EX's and EX's EX's

We went to an interesting confirmation last weekend. Confirmation is a big deal in Norway. The young man getting confirmed is my godchild, Christian, who is also the son of my ex's daughter by a former marriage. She had invited all the relatives: There were myself and Husband, and all four of my children who are Christian's uncles and aunts. My ex who hasn't been on talking terms with his daughter for 12 years came with his current wife and his sister. My ex's first ex, Christian's maternal Grandmother was also there. She and my ex hadn't seen each other in 25 years. Finally there was Christian's mother's ex: Chrisians father, though he didn't bring his new wife and children, and various relatives of Christian's mother's fiance. It was a gathering of ex's and new partners, but every one behaved well and was pleasant.

I think he had a memorable day: it was warm and sunny. During the seremony in the church the priest from Sierra Leone gave a sermon that cracked everybody up. He was so funny! The theme was riches in goods vs riches in God. A fitting subject as it is common to give money and gifts for confirmations, and the kids tend to compete on who gets the most money. When Christian had counted up his gifts he had recieved a total of about $8000. That definitly puts him near the top of the class as far as confirmation money goes. There was lot's of good food, and songs written especially for the occasion by his grandmother (another norwegian custom).

Birthday: One day in the life of...

At 5:45 am I opened my eyes. As usual just before the alarm was set to go off. Piril jumped off the pillow where she was curled up next to my head, Funky jumped off my legs and Topsy sat up and began licking my hand. We followed the usual morning routine: I fed the dog and cats, Tor made the coffee. After coffee we had our breakfast of yogurt with muesli and a nectarine. On the way out of the house I stopped by the cabin in the garden which is Ingvild's