Kristian seems to think there is more then one way of enjoying the ornaments, and who can blame him…

Looking tasty...

He just has to take a "bite"...

He is a cutie. Last Christmas he was to young to help decorating the tree at grandma and grandpa. Now he is ready to go – after having a little nap. And with help from a bossy big sister everything works out fine.

She is the boss...

Today the whole family met here in Bud to have dinner at “Bryggja i Bud”. The restaurant is located in a seahouse in the harbour and they have mostly dishes made of fish. It was very tasty, and we were happy that Helga and Marthe joined us for this delicious meal.

I also made one more layout for my Design your Life class. I am a little behind in that class, but nothing to worry about. There is only one week left and it`s like I need to make it last for as long as possible. Now there is only one week left before the big shopping race starts. That means I have one week left to prepare for Christmas. This might be a busy week. ( Busy is good)

Elin Marie - helping grandma in the garden. Sketch - Cathy Zielske.

I don’t know why we don’t have snow during the winter anymore. But it is a fact that the climate is changing. Maybe we are to blame for that – maybe it is a natural thing.  Me – I am happy without the snow, but I do think it’s sad that the kids don’t get to play in the snow.

We do have snow for a few days every winter, but it’s nothing like I remember from my own childhood. I remember a lot of snow all winter. I remember the smell of wet cloths, cold feet, the joy we felt when the school bus had trouble making it up the hill. I remember the happy feeling making snow-angels in the untouched snow; making tunnels, snowball fights, skiing….We did have fun.

As all Norwegian I was born with skies on my feet. At least I did believe that. Until my first contest – skiing, I was nine and it was a beautiful sunny winter day. All the kids in the village were competing and I was crossing the line, tasting blood in my mouth.  I was so crossed finding out I came in last – because – really there were other kids crossing the line after me. How was I supposed to know that there were different classes and so on…? I went home to my parents and declared that it was something wrong with my skies. They were crocked, and I needed new ones.  They said no…and that ended my skiing. Come to think of it…I never competed in anything for the next 30 years.

My childhood home during winter – early 60`s.

Almost feel like I made some kind of pledge. Anyway here it is..

This last week our community has made the headlines in the newspapers, and that is nothing to be proud of. I respect everyone’s opinions and I wish we all could do just that. This fine young man that serves us so well is too liberal when he welcomes the homosexuals to church. The state and the church have decided that they are welcome in church. I may not be a believer, but If there is a God, I don’t think he meant that a few where to decide who is worthy or not…I am so glad that the community mobilized and filled up the church for mass this Sunday. GO Sindre…

Our priest Sindre at mass on Sunday - photo RB.nett

This reminds me about another fight in church some thirty years ago. I grew up a few miles from here and as a community we had to fight to keep our female priest. She still serves in the same community and is the best priest ever. Like I think Sindre is going to be if he is willing to stand on the barricades – and if the community supports him.

....seems they do support him. Good for us.

My journaling today just had to be about this. I could not let it go without making a statement, and that is okay.

01.December 08my journaling...

my journaling...

I made this in Norwegian. Just my reflections on this conflict. I do believe that all men are equal and that we all should have the same rights.

After weeks with storms and a lot of rain,  we finally had a good day and I bet the men working with the Christmas decorations today were happy about that. The lights are right outside my windows and gives me an extra nice view this dark and cold month of December. I just took a photo from my window:

I hardly need Christmas - lights inside my apartment...

Earlier today I finished all my 37 pages for my Christmas-album. I will use the front page for photos and whatever Shimelle inspires me to do. The back will be for writing. Since I`m still inspired from Jessica Sprague`s Stories in Hand I plan on writing a lot.:) The good thing about the AC ring album – you can put in extra pages and move them around. And that is a good thing because I have no idea how Shimelle plan to play this.

American Craft 6x12 - ready to go...

The little three is one of Kolette Hall`s design and it is so cute – I just had to find a way to use this cutie.

The front page - design Kolette Hall

I am so exited about this class, I can hardly wait for December 1. For me Christmas starts tomorrow. In the afternoon there is a mess in the church, then everyone goes to the center of the village and lit the Christmas three. There will be music and singing and all the kids gets a bag with candy from Santa Clause. Then it is time for countdown for Christmas Eve….

Thursday, and that means photo assignment in Kolettes “becoming more” class at BPS. We got this cool challenge involving pictures of the letters in our name. So…I packed my photo bag, dressed for an adventure in the wild…looking for letters to photograph.

So…I get my camera out, ready to make my scoop…and it is dead….Guess what? I forgot to put the battery back in. Walked home and put the battery in.Out again….Guess what? I had forgotten my memory card at home.Stubborn as I am, I went home…got the card and took some pictures.

The inner harbour

Maybe you need to sit down?

and enjoy the view.

Ok…those letters…Of course I forgot to bring my zoom lens. So the only letters I got tonight were these;

At least all my letters are there so I might be able to work with this. If not….I just has to do it one more time….with my battery and memory card in my camera.

The flag raised at Lyngstad.

Here comes the parade.

Yes, looking good.

 In Bud the first graders held their sign high with the headmaster Kjerstin looking proud.

While those who just finished school were just as proud and happy.

And like always, someone has to work every May 17.

We had the best day we could whish for. More than one place, Oslo included, had snow to day. What is a little cold wind compared to snow. I bet there is a lot of kids stuffed with soda and ice cream just now.

The best part of May 17 this year is that tomorrow it is SUNDAY…..

To days lesson at BPS is all about me. Seems like an easy task at first. Until you finished and all you have written is; what you want to be. It is a good thing we can do it all over again. All that is left now is to fill in the blanks.

At 10 pm I was outside to take a picture of this page. I just had to turn twice and take two more photos.

Not a good one, but together with the next;

..it describes what the west coast of Norway is all about in May.

Almost didn’t have time to finish. I got so caught up reading Ali Edwards posting about; words + photos in her blog. There is a lot of good advice there about how to tell your story while scrap booking.  I have marked the page so I can go back and read it all over again.

…not everything goes according to the plan….

Now what….

You got two choises, you can try to fix it, or you can try and charm your self out of it….

This evening the village is having a spring cleaning. Every year, a few days before our national day, the village comes together and flushes out the winter trash. Later to night when the traffic slows down we use the car from the fire department to do the hard stuff. If there is no fire….that is.

In the garden something nice is finally showing up…

In Bud we had another beautiful day. I just came home from a meeting, and walking home was a pleasure. Still a little daylight at 10 pm and the inner harbour were so quiet. I am so sorry I didn’t bring my camera. You could see the mirror picture of the sea houses in the water, so clear. There were absolutely no wind and that is a rear thing on the west coast of Norway. Whish we could have a few days more, but it is not likely that is happening.

Is she looking at something scary ?

.

…Still working with October 2007. I can see from the photo that Elin has spent a long day in kindergarten. I wonder what her grandfather put in the DVD player that gets her so exited.

…to night. But, the kids are marching the streets, playing their hart out. Very soon it is May 17, and they better be ready for the street parade.

The weather is still cold, but The Fort at Ergan is looking good in the sun this evening…

I really hope the weather holds out until the weekend.