Advent

Advent is the beginning of the Church Year for most churches in the Western tradition. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, which is the Sunday nearest November 30, and ends on Christmas Eve (Dec 24).
From Wales we received the above photo this morning, showing that the time of waiting has started.
I use the opportunity to change background color of my blog.

Historically, the primary sanctuary color of Advent is Purple. This is the color of penitence and fasting as well as the color of royalty to welcome the Advent of the King. Purple is still used in Catholic churches. The purple of Advent is also the color of suffering used during Lent and Holy Week. This points to an important connection between Jesus’ birth and death.

India, Mumbai and Hinduism

During these days media are full of news about the Mumbai terror tragedy. Photos of the fire at Taj Mahal Palace (photo) and the bloodshed in the city previously called Bombay, is all over the world. In Newspapers, TV-channels and Internet a very, very small part of this huge country, city and culture is presented.
Bhārat Gaṇarājya (India) is a country, but I would rather think of her as a continent of 28 states. All very different. There are living about 1,15 billion people in India, and about a third can be classified as upper middle class, or very rich citizens. The first known permanent settlements in the continent appeared over 9,000 years ago and gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation, dating back to 3300 BCE in western India. (May be the Nordic civilisation originated from this part of the world.)
Mumbai has an estimated population of 20 million. I have only been to Mumbai once and stayed at the old (left) part of the great hotel.I believe Kama Sutra is well known by my visitors, and this miniature (painting on ivory) which I got while staying there, is a masterpiece.
If you want to learn more about Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies I can recommend a book by Abbe J A. Dubois, or Sage Vatsyayana´s Kama Sutra, but a more easy introduction to Hinduism can be found in this book:The author Shakunthala Jagannathan, has written a simple but comprehensive book about the oldest living religion in the world. The book can help you to understand the root of the civilisation and be a guide through visits to Hindu temples and monuments around in India. Copiously illustrated the book covers the various aspects of Hinduism, its mail scriptures, tenets and beliefs and its social and cultural ethos.
(Just in case you plan for a visit, after the present turmoils are over.)

Closer to Fifty than Forty

Du dæken Arne, nærmer deg søtti..? Nå tuller du! Ser ikke en dag eldre ut en noen og førti spør du meg!

This comment yesterday made me think about AGE. What is age?

According to Dictionary and Wikipedia : "the length of time that a person has lived or a thing has existed."
According to some TV shows there may be a difference between physical age and living age: "Your Virtual Age is a reflection of your health and vitality."
According to pedagogical psychology: age has to deal with expectations, and divided into levels of maturity: "age is directly proportional to professional growth"
According to fashion magazines and marketing: age has to deal with your look and image.
Many women stop their age at 29.
Men have their middle-age crisis in the forties.

As said in the comment "you look like forty +"
The fact is I am closer to 50 than 40.

As you all know Pictures can hide the truth (I have a retouch button in my iPhoto software),
Text may be twisted,
Blogging names are often used to cover a persons real identity,
and as Munch said: "Paintings are moods, impressions of the life of the soul"
One of my paintings gives it all:If you not want to calculate age in years. Would it be more interesting to use weeks or months, or minutes or seconds. By moving to the links there are a calculators ready for you.
If you want to know more about Biological and Virtual age use this Life Expectancy Calculator, and if you also want to see how your age is dependent of living on this planet compared to other worlds, go here

S for Sunset too

As the day and light are setting and the dark evening is covering the Wednesday, this photo ends my ABC Wednesday about the S letter

ABC Wednesday - S for Sunshine

This Wednesday on S we have to use a post honoring the Sun that still is giving us warm beams of light although the angle is more and more narrow every day for still three weeks.
S is for Sunshine
But the low sun also gives us long shadows like here at the bench in the neighborhood garden; the Langård Mansion Garden one of the tranquility green lungs at Briskeby, Frogner. (both photos)
S is for Shadows
And the last S today is the cold beams coming over the Nesodden Peninsula giving a lovely light over Aker Brygge and the Sailing Ships at the harbor.
S is for Sail, Ships and Sea (and the Seagull dedicated to Rune).

For more ABC Letters go to ABC Linky

Tuesday Facts - Rebuilding the City

As many, if not all, cities around the world Old has to be New. Urban development means to tear down houses that no longer fit the ages, or maintenance compared to rebuilding is loosing on price and quality.
At Professor Aschehoug´s square Pilestredet 1., from 1877 is now history.

The same is happening to Rosenkrantz´street 16.Now we can look forward to newbuildings in glass and steel.

Munch Exhibition at Kaare Berntsen

Three years ago I posted (in Norwegian) my Christmas Calendar for 24 days from December 1st up to Christmas Eve, covering Norwegian traditions for every day. A vital contribution to this calendar-blogging was the art-calender from Gallery Kaare Berntsen.
The Gallery´s Christmas Calender for 2008 is shown on the top of this post, and includes 12 master pieces by Edvard Munch which we had the opportunity to see at the walls today.

Since no photo shooting were allowed in the Gallery, I present some of my own imitations of Munch´s paintings.
Exhausted
Red haired Madonna
Lonely
Lost Virginity

As Munch himself once said:

"I have always worked best with my paintings around me"

Picasso / Manet and Munch

This morning I have two catalogues on my desk. The first in French from Museum d´Orsay in Paris last week, and the second covering the Edvard Munch Exhibition at Kaare Berntsen here in Oslo.
The Kaare Berntsen Gallery will from November 22nd, host the sale of four E.Munch paintings from the Epstein Family Collection. Of course we will visit the vernissage.Munch once said:

"Art is the opposite of nature - I do not paint from nature, but I take from its bountiful platter".

