THE CHALLENGE

Kitchen Maus challenged me to make a fish soup at 11 p.m. Who am I to say no. Besides her food photos had made me really hungry.

First foccacia to go with the soup. 1litre allsorts flour, 50 gram yeast, 1/2 liter luke warm water, 1/2 ts salt, 2 ts brown sugar, 2 tablespoon olive oil, black seedless olives, cheese and sea salt sprinkled at the top.



Vegetables for the soup, carrots, potatoes, celery root, red onion,
leek, green pepper, frozen herbs after your liking, herb salt,
whole, sweet fennel. One rich liter of water, cod for 4 persons,
crabsticks and 1/3 liter of cream.
The fish should not boil, but draw for 25 minutes.
Same time as the foccacia should stay in the oven.
Bon appetite.

THE RED SIDE OF THE LAW

Norway is a small country situated at the outskirts of Europe, under the Polar Circle, with 6,4 million inhabitants.
In contrary to the rest of Europe we have twice chosen NOT to be a meme of the EU.
That doesn't mean that the great nations leave us alone. Recently they have forced us to replace the old traffic warning signs with new ones. This sweet one showing a boy and a girl on their way to school. I always identified with this sign when I was a small school girl with red ribbons in my braids.
No horse riding on this path, children and cyclists only.
My father crossing the road in a 1950 outfit.
Crossing place for deers. Let's hope they understand the sign. Too many deers and moose have been killed this winter.
Here the basketballs are buried for the winter under the EU approved sign. A sexless figure with its balloon head unattached too the body.
I wonder how will they get the balls out of the bottle?

Originated by MaryT, check hers for today

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SERINA

Serina is celebrating her twenty second birthday with cousin Kristine Maria in Oslo. They have been friends from the day Serina was born.
Kristine Maria was four then, and came to visit us at the hospital.
Aunt Sigrid, Serina, Kristine Maria and me dressed for "herring jazz" street parade.
Serina is chauffeured by dad Gunnar to a birthday party in the neighborhood.
They both enjoyed the ride.

Imogen Heap is the reason Serina and her cousin are celebrating together. They are attending a Heap concert tomorrow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BROTHER KEL

My only sibling and baby brother, Kel,turns 59 today.
I sat up till midnight last night to call him on the phone, "happy birthday".
We usually start celebrating our days around midnight, that way the feast lasts longer.
Only 15 months younger than me, but I've always felt like big sister to him.
On the picture we are standing just outside our home. We are dressed in clothes our mother sewed of worn out clothes from her and my dad.
I never felt bad about wearing them, on the contrary.
After I was 20 I still would ask my mom to make me new dresses, even coats.(New fabric then, of course).
Here we are just home from Sunday school, waiting for our mother's homemade dinner, genuine 50th.
A bit of snow, just like now. Maybe it was around the time of little brother's birthday.
Take care, my very best brother, (and worst too, he'll add).
Thank you for the good times, for the games we played, for the late nights we shared, for the music, for travels, for the stories we wrote together, for always being so gentle to Serina.

RUBY SHROVETIDE

Once again I'll post a picture of the fastelavensris,
the lent faggots.
I quote from Wikipedia;

"Fastelavn evolved from the Roman Catholic tradition of celebrating in the days before Lent, but after Denmark and Norway became Protestant nations in 1537, the holiday became less specifically religious. This holiday occurs seven weeks before Easter Sunday and is sometimes described as a Nordic Halloween, with children dressing up in costumes and gathering treats for the Fastelavn feast. The holiday is generally considered to be a time for children's fun and family games.

In Denmark and Norway a popular baked good associated with the day is Fastelavnsbolle (lit. "Fastelavns bun", also known in English as "shrovetide bun" or "lenten bun"), a round sweet roll usually covered with icing and sometimes filled with whipped cream. The day after Bun Sunday is Blue Monday, probably the feeling of having eaten and drunk to much. Then comes Fat Tuesday, the last day to fatten up before Lent. Ash Wednesday the Lent starts. In older days this was the day to go to mass and get a ash cross painted on your forehead.

Another popular custom is the "fastelavnsris", with which children ritually flog their parents to wake them up on the morning of Fastelavns Sunday (Quinquagesima).

