Pieris Rapae visiting the cottage this morning

Pieris Rapae or White cabbage butterfly visited our cottage this morning. It is a female decided by the three black dots on the wings. Welcome. Hope this is the evidence that Summer is here to stay.

An UFO has landed

In our series of visiting new neighboring areas, we this Sunday walked over Young´s square and continued through Torggata East to Anker Bridge and the new design area close to the Aker River.
Following the river up stream we suddenly discovered an UFO.

This was parked close to the fertile ground for avant-garde art: Hausmania

I tried to make a video covering my surprise over this modern art or Graffiti. The wall is a legal graffiti wall in Oslo.

After these spectacular discoveries we had to walk through the cemetery Vår Frelsers Gravlund with the Grove of Honor for many of Norwegian Celebrities, including our painter Edvard Munch.

Maybe the critics that felt on Munch´s art in the late 1880s can be compared to my WOW when seeing the Graffiti.

Looking up

How often do you look up when you are in a room. Perhaps you normally scan the room from floor to walls. Maybe you register the dust in corners or the modern paintings in contrast to persian carpets or the colors of curtains. But how often do you look at roofs.
In Cafe Tekehtopa you can find this figure if looking up.

Red and Black Currants

 The flowers of our Currants (Red and Black) reach the peak in these weeks. Hopefully the local insects will find their way to the shrubs, and hopefully will family and friends find their way to the garden when harvesting is on the agenda in August.

Repairing the cottage

Maintenance of our Summer residence, the small allotment cottage at Solvang, is an annual returning activity. Not only for us, but for most of the cottage owners because the cottages have a history of 84 years.
This spring we discovered that water intrusion had occurred during the winter. The roof was leaky.

Now the repair has taken place by our always reliable carpenters managed by our Polish friend Kristoffer. Costs some money but to do it myself is not even a dream; it is impossible. Done within a week by educated competence and the spring season can start for full on Saturday.

Touring Bygdøy with 60+

Today´s exercise for the 60+ Frogner group was a tour to interesting locations at Bygdøy. First a walk from Norsk Folkemuseum to Dronningberget.

Then over to Rodeløkken Cafe where we had a light lunch break.

 17 persons enjoyed the tour and lunch in the beautiful weather.

But we also had other participants

Leftovers do not excist when Kjøtmeisen er i nærheten

City Images

 The Drummers from "Norsk Sykepleier Forbund" and the sculpture Pan made by "Per Ung" were the two images fastened to my iPhone camera on this Monday´s city stroll. Light rain and ab +12 C.

Knight Henrik at Priory of St Pancras

Henrik as Knight of the Red Cross of Constantine
The degree relates the legend of Emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity after the Battle of Saxa Ruba in 312 AD when he saw a Cross in the sky with the motto "In Hoc Signo Vinces" In this sign you shall conquer. The core of the degree involves the secret doctrine involving the Labarum or banner of victory. The lecture of the degree relates the Roman College of Architects.

Today our grandson and his family had a great time in historical surroundings in Lewes, Sussex, UK.

The Priory of St Pancras was the first Cluniac house in England and had one of the largest monastic churches in the country. It was set within an extensive walled and gated precinct laid out in a commanding location fronting the tidal shore-line at the head of the Ouse valley to the south of Lewes in the County of Sussex.

Norwegian Military Tattoo 2014

Norwegian Military Tattoo 2014 is taking place this weekend in Oslo.

Yesterday the troops and bands had a parade through the street of Oslo:

 The Norwegian Navy band

 The troops of NorwegiansVeterans closed the Parade of soldiers from USA, UK, Japan, Estonia, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands. The Russians were busy somewhere els this time.

 In front of the City Hall where the Major of Oslo welcomed the troops and bands to Norway before they had a joint concert for some hundreds peoples 

The Tattoo takes place at Oslo Spectrum at 1pm and 6 pm Saturday, and 1pm on Sunday

Shoppingtrip to Sweden

Two reasons for not staying in Oslo this Wednesday.
First the weather is BAD. Ab +4 C and rain.
Second we had to move our car out of the basement parking due to springtime washing of the parking floor. No cars to be present between 8 am and 4 pm.
Therefore we went on a "Harry Tour" to Strømstad and Nordby for wine and food. Cheaper petrol too in Sweden compared to prizes in the oil producing country called Norway

The two images in this blogpost are from Strømstad. Cold weather there too, but no rain during our short stay at the harbor for a cup of coffee.

Homemade Burgers

Yesterday we made a break from our usual Monday fish dinner. I made homemade Burgers to our great satisfaction.

Ingredients for four burgers:
400gr Minced Beef Meat, leek, basil, salt and pepper mixed with
2 eggs

1 small Romaine Lettuce
Red onion and tomato cut in slices
4 Whole wheat Hamburger buns and ketchup

Burgers need not to be Fast Food. Make it yourself home or on BBQ parties. Have a great meal

Sunday stroll, Ekebergparken / Ladies Park

This Sunday we decided to take a stroll in the new park at Ekeberg.

EKEBERGPARKEN IS A SCULPTURE AND NATIONAL HERITAGE PARK FOR THE PEOPLE OF OSLO AND VISITORS LOOKING FOR A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE.

From the hillside the view over Oslo is awesome.

 Towards the west with Akershus Castle, Bjørvika and the Opera House to the right

 To the north with the new Business Area Barcode. Within some years the new Munch Museum will be located in the same area.

The sculpture in the park are not only women, but there are enough female sculptures to call the park "Ladies Park" In addition to artists like Marina Abramovich, Diane Maclean, Dyre Vaa, George Cutts, Louise Bourgeois, Auguste Renoir, Auguste Rodin, Salvador Dali, Richard Hudson and Sean Henry, etc. you may see these three sculptures presented below .

Matt Johnson

Knut Steen, Dreaming Woman

Ann-Sofi Siden, Fideicommissum

One warning:
The path in the Park may for many feel steep, and the distance between the sculptures too long. For me with my bad leg I did not manage to walk all around. Therefore:
For more details and to manage your visit to the Park, download the Ekebergparken App here.

May 1st, A regular day off

 70.9 percent of respondents in a survey by TNS Gallup made ​​for TV 2 responded that they see May 1st as a regular day off, only 29.1 percent of those with an opinion, designates May 1 as a public holiday .

As part of our exercise this Thursday we stopped and watched the May 1st parade. The following images shows what we found worth to be shared from the procession:

 In front the Labour Union´s Leader Gerd Kristiansen The main parole behind her showed quite clear that no hard political edges were needed in our nice and prosperous country.

 One of the paroles with most supporters was this by Norwegian People´s Aid "People change the world"

 The engagement linked to the closing of the local hospital Aker was also dominant.

 The Fire Brigade made most applause stating that they are burning for their jobs.

 and of course the vintage car from Kristiansand became a popular part of the parade.

The only international parole we could see was the demand for a Palestine State Now.

Parades in the streets of Oslo always have many bras bands, here represented by Sinsen Ungdomskorps.
This parade made me remember my first May1st day as an 12 year old school band musician :