Art in Reality

Warsaw next! Warszawa następny!

2011-08-31T23:45:00.000+03:00

Oh the past year has been a tough one. We went from excitement to disappointment in regards to our upcoming move to South Africa. We are still dealing with some of it, but the long and the short of it is this: Our stuff went there 15 months ago, we never went. Our stuff is still there. (But hopefully not for much longer.)

But, when a door closes, a window is opened, and fast forward and we are moving to Warsaw! Tomorrow!

And now that our lives will have more security, it might be easier for me to write. I had no idea how to share the struggles we have been going through the past year in writing, especially in such an open space as the internet. I did not want to share things which would be inappropriate, but on the other hand I couldn't just chop that part of my life out - especially as for much of the past year it WAS my life - the struggles, frustration, anger, bitterness and loneliness took up most of my being and thought capacity. I am very happy to be able to put that behind me, and move on. Lessons have been learned and the wounds are healing. I am looking forward to learning new positive lessons and regain my belief in humankind and organizations. And learning Polish, really, really quickly so I can speak to people. For now I can say "I don't speak Polish," so wish me luck!

If you know Polish and are reading this - how was the title? (I love google translate, but I don't always trust their translations...)

Germany beckons part 2: Köln and Düsseldorf

2011-03-28T18:12:00.001+02:00

This is a bit of a late update of our trip to Germany No2 - but better late than never, right?

No sooner had we come home again, before we saw even cheaper tickets to Düsseldorf, and again from one day to the next our trip was decided and off we went the following day. Düsseldorf is very, very close to Köln, and seeing as there isn't that much to do in Düsseldorf, we went straight from the airport to Köln.

And Köln is a lovely city. Lovely Mr.T indulged us in clothing shopping, games shopping was courtesy of Holiday money from the in-laws (5 new games!! - including a new version of Carcassonne, one of our favourite games and Dominion, a new game we have heard good things about.)

While we were in Germany Channuka started, and that is a great holiday, one of my favourites - filled with candles, candies, fried foods and family time. We lit our candles in our hotel room every night and had a wonderful time enjoying the time, the company, the winter and the holiday.

We went to the many, many Christmas markets (they have seven in Köln, I think) and enjoyed the people watching, lots of handicrafts and lots of local food specialties. Most we didn't eat, but we did have lovely kartoffel puffer or rivekartoffeln otherwise known as latkes in our home. (Kjært barn har mange navn...) They were lovely, crispy, made fresh. The best part was that we could oversee the entire production ourselves, from the grating of the potatoes until they were taken up from the vat of oil, served to us steaming hot with apple sauce. At one place we had them with mustard, which was new to me, but oh, so, so good!

In Köln you also find the Lindt Chocolate Museum, so as a the chocoholic I am, with the most incredible and indulging husband, we went there and looked at the history, production and moulding of chocolates. It was quite fun, but unfortunately there were very few samples to be had...

The neatest building in Köln has to be their cathedral. It is so awesome, and had been built and built and built for centuries! So beautiful, and right next to the train station, so it was the very first thing we saw when we arrived in the city. We went back to it three times, I think. One of the times we walked up inside one of the towers about 100 meters straight up! It was quite an experience!

Dusseldurf - well not much to say really. They have a lot of bars and pubs and we went to a few of the old ones. Probably the coolest pub experience in Germany so far was when the bartender came over to our table and showed us how to eat pickled eggs. That totally redeemed some other not so great bartenders from Dusseldurf for me!

The long and the short of it is this: I really like travelling in Germany. I like shopping in Germany. I love travelling with Mr. T. I love being with Mr. T. And we had a wonderful time together.

Germany beckons part 1: Berlin

2010-12-07T13:49:00.001+02:00

With this extra time in our pockets (South African work permits are still not in our hands, so we are still waiting, waiting...) cheap flight tickets out of Israel are more interesting than ever. That is how we ended up going to Berlin a few weeks ago. We saw last minute tickets for 4 nights, 5 days in Berlin and a day later, off we went to Germany.

Berlin is a wonderful city, and I can only say great things about our trip. We went to lots of the really great museums, had some great vegetarian Indian, Thai, Vietnamese and even German food, we went to the opera and saw The Barber of Seville, met up with friends and did a little shopping. (Like the yarn I mentioned last post.)

One of the coolest things we saw was this bust of Nefertiti. She was the wife of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. They are known for starting a shift in the Egyptian religion, where they started worshiping only one God. She was amazingly beautiful, and this particular sculpture is really quite fantastic. There are countless busts and statues made of her, but, what makes the one they have in the Neues Museum in Berlin quite special, is that it was the sculpture they had in one of the work shops where they made the sculptures, so you can see what the process is. One eye is finished, the other shows what the surface underneath the glass inlay looks like. So cool to be able to see ancient craftsmanship and techniques in real life!

But, as always the best part of the whole trip was of course that I got to go there with Mr.T. I always take more away from any trip I get to go on with him, I see more and experience more and enjoy it more. I am so grateful to have him in my life.

Oh, knitting, how I miss thee

2010-11-28T01:20:00.001+02:00

At the end of June we sent a container full of our stuff to South Africa, thinking that we were coming just behind. It was mid-summer in the mid 30s (Celcius), so my thought was: "I will survive a couple of hot summer months without knitting. It won't be too bad. Ok, I will send all my knitting needles and yarn in the shipment going in the container.I will see them again at the beginning of August. It will still be winter in South Africa. How practical!"

My knitting supplies - well, they arrived in South Africa on the 10th of August, but we did not. Five months later and we are still in Jerusalem. I am starting to miss them. And no, a little crocheting is not enough. One tiny, tiny needle hook (0.75 is really small) and 5 tiny balls of cotton string - that does not quench the knitting fingers' thirst for some action.

Cue our 'romantisk storbyferie' (romantic metropolitan vacation, which I hear all of my Norwegian friends talk about with such stars in their eyes) to Berlin. Berlin is filled with goodies of all kinds - more to tell in a later post - but also yarn. I had take some home. As a souvenir of course. So some beautiful teal coloured Regia 4-fadig yarn had to come home with us. (No picture unfortunately... My camera has no more battery power, and guess where my battery charger is - that is right - in our container in the port in South Africa. GRRRR!)

So now all that stands between me and knitting is needles. I love bamboo, hate metal and plastic needles, well to generalize at least. (I have never tried the fancier rosewood needles etc, so I cannot say whether or not I like them...) Last week I went looking for some needles. My usual supplier here has stopped carrying bamboo needles, so the hunt is on. We will see what this week brings.. Maybe, maybe I will be able to find it in one of the other three stores in town which carry such silly knitting notions. Wish me luck!

Language war

2010-11-17T23:00:00.002+02:00

Sometimes I regret writing this blog in English. Not because it is hard for me to write in English, but rather because sometimes, just sometimes, I feel like writing in Norwegian, my mother tongue. Some things just sound better in Norwegian. I am funnier in Norwegian. (At least I think so...) There are expressions and combinations of words which sometimes perfectly describe where I am at the time, which come to me in Norwegian. And then there are all the cultural references that are totally lost in English, but work in Norwegian.

It is strange to me that after over 10 years of living my life in English, Norwegian is still surfacing to such a degree when I try to express myself. After all, almost my entire adult life has been lived in English. True, Norwegian is very much present in my life as well, but with having studied in English, lived in England, currently living in what is called the "Anglo bubble" here in Jerusalem, marrying and living (communicating) with my husband mostly in English, and having most of my friends communicate with me in English, it surprises me that English has not taken over my brain more.

To most people I seem bilingual. I read and write with ease in both Norwegian and English. I enjoy both languages. But sometimes things are better said in Norwegian. The opposite also happens to be true. There are times English cover things and emotions better than Norwegian. From time to time I wish that everybody could just speak both Norwegian and English. That way we could speak Norwenglish together. Oh, that would be great.

Having said that, I can feel my brain is slowly, slowly being won over to "the other side." I now very often write lists in English. (And that is not just so Mr.T will understand them, like it used to be.) I catch myself mumbling to myself in English. And most horrifying - I sometimes find myself writing down my recipes in English, and not in Norwegian. It makes me a little sad.

I guess this is the price one has to pay for living an international life. During the course of my day it is not rare that I encounter 5 or 6 different languages. All of which I somehow interact with. Some I speak more, some I speak less. Hopefully my brain will not become totally befuddled (one of my favourite English words!) by the end of it all!

Light in darkness

2010-11-02T08:17:00.000+02:00

Now that it is getting dark outside, at least here in the Northern hemisphere, it is time to make things cozy and warm and lit up at home. For my birthday I got this beautiful candle, a real girlie candle, pink with glitter. And it is sooo beautiful. Even Mr.T agrees to that!

Mr.T likes to turn out the light much earlier than I do, and the light on my side of the bed is bothersome to him. I also don't like to turn on the light when I wake up in the middle of the night, but I don't like to be entirely dark either. Sigh... I used to have a perfect book light which I could attach to my book and read from, and also use in the middle of the night. The perfect amount of light, and not so much that it bothered Mr.T. But then my book light's tiny little light bulb went, and it seems it cannot be bought anywhere, so it was essentially dead. And that could have been the very sad end to this story.

Then my parents came to visit. Enter Mr.NightOwl into our lives. Tada! (Thank you, mamma!!) He is a very serious fellow, don't you think? It is clear he takes his duties very serious. Here he is clearly warming up for the night's shift. Looks like there is a lot on his mind!

Here Mr. NIghtOwl is all lit up. He is both practical AND cute. Just look how sweet it is all lit up with his belly full of light!

Now Mr.T can sleep next to me, and I have light from Mr.NightOwl here. Happy times all around!

6 chapsticks and 5 boxes of aloe vera tissues later...

2010-11-01T00:27:00.003+02:00

Oy, have I been sick! I usually don't go out of commission like this, but boy this cold/flu has been the worst EVER! I fill spare you the gory details of my cold, but let's just say I am now resurfacing - with my upper lip, despite my desperate attempts to keep it from going completely raw (hence my incredible use of chapsticks the past weeks)- well, my upper lip looks like I have a huge red mustache. This has been the source of much sympathy from friends and storekeepers when they see me, and just cannot suppress when they see the big red, raw upper lip coming towards them: "Are you sick?" Duuuh....

But now I am on the mend! Only a little coughing, nose blowing and sneezing left. Or so I thought...

Then I got hives or some sort of weird all over body itching allergic reaction a week ago which keeps hanging out with me. Yeepee!! I have no clue how people who live with psoriasis do it - the itching, the ITCHING is driving me nuts. Thankfully, after about a week it is subsiding and getting better.

I kind of think 3 weeks of illness bad enough to make me want to stay in a hole and not see anybody is enough, don't you? So nothing new had better show up!!

But, really, when I think about it, it is like this: Despite all of the above complaining I am grateful. After all - it is a cold. After all - it is hives. Nothing serious. It will pass. It is only three weeks. It reminds me my body works and protects me from all the nastier stuff out there. It reminds me how lucky I am to have an amazing husband who takes care of me. It reminds me how blessed I am.

Walking in history

2010-10-18T15:47:00.002+02:00

Recently I did one of the coolest tourist things I have done in Jerusalem. I walked through Hezekiah's tunnel. It is a tunnel which leads water through a man made shaft, carved out 2700 years ago. They started at both ends and somehow managed to meet in the middle, carving their way through solid rock. Today the tunnel is not used for keeping the city's water supply safe, but is part of the City of David archeological park. You can take a tour of the park and then you get to walk through the tunnel. It was super cool. There is still water running through the tunnel, so you have to bring shoes and clothing suited for walking in water. And it was such a great experience. The water was clean and lovely to walk through. The tunnel is pitch black, but it didn't feel scary or dangerous or anything. The pace of the tour makes you totally forget to be claustrophobic or feel locked inside or anything like that. Also everybody has to have a flash light with them, which is really helpful when you go on the tour. It means that not only do you have the light from your own flashlight, but also from all the other people on your tour, which helped me at least. (I am such a scaredy-cat when it comes to closed spaces and water...)

I cannot believe I have lived in Jerusalem for over 7 years without doing this walk. It was truly amazing. To think that so long ago they were able to dig this tunnel, which brought safety for the city's water supply. And even more amazing to think that today it is still standing, still leading water, and it is safe and clean and we can walk in it, experience the wonderful handiwork of the craftsman of ancient times. It is an experience which I highly recommend. I think I am going to go back and do the tunnel tour again. It was simply awesome! Want to come?

Ruby love

2010-09-23T22:45:00.002+02:00

I feel so lucky - I never thought I would be in Jerusalem long enough to be able to enjoy the pomegranate season this year, but to my delight I am. I look at them, hold them, admire their rose coloured outside and adore their glistening rubies which are revealed when you open up and tear away the outside. I don't even care that the wall and my shirt are sprayed with their juice. (Well until I get to clean up that is, to be completely honest with you!)

They are everywhere now, big boxes of them in the market, piles of them in the local green grocers. How could I resist them? I had to bring some home!

Oh, and even better than my favourite from last year, which was vanilla ice cream with pomegranate seeds is this year's new favourite: Chocolate ice cream with pomegranate seeds! Chocolate, ice cream and pomegranate - can't beat that combination!!

Still playing tourist in the Old City

2010-09-20T12:42:00.003+02:00

This time a visit to The Church of the Holy Sepulchre. I am as always fascinated with the candle lighting.

This church is a fascinating place with so much history connected to it, and it is a holy place to so many. Usually there is a very serene, intense atmosphere as pilgrims and locals alike pray, light candles and connect to their faith and the place.

One of the places within the church is the wooden structure within which Christians believe Jesus' tomb is. It usually a place where people are whispering their prayers. lighting candles outside, singing hymns and generally a place people are very quiet and respectful.

Yesterday we got there quite late in the day, around 8pm, and all one could hear coming from within was one of the priests who control that particular part of the church yell at the worshipers: "Finish! Get up! Get up! Next!!" And as the next person had entered and was presumably kneeling, whispering their prayers you could once again hear the priest yelling: "Finish!! Get up! Get up!! Enough!! Finish!!"

