Spring 2010 - New Website Solvang 4

Yesterday evening I took part in a meeting where some of the summer residents at Solvang 4 established a project to improve the Web-homepage. In the two weeks to come we will develop the structure and fill in information that can give already members information about this and that at Solvang 4, but also be a trigger for persons evaluating if such a cottage at the center of Oslo is something to apply for. Hopefully the website will be a place to visit for many people.At Solvang 4 (the highest altitude area of the 5 communities at Solvang) the arrival of the spring is a little bit later than lower down the hillside. My red current is blooming and the rhubarbs are growing higher every day.
It is however a long way to go before the blossom will be as in the Convent garden of St. Dominikus Catholic Church in Neuberggaten.
Have a nice Pentecost, Whitsuntide or Whit whatever you call the upcoming weekend.

TED.COM Ideas worth spreading

This morning I became aware of a web site that in the future may be more important than YouTube if quality and professionalism are some of your criteria for being updated on technology and entertained. The site is Ted.com

TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with the annual TED Conference in Long Beach, California, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK, TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Program, the new TEDx community program, this year's TEDIndia Conference and the annual TED Prize.After breakfast I have been watching a speach by Eric Topol talking of The wireless future of Medicine The stethoscope was invented in 1816. Eric Topol says we'll soon use our smartphones to monitor our vital signs and chronic conditions.What about continuous monitoring of your blood sugar on iPhone?What about controlling your ECG, Heart rhythms, Blood pressure, Oxygen, Temperature, Pregnancy control and your sleeping habits? The future is here and maybe the stethoscope is outdated a century after its invention.

Put ted.com on your daily visiting sites.

Maja´s genes

The unit of heredity that is transferred from a parent to offspring and is held to determine some characteristic of the offspring, is called Gene
I have transferred many good but also some problematic genes to my children. Now there is a new generation developing, and Maja´s genes come from those persons on these photos.
First and foremost her own parents Tor Marius and Rikke Arnedatter.
However, on her one year birthday we shot a photo of the grandparents too. Documenting who is responsible for genes.
From left: Tor (Bestefar), Tullen (mormor), Maja (the recipient), Edel (farmor) and Arne (Bestefar). There is no way back. You are a result of all this distinct sequence of nucleotides forming part of a chromosome. Now it is up to her environment to shape the remaining part of Maja´s personality.

Time for planting - 18C at Tullarbo

Mid May is passed. We are facing the Pentecost Weekend (The feast is also called Whitsun, Whitsunday, Whit Sunday, or Whitsuntide, especially in the United Kingdom. Pentecost is celebrated seven weeks (50 days) after Easter Sunday, hence its name. Pentecost falls on the tenth day after Ascension Thursday)
The temperature today was +18C this morning, and it is time for planting.Water is needed now and hopefully Maja´s family will continue to take care of the flowers during their stay at Tullarbo this summer.
When duty is served, the high-heals can be taken off and the intake of sunbeams increase.
High-heals when gardening? Well, always High-heals.
It is just an ordinary Tuesday after the Constitution Day.

Happy 17th of May

Hip, Hip Hurra Congratulation with the 17th of May.

Greetings from Wales
and from Oslo

Evening before The Day

Tomorrow we will, together with Norwegians and friends all over the world, celebrate our Constitution Day "Syttende Mai".
All over the globe people are ironing their "bunad shirts" today. So have I done this afternoon. My national costume looks like this

However making the breakfast table ready is also a job for the day before the day, and this is our´s tonight.
(and the weather forecast is not so bad as expected only 18 hours ago)

A Happy 17th of May to all of us.

Age before Beauty

Today I have to submit a blogpost about the Californian woman Hazel Soares that graduated from collage at the grand old age of 94.
Through SkyNews Twitter I could read "... in collecting her art history honours she had fulfilled a 78-year ambition." and "It's taken me quite a long time because I've had a busy life. I'm finally achieving it, and it makes me feel really good."
In 2007, Nola Ochs of Kansas became the world's oldest graduate when she received her honours from Fort Hays State University, aged 95.

That was Age. Now to Beauty.Rikke used her Oslo Dress yesterday when joining a Confirmation in her new family. Her beauty is not questionable. Tomorrow she will like thousands of other Norwegians wear similar costumes (me included). She took a break from her University ambitions after BSc in Psychology some years ago, has become a mother and wife and business leader, but looking at the grand old women above, there is always time for returning when she feels for it.

"The biggest thing that we can all learn is that we're never too old," said Regina Hungerford, Ms Soares' youngest child, and I copy that.

Maja at Tullarbo

When the male persons in the family was occupied with testing the new lawn-cutter, Maja was playing with the old Ring Game. In full concentration and focused, but most important stable on her own feet. It´s only days until she will walk over the lawn at Tullarbo or on her own living-room floor.
For those familiar with the rules of points, please add her result. Tonight we will be babysitters at Maja´s home. Nice to be available for your own children when help is wanted.

Sky Watch and Weekend Reflection

Today I will combine two international memes in one photo.Sky Watch Friday and Weekend reflections.
The Sky Watch Community you find here and Weekend Reflections here. For local inhabitants it may be important to document the peaks seen from left at Asbjørn´s photo from the Sykkylven Fjord.
1. : Straumshorn
2. : Lille Kløvheitind
3. : Råna
4. : Trollkyrkja
5. : Skopshornet
6. : Stavekollen

Salary levels for Prime Ministers

According to my information the Norwegian Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg is receiving an annual salary of 1.268.400 nok for leading our country of 4.86 mill people.The new Prime Minister in United Kingdom, David Cameron will receive a salary of 1.293.900 nok (£ 142.500) for leading the country of 62.04 mill people. He has decided to reduce the Cabinet Ministerial Pay with 5% compared to the Labour level.
In Norway the Prime Minister did not want to freeze his own salary during the financial crisis last year although he expected temperance from all others, but as you know Jens S. is also a Labour (Arbeiderpartiet / Social Democrats) minister.
The deficit in the UK during the year will reach 12% of GDP, while Norway will have a surplus of more than 7%. Wonder if we pensioners will get an increase this year.

