17th of May / 17. mai!

The 17th of May is the Norwegian Constitution Day, the National Holiday.  In the Pacific Northwest, the big celebration is every year in Ballard.  Very different from what we are used to in Norway, but lots of fun!

Bydelen Ballard i Seattle er kjent for sin nordiske arv, og det er nettopp her at 17. maifeiringen skjer.  Stort, med delegasjoner som kommer langveisfra, også fra andre stater.  Svært annerledes i Norge, ingen snakker norsk, men gøy likevel!

Meeting Norwegian Fjord horses outside Nordic Heritage Museum

Vi får møte fjordinger utenfor Nordic Heritage Museum.

Giving the horsie a hug...

"Kooose hesten!"

Games for the kids at Ballard Community Center

Bergen Place 

Watching the parade

Vi ser på toget!

Celebration over.  Getting to the car.

Så er dagen over, og vi går til bilen.

Mother and Child

 "Mother and Child" by Mary Cassatt is another of my favorite paintings.  It is  in Paris, in Musee d'Orsay.

I discovered this American impressionist painter when I was an art history student, and I've always since been fascinated by her work.

She lived in France for many years, and she became a friend of the french painter Degas.

It wasn't appropriate for a woman in the 1800's to explore the city's bars and other meeting places, so her inspiration had to come from the domestic sphere.  Mothers and their children became her main motif, and I love the way she shows emotion in her pictures.

"Mor og Barn" er et annet av mine favoritt-malerier. Det er i Paris, i Musee d'Orsay.
Jeg oppdaget denne amerikanske maleren da jeg studerte kunsthistorie, og jeg har siden da vært fascinert av arbeidet hennes.
Hun bodde i Frankrike i mange år, og hun ble en nær venn av den franske maleren Degas.
Det var ikke akseptert for kvinner på 1800tallet å utforske byens barer og andre møtesteder, så hennes inspirasjon ble hentet fra den hjemlige sfæren. Mødre og deres barn ble hennes hovedmotiv, og jeg liker måten hun viser føleser i bildene sine.

Who would have thought?

Yes, I'm hooked. I started reading Twilight, because I wanted to know what it was all about, and now I'm done with the 3rd book in the saga, and, of course, impatiently started the last one, Breaking Dawn.
I can hardly stay away from the universe of rainy, suspenseful Forks...

Tulips! / Tulipaner!

We got there just in time.  It was  the very last day of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. What a beautiful sight!

Vi rakk det akkurat. Det var den siste dagen av tulipanfestifalen i Skagit Valley da vi tok turen vel en time nordover. Så utrolig vakkert! 

Our four Seattleites / Våre fire Seattleitter

April 18th 2009

Refreshing, funny, and with a serious edge.

Yes, I finished the second Shopaholic book, and I had a blast.  It was so refreshing reading about this silly girl, who makes me laugh so hard that my husband can't sleep...  I feel I sort of know Rebecca Bloomwood, and even if we are rather different, she sounds like she could have been a good friend!  

Her relationship with Luke is important in this book, as is New York, the glamourous lifestyle, and then, towards the end, a sort of wakeup call for our heroine, and a few points to think over...

I just finished the book when there was a parcel from Barnes & Noble at my door, and now I'm reading the third book in the Twilight Saga: Eclipse.  I just have to keep going here.  I'm sold, helplessly, witout any say in it, addicted to see this story though, all the way to the end.  I'm there, with Bella, with the others.  I feel and smell the wetness of the forest of Forks.  I love it.