A Roll in the Universe

I have not been a frequent poster to this blog lately, and so decided it was about time to post again. I'm not done with my Dresden/Berlin trip yet, and started looking at photos for the next installment. It was harvest time in the ol' DDR when we were there, and ripe grains, fruits and pumpkins were displayed everywhere. That's when I noticed one of my photos was very appropriate for Halloween: A close-up:

Wordless Wednesday

Well, we'd finished up at the porcelain factory/museum , and now it is time for lunch. No one prepared us for the ancient charm that is the town of Meissen itself, nestled on a large rock, with an assortment of buildings and its cathedral clinging to the sides like barnacles on a tidal rock. (I do wish the bus would have stopped so we could get pictures of Meissen as seen from the river.) We started walking down the narrow street, which was steep and winding and at some point switched from asphalt to cobblestone (sometimes crazily laid out). The houses, too, ranged in style and age, depending on when they were built. With real estate so precious, every available space was used and newer buildings borrowed old walls rather than lose some inches. And, visible from most parts, the two spires of Meissen's cathedral, like beacons. We kept rounding corners and finally got to what must have been part of a castle or something. It certainly looked like it. We were on a bri

Flight of the Conchords (from New Zealand) play some wicked good disco guitar and ditto lyrics.

Welcome to George Washington National Park, Norway. No photos yet, but there is talk of oil exploration. Read all about it here: Department Of The Exterior Opens U.S. National Park In Norway OK, so my title is misleading. So's the article. ;-)

Wordless Wednesday - The rainy view through my boss's window

Traffic fatalities so far this year in western Norway have been at an all-time high. 45% of the ones killed are between the ages of 15 and 25, and the main reason is speed. This is happening in a country that has mandatory and expensive driver's training and exacting driver's tests. It's like the thousands of kroners spent on learning to drive (and the many hours) to get that precious license means absolutely nothing. There are a few other things that I find questionable about how things are set up here: In Norway, you can vote, drive and drink - all at age 18. The local paper is running small vignettes with kids celebrating their 18th birthday and quite a few are so happy they are now old enough to drink. No, they can't drink and drive, but one suspects that one reason for accidents with an adolescent behind the wheel are unruly passengers (who have been drinking). One of the suggestions made about how to get young people to ease up on the gas pedal, is to get adol

Norway's government is bailing out Norwegian banks, or at least helping them reduce their losses. The front pages of Bergen's two newspapers have been telling me since the summer that the real estate market now sucks. I am following an Icelandic woman's blog and getting emotional about her problems and Iceland's. It's hard work not getting caught up in the energy, but I find myself doing so, and need to step back and look at the reality. I was wondering what the opposite of "crisis" is. That word is getting used a lot now. I was surprised to discover that "crisis" did not originally mean a bad event, but a decision or moment of decision. There is no direct opposite to "crisis" but there is to "decision": Indecision. This suggests to me that whatever the crisis is (as described by either dictionary or local newspaper), it is a time to choose. It is a time to decide. It is a time to act. A crisis is not a tangible thing, b

The electrical inspector showed up early. I had made an appointment for 8:30 and at 8 am I heard someone open the fuse box in the stairwell. I opened my door - I was dressed, made-up, had finished breakfast and was leave-the-house ready (if you knew my usual state at 8 am, you'd realize what a little miracle this was) so I could do something like just open my front door - and the man peering at my fuses was indeed the inspector I was expecting at 8:30. He said he'd been told to be there before 8:30. He hesitated when he realized he was half an hour early, but I said it was just fine, come on in and do your thing. As I write this, I actually feel tickled! My home was ready for an inspection, the inspector could enter every room (even the "free-for-all" that my guest bedroom is for the time being) and he even apologized for forgetting to take his shoes off. I told him I left everything as is, because I figured I might learn something from my "sins", and h

Wordless Wednesday

Man-made, all natural. City, woods. New, old. Yesterday evening, as I stood outside the police station waiting (no, not to get arrested), I looked up the street that leads to Bergen's cathedral and on up the hillside. The photo above is a feeble attempt at trying to capture the contrasts of modern cars, older buildings and timeless forest changing color. The whole scene both amused and awed me. This is such a beautiful time of year. I seem to be more partial to autumn than to spring. There is something about the variations on yellows and reds that trees offer up at this time of year that appeals more to me than the variations on green of spring. All seasons have their charms and advantages, but I feel more connected to what's happening around me in the autumn. Perhaps because the changing colors are so obvious. Perhaps because the storms and rains have come back after an exceptionally good summer. I love the drama! A good summer helps build one up before the dark of winte

A couple of weeks ago, my ISP was the target of a massive spam attack. That choked the normal flow of e-mail and I decided to switch to a different e-mail address. What I didn't do, was correctly update the comments notification for my blog. I thought my readers were just being silent - or really busy or whatever. I discovered today that I hadn't been forgotten. I was so tickled to see that you kept leaving comments! So, thank you! I have now fixed my e-mail address so Blogger can notify me, and, yes, Max, there has been some water under the bridge since last we "spoke". My ballot got mailed today and I hope my vote counts.

One of the excursions out of Dresden was a morning visit to the town of Meissen. That told me nothing until it was announced that we were visiting a porcelain factory . Then a memory stirred in the back of my mind about Dresden and porcelain , and I had the sense to appreciate what I was in for. The Meissen tour was quite educational, with the group being slused from one demonstration room to the next, being shown the forms the potter uses, how the forms can be taken apart to get at the clay shape inside, and how it shrinks by 17% so one has to work large. We were shown the stages and types of glazing, types of glazes, including the famous Dresden cobolt blue, and how repeated firings at different temperatures can alter colors. Most impressively, it is all hand-made. The intricate designs are painted on by a very steady-handed artist, and little hands with fingers and feet with toes are sculpted by another steady-handed artist. She spent most of the time we were there working

These past few days I have been busy doing other things besides sitting in front of the computer. I got some energy back (in spite of darker mornings), and a good reason to clean house (electrical inspection coming up), and have actually enjoyed taking before-pictures, clipping my iPod Shuffle to my clothing and chasing the goal of clearing off all horizontal spaces not meant for storage (countertops, tabletops and floors). The after-pictures are a huge encouragement. It's also pretty amazing that what looks like an impossible pile can relatively easily be shrunk and even removed. I give you Exhibit A, my "left" kitchen counter a week ago: Exhibit B: Same counter, with a new turquoise candle. (When I look at the before-picture, I wonder what the heck was I thinking?) I'll give you a hint for getting through paper clutter: Do it in the dark, or at least bad lighting. When dusk came and I couldn't make out details any more, I considered turning on a light,

Wordless Wednesday - Kjosfossen in Flåm valley

Here are a few more pictures from Dresden, before "we" leave. First, we had to eat. It was noon when our official city guiding was done, and it was a rather bitter day weather-wise, so we wanted someplace warm, too. We were about 10 people who disappeared through a doorway, and down a long, spiraling staircase, not really knowing what to expect. What greeted us when we got to the bottom was a medieval-style(d) restaurant, the Sophienkeller . I highly recommend it! We were eating in a room called "Zeithainer Lustlager" - "time-copse desire-camp". Heh. The goulash was held in a metal pot over a tealight to keep it warm. The atmosphere delighted us and so did the food. I had potato soup. The men had Real Men's Food. (One of them actually skipped dinner that evening. Understandably, since he'd eaten his entire lunch!) Then it was back out in what was somewhat improved weather, camera ready. I thought this old baroque bridge was abso

Finally! My absentee ballot arrived in the mail. My choices for president are: John McCain (pres.), Sarah Palin (VP) - Republican Cynthia McKinney (pres.), Rosa Clemente (VP) - Green Alan Keyes (pres.), Wiley S. Drake, Sr. - American Independent Ralph Nader (pres.), Matt Gonzalez (VP) - Peace and Freedom Barack Obama (pres.), Joe Biden (VP) - Democratic Bob Barr (pres.), Wayne A. Root (VP) - Libertarian Wait. Who are all those other people? There are other choices besides the Republicans and Democrats??? Yes, there are. There always have been. It annoys me more and more that the other choices don't get any press time, and don't get to participate in the presidential debates. It annoys others , too. So, who are these candidates ? I know who I'm voting for, and my vote this election is purely strategic, not a true I-like-this-one-the-best vote. But since I don't care for the two big parties, really, I am very curious about these other parties and their candid

A researcher, Bente Ailin Svendsen, in linguistics at the university in Oslo has concluded that bilingualism is an advantage (Norw. article). It doesn't lead to confusion; it leads to greater flexibility. The article says about her findings (quoted text my translation): Bilinguals react faster to stimuli than do monolinguals, and the brain seems to stay in better shape. Studies from the US and Norway show that students with long-term bilingual education do best at school. Ah. I do react fast to stimuli, to the point that I've been wondering if I have ADHD. I did do well in school, too, but I was a smart kid before I learned Norwegian - which is probably why I learned enough Norwegian in three months to move up a class. I was supposed to be in third grade (today's fourth), but the Norwegian school started me in second so I could learn the language without being "bothered" by learning new stuff as well. By Christmas I was fully ready to move to my proper grade (

Wordless Wednesday Courtesy of xkcd - because it wowed me.