Shopping with Maja

Sparkling Christmas and some food at a Cafe is enough for Maja and myself when her mother and grandmother is recharging their Black Belts in Shopping in the streets of Oslo.

Christmas is coming closer

In Paris at Champs Elysees the Christmas Trees became illuminated on Sunday. If you do not go to Paris for shopping this year, (the Euro is at 8.37 nok today), or prefer London (Pound 9,28 nok), see a video from the spectacular Paris show HERE

In the aftermath of the global financial crises outsourcing of activities in many businesses have been more focused than ever. I received this comic strip from friends in Spain yesterday.

Saturday reflections

Pre Christmas photo from Nature in the north, Oslo, Norway.
Pre Christmas photo from Culture in the South, Marbella, Spain.

You are free to reflect upon the difference and together with others, if visiting Newtown Daily Photo and more than 60 others.

Steps, Distance, Calories and a Bench

Apple® announced November 4th that developers have created over 100,000 apps for the revolutionary App Store, the largest applications store in the world.
One of these are the "StepCounter" downloaded to my iPhone and very uesful.
Yesterday I registered almost 15000 steps and walked a distance of more than 10 km. My calorie burning during the moving activity ended close to 1000 kcal, so the blood sugar may hopefully be reduced if the activity continues. And so is the plan.
On my daily walking I pass a lot of benches, but this one at the northern end of lake "Sognsvann", is passed every day without stopping. I have neves seen anyone sitting there either, so maybe it is not a bench but a sculpture.
Have a nice weekend all over the world, with or without physical activities to improve health conditions.

Two years and Confectioners

Sometimes a photo tells more than text can express.
The grandchildren of Asbjørn and Anne Katharina - Herman and Jacob - need no more presentation.
Happy birthday kids.

Usage of Benches

The Ice cream and outdoor soft drink season is over. The kiosk is closed and no visitors (not even kindergarten children) are gathering around the benches at lake "Sognsvann". It is only a question of time until the benches are removed for indoor maintenance till next spring is coming.

However, at some places in the tranquility of nature we really hope that the material of the benches are solid enough for the snow and cold winter. A peaceful place and a break for breast-feeding small hungry babies can be useful also in times to come.

November once more

Every year in November one of our windows plants find the opportunity to show its beauty with loads of flowers. November Cactus (Zygo Cactus) we call it, and sometimes the flowers last all the way to Christmas. With five weeks to go, it may be too long, but if not other flowers will decorate the apartment at that time.

Touring Maja before Pacemaker control

On the way at the National Hospital (Rikshospitalet) for my annual pacemaker control (everything in order and the battery have energy for 6 more years) , I joined a tour with my granddaughter Maja around lake "Sognsvann" this morning.
The forest is open and easy to pass although we used good strolling paths for the pushchair.
Many brooklets feed the lake with water, and because the heavy rain during the weekend, the small streams are active and beautiful this time of the year.
The surface of the lake gives lot of possibilities for mirroring nature as presented in photos in many of my weekend reflection posts prior to the walk today.

Domino toppling in Berlin and Leeuwarden

Last Monday (9th November) we could watch Domino Bricks toppling symbolizing the Fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago. Today we could at CCTV.COM watch a spectacular video from the new Domino World Record on the The eleventh edition of Domino Day.A team of 90 builders from 14 European countries worked for two months to set the stage in a hall in the northern Netherlands town of Leeuwarden.
The task called for total concentration and more than a little discomfort, as team members placed the dominoes in position. With each millimeter counting, they used rulers and tweezers to ensure each piece was in its exact spot.
The first domino fell just after 9pm local time, triggering a one-and-a-half-hour-long chain reaction. During the display dominoes climbed stairs, unveiled paintings and set off a variety of surprise events.
The world record for toppling dominoes has been broken, with 4,491,863 dominoes biting the dust.

Birthday with reflections

Birthdays are only figures. In my twenties I believed that turning 30 would be the most fundamental change of my life. Later, many birthdays have passed without any more significant experience that going to bed in the evening and wake up a year older the next morning.

So will also happen Saturday morning. The figure ? is my secret privilege.
It is, however, a symbolic way of marking this year birthday in the sign of Scorpio as a Pig connected to the element of Fire in Chinese Astrology by presenting the last of my weekend reflection photos in Sepia.

James at Newtown Area Photo has started a meme called Weekend Reflections. Post a reflection during the week-end, log on at his site - and you're on.

Bench at Sognsvann

RuneE has every (?) Friday presented his photos of Benches. I have never searched for this "meme" although sometimes added a bench to my blog.

