Sky and the space beyond

Many bloggers around the world are sitting on earth searching for motives in the sky to present on the web every Friday.
Up in the clouds there may also be someone with the face turned to the space and the universe beyond.If the eyes are "good enough" may be the size of things out there in our Solar System can be watched like this:
Adding some of the other planets in our solar system, we can see that the earth is quite small.
and the size of the Sun compared to the Planets shows the huge space out there.
However, the size of other things (Stars) in space outside our Solar System must be added to understand how small we rally are in the macro perspective.
Our Tellus is invisible in this scale.
Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky with a visual apparent magnitude of −1.47. At a distance of 2.6 parsecs (8.6 light-years), the Sirius system is one of our near neighbors.
Pollux also cataloged as Beta Geminorum (β Gem / β Geminorum), is an orange giant star approximately 34 light-years away in the constellation of Gemini (the Twins). Pollux is the brightest star in the constellation (brighter than Castor (Alpha Geminorum). As of 2006, Pollux was confirmed to have an extrasolar planet orbiting it.
Arcturus is at least 110 times more luminous than the Sun, but this underestimates its strength as much of the "light" it gives off is in the infrared; total power output is about 180 times that of the Sun. Arcturus is 36.7 light years (11.3 parsecs) from Earth, relatively close in astronomical terms.
Rigel, Aldebaran, and Betelgeuse can be found in the constellation Orion . The Hunter´s stars are found on the celestial equator and are visible throughout the world. Its three prominent "belt" stars - three stars of medium brightness in the mid-section of this constellation - make this constellation easy to spot and globally recognized.
Antares is a red supergiant star in the Milky Way galaxy with a diameter of approximately 700 times that of the sun. Antares is approximately 600 light years from our solar system. Its visual luminosity is about 10,000 times that of the Sun, but because the star radiates a considerable part of its energy in the infrared part of the spectrum, the bolometric luminosity equals roughly 65,000 times that of the Sun. The mass of the star is calculated to be 15 to 18 solar masses.

If we believe in climate changes (and that is not difficult to do), do we really believe that the human influence are the only cause? The size and powers from the things in the sky may be well in-calculated.
Happy watching tonight.

ABC Wednesday = B

This week the beautiful other side of the sunset is my motive. Turning the camera in the opposite direction can give you new experience. The sun is going down in the West making wonderful effects of the nature and culture to the East.
B is for Beautiful. To the south the small trees are bending due to many years of hard wind.
B = Bending in the wind
And if you want another way of looking at the bushes, listen to Bob Dylan and his Blowing in the Wind from 1971.
B is for Blowing

Tuesday facts - Banknotes

The Ecconomist made yesterday an overview over the World's highest-denomination banknotes. I have in previous posts presented some of the banknotes we used in the Middle East and Asia, and here is some of the notes mentioned by the magazine.
First the Hungarian Pengo:Then the German Mark:The Yugoslavian Dinar:And the latest, The Dollar from Zimbabwe:The highest value of the banknote in Euro is 500. I am in favor of using Euro in Norway. But until that is acceptable policy, be happy when shopping during your holidays knowing that plastic cards still are useful world wide.

Monday Odd Shot

The warm summer gives me problems creating or finding really Odd Shots this monday. Hopefully will the photo taken some time ago during Easter be a little ODD this time of the year.If you want another Odd photo this shot of the Scandinavian Women Association Singapore 1996 is odd if you combine it with my wife´s tailor who remembered her 12 years after our stay. He also remembered the lady most left. Good customers?
and may be some of them are bloggers today.And at last as a greeting to anemone on vacation. Hopefully she has come to a conclusion regarding her hair challenge before she return to the blogging world.

Plus 30 C for the 3rd day

Blue sky, no wind, UV dangerous sun and almost 90 F for the 3rd day this week.

Why continue with Blogging

Yesterday my friend RuneE in his blog told about good reason not to blog.

Temperature above 30C --- Yes
Red and Black Current ready for harvesting --- May be.

Here at my cottage in Oslo the temperature ended at 30C so the shadow at by balcony gives me many possibilities to work with canvas and colors. The result may well be called Headmaster because it is the end of Tullen´s holiday this weekend. The upcoming three weeks she has to take days off due to the absence of the pupils.

However, call it what you want, the situation with relaxed days and sunbathing under a blue sky remains.

Within days we also have to clean the red current bush and continue to have raspberries for dessert.

