May Day

Rain's pouring down. No newspaper in our mail box. Philip and Tia's running sort of a mud race today. All the rain makes it even muddier. Never mind, good sportsmanship.

All our America stuff arrived yesterday, 39 boxes in all sizes, so the house is full of boxes. Tia's unpacked her doll's house and all the accessories literally floating all over the floor. There is a need to clean up. What do we do with all the boxes? We need a plan.

After the race, a shower, put the wet and dirty clothes in the washing machine, had some lunch and off to IKEA to look for a new couch, then to the "office" to make it all ready for a new course starting on Monday. Well on our way to IKEA (and ToysRus) we realize it's May Day. That's a public holiday in Norway. Everything is closed. It's a huge disappointment.

Not much we can do about that other that adjust to Norwegian standard: things are closed on public holidays. And of course, that's why there was no newspaper this morning.

Off to prepare the office for the next course. Philip's playing video games. Tia's watching a film. Mom and dad working.

Then off to some friends of ours for dinner and socializing. Sit down relax. Excellent Bacalhau. A good bottle of Beaujolais. Good company. Ingunn's drinking water and driving home. Volunteering. Kids playing games and videos on the iPhones so the stay awake on the way home. Home 10.30 pm, kids straight to bed.

May day; explains it all.

It's 11 pm, hope you had a wonderful May Day.

Spring

Would you believe it? Spring is here. We're flooded by sunlight. Snow is melting away. Spring flowers are popping up. We're packing away winter clothes. We got a car just before Easter. We have spent our Easter vacation at our cabin by the sea just an hour's ride from Oslo, no week-end rush or anything. Well, the weather was very typical this time of year; rain, wind, rather cool temperature, but we noticed the snow melting day by day. Then finally yesterday the good weather came. Bright sunshine and temperature creeping up. Today we had 50(F) when we arrived home in our black snappy car.

We have had a wonderful week doing nothing but relax. We brought some work to do still resting undone though. Never mind. I have managed to read some in the books of Moses for a key note I am planning.

Tomorrow is 2nd day Easter, what others would call a bank holiday, but I think Norway has the world record in celebrating Easter, it is our spring break. For us this will mean a total of 11 days off. Great!

Tuesday we're back with our clients for the final month. Hopefully finding a job for some more of them. Then 3rd May we're heading off for another 22-week-course. That will be he final, by the end of that we need to have found some other means of revenue generation with clients on a higher level of vibration. If you become the average of the five people you surround yourself with over time I frankly do not dare to think where we are heading. So for that reason we need to generate some other kind of activities.

But for now, music on the radio, Philip got two friends here for a sleep-over, the washing machine is working full time and a light dinner later today.

Happy spring!

Winter

Al Gore was on a Norwegian/Swedish talk show last night and was asked how he thought about climate change when he was met in Oslo with -4 degrees(F) now in March. "It's winter" was his response, and it feels like he is right.

It is an early Saturday morning, there is some talking and music on the radio somewhere in the background (in the kitchen), the sun is about to rise brightly to the east. Skies are blue. I have some good coffee in my mug, have picked up the paper (it is 7 degrees outside and still very cold in other words) so I have it ready when Ingunn wakes up. Tia and Philip have a sleep over at Ingunn's sister's place. Peace and quiet in other words.

We have (finally) at least come to the time of year when the difference in temperature between day and night is high. That is something. It creeps above freezing in the day time. This type of so low temperatures in March is very rare. But it turns milder over the weekend and they forecast daytime high in the upper thirties next week. That is something. I met with some parents in Philip's class the other day for a coffee and we reflected over the fact that there has not been one single day since Christmas where the tempretaure has been above freezing, enabling the kids to make snow balls and have a snow ball fight.

So why this concern with winter and freezing temperatures? I am not a winter guy, and I am definitely not a guy for extremely low temperatures. And we have had it like this since Christmas Eve.

Since we acquired the cabin on the coast just an hour's drive from Oslo we have always spent Easter vacation there. It is about 3 minutes' walk downhill from the cabin to the sea and the "beach"; - the thing is there is so much snow now we will have huge problems reaching the cabin with all our stuff in the first place. One thing is food and other supplies for a long week, the other thing is all the stuff that has been taken home for winter and needs to be put back for the new season. With the snow so deep we wont get it up there.

All hope is not gone though, the snow can melt pretty fast if only the temperature rises. Some rain, some fog and wind and sun will only accelerate the process.

Today's project is to shovel snow from our veranda. Then we can sit outside with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and feel the warmth from the sun. THAT is spring in Norway, and the first snow bells (I think that is what they are called) and crocuses popping up from underneath the snow. That is spring as well.

Make it a great week-end.

A magpie was flying by with a piece of a branch from a treein its beak. Is that a spring sign?