So much for the holy, serene atmosphere. I guess even priests want to go home and eat dinner at the end of the day. ;)

A nana for the mamma

2010-09-19T15:17:00.000+02:00

I finally found the perfect plant for our empty ceramic pot on the balcony - nana! It is a type of mint, but sweeter and more aromatic than peppermint. You find it all over the Middle East, and it is often used in tea. My mother loves putting some fresh leaves of nana into her tea cup, so what could be better than to grow it on our balcony?

Peach of heaven

2010-09-12T20:15:00.005+02:00

Don't you just love it when the perfect fruit graces you with its presence?

Right now white peaches are in season here in Israel and I have rarely seen them more plump, more delicious looking, smelling more sweetly. And when I cut into its flesh the sweetness is released and envelopes me softly. I find myself slightly intoxicated by its loveliness. Oh, what a wonderful thing that the pit releases so easily. The knife slices the fruit like butter. I put the slices of delicious peach onto my plate like pieces of confectionery. And what a wonderful thing it is when I take a piece into my mouth, and yes, it is just as sweet, just as plump, just as flavourful as I imagined. Oh, a small piece of heaven on earth.

Rosh Hashana is coming

2010-09-01T08:56:00.002+03:00

With my borrowed time here in Jerusalem, I am enjoying smaller projects, which don't take a lot of time to do, but are very enjoyable. The latest of these projects was making Rosh Hashana cards. I haven't made cards for Rosh Hashana myself for years, but I always enjoyed it so much when we did when I was a little girl. Nothing makes you happier than simulating being 8 years old, right? Well, ok, maybe there is a little less glitter and pink and purple, but it still has a lot of sparkle!

On a happier note

2010-08-31T19:53:00.005+03:00

I couldn't let the last post be on top of my blog for too long. Oh, gosh - such sadness and frustration are not good for anybody! Over to something much, much happier. Yesterday T and I watched Julie and Julia, and I really, really loved it. It is such a cute, happy movie, especially in the beginning. I loved watching how Julie and Julia found themselves, developed and became more themselves through cooking.
It also made me really want to do some more fancy cooking, just in line with some of the other things I have been watching lately, namely clips of the sumptuous Nigella Lawson. You can find lots of clips with her on youtube, and it is so inspiring. I like her so much more now that she has stopped saying that everything is so quick, and then goes on to having pre-chopped, bre-baked, pre-boilt everything. Now, there are fewer ingredients and more real time stuff, and that is so nice.

Good cooks are really inspiring if you ask me, and now all I can think about are butter based sauces, like hollandaise, bearnaise and sandefjordssmør. In my head all I can think is this line from "Little Women": "Oh, isn't butter divinity?"

Tomorrow we are having eggs benedict. I am so looking forward to it!

Not knowing

2010-08-31T15:45:00.003+03:00

It is strange to be in this kind of in between mode. I feel sort of stomped - cannot really start any projects because I might not be able to finish them because any time I might be told I am leaving in a few days. It affects everything, and it makes me understand and appreciate more fully the difficulty people who are living from day to day are living their lives and the kind of inertia that creeps in.

One of the things it affects is cooking for example. I am so used to cook in big batches, buying in bulk to make things as cost effective as possible. It is so strange to buy the smallest container of cheese, or refrain from buying eggs because we might be leaving in a couple of days. And it is very strange to just make enough for one meal at the time, and not have that second lasagna or chicken casserole or what it might be to freeze for another time.

Not knowing is the worst part of it, and it makes planning very difficult. Next week Rosh Hashana, is celebrated. We don't know yet if we will be in South Africa, expected to be fully prepared to act as part of the community's leadership to guide the congregation in a meaningful celebration or if we will be here in Jerusalem. No matter what, we are trying to somehow prepare for both possibilities. Not so easy, I have to admit.

Every morning when I wake up I hope and pray that this will be the day that we get the call from the embassy telling us that we have been granted work permits. And every day, so far, when I go to bed, I know that no, it wasn't today. :( I know that we are in a very fortunate situation compared to most people, and we have really nothing to complain about, but sometimes this in between situation just gets to me.

I love honesty

2010-08-22T01:00:00.004+03:00

The other day T and I went to a sushi restaurant with a friend of ours. There were a couple of specialty futomaki rolls on the menu, which we didn't know what were, so we decided to ask the waitress before ordering.

T: "What is this specialty futomaki roll?" (Pointing to the most expensive futomaki roll on the menu.)

Waitress: "Oh, that is a roll that doesn't have rice at all in it. And it has some other stuff in it. I really cannot recommend it all."

You have got love that, right?

Worries and good stuff too

2010-08-20T01:04:00.006+03:00

First, worries: We are still waiting. Waiting to hear from the embassy. Waiting to hear that everything is ok, that all the papers are in order, that we can get work permits and leave Jerusalem and move to South Africa. Ironically our stuff has already arrived in Port Elizabeth. And here we were worried about it taking months before we would see our things... Well, I guess if we don't get work permits, then it will... But God willing it will all be ok, and we will get the work permits as soon as the South African consul to Israel is back at work after a long vacation....

Now for the good stuff: We get to see more great things in Jerusalem, like the new Israel Museum, where we went twice in the past two weeks. They have been renovating and extending the museum for the past three years and re-opened just 3 weeks ago. Things are still not fully up and running, like you can see from the lovely gardening in the sculpture garden... Here with the famous AHAVA (LOVE) statue in the back ground. One of my favourite pieces in the museum..

The second time we went to the museum the annual kite festival was being held there. It was so nice seeing kids and adults running around with kites everywhere. It made me think of my dad and our summers in Denmark, with running on the beach trying to make the kites stay in the air. And it reminded me of the summer we had no kite at all, and he got desperate and tried to make his jeans fly instead... So much fun!

While in Jerusalem we also indulge ourselves and have been seeing lots of our friends, eating out in some of our favourite spots. Oh, how I will miss this kind of spread with my baby chicken skewers!

We went to see the lights which have been put up for Ramadan in the Old City and in East Jerusalem. Yesterday when we walked home from the city centre, we looked towards Silwan, an Arab village, and it was blinking red, green, white and blue from all the lights which had been put up. Awesome!

With our extended time in Jerusalem we also got to go to the brit milah (circumcision) of the son of a good friend of ours. It was really nice to be able to be there, even if I didn't get to sit with T. Men and women sat separately for the celebratory meal afterwards as well as for the circumcision itself. Here you see the women (some of them at least) peeking in to the men's side. Sometimes separate seating is a real pain when I don't get to sit with T at weddings or other occasions where people might decide to do separate seating. But - it is always nice when there is somebody I know, and I can chat the time away with a couple of girlfriends without interruption! And thankfully, a good friend came to the brit milah and we had a lovely time chatting about all kinds of girly things! Hehe!

Now, back to waiting...

Making the most of it

2010-08-06T03:02:00.004+03:00

And when one has some bonus time - what is better than exploring that which one is leaving behind? We walked the ramparts of the Old City with good friends. Walking on top of the city walls is really cool, if I may so. It gives you a very different perspective and it gives you access to see things, which you would never be allowed in to see from below. It was a rather sweaty affair with the temperature being in the high 30Cs, but getting to see the city from above and from different angels than normal, was really amazing.

Looking from Damascus Gate (well from on top of it, anyway) towards the Dome of the Rock. Usually I see the Dome of the Rock from the other side - from Jaffa Gate looking towards Damascus Gate. The passage way in the right hand side corner is the path/market going into the Old City from Damascus Gate. Really so much fun to be able to see it from above!

The Latin Patriarchate (Roman Catholic Church) have their own little vineyard, fig trees and other trees and bushes on top of the roof. A hidden oasis in the middle of so many people, buildings and roof tops.

Allah Hu Achbar (Allah is Great) Arabic roof top iron work looking towards the Latin Patriarchate. Everything is close and on top of each other in the Old City! The different religions meet everywhere - also in the air.

Even priests have to get ready somewhere... I loved seeing this priest taking time to talk this man while he was in the middle of putting on his garb. They seemed so engaged in their conversation, I snapped this photo.

Afterwards we went into Zedekiah's cave (also called Solomon's mine), which is quite incredible - a cave underneath the Old City, mostly the Muslim Quarter, of a length of 230 meters! I love these kinds of unexpected experiences. I find it almost surreal to think about this expanse of openness underneath the city, upon which I have walked so many times, thinking I was walking on solid ground...

We went on from there to enjoy hummus with a friend and then on to more explorations of the Old City, which included Bethesda, where they say Mary, Jesus' mother was born. There also used to be a medicinal bath there, with natural and pools and such. I have to admit, I have never, NEVER, associated Jerusalem with natural pools and water, so that was a really new thing for me to learn.

It really was a wonderful day. I learnt so much about the city where I have lived for the past 7 years. I am so grateful for this time to keep learning and experiencing it! And it just goes to show - there is always more to see!

Almost moving...

2010-08-02T23:58:00.003+03:00

Where does all the time go, I wonder? I am sure I am not the only one who has this problem - the time just seems to slip away while I am not looking. And where on earth (or elsewhere for that matter) did it go? How do people get time to do all the things they need to do and still have the excess time and energy to do the things they want to do? Or even just do beyond the bare minimum?

Well, as fate wanted it, I have been given some extra time! Ok, not really, but that is what it feels like. We were supposed to make our BIG move from Jerusalem to South Africa this past Sunday. But, despite the fact that the container with all our stuff went a month ago, and we have been in touch with and handing in papers to the embassy for what seems forever - we are still waiting for all the paperwork to go through at the embassy, and so - we are still in Jerusalem. The embassy has been given a good 7 centimeters high stack of papers, all originals or notarized translations of originals of course, consisting of our police records from three continents, college records, diplomas, affidavits, work contracts, personal statements, recommendation letters etc etc, and our PASSPORTS. So now, after calling and emailing them to find out what is happening, we are waiting for them to go through our stack of papers, which probably is located in some stack of other similar looking applications for work, study and visit permits...

But, of course, we have to be able to smile about some of the things that happen along the way in this process. Like how the embassy was closed on Friday because the elevator in the building they are located in didn't work. I am not sure why they didn't use the stairs... Maybe they are just for decorative purposes?

So, in the meantime we are still in Jerusalem, enjoying some extra time with friends, who by now might be getting slightly weary of saying good bye to us. We hope the work permits will come through within the next three weeks, but we have no idea when, and so we are living a bit on the edge. It is really stressful to not know what is happening. But for now, I know, we will not be going before Sunday, and so I have a little time to relax and actually get used to the idea of living almost 19 hours direct flight path from my parents and family, it is even within the same time zone! I have been given the time to let my brain and soul catch up with what my body has been doing for months - getting ready to move. This past week, we were packing up the last things, making sure all bills were paid and borrowed things were returned to their owners. But, was I ready to move, mentally? I am not so sure, all the things I had to do took precedence over the things which were optional. Now, with this extra time, I sit here in our living room and I am mentally preparing myself. Of course, I would have been ready and all would have been fine if we had arrived in South Africa today. I do believe however, that my soul will have an easier transition this way.

Gardening success!

2010-07-05T22:12:00.004+03:00

The flower which was a stick and one leaf now has flowers, and looky, looky at the lettuce!! Isn't fantastic! I am slowly getting more confident about gardening. It really does seem that regular watering and flower food do the trick, at least here on our balcony in Jerusalem. Too bad we are about to move... I will just have to remember all of this, and bring the omph with me to South Africa.

For Inger

2010-06-18T10:32:00.003+03:00

It is very hard to accept when somebody we love dies. I find it virtually impossible to accept. Especially when they are taken from us before their time. This week somebody very special slipped away from us. It does not help that her suffering was now over. Her life was over too soon, it was too quick. And why did she have to be sick? Why does anybody? I do not understand. The unfairness of it all hurts. She should be here to see the world, have a glass of wine, enjoy many more years with husband, children, grandchildren and friends. And instead she was taken from us. We will miss you, Inger. We are missing you already.

Vi sitter i slørblå

junikveld og svaler oss

ute på trammen.

Og alt vi ser på

har dobbelt liv fordi

vi sanser det sammen.

Å flytt deg nærmere

inntil meg her på

kjøkkentrammen!

Den er så svimlende

kort den stund vi

mennesker er sammen

- Hans Børli

If you're lucky and you know it...

2010-06-15T02:13:00.005+03:00

I am lucky. And I know it. Yet, often I feel that I do not do enough to make that realization come into action. I am seemingly yet not able to keep it in such a place in my awareness that my realization of being lucky drives away the small, insignificant things, irritations, annoyances. I wish I didn't spend so much time with petty things. I wish that I was bigger than that, more giving, more forgiving, more accepting. It is not easy, but I try. Because I know how lucky I am.

Today we live in a time when those of us who were lucky enough to be born in a Western country - we all live like kings and queens, like royalty. The water comes to us through a faucet. There is plenty of food to purchase in the market. We have free time. And most of us can even afford to travel to other places. We have time for friends, family and enjoyment. We own our own time. We can choose what profession to work in, which religion to believe in, which indulgences we give in to. This is really the life of the rich, the wealthy, the life of the few and those truly, truly privileged.

In addition to all of that - I am healthy (even if, let's be honest I should exercise more and take better care of the precious body I was given.) I have a loving husband, a wonderful family, close friends and network of people who are willing to be there for me, and I for them.

So, why can't I always see that in my inner eye when the small frustrations keep bugging me during the week? Why am I unable, currently, to ignore the little things, focus on the bigger picture, and just let it go?

Part of it is focus, I think. When I am able to take a breath, let the situation sink in, and internalize that this particular little detail, in the big picture of things, it does not matter; when I am able to do that, I am also more often able to let go of the irritation. So, focusing and letting go are both important parts.

Another part is to trust in others. Even if something is being done in a different way than I would have chosen, I need to increase my trust in others. I have to increase my belief that their way is just as good as, if not better, than mine.

I really want to increase my ability to focus on my being so lucky, and to be able to revel in that all the time. I want that to be my main energy. To be happy, content and in full knowledge of how lucky I am. I want to be one of those people who don't complain about all the little things, but rather focus on the larger picture, namely all the incredibly good things in my life. So, for the next week, I want to try to focus my energy, let go of the little things and trust in others. Wish me luck!

