Tullarbo - for the 32nd time

To all friends world wide, Cheers, and welcome to the summer 2009 at Tullarbo. No internet free zone this year. Modern secured wi-fi communication established. Blog posting as usual.

Thank you for the visit

Henrik and Helene has returned to Wales.
A week with the grandchildren has come to an end. We are exhausted, but would never have been without the two kids running around in the apartment. Laughing and playing, crying and shouting, reading for hours in the bathroom, and taking everything out of every possible drawer. Playing the piano to the despair of Hedda and Stian, (our neighbors downstairs), and through their English language make people wondering hoe so "small" children could speek a foreign language with such excellence.
Henrik at the cottage has the special smart face the make you wandering what he has done without our knowledge.
He is also trying out the bicycle without reaching down to the pedals.
At Sognsvann Helene is feeding the ducks, but keep the distance to the water.
"Mormor" and the two Cymric growing children.
Thank you for the visit and please return as soon as possible to Norway and us.

Bench of the week (10)

I found this bench when I was out walking last week-end. It is a couple of kilometres from our summer cottage and close by the local road. As you can see from the picture below it is part of an ornamental garden that among other things includes a small bridge, but at the same time fits in with the local natural environment.

Sitting there is also the perfect place for watching the sunset in the summer.

I have not made this into a meme, but if anyone else would like to join me in publishing benches on Fridays, they are of course welcome to do so. Give me a hint and I'll come visiting.

Sky Watch Friday # 60

Low tide at Rødtangen

All shots hand held HDR made by three exposures in Photomatix.

For more Sky Watch photos, visit the Sky watch site - Sky watch was Dots idea, now hosted by Sandy, Wren, Klaus, Fishing Guy and Ivar.

Every family has ........... Life is Fragile

Every family has one.
Every family has a story.
Every family has its secret, and there is one in every family.
These phrases can be used in many situations and also be used related to my family, and his name was Fredrik.

In October 28, 2005 (3,5 years ago) I published a blogpost (in Norwegian) about Fredrik and his success of getting out of the hell of being drug addicted, starting his 4 year study to become a teacher, and that he in 2005 received a price as "Årets Læringshelt" (Hero of adult learning).
Next Thursday, Fredrik´s funeral will take place.

Fredrik was very open about his problems and challenges. He was often used as a good example of how to make changes in a life situation even when background and age made many things more difficult.
He presented papers in various seminars and congresses, and from one paper at Riga, Latvia, I quote:
First his introduction:

7 years ago I was a drug addict. It started out when I was 20 years old in 1988. I don’t want to bother you with my sad story. But when I look back now, I can see that one of the most important reasons to why things went so wrong for me was that I really didn’t know what to do with my life. I had no clue at all. I was 20 years old, already an adult, and the only thing I enjoyed was sleeping in the daytime and doing things that was not legal in the night time. I mingled with the wrong kind of persons, and soon I was in deep trouble. In 2001, I woke up one day in a strange bed and found myself committed to a hospital in Fredrikstad by force. I was almost dead. They locked the door, and I felt like they had thrown away the key. But it saved my life. I stayed in the hospital for several years and we started planning my way back 2to a normal life. The only problem was that I wasn’t sure what a normal life was. I knew only one thing for sure. Some years ago, when I was lying in bed very sick from not getting my drugs, I had 2 wishes. The first wish was to become something. To have a plan for my life, a schedule every day, to do something I enjoyed every day. Not having to get money all the time, just to survive. The second thing was; to have a girlfriend, a family.

So, I was recovering well, and I met with the Norwegian employment office (NEO). It was a big meeting. It was 5 or 6 of them and me. They actually told me that if I continued doing well in recovery, I could do what ever I wanted to do. I could become whatever I wanted to become. They would support me all the way. All my struggles through the last years paid off, I was so happy. So I went on with my recovery, and after a while I was offered an opportunity to attend a school.
I went down to NEO again to talk to the women in charge, my new "case handler". Guess what she said. She said; “NO! We can’t help you.
We can put you in a course for a couple of weeks, a work training course and then you have to get yourself a job as everyone else. There will be no special treatment for you”.

