Connecting people - Yesterday and Tomorrow

My new Mac has come home.

I have for several month now been waiting for this Last Version of Apples MacBook Pro 15" with
2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB memory
250GB hard drive1
Double-layer SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 512MB
etc.

This weekend is dedicated to knowing this communication tool better, installing new software and copying some files from the old iMac. But of course I will find room for luncheon down town carrying my camera in the pocket as usual.

This new MacBook Pro is not only a laptop computer. Mainly is is a communication tool with video camera, music player and radio. Therefore I include as a comparison two photos of yesterday and the day before tools for building bridges between people.
Telephone Boxes at the Old Town in Stockholm and in Ålesund.

Sky Watch Friday

Last Friday I included the spectacular Michelangelo´s Mountains of Carrara in SWF.

Todays Sky Watch Friday photos are from the Skyline at the Financial Center in Singapore,but also an invitation to join us to a cottage in the mountains.The invitation for a cottage party (PPS with Norwegian text) is included but for all the others, who want an extraordinary tour to the cottage, do not hesitate to look at the Road description.
This Friday you can sign on to Mr. Linky here
Have a nice weekend.

Leftovers

One of the ABC Wed bloggers (sorry I forgot who) had chosen G for Garbage yesterday, but had also G for two Glass of red wine included.
That post draw my attention to some newly taken photos and a growing problem.

One of our own removed Garbage container, and others of the leftovers from a party.

Leftovers are normally connected to doggybags like those for food we became acquainted to in Asia, but looking into some of the robes in the house, and especially in the basement, the need for containers like the one in the photo is certainly there.

Even if my wife has her birthday today (Congratulation) the bottles on the next photos, are not from my own home this time. Not even tomorrow or after the weekend. That volume comes from the backyard of a One Star Michelin restaurant near by.
A quite different leftover is the dog muck you may put your feet on at the pavements or in the front garden. For me it seems that dog owners have become more careless about these kind of leftover lately. Some years ago we always saw dog owners with their small black plastic bags, cleaning up after the pets leftover, but now???? The result is visible when the snow is gone.
That is why my last photo today is a warning sign from Hamburg which I consider to copy and put in front of our house.

ABC Wednesday - G

G is for Grumpy Old Man, but that was prior to getting out of bed, been at the bathroom, have my Bacon and Egg and completed todays ABC Wednesday blogpost.

Then it was time to start this ABC W with a photo of a Pint just to follow up the
Broer som Binder from monday.
G is for Guinness Dark Ruby at Davy Byrnes Pub in Dublin
The main theme for today photos are, G is for Golden.

First the Golden Owl as Logo for the farmacy “Apoteket Uglan” at Drotninggatan, Stockholm.Next for the the Golden tree in Gyldenløve Street in Oslo where Golden is related to money and real estate.And last the Golden Money tree in the Old China Street in Shanghai with all the dreams it representsI also feel I have to present a photo taken at Oslo City Museum last Sunday showing a note of “Guttene kommer” by William Farre. As a member of a Boy Bras Band with Trombone at school early 1960s we always played this march on May 17th.
G is for “Guttemusikken”When adding a music video to this week ABC posting, it is absolutely impossible to ignore two names starting with the letter G.
G is for Edvard Grieg and Peer Gynt
I find it very difficult to choose so here you have: Griegs Per Gynt Suite No 1, Op 46
In the Hall og the Mountain King with The famous two-phrase theme, written in the key of B minor
and
for those who want to learn more about Grieg and Norwegian Nature, see the video where Leif Ove Andsnes talks about this famous Norwegian composer and plays Grieg Ballade in G minor.




My own paintings with a title starting with G are
The Green Hat and The Golden Jacket

A success story - Combined Heart and Kidney Transplantation

In these days ten years ago the first combined Heart / Kidney Transplantation took place at the National Hospital in Oslo, Norway.
Due to Polycystic Kidneys and total Heart Failure after several Heart Attacks and Balloon Angioplasties the hope for the patient laid only in the YES from a donor.

However, before coming on the waiting lists the doctors had to bend some rules about the patient being well fitted in all other respects, and to overcome difficulties between medicine professions connected to the upper and lower part of the body. Cardiologists and Nephrologists had to work together. Medication regimes before, under and after the operation had to be agreed upon, etc.
They made to cooperate. The gifts for Life became available after 12 months of waiting. My life got the possibility to be prolonged. Ten years later we all can see the Return of Investment. It became a success story.
I am alive and Life is great.