Garden bliss

2010-06-10T11:26:00.005+03:00

My attempts at "gardening" have been.. well, let's just be honest and say less than successful. The beautiful lemon tree my mother gave me, I killed a couple of times until finally it was just a dry stick in the dirt. The elephant foot my friends gave me went to a better place a long time ago. But these days, I think due to a combination of not going away all the time and actually watering the plants (who knew consistency was so important, right?), they are now living happier lives.

Even the aloe vera plant, which my mother took the initiative to move to a bigger pot is thriving - it is blossoming for the second year in a row. Last year we were away and missed seeing the beautiful flower it has. This year - we are so enjoying it!

And in this pot, which once housed a bigger plant than it does now, I tried to sow some very old baby lettuce seeds. The birds were having a field day when I put the pot back, and they were having a wonderful time eating most of the seeds. But, we should not underestimate the, granted very, very few seeds that survived. And looksy - hopefully there will be a not very filling, but very delicious salad with salad leaves from our very own garden in a few weeks time!

Meret for me

2010-05-24T12:09:00.002+03:00

IMG_5670
Originally uploaded by artsinreality

Just because I haven't blogged about knitting lately doesn't mean that the needles are totally idle these days. I am nearing the end on a shawl which I am not totally happy about, but I will tell you about that later. For now, about an FO - finished object. (I love those!)

During the winter I made a meret for my mother out of Nepal - a (then) brand new yarn from Garnstudio. It was so soft and wonderful to work with, I had to make one for myself as well. As luck would have it, they didn't have enough of the delicious purple in stock for me (only one skein left...) but there was this lighter blue left, so that was what I got. And I am pretty happy about it. It is wonderful to wear, so soft and warm. Not itchy at all. Now all I need is for there to be winter so I can wear it again.

Getting older, I guess

2010-05-23T03:16:00.003+03:00

A couple of months ago I was at IKEA and I started chatting with the woman who was in line to pay behind me. She had a whole trolley full of rolls of linen fabric and tons of small vases. I had to ask her what on earth she was doing with all of it. She told me she was making table cloths and napkins for her son's confirmation. The rest of the conversation went something like this:

Me: Oh, that will be beautiful.

Her: Thank you.

Me: Will you decorate with something else as well?

Her: Yes, we will have individual flowers in the vases you see here. I think it will all be green, off-white and orange.

Me: That is a great idea. It sounds like it will be very stylish.

Her: Are you also planning a confirmation for your children now?

Me (thinking to myself): What the heck???!!! - children ready for confirmation??? How old does she think I am??? How old do I look, really??!! I am only 31, do I really have that many wrinkles? DO I LOOK THAT OLD??!! Shoot, where is my make-up and I need to remember to start exercising so I don't look like I have 15 year old children!! Maybe I should make more references to 'y0ung things' - but what on earth are they???

Me: (answering her): No, I don't have any children yet....

Some people...

2010-05-05T11:13:00.004+03:00

We are in the middle of planning a big move. The contracts have yet to be signed, but if everything goes according to plan, then by the beginning of August we are saying good bye to Jerusalem and hello to a new and exciting life somewhere else on this wonderful planet.

I have started our preparations for the move by calling moving companies and getting quotes for what it will cost to schlep our stuff half way around the world. Yesterday the first company came to give us a quote. I showed him everything we need to ship, including my big bag (1m x 1m x 30cm) of yarns.

Me: "And this is a big bag full of yarn."

Him: "And, you want to ship that??!!"

Me: "Of course!"

Him: "Okaaayy..."

Honestly, some people don't see gold when they have it right in front of them...

Heaven is...

2010-05-04T18:15:00.003+03:00

A break with home made strawberry and vanilla jam on crackers.

I really could eat the whole bowl by myself, but I will try to put the cover on and put in back in the fridge and wait for tomorrow's treat instead...

Weekend and mother-in-law are almost here

2010-04-23T14:22:00.002+03:00

The house is clean, the food is cooked and ready, the beds made. Now all we have to do is go and pick her up at the airport! Yeay! Look at these treats!

Some chocolates for me from my lovely husband. Mmm

Freshly baked whole wheat, flax seed and sunflower seed challot for Shabbat.

And there was enough dough for some small rolls as well. Yum!

And finally - our new bed sheets, which I've been dying to use!

It looks like it should be a great Shabbat!

Everything ready, in good time. (Yeay, us!)

And we're off to the airport to fetch my mother-in-law!

Recognizing the small things

2010-04-18T16:16:00.000+03:00

Oh, how time flies by so, so quickly. It seems we are all the time in the middle of something - somebody is visiting, or we are travelling, or we have to make life altering decisions, or we have to help someone, or there is work, or you have to shop, or there is food to be made, or another million things which life consists of... It is hard sometimes to remember to hold onto the presence and say 'Thank you, my life is wonderful. I am so grateful to be so fortunate. I live a blessed life.'

By grasping the moment in such a way we not only lift up that very moment into greater existence and meaning, but we are able to lift up other parts of our lives and see the beauty in the everyday, in the trivial things.

I strive to make my life more than it is. To always make it more. To lift it to another level, so that I can continue to grow. So that my everyday and all the small things which need doing can take on greater life. To have a purpose of all the trivialities beyond them being 'laundry' or 'cucumber salad' or other similarly seemingly unimportant pieces in my life. By identifying the individual items and actions and seeing them closely, lifting them up through recognizing their being and my being engaged in them, and recognizing the fact that they have intrinsic meaning, beauty and positivity, I am able to recognize that not inly in them, but in me.

Finding meaning in one's existence can be challenging. Does my living have any intrinsic meaningfulness? Who am I to say what I am worth? Is my life worth more than somebody else's? But it isn't about more or less than somebody else. It is about finding the beauty and meaning in one's own. And the intrinsic value each and every one of us has in this world. And this is sometimes easier to remember when we remember that doing the laundry is intrinsically meaningful. Or remembering that the laundry in and of itself has a greater meaning for which we should be grateful. By seeing the smallest thing and identifying it, seeing it, truly and saying: You mean something, you are worth everything, we understand that we too mean something in the world, we too are worth everything.

But it can be hard. Sometimes it seems impossible to not feel worthless, taken for granted. That all the things one does are unseen by others, and in the grand scheme of things disregarded as 'the small stuff', not worthy of recognition; that you are not worthy of recognition because what you do are all the small, insignificant things.

However today is not one of these days. Today is a day when it is less hard to see beyond the triviality of the little things, so right now I stop for a little while. I sit quietly and I say: 'Thank you. My life has meaning. My life is beautiful. I am grateful for all which I have. I am grateful to be so fortunate. I am truly blessed.'

Sweet or ridiculous - You tell me

2010-04-14T03:37:00.003+03:00

La framboise - This is a necklace created by Caroline Sebilleau, and I cannot figure out if it is really cute and something I really want, or something kitchy and something to be totally to be forgotten. What do you think? I am really torn...

Oh, and there are matching earrings as well, but those are not at all appealing to me as this necklace is. The necklace reminds of taking a straw and stringing berries onto them in the summer. So, what do you think? Cool or kitchy?

(Pictures are borrowed from her web site and the web site of Snella & Petronella where you can buy them.)

Pink, pink, pink (only 6 months late, but...)

2010-04-14T02:50:00.007+03:00

In October I won a lottery over at Pludrehanne's blog. And she sent me this wonderful little envelope, and inside all wrapped in tiny pink bubble wrap and pink silk paper were these super cute stitch markers. Thank you so much! They are really great! I am ashamed to say I haven't gotten around to thanking her until now, but better late than never, right? In my defense: To avoid international shipping for Pludrehanne, I gave her my Norwegian address, where the stitch markers spent many months waiting for me to come and visit. But when I came for a visit in March I got them. And aren't they great?

You really ought to take a look at Pludrehanne's blog by the way. And if you can, find her blog entry from December 2009 about her homemade Christmas calendar. It is really something!

And in the spirit of my newly won stitch markers - Girls, have you checked yourselves lately? Do yourselves and those who love you a favour - check your breasts once a month.

Chocolate flowers

2010-03-24T01:08:00.004+02:00

You know when you want to bring something small to somebody? Like when you've been invited over for dinner? Well, Norwegian chocolate, self-'imported' to Israel is a popular gift amongst my friends, but it is so boooring to hand over (yet again) a huge bar of chocolate (even though if you come to visit me, that is what I would want you to bring the most....) So this past week, I tried to cheer it up a bit:

From this:

To this:

And have a look at the inside:

Delicious? Yes
Fun? Yes!

Pomegranates galore

2010-01-12T22:32:00.000+02:00

Oh, it's nearly the end of the pomegranate season - so sad. I love this fruit with all its inherent beauty and twinkle. (But I do admit to hating cleaning up pomegranate juice when it splashes all over when you knock the seeds out.) Here in Jerusalem you can, when they are in season, easily get a glass of freshly squeezed pomegranate juice while doing your shopping from one of the street carts or many juice stands in this city. It is tart, sweet and so, so good!

My favourite use of pomegranates though, is pomegranate seeds served over vanilla ice cream. So delicious! Pomegranates - I will definitely be missing you until next season!

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre

2010-01-01T11:30:00.000+02:00

A little image from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of the many churches in the Old City in Jerusalem. This time of year there are many people who come to light candles, get a blessing and generally take in the atmosphere of the space. I love the candle lighting which takes place in churches, which we don't really have in synagogues. I am always intrigued to know what the person who lit the candle(s) was thinking, praying. For whom or what were these candles lit? Only the person lighting knows, but leaves this tangible light to show to the world their care. Beautiful.

Coffee express

2009-12-30T18:42:00.001+02:00

In parts of the Old City you can have get your coffee delivered to where you are, ready made, instead of going to the coffee maker. You'll see men running with trays like this one, ready to serve his customers. Oh, how nice it would be if they could come to my house with coffee, ready. It is a little bitter, but with lots of sugar and often with some cardamom. Delicious. Oh, if only they could come to my house, right now - I am ready for a nice cup of coffee just about now. Oh, and maybe with a couple of biscuits on the side as well. Maybe I'll just go and make myself a cup - there isn't exactly a coffee delivering service where I live...

Jaffa gate

2009-12-29T10:43:00.002+02:00

I love coming to the Old City here in Jerusalem. Every time I see something new. When the weather is as wonderful as this - somehow it really is the city of gold with possibilities everywhere.

We are having freak weather here for a few days, with high temperatures and glorious sunshine! It is great (especially when I don't mention the fact that it must have caused some tree/palm to pollinate in an extreme way, which my body is not very happy about!)

Channuka

2009-12-13T19:46:00.006+02:00

I love this time of year with all its indulgences and family time. Here in Jerusalem people everywhere are lighting their channukiot (channuka candelabras) in their windows. Yesterday we passed a house where they had seven channukiot lit in the window. Totally awesome and so beautiful. T and I light one each, so from the outside of our window you will be able to see two of them shining brightly.

I love the progressiveness of the eight days of the holiday - the first day we light one candle, then second two etc - today is the third day, so we lit three candles. (The lone candle in the middle, which is a bit higher up than the others, is the candle we light the three candles with, and is not counted towards the three.) It makes you feel how the days are going and really being able to enjoy and take part in each and every one of the days of the holiday.

During Channuka we try to do extra nice things all week - so we see a lot of friends, eat especially nice food, play games and indulge a little extra. I always make candy and cookies for Channuka - usually I make quite a few different kinds, at least seven, but this year I made five; peanut brittle, pecan brittle, sugared pecans, peanut clusters and oatmeal, chocolate chip and cranberry cookies. Maybe I will make some more during the next few days? I've been toying with the idea of making sirupsnipper, but I'm not sure yet. I guess the next days will tell.

Happy Channuka!

Winter has come

2009-12-13T03:23:00.005+02:00

Outside it is really, really windy, it is supposed to rain and the buildings here in Jerusalem are not well insulated. In fact - I have never been so cold indoors anywhere as I have been in Jerusalem. So I am so happy we have access to a great heating system (we have one which runs on gas) which we can turn on and off as we want (depending on the ratio between the level of the cold temperature and our willingness to pay the excessive gas bill for using it)!

But when we're both out of the house most of the day we don't keep it on, so over the summer I knit myself a shawl to keep me warm. It is so soft and warm, and not at all itchy - made from merino, alpaca and silk. Yum! I knitted it with the two strands of yarn - one was Drops Alpaca and one was KnitPicks Gloss Lace. This is my largest knitting project to date, and I am very pleased with the way it turned out. I used the pattern for the Levina shawl, but made some of my own changes, to make it just the way I wanted. The only thing I will be more careful about in the future is how to combine two different colours. Don't get me wrong - I like the way it turned out, but I do think the two different colours of the two yarns would have been nicer separately than when knitted together like this... Oh well, you live (knit) and learn.

Colourful everyday

2009-12-09T11:14:00.005+02:00

So much for being vocal... My life has been full of wonderfully full of people coming to visit us since my last post - both planned and surprise visits. Truly amazing. But now comes a more calm season, I think. So for today - a little image from this wonderful city. I love walking through the city at this time of year during the day on a sunshine day. The sun really brings out the inherent beauty of this city. Even mundane things like laundry can become real jewels to the eye.

I really am here

2009-10-03T22:23:00.003+02:00

But I have been feeling sort of blank. That is - I always think about things I would tell you. Lots of little anecdotes that would make this a living blog throughout my day and my week, but then at the end of it, when I sit down to tell them to you, my mind goes blank. Empty. White.

It is not unpleasant. For years I hated silence, because everytime there was nothing to fill my brain with, inevitably my brain would start coming with all these worrying thoughts about my future, my finances, my studies, my job going on and on and on until I could hear nothing else but worries and I would cry inside myself, feeling myself sinking deeper and deeper. These days if there is silence, I find myself in a good space inside my head - it is kind of like a nice summer day, not too hot, not too cold, just right, with the sun shining at you, not too strong, not too directly, but just right. It doesn't mean that I don't think about stuff, it just means that there is space to be quiet, and I've been enjoying it.

