As the involuntary hibernation of the pandemic starts to ease up, go away, take a back seat to normalcy, I also realize that I need healthier habits at home. Not many years left until sitting at home day after day is the new normal, so I want to fill that normal with something better than […]
It is now 6 months since I last actually worked at the office and not from home. All these months of different routines, of exception, of waiting, have lead to a sort of lethargy. Perhaps some other things, too, have played a part, like it simply being winter. The lengthening days and warmer sun do […]
I think I’ve mentioned Daily Om before, a website that offers life affirming essays and online courses. I’m currently taking a course on clearing. On any other website, it would be called decluttering, but it’s not just getting rid of stuff. It’s the why we hang on to things and how it feels to have […]
This year I seem to be more aware of budding trees. At this point in the season, where nights are still cold, although days are warmer, growth is slow, careful. I woke up to frost this morning, but now, as we approach sunset, my balcony is baking at a whole 26C/78F in the sun! Won’t […]
The charm of Bergen is its old streets and equally old houses. The classic tourist photos look something like this: An old residential street So I thought I’d show you the less charming, more modern side. The side of the city I usually see. Honestly, I like this part, too. It’s just not the most […]
If you follow me on Instagram, you will recognize some of these photos. Leaving the good stuff only to IG isn’t fair to my blog only readers, so here you go! First up is from earlier this fall, in the neighborhood of our university, at Øysteins gate. I think Øystein was a king. We have […]
The spring of 1969, I traveled across country with my grandma and grandpa. Just before leaving California, I had heard The Beatles song “Help!”. The movie had been showing on TV one evening at my mother’s. I liked the song and I remember singing it in Maine, where we’d stopped off at Grandma’s son’s place […]
I have seen the plans for the light rail station coming to my bit of the ‘burbs. I know that the footbridge I have crossed to and from work since 1986 will become history and I’ll get a new bridge about 50 meters to the west. “My” footbridge as seen on the way home It […]
I am in love with the city light rail in Bergen, Norway, called “bybanen” (BEE-bah-nen). It took five years after it was built for me to actually ride the darned thing, but after that, it has become my most popular modern addition to this old medieval town. And now they’re building a line to my […]
When I read that Bergen was getting ready to celebrate 950 years in 2020, I suddenly felt old. I remember when this plaque was new: Stones from all the counties of Norway were used to create this commemorative plaque for Bergen’s 900th anniversary in 1970. The caption reads “1070 Bergen City 1970 / Norway’s cities […]
Living in Norway means living with all kinds of traditions, some ancient, like bonfires on Midsummer’s Eve, and some much newer, like Valentine’s Day. Here in Bergen, the joke is that if you do something twice, you’ve created a tradition. Celebrating Halloween is becoming a tradition, one for the 21st century, and has been supplanting […]
Ole Bull, violinist and considered Norway’s first “rock star”, had quite the flare for the dramatic and the mysterious. This last was why he was drawn to the island of Lysøen, where he built his last home. Portrait of a more mature Ole Bull next to flag gift from USA How famous was Ole Bull […]
I mentioned a new sign (piece of art, actually) that will greet travelers when they exit our new airport terminal that’s opening in August: Art at Bergen Airport I also promised the view from Landås. I deliver thusly: Different angle: Bergen as seen from Landås And a bonus because you’re here: A child having fun […]
Bergen just broke a weather record from 1952: The number of consecutive days with precipitation in June. In 1952 it was 24. This year it was 26; we had rain every day from June 1 through June 26. I pity those who will go through breaking this year’s record because clouds and wet every single […]
I was asked by a foreign-looking gentleman today, who spoke broken Norwegian, if I knew the area. And I do. He wondered if any of the buses at the bus stop we were at went to the bus station. Perhaps oddly, they don’t. It used to be that all buses eventually ended up at the […]
Corroding metal siding
Youngstorget, Oslo When I first moved to Norway in 1969, politics here were so left-leaning that they were approaching extremism. Yesterday, in local elections, the Norwegian Labor party (Arbeiderpartiet) once again became Norway’s most powerful party, and had its biggest win in Bergen since 1967. A fact that makes me happy now, but which was my bane […]
So I got my own domain something like four years ago, and the stuff I have here is still in limbo. It’s like moving house: Taking everything I have in the old home, and trying to make it fit and function in the new one. Some things look fine, some don’t fit, some have no […]
OK, so I didn’t write anything for a while here because, well, I didn’t like the other layout (this being a new setup and home for my blog). WordPress updated with a new one I felt like fiddling with, so here I am. I’m in consolidation mode. I probably should be shopping for Christmas presents, […]
Wordless Wednesday
A Roll in the Universe 