May be I can copy that.

R is for Record-breaking

Wednesday last week my blog reached a Record. A web surfer living in Malta became the Record-breaking visitor from country number 100. The day after this record was taken over by a visitor from Kuwait, which became the 101 visiting country since July 2008.
Congratulation to both Flags and hopefully will you return with more visits to my site.

I have been blogging since March 2005. First with Norwegian text, but after been part of the global memes, and got signals from visitors that they very much would like to read what my post and photos were covering, the swapping took place
last january this year.

And during the day Cameroon became Flag number 102.

ABC Wednesday = R for River Seine

R is for the River Seine,
the most important river in France and Paris.
Flowing from Dijon in the Burgundy province ending up in the English Channel near Le Havre. In Paris the Seine is flowing under a number of bridges connecting Ile de la Cite and Ile Saint-Louise to the "right" and "left" riverbanks.
Through some photos I will guide you from east to west, and for more Paris-photos you are welcome to visit My Gallary
First photo in this ABC Wednesday is from the Pont Saint-Louise connecting the two islands from Quai aux Fleurs to Quai de Bourbon. Next photo is taken from the same bridge but in the opposite direction with the Saint-Jacques tower, originally built 1509.Further west the River Seine is passing La Conciergerie, the former royal palace and prison in Paris, located on the west of the Île de la Cité, near the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. It is part of the larger complex known as the Palais de Justice, which is still used for judicial purposes. Hundreds of prisoners during the French Revolution were executed on the guillotines at La Conciergerie.
The other side of the bridge Pont au Change the sightseeing boats are busy.
On the southern riverbank of Ile de la Cite the close to bridge Pont Neuf the riverbank is covered with fashionable Residence buildings.The last River photo from the Seine is taken outside Musée d'Orsay‎ with the fantastic Museum Louvre to the left.

Tuesday Facts - Paris

Four days and three nights in Paris.
(Visit My Gallery for a complete collections of photos)Day one:
Visiting the the triangle Montmartre (where we stayed), Louvre (without visiting Mona Lisa) and Palace Garnier (the old Operahouse).Day two:
Hop on Hop off tour bringing us to most of the official "must see" areas in this huge city. To cover all, a combination of bussing and walking is recommended.
Avenue Champs-Elysees towards Place de la Concorde:Between the Triumphal Arch and Louvre, at the large roundabout Franklin D. Roosevelt, where the autumn flowers are beautiful even in the middle of November Of course you have to visit the Eiffel Tower although the Paris weather that day was foggy and the humidity high.
Next Hop Off was Notre Dame, the cathedral of Paris
Before ending up at Museum dÓrsay where the main attraction now is Picasso´s versions of Manet´s "Le Dejeuner sur l´herbe". Photo forbidden in that section, but without flash many of the other artworks in the museum can be seen at My Gallery. Here I include one of Monet´s painting, and if you know the "Skagen Painters" you will see that artists are exchanging ideas and learning from each others.Paris by night is only covered by this photo from Boulevard Hausmann where you may "shop till you drop"Day three:
In addition to the area around the old Opera, Champs-Elysses is the main shopping street, but Rue de Rivoli east from Louvre and (if you really want to spend money) the most fashionable streets in the world thanks to the presence of virtually every major global fashion house, Rue Faubourg Saint-Honore just must be visited.Day four:
Sunday is market day in Paris as most all over the world. The flower and bird market at Ile de la Cite was interesting, but on the way to the Seine a short stop at the Centre Pompidou can give you a good modern art laughter.A visit to Paris without crossing the bridges over the Seine and walking along the river banks must be waste of time. The River and the bridges will be more covered tomorrow and december first, but here you have a view from Pont Saint Michel.

Monday Odd Shot

Last posts has been Mobile Blogging from my iPhone during some days in Paris, France.
Now we are back in normal blogging conditions.

I will never make any argument that News on TV is art, but together with other paintings a 46" wall-screen looks really odd.
Another odd photo was shot last Friday in Paris. After visiting Opera Comique lots of people tagged a bench at Boulevard des Italiens with their admission mark.

Paris Au revoir

At Pont Neuf crossing the Seine before departure. Thanks Paris we will
return

Saturday Urban Life

Gallerie Lafayette. Christmas is here

Afternoon "tea" Paris

At Blvd des Italiens

Strolling Champs Elysees

Shopping saturday at Paris major Avenue

Paris Montmartre

This week urban friday & saturday

ABC Wednesday - Q is for Quest

(painting by Honore Daumier)

Today my contribution to the ABC Wednesday is one of the most important text in the musical Man of la Mancha. The impossible Dream.
The quest of reaching the unreachable stars is life as a hole, as Don Quixote mad or not, struggled for.

If you don´t know the word; QUEST, listen to the YouTube video and/or read the text below.
Q is for Quest.
This post is dedicated to the 26 crew members and participants in Barnum A.I. Experience Compression Laboratory (ECL) , January 1992, with the hope that our Quests still are leading us to personal development.
"You don´t have to do good to be good"

More ABC Wednesday letters can be found at ABC Wednesday Round 3