But, there are many things that I would like to share. And that does not happen if I just keep this page blank, like my page. And it is not as if the thoughts I have in my head, before it goes blank and white, couldn't be translated into words on this page. So here goes - I am really here. I am back.

Who has the best husband in the world?

2009-02-24T00:01:00.008+02:00

That would be me (that's right!) - just see the notes he writes to me on our fridge:

Translation: Rebekka you are my best friend and I love you!
(Oh, and it is even better when you know that he is not Norwegian, and that he is actually learning Norwegian so that we can speak together in both of our mother tongues. And when you see that the note is in flawless Norwegian. He really is the greatest!)

A little silly to fill the time with

2009-01-23T00:00:00.001+02:00

So I saw this blogthing somewhere out there, and thought it looked fun, so I did it. This who I am:

Your Word is "Love"

You see life as possibility to form deep connections with a few people.

Relationships are the center of your world, and you always take time to bond with those you love.

You are caring and giving. You enjoy helping those you love.

And when it comes to romantic love, you feel passionately ... even in a very long term relationship.

What's Your Word?

Remembering suddenly

2009-01-14T02:00:00.005+02:00

This morning I was reading the newspaper. It is an old newspaper. Well, maybe not that old, only about a week or so. It was an English newspaper, and so I expected everything in it to be about the British Isles, about things which concern the British. But then, in the travel section there was an interview with a Norwegian author. T and I are currently reading his bestseller together. It has been translated to English, and was a gift to us from a dear friend. And suddenly, while reading the interview in the newspaper, I was reminded of my grandmother.

My grandmother used to cut the book reviews out of the newspaper. Not all the book reviews, but those which were on books which interested her. Sometimes she would already have bought the book and she was waiting for the review. Other times she would a review in the paper, cut it out and then go and buy the book. And the cut out book reviews were then put where they belonged - inside the books they reviewed.

It gave such honour - both to the book and the author as well as to the review and the reviewer. It gave them a life together, jut like it was meant to be.

I have some of my grandmother's books. I love opening them and seeing the review lying there, greeting me, bidding me welcome into the book's world and more importantly, into my grandmother's world. I never asked her, how she came to cut out the reviews and put them inside the books. But I like it. A lot. And I miss her. A lot. I think I will go and cut out that interview with that Norwegian author now. I'll go and put it inside the book he wrote.

T's got a new kipa

2008-12-05T00:39:00.004+02:00

Finished his new kipa earlier this week, just in time for his first exam as a grad student. Which he passed of course! Totally because of the kipa, I know! (hihi!)

(Please excuse the bad photo - it is really hard to get a good photo of this kipa. I deleted about 50 of them - and this was the best of the lot!)

Second anniversary is cotton year, or in other words: kipa year. Today we went out to celebrate our monthiversary - we got married on the 4th of September, and so we try to always do something special on the 4th of every month. It is our feeble attempt at remembering that we have to work at love, passion and friendship. Living together, sharing house, bills and responsibility is not enough. We want to stay in this relationship all the way, and we work hard to make sure that that will happen. We instituted the monthiversary dates right away, and we've been pretty successful at managing to take the time. We don't always do fancy stuff, that is not the essence. The essence is the time and thought that we want to do something nice together. Sometimes that can be to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and go for a picnic after work together, other times we rent a movie and watch it together. Mostly it is our time to be together, acknowledge one another, listen and share with each other, just being together. Today though we went all out, and went to one of our favourite places and had a lovely dinner. It was such a treat. We don't normally go out to eat, so this was really special. The atmosphere was lovely, the food was great and the company inspirational! The perfect end to a hectic week!

Without a name

2008-11-27T03:55:00.003+02:00

Det namnlösa

Mycket gör ont, som inte har namn.
Bäst är att tiga och ta det i famn.
Mycket är hemligt och dunkelt och farligt.
Bäst är att bära det vördsamt och varligt.
Bäst är att tryggt på det hemliga troutan att peta på frön som gro.
"Här gick aldrig tanken på spaning.
Allmoder, led mig med säker maning!"
Gott är att lyss til sin Moders röst
-ordlöst bekymmer får ordlös tröst.

Karin Boye

I came across this poem today and had to share it with you. It is written by the Swedish poet Karin Boye, who writes so very beautifully. It reminded me of all those things which surround us, for which we have no name - the unspoken unacknowledged fear and the intense love that makes your insides hurt and your eyes tear up to mention a couple.

Shakespeare asks: What is in a name? I always want to answer: Everything! When you can give something a name, when you know the name, it is demystified. It is somehow closer to you, even though nothing has changed except it has a name. Giving something a name makes it more real and present, but it also makes it easier to deal with. How can you deal with something you don't even know what is? In the giving of a name lies the acknowledgement of the thing/feeling/person. In the giving of a name you are really saying: I see you. I hear you. I recognize you.

In this poem though, Karin Boye points out that some things don't have names, some tings cannot be captured in words, such as feelings. And what are we to do? How can we tolerate living in a world where the very essence of us cannot be spoken. She suggests that sometimes the solution lies in another human being, in the poem specifically in a mother. For an unnamed feeling and discomfort and pain there can be unspoken comfort given to you. But the comfort has to come from the outside of you. When wrapped up in unnamed emotions there is no room for self comfort, and we are in need of the other. In the other we can find the comfort which we are unable to provide for ourselves. We also find acknowledgement of the unspoken feeling. And so in the comfort of the other, we not only are soothed, but the unnamed has been acknowledged and in a certain degree named, and therefore made less harmful to us. Our relationships with the people around us and our ability as well as theirs to help us find and see ourselves is truly amazing. Only with the help of the other can we truly see who we are.

Addicted to love

2008-11-24T11:44:00.006+02:00

I am always a little afraid of becoming addicted to things. I like to be in control, and not to be controlled. Especially not by little things like tv or chocolate or internet. But the truth of the matter is, I am a little addicted to all of the above, and to certain aspects of them specifically.

One of the signs that you are addicted, and that you are a real addict, is that you hide it from other people. It is not something you share with other people. You do it alone. For years I kept my love of chocolate hidden from family and friends. It was only when the person I love the most, who I share everything with, unknowingly told my mother that I am obsessed with chocolate that they found out. My mother was very surprised. She had had no idea. And my love had had no idea that it had been a secret I had kept from her all these years, simply because I had shared it with him so freely. And the funny thing is, that even if my chocolate consumption may not have been reduced tremendously since then, it most certainly is more healthy - mentally that is. I no longer cower in the corner, I no longer buy chocolate in secret, having my secret stash in a box by the bed. No, now I have one chocolate stash with my love, and although I eat most of it (yes, I admit it), I no longer hide the fact that I eat it. Or that I enjoy it.

And so with this in mind - getting the addictions out in the open, I am ready to say that my real addiction these days is of a very different kind. Yes, there is chocolate and tv and internet, but those are not the real ones. The big one is this: I'm totally and utterly addicted to T - my love. To holding his hand, knowing he is close, seeing him, talking to him, hearing his voice, his laughter, seeing the things he does. I am addicted to love. And not just any love. His love. Oh, I am a lucky girl to be addicted to him, and to know that I can be. This is truly an addiction I want to have for life!

Thoughts on continuing happiness

2008-11-12T11:55:00.003+02:00

I woke up this morning feeling happy and content. The feeling is still with me now a few hours later, and I am so pleased. Sometimes it is hard to keep the good feelings going, to stretch them over the small disappointments and displeasure of everyday life. Some days the malcontent, annoyance and small little evils take over and rule my internal world.

Today, at least so far, I have been successful to keep the good feelings on top. My internal world is at peace, content, happy, present. I have a few really full days ahead of me, but I hope and think that they will productive and joyous. I hope this internal peace will follow me, and that I will be able to stretch it over the little moments that will not be pleasing to me. I just have to keep remembering that happiness and love is stronger.

The best brother in the world or what?

2008-11-09T11:25:00.003+02:00

See this lovely goodness which was brought by a fairy godmother to me the other day? I love it when my birthday (which is in September) stretches out like this!! This is my brother's birthday present for me - I couldn't believe it when I saw it! He told me ages ago he knew exactly what he was going to get me, and now a good friend of the family brought it from Norway to me.

How well he knows me! How did he know I've been eyeing this yarn for over a year? And the colour - exactly what I love, love, LOVE!

I think we need a close up here to see the goodness of the yarn - 300 grams of deep purple 2ply merino wool. Fantastic - enough for all kinds of projects - now all I have to do is choose from the patterns I've been saving for special yarns like this!

He even got me bamboo circle needles! That might point me in the direction of a good project for some of this deliciousness - maybe a beautiful shawl for myself?

Mini project bag

2008-11-03T11:48:00.004+02:00

A small project to experiment a little more with crocheting. I thought I would make a little purse for myself, you know the kind - a small purse where you can stash your chap stick, keys, money and phone. But as it was progressing, I realized I would never use this as a purse. The way the yarn looks crocheted up is quite different from how I imagined it would be. It is a funny thing, those multi-coloured yarns. I often think they look so much nicer when they are in their original form - a skein or a ball of yarn. Once they are knitted up, I find it hard to keep the fluidity of the colours going. I find it very hard to imagine what the finished project will look like, and I although I am totally drooling over some variegated yarns, I know that until I am more skilled knitter/crocheter, single colours are easier to imagine in my mind.
And looky, looky - I can make a nice picot edging! Turned out, it is really easy to crochet picot edges! Who knew? We will not talk too much about the fact that as I was making the edge I ran out of yarn about 7cm before the end. I solved the problem by frogging the edge I'd made, and spacing the 'tips' of the edge out a little more on one side of the bag, end hey presto! A neatly finished bag. It was always meant to be that way, right?
And I even put in a zipper! My first zipper in a crocheted/knitted project!

All in all it has turned out to be something I will use - not for going out admittedly, but for small projects. I am going to start one right now, so it won't feel lonely.

What I've been up to lately

2008-10-30T11:58:00.000+02:00

T was off from school for two weeks, and that was so nice! We had lots of plans of maybe going away, but in the end decided to have vacation at home. Very nice! We had delicious treats and saw lots of friends.

And I did a little bit of crocheting. I started this kipa for T, thinking that he should have a new one for the start of his studies. It is not exactly finished yet, but little by little it is getting there. I love these purples, grays and blues? But is it too feminine? I am not sure about this purplish tendency in the colours... Hopefully adding some more gray and blue will do the trick.

Of the highlights during our vacation at home were two visits from good friends. M came from Chicago and stayed with us for a bit, and that was lovely! He was trying to figure out what it would be like if he came to Jerusalem to live for a year or two, and it was so great hearing him talk about the different possibilities. And then S, a childhood friend of T's, came in to Jerusalem for a brief afternoon with her adoring son E. She was visiting with her family for a couple of weeks.We walked around the Old City with her looking at pottery, went to the Austrian Hospice, then had some falafel and went to the Western Wall. And we met up with A, S's husband, who I had never met before - it was super!

We have also been trying to keep afloat with all the work that needs doing around the house. It is incredible how much work is needed to keep a fairly new apartment looking good. Grouting the tiles on the floor, painting, new silikon around the sinks in the kitchen, oh and some more painting. I went a little haywire and bought 18 liters of paint to paint the entire apartment. And I also got this funky new kind of paintbrush. It is a sponge, which you dip into the paint, like you would a roller, and then you smear it onto the wall. It is actually fun! And I am sticking to that story!

October Pink

2008-10-19T16:09:00.003+02:00

October is breast cancer awareness month, and although admittedly a little late, I am turning my blog pink!

Breast cancer is something I am personally familiar with, my grandmother had breast cancer, my great aunt had breast cancer. They were both survivors of breast cancer, and showed me the importance that awareness, medical advancement and regular check-ups have to the lives of all women. (and men for that matter - wouldn't be that much fun without women, now would it?)

So girls, remember to do your monthly breast checks, even if they are annoying and painful. They are vital! And if you are eligible for mammograms - go have it done! We're all grateful!

Morning happiness

2008-10-10T09:57:00.005+02:00

Oh, it was a sweet, sweet morning. My love woke me up with hot, wonderful banana muffins, ice-cold chocolate milk and a chocolate on the side.

I am not a morning girl. As those who know me in Real Life can testify - I can be (read: tend to be) a grumpy, unlikable beast with very messy hair in the morning. But who can resist the sweetness of such a wake up call?

His face looming over mine with the biggest grin saying proudly: "See what I baked for you!" And then he added: "And there is chocolate too!"

It was delicious, and happiness has enveloped my morning so far. I came out into the kitchen. We sat and shared the happiness and the muffins. T had his hot coffee, I had my ice-cold chocolate milk. And the muffins were gobbled up.

His and hers all gone!

Sweet new year

2008-10-02T13:11:00.003+03:00

Rosh Hashana has been amazing - the house has been filled with people, food, love and happiness.

And sweet smelling flowers

these from the love of my life

these from mamma and pappa

homebaked challot,

and now sweet leftovers for lunch. Yum!

Happy sweet year, everyone!

Eggplant canneloni

2008-09-23T10:51:00.000+03:00

I have not made eggplant canneloni in a while, but with eggplants in season, I was inspired. T also particularily likes eggplant which also makes it especially enjoyable to cook it. This eggplant dish is easy, but a little time consuming, which may explain why I don't make it often. The various components of this recipe can be prepared well in advance (the tomato sauce, the baked slices of eggplants and the grated cheese), and you can assemble it the next day if you'd like.

I came across a recipe for eggplant canneloni about 15 years ago, and have made it ever since. Somewhere along the road I misplaced the recipe, and since then I've made it up as I go along, and the flavours change a little according to my mood that day, or whether it is for a festive occasion or just for an ordinary everyday dinner. This is the basic outline of how to do it:

You need:

Eggplant
Oil
Salt
Pepper
Tomato Sauce (this dish requires a pretty thick sauce)
Grated Cheese

Slice the eggplants lengthwise in about 8mm thick slices. Brush the slices with oil and bake them in the oven for about 20-25 minutes or until soft and tender. Season with salt and pepper. Let the baked eggplant slices cool.