Night, Morning and Friday

Around midnight the moon came on a visit at the eastern sky.
Eight hours later the mist is leaving the green area,
and the summer morning (with 20C) is ready to give us a warm and beautiful Friday.
The Sky is blue, it is Día Nacional de Galicia (English: National Day of Galicia), also Día da Patria Galega (English: Day of the Galician Fatherland).
The autonomous community of Galicia (Spain) celebrates its national holiday. I only have to send greetings to Rachel in Brighton and give her some memories of her last stay in Norway.

Reclining women a favorite motive

I don´t know when it started, but for centuries painters have made thousands of paintings where female bodies lie back in a relaxed position with the back supported. So have I.
Here are some of the works I have done during the last years.
Reclining on a turquoise sofa.
Reclining A la Picasso.
Reclining in a cabin
My last work finished yesterday, Reclining on a sun bed.

All time High for transplantation in Norway

In addition to the ABC Wednesday post today I want to deliver a congratulation to the national hospital - RIKSHOSPITALET - with the All time high record on transplantation during the first half of 2008.
Totally 224 organs have been transplanted. 21 hearts, 38 livers, 17 lungs, 6 pancreas and 146 kidneys.
One important reason behind these figures is that more relatives say Yes to donation.
At the same time 250 organs are still needed to help persons on the hospital´s waiting list.
Make your decision today:
Say YES to Organdonation and tell your relatives about your decision.

Art, Artist, Arne and Acrylic on Canvas

ABC Wednesday has opened the 3rd round and in a New version.
A is for Altered .

Hopefully this version will give us a better way of presenting text and photos under the ABC Wednesday umbrella. Looking back to January 23rd when I joined the ABC alphabet blog meme, I see that I have not moved far away from my understanding of A
A is still Art, Artist, Arne and Acrylic painting

and my last work called Allegro.
Hopefully many new bloggers will find their way to ABC Wednesday and together with the "old" bloggers create a site of interest for all and not only use the meme as a switchboard for marketing own sites.
However, you are always welcome to visit me at Arne´s Bog

Tuesday facts, Weather and ABC Wednesday Round 3

Yesterday at 7pm the rainbow gave a signal about the returning of the sun after many rainy days. The weather forecast for the coming week confirms the natural sign from above.

This morning my wife went out in the garden and cut a rose for my breakfast table, and I gladly pass the rose on to Denise for her job to make the new version of ABC Wednesday up and go from tomorrow.Since the letter last week was Z and Round 3 starts with A, I have to make a short post covering our letters following Z in the nordic alphabet.

Æ Ø Å

Æ is according to Wikipedia a ligatur for AE. We can see the letter in the Greek Mythology (Odysseus) where Aiolos (Æolus) "the wind God" gives Odysseus a bag with all four winds.
Æ we also see in Æsop´s fables

Ø is perhaps the same for OE.
There are two theories about the origin of the letter Ø :
That it arose as a version of the ligature Πfor a diphthong spelled "oe", with the horizontal line of the "e" written across the "o", and
That it arose in Anglo-Saxon England as an O and an I written in the same place, to represent a long close [ö] sound resulting from i-mutation of [ō]: compare Bede's Northumbrian Anglo-Saxon period spelling Coinualch for standard Cēnwealh (a man's name) (in a text in Latin). Later the letter ø disappeared from Anglo-Saxon as the Anglo-Saxon sound [ø] changed to [ē], but by then use of the letter ø had spread from England to Scandinavia.
In English we know the use of the letter in Oedipus.

Å is used for a double A.
Historically, the letter Å derives from the Old Norse vowel á. This was a long /aː/ sound, but over time, the vowel developed to an [ɔ] sound. Medieval writing often used doubled letters for long vowels, and the vowel continued to be written Aa.
My birth town is Ålesund. Before 1917 it was written Aalesund. The city´s football club uses the double A in its name: AaFK (Aalesund Fotball Klubb).

Monday Odd Shots

Since I stayed a couple nights at Copenhagen, my Odd Shots this week must come from this Danish Capital. 

For other Odd Shots visit Katney´s Kaboodie

The most odd within the blogging world last week must however be the numbers of participants in New SkyWatch. My last count was 324 Linkies although only 113 gave Tom feedback by making comments.
Thist week Denise will change the rules for ABC Wednesday, and may be that will be the way to go in the future for blog fellowships.

So on to the Odd Copenhagen: 

The first is the Button Lady at Ripley's Believe It or Not! at "Rådhusplassen".But my preferred Odd Shot is an ordinary Cafe Table. The Odd thing is the Red Tuborg.

Rød Tuborg is a bavarian beer which Tuborg Breweries started the production of in 1875.
They stopped the production of the Red beer at the end of 2002 because of sale declining. Due to many protests it was relaunched 14. may 2007 for a limited period. From 30th April 2008 to the end of May a new limited numbers of bottles was sent out in the market. I got the beer at Hviids Vinstue last week. That´s odd, but: Excellent!

