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.

DO LOOK BACK!

It's that time of year. The summing up and contemplating season. Don't look back, Bob Dylan said. “Life must be lived forward, but understood backwards”, was Soren Kierkegaard's device..
I tend to agree with the latter.

1 Family.
The ones closest to my heart; Serina and Gunnar are still growing nearer and dearer day by day. Love doesn't fade as years go by, it's burning clearer as wisdom grows and more bonds are tied. My mother and my brother are also doing better and that is nothing less than a wonder. God is great!(and they are stubborn fighters)
Aunt Lilly went home to celebrate with Jesus as Terry puts it, December 21st.Her daughter, Gunnar's dear cousin Doris, said in the funeral;" Be not sorry she is gone, Be happy she was here.Other highlights: Concert with cousin Bjorn and his mrs. listening to Jonas Field performing Bjorn's song "The Two Elderly."
That song was published in our local newspaper as a memory to my father. The chorus was written while cousin Bjorn waked over his own dad the week he lay in hospital, dying.
Cousin Arne, named after my father, visited us for a few days this autumn. I don't remember how long he had hiked, but he sure is a trooper with lots and lots of smiles and stories.
Meeting with cousin Sig and his mrs. coming all the way from Montana was huge. Of course cousin Margunn was the hospitable hostess to this great gathering. She's one of a kind. I so appreciate what she's doing.
Ruby girl is finishing her third year on Writtle college north of London.She has performed wonders both in studies and self development. A beautiful and strong Dandelion, even trusted to care for Bengal tigers.

2 Friends
The holy clover from 30 years back are still sticking together, celebrating birthdays, doing some wining and dining, sharing laughs and tears like we always have done.
Hiker girls, also a group of basically four fantastic, enthusiastic, adventurous and loyal 60+, are gathering every Tuesday, come sun come rain. best thing is, they don't give up on me, even though I unwillingly have to spend some Tuesday in bed.
This last autumn I've also made a new friend; lovely Cecilie who is following us to late Friday afternoon bathing.
In May we had a 40 years jubilee of students from nursing school. Amazing how little people had changed and how we still enjoyed being together. The happy and enthusiastic 69ers still had much of their spirit intact. We decided not to wait more than 5 years till next gathering.

3 Blogworld/Facebook
Terry has become a central link in my blog-world. She's always there, with smiles, encouragements, prayers and laughter. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Scarf has broadened my horizon socially and spiritually. I thank God for my new sisters and hope we get to travel together for a long time. Teach Mary has challenged me to go new roads when it comes to photographing as well as watching my surroundings. How I love being busy being born.
John Cowart, an author one of his kind, also challenges me with new ways of thinking and understanding God & life. I am so thankful.
I have taken up a low scale face booking. It is a good way of maintaining contact with the ones I already care about.

4 Travels
Not many, not long, but inspirational and cope-able. Oslo once, Bergen 2 times, Stavanger 3 times, Jaeren 2 times and Sauda about once a month. The faithful Rover is ferrying us around in the local scenery as well. Gunnar is an expert finding interesting off road sites. We are indeed pathfinders and also all the time looking for traces back to the past.

5 Hikes
Likewise the hiker ladies are also looking out for new goals and new experiences. We've been sailing out to the islands out in the North Sea, trotting out to remote lighthouses, walking windblown sandy beaches, exploring old uranium mines high up in the mountains and conquering a few hilltops as well.

6 Art experiences
I don't know how to rank them. The Oslo concert with Bob Dylan, Dubliners singing here by the quays one beautiful summer afternoon, Norwegian world class pianist Leif Ove Andsnes playing Mussorgsky one week before Christmas, Metropolitan soloists performing in Beethoven's 9th in Bergen, the local chamber music ensemble playing in the remote off,off road old church, folksinger, poet and violinist Sondre and Annbjorg forever influencing our minds and hearts on our pilgrims travels, the Russian balalaika orchestra playing along with two local choirs making the Church of Our Savior boil with joy, or standing on a bench in a tent in Skudesnes with Serina singing out of a full heart along with Kaizers Orchestra "Ompa till you die" (and no, Lina Kristine neither of us had tasted a single drop of alcohol!)