Put a little tomato sauce on one end of a slice of eggplant and roll it up. Put the rolled-up eggplant into an oven-proof dish. Do this again and again until the dish is full. Drizzle tomato sauce over the rolled up eggplant slices.

Then take the grated cheese and drizzle that over.

Bake in the oven at 175C for about 20-25 minutes or until the cheese is a little browned.

This dish can be made in advance, and tastes even better the second time around it is heated. Yummy!

There are lots of ways to variate this dish. A couple of suggestions: You an fill the eggplant with a little stick of mozarella in addition to the tomato sauce. Or you can add fresh basil or a stick of red pepper in the middle. You can change the flavour of the tomato sauce up, depending on how peppery, onion-y, spicy you make it. This recipe can truly be changed according to people's taste and mood - and it tastes so good either way! Bon appetit!

Beautiful morning

2008-09-21T09:11:00.004+03:00

You know when you are having one of those beautiful mornings? One of those when you are happy and content, you are at peace with the universe and everything is right? This was my morning. I am so fortunate!

Wishing you all an equally superb day!

Who knew?

2008-09-16T16:20:00.004+03:00

My beloved drawer unit (isn't it strange how attached one can become to inanimate objects, even an IKEA one at that??!!), which I had attached wheels to so I could easily move it around my home office, suffered a leg-break last year. Since then it has been sitting very sadly in the corner of our storage room, waiting patiently to be repaired. The other day I decided that finally time had come to repair it. I didn't really know how to go about it, as there weren't really anywhere to screw anything in, or to attach new screws etc. In the end I decided that glue would have to be the answer...

And who knew that with strong glue, a stool and lots of tape it could be accomplished?

During surgery:

Up and running again:

We are both of us (me and the drawer unit, that is) VERY happy about the easy recovery!

Now it's hair and now it's not

2008-09-13T23:02:00.001+03:00

A while back I decided that when I was going to cut my hair I would donate it. In order to donate you have to have a good length to give (at least 20 cm) and it has to be well kept. Since then I've been snipping the ends and doing hair cures to keep my hair in good condition. Now just before Rosh Hashana seemed like a good time of year for new beginnings, so with T's help I it got cut off on Thursday. Then I went to the hairdresser Friday morning. It was so nice going to the hairdresser - such a wonderful treat!

Now this chunk of hair is in a zip-lock bag waiting to be sent to the cancer charity which makes wigs for kids. And I have a new hair-do!

Before:

After:

Shhh - don't tell pappa

2008-09-09T11:40:00.003+03:00

But there is a chance that the kipa I promised him two birthdays ago, will be done for Rosh Hashanah! He wanted a kipa especially for the high holidays in white and gold.

Since his birthday 2006 it has been on the backburner, but I feel really, REALLY bad about not finishing it after all this time, and in this time of reflection and thinking and introspection, preparing for the new year, I came to the conclusion that this project has to take presedence. So - I finished the reka (the empty circle in the middle) late last night and will start the pattern today. All in gold on white, as per his request. (If I can manage with the metal thread, that is.) He kinda likes the gaudy bling stuff!

2 years

2008-09-04T09:33:00.002+03:00

since we got married! I can't believe we have already been married for two years, and I can't believe how much has happened in that time!

I am back

2008-09-01T17:23:00.002+03:00

A very silent summer, I know. Sorry about that! But we went to the US, Norway for weeks and weeks and weeks - and had a blast! Then we started organizing the apartment when we got back - who knew we had soo much stuff? And so much junk? Oy! Anyway - updates to come. I am happy to be back! :)

May came and went

2008-05-14T14:39:00.003+03:00

Where does all the time go? Oh, I know these days - it's spent with good friends, family and lots of yummy food! This is what happens when your parents come visit! Long, lovely evenings outside on the veranda after a good barbeque. See that nice grill? We got it last year, and only now finally got around to setting up and using it up. We wanted to wait until my pappa could take part in the initiation, and now both he and the grill were here! It was delicious.

And I just had to share this new salmon recipe I made up the other day - it tasted so good, I have to make it again!

Salmon fillet
A little oil
Teriyake sauce
Grated lemon zest
Toasted sesame seeds
Toasted sunflower seeds
Blanched, slivered and toasted almonds
Chopped flat leaf parsley

Oil an oven safe pan. Put your salmon fillet in. Pour some teriyake sauce over the salmon. Sprinkle grated lemon zest over. Sprinkle toasted seeds, almonds and parsley over. Cover the pan and put the pan in a 200C preheated oven until the fish is cooked through. Serve with rice and a salad.

My life is not easy, but most certainly blessed

2008-04-23T17:36:00.007+03:00

I didn't mean to be quiet for so long. You see, my life kind of got in the way of my relationship with the computer. A lot has happened. As you may know I try to only write about good stuff on these pages. I kind of figure that if you don't focus on all the negative then the positive shines brighter and clearer and will in the end overcome all the negative. And so, now also, I will only give you the good bits and leave the less great behind...

T and I were given unexpected time together in the past couple of weeks. T was obligated to stay at home for a while, and I got to have lunch with him at home a lot. We had lots of friends come to visit us, and in the past two weeks we have not had a day to ourselves. The house has been full of friends stopping by to share life and happiness with us.

T and I prepared the house for Pesach together and now the house is cleaner than it has been in a very long time and even the silver got a shine to it! We had a wonderful Seder with good friends.

I have revived the lemon tree! Remember last February my parents surprised me with a lemon tree? Well, I kind of over watered it, and it got sick and the my mother helped a lot with giving it organic tree-medicine (otherwise known as organic bug killer spray), the winter came and all the leaves and lemons fell off tree. It was all bare branches. Very sad! But now in the past few weeks it has started to sprout new leaves, and every day there is more, and I am very, very excited about it! I can't believe it didn't die on me!

A while back my beloved father in law went in for a regular check up and was told he needed some surgery. He now underwent what turned out to be a very successful surgery, and we are all delighted that it went well and that he is back home recuperating.

My mother is coming to stay with us a for a few weeks, and in 15 minutes I'm off to the airport to fetch her. I can't wait to see her! In a couple of weeks my father will join us also. Oh, happiness is being where your family is!

The past few weeks have clearly shown me that although our life is not free from worries, we are so fortunate to have good friends and close family. When trouble came our way we saw that our friends were there for us, and in such amazing, comforting and far-reaching ways we could have never imagined. Thank you! We know we are blessed to have all of you in our lives.

Progress

2008-03-31T13:46:00.004+03:00

Things are progressing on my shawl. I've finished the cabling and now started the two coloured stranding. It is a new technique for me to knit with two colours at the same time, but I'm having a lot of fun with it, and it is coming along nicely. T is very excite about it, because he knows that once I master this technique I can make him a Norwegian sweater... I haven't told him yet that such sweater would only be finished in about 2025 with my current speed. That's smartest, right?

Spring is in the air

2008-03-10T02:28:00.005+02:00

Spring has come! The trees are full of beautiful flowers, and the air full of pollen. I try to focus on the flowers (and not my allergies!) It is a delight to walk around the city and look at all the different trees and how incredibly different they look at this stage. Fantastic! T and I went for a lovely walk today and we passed a gorgeous tree with silver coloured bark, pink blossom and small burgundy leaves. So beautiful! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me today, I wanted to be able to focus on T and our conversation and time together. The 0ther day I went for a walk by myself and came across this lovely spring tree...

The past week flew by, we went to two brit mila (circumcision) A brit mila is always a nerve racking and happy event. Such an emotional day for the family and their little new boy.

Then for the weekend we decided to go away for a couple of days. But, alas, our plans were squashed when we got to the central bus station bright and early after a night of packing and preparing, and there was no room on the bus leaving for our chosen destination. After some deliberation we decided to go home and be on vacation at home. That was a great idea. We had such a relaxing time, and we saw quite a lot of friends we haven't hung out with in a while. For dinner we had things such as gigantic homemade chocolate chunk cookies and homemade passion fruit ice cream. See the delicious passionfruits I found in the market, I just couldn't resist. And to have homemade ice cream made with them, well it just doesn't get better than that! Happy week, everyone!

The sister is done

2008-02-26T02:34:00.005+02:00

I can't believe I finished it - the hat looks nothing like what I thought it would, it does not really fit me, or anybody I know for that matter (if you have a very small head or a child around 12 years old, it might be a fit) - but I am so happy to have a finished hat squeezing my head, making me a little dizzy from loss of blood circulation.

I really learned a lot from this process; persevering, getting much better at understanding cabling, magic loop technique, counting stitches, learnt a new stitch (ssk) and more than anything else I learnt to roll with the punches: Let's begin with the start with a not suitable yarn (the yarn I used is much thinner than what the pattern calls for), then starting over 4 times for different reasons, then realizing that it would not look anything like the hat I thought I was making, and then finally, after all of it, internalizing what I had suspected since I was midway - that it would not fit me, even less so fit T (who I thought might enjoy it, - well, until I understood that it was way too small...)

I am almost the most proud of the finishing. I decreased just like (or at least to the best of my ability) according to the instructions given by Jared and ended up with a perfect little conclusion on top. I am so pleased with that.

Now I think I feel strong enough to return to my failing attempts on the shawl I started in the fall. I think I know how to solve my cabling problem now. (So I guess this is really what it is about: See what making the sister can give you? The ability to solve your other knitting mysteries!)

Flowers for Shabbat

2008-02-24T12:39:00.004+02:00

Aren't they beautiful? My love gave them to me. My very first Shabbat flowers from him since we got married. There is a Jewish tradition to give your wife flowers for Shabbat. I know that in many Jewish families the wife receives flowers from her husband every week. To me these are even more special because I don't. I am so grateful for this gesture, this token of his love for me. And I love looking over at the shelf where they stand whenever I walk through the living room or whenI am sitting down on the couch. I find myself looking at them all the time, making trips through the room, just to have a glimpse of them as I walk by. They brighten up the room, and was part of making this Shabbat special. T, my love, Thank you!

Preparing something sweet

2008-02-17T17:03:00.000+02:00

I love any excuse to play around with sweet stuff in the kitchen, and what can be better than Valentine's day?

T and I did not spend most of Valentine's day toghether though. I left the house early in the morning to go to work. T on the other hand came home from work around three o'clock in the middle of the night... We did however gift each other with chocolates, and that totally inspired me to continue our chocolatefest into the weekend.

Friday afternoon I took out our stash of dark chocolate, nuts and dried fruits and whipped up a bash of homemade chocolates. Yummy!

It is so easy to make (less than 20 minutes) and the chocolate tastes delicious, and it is a bargain compared to what you would have to pay in the store for something similar.

It was such a treat to be woken this morning and seeing T smiling at me, and bringing me homemade chocolates in bed. He offered to bring me a cup of coffee too, but let's be honest, chocolate is sooo much better! T and I had such a wonderful morning before we went into the world. And those of you who know me, know that mornings are definitely not my strong side, but today was so nice and perfect. Life could not be better.

Making the sister or something...

2008-02-10T14:50:00.000+02:00

The Karma Cap and I are not friends. I am apparently not making the Karma Cap. It seems that I am making the Karma Cap a sister or something, 'cause my hat does not look anything like the original Karma Cap. Oh, well. You live and learn, and maybe one of these days I will actually learn how to read a pattern correctly... I am looving the way this sister hat is turning out though, and am getting the hang of the cabling. Yeehee!

Snow in my world

2008-01-30T23:38:00.000+02:00

We live a 40 minutes walk away from the Old City in Jerusalem and today we went for a walk in the snow, T, our neighbour D and myself. It was wonderful and we had such a great time. There weren't that many people out and about, and it was still snowing when we first went out. The snow was quite wet, and ironically, as the Norwegian I was worse dressed for wet snow than our Brazilian neighbour... But the walk from our house was great and we played with the snow a little, walked through the Old City and reached the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock. See the snow on the Dome of the Rocks on the left there? Then we walked on, and by this point, let's be honest we were getting quite wet and cold. We went looking for an open place in a city which shuts down when there's talk about snow...

There were a few places open, but most things were closed and as the day went by we saw lots of people having snow ball fights and building snow men. As far as I know most of my friends had what's called here a 'snow day' - their office, school, university was closed because of snow. There is no public transportation operating, and most public offices are closed.

Here are the roof tops in the Old City, just outside the Austrian Hospice which was open despite the snow. (Remember we went there, Mamma and Pappa for great coffee?) We went in and had lovely hot chocolate and some of their famous apfel strudel. Delicious and warm! And then we de-dripped a little before we went out again and walked home again through the snow.

p.s. - they say it might snow even more tomorrow!

Hurra! Det snør! It is snowing!

2008-01-30T09:47:00.000+02:00

Det snør, det snør.
Tiddelibom.
Det er det gjør!
Tiddelibom.
Det snør så mye mer enn før!
Tiddelibom og hutte-meg-tu!

(Jeg er vel ikke helt enig i "hutte-meg-tu"biten, jeg da!)

I woke up this morning to this outside my window! I am so excited! I am going out to play in the snow, and then I will tell you all about it!

Oh, happy day!

2008-01-29T11:13:00.001+02:00

I am so happy to be sitting inside today. The wind outside is blowing and the trees are thrashing in the wind, being swung one side and to the other by furious force. The rain is pouring down, covering the streets in a steady stream of water. In this city without street drains the water is trapped in between side walks, flowing down the streets, converting the whole city to a family water fun and experience park. Well, if the parents in this country took their children out to play in the rain, that is. They don't. Apparently rain is dangerous for children to experience up front, and no rain clothing is sturdy enough to protect their children from this dangerous element. But who am I to talk, when I am so happily sitting inside, sipping my hot tea and enjoying my day? I even indulged myself and had a piece of Shabbes left-over brownies. It's T's recipe and it so totally yummy goodness which I cannot resist.