Cheers! or if you are going to a new country this summer, the way to say "Skål" can be found here

Sunday visit at Turids home

My sister in law Turid has invited us to dinner later today. I think she planned for BBQ in the garden, but the weather conditions in mind I believe it will be something around her dining table.
Looking forward to the visit and the family gathering again, and instead of bringing gift at arrival I hereby send her a blog post with the beautiful flowers from the coastal Vest Norway.

The flowers can also go to H.R.H. Crown Prince Haakon Magnus on his 35 years birthday today.

Saturday Urban Life - Copenhagen

I promised to go on Photo Safari ( see Petunias sidebar ) during my short stay in the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen this week.
The problem is to choose which photos to show. Should they be "family"-photos, Artistic, Photo-technical great (almost impossible by me), or just describe something of what we saw when strolling (between my wife´s shopping) up and down the streets in the center of the city.

The result is:

Leaving Norway at 06.08.38 am catching Sponvika from the new Svinesund-bridgeAt 10.19.04 am (no speed control please) we left Sweden over the Øresund BridgeComing early to Copenhagen we made some strolling prior to the lunch at "The Small Pharmacy" and the dish was described in my thursday post:Then the typical Copenhagen city environment is digitalized:Bicycles can be seen all over the city and some are covered with flowers. The Danes have real bicycle-culture and the cycle-people in Oslo have much to learn by going there. Here they are waitung for Green Light when crossing the road.
Public art is sometimes also playground for children, and since August 15th 2007 Denmark has
a ban against smoking in busses, schools and institutions, locations accessible to the public such as museums, all workplaces, with exceptions possible in one-man offices and the most important: indoor food serving places
Queuing up for the daily RED Hot Dog (mandatory for visitors)
or go to Nyhavn for a beer or/and a "frokost-platte"
Copenhagen´s greatest attraction must be Tivoli. The park is partly an amusement area with horrifying roller coasters etc., bur Tivoli is also a Pleasure Garden with good restaurants, pubs and tranquility areas.
The Tivoli Guards marching,The horrifying Dæmonen rollercoaster features an Immelmann loop, a loop, and a Zero-G roll. Thanks god the tour only takes two minutes.The world's tallest carousel, Himmelskibet, opened in Tivoli in 2006. It is 80 meters high and is built by the Austrian company, Funtime.
The Nimb for posh dinners
Outside Tivoli in streets and squares we can be entertained by Street Dancers and Folk DancersWhen the Photo Safari gives you a break, locate Hviids Vinstue at Kongens Nytorv etablished 1723, and ask for a beer. You are worth it.!

Sky Watch Friday with Paintings

Within the new Sky Watch initiative done by Old Wom Tigley I use the opportunity to present some of my landscape and Sky paintings.

First the two paintings Acrylic on canvas done this last two weeks, Dirty snow and Sunset.
From 2004 I choose, The Farm, Brøste Valley, and Sunset all done acrylic on paper:From 2005 Slogen and Naftadjupet also acrylic on paper:At last in this "new"Sky Watch presentation, please see Autumn and Alberobello:

Copenhagen and red tuborg

At hviids vinstue from 1723

Copenhagen is not East Coast Singapore, but....

Thursday post comes from the Capital of Denmark, Copenhagen.

As usual we start the car engine at 05am and have lunch seven hours later in the King´s city (or presently the Queen´s) at Copenhagen´s oldest restaurant Det lille Apotek,
or at Gammel Strand, or if we have to somewhere in Nyhavn

We promise to bring the camera and go on Photo Safari in Copenhagen.
The Lunch in Copenhagen?

2 slags sild, marineret- og karrysild m/løg og capers
Lun fiskefilet m/remoulade og citron
Fersk røget østersølaks m/asparges & urtecreme
Lun leverpostej m/ristet bacon og champignons
Hjemmelavet hønsesalat m/ristet bacon
2 slags oste
Rugbrød, franskbrød, smør og krydderfedt.

Ålborg Taffel and Green Tuborg + one "hånd-Bajer" for RuneE

Until we return with the Safari Photos, you have to be satisfied with a photo of the correspondents at Jumbo Restaurant, East Coast Singapore, some years ago.
Drunken Prawns, Chilly Crabs, Kailan Vegetables, Black pepper beef, Lemon Chicken, etc. plus Beer Jugs was of course on that menu.

