Tuesday, August 31

Some women´s dream or nightmare

Some of my female blog-friends have more than once described their frustration of their male partner´s passion - Football -.

Perhaps this video may give their wet dreams a reality wakeup.
Fonte Nova Stadium was Sunday demolished to make way for a new stadium in Brazil hosting World Cup in 2014.
Start saving money and planning for the vacation and journey to-day.

Monday, August 30

AaFK 1 - Hønefoss 3, Who cares

Ålesund is more than football. Thanks.

Sunday, August 29

Card night at Solvang

Tullarbo has been left by human inhabitants for this season. Emil the cat, however, was not willing to move together with the other members of Maja´s family yesterday. He stayed the night hunting for some of the hundreds of Thrush birds ready to leave Norway for the season, made his visit to the cottage with a "mjau", took some dry food and left quickly again.We saw Emil a few seconds early this morning when we had breakfast at our stay-over after a Card Night together with Bitte and Terje at their cottage "Toppen".
Although I was ready to take the last round in the game, I ended last with this hand.
I also ended last overall in the Rummy tournament, but with good food and enough drinks I would say that a Saturday Card Night together with friends is something to go for again and again. And we will next time in October.

We play a variation of the Liverpool Rummy with only 5 rounds.

The requirements for each round of play are as follows:

* First - 2 sets (6 cards)
* Second - 1 set & 1 run (7 cards)
* Third - 2 runs (8 cards)
* Fourth - 3 sets (9 cards)
* Fifth - 2 sets & 1 run with no remaining cards in hand, no final discard

Saturday, August 28

Moving home from Tullarbo

Today Maja, Tor Marius and Rikke has left Tullarbo and moved home to their apartment. More than three months have gone since they left Sagene and moved up for staying at the cottage this summer. They have acted like real "farmers" and have taken good care of the area with quality attitude. More than satisfactory.

However, there is always lot of works to do during the months to comemaking the raspberry beds free of weeds, cutting lawn grass and remove downfallen apples.

When winter has covered the groundand before mid May next year.you have to prepare for next summer season.
Welcome back to work and relaxation.

Friday, August 27

Friday afternoon in Oslo

It´s Friday afternoon or almost evening before this blogpost is published.
Nevertheless, my experiences (or some of it) during this afternoon are worthy an information to you all.
Changing of the Royal guards (every day at 1.30 pm.) in front of the Royal Castle, is some Fridays´s most interesting events in our Capital. The Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces is leading the procession up Karl Johan Street.
The young armed soliders are ready for their 24 hours watch guarding the Royal Castle, the King and Queen (if present).
If you have followed the High News Dagsrevyen at NRK1 this evening, you may have noticed the story about "Oslo Høyre" and their fight against the EU Data Retention Directive. The report was taped outside Oslo City Hall when we passed by on our way to Hannibal´s Hybel at Aker Brygge. The Data Retention Directive has sparked serious concerns from physicians, journalists, privacy and human right groups, unions, IT security firms and legal experts. My full support to saying NO to the directive.
But, before we could relax with a small drink, we had to go around some of RuneE´s friends. Young Seagulls begging for food in the streets. I cannot understand why Rune not has published a Gull since February. 21st, but better late than always. RUNE - Expect you to bring your camera to the fjords and ?????.
Have a nice Weekend all of you.

Wednesday, August 25

Cutting car signs if not payed annual registration fee

After August 15th the Norwegian Customs has started to cut registration signs of cars with incorrect color of the oblat. This year the color shall be blue.Yesterday morning and this afternoon our neighborhood was visited by customs personnel with their screwdrivers and metal cutting tools.You are hereby warned!

Tuesday, August 24

Mali and Guam - latest flags

During August two new flags have been noticed as visiting my blog: Mali (August 2) and Guam (August 3).
My total flag counter is thus up in 155.
The Flag of Mali ("One people, one goal, one faith") is a tricolor with three equal vertical stripes. The flag is identical to the Flag of Guinea with the exception that the colors are in reverse order.
The colors are the Pan African Colors

Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with a population more than 14 million. Its capital is Bamako.
Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world. The average worker's annual salary is approximately US$1,500. About 15 millions people lives in Mali. One of them found my blog. Thanks.
The Flag of Guam was adopted on February 9, 1948. The territorial flag is dark blue with a narrow red border on all sides (border was a later addition). In the center of the flag is the coat of arms; an almond shaped emblem, which depicts a proa sailing in Agana Bay.

Guam is an island in the western Pacific Ocean and is an organized, unincorporated territory of the USA. The Chamorros, Guam's indigenous people, first populated the island approximately 4,000 years ago, but most of what is known about pre-contact ("Ancient") Chamorros comes from legends and myths, archaeological evidence.
The island has a long history of European colonialism. First discovered by Europeans on March 6, 1521, by Ferdinand Magellan, the first colony was established in 1668 by Spain with the arrival of settlers. It is believed that Guam was first discovered by people from southeastern Indonesia around 2000 BC.
Guam's economy depends primarily on Tourism, Department of Defense installations, and locally owned businesses. The estimated population is about 180.000.
Welcome to my blogging world.