Here are the tender beginnings, yet again, of the Karma Cap. I have frogged and restarted this about 4 times, but hope I can get the cables and the sizing right this time around! And I can sort of see some progress... Oh, and many, MANY big hugs and thanks to my mother-in-law who sent me the yarn, which is very nice to work with, and which doesn't make trouble when I frog it. And see below it - The other day I went to IKEA, and they were having a bit of a sale, so I ended up getting some nice fabrics in addition to the shelves I had come to buy for our storage room. I recently discovered that a friend of mine has a sewing machine, and she has graciously agreed to let me use it! Oh the wonders I come across in this city! See the nice fabric underneath the tiny beginnings of the Karma Cap? I just couldn't resist... New skirt and bag, here I come!

Joy

2008-01-20T15:54:00.000+02:00

See these beauties? They were a gift from J, who we enjoyed a wonderful coffeecake and coffee with on Friday at his home. They come from the tree outside J's house, and on our way out he gifted me with them. Today they will become part of our dinner. Oh, please help me always remember that joy should always be this simple!

Magic loop

2008-01-16T20:54:00.000+02:00

I decided that I wanted a small knitting project, and that I wanted to develop my cabling skills, and learn a new technique. My new technique is Magic Loop knitting, which basically is knitting with way too large round knitting needles. See the plastic 'tube' sticking out of my knitting there, that's the magic, right there! I am getting the hang of pulling the loop, and pushing the stitches as required. Wohoo!

I haven't gotten to the cabling part yet of the Karma Hat, but I am almost there. First I had to 8 rows of cabling, and look! I know how to do that! Oh, and I realized that I know how to join the circle, so that it will eventually (hopefully) be hat, and not a very woolen wash cloth! Only time will tell if eventually it will in fact mutate into a hat or if it will stay a circle forever more. To be continued, I guess! :)

Continuing education

2008-01-15T11:29:00.000+02:00

Here you see what my lesson in American education was this week. Lovely, sweet, delicate and very yummy. I had never had cream soda before, and I know could get used to this. :) Dangerous, dangerous!

Daily life

2008-01-13T15:40:00.000+02:00

Last week I went to a brand new knitting circle with young people in my part of town. It was so nice! A big thank you to R for the initiative! It was really nice meeting some new people and watching two girls (well, women, I guess!) knitting for the very first time. I also got to see and touch R's yarn which was very exciting. Lots of yarn that I'd never seen before, except for on the internet, and it was nice getting to see it in real life.

I've been doing some crocheting lately, and here's where I'm at with my brother's kipa. It is slowly getting bigger. We won't mention the fact that his birthday was in October...

Winter has truly come now, and within the last two days Chez Nous has become the public bath house. Two of our friends have had their water boiler explode, apparently from the below freezing temperature at night. I am so happy to be able to offer them a hot bath, and even happier (I have to admit) that our boiler hasn't exploded. (Please, no "troll i ord" here, please!)

If you come to visit, you should know that we take our guests to exciting places where they serve delicious food. Such as kanafe. It is sweet and delicious and rich and very, very yummy. And having the people we love and care about come to visit is a wonderful excuse to go and have some. Most days though, when we don't have visitors or any other good excuse for heading out for yummy delicacies, I take something out of the freezer to heat it... Like this for example... Oh, Kitchen Goddess, where have you gone to and deserted me?

Oh so much has happened

2008-01-05T22:57:00.000+02:00

The last month was wonderful and hectic and no time to stop and breathe. We had a month full of parties, celebrations and happiness. And also full of back ache. Just after my last post, T's back fell out, and he was on sick leave for almost two weeks, but is thankfully getting back to normal now.

But if you think that a little back trouble was going to stop us, you're wrong. Channuka, winter solstice and New Years Eve all saw parties at our house with good friends and good food. Christmas Eve we went to Bethlehem where we saw Abu Masen and got these chocolates from the fakest Santa Claus ever. (He wore the largest fake nose I've ever seen! And he was really tall and skinny!) We also had house guests come and stay with us, and within the last two weeks two of our close friends gave birth to beautiful children. So life has been full of wonderful things!

I did also find time to finish this kipa for T. It is T's even if I am the one modelling it in these pictures. (It is really hard to take pictures of yourself, by the way, did you know that? In the picture below you see what happens when the phone rings in the middle of the camera session. I wasn't going to let anything stop me taking those pictures!) All the crocheting was done about two weeks before he got it, but I couldn't find the darning needle, and so I had to go and get myself an all brand new beautiful shiny needle to finish it up. I have no idea where the old one went, and we have no cat, dog or child to blame...

I call it a "house kipa," because it is large enough so that he can wear it without clips and it won't fall off. It is the kind of kipa that he would mostly wear around the house when he's relaxing and just hanging out. I am really quite excited by how it turned out, and I think with a little tweaking I could do something similar for myself as a little hat. What do you think; good idea, or bad?

I am still working on my other projects. The Anne KAL shawl I am having some issues with, but hopefully very soon I will have been able to teach myself to cable and expand at the same time for real and be able to move on to new and less troublesome stitches with it. In the meantime I've started a little button-up scarf for a friend to keep the knitting coming along.

Tomorrow I'm off to the post office to pick up a package which was sent to us. I am so excited by it. I looove getting parcels, but I've told 'everybody' not to send them to us where we live right now, because the local post office seems to revel in our packages sent to us by our loved ones, although curiously they never seem to want to receive and pay our bills... So this is double excitement - somebody sent us a package AND we got a notice from the post office, so there's a great chance it has not been taken care of by somebody else, and that WE get it! Wow! I can't wait for the post office to open!

Sju slag til Channuka

2007-12-04T18:52:00.000+02:00

= seven kinds for Channuka

It is a Norwegian Christmas tradition to have seven kinds of cookies made for Christmas. In my family we never celebrated Christmas in the house, it was everywhere around us in society, and also mom's family is Christian and so we had our fair share of Christmas, but not at home. At home we celebrated Channuka at this time of the year. And what a wonderful thing that the two are so close in time so that in my house my mother would make seven kinds of the traditional Norwegian Christmas cookies for Channuka!

This is a tradition I don't want to be without (hey, I'll take any good excuse for making sweet and delicious food!), and so I started the preparations Sunday. Clearly, these are not traditional Norwegian Christmas cookies exactly... But I thought I would make things I really would like to eat and share with good friends and family. I've only used a "little" chocolate, hihi ;) And these are definitely less hassle to make (and you don't need your own krumkakejern!)

So far I've made five out of seven kinds, above you see the chocolate covered roasted hazelnuts, and the rest you can see below. I haven't decided yet what the two remaining are going to be, but I figure I have another seven days to figure that out!

chocolate butter balls

chocolate coffee truffles

coconut macaroons with chocolate base

oatmeal, chocolate and dried cherry cookies

Finally an FO!

2007-11-26T14:54:00.000+02:00

Finally a Finished Object. A new kipa for T, even though I still have the ones I promised to make my dad for his birthday and my brother for his birthday. Those are progressing though, no worries! (And only quite a bit of guilt on my part for not having finished them yet!)

My parents stay came to an end, and I took them to airport. I had such a wonderful time with them here, and as always the realization of the sadness of having your loved ones live so far away from you is yet again pressing. I try not to think about it too much though, then it gets too hard.

But, I have to admit there hasn't been much time to think about such things. We went straight into more guests and more fun. Last week we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with 14 people around the table, the youngest not even 2 years old, the oldest around 80! New friends came into town and spent lots of time with us, and there have been weddings, birthdays and lots of friends to spend our free time with. Life is good.

Time flies when you're having fun

2007-11-06T18:41:00.001+02:00

Wow, I just can't believe how long it's been since my last post! It's been a full house lately and it's been great!

Here are some highlights:
- my mom and a girlfriend came to stay for a week
- my mom's girlfriend left and my dad came
- one of T's friends came to visit for a little while with this girlfriend, and they are awesome! I am already looking forward to hang out more with them!
- my parents left for a trip, but will be back next week (just have a look at the super-cute note they left us when they left!)

- they brought sooo many goodies, A LOT of chocolate. I will have a special post for that, I think!
- I got a new part-time gig with lots of learning involved, and lots of new challenges! And one of the perks is a free gym!
- I finished a crocheting project
- I started a new crocheting project
- I am struggling with expanding the knitted shawl and cabling at the same time...
- I am so enjoying my Anne of Green Gables knitalong
- I've learned the rules of American football, and I'm totally excited about it!
- I've gotten lots of really nice e-mails I've yet to respond to... sorry!
- we got this beautiful bowl for our anniversary (just look at the inside!), which has a very special story to it, from my wonderful parents-in-law
- I made a dish with turkey breast which, I have to say, was really yummy
- Having lots of realizations of how full of blessings and how rich my life is

See what I can do! Yeeh!

2007-10-11T16:28:00.000+02:00

I am making my very first attempt at cabling, and so far it is going well, although painfully slowly. It's fun to see how it's moving along now that I've finally gotten the technique more into my fingers. The whole idea of having a loose needle on the side, that has stitches going on and off it, is a little strange, but I'm getting used to it. As you can see from the picture the progress is really quite slow, but I think that is the reality when you learn new things - in the beginning it is not going to be quick. Being quite an impatient girl myself it is sometimes hard to keep at it, but I've been good and not yet moved on to any new projects. Well, at least not when it comes to knitting, that is. I won't mention the new kipa I started, or the painting I have done around the house and the re-tiling I did (One can call it tiling, even when one is talking about ONE single tile, right? :) )

So last month my birthday was duly celebrated by friends and family and I had a great birthday week. One of the messages I got on my mobile was a txt from my aunt saying happy birthday and that she would send me a little something in the mail. I was so grateful for the txt, and then this showed up in the mail. She's insane to send me such a lavish gift (especially when you also consider the fact that postage from Norway is crazy expensive.) Do you see all these goodies? There was also a lovely, soft towel included.

My bathroom now looks like there's some luxury goddess living in this apartment and that we have our own spa. The transformation is amazing. I am so totally going into the bathroom all the time now, for no good reason, just to check the stuff out, open the bottles and smell the goodness. It is just sooo good!

Ok, back to my knitting. Otherwise I'll never get see a final product!

Following in their footsteps

2007-10-02T23:22:00.000+02:00

In between High Holidays, our appliances breaking down, lice and painting the fence on the veranda I have also had some time for knitting. The most exciting part of that knitting has been that I learnt a new stitch called the Knit Stitch (2). Isn't it neat? It also comes from the Harmony Guide to Knitting Stitches, and I am happy I was able to understand the stitch directions.

It is still a somewhat difficult language for me, this knitting language. I didn't really think about it before I started knitting that this too has a language of its own, just like any skill or craft. If you do computer engineering, wood crafting, cooking, you name it, it all has its own words, idioms, expressions and even jokes. T and I were joking earlier last week when we were in the midst of lice invasion that not only do I knit, I also have nit(s)... (Not a great joke, I know. Please, I am known for my bad jokes!) Regardless, I am getting to terms with things like yo, ssk, p2tog, k2tog. I can feel my ability to read this new language being acquired, not only because I in my inner eye can see what movements I have to make with the yarn in order to do the stitch, but also because I can see the actual finished stitch in front of me on the fabric that I am making.

It feels incredibly empowering. I feel connected to generations of knitters. I am in a sense getting something which is rightfully mine. This too is part of my heritage. I know that my mamma (although she herself possibly would not admit to it?) is a knitter, (I have the doll clothes and my own winter hats coming from her hand to prove it!), her sister is a knitter, I know that their mother was a knitter. My mother in law is a knitter. I am very proud to have started my journey continuing in their footsteps.

Tummy privacy hereby lost!

2007-09-28T01:44:00.000+02:00

Yesterday at dinner, we were hanging around in the kitchen at our friends' house, and one of the other guests came up to me and patted me on my tummy (!) and said something along the lines of "we were waiting for when," or "we're just waiting," "that's what we thought" or something like that.

He patted my tummy! He clearly thinks I'm pregnant! He apparently has been waiting for it to happen!

Oh, my God! Ok, I know we've been married for just over a year. I know we are in our late twenties. I know that we are a "religious" couple. But, hello!? No pressure, right?

We have, by the way, informed our parents that grandchildren will not be coming any time soon. Try and convince the rest of the world, won't you?

Now, I do know that virtually all of our female friends are getting pregnant. One could almost think it is contagious. But trust me, it's not what we're planning for right now. Not that it's any of your business anyway.

But seeing as you're going talk about it anyway -

No, I am not pregnant. I just had a really nice vacation at my parents'. My mom happens to be a really excellent cook. And I happen to be a really excellent eater. Please, get your eyes and hands off of my tummy.

My tummy does not contain a child, only lots of really good food and chocolate!

Oh, and sorry about the rant. Chag sameach, everyone!

Unwanted visitors

2007-09-24T13:36:00.000+02:00

Turned out that I started the new year with some new visitors... And I did think they were getting a little too close to me, so I decided to do something about it. See my newest friend here? Hopefully that, some really toxic shampoo and rosemary shampoo/conditioner will do wonders on my hair! Oh, I hate lice! And I hate the fact that everything has to be washed/frozen to make sure that they are really gone. How can it be that they can survive for 40 days without anything? Little bastards!

Thererfore my current knitting and crocheting projects are having a vacation in the freezer, so no new picture of the lovely new stitch I've learnt, or the new shade of blue I've added to the shawl...

In the mean time I'll entertain you with a bit of trivia about lice: Did you know that in the Middle Ages it was considered a good thing to have lice? Not too many, just a few, 'cause only dead people don't have lice of course!

New happy year all around

2007-09-17T13:45:00.000+02:00

This year my birthday coincided with second day Rosh Hashana/Shabbat, and I thought it was going to be completely hidden in between all the other good stuff. I was a little down about it, but do you know how great my friends and family are?