Fastelavnsris have many shapes and forms and differ from area to area. In some areas they are bunches of twigs, usually from fruit trees and preferably with buds. Those are often decorated with feathers, egg-shells, storks and little figures of babies.

Earlier, it was mainly the young women and the infertile who were flogged. It was also common that a young man would carry his "fastelavnsris" and (of course gently) strike at young women he met on the street. Later it became the children's special right to flog their parents on this day. In any case, the reward given for the flogging would be a fastelavns bun.

Fastelavensris truely is a reminiscence from pre-Christian times.
Now it's mainly made by a women's welfare association. Colorful feathers attached to birch. We buy new every year.

Originated by MaryT, check hers for today

VALENTINESEPIA

Since it's both Valentine's Day and Mother's Day Sunday 14th, I've chosen my favorite picture of my parents to share.
My dad made the shot with an old accordion camera, in fact the only camera he ever possessed. Later on he would borrow mine or my brother's to make slides from 30 years of mountain hikes.
He took this pic with self-timer, the camera placed on a stone.
The last four years of his life my father was bound to a wheelchair after a brain hemorrhage.
I made a copy of this picture, to remind the nurses who came 4 times a day, what a wonderful man who lived inside to body now so helpless.
My dad used to point at the picture and ask my mother (in English), "Do you still love me?"
My mother's answer would always be the same, "Oh, yes, I'll always love you".


Happy Valentine's Day to all teach Mary's Sepia Scene

Ruby laws, my books, my treasure

"With law the country shall be built, not with outlaw be ruined", reads the Frosta-thing law from 1250. King Magnus Law-Mender, (Double click to read more), was the first king to gather all of Norway under one common law. Earlier, Norway was divided into several "Things" where laws for the regions were made and judgments passed. Even king Christian V of Denmark and Norway let Norway have her own laws, hence this law collection.


Our Constitution was written on the 17th of May 1814, as a result of Denmark "losing" Norway to Sweden after the Napoleonic wars. 91 years later, after long and persistent negotiations and a grass root awakening and love for everything genuinely Norwegian in history, music, clothing, writing and visual arts; we finally became one free nation again. One and un-dividable as the law says. Even the new king, King Haakon VII, from Denmark, would not accept the crown without being assured that this was what the people wanted. He was elected by vast majority, and we are happy to remain a monarchy till this day. Reading the old laws is to me like reading a giant history book.
I so embrace my heritage.
The Norwegian Coat of Arms (double click to read more)is engraved in the leather of the Laws of Norway.

Originated by MaryT, check hers for today

FEBRUARY ANGEL

Making angels in the snow is perfect exercise for people of 60+. We had a wonderful hike in winter wonderland today. Hikerpal Turid shot this pic of me.

RUBIES OF FEBRUARY

February first came with more light powder snow but also more light; 2 hours 6 minutes since winter solstice.
Every season has it's flowers, also at the florist's. Primroses are flooding in January. Last week they were two for 2,5 dollars. I bought eight,- food for my soul.
For the sake of Ruby Tuesday I placed them on terrace while the powder snowflakes were dancing from the white sky.

The author Ludvig Holberg (double click to read more) was born in Bergen in 1684, a child of the era of Enlightenment and the baroque. His plays, mostly comedies and satires, are well known, performed and loved even in the new millennium.
His most famous role figure, Jeppe, has a drinking problem. Holberg described Jeppe's dilemma in two sentences ; "Everybody's talking about Jeppe's drinking, but nobody's talking about why he's drinking."
This quote has helped people asking the important "why," searching for an underlying cause instead of condemning.
I think those few words alone have made us a more tolerant people.

Originated by MaryT, check hers for today.

RUBY EIGHT PETAL ROSES

My ruby subject this Tuesday is the Norwegian eight petal rose. A pattern used in home craft from ancient time.Serina with her ruby lips is dressed in a hand knitted Fana sweater with white roses.

Here's a woven wall carpet, about 150 years of age, aakle, also with eight petal roses. Homespun and home colored yarn. I bought in on an auction 20 years ago.
This table runner is also woven, but only about my age, pre or post war-ish. We have it on our sofa table.
In Haugesund all girls from 0-14 wear bunads (double click to read more) like this as their primary outfit for feasts, public or private.My mother has made Serina's from scratch. ..
A closeup of the breast cloth,with the famous eight petal rose.
Serina's great grandmother, also by the name of Serina, embroidered her own adult Hardanger bunad in 1903. This is a macro of the pearl belt.