In the years after the transplantation as well as in the future I (as all other transplanted) have to go through a lots of controls, and tune medication to the result from these examination.
These following photos show some of the situations we are up to:

Sampling and testing blood values:Ultrasound diagnoses for the heart functionalityAngiographic imaging of arteries, veins and heart chambers.The last picture is of three very good friends. To the right Nina V (1st successful heart and lung transplanted) with the splint on her arm after angiography through the arteries. In the middle Ann-Christin W with her third heart (twice heart-transplanted), and to the left this blogger ArneA (1st combined heart and kidney transplanted) after swapping pacemaker due to total AV-block (new battery needed).High professional medical competence ( Survival facts ) and YES to Organ Donation is the only reason that made this photo possible.
Sign your Donor card today.

In addition. Exactly 40 years ago (March 4th 1968) I took up my first position in Det Norske Veritas DNV and moved from my childhood town Ålesund and settled down in Oslo. Here I have been an urban citizen ever after.

I have had a great career in DNV. First about twelve years within the IT sector and then almost 18 years within Human Resources and Management. The Kidney and Heart Failures gave me a disability pension prior to the transplantation.
My anniversaries today are celebrated through this blogpost.

Broer som Binder

The most important Bridge this first Monday of March and the opening of "Broer som binder" is the train bridge over River Liffey in Dublin. Perhaps Ha´penny Bridge is more famous, but since I later today will meet RuneE and TrulZ over a pint or more at my local “fru Burum”, I think this Bridge will be the best example of how “Broer som Binder” can be interpreted. We are all transplanted, have met because of our common condition and have common challenges although our life is very different. The Pint helps bridging gaps between generations, distances and cultures.

At my Sunday Walk yesterday (Yes, Anna-Lys I am back) I managed to shoot a photo of the Sculpture Bridge at Frognerparken. That is probably the most generation-mixed and multicultural bridge in Oslo. Local citizens with or without children are strolling around. People from all over the world walks to and from the Monolith looking at the sculptures like
Sinnataggen (little angry boy).My third Bridge is “Storseisundbrua” as part of Atlanterhavsveien connecting people in Romsdal and Nordmøre at the northwest of Norway. A beautiful road close to the fierce Nordic ocean and a spectacular Bridge.From Norway to Italy and the great city of Florence.
My last bridge for March is crossing the river Arno, (which is flowing from Mount Falterona in the Apennines and end in the Tyrrenian Sea at Marina di Pisa), and is the famous Ponte Vecchio with the jeweller shops.Go to Runes TX.Blog to get links to other Bridge Builders:
* Ackworth born, gone West
* Anna-Lys
* Arnes Blog
* Berit T.
* Com Imagens With Images
* GundaM-En liten "hagevandring"
* Heimdal (Marie)
* Hilde S
* Hyde Daily Photo
* Ida`s little corner
* imac's Photos from the Minds Eye
* Interiør og hage
* Katney's Kaboodle
* Klara's pictures
* Landsliv
* Litt av meg (Anemone)
* Mitt glade (hunde-)liv (Anne-Berit)
* On2Wheels (GAWO)
* Outhouse Capital of Canada
* Pernille's ting og tang
* Runes TX-Blog
* Truls

Weird Sunday

Sunday blogging is without any specific purpose today except showing the world that I am still on line and have a beautiful weather here in Oslo. Vasaloppet is running in Sweden and on TV, but I rather take a walk to Frognerparken and the fabulous Monolitten. 17 meters high with 121 nude figures; A great Fallus.
I also will share with you a video sent to me from some friends. The most crazy magic trick ever.
Warning!
I recommend some of you tender visitors to keep children / too young persons away from screen when looking. (At least the first time)

City Clocks

It is Saturday and my urban blogging is ready, and once again I have to follow up an idea coming out of last ABC Wednesday photo - the Freia Clock.

On Thursday I wrote about chocolate. This Saturday I will show some of the City Clocks I have taken photos of on my journeys to different countries.

The first clock is the Astronomical Clock in Prague dated back to 1410.The second clock is the AnkerUhr in Vienna from 1913Also in Brussels they have a special Clock, the Le Carillon du Mont des Arts from 1954Take trip around your neighborhood and see if you can find a similar "time by: " landmark as these Capital City treasures.