Not only did I get to celebrate my birthday on the day itself, but really all through Rosh Hashana. Before Rosh Hashana T gave me a basket full of chocolate and candy and new candle holders for my Shabbat candles. I've been enjoying the sweet goodies throughout the holiday and there's even some left to enjoy after! On first day Rosh Hashana we went to good friends for lunch and they had birthday hats in my honour. We wore them throughout the meal. Awesome! I totally get a kick out of spending time with people who are willing to spend hours and hours with me wearing birthday hats with Mickey and Minnie Mouse on them. You rock! Thanks J and I!! And then on my birthday I had a lovely, relaxed morning at home with T before we went to E, H and their gorgeous son J, for lunch and they had made me birthday crown! I love birthday crowns, and I grew up getting handmade crowns all throughout my childhood for my birthday. Every year my mother would make me one exquisite crown after the other, and as an adult I cherish them just as much. So thank you H&E! In the evening we went to some other good friends for dinner. They know that my favourite thing to eat is sushi, and they had prepared vegetarian sushi as a starter. Up until now I have not understood the idea behind vegetarian sushi, I have to admit. But now I'm a convert. It was soooo yummy! Thank you D&D&fetus, you all did a great job! I had a wonderful time. My parents sent me the most amazing card, (after they had already given me a superb gift!), I cried so hard reading it, it was so beautiful. My facebook was full of greetings when I went online after Shabbat, and my mobile had texts from family and friends.

I am so overwhelmed! My cup runneth over.... You guys are amazing! I love you!

New Year here we come!

2007-09-10T18:02:00.000+03:00

See my latest adventures here? Isn't sesame brittle beautiful? Ok, so it took me two trys to figure out that you cannot really make caramel in a teflon pan. Once I'd figured that out - hey presto! these beauties came out. It is the beginning of my Rosh Hashana preparations. I'm making sure we'll have a sweet, plentiful, fruitful and smooth year ahead of us! (Did you know sesame brittle could have so much symbolic meaning? Me, neither!)

We're having lots of friends over for dinner second night, and I want there to be lots of yummy, yummy stuff for everybody to eat. We are going to have a meaty meal, but we do also have one vegetarian coming and another guest who cannot eat fish, eggs or nuts... This means that I have a great excuse for trying all kinds of new dishes to supplement the courses along the way, so that everybody has a full plate, even during the fish course! It's wonderful to be free to cook all of these dishes. I can't wait to get back from the supermarket later today. Of the dishes that we'll cook, I'm the most excited about the fact that I'm going to make beef cooked in beer as our main course. I have never made it before, but it just sounds so delicious! I hope it'll come out well, and that everybody will enjoy it! Well ok, we'll have other stuff for the vegetarian... I think everybody can eat the sesame brittle, though! It's a good thing we only invited people with healthy teeth. Or at least I think we did? I'd better go ask T: "Um, sweetheart, did you ask our guests about the quality of their teeth?"

"So what do you want to do when you grow up, then?"

2007-08-26T11:50:00.000+03:00

Remember how everybody asked you that as a child? And as an adult you are supposed to already know it, right? Well, I'm still asking myself the same question over and over, but no answer comes to my mind. So in the mean time I busy myself with other things, and hopefully at the end of the road, I'll see that I've reached what I always wanted to do anyway...

One of the delights of being at my parents' house (besides the comforts of their home, their cooking, the city, the weather and all the other delights they showered us with while we were there) is my mother's sewing machine. I don't have one myself, and it's hard to ask friends to lend you theirs all the time. Of course the knowledge that it was there, does not necessarily make you think about sewing all the time, and there were so many other things I wanted to do. Quite frankly, I didn't want to take any time away from spending time with family and friends. So it was night before we were leaving and I still hadn't sewn anything that I decided that I would at least get most essential things done. And so I quickly sewed a couple of simple everyday bag that night. I'd also meant to make a skirt, but as I was going through my textile stash for appropriate material to make it out of, I came across a skirt (which i'd started a few years ago) which was as good as finished. All I had to do was to sew the waist line seam in a little - it was a little too wide! Wonderful, wonderful forgotten thing, as it meant that I got some sleep that night! (hmmm - looking at the picture I see I really should have ironed them, but well hmm, I have better things to do than ironing, right?)

Back home I'm knitting my shawl. Thank you, all of you who have left lovely messages for me on the blog. I'm totally excited to see how it works out as well! It's a lot of fun, and I'm learning a lot from it. The last thing I've learnt is the horizontal herringbone stitch, which I found in the Harmony Guide to Knitting Stitches which I got from mother in law. It is a really nice stitch and was not too hard to learn, even if it took me a day and a half to figure out the backside part of this stitch! I am so amazed by how different you can make the textile look just by twirling the yarn around a little 'twig'! I can't wait to see where this shawl will take me!

So i think I'll turn the computer off for today, knit a little and continue to wonder what I'll become when I grow up, and maybe what will be for dinner when the love of my life comes from work! If he's lucky there might even be the dinner, not just the thought!

Wonderful Wednesday - oh, no, wait it's Thursday already!

2007-08-09T15:45:00.000+03:00

Today, my day is filled with all kinds of things. We've invited a bunch of friends to come for meals, to sleep over and to hang out throughout the weekend, and I'm so looking forward to it. We'll serve them vegetarian delights and have lots of cakes and fruits for dessert, so it was about time to start doing some of the preparations, even if we're taking a very laid-back approach to the whole event. So to start I just took two large pans of chocolate cake out of the oven (it smells sooo good!) and the beans are soaking. T is a sweetheart and will go to the market after work for fresh fruits and vegetables.

In between work, cooking and other fun home activities (I don't really want to write cleaning and laundry - it sounds so much better with fun home activities, right?) I try to knit a little on my new, big project. I've decided to try to make a shawl, this time with an easier yarn than mohair, so I can frog whenever I have the need or desire. I want to use this project to try and learn a few different knitting techniques, so I'll be using different coloured yarns, and a few different stitch techniques and hopefully in the end it'll turn into a wholesome, large and comforting winter shawl.

The white yarn I'm using comes from my mother-in-law. She heard that I'd started knitting and tried sending me this box of yarns and other knitting treats months and months ago, and went missing in the mail. Luckily enough it got returned to her, and she was kind enough to offer to send it to my parents' so that when we were there I would get it. And true enough the first thing I saw in our room at my parents' house was her box on the bed. I could hardly contain myself, but had to wait to open it in the presence of everybody in the house. The box was filled with lots of different yarns, fun novelty yarns and amongst the other yarns 10 skeins of this white yarn. There was also a whole set of needles, knitting magazines and the best book ever: The Harmony Guide to Knitting Stitches

It has lots of different patters, and gives clear instructions for a novice like myself. Who would ever need another knitting book? (hmm - I know, I know, I can never have too many books, but believe me - this is an amazing, amazing book. I'm so grateful to have it.) Now when I sit and knit I can almost believe that my mother-in-law is here with me.

T and I live across the big pond from my parents-in-law, and that limits how often we get to see each them. That is very sad, and hopefully at one point we'll live closer to each other. I wish all the people I love and care for could somehow magically live close to me, a couple of streets away maybe, that would be perfect... Until that happens, please know you are always close in my thoughts and heart!

Happy, happy, happy

2007-08-03T16:31:00.000+03:00

Never meant for there to be this long a blog break, but these things happen I guess. I've had a wonderfully hectic/relaxing time while I've been away from the blog. First I got a job and we moved apartments. Then we moved apartments again and then we went on a trip to my parents. We got back two days ago and it's been unpacking, getting things settled in the apartment and work, work, work since then. It's been good though, really good. I'm happy. Now I'm cooking us dinner, my better half is making us bread and we're looking forward to celebrating a good friend's engagement this evening after dinner. Aren't we lucky? Times are good. I'm so happy I can take these five minutes to sit and cherish and really be thankful for all of the good things in my life right now. Next week will be a little slower, and I'll have more time for crafts, contemplation and writing. See you then! Have a great weekend!

Summer femininity

2007-06-25T15:48:00.000+03:00

Have you noticed how women just become more feminine in the summer? Those light, cotton fabrics unicolour or with prints large or small, and maybe with a little frill. The fabrics swoosh around their legs and little handbags dangle from their wrists. Small hats come out of the cupboard and are dusted off. Or maybe they bought a new one in honour of this year's hot sun? Their bodies grow tanned and look strong, yet gracious at the same time. Their smile is somehow wider and their teeth whiter than during the winter. And their hair is shiny, attractive and beautiful. You just want to go up to them and stroke their hair as they walk past you. And in their wake they leaves that sweet smell of jasmine and roses.

Well, that is how I see all the other women. My own reality has been somewhat different. My skin is as white as the rest of the year, my face red due to the heat. If I'm "lucky" I get sunburned, and that's about as coloured as I can get. I sweat and I can feel my shirt clinging to my armpits as I'm walking in the sun. My summer hat makes me look like I'm a tourist, one of the stupid ones, the ones who are ignorant and annoying to the local public. I don't look gracious, nor elegant in my summer clothing.

But I waited, longing for the day to come - that day when I would feel comfortable and beautiful in my own skin my own clothing and accept all of me for who I am. Surprisingly that day came when I put on the most tight fitting top I have ever worn - a corset! - which was the top of my wedding gown. On that day, although it was summer and hot, I felt gracious and beautiful - desirable. The dress hid my body's flaws and accented the parts I'm more happy with. The make-up sat throughout the evening and my hair and veil was perfect until the very end. But truth to be told it was neither the dress, nor the make-up or the hair which made me have this feeling. Yes, they all helped, but what really made the difference was my own development. I had started to believe and accept my own body. I trained myself to see myself in a different, more accepting light. I said to myself: "You are who you are. You cannot change a body you do not see truthfully." And so I started to try and see myself for who I was. I told myself to accept and like myself despite being oh so far from the perfect body I longed for.

It wasn't so easy, and it still isn't. Don't get me wrong, I know my body is far from perfect - it certainly could use some work here and there (maybe more than some, let's be honest!) But accepting myself and my body for who I am and what I look like, made me able to be open to others, to be ready to share my life fully with another person. On the day of our wedding that came to fulfillment, and I knew that I could continue working on myself and my self image in tandem with T.

And now, this summer, I'm just as warm and sweaty in the sun, just as white and just as ungracious - yet, I know that despite all these things, maybe somebody out there sees me as I see all these women I see walking past me. Maybe somehow the inner me, which is gracious, feminine, elegant and definitely does not sweat like a pig shows through? That's what I would like to think at least. And it truly helps that when I come home, sweaty, my face all red and I'm all ready for a shower, T comes up to me, wanting a hug and I say to him: "You should wait, I really, REALLY need a shower first - it's for your own protection." He just laughs and pulls me to him, hugging me tight and tells me I look and smell (!) great.

The beauty of having a car

2007-06-14T14:02:00.000+03:00

T and have had the good fortune of coming into a car this week. Usually we don't have a car, and truth to be told, we don't really need one. We don't have a large family, the public transportation in our city is quite good, and it is cheaper, yes - get this!, cheaper to take taxis everywhere than the cost of owning a car. Not having a car makes it feel like a huge luxury now that we have one for a short while, and we want to take full advantage of it. Yesterday we went for a nice drive without any plan in mind which was lovely. Today's afternoon outing we'll be going with S, a good friend of ours. The trip will hopefully bring us to a couple of wineries and maybe a nice restaurant? I'm so excited, I'm just going to go get ready (put on sandals), and once S shows up we're off into the world!

In the meantime I leave you with this picture of the hole in the ground on the lawn of our building complex. It's been there for a few weeks now, and I have no idea what it's there for. It's a mystery!

What to read and what to knit

2007-06-12T09:18:00.000+03:00

OK - I cannot get my yarn overs to stand out in my knitting. So now I just look at the nice yarn I want to knit with, thinking about what I can do about it. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. Maybe I don't do the yarn overs correctly? I wish somebody would know... In the mean time I'm crocheting. My current crocheting projects (a couple of kipas for people I love) make it much easier to take my projects to the park also - much smaller balls of yarn and they are made of cotton, not wool. Oy, wool is hot!

During the days now, it's lovely to sit in the shade and crochet, write or just watch the view. To sit in the sun, well, for me it's way too hot. I wish I was able to sit longer in the sun though, it would be great to actually get a tan for once. When people ask me where I live, and I tell them I live in the Middle East, they just laugh, and say: "No, really, where do you live?" I'm just that white - all year round..

This week is book week here, and T and I took the liberty to spend some (ahemm! read: quite a chunk) of the money we were given at our wedding (thank you lovely people!) to go out and buy some books - about 55 books in total. Granted, 31 of them were volumes of one set of books, but still, we're going to have pretty full book shelves here! I can't wait to start reading some of the books we got! I can hear them calling, and with big glass of ice coffee ready to come with me to the park, I'm going to go out for the day. Maybe with the ice coffee I'll avoid my usual battle in the shade; what to do first; crochet, write, read or fall asleep...

Happy times

2007-06-05T00:46:00.000+03:00

Yesterday's engagement party was a happy event. It was nice seeing the bride and groom to be. I got to sit with the bride for a while, and it was nice to catch up a little and hear what plans she has for the wedding and for their future together. She was very happy, very secure. She said to me: "You know, we, N and I, we've been a little on and off, but then I just couldn't let it be, when I knew that N was out there in the world without me." How cute is that?? There was separate men's and women's seating with a mechitza. During the dinner the father of the bride and the groom spoke and the bride got up from her seat and went over to the mechitza to get a little peek, she just couldn't help herself. She was so cute, and so I just couldn't help myself getting a picture of her.

Today T and I celebrated our 9th monthiversary (we got married 9 months ago.) We've heard from friends and family how important it is to set time apart for the relationship and the two of us, and that that will become more and more difficult as life, children (hopefully one day) and everything else gets in the way. Therefor, we've instituted already now to celebrate our monthiversary. We don't have to do anything flashy - it's just so that we have at least this time,once a month, for the two of us, to be with each other, see each other, hear each other. Today we played Settlers of Catan. Happy times!

In which we hear about something successful, something less successful and something happy

2007-06-03T15:07:00.000+03:00

Well, I just cannot seem to make my yarn overs stand out when I knit, so my next try on the shawl will be with smaller needles. I don't know if it will help, but I hope... In the meantime I've started a new crocheting project, which is still very small - i do crochet with a .75 needle, so....

I have lately been experimenting with other "media" more successfully, however. I am very proud of myself - on Thursday I re-grouted the tiles in the bathrooms and one of the bedrooms all by myself. Granted, I had to go to the diy store twice before I was ready to start (the first time I'd bought spackle, and not grouting...), but now it looks great, and I did it all by myself. Hurray!! Who knew that a girl with too many thumbs could get around the diy riddle, and start doing it all by herself?