ABC Wednesday - Z

The last word in my dictionary on Z is:
zymurgy |ˈzīˌmərjē|
noun the study or practice of fermentation in brewing, winemaking, or distilling. I therefore dedicate this post to Asbjørn. He tried some years ago to establish a new business within brewing and marketing ancient Norwegian Beer, but I have never tasted his beer so the attempt did not work out with success.

Therefore I have to find something total different.

Z is for the chinese emperors Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu DiZhu Yuanzhang (posthumous called Tai Zu) 1328 - 1398 was the founder of the Ming Dynasty and well known for being an emperor rising from a poor peasant. He was from Zhongli of Haozhou County. During the peasant uprising by the end of the Yuan Dynasty in 1352 he joined the army and through his competence he three years later was appointed Vice-Marshal and Vice-Premier.
Zhu Yuanzhang made great influence on army discipline. He proclaimed "Treat people with love and soldiers with discipline". He gave grain to the people wherever he went and got support in return.
In 1363 he won great victories, declared himself King of Wu and put the whole South China under his control in a few years. He turned against the Yuan in the north and under the slogan "Drive away the Mongols, restore China to the Chinese, establish law and order and provide relief to the poor" and proclaimed the Ming Dynasty in 1368.
Tai Zu died of illness at the age of 70 in 1398.
Zhu Di (known in history as Cheng Zu) 1360 - 1424 was the third Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He is known as the emperor that moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing in 1421. The Imperial Palace were mostly built during his reign.
Zhu Di took the power of Nanjing in 1403 and very soon ordered the scholar Xie Jin to take care of the compilation of A Comprehensive Collection of Classics for the purpose to carry forward the national culture. In 1407 the well-known Yong Le Da Dian (an encyclopaedic collection with more than 22,800 sections bound in over 11,000 books) was finally completed.
Zhu Di was very satisfied with this unprecedented transcript, containing approximately 7,000 to 8,000 types of books and some 370 million words, and the collection was carefully kept in the restored Wen Yuan Ge (The Imperial Library) located at Nanjing. Since then, ‘Yong Le Da Dian’ and Wen Yuan Ge have become symbols of the maturity of the Chinese civilisation signifying the people’s love, treasuring, protecting and inheriting of traditional culture.
Cheng Zu died at the age of 64 of illness on return from an expedition against the Mongols in 1424.

Thanks to Wu Luxing, Wang Xuewen and Wang Yanxi for information to this post and Lu Yanguang for the illustrations.
More ABC = Z posts can be found at Mrs Nesbits Place

Tuesday Facts - Recreation and Holidays

This Tuesday I give those of you, not already on the preferred summer holiday location, some ideas. Use your internet connection and order tickets NOW!

First up is Australia with the Opera, CenterPoint and Paddys Market. You may very well stay at Manly Beach close to the city.If you feel Australia is too far away, but still want to have your recreation "down under", Bali (8°25′23″S, 115°14′55″E) Is another opportunity.
Your hotel lobby may well look like this:and your swimming pool can chill you inside and outside.Many Norwegian travel to Thailand and Puckett. So did we. The Thai dishes are exceptional good and always presented artistically. Not only beautiful beaches, but many possibilities to walk around in wonderful nature. Visits to local temples are mandatory.
Have a nice holiday wherever you stay this summer. Take care and recharge your batteries.

Odd shots Monday

According to my dictionary ODD is different from what is usual or expected; strange.

My photo shot today is from 1996 where my daughter is sitting in a liane swing in Bukit Timah, Singapore.
We often walked in this Nature Reserve together with nordic visitors who never before had felt the sticky heat, smell and sound of a tropical rainforest. They found the situation very strange, and the photo motive can well be seen as "me Rikke you Tarzan"The other shot is of my last painting, presently hanging on the wall in the dining "room" of my cottage. It is quite odd to use that colors for the sky and still feeling very satisfied with the result. (Sunset, 100x150cm acrylic on canvas)

For other odd shots go to Katney and follow her Odd Shots Blogroll

Happy Birthday Helene - 5 years today

5 years have past since the message about Helenes too hasty way to life arrived us in Verona. Premature birth is a huge challenge to child and parents. Many obstacles have been conquered but today this beautiful girl can celebrate her 5 years birthday.

Grandma and Grandpa send all the Congratulation to Helene on her five years birhday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
5 YEARS TODAY

The photos taken on our last visit to Wales. Helene is playing in her garden on the first and having breakfast and almost ready to go to primary school in her uniform on the second.

Only a few weeks left now until the school will close this term, and Helene will have her summer holiday together with Henrik, mum and dad. May be we will see you too.

