I have been tagged to dig up two quotes on health by a fellow blogger, Paula. Check out her quotes. She’s included some of my favorites! Mental health is important, too! “To enjoy a good old age, take care of your eyes, hearing, teeth and feet.” —Marion Mundal My grandma. I am taking her advice.
Tag: family
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Moon landing
I cannot remember when men first landed on the moon, in 1969. I was alive and old enough to remember something like that. We had a TV. That is to say, my granduncle had a TV—up on the old farm, in a little valley above a fjord. There was nothing on it until 6 pm, […]
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Five year journey, part 2
(Part 1 here) Sometimes, I think that I have undiagnosed ADHD. I relate too well to descriptions of people with ADD etc. Apparently, December children are overrepresented on the ADD spectrum. I am a December child. My therapist did point out that it doesn’t really matter if I have ADD or not; I hold down […]
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Five year journey, part 1
I’m thinking about the last five years, because the blog I started in 2014 went poof as I switched providers. (Always read the instructions thoroughly before switching website hosts, kids.) Then a bit of magic happened and I could save my texts and restore posts; the photos were already saved. As I went through and […]
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90, if you want
A friend commented on another blog post of mine about how we’re told that loneliness shortens a life span like a smoking habit does. Her married parents are now within waving distance of 90; she doubts she’ll get to that age. I have a theory, or maybe it’s just a good ol’ opinion about longevity […]
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Help
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 […]
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A tale about teeth
Norway has been good to me, dentally. My grandpa was also good to me. Orthodontics are subsidized but still cost out of pocket. So the year I had no cavities I started wearing a retainer. One thing Norwegian children have been through together, is the school dentist. In my part of Norway, the school dentist […]
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April is for taxes
Nothing is certain but death and taxes. And swear words. Back when I still lived in the US, my mother and I got window seats at Philippe’s in downtown Los Angeles on the evening of April 15th, to watch people slowly driving by to toss their returns into huge hoppers on Alameda, which was one-way […]
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Dethroning 1964?
We’ve had one of the wettest and coolest summers ever in Bergen in Norway this year—rainy enough to have us wondering if we will break a record. The current record for the most rain in one summer is from 1964. That’s the record we’re trying to break this year. Actually, we’ve been very against breaking […]
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Documented
I’m now a Norwegian! I am no longer a documented alien or immigrant. I am a documented Norwegian citizen now. Check this out: The document with my mug shot is my Norwegian passport. My country of birth is a variable and in black type. In red type above it, it says I am a Norwegian citizen. […]
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 […]
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The Norwegian war on Christmas
I hear Americans go on about a war on Christmas because someone says “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”. Bizarrely, Norway seems to be showing up the Americans on how to actually wage a war on Christmas. There are some true and some fake stories about a war on Christmas here in Norway. From a […]
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I feel good!
You can go find your copy of James Brown belting out “I feel good” if you want. My version is more low-key and without the groovy dance moves, but I do feel good. I like to thank ho’oponopono for that. So I’m going to talk about it again. I broke my own heart this past December. I […]
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That Easter thingy
A struggling friend reminded me of a situation I was in the autumn after my dear grandma died. Re-reading that gave me a surprise: I’d forgotten how down I was then. I remember crying during the meeting with my bosses, but I don’t remember taking sick days and waking up angry every day. But yes, […]
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Astrology, the story-teller
OK, I knew my last post would not appeal to everyone, but as I said in a comment to a comment, I take my wisdom wherever I can find it. Which happens to include astrology. Because of my family’s interests, I grew up in a home that not only had huge picture books showing the treasures […]
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Leaving 2012
It’s New Year’s Eve 2012. I’m in jeans and a wool sweater, not in my high heels and sparkly top. My plans for a productive day and a party for one have been sidetracked. I feel lazy and low-key. And thoughtful. My neighbors are not being low-key; they’ve been shooting fireworks sporadically all evening. I […]
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On miracles and mothers
A miracle is an authentic switch from fear to love. When we speak from the ego, we will call up the ego in others. When we speak from Holy Spirit, we will call up their love. In 1967, my whole family fell apart. Mommy, Daddy, baby sister and I all ended up at separate addresses. […]
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Håkonshallen – and Grandpa
This is a response to the comments on my Wordless Wednesday post showing a part of Håkonshallen, especially Alice’s thoughts that it looks like a prison. Nothing could be further from the truth so I thought I’d give you a whole post about that. First, the pronounciation of Håkonshallen (the hall of Håkon): That funny […]
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The next half
New Year’s Eve. The day when people are either scrambling to get food and champagne for the evening’s festivities or are contemplating what resolutions to make for the coming year – or both. For me, 2011 is the start of the next half century of my life. I was 50 in December. It was actually […]
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I want you to know them
It is perfect weather out today. After two days of a hard north wind, the air is calm, but the sky is still clear, and the sun still warms. It is the perfect walking weather. And because it is 2010, I walked to my grandparents’ grave. The Norwegian custom is to bury the dead, primarily, […]
A Roll in the Universe 