Short Oslo visit

My dear Dad drove me to the trainstation at Kjelsås today. I was going to go back to Kristiansand with the 11.11 train from Oslo S, so he thought it convenient to take the train down to the city. It turned out to be a bit nerve wrecking...
Yesterday I had a morning date with Wendy, a percussionist (former student of the dad!), at 08.30.
We took the bus to Kristiansand Airport together. We were both going to Oslo with the 10.30 flight. I was going there for a funeral and to visit the cello doctor, Wendy for the written exam for her lisence.
I had my fridge with me, so I had included some negotiation time on the airport. Luckily I didn't need any, except for checking in. My booking number wasn't valid. Hooray.
Wendy and I split up at Gardermoen, and when I came to Oslo S, I realized that I had some spare time before I had the short rehearsal with the organ-player at 13. I rang my sister, and she had 30 min. break, so I jumped on a bus and visited her at school. My first time to Elvebakken VGS. It was great to see where she's spending so much time!
Then I headed off to Helsfyr.
No problem.
Looked for the krematorium (it's just a chapelle now, but it used to be a krematorium until august).
No problem.
Asked for a place to warm up.
N problem.
Where were the organ player? And when to play? Where?
some problems.
When he finally came, we had 3 min. of tempo setting, and then he was off.
Problem!
The place was a maze, we had very little time left, and we had not even been through the Swan. Well, it all went well. Luckily. Despite that the Swan was more like an old one, struggling to breathe and absolutely not ready for takeoff. But it pleased the family, so I should not complain.
Afterwords, I met Mum for a coffee at the central station. We met Guro on our way too, so she joined us.
It was a very pleasant coffee date, I could have one every day!
At 16 I was on my way to Urs, the magic sound doctor for my cello. I spent around 1.5 hours in his workshop, and now it's almost as nice as it was in May. The dryness of autumn makes strange things with my wooden soundbox, but we're experimenting with millimetres and it works.
Then I could catch my bus to Dads house and see Pauline and Helene. My sister is having Desucon this weekend so we were bleaching her hair, sewing a belt and being very creative. And then watching True Blood. Finally.
And this morning I got to see my Dad too, before he drove me to the trainstation. He got very nervous on my behalf because the train didn't show up. It turned out to be 15 min. late, and then I would miss my second train. Next train would be too late for me; I wouldn't be there for the premiere of La Boheme. ooops.
But 11.11 I was well seated in my train, and now I'm on my way out the door to play some beautiful music in a way too small pit.

Saturday walk

It's been a while since Mum, Eivind and I went for a saturday walk. Today we went from Skytterkollen to Brunkollen. It was great - not too warm, but not cold. And we were almost alone in the forest. The weather was changing a lot, so I guess the other ones didn't want to get wet...
Up at Brunkollen they had closed for the day, but the summer subs were enjoying their afterwork with a glass of wine. And the dogs were dozing in the sun. The cat, a fat, old black one, were SO cozy. It came for cuddles, and its paws were walking in the air all the time. And purring.

Otherwise, my days are filled with food, rest and friends. Wednesday, after coming to Oslo again after weeks of Stavanger summer, I spent the evening at Amandas (at last!) - we had a great talk!!
Grandma has finally got to some adventure; up to the cabin with Astrid, and friday I was looking at a car for Robi and me.
A blue Citroen Xsara Picasso. Quite a catch, at least in my eyes. Now we're just waiting for the contract to be sent to Robi, and then we'll be car-owners again. Iiiii!

Location: Mums livingroom
Mood: ok, but not too happy with all the change in the weather. And I could do with my boyfriend around too
Listening to: Mums knitting

Birthdayparty

And I asked them all to gather around Grandpa like an oldfashioned photographer. Anders and Anne came later.. Grandma had booked a room with equipment like cutlery, plates and coffee machine. Mum and Astrid had made snitter and Grandma had baked kringle. And then it was Astrids cream cake with cloud berries (picked up around Grandpas cabin). I know I shouldn't eat any dairy products, but it was so yummie! And I know Grandpa enjoyed his 90th birthday tremendously.

Preparations

Mum and Grandma is putting together the flower decorations for the family party, celebrating Grandpas 90th birthday, tomorrow.

Last night

Of the Opera. Now I'm on summer holiday! Mum (murri) was sitting at 1st desk. The audience was enjoying it tremendously, I think the two russian guests were making a great show. And then, when I picked up a load of vinyl at Dad's place, I heard it was the last performance for Igor. May he have a great retirement (at the age of 42)!

Shopping!

I managed to convince these two to accompany me on my shopping today. I wanted a summer dress, some shoes (light ones, no heel) a wedding gift for Sigurd and Anne Sigrid, and on top of this: not be alone. Eivind is somewhat allergic to shopping, but with this treat I think it was worth it...

More 17th of May!

Grandma made cake - both with and without cream (I can't eat any dairy products...).

She even decorated them according to the day! Eivind did a heroic job by grinding coffee beans by hand. (well, almost anyway.) And so we had a great 17th of May evening coffee :)

17th of May

Hooray! Spent the morning at Donskitoppen where Grand-dad is living. We watched the children marching by, had some coffee and now relaxing in the garden. Mum borrowed my hat from my national costume. Lovely, isn't she?

Sunday dinner

Whole family gathered together in the restaurant Far East. Here are the two family mothers, enjoying their food!

Night snack

Mum brought this from Vienna. I think the name did it all... Even though it's really good on toast, my after-work snack consisted of half a grapefruit and a cup of peppermint tea. Truly delicious company to calm mind after a day work, practice and tax papers.

Šišky, tea and movie

Mum and my brother left today, leaving us lost and bewildered. Now we're comforting our selves with these slovak doughnuts, tea and a movie. Eivind, this fantastic picture is a tribute to you! Isn't it just artisticly amazing? ;)

Windmills on the roof

Mum wants to be environmently friendly. How many of there would she need to light up her house? Would 2 on the roof be sufficient?

Spring!

I'm delighted!!
But can't enjoy it fully yet, because I woke up with the stiffest neck in history this morning.

Location: Bærum
Eating: Waffles soon!
Drinking: ...with additional coffee
Mood: sad and frustrated! Want to be fit for fight - and easter. Not feeling like an old woman.

Bus vs Airplane

This last week has been crazy. I've learnt how it is to be working double - in two different cities.
My schedule:

Sunday - bus to Kristiansand
Monday- 10-14 rehearsal, KSO
15.45 flight
19 Don Quixote at the Opera
Tuesday- 0558 bus to city (then airport train)
07.50 flight to Kristiansand
10-14 rehearsal KSO
Wednesday- 10-14 rehearsal KSO
15.45 flight
19 Don Quixote
Thursday - 0558 bus (then airport train)
07.50 flight
10-13 Dress rehearsal
19.30 Concert
Friday - 16 bus to Arendal
19 concert
Saturday 0910 train to Oslo
18 don Quixote
Sunday -Walk with mum by the ocean and saw a great exhibition (www.ellens.no)
18 don Quixote

I am really tired today!
Thanks to Vojta, I didn't have to bring the cello on the planes. I was only bringing my hand luggage and bow case. And my cello had vacation from the pit.

After the performance on Sunday, Mum was really funny during the drive home. We were giving one colleague a ride home, and in the darkness you find the strangest of creatures. One homeless person collecting cans and bottles in the lights from passing cars. And up-your-bum-drivers.
We had to go down a really narrow, quite steep and winding road to get home. Out of the blue (well, black is probably a more describing word) there came a red up-your-bum driver. Of course. He tried to get a good view of the road - to know when to pass us. This is more or less impossible on this road, unless you are highly suicidal. Halfway down we had to leave this roller coaster of a road. And guess what - the up-your-bum driver had the same route. Mum hates these ones. Why do they have to drive so close they can almost smell your ass?? I wonder.
Our road has a speed limit of 50, so she drove almost too slow just to piss him off. Then she put her foot on the gas and almost hit 60 just to let her car roll home, continuously loose speed. Some few metres from our gate, the red car were ready to pass us. Just then, Mum had to give signal to turn left. Of course.
I guess the guy got really pissed off. Suits him right!



Location: Mums kitchen
Eating: Breakfast, soon anyway. Oat porridge.
Drinking: Coffee
Listening to: The fan over our oven.
Mood: My mum is cool! And I'm still smiling of the flirtatious conductor yesterday. Too many cute girls and guys to wink at. He was quite busy, I can tell.

Hyttetur

The title is a tribute to the song "Hyttetur" and I think all Norwegians knows how it goes. It wasn't any sister who was sour, but a grandma who was complaining. But that was mostly because her equipment didn't hold together.

My brother is at a folkehøyskole (some kind of school in-between high school and uni. Voluntarily.), called Bjerkely Folkehøyskole, where they focus on photography. And this Saturday they had all the families gathered to see what the young, aspiring artists had done during their excursions abroad. Mum wanted to go there, and dragged both me and Grandma with her. Since the school is much closer to the cabin than home, we slept over there from Friday to Saturday. The only problem was the 1 meter of snow we had to conquer. At least Grandma. It's been over 15 years since last time she used a pair of skis, and the last one to use her shoes was me some 3 years ago.
We didn't really plan anything, just packed some food, clothes for one day, skis and the key. Called aunt Astrid to get the code to a gate-lock, and we all took for granted that everything was ok - only worrying about Grandmas skiing skills.
A mistake.
Her shoes started to fall apart the moment she put them on at home, but we only realized it when we got out of the car 300 m. from the cabin. (That was almost 3 hours drive from home.)
As a result: we spent a few hours to get from the car to the cabin.
We left Grandma's skis in the car, and let her walk instead. Mum left us to find some snowshoes that should be at the cabin (according to Grandma, who hadn't been there for some years), and I stamped my skis into the snow so the old woman would have somewhere to walk without disappearing into the whiteness. It was not really successful. Sometimes I heard "Noooo I don't want to" behind me, turned around only to see her falling SLOWLY into the snow. Tilting, is probably a better word.
Mum didn't find the snowshoes, but Grandpa's old-old skis. They didn't fit, of course, but at least they had a string Grandma could have around her shoes to keep them from falling off.

Finally inside, a cozy fire in the fireplace, soup in our stomachs, tea and burning oil-lamps made the effort worthwhile.

Saturday morning, mum and I woke up with the smell of coffee in our noses. Grandma had gotten up with the sun, heated up the house and came up to the attic with sweet buns and coffee. It was such a nice morning!


Grandma, the early morning bird.


I just woke up - but the coffee was nice and strong :)

After breakfast it was time to pack, wash the dishes and figure out how to get down to the car again. It was still a lot of snow, or more even. After a lot of searching around, we found a second set of keys. They led to a shed mum didn't open yesterday - and what did she find in there? Snowshoes!
I gave Grandma my shoes and skis, and took her old, broken shoes and the snowshoes. Both mum and Grandma fell down a few times (mum due to a heavy backpack, Grandma because of not practised her skiing for a while but blaming the equipment) and we had great laughs at it. I felt like a rescuing party.


Snowshoes!


Grandma on skies, and my footsteps next to her.

To get to Bjerkely, we had to drive through Elverum centrum. It was really crowded everywhere, lots of people - and animals. A market! Every year there is a market there, but we didn't know what date it was (didn't check) so we missed it. Arrgh!
But I'm very happy we didn't miss the show at Eivinds school. It was great! Quite long, but so many fantastic images. How I wished to have enough time and money to go to Cuba, Venezia, Kambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Amsterdam.


This is just some of the rubber Grandma's shoes left behind in the shop...

Location: Mums livingroom
Eating: Dinner, soon
Drinking: -----
Listening to: Grandmas adventures of the day.
Mood: ok

Walk to ... eh, forgot what it's called. But it's very cozy!

Yesterday Mamma and I walked to . It is one of two nearby which you can reach without skies during winter season. All cottages around has their own speciality (of food or beverage) and this one has buns (sweet bread rolls) with "blue sky" (caster sugar, coconut and blue color) - and bread rolls with herbs and cheese.
It is really cozy in there, and we grabbed two chairs under the elk - in front of the window. I think the elk is really cute from below!



Maybe not as cute as the cats -and the rabbit - outside. All animals can go wherever they want :)
One of the cats were really cuddly, but I don't think it liked to be photographed....

First walk with new skies!!

It is still snowing in the south-east part of Norway. The temperature is just below 0 but I hope it will be colder again soon. Then we might keep the snow for a while...
Since it was such a snowy morning, Mum prepared my skies with glider and wax while I made breakfast. (I don't dare to use a hairdryer on my new skies...) After breakfast (or lunch) Mum and I took the car to Solli Gård, and walked down to "Myggheim" (Mosquito home). We had spent only 15 min. until then so we decided to go down to Sandungen (a lake). I couldn't see anything downhill because of all the snow getting in my eyes, but it was such a nice experience anyway. My feet were warm!!!
The wind were so strong down at the lake that we turned immideatly. Back at Myggheim we bought a cup of hot cordial (solbærtoddy) and 4 doughnuts (because the guys in the cottage didn't have any change). Mmmm!


Mum in the track


We left the carpark around 3.30 and headed back home for shower, soup and 1 performance of "Lightfoot".
The whole thing (for us stringplayers) lasts for about 2 hours (for percussion and brass even shorter. Lucky dad!), so when I write this I've already done the dishes and eaten the rest of the soup.

I'm sure the performance was great, the audience were laughing, gasping, clapping and in general of really good spirit. I felt great too, possibly because of the little exercise earlier on.
The best thing, though, is that I really enjoyed it - despite the weather and the unpredictable waxing conditions (lots of people had trouble). My feet were warm and I had control of the skies - and I could brake down easily. Dad, I'm ready for you!

Location: Mums sofa
Drinkin: Rosehip tea
Eating: The "matpakke" from the walk (which we didn't eat)
Mood: Happy, but my thoughts are nagging me a bit with "go and practise!!"

The good deed of the day

This morning, on our way to work, mum and I met a mum and her daughter on the bus. They were in Oslo for the daughters dance-lessons (a course) but had a day off and wanted to see some of the city. I had overheard that they were going to see the opera first, but apparently they didn't know where to jump off the bus. Mum and I brought them with us, and left them in the foyer. There I looked for a guide for them, but this turned out to be impossible - Out of season.
Luckily I saw some sweet ballet girls standing in a group and I asked them if they were going to watch the rehearsal (first rehearsal with dancers on stage) - and their leader confirmed. I felt quite naughty when I asked if it was possible for them to take one ballet girl more with her mum. "Yes, we have lots of tickets" she answered - and the two we met were granted a seat each in our rehearsal.

The rehearsal was 1/2 hour delaid because of some technical problems, and then - the mum were standing by the pit with a huge bouquet of flowers.


Tina and Nora, our guests today


Location: The opera house, "lounge" for the musicians
Eating: "Vørtebrød med brunost"
Drinking: Nothing yet, but I wish for a glass of alcohol free ale
Listenin to: A cellist practicing in the next room (or is it a mad double-bass player??)

Grandma's old artifacts

...are many and they're great. This time she found some of her daughters old beanies. Aren't we great?

Det snør, det snør, tiddelibom

Directly translated: it snows (is snowing), it snows, tiddelibom. (Winnie the Pooh sings this song together with Piggy when they are building a house for Eore. Yup)

When I had come at peace with the idea of a cold winter without any snow, had bought my skates and was ready for my challenge on the ice - it started to pour down like cats and dogs. Well, not really, since it is snow and not rain, but I'm not aware of any English saying that fits. I guess they don't really have this amount of snow anyway.

I had my daily practice when Mum and Grandma went to visit Granddad, our dinner were simmering on the stove (pinnekjøtt (stick-meat. haha), we're trying to eat the last remains of Christmas out of the house so to say), and the snow were starting to pour down. Eivind had left for Vietnam a few hours before (around 12.30) and then the ground was completely bare. When Mum and Grandma came back, there were app. 10 cm. of fresh snow. Grandma shoveled the courtyard. Then we ate our precious west-coast Christmas food, watched the news and then it was time for another round with the shovel. I'm not kidding - there was around 30 cm more snow! Eivinds car had changed colour - AND shape... Well, at least it got washed ;)


Grandma, the caretaker. She's a heroine!!


Our courtyard


And the high voltage mast

Location: My room
Mood: Happy
Eating: Apple from when the Opera were in Sandefjord
Drinking: Nada
Listening to: Nothing, but I've heard the high voltage mast in the corner of Mums garden