Dubai and Oman/ Muscat once more

Last Friday I received a comment to my sky watch post from Oman Holiday with updated information about Oman, Muscat and the fantastic Al Bustan Palace Hotel. (Thanks). That made it clear that I had to present some more of my 1996 photos from the Middle East.

Our trip to Oman started from Singapore via Dubai.Dubai has since our last visit changed a lot so many of our memories may be gone in today tourist paradise, but The Creek is still there.We went by bus through the desert from UAE to Oman and Muscat, and the road signs made it clear that it was not Moose or other nordic animals for what the driver should be on alert.Close to the border we took a break and could relax in local surroundingsThe first impression of the modern Oman was all the beautiful roundaboutsbut the Hotel lobby at Al Bustan was almost breathtaking. The rooms had the highest standard and as you can see from the first photo in this post the beach and gardens absolute five stars.One of our dinners we had in a tent outside the hotel, sitting on persian carpets and served by arabs in traditional style.The cooking ladies also danced and performed local songs in their colorful dresses. Some of our ladies had to join the dance.As normal, when the Asia Pacific Management Team was occupied with discussions and decisions in the hotel´s meeting rooms, the spouses had sightseeing to ancient fortress and could visit local markets (as they did to the Gold Souk in Dubai).
The ladies here are: Gunilla (Sweeden), Olga (Greece), Mariana (Holland), Marianne(Sweden/Norway) and May Britt (Norway).Close to Nizwa with the fish market, the ruins of the old village Tanuf was visited.

And if they wanted to shop (Black belt in shopping was quite common) the local currency looked like this:We absolute recommend Oman, Muscat and Al Bustan to those eager for extraordinary holiday adventures.

Saturday Urban life - Thaipusam Singapore

This Saturday our Urban life goes more than 12 years back; to the memorable time we had when living in Asia and staying Singapore.

Being Expat-citizens of Singapore we had to participate in some of the festivals the different groups of citizens celebrated. In Singapore about 8.8% are Indians and more than 100 000 Tamils live side by side with Chinese (75,2%), Malay (13,6%) and Eurasians (2,4%).
In the beginning of February the Indians are celebrating Lord Murugan (Subramaniam) in the Thaipusam Festival.

One of the highlights during this festival is the procession from Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple in Little India to Sri Thendayuthapani Temple at Tank Road about 3-4 km route, where young men are dancing and carrying or dragging their KADAVI through the streets.Before he starts walking this man´s mouth, tongue and cheeks are penetrated with needlesHis chest are filled with limes (others use milkbottles) hanging in fish hooks.
And when he has passed you see that the Kadavi is fastened to his back with even more fish hooks.
Others are carrying large kadavi on their shoulders but here also fastened to the body and skin by needles.
If you are planning a trip to Asia in the year to come, why not look for an opening to travel to Singapore in january/february.

Sky Watch Memories

In the process of presenting memories from our stay in Asia and the Middle East some years ago, I first give you the sea reflections when leaving Pulau TinggiThe Malaysian Islands became a often visited target when we wanted to have some days off, but once in the lifetime experience can we call our meeting with the world´s only country beginning with an O. Oman and the capital Muscat is a place we highly recommend. We stayed at Al Bustan Palace Muscat, but for this Friday blogpost I think Tullens meeting with the desert sheik is more representative.We had a journey through the desert to and from Oman, as a part of our management meeting in Dubai. In addition to the Gold Souk and the Carpet market, the Persian Gulf at Holiday Inn Beach Club is high on our memory list.

Beijing summer 1995

Yesterday I used the ABC Wednesday = Y to write about our visit to the summer palaces in the capital of China in 1995. Today I will continue the presentation of Beijing with photos from our visits to The forbidden city, Temple of Heaven, the Great Wall at Badaling and the neighborhood of our city hotel.
Outside the Imperial Palace or the Forbidden city we have the Gate of Heavenly Peace or more known as Tiananmen Square Behind us is the Great Hall of the People with one Hall for each province too.
In front of the south gate of the Forbidden City with Mao´s portrait Trine, Rikke and Tullen are looking forward to enter this fantastic area. Building of The Imperial Palace started during the Ming Dunasty (1420). It occupies an area of 720.000 square meters. The last Emperor Pu Yi had to leave the Palace in 1924 and after that the whole area was turned into a museum.
The dimension of the squares can be seen at the photo belowChina is Huge and so is Beijing. Close but even far away from the Palace we also made a visit to Temple of Heaven.The Hall of Prayers for good Harvest has a fantastic Dome made of wood with beautiful colors
A visit to Beijing without climbing the Great Wall is waste of time. We went to Badaling and ascended the Great Wall in rainy weather, became extremely wet, but still very proud to receive the Certificate confirming that I (An Liang Shen) am a plucky Hero
The vacation report should probably stop here, but if some of you are going to Beijing for the Olympics, may be the following photos from our hotel´s neighborhood close to the Imperial Palace, will give you some possibility to evaluate the development the last 13 years.A street grocery and one for merchandise in 1995
and if the burger shops have not yet taken over, you may have your dumpling lunch in places like this.
Have a nice trip to Beijing before it is too late to feel and smell the real Asia.