Monday, August 23

Island jumping in the Oslo Fjord

Yesterday, Sunday morning, we decided to do something different. We left Oslo by ferry and went island jumping between the nearest islands in the Oslofjord!With a regular public transportation ticket we could easily get on and off any of the ferries travelling between Vippetangen, Hovedøya, Lindøya, Nakholmen, Bleikøya, Gressholmen and Langøyene.Leaving Vippetangen we could have a spectacular view of Bjørvika and the almost new Oslo Opera House from the ferryFirst stop was Bleikøya 1.5 km from Vippetangen. In the Middle Ages Bleikøya was a monastic estate under Hovedøya monastery. After the king took over ownership in 1537, Bleikøya was unused until beginning of the 1700s.

During the first Norway campaign of 1716, the Swedish king Karl XII's soldiers searched shelter behind the island from the cannons of Akershus fortress.
The only farm on the Oslo Islands "Bleikøyplassen", (to be found north of the island) has been inhabited by the same family since the early 1700's. The farmers have worked with animals, grass, "vadfiske" (shore-based yarn) and boat building. The operation ceased in 1980, but the family still lives on the farm.
From Bleikøya the ferry brings you to Gressholmen.
Gressholmen airport was for the years 1927 through 1939 the location of the main airport for Oslo, until the construction of Fornebu airport. The airport was only for seaplanes.After Gressholmen the ferry brings you to Lindøya East. In 1920, Lindøya was the Oslo base for the pioneer Norwegian airline, Det Norske Luftfartrederi‎, and its seaplanes. The operation only lasted until the autumn of 1920. When regular seaplane routes were again established in 1927, the operation was moved to neighboring Gressholmen.

At Lindøya East you may take the ferry back to Oslo, but we walked across the island to Lindøya West where another ferry-route could bring us further out the Oslo Fjord to Nakholmen.
Nakholmen has settled with 182 cabins. It is not possible to extend the size of the cabins, but the value of a small cabin at the seashore has increased based upon market development. During the 2000's different media has regularly reported on cabin owners who received orders to demolish the annex.(But have they done so?) In 2006, Aftenposten reported that a cabin at 27 square meter at Nakholmen was sold for 2.8 million NOK, and in 2010 one cabin (36 sqm) was sold far over the estimated market prize of 4.150.000 nok.On the way back to the town, we took a short stopover at Hovedøen where a cup of coffee, waffle and ice-cream was on the menue.The Cistercian monastery, Hovedøya Abbey, was built on Hovedøen, and opened on 18 May 1147. During the Medieval period, the monastery was a leading economical force in the Oslo region. It was however closed down before the Reformation after the abbot came into conflict with King Christian II.
The military official at Akershus Fortress had the abbot imprisoned and the monastery looted and burned down in 1532. Parts of the ruins of the monastery remain on the island, but much of the stonework was used in the expansion of Akerhus Fortress in the 17th century.
Then it is only to enter the ferry for the last voyage this Sunday, and head for Vippetangen and Oslo coastal side with Aker Brygge and the City Hall. A nice and recommended tour. Next time we also include Langøyene on the jumping activity.

Sunday, August 22

iPhone 4 gives better photos

Of course I have got my iPhone 4 and thus seen the result of a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash. These photos are taken yesterday:
Tullen, Bente and Per Arne on the Opera roof.
Bente and Per Arne at a restaurant in the sunny afternoon
and the Oslo Jazz Festival street parade for the last time this year. See you next year ladies.

Saturday, August 21

Oslo Jazz Festival 2010

Oslo Jazz Festival has its last day this Saturday. The ladies in yesterday street parade had a nice time at noon and what happened during the day and night we have no reports yet.
Today´s program is:

Friday, August 20

A glass of wine a day

New Norwegian research documents that a glass of wine a day makes you smarter, more aware and more concentrated. Women are most likely to benefit from drinking wine, according to the survey.It´s Friday and the possibility for us to be smarter by taking a glass of wine is pertinent for many of us. A nice stay at a restaurant or bar after work is not to run away for.
The University of Tromsø has tested 5,000 people for memory, concentration and how fast they performed mental tasks.
- Those who drank moderate amounts of wine were better on all cognitive tests than those who did not drink wine, "says Kjell Arne Arntzen at the University of Tromsø according to VG / Dagbladet.
Previous research suggests that moderate consumption of wine is good for the heart. Arntzen believes there may be a connection between this and the effect of wine on the brain.
- We have indications that wine prevents heart disease, which is related to dementia. In addition, wine contain substances that have a successful effect on the brain, such as antioxidants, "says Arntzen.
The survey shows that there were particularly large declines for women. Abstinent women did much worse on the tests than women who drank moderate amounts of wine.
Arntzen hopes that more research may provide answers to moderate wine-drinking can help also against Alzheimer's disease and dementia.We are prepared for the future challenges of aging here.