Where are the women David and Nick?

One of 15 in David Cameron´s first Cabinet is a woman, Theresa May from the Conservative. Where are the Lib.Dem. Where are the British feminists voices. Trine Skei Grande, Venstre (Norway) has LibDem as her favorite party. Impressed with the share of female in the Cabinet? Improvements required NOW.

Update from SkyNews:

There are four women in the Cabinet - Theresa May, Caroline Spelman, Baroness Warsi and Cheryl Gillan.

As there are 25 men entitled to attend the meetings, the female members make up around 14% of the total.

But maybe the attitude represented by resigned Labour Leader Gordon Brown´s meeting with the oposite sex is more common that I previously thought. His "comments in the car" after saying "goodbye to the Queen" can be historical.The Youtube video can be watched and listen to here.

Sex is a risky business these days

We are entering one of the "Longest Weekends" here in Norway this evening. To morrow it is Ascension Day (the fortieth day after Easter, on which Christ's Ascension is celebrated in the Christian Church), then we have a "Blind Friday", Saturday and Sunday before the 17th of May (Norway Constitution Day) on Monday.
Many people will have sex during this long absent from normal working hours, and the figure on top tells that 6% of us over 25 years of age (11% below), accept to be interrupted by SMS or text messages during sex. (Do you blog or perhaps turn on your TV to catch the latest news at the same time?)

In an article in MailOnline you can read that "Hundreds of thousands of us are injured each year in the throes of passion."

Five per cent of the adult population have had to take time off work due to sex-related injuries. Two per cent have even suffered broken bones because things got so heated.

Researchers found around one third of Britons have suffered an ache or strain either before, during or after sex. Almost half said they only realized their injury the following morning because they were so overcome with passion at the time they were hurt.

The article ends: 'Our advice would be to remove any dangerous objects well before you plan to start making love and take care while in the act.'

Have a nice weekend.

Maja 1 year.

Happy birthday Maja.

Today it is one year since Maja was born. Last Sunday the closest family celebrated her birthday with cakes and presents.Mom Rikke is helping her with opening the presents, and dad Tor Marius is there when she has a need for "sitting on arm"
"Bestefar" Arne is eager to help her in training the difficult walking challenge. Although Maja took her "FIRST" step last week, and can say "pappa" and "hei", it is always great to have a finger to hold when walking.
"Mormor" Tullen is her best friend.

The Cymraeg children from England and Norway

The Anglo-Norwegian children in Wales.

The Celtic inhabitants of Wales successfully maintained independence from the Anglo-Saxons who settled in England following the withdrawal of the Romans.
Norman (mixed Frankish and Scandinavian origin who settled in Normandy from about ad 912 and became a dominant military power in western Europe and the Mediterranean in the 11th century.) colonization from England began in the 12th century, and English control over the country was assured by Edward I's conquest 1277–84. Edward began the custom of making the English sovereign's eldest son Prince of Wales. Wales was formally brought into the English legal and parliamentary system by Henry VIII in 1536 but has retained a distinct cultural identity.

Family party - Christian´s Confirmation.

For an areligious person like me it was strange to sit in on the formal ceremony in Jeløy Church yesterday when Christian went through his Confirmation. I was more interested in Victor Sparre´s monumentale glass wall called «Livets tre» (Tree of Life) and express a huge figure of Christ. The work is from 1975 and is recognized as one of the artis´s magnum opus.

In Protestant Churches, the Confirmation rite tends to be seen rather as a mature statement of faith by a person already baptized. It is also required by most Protestant denominations for membership in the respective church, in particular for traditional Protestant faiths. In traditional Protestant faiths (Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Evangelical etc.) it is recognized by a coming of age ceremony.Christian (age 15) seen here in the beautiful weather at the balcony at home listening to a speech by his father´s mother Turid.
The sisters Turid and Tullen and all others had a nice time at the following family party. Great food and enough drinks.One of the guests was Viktor, and you can see that he has developed into a nice grown-up man since his first summer in 1981.

Spring in Wales

With camera strolling around in the Cymry cities there must be thousands of opportunities to catch images of spring flowers. I have choosen a few for this blogpost.The Magnolia tree, blossoming on almost naked branches.
The flower beds at the playground park.
The Almond tree in the city center.
The Apple tree in Trine´s garden.

Grandchildren for years to come

Returning home from Wales on the British Polling Day, observing that Geraint Davis (Labour) is elected MP for Swansea West with a majority of 504 votes, but also registering that the winner is the Conservative Party and David Cameron.
The image above is the "final result" (In Thirsk and Malton, Yorkshire & the Humber, the election has been delayed until May 27th due to the death of a candidate during the campaign)However, this blog post is dedicated to my grandchildren walking into the future whatever political directions they may face.
Hedda Emilie has now just passed her "standard" delivery day (40 weeks), but has been smiling to the world since mid January. A real beauty.
The "Bajas" (Buffoon) Henrik Isak has become the family´s Prince Charming, so watch up when he starts to put his eyes on your daughters.
Helene is in her second grade and a very smart child when it comes to articulation, spelling, writing and maths. She became the winner of our Yatzy competition and is bilingual although her language at school is English.
Back home in Oslo Maja is playing on the grass at Tullarbo, turning her one year birthday next week.The spring flowers go to all of them. Love you all.

Forget me not from Cymru