ABC Wednesday - Y

Once again I have to bring you back in time. A family visit to Beijing was of course mandatory when staying in Asia mid 90s. I will tomorrow give you some of the photos taken in this ancient city, but on this ABC Wednesday is for Y, I give you a small taste.
First the Old Summer Palace

Y is for YuanMingYuan, (圓明園)


YuanMingYuan was a large imperial park of three separate parks viz. the Garden of Perfection and Brightness (圓明園Yuanmingyuan) to the west, the Garden of Ten Thousand (Eternal) Springs (萬春園Wanchunyuan) to the south and the Garden of Everlasting Spring (長春園Changchunyuan) to the east, all centered around Fuhai, (福海 Lake/Sea of Fortune/Blessings).

The latter two gardens were added during the Qianlong Reign. The Garden of Ten Thousand (Eternal) Springs Wanchunyuan was also known as Yichunyuan (怡和園 Garden of Exquisite Spring).

Anyone who appreciates beauty and human enterprise will be outraged when they visit the present YuanMingYuan. This was once a beautiful imperial park, with exquisite gardens, Chinese palaces and Western Baroque buildings, treasures of art and cultural relics and an imperial library of irreplaceable books.
It was plundered and razed to the ground by the barbaric Anglo-French forces in 1860 under the order of Lord Elgin (James Bruce 1811-1863), son of the famous British lover of Greek art who stole the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens.
The other Y this week is the "new" Summer Palace

Y is for YiheYuan (頤和園)

The Summer Palace started out life as the Garden of Clear Ripples in 1750. As Yuan Ming Yuan the garden was heavily damaged in 1860. The garden survived and was rebuilt in 1886 and 1902. In 1888, it was given the current name, Yihe Yuan. It served as a summer resort for Empress Dowager Cixi, who diverted 30 million taels of silver, said to be originally designated for the Chinese navy (Beiyang Fleet), into the reconstruction and enlargement of the Summer Palace.The long Promenade (750 m long) is covered with almost 1500 beautiful paintings at the ceiling (originally 546). CiXi was carried through this corridor in bad weather.External photos:
The Marble Boat (boat of Purity and Ease) was restored by Empress Dowager as a tribute to the money she took from the navy for the rebuilding of the park.
Perhaps the bridges should be used for the "Bridges" meme, but the Jade Belt Bridge and the Bridge of Floating Hearts must be part of the ABC Wednesday post:
For more ABC Wednesday proposals, see Mrs Nesbitts place

Tuesday facts - Geirangerfjorden

The Geirangerfjord is a fjord in the Sunnmøre region, located in the southernmost part of the county Møre og Romsdal in Norway. It is a 15km long branch of the Storfjord (Great Fjord).
The fjord is one of Norway's most visited tourist sites and has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
On the journey back to Oslo a week ago we decided to take the 50 minutes ferry voyage from Hellesylt to Geiranger and once more experience the beauty of nature and challenge of culture when catching photos from this magnificent place on earth.
The first photo is taken high above the beginning of the fjord from the road between Stranda and Hellesylt. The mist is breaking up and we see our ferry coming.Along the fjord's sides there lie a number of now abandoned farms. Some restoration has been made by the 'Storfjordens venner' association. The most commonly visited among these farms are Skageflå, Knivsflå, and Blomberg, but we can also see Matvik and Syltevik on our voyage. A map over the fjord with photos can be seen here
The first farm we meet at the right side is Matvik where the local climate made it possible to grow oranges, grapes and even apricots On the right side we see the Syltevik farmand see the steep mountain walls going straight down to the see from 1000 m above.You may well understand that the animals and children at Blomberg farm above Syltevik had to be tied so they did not fall down the slope.
The two most famous waterfalls in the fjord is the Seven Sisters and the Wooer or Suitor
There is an old story that the wooer never had any luck with the sisters so he turned to drinking as can be seen in the middle of the waterfall.
Close to the Seven Sisters is the farm Knivsflå and across the fjord the perhaps most famous farm Skageflå. Queen Sonja and King Harald invited over 30 Royal guests to lunch in the farm courtyard when they celebrated their silver wedding in 1993.When the fjord makes its last turn to the right you can see the road between Geiranger and Eidsdal: The Eagle Road. The road swings through 11 hairpin bends up from the Geirangerfjord and to the highest point on the stretch, 620 metres above sea level at Korsmyra. The road was officially opened on 15th September 1955 and gave the village of Geiranger year-round road access. The road was an attraction from the very first day, and was called Eagle Road because at its highest point it passed through terrain that had traditionally been the domain of a large number of eagles. The name also reflects the wildness, the spectacular that tourists and others using the road will experience, especially if they stop at Ørnesvingen, the highest of the hairpins.On the right side the nature has made it possible to announce the waterfall-wedding from the Preachers balconybut the Mountain King have to accept the wooer first, and until now he is still silently hiding in the steep slope.After going ashore from the ferry the only reasonable next stop is on the Dalsnibba summit where you in good weather (as we had last year) can see Geiranger, the fjord and Eagle Road from 4843 ft (1476m)

