Five montha ago Sniff ( and Dennis and Bianca) arrived at our house totally out of the blue. Luckily we were able to find them good and happy homes. Sniff is the only one I've seen since, and I see him pretty often, because he lives with our good friends Arild and May Sissel and Snorre their other dachshound.
In the first picture you can see all my bird feeders - or most of them. In the distance, by the fence, is a little wooden house that gets filled with mixed seeds. The platform at the front is a good place for crusts. The one with the green roof hangs on the kitchen window, which means I get a good view of my little guests while I'm standing at the kitchen sink. It has sunflower seeds, which attract finches and the tit family. The smooth-looking gentleman in the second picture is a nuthatch. He walks down treetrunks head first. I can't tell you how long it took to get this picture. He's a quick mover! The bright red one and the pretty yellow house we bought in Sweden are full of mixed seeds, so the bluetits and great tits (chickadees?) eat what they want and drop the grains of corn onto the ground below. This is handy for the yellowhammers, who prefer to feed from the ground. Also the robin - favourite of all english people, and featured on countless Christmas cards. I have two peanut holders, which are popular with nearly everyone, but especially the squirrels. That's why they're made of metal. Squirrels are rough little creatures who will drop the feeder from a height in an attempt to smash it open. We used to hang the peanuts up in their green plastic nets, but the little rascals would chew the bottom off the net and collect the nuts when they fell to the ground.
I was lucky enough to borrow a laptop while I was away at rehabilitation (does that make me sound like a dried-out alcoholic in America? In Europe it's all about exercise and getting looked after in peaceful surroundings ). Anyway, I digress. The laptop was great, I could keep in touch with family and friends all over the place, and keep my brain active with plenty of solitaire. When I got home I was encouraged to keep it for a while, and eventually allowed to buy it. When I mailed Tamsin to tell her the good news, she wrote back, " Good, now you can have Skype". Yesterday evening, with telephone guidance from the ever-patient Nick, we installed it. Next thing I knew, I could see Tam and Nick, still in their sunday best - and they could see me - or us, because my excitement soon attracted Jeremy, and Reidar is magnetically attracted to any form of camera. How I wished I wasn't wearing my purple track-suit, how I wished I'd done my hair. But I'll be prepared next time. there will be silly hats, there may be fancy dress - who knows?
Sophie is my mother's first great-grandchild, my late sister's granddaughter, and the idol of the whole family.
I saw this expression in a magazine and liked it straight away. Grandchildren are Life's dessert. Imagine ploughing your way through the main course of life - Brussels sprouts and gristly bits and all, and just when you think there isn't any more, someone places a delicious serving of something sweet in front of you. I think there is fruit involved, because my forthcoming grandbaby has been compared to fruit since he/she was the size of a blueberry, when we first heard of his/her existence. We have gone though olives, plums, avocados, and last I heard, the great American onion. I wonder when the arms and legs grow out, so it's less round? It's very exciting though, knowing that there's a new little person in there, getting bigger and stronger day by day, with a mummy and daddy that are following every new development with bated breath.
Reidar was doing so well with his chemotherapy, then he got an infection. Chemotherapy works by destroying all fast-growing cells, bad and good alike, so bone marrow cells get killed, white blood cells don't get reproduced, so the immune system isn't able to cope with simple infections. We had just got back from a lovely trip to Trøndelag, where Reidar and a group of others from Nordbygdarevyen took part in a revue festival. We stayed in a rented cabin, and were looked after like royalty, with friends acting as porters, chauffeurs and chefs, and Reidar was made to rest as often as possible. Some might think that the trip was too much of a strain for him, so the infection was a direct result, but it would have happened if he'd just stayed home.
Midsummer in Norway is all about being outside and enjoying the sunshine.
The wildflowers are at their best, and not many can resist the temptation of picking large bouquets. Small children traditionally plait coronets of flowers to wear on their heads that day.
On Wednesday 17/06 Reidar started his chemotherapy treatment at our local hospital in Hamar. There is a special department for cancer patients that's fairly new. We talked to the oncologist, Knut Fjæstad, and he was very pleasant and down-to-earth. He let us take all the time we needed, and answered even the stupid questions with patience and understanding. Next we went to the room where the treatment took place. Reidar was hooked up to a drip with a whole bunch of bags of liquids. He lay comfortably on a bed, with a large TV to watch, and was served lunch while he was there. Including the blood-tests and consultation with the doctor he was at the hospital for six and a half hours! The following day the infusion only took two hours. Now he has twelve days to get over it before he starts the same process again. This will be repeated all together four times, so the course will take 8 weeks. After that he takes a new CT to see what effect the treatment has had.