It seems we have yet another engagement party to go to today - I'm so happy for our friends! It is great to be able to share this special time in their lives with them. It seems strange that it is almost a year ago now that T asked me to marry him. The time has just flown by, and I still cannot believe what I've done to deserve such happiness and love in my life.

From annoyed to happy

2007-05-31T00:22:00.000+03:00

Today and yesterday I've used hours and hours trying to figure out all of the services we pay for; the internet, the cable, the internet cable provider, the people fixing our tv, the bank, the post office and the list just goes on and on. And tomorrow I will play this game again, it is not over. I simply love the joy of listening to endless automatic menus telling me to push number one if X and number two if Y, and I especially appreciate the automatic response, once you've gotten through the menus that "This office is closed at this hour, please call back at another time."

So, I was going to write a long, loooong, complaining post about all of my troubles, but then two things happened: First I discovered the poet Octavio Paz and then I went to an engagement party. These things made me happy. And now, although I'm still super annoyed about all the stuff I've had to waste time on today and yesterday, and tomorrow as well, there are more important things to think about. I love this poem, Touch, by Octavio Paz, that I came across today. I think it is so true. (And, please, I do realize, maybe I am not taking this poem as literal as it was meant, it may very well intend to tell us something about physicality and the poet's (ours?) relationship with the other and the other's physicality, and the other's self perception of his/hers physicality. When I found the poem though, the following is what I thought.) I really think that this poem shows us in a way what love and true intimacy is all about - inventing, (or I actually see it more as revealing, finding, releasing,) the body, the self, where you are truly yourself, truly all of you, not hidden and ready for the other person to invent your true self, to actualize the person you've always (really) known you were.

Touch
my hands
open the curtains of your being
clothe you in a further nudity
uncover the bodies of your body
my hands
invent another body for your body

The engagement party was a lot of fun - lots of friends, lots of happiness, and best of all - a really happy couple. They reminded me of the poem I'd read only a few hours before. I think they are both inventing the other, finding their own true selves, in the light of their committed relationship. It is giving them the strenght to be who they really are. First maybe, only in the intimate company of their twosomeness, and then slowly, slowly to show their new 'bodies' to the world. Mazal tov!

Continuing Education

2007-05-27T17:38:00.000+03:00

When T and got engaged I started my life-long education in (North) American culture, and I really do believe it is something I will continue my whole life. If you think that all Western culture is the same, well, then I have to respectfully disagree. On the surface people all over the Western world may all be drinking Coca Cola, going to MacDonalds and wearing Levi's, but there is just so much more. And now I have this wonderful opportunity to go deep-diving into a sibling culture. In many ways it is the perfect excuse for trying new, delicious sweets, or go shopping, read wonderful books and watch movies. There is just so much of all of that American *stuff* (for the lack of a better word at the moment) that was never part of my life, and so now I have the privilige of being introduced to this whole culture by an insider. Many of our friends are also Americans, and so they also kindly give me insights. Some of my favourite discoveries so far are: Old NavyOutlet Store, Reese's pieces and Dr. Seuss. I have to admit though that T was not the one to introduce me to Dr. Seuss' books. I was speaking to my then flatmate SB at the time, and I told her that I had never read Green Eggs and Ham. She was volunteering at a library and from then on she would, every time there was a Dr. Seuss book available, borrow it, bring it home, and read it out loud for me. I looove being read to. And this past week she lent me another Dr. Seuss book: The Cat in the Hat. It was a good read, although so far my favourite Dr. Seuss book is by far The Lorax. No contest. Other 'classes' have involved; going to eat at KFC (they have a kosher one here, which recently opened), watching The Princess Bride and having fried cheese sandwiches. Oh, I almost forgot peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. That was an important lesson. I am really looking forward to learning and experiencing more American *stuff* - both by travelling in that huge country (I'm very impressed with Americans' willingness and ability to travel by car for hours and hours and hours), and by simply being introduced to more treats! What would make your list of things that foreigners should try/read/eat/watch/visit to understand and become a part of American culture?

Decision time

2007-05-24T10:55:00.000+03:00

The outdoors is just gorgeous today. I just came back from a little walk, and the weather was perfect. Not too hot and not too cold. Just right for a little walk. And the flowers are so colourful, just have a look at these flowers I saw just outside my building for example. Today I'm planning a trip to the market for vegetables, fruits and fresh eggs, I'm certain they will have some wonderful things for us to cook up. If I'm lucky I'll be able to persuade T to come along, and maybe if I'm even luckier we'll get some seedless watermelon. (Yum! It's their season right now.)

I was recently tagged by Caitlin, whose blog I read regularly. It's the first time I've been tagged, and I have to admit it kind of threw me. In fact to the extent that it took away my powers to blog until I'd decided what to do about it. I really liked the fact that somebody out there wanted to hear more about me. That was really flattering. What bothered me is the element of tagging which reminds of chain letters, which I really, really object to. So, in the end I decided to answer the tag myself, and not pass on to anybody else. However, if you feel called, please find yourself hereby tagged.

I've been tagged to do 8 Random things about me. So here are the rules - 1: Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves. 2: People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules. 3 : At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names. 4: Don't forget to leave them a comment and tell them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

8 random things about me:

I love chocolate. I'm a little embarrassed about it, and so only now in adulthood have I embraced this love fully.My parents didn't realize my love for chocolate until this spring. (!!!???) How they avoided it, I have no idea. I must be better at keeping things under wrap than I thought.
I love eating fruits, but I'm allergic to most of them. Luckily for me, my taste has changed with my allergies developing, so from loving apples, strawberries and peaches, my favourites are now raspberries, blueberries, watermelon and grapes.
I love sushi, but I don't get sushi which doesn't contain fish. What's the deal with cucumber sushi rolls and carrot sashimi? Sorry, but I'm a fish lover at heart.
I'm indecisive. I once spent three years buying a winter coat. I'm originally from Norway, and I was living there at the time - 3 years without a winter coat, you say? I know...
I got married 8 months ago, after having dated T for a total of 6 months. (we dated for 3 1/2 months and were engaged for 2 1/2.) I still can't believe that it went so fast. I guess it just goes to show that when you know something is right, why doubt it , and what's to wait for? (And a random side note on this one: All of my friends who are not religious of any kind asked if it was because I was pregnant (!), and all my friends who are religious of one sort or another just knew that it was because I wanted to get pregnant. In all honesty, it was neither.)
I love paper, pens, water paints. I wish had the courage to start developing my love for the these to something more tangible and real.
I love blue pottery and glass objects. I grew up going to potteries and to glass making huts both in Norway and in Denmark, where cobalt blue is one of the major colours.
I like going to museums, and always thought I was really patient and took my time in them. Until now that is. Turns out that T is way better than me in this department, and that now I'm the one to bring a book to the museum. (To my brother A, who's always had to wait around museums for me: Now, I understand... LOL)

I've been seeing all of these wonderful shawls people out there (in the blog world and elsewhere) are making. I'm so impressed by the beauty, ingenuity and patience so many have. There are just so many beautiful patterns out there, but which one could I choose? As an absolute beginner to knitting, I'm a little scared of such a large project (and also hoping not too overload on learning new stitches), but I have the hope that the fact that I'm making it for myself (nothing beats selfishness, right?) will make me have the patience to see it through. With that in mind, I found a seemingly not too hard pattern from Garnstudio, which I recently started knitting. So far it is not going very well, I think. I can't seem to get the holes to really stand out from the other stitches, so I've frogged trial number one, and I'm going to start number two as we speak. I hope my biggest mistake so far has been to purl and not knit on the backside of the shawl, so this time around I'll try to knit both sides... In the meantime the shawls looks like this...

My heart and yours

2007-05-13T15:55:00.001+03:00

Last night T and I had a long walk in the rain (4 1/2 hours) and when we came home completely drenched and cold to the bone, all we wanted was to get under the blankets and be warm, dry and safe. This feeling of safety, love and warmth was underlined later at night, when we decided to watch a movie called Shooting Dogs. It is about the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 and is a docudrama. The movie describes one of the many massacres during the Rwanda genocide. Survivors of the massacre described in this movie were extras, technicians or had other jobs on set of this movie. After the movie we were both emotionally drained. The movie was superb, and a very important one to watch. More than 800000 people were killed in Rwanda, and when we take a quick look around the world there are similar tragedies happening today. The crisis in Sudan has spread over into Chad, and I don't even know the numbers of how many people have lost their lives in Sudan so far. One of the most important messages in Shooting Dogs is that the international community does not use it powers to stop these things from happening, and the current situation in Sudan is a proof of that.

After the film we were both left with a feeling of gratitude of our own position in life. We're not special people, we live in many ways ordinary lives. We may have our problems of all kinds, but the bottom line is: we are lucky. Lucky to have been born in the countries where we were born, lucky to have been born into the families we call our own, lucky to have had the opportunities, the support and the chance to live in the part of the world where we live. It seems so random, and by chance that we live here, in relative safety, and that there are people all over the world who are living in danger of losing their lives everyday, and many do. My heart goes out to all these people.

I was also left with the feeling of tremendous love. Love for my family, for my friends, for my husband. Having the privilege of having all this love in my life, and especially T's love makes all the difference. And because my own words are not enough here, they don't capture all that I want to say, I'm getting some help from E. E. Cummings to say what I want to say about that:

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)

The left right, or right right, or was it just left?

2007-05-07T16:00:00.000+03:00

This morning and yesterday, there was a newspaper on our doormat! Hurray! It's amazing what a difference such a little thing makes. For once we didn't have to call them and complain there wasn't, yet again, a newspaper to keep T company with his morning coffee. Such a simple little thing, but nice that it (hopefully) now is in order.

I've now finished by crocheted mittens. True to form I had to change the pattern a little, I made them with fewer stitches than the pattern called for (my hands are small), and I only started discarding them at the very end of the mittens, and then I went for it totally, I had no rows in between the discard rows. I also decorated them, so it's clear which is for my left hand and which is for my right hand. It might also help me actually knowing which side is right and which is left. I'm certain I'm not the only one out there confusing the two, and my family constantly asks me when I give directions if I meant the left right or the right right? I'm so looking forward to wearing them in the winter! Maybe at least 1/4 of the year I'll know what is left and what is right!

A newspaper, a newspaper; my sleep for a newspaper!

2007-05-06T14:49:00.000+03:00

We have a subscription to a daily newspaper and they're supposed to deliver it every weekday morning to our mail box downstairs outside the building we live. Before we went to Egypt there was no problem, but ever since we came back we've called them every single day to tell them we did not receive the newspaper in the morning and could they please deliver it? We thought that maybe somebody in our building was "borrowing" it, but it didn't make sense - we'd gotten the newspaper for a year (!) without any problems, and only now did it start "disappearing." We're getting really tired of the whole thing, especially because they think that we just want an extra newspaper a day. Why we would need two copies of the same newspaper - who knows? In their eyes the delivery boy is doing his job and we have an evil thief passing by our mail box stealing our newspaper. They then threatened to stop our subscription, unless we find a safer way to get the paper delivered. So - we gave them a key, so that the delivery boy could come indoors and leave the newspaper outside our apartment door. Well, all our neighbours are really happy, 'cause now they all get their newspapers just outside their doors. What about our newspaper you ask - no improvement. T called and asked if maybe the delivery boy didn't know that we were supposed to get the paper? "Impossible," they said. Then he asked if maybe the delivery boy had something against us, we are after all the only ones who do not receive the newspaper from him in our building? "Even more impossible, quite simply outrageous to suggest such a thing!" they responded.

Last night I had trouble sleeping, and I was awake around the time that the newspaper should get delivered. I kept my ears alert and waited in the living room with my crocheting in hand (see picture for progress made this morning.) And, soon enough I heard the elevator stop on our floor and the newspaper being thrown against the neighbours' door. And that was it. I could hear him walking towards the elevator again. I went outside and caught the elevator just as the doors were closing. I looked at the delivery boy and said: "And what about us? Don't we get a newspaper?" He looked back at me dumbfounded: "What do you mean? Where do you mean? Do you mean Apartment X?" "No, here," I said, "Apartment Y." He didn't say anything, so I continued: "Why is it that every day our neighbours get their newspapers, and we haven't received a single newspaper except with special delivery since the holidays?" "Are you supposed to get a newspaper?" he asked. "Yes!" I said. "But which newspaper do you get?" he asked. "The one in your hand?" I responded. I asked what his name was, got his name, shook his hand, got the newspaper, and went back into the apartment, triumphant, ready to sleep for a couple of hours.

T called the newspaper later in the day to tell them that apparently either the delivery boy never knew that he was supposed to deliver to us, or he simply lied to my face. "Impossible" they said, yet again. "Well, this is what happened this morning." T said, and told them about my morning adventures. "We'll look into it." was the final response. Who knows what has been happening, I am curious to know. But what I really want to know is - will there be a newspaper outside my door tomorrow morning?

Keeping the faith

2007-05-01T19:47:00.000+03:00

Oh, I am a lucky gal! There are beautiful flowers outside my apartment, dinner's ready to go on the table, the kitchen's already been cleaned up, the laundry's been hung and the apartment is clean enough to live in... And I was given extra time to be with myself and the yarn - T's stuck at work, poor thing, but trying really hard to get home to me, so I could start the crocheted mittens with some of the yarn my parents brought me from Norway. I needed some easy crocheting that's going to move quickly so that I don't loose patience with knitting...

I turned on the tv to keep me company until T comes home, and guess what? One of my favourite movies is on - Keeping the faith. It takes very little to make me happy. I AM HAPPY - nice yarn, crocheting, good movie, my favourite person in the world is doing his utmost to come home to me - did you hear that - I am one happy girl! The kick-ass version of Ein K'eloheinu just rolled over the screen. There's no way that I'm staying here typing when this movie is on..

Quickly before I return to movie and yarn, here's one of my favourite quotes from the movie: "Religion is a hunch that there is something bigger connecting us all." I like that definition, even if I do chop off the other half of it (which is, for those interested: "And that feeling, that hunch, is God.")