Bridges on a Odd Shot Monday

As my regular visitors are well informed about, I spent some days on Flem Island a week ago. The arrival to "Eidet" and our good friends Asbjørn and Anne Katharina (their house can be seen upper right if you click on the photo), has to be done by passing the bridge over "Ullasundet" as seen on the photo above.
The small island behind the bridge is called "Ullaholmen" and is only occupied by "wild" sheep that are living out there the year around.
The second Bridge today is the tiny walking bridge to Ulla Lighthouse on Kvernholmen only a few hundred meters to the west from the first bridge. You may rent the house on the island, and do fishing (granted result) from the shores around. Yesterday I mentioned I planned to visit Kistefos Museum which we did in continuous rainy weather. A fantastic exhibition with 54 oil/tempera paintings by Thore Heramb cannot be recommended high enough. No camera accepted in the gallery, but in the park you may se some fantastic sculptures well fitted for Monday Odd Shots.

The first is Bjarne Melgaard´s "Octopus" from 1997 and the second Petroc Sesti´s "Energy/Matter/Space/Time" from 2006 Turn the next 180 gr around to see the correct versionThere is a bridge at Kistefos Træsliperi too, controlling "Randelva" and the waterfall for the old Pulp mill and the hydroelectric power plant. For more Bridges go to RuneE´s Blogroll and for Odd Shots visit Katneys site

Sunday Gallery visits and something more.

Yesterday the weather changed dramatically within minutes. From 30 C sunshine and almost no clothes to fleece jacket, tropical storm, thunder, lightening and heavy rain making troubles to communication and fires in the city.
The backside of our cottage was almost covered with Flammentanz roses prior to the storm, so I was lucky to catch this photo when the clouds started to gather and became darker. Today the temperature is down to 12 C and we have to make some changes in daily activities. No sun-bathing possible.
Visiting Hadeland Glassverk and Kistefos museum are put on the agenda and we look forward to meet Thore Herambs colorful paintings again.This is called "the Wincdow"Will return with other photos later.
However, I have for some time now promised my wife to present one of Norway´s most spectacular "Landhandleri" (shop) in my blog. I have done it earlier, but when we midsummer this year once more visited Eidsdal on the other side of the Eagle Road from Geiranger, I took the time and shot some photos of this "Brustadbu".From my blog in Norwegian I copy

Her drives ekspeditering på gamlemåten, og regningen settes sammen manuelt av den nå ca. 90 år gamle innehaveren. Butikken har vært i virksomhet fra før 1885 da hans bestefar drev stedet. Deretter var onkelen ansvarlig før han selv tok over. Fortidsminneforeningens avdeling på Sunnmøre i 2002 ga Godt vern-prisen til Tore og Mary Ytterdal for deres arbeid med å holde vedlike landhandelen i Eidsdal. Ekteparet får ros for godt vern av både eksteriør og interiør.

Saturday Urban Life - Postcards from Oslo

With some postcards from summer Oslo I send all the best to every visitors to my blog this Saturday where the temperature now, 10 am, is 26C. The photos are taken yesterday on our city strolling on our queen Sonja´s 71 years birthday. Click on the photos and see H.M. smiling with her Harald.
The first photo of the fountain is taken outside the National Theatre Subway station.
At Eger square the police has a stand to inform about all the pickpockets in the town at present, and make police more visible at Karl Johan street.
At Aker Brygge we had lunch with Rikke at D/S Louise and can recommend the Moule frites (Mussels)
Outside the restaurant peoples are relaxing or taking a beer at Lektern.
Summer is always SALE in our town as all other summer cities. "Stortingsgaten" must be rehabilitated once more and the shops find accurate ways to increase revenue.
On the top of Cafe Christiaia at Folketinget (close to "Løvebakken" and "Grand Hotel") on the way to the subway station at the Parliament it is always time to relax some time with a single beer or glass of white wine before returning to our garden at Solvang.
A warm and lovely weekend to you all wherever you are.