Tuesday, August 17

Salander and I

Just finished reading Stieg Larsson´s Millennium Trilogy about Lisbeth Salander and "Kalle Jævla Blomkvist". Highly recommended by me too, and although the books are written almost 5 years ago, I have not been reading them until now. Better late than never.

Interesting that when I was in my last pages yesterday, I got information that Sony Pictures Entertainment and director David Fincher have chosen Rooney Mara to play Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, the film that begins shooting this fall in Sweden, with Daniel Craig starring. The film will be released December 21, 2011.

My question now is therefor if I should see the Swedish movies with Noomi Rapace as Wasp, or wait until the American version is here. For the moment I recommend a look into the Trailers for the Sweedish movies.

Sunday, August 15

Yes Captain, will do

Commanding Officer and her crew reports from Tullarbo that everything is according to schedule.
Parents away for 30 years celebration at Lillehammer, but the old folks have still some competence in child-caring.

Saturday, August 14

Friday weather variations - Rain and Thunder plus Sunshine all the time

Yesterday we experienced Lightening and Thunder at the same moment. Just over our heads, and out to the fingertips of Tullen through her Mac pro. No electronic equipment damaged.
However, when walking down to Aker Brygge and Hannibals Hybel before returning to fru Burum´s after a drink or two the streets were full of rainwater. High heals and no boots made the passing difficult.
But when the evening arrived and we gathered in front the 48 inches, no clouds could be seen on the sky. Weather variations within a few hours is typical for this unstable climate.
The summertime is approaching the end of the season.

Friday, August 13

Visiting Caves at Sunnmøre

You have probably heard about the two most famous caves at the islands north of Ålesund:
Skjonghelleren and Dollsteinhola
Skjonghelleren is situated on Valderøy in Giske municipality, and is an exciting cave 57 metres up in the mountain side.
The cave has got a 100 metres deep tunnel, and you can walk while standing up straight until you reach the final 30 metres. There has been found traces of settlement dating back to the Stone Age here, when the neighbour island Giske barely had risen from the ocean after the last Ice Age. There has also been found traces of wildlife dating over 30.000 years back in Skjonghelleren, and you can hear more about it at Godøy Coastal Museum.

Dollsteinshola is one of the largest and most intriguing caves in Norway, and has has been mentioned in historic documents for centuries. The cave is situated at the west side of the island Sandsøy in Sande municipality
The cave is 180 metres long, and has got 5 rooms that are separated by long and narrow passages. You need to be dressed appropriately and bring the necessary equipment to explore the cave, since the trip inside includes climbing over walls of 3-4 metres, crawling, and holding on to a rope down a 50 metres long hill. Dollsteinhola is a protected area.The cave has got a lot of legends and myths connected to it, and it is said that the English King Arthur buried a lot of treasures in the cave during the 6th century, including The Holy Grail. None of these treasures have been discovered so far, but an exploration of the area is a fun and exciting activity!
I have to wait till another trip to the islands before I can show you photos from these caves, but if visiting The world´s best destination on the web, you can read more.
My cave this time was the unnamed cave on the north side of Flemsøya.
This is the living room with an opening above for the smoke from the fireplace.
This is what I was told to be the sleeping room. The innermost part and dry even when the rain was heavy outside.
Outside the opening of the cave as seen on the first photo, the ground was deeply covered with
pine needles making it very soft. The view between the trees was out towards the Norwegian Sea. In the ancient times after the last Ice Age the sea-level was much higher, and the cow had been wading like me as shown in an earlier post.Take a journey to the North Islands of Sunnmøre, and if the ferries are in order, you may bring your cars with you all the way. If not, Cycling is a possibility

Thursday, August 12

Images from Nature at Sunnmøre

Walking around in Norwegian nature gives both challenges and experiences. Many times we look up and see all the beautiful mountains and peaks we have around us. This photo is taken from Fausadalen (see previous post) towards Regndalstindene i Velledalen.
Go to Westcoastpeaks.com to out find more about these fantastic peaks.

However, today I will go into nature just in front of your eyes when walking in almost untouched areas.
When climbing down to the fjord vegetation swaps between forests to deep ravines. Great stones are left after avalanches or rock and mud-slides. Maybe some of these stones are leftovers from the ice ages.
Trees and plants are clinging firmly to the steep hillside, and the path is close to the precipitous cliffs.
Some cliffs are many hundreds meter high (or deep) and only made for mountaineers, but some are only a challenge to walk around.
If not ending as a waterfall the rivers and brooks are slowing down when the fjord or cost line is approaching.
It is time for a break, and the nature has made an original shelter with a bench for oldies like me.
Tomorrow I will take you inside the mountains to a cave from ancient days.