The breast cloth made by great grandmother Serina. It now belongs to my daughter. Eight petal rose once more.
In Norway you'll find eight petal mittens, eight petal logo for the Norwegian home crafts company, and now also for the big Norwegian oil company, Statoil. The funny thing is, I've seen ancient eight petal patterns from India and in Eastern Europe by the Black Sea. It's folk art, flown with the great migrations. However it has stopped and is living on in Norway, while it never has crossed the North Sea.

Originated by MaryT, check hers for today.

ST: MARY IN GOLD; BLUE AND RUBY

For today's Ruby Tuesday I have chosen the main piece of a carved
altar cupboard or triptych (double click to read more) in the Church of St. Mary in Bergen.
Altar cupboards are meant to be opened and closed at different times. When this cupboard is closed can see the Nativity scene, the birth of Christ in Bethlehem.
Although St. Mary traditionally is dressed in blue, the unknown artist has found it suitable with a hint of red.
The red really enhances this elaborate tree carved altar from early 14th century.
It was made by members of the tree carver's guild (double click to read more)from Lubeck. In Norway the Gesellen of the tree carver's guild and the stone mason's guild have traveled to the remotest places to build altars and minimal and greater stone churches.
You can read about the guild system in Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth.
Great novel about an age and craftsmen almost forgotten.

Here we go! It's Ruby Tuesday again!

MY FRIEND TOBIAS

Some days, when life feels not that great, I like to focus on the golden moments.
This is Tobias, grandchild of my old (61) years friend Mia.
He celebrated his grandmother's birthday, January 8th with 6 elderly women.

He indeed made our day.A born Charmer, that's what he is.

The angles are handed with greatest care!
Eyes of a child

(John Lodge) Listen, hear the sound The child awakes Wonder all around The child awakes Now in his life He never must be lost No thoughts must deceive him IN life he must trust CHORUS With the eyes of a child You must come out and see That your world's spinning 'round And through life you will be A small part of a hope, of a love that exists In the eyes of a child you will see Earth falls far away New life awaits Time, it has no day New life awaits Here is your dream And now, how does it feel No words will go with you And now, what is real?

RÙBY WRITINGS

I've had a life long relationship with the Peanuts. Amazing what Carl Schultz could communicate of familiar thoughts, situations and emotions in a just few words and simple, but thorough worked drawings.
Ever visited Crete. One of it's many treasures from the antique is The Phaistos Disc (double click to read more. Many have tried to decipher it's text. Amongst the more famous is a professor from my birth village by the name of Kjell Aarthun. We bought this replica on Crete ten years ago and placed it in our library.

Here we go! It's Ruby Tuesday again!

EVERY GRAIN OF SAND

This song written by Bob Dylan keeps coming back in my life "like the motion of the sea".
It brings comfort, understanding and peace.

Every Grain Of Sand

In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need
When the pool of tears beneath my feet flood every newborn seed
There's a dyin' voice within me reaching out somewhere,
Toiling in the danger and in the morals of despair.

Don't have the inclination to look back on any mistake,
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break.
In the fury of the moment I can see the Master's hand
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand.

Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear,
Like criminals, they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer.
The sun beat down upon the steps of time to light the way
To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay.

I gaze into the doorway of temptation's angry flame
And every time I pass that way I always hear my name.
Then onward in my journey I come to understand
That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand.

I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer's dream, in the chill of a wintry light,
In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space,
In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face.

I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other times it's only me.
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand.

Copyright ©1981 Special Rider Music

RUBY ART

This picture is hanging in our kitchen. It's a painting, oil on canvas, made by Serina 5 years.
I love the way children can and will express themselves when not interrupted by adults. I very carefully asked about the contents of the artwork. a huge red flower, a house, two suns and white stars.
There art artistic minor flowers as well and a lonely window standing on the lawn with yellow sun shining through it. Needless to say that picture has brightened my days for seventeen sunny years.

Here we go! It's Ruby Tuesday again!

KING WINTER

We're fighting king winter with birch logs. So far we are on the winning side.

NEW YEAR, NEW PICTURES; NEW SNOW

The day has become ten minutes longer since solstice. We still have the blue light mornings and evenings. Swept in the virginal snow the scenery is magic.