now.
That's how we know summer is here.
Outdoors the thermometer has shown 46 degrees the entire month f May.
Same temperature as in November..
The lilacs haven't let us down.
They are the thermometer of our souls.
They bring true summer joy.

Forget-Me-Not

Even the bluest of the blue,
the forget-me-nots,
have traces of red.
Our time on earth is limited.
In spite of that cruel knowledge,
or maybe just therefore,
we try to make traces in the sand.
Plant a tree, sow some seed,
chisel in a stone;
Felisol was here.

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Bob Dylan 70 years

Never has one single man's life meant so much to so many in my time.
In our little family we often argue which of his songs are best or most important. Even the four of us (Serina, Gunnar, Kel and I) do not agree.

We do, however, acknowledge that in the world of folk, pop, rock and contemporary Christian music there's only Bob Dylan, the eternal Jew, and then there are all the others.

I made these watercolors in a long forgotten youth, finding my way back home, while listening to Blood On The Tracks.

Syttende Mai, May 17th 2011

May 17th, or Syttende Mai, our Constitution Day, is very special to the Norwegians. It is celebrated in towns and small villages with equal enthusiasm. No military or police are present, just happy children and adults parading with flags and bunads. (In Haugesund, a town of 30 000 one single policeman in gala uniform was leading the parade. In my home town Sauda of 6000 there was none.)
Gunnar and I went to celebrate with my mother.
"Will you give Gunnar a hug?" I asked, pointing my cellphone at her. "Oh, no, Gunnar is such a nice guy, he shall have a real kiss," my mother promptly answered.

My mother, soon to celebrate her 86th birthday, is still struggling after her brain stroke. As you can see, she has no intention of giving up.

Gunnar's arm was a good support while we were waiting for the parade.
Snow on the mountain tops, gray sky and fog down the valley side.
The birches were green as they should be for our National Day.


The parade is coming up the steep "Hospital Hill". It's such a lovely sight in red, white and blue.

The asphalt was wet, but our prayer for dry weather was heard.

This little girl, with the nicest bunad I saw this day, seemed to be lost from the rest of her company.
Proud parents showing off their newest offspring.
My mother and me to the right in our bunads, watching the parade.
If you double click, you can see the fjord and the waterfall in the background.(Photo by Gunnar)


After watching the parade we took time to visit dear ones on the church yard (cemetery).
Nearest neighbor of my mother enjoying his festive meal.

We ate in the indoor dining room. Strawberries and cream for dessert.
My mother got this hand painted dessert bowls from my father as an engagement present.
My mother has embroidered the tablecloth, Venetian seam, and our bunads. She also has made Serina two bunads, one for children, one for grown ups.
My mother even has painted the vase for the may 17th flower bouquet.
Need I say we had a memorable day?

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My love for Blaise Pascal

Since my early youth I have bought several copies of the compressed works of Pascal, a pocket book edition of his "Thoughts".
I've given it as little presents, but rarely got any feed back.
Nevertheless that old genius never fails to impress me, or to give me new and better perspectives on my own life.
In my search for emptiness and chase for wind his thoughts make me reevaluate my motives and actions.

"We don't lust for things, but for the status of things," he says.
Further;
"It is not good to be too free. It is not good to have everything one wants."-- Blaise Pascal

So when I am so focused on my daughter's success, my husband's health, or my friend's possible loss of her home, I may be all wrong.

"Happiness is neither without us nor within us. It is in God, both without us and within us."

I often get tired of trying and failing. At my age it's getting harder to raise from the floor every time I'm down.

"It is good to be tired and wearied by the futile search after the true good,
that we may stretch out our arms to the Redeemer." Blaise Pascal

Good night, friends.