Greetings to GAWO

GAWO made a presentation of "Valdresflya" on her SWF today. That made me no chance but uploading my experience from the same area last Monday when we returned from Geiranger to Oslo.
After the steep (6%) hills from Lom we were met by the high mountains to the west. The mountains are up to 2300 m
Behind "Besshø" we have Norway´s two highest mountains, Glittertind and Galhøpiggen (not seen), and in front to the right Besseggen.
Coming nearer to the top of Valdresflya the mountains are just beautiful.
and if anybody locals know, please give me the name of the summits.
This photo is shot on the top; ab. 1400 meter, before we start on the way down to Beitostølen.
Thank you GAWO for the opportunity to join your visual MC journey.

Friday sunsets

In a district of Norway where it is four seasons during a week and even sometimes during a day, catching the sun when it touch the horizon is really difficult.
However I made some attempts and the result is presented here on my version of the Sky Watch Friday.
First the sunset on the 22nd when the stormy and rainy weather was coming from the southwest at half past eleven that night:Next evening the sun at the Island of Flems a quarter to nine gave us a spectacular view:with sunbeams through the wet clouds far out in the west, but no red colors tonight.
The weather last Friday night was better for colorful sunset:and a cruise liner heading north had a beautiful view at sea
11.40 some clouds covered the sun touching the horizon, but the sunset was paintable.

Photo Safari - Animal connections

Based upon my photos from last week I will present some of the animals and birds we met during our stay at the NorthWest part of Norway.

In Norddal we met Goats and at Flem island we met calves (male and female) and saw lots of birds. I have only a small camera, and am not a bird watcher / catcher. I even do not know the English names of all birds, but nevertheless here are some of my shots during this Photo Safari.
One of the photos are taken on board the ferry from Hellesylt to Geiranger when a man fed the Seagulls with bread.

First photo is two goats measuring strengthand of course Dr. Dyregod had to give the looser some comfortNext day the rumor about Tullen followed her up to Herdalsæter where the goats family wanted to say helloDuring our stay at Sykkylven we only met some cats, but the local citizens gave a warm welcomeArriving Eidet the one year calves was relaxing in the field, but immediately started to dance and wanted to get our attention.
I am nor so fond of animals as my wife, and I think some of them seems already clear for the bullfight in Spain.But as usual Tullen like the close contact.Above the Seagulls secured the area for their small ones and that was the same for the "Tjeld"
The "Hegre" was watching the tide for some food, and at the stone the "Skarv" was resting between their trips to the fishing field away from the shore.
The journey back to Oslo went through the Geiranger Fjord where the Seagulls was fed by passengers and as a special greetings to RuneE I have to end this Safari with "Måser i Masta" onboard the ferry:

ABC Wednesday - X

This must be the most difficult letter in the alphabet.
Of course I can use the
X is for X (=10, as ten years since my combined organ transplantation: TX-cor and TX-renis), or just accept that my body is moving from XL to XXL during the summer beer consumption.
But to fill this week´s requirement for photo coverage, I had to dig deep in my files and the special X-File.

X is for X-file.

First it just appeared. The sound and view of a Space Ship:An intense blitz or explosion was seen above the horizon.
Then an UFO appeared very close to my neighborhood :
And after seconds the Alien show up in a wooden goat.
I have to call Dana Scully.

Tuesday Facts - Norddal, Møre og Romsdal, Norway

Just returned to Oslo after a lovely week in the wonderful Møre og Romsdal at the north west of Norway.
The picture shows the Altar Table of the church of Norddal built in 1782. The Altar dates from the late middle ages (1510-20). The church is an octagonal church with seats for more than 350 persons. The church steeple is build in classic baroque style.
At the churchyard many of the 40 dead from the Tafjord Tragedy April 7. 1934 are buried.
3 mill cubic of the mountain fell down in the fjord creating a tsunami of 64 meters. The people living in the Tafjord fjord knew about the danger, but nothing was done prior tho the tragedy.
These flowers may be in memory to all the victims.Today we face a similar challenge at Åkneset. and the local population are worried but still celebrates the annual market including veteran boat parade.The background picture is taken from the Norddal shore towards Valldal anf Tafjord.