We have enjoyed our local art gallery over and over again. Some pearls are always nice to revisit, like dear friends. Young art sometimes also make us moved, especially at Haa old vicarage. They have a taste for values down south. In Bergen the costly galleries are stringed up like pearls on a row. Never a dull moment. Most impressive? The vast Chinese collection. There's still so much to see. We don't buy much. Gunnar bought me some beautiful photos picturing the "Leaving of Sauda" this autumn. I treasure them highly, sentimental reasons, maybe. Most youths growing up in my birth town have to seek education and work elsewhere.
The leaving is both an adventure, but to most also a final goodbye to one part of life.
One new hobby developing from all the recent concert; Visiting "new" and interesting churches both in the neighborhood and when we are out of town. Great architecture, great histories, great congregations a well.

7 Garden
Our garden is where I gain power and my main source of recreation. I set the last bulbs in February and started outdoor living in March.
The herb garden can be harvested from April till November. Though rather chilly it also was a good year for the roses. (meaning all kinds of flowers from April till early November)I managed to set 200 new bulbs in October. Now I just have 80 more to be planted this February. We are getting older and more tired though. This year we'll have to rent help to cut the hedges. Even though I kind of like it, our garden is looking more or less like that of Thornrose.

8 New wisdom
Being chronically ill doesn't mean stop developing. On the contrary. To survive one has to look for new solutions and ways to go.
Meeting with my Feldenkrais physiotherapist has been a major turn for the better this year. I have sessions once a week and it' amazing what wonders she has worked to my old and broken limbs. I both move, walk, sit and sleep better than in decades. Best thing is bringing new hope and enthusiasm for my future.
When things are turning for the better one also get inspired to seek further. Gunnar brought this book about the Silva method forth. I thought I might give it a go. I have not reached further than to exercise two, but that too is working out just miraculously for me. Imagine, me!
Mrs. Mac is an inspiration to develop new ways of domestic working and thinking, so is my friend Turid and Gunnar's cousin Doris.
This is why I have taken up bread baking, filling the freezer with herbs mixes, berries and black currant juice.
What a pleasure. Even my mom is impressed.

9 Books
We definitely are readers more than watchers. Our home is gradually bursting with all the books we cannot avoid buying. Best read this year? John Coward's Glog, Flogstad's Grense Jakopselv, Falcones' Cathedral of the Sea and the ones I got for my birthday by Cecilia Samartin.
Gunnar just got a heap of art history books, and yes, I mean a heap. The old julenisse is literally buried in books. I have just been browsing so far, but wow, what a gift!

10 Health
Ups and downs for the whole family. Getting a wash-lady sure was a major help to take off the daily overload,as Paul so wisely puts it.
We have a good doc and have not in anyway given up, so I'll have to claim, we are in a rather optimistic mood.

11 New skills
Serina is half way to a bachelor grade in media and communication. She is doing better and better. In writing moment she's celebrating New Year in London with her two best friends from junior high.
She is indeed having a ball.
Gunnar has developed his skills in Tai Chi. He's
got this strong will, never giving up. I admire him enormously. He's also found new ways of using his limited forces in home decorating.
Always reaching forwards to new goals and never giving in, that's my hubby.
We've both bought new cameras this fall and are further inspired by that. Serina took upon the job both of painting our house and remodeling grandma' garden this summer. She's a girl growing with the challenges. At school she suddenly found herself a technical leader for a film festival,- and guess what; she made it with flying colors.

12 The Lord's prayer
I always have found great strength and comfort in praying. Unloading burdens and seeking help, wisdom and forgiveness-, I don't think I could manage life without it. Neither would I.
He who prays shall get, is the promise. I have been richly blessed, this year too.
The hardest as well as the most rewarding prayer, still i the Lord's Prayer.
I often find myself praying "Help me forgive", cause I know in the bottom of my heart I am struggling doing so. Likewise I pray help me not being evil, cause I know I sometimes am.
And it is relaxing praying "Thy will be done."
Handing over the responsibility to the only force able to protect and love and care for all of us in this world and into the afterlife.

Wishing you all a blessed New Year
From Felisol