On Saturday we drove to Trysil to spend the day with Arild and May Sissel at their cabin in Trysil. It's situated idyllically by thr river, in a forest ( with carpets of blueberries and other yummy berries) right by a mountain with little patches of snow on it. That's why they call it Paradise. When we arrived Arild and his son-in-law Tor were in the middle of building a veranda. Reidar joined in, and we were able to eat our barbecue sitting on it. Arild's daughter Mari stayed indoors with little Ada Elise is exactly four weeks old, and obviously the centre of attention.
Today Jeremy and I took the bus to Oslo to meet my cousin Mollie and her husband Roy, who are on a Baltic cruise, and were in Oslo for the afternoon.
Unfortunately we arrived late because of the bus being detoured due to roadworks, and even more unfortunately it was pouring with rain. they had another couple with them, and after introductions were made we headed for the shelter of the nearest shopping centre at Aker Brygge. After a few minutes the rain stopped and we took the tram up to Frogner Park where all the Vigeland statues are. This group of little girls is my absolute favourite. No boys are allowed as the smallest girl's facial expression clearly shows. I love the way my picture has a tiny tourist fairy busy taking pictures!
Today is national day, and this picture was taken after the celebrations were over. Being on the committee who arranged the celebrations for Løten, we've had plenty to do. Yesterday we got things ready, today we first went to church (Reidar had traffic duty outside) walked in the parade from the church, down a long hill, and through the centre of Løten. It was about a mile. Next we served ice-cream to all the children in Løten - sounds quite sweet and charming, but in reality meant trying to control a pack of impatient teachers and parents. Next to the sports hall to serve stew to the marching bands and choirs; also three visiting choirs from Estonia. It was beautiful sunny weather, so a thick, heavy
It's always sad to leave a place when you've had a good time there, and Edinburgh was no exception, so imagine my delight when we discovered, hidden away in the most remote corner of the airport, a surfers van dispensing the most cornish of everything that ever came out of Cornwall - pasties! For the uninitiated, a pasty is a circle of pastry (butterdeig) filled with beef pieces, chopped onion, potato and turnip (kålrot) - the american name for this root vegetable is something like Budweiser - this is then seasoned with salt and pepper, folded together and sealed, then baked in the oven. The result is a crust filled with a tasty stew (lapskaus). The pasty was a portable meal that the cornish tin-miner could take down the mine in his pocket. Most people who have ever eaten a pasty are delighted to have a chance of another one, but to a cornish girl, visiting the absolute opposite end of the British Isles, it was nothing short of a miracle.
On Saturday morning Reidar and I decided ( I backed down from wanting to go shopping) to go to Holyrood Palace, buy tickets and do the thing properly. We were loaned audio-guides. They're small gadgets, the size of a mobile phone, that you hang round your neck. If you press the right button at the right time, the gadget tells you about the room you're in, and what to look for. You can get optional extra information. I've forgotten which king built it for his wife, but he never lived there. Mary, Queen of Scots however, did. Also Queen Elizabeth stays there when she has official business in Edinburgh. If she's on holiday she goes to Balmoral. It was exciting to be walking round the rooms she uses, although the less formal ones were out of bounds. Visiting Mary's rooms was special too; the spiral staircase to her bedroom was narrow and steep, and it was chilling to think that her italian secretary was stabbed 56 times right there by her jealous husband and his men. There was a portrait gallery, all painted by the same dutch artist who was encouraged to use his imagination about how some of the earlier scottish kings looked. He must have had a strange sense of beauty, or humour, because thet're all plug-ugly!
After that we headed back towards the hotel, along the Royal Mile, stopping just once at the museum of childhood, where we got quite nostalgic about our old toys. The weather was showery, so I got to use my pretty new yellow umbrella with angels on. It was a long walk, so we were glad to get back to our room to enjoy a picnic before getting ready to go to the theatre. The Festival theatre is the oldest in Scotland, and has just been restored after being used for some years as a bingo-hall. We saw West Side Story, and it was a wonderful production, with very good singers and dancers, great costumes and sets, ans a real feeling of energy.
After that, all 40 of us went to the Pink Olive, where we'd booked tables, and had our farewell dinner of Aberdeen Angus sirloin steaks and chips. It was a pretty noisy, very jolly affair, and a good ending to a very enjoyable trip.
