Long time No see!

It's Saturday evening, there is peace in the house. Philip has a sleepover and they are fast asleep. Tia is away on a sleepover with a friend of her.

The boxes are packed out. Or not really packed out, more repacked and stored away, as we have the basement full of boxes. At least we have got them out of the way, so this evening we have hung up pictures on the walls. We're getting organized, it looks like a home. Tomorrow is advent so we're going to do some decorating in that respect. We do not let the Christmas in until it really is Christmas, such as decorating the Christmas tree in this house is done December 23rd. After the kids have gone to bed. More about that later.

But tomorrow is the first Sunday in the time of advent. Advent lasts four weeks, and there are four Sundays, so we light a candle for each of them, and on the fourth Sunday there are four candles burning. This is a time when we are waiting for Christmas. we do all the preparations.

Ingunn just assembled the IQ lamp. ..in 5 minutes. Off you go and buy one, see if you can beat her.

The weather's been dull since we arrived home. Very mild, but also very wet. Rainy, rainy , rainy. It's typical weather for the west coast, but not for Oslo. I don't mind the temperature, but the rain...So unless there is a shift for the cooler, there won't be any snow for Christmas. Which of course is a huge disappointment, both for old and young. But it is almost a month away, so much can happen by then.

In the meantime we're adopting to a life without a car. I am commuting for an hour in the morning and the same in the afternoon. 5 minutes' walk from our home to the bus stop. One bus, then change to an other, and finally 10 minutes walk to the "office". Then there is grocery shopping on foot. Pretty uncommon in the US, very common in Norway.
We'll of course get a car, but we have to get our priorities right first.

We've got a beautiful view of Oslo and the fjord from our house. It gives peace of mind.

This was a short message to tell we're here, alive, happy, but missing good friends and the climate we got so used to in the US.