Fredrik did not give in. He really wanted a new life and at last one public NEO officer said:

I personally would really like to help you achieve your goals, but I have to check it up with my boss. But I will do everything in my power to help you, as long as you do everything in your power to graduate as a teacher. This will be a two way thing. She went to talk to her bosses, and a few weeks later she phoned me. Go to school, she said. We support you for 4 years… It was one of the greatest things that had
happened to me. Not just the money, but there were actually people that believed in me. I think that maybe this was as important as the money.

In this paper: Equal opportunities for all. The value of adult learning in promoting equality. The threshold to learning, Riga 2007, he ended his speech like this:

Most of the people that are gathered here today is working with something that has to do with adult learning, or having an interests in this field. All of you, in your own way, can make sure that the threshold to learning gets a little bit lower. You just have to have faith in people, believe in them, stand behind them and help them. Help them overcome their fears and their problems. Help them to help themselves!

- Always give people a second chance
- Support the ones, that want to become adult learners, all the way through their education with all possible means
- Don’t always transfer bad experience to your next case. People are different.Everybody needs a chance.
- If you want to help someone, make sure their surroundings of their education are prepared. Help them prepare for learning. They may need more than just a seat in a classroom.
- Don’t give up on them if they fail one time. People do fail you know. Many people needs a second chance before they understand the seriousness of the situation.
- But make sure that they follow the rules. Show them that you care and that you have faith in them!

Many people had faith in Fredrik. He got a lot of respect and positive feedback. He changed physically and the way he behaved in family gatherings. He succeeded in his struggle to graduate. He got a job as a teacher.

He was happy - too happy!
He wanted to "celebrate his victory", but his body did not tolerate the drug. He died from an overdose a week ago.
We will remember Fredrik for what he was, what he achieved and what he told us in the end.
Life is fragile.

Crowing over Sky Watch

I was inspired for this week's contribution to Sky Watch Friday by the post made by Tom about crows. As everybody knows, Tom managed SWF all by himself for quite a while, and did it excellently. Please visit him and say hello.

PS Please visit Sky Watch Friday's own site for more.

Floating stage

From Bjorøyhavn outside Bergen

A civil engineer to be?

During my career in DNV and raising two girls in that period, I always hoped that at least one of them would choose to study naval architecture, mathematics or physics.
One decided to go for Drama and English language and literature before graduating as a Master of Arts in Digital Media and presently working with her PhD.
The other ended up, so far, with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology.

This morning I saw a new dawn in the family academic possibilities; Henrik´s interest in building towers with Lego bricks.Concentration and focus.
With a little help from your friends (and family) maybe you will fulfill my dreams.

S is for Sheep in ABC Wednesday

We all think we know what a sheep is, but do we? Let's see what Wikipedia has to say about the subject:

Domestic sheep (Ovis aries) are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name "sheep" applies to many species, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries. Numbering a little over 1 billion, domestic sheep are the most numerous species in their genus.

Now, that should make it clear for all of us. Sheep come in many races. The one shown in the first three pictures is known as "Norwegian white sheep" and is a race that has been bred for certain qualities.

They come of course in all sizes.

Even as twins.

Like in all families, there are Black sheep. This is another race that has been bred in Norway and is called "Blæset sau". What that is in English I don't know.

The International aspect of this post is covered by these English sheep I found close by Hadrian's wall. I don't know which race this is either.


Today's post is an entry in the fourth round of ABC Wednesday, the meme initiated by Denise Nesbitt.

For more, you can log on via a Mr Linky enabled site

Spring

Apple tree blooming and the wind warm and lovely.
Summer is coming closer

How not to take pictures of birds - or how to take Odd Shots

I once had an ambition about becoming a bird photographer.

Please visit Katney's Kaboodle for more about Odd Shots!

Shabby shed in Monochrome Maniacs

This Monochrome concept came from Aileni at The Monochrome Maniacs

An old dandelion has a visitor

I do not know what this insect is called - maybe someone else does?

PS The Today's flowers meme was founded by LUIZ SANTILLI JR. . Please visit and enjoy.

Family Gathering

Children, Mothers and Grandparents gathering in Oslo.