Sky Watch Friday

This Friday I start with a photo taken in Stockholm, Sweden showing a Sewer coming out of his manhole at Raol Wallenberg Place for Sky Watching and talking to my wife. She is an expert in talking to sculptures or getting attention from men with deaf ears while looking at TV.The sewer may have got lost in the underground on his way to the City Hall in Stockholm behind the Vasa Bridge.May be next time he see daylight is in the beautiful Carrara Mountains in Tuscany, Italy where among others Michelangelos David was carved.May be he then wish he could join us when leaving by boat the Doria Castle at
Portovenere on our voyage towards north and the spectacular Cinque Terre:
Riomaggiore ,
Manarola,
Corniglia,
Vernazza, and
Monterosa al Mare.For more Italian photos see:
Berlin, Praha, Firenze 2003
Tuscany 2004
Puglia 2006
If you want to join the Sky Watch Friday Fellowship on this Leap Day go to DOT and sign up on Mr. Linky

Bloggers love Chocolate

Yesterday many of my visitors gave comments related to the Freia Chocolate Marketing Sign, The clock at Egertorvet.

It is obvious that bloggers love Chocolate.

Outside Oslo perhaps the more known ad from Freia may be the Freia Cow or the Freia Boy. He is Norwegian.

Belgian chocolate has been the food of champions, a lure for lovers, the indulgence of the rich and later, the favorite of the masses.

Belgium produces 172,000 tons of chocolate per year with more than 2,000 chocolate shops throughout the country.

Pralines in Belgium are sublime chocolate confections. A beautifully sculpted chocolate shell conceals a center of filling which explodes with a surprising texture and flavor in your mouth. Many chocolatiers still make their pralines by hand. Every town and even small villages have chocolate stores with luxurious pralines.

In Brussels I found in a Chocolate shop this box of the group of atoms bonded together, representing the smallest fundamental unit of a chemical compound that can take part in a chemical reaction, The Molecule of Chocolate.
Chocolate and other ingredients mixed together in a special recipe can also result in one of the worlds most famous Chocolate Cake – The original Sachertorte at Hotel Sacher in Vienna.
The Recipe is hereBon Apetite!

ABC Wednesday - F

This ABC Wednesday I want to share a photo from last summer.
I am not sure if it is
F for Fun, Fear or Fearless In my town we have the most known marketing sign in Norway; the Freia-clock at Egertorvet. It is around one hundreds years old and was equipped with neon lights in 1956.
F for Freia and its chocolate Another, but perhaps not that well known eye catcher is the old front of a modern house in Josefinegate.
F for Front Living in a city we have more street boutiques than shopping centre. An exception is at Aker Brygge where you may find shops above each other.
F for Floors in shopping centres However, wherever we live in Norway, some of us always dream about going back to nature and the “cosy” life at the cottage.
F for Fireplace


You almost feel the romantic atmosphere in the Living room above and probably want to sit down among fantastic Fox furs waiting for the Fidler to arrive.
My painting shows a Fidler tuning the
Hardingfele

F for the Fiddler playing
Fanitullen

If you like the piano better, listen to the Norwegian composer Chr. Sindings Frühlingsrauschen (Rustle of Spring) on this
YouTube video

More Family News

Henrik is developing and a new video is presented from the Cymraeg family.

Take a look and see Henrik Isak smiling

For more information about his first months and the family challenges, see Henrik Isaks own blog

Gerd and Arne have Birthdays

I think it is a little odd that my sister and her husband are born on the same day although it is 5 years between those 26th Feb.
Today I send all my Congratulations to both of them by reopen some photos from our common trip to the fantastic Alhambra Granada, Spain, last autumn.

Alhambra is the common name of the complex consisting of a fortress (Alcazaba), a palace (Charles V) and the Castle (Alhambra), the unirrigated Upper Alhambra village, plus the leisure place (Generalife). The area is full of gardens, buildings, rooms, bridges and patios; all with astonishing decorations.
We had a great time together and are looking forward to visiting you in Spain another time.

The first photo is from the Dome in Hall of the Abencerrajes

The wonderful dome of mocarabes rests on eight pendentives of mocarabes. The windows that are where the dome starts let a faint light filter through and illuminate the mocarabes creating a magic atmosphere.
The second photo is the Daraxa´s Garden

In the garden there are cypresses, acacias, orange trees and box bushes surrounding the big central marble fountain. The fountain's border is decorated with a poem, like the fountain of the Patio of the Lions (Patio de los Leones), and it was made in 1626 with the big basin that was in the Patio of the Gilded Room (Patio del Cuarto Dorado).Above Alhambra at Cerro del Sol you can visit Generalife where the third photo was takenOur visit at Alhambra was in a wonderful Andalucian weather with the sun shining from a clear blue sky. Today we have light spring rain here in Oslo. The water will bind the dust in the streets and it is easier to take deep breaths.
Tomorrow the weather prognoses are once again clear with increasing temperature.