Yesterday when exercising around lake "Sognsvann", this lonely bench suddenly became a natural motive, so next time you are visiting the National Hospixtal in Oslo, Rune, take a walk up there and feel the tranquility when joining the nature around you.

Lilies from Brit

When my sister Brit visited us last weekend she gave us a bucket of Lilies. From the flower shop to the living room takes almost no time, but for these flowers they needed four days in our home to show their real beauty.
I have searched the web to find out more about the Lilies and ended up with the name Lilium auratum var rubrovittatum or Japanese gold volume lily.

Nevertheless the flowers are beautiful on the fireplace shelf. Thanks Brit.

Quality in ABC Wednesday

First I will nominate RuneE to the winning award for this ABC Wednesday. An excellent choice, expressing the Quality in the philosophy behind Denise´s ABC Wednesday meme.
I have no creativity today compared to Rune´s QWERTY , so I only post a photo from my Piano Corner expressing the Quality of Color Matching between my Tulips and my Painting.
For more, you can log on via the MckLinky enabled site

The Berlin Wall 1966, 1989 and 2009

(photo Scanpix)
Yesterday Europe and the many places around the world celebrated the Fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago. A symbolic Wall of Domino Bricks fell down bringing memories back to the period prior to the opening November 9th 1989.
I had my first visit to Berlin in 1966 together with friends from my college. The photo above is taken at the same position as the first one in front of the Brandenburger Gate on the western side of the Wall of Shame.
At Checkpoint Charlie we could watch the guards with guns and dogs controlling the border and most of the daily life of people in East Berlin.
We had also the opportunity to enter East Berlin and walk down Unter den Linden all the way to Alexander Platz and back over the bridges.
A young editor of this blog can be seen to the left in front of Berlin Cathedral at the Museum Island.

Yesterday night I also watched a movie from 2006 Das Leben der Anderen, and I highly recommend the movie to all my readers.

Hopefully the Wall of Shame on Palestinian land soon will meet it´s same destiny as the one in Berlin.

An ordinary Autumn morning

After a heavy party weekend it felt necessary and extremely great to walk around lake "Sognsvann" just outside Oslo Center this morning. The clean air and easy walking-track makes the day perfect.

From the speedy walk it is a short distance to our summer cottage where the leaves have left the apple trees. Raking is therefore a mandatory exercise in Autumn days.
From now on, the snow can come when nature wants. The lawn is ready for the white carpet.

Maja, AaFK and Berlin Wall

Sunday October 8th under the celebration banner.
First family celebration of naming Maja.
Then celebrating AaFK´s victory in the Norwegian Cup Final 2009 over the local rival MFK.

A remarkable weekend. History will never be the same.

And today celebrating 20 years since the fall of the Berliner Wall.

Cup Final 2009 - Sunnmøre / Aalesund (AaFK) against some others

Click on the link and see the You Tube Video when listening to Aalesund Allstars performing the Hymn: Sunn Møring when preparing for the first ever Norwegian Championship to Aalesund´s Football Club (AaFK).
At You Tube you will also find additional videos and slideshows of this most beautiful city in Norway and the surrounding district Sunnmøre ; (a Petty Kingdom before 872 AC) with its Fjords and Alps

On the run again

Then it is due once more. Winter is running.
The very first snow autumn 2009 has landed in the streets outside my windows.
This year it is only smal quantities, and it is only on parked cars we can find proof of the coming winter. The ground is still too warm to let it stay. Normally the first snow creates caos.
The first snowfall last year (October 27.) looked like this.
However, with a temperatur just above zero C, the breeze around 7 m/s, and the swine flu all over, it is time to put on some clothing that keeps you warm, or stay in bed with toddies.

Flag nr. 150 - Cap Verde

Today I can present my first visitor located in the island country Cape Verde located off the western coast of Africa, opposite Mauritania and Senegal.
The largest island at Cape Verde is Santiago. The island was discovered by António da Noli in around 1460 who built a garrison in Cidade Velha which was then known as Ribeira Grande. Transcontinental slavery made Cidade Velha the second richest city in the Portuguese realm. Portugal was unable to protect its colonies because the English, Dutch, French and Spanish took over the slave trade and the island was later raided by pirates. Sir Francis Drake distroyed Ribeira Grande in 1585.
The 10 stars on the Flag of Cape Verde represent the main islands of the nation. The blue represents the ocean and the sky. The band of white and red represents the road toward the construction of the nation, and the colours stand for peace (white) and effort (red). The yellow colour, circular formation of the stars, and dark blue field show similarity to the flag of the European Union.
In 2006 I painted a football player with the Vålerenga letters on the jersey, and used the player Freddy dos Santos as model. Cape Verde is the country of origin of Freddy´s father.