Henrik´s first time in Norway and three years since last visit by Trine and Helene. Maja is still more interested in sleeping, Tor-Marius is the photographer and David is working in Wales.

Hedgehog

One advantage of having a rural summer cottage is that you may find photo subjects like this little guy here. I heard some rustling among the bushes and found two of them! I took a lot of pictures, only to find that I had to delete most of them. They are so wary that even my exposure setting of 1/200 sec. was too slow most of the time. It seems that they could hear the mirror starting to lift and then reacted before the shutter had finished. This was the best one.

But next time...

Bench of the week (9)

This week's bench can be looked upon as a representative of the public benches in Bergen. This one is one of the many that is placed around the lake "Lille Lungegaardsvann" in "Byparken" (TheCity Park) in Bergen.

Below is the same bench seen from the other side with the Bergen Art Museum (formerly an office building for local The Electricity Board) in the background.

I have not made this into a meme, but if anyone else would like to join me in publishing benches on Fridays, they are of course welcome to do so. Give me a hint and I'll come visiting.

PS If anyone should think they I have been too heavy with Photoshop lately, I have not. The clear colours and saturation is due to the use of a Polarizing filter on my main lens. It acts like a sun glass for the camera, and is a very old technique. I have just used it more often lately.

Sky Watch Friday # 59

Sunset by the Drammen River
This is not a lensflare, it is a halo/Sundog(optical phenomenon)
If you want to read about this, click here.

For more Sky Watch photos, visit the Sky watch site - Sky watch was Dots idea, now hosted by Sandy, Wren, Klaus, Fishing Guy and Ivar.

Maja visiting Tullarbo for inspection

Last autumn we started a small renovation of our summer residence. Today we are close to finishing this work (no activity during winter cold), and the result was inspected by Maja and parents today.The princess herself was not too eager to applaud her grandparent´s effort. She is at the moment more concerned with breast-milk harvesting and sleeping.The next three photos show the result of our interior work at Tullarbo.
The TV corner and living"room":
And the dining room now connected to the kitchen in an open space: The cottage as seen here is only 22 sqm, and could be put in our bedroom at home. Of corse are all paintings made by myself.

R for Relaxing at Rawa Island, South China Sea

Wednesday, the possibility is 92.000.000 nok (>10 mill euros) in the Viking Lotto game this evening, so if I become the single winner I promise you to go to Rawa Island in Malaysia once more to Relax and plan for how to spend my Ridiculous huge fortune.

I could have used R for Repair with Reference to yesterday Recovery post, or R for Rejected to upload photos due to lack of Picasa Storage, but Rawa is her to stay.

I have to purchase more space for uploading photos, so this reference to a previous post is all today

More references to R are found HERE

R is for RED as in a fire station - in ABC Wednesday

What could be more RED than a fire station? In this case it is the old fire station in Bergen. This beautiful old building was built in 1888, and it was built as a fire station. It may look like a cross between a railway station and a church, but the dominating tower was used for drying the hoses after use and wash.

This beautiful façade was clearly meant to impress. However, first there was a hotel that hid it. After a fire(!) in 1916 that destroyed a large part of central Bergen, the façade was again hidden by an add-on for garages, stores and what-not (see below).

The picture is from 1963 and is courtesy of Bergen University Library.

Bergen has recently got a new and more modern fire station, so the add-on has been torn down and the façade can again be seen in full splendour. However, it will only be for a short while. A new building that is going to house the Courts of Appeals will come here, although there has been a bit of grumbling about that just lately. Maybe we will still get to see this magnificent building?


Today's post is an entry in the fourth round of ABC Wednesday, the meme initiated by Denise Nesbitt.

For more, you can log on via a Mr Linky enabled site

Apartment renovation nearly finished

Sometimes my world is very narrow. Hopefully next week will be more interesting when family from Wales are coming on a visit. However here is my tuesday contribution.
As described in my blog on May 5th we have had an accident connected to spreading of building dust all over our apartment. A cleansing process has now been going on in our rooms for three weeks. The final activity (presently going on) is to restore our paintings by a professional conservator.
Visit other My world Tuesday and get inspired.