and so it happened

- i got ill and had to quit my old job
- i got depressed
- i found a new job and was happy
- i started wearing pretty clothes and jewellery
- but am still ill
- so i quit blogging
- quit making dinners
- quit tidying the house
- quit making school lunches
- quit pretty much everything
- but loving
- and marvelling at the brilliant and sad beauty of this world

- i got a tattoo
- i possibly, and probably, suffer from CFS/ME
- but i will definately get another tattoo
- i just opened a microscopic shop here, even though it was way too premature
- and today i opened up my blog again

corner view: through the eyes of a child

..."the child" being the photographer (me) :)

ps - i'm away for a while, this post was 'planned' but didn't post, so that's why i'm late for cv. might post randomly for the next couple of weeks - or might not ;)

corner view: postcard

I used to collect postcards. Here are just a few of my favourites - all old ones. The humorous nr. 1 is my absolute favourite :)

We've had mainly rain here so far this summer, resulting in lots and lots of indoor activity, but finally we had a pocket of sunshine. Just enough to enjoy more of all that green stuff out there - before it started to rain again .... 

The kittens are now down to six, as the tinyest of them died the next morning. Our daughter sits in front of their 'cage' most of the time, naming them - and naming them again. Deciding who looks like their mother, who might be their father(s) (and oh yes, we believe 'him' to be in the multiple), who's argumentative, who's submissive and who's just sweet. (All of them, of course). Our son is having his yearly vacation (staying with his best friend just outside town for a week), and hasn't seen them yet. He's thrilled, and I suspect we'll stay clear of the usual argument on when he'll come back home this time.

corner view: before and after

Once more, Nature provided me with a trick for this weeks cv. Here's our cat a couple of days ago (after the littlest woman of the house adorned her with a veil and fake roses):

And here, yesterday:

Not one, not two, three or even five kittens, but EIGHT!!!
On of them were still born, so now we just hope the mother has enough milk for all of them.
And should I mention new homes for all seven....
Happy corner vieweing at Francesca's!

viking life

It looks like we won't be going on our yearly viking adventure this year. A bit sad, but we're working on replacing it with something possibly even more rewarding.

Anyway, I realized that last year, I didn't show off much of the viking side of life - so here's some photos from 2010.

As for this week's CV, I'm completely stuck. The themes are getting more and more challenging!

corner view: box of tricks

On a day that started out as an emotional rollercoaster in our home, and everyone needed a change of scenery...

....a bourgeois patch of well tended grass, benches and ponds turned out to be just the trick we needed. After we crossed the bridge, that is.

A forgotten bicycle helmet at the other side of the stream (on the tree stump!)...

A drum set!

A waterfall..

A colosseum in the making...

A tin roofed birdhouse...

A tree covered with sap filled 'warts'...

Hard work getting rid of the sap...

Forgotten pathways...

The Mother Tree of the Forest (click it, then click it again, and imagine yourself up there)...

An avine aquaintance...

The inevitable empty beer cans...

Not bad, huh? That Mother Nature is full of tricks. 

And they work - we left for home feeling at ease, happy, loved and loving.

For more tricks, check out the comment section of Francesca's box of tricks.

green grass of tunnel

corner view: positive thought for bad moments

This is it. A blank page in a notebook. Because I have no positive thoughts for bad moments. I simply sink into the swamps of negativity. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to reading everybody else's cv's today - go ahead - encourage me. I'll be sitting here, notebook in lap, ready to take notes!

(P.S. See that little piece of yarn on the floor? It's attached to a ball of yarn, which is attached to a sweater I'm knitting for myself. Well, there's a positive thought. Being creative, in some way. And oh, there's so many ways :) )

rite de passage

                            

In Norway, as in many other countries, teenagers go through a coming of age ritual to mark the leaving behind of childhood. In the old days, this was a ritual to mark the entrance of adulthood; a 'passage' from childhood to adulthood.

That was before James Dean cemented the teenager into our culture forever; a period of time which seem to expand (in both ends) with each new generation. People don't seem to become grown-ups anymore.

Anyway.

The jewish Bar/Bat Mitzvah, the hindu Upanayanam, the christian Confirmation, the japanese Seijin shiki, even the U.S.' Sweet Sixteen; within different cultural contexts, they all mark the same transition. In Norway, there are two options; the christian and the humanist, which both take place the year the teenager in question turns 15. 

Our soon-to-be 15 year old son chose the humanist ceremony. Once a week for 6 months he met up with other teenagers and a group leader to discuss all kinds of subjects related to ethics, humanism, human rights, alcohol and drugs, immigration and class, sex/abortion/homosexuality etc. 

The whole thing culminated in a solemn ceremony, and a family party. Speeches were required. So I took the opportunity to tell my son how lucky he is to be born here, now, and receiving applaud, gifts, and cake, instead of all the other things he might have had to endure were he born in a different culture or at another time. For instance (and yes, some of them are hard to believe, hence the photos - they were all shot during the speech):

He didn't have to get undressed and cover himself in ash.

He didn't have to spend several days and nights in a cave, deprived of food, sleep and water.

He didn't have to be attached to a pole through hooks penetrating his skin, and he didn't have to drink the blood of the male elders of the family. 

He didn't have to cut his private parts, or otherwise receive the power of manhood through means one would be imprisoned for in our culture.

He didn't have to get tattoos or get tied down in an anthill.

He didn't have to kill a lion or sleep naked in the snow.

We have lost a lot between the blood drinking and the cake. Comfort is not one of them.

corner view: on my wall

shadowplay on my bathroom wall; the light coming through the lace curtains.

i've joined corner view again. hopefully, this will inspire me to get back on the blogging track again, which i kind of fell of somewhere along 2010.... a list of participants will be added to my side bar soon.