Grandmother Ninna again

Part of the table my grandmother sets whenever she has visitors

Two of the days last week I ended up not getting any work, one of the days it was because my phone line was down and they couldn't get a hold of me, which was rubbish.

This was just after my grandmother's birthday, and so I spent part of both days with her. I've realised, partly through travelling and partly after my other granddad passed away, how little time I've actually spent with this grandmother, who lives in the same town as me, and who has recently turned 87. 

The other day, I had borrowed my sister's car, and we drove out to my parents' empty house, drank tea, sat outside in the glorious sunshine of mid-March Tromsø and talked about food. And health. And how nice the tea was. And how nice the sunshine was. And we had a grand, quiet time.

Oh hi, it's my birthday

March 2009, can you believe it

I can't believe that the photo above was taken in my 20th Birthday Party, and that now I have just celebrated being 25 years old. What's worse is that I felt old when I turned 20... Ah, the folly of youth. Which I will repeat in about five years.

Children, now

 He's almost too old to be called a baby, little corn eater Andreas

 Who likes to hug the baking oven (which is luckily not that warm on the outside)

 Who has all the home knit wool wear anyone could want

 And who likes to splash all the water into his sister's face

Said sister, Dina, is now four years old, and practically grown up

And that's all. We had a combined birthday celebration for my sister, Dina and me, last weekend, which obviously meant three different types of chocolate dessert. You can probably see the traces of chocolate on Dina's face. I made some incredibly rich, gluten free, sugar free, almost-vegan-but-with-eggs-cupcakes because of my family, the recipe is here for anyone wanting to try it.

Drive-by

 Ice fishing on the Ramfjord

Tree fishing in the river

We had a short thaw period now in March, and then it all snowed down again. This is a lot prettier than the ice and rain and sleet we had when it was getting warmer, but it's also a reminder that our Northern winter usually lasts at least six months.

Red Cross in my heart

 A few weeks ago I was in Oslo a second time

To finish my instructor's course

And you are now looking at the blog of a fully certified Red Cross instructor! I mean, I'm already an instructor in most Red Cross Youth activities, and I've held seminars and courses on different subjects, but now I can be an instructor on any Red Cross course as long as I have the time to prepare myself. 

Also, I have become such a lazy photographer, and didn't take many photos, as you can see.

Happy birthday Grandmother

Still alive and full of wit - Mor Ninna is 87 today! 

(This from last August when she was a mere 86 years old)

Gratulerer med dagen Mor Ninna! 

(note that Mor means Mother in Norwegian, we all call her this, and in the North it is, or used to be, common to call your grandparents "Mother" and "Father")

Vegetarian for Lent

 A few weeks ago I made these bread-type things from Nicaragua's Caribbean Coast

 Which is kind of cutting pizza dough into small pieces and then deep-frying the pieces, what a brilliant idea

 I also got lots of pretty ingredients

to make something slightly less pretty from this recipe

And this was all before Maja reminded me of our agreement to go vegetarian for Lent again, like we did in England in 2010 and 2011 (not for religious reasons, mind). She reminded me on Pancake Day, so I had to think quickly, and was allowed to finish my meats the day after as well. And while I have been eating a lot of vegetarian food since January, when I moved in with three vegetarians, I will be eating fish during Lent.

Around the beginning of Lent, I realised that the reason I've been so tired the past few months could well be my diet. So: I will have fish, and try to have more of it than usual (usual equals once a month), and eat more varied vegetables, as well as my part time project of buying more organic food.

A little look at my house

 We have sunshine again, looks good on old furniture

 We also have one or two bathrooms

And I have a bedroom, and a globe, and a skirt hanging on my wall.

I just realised I never posted any photos from my "new" old house, where I have now lived almost four months, with only two months left. These were taken a few weeks ago, and is all I have to show for now. My camera has been left alone a lot of the time, as I am running between work and home, Red Cross and the grocery shop, swimming, seeing my friends and spending more time with my family.

I'm trying to get better at picking it up again, as I'm noticing that it gets harder and harder as time passes.

Morfar

August 2010

Today would have been my granddad's 75th birthday, but in my mind and, well, actually, he'll always be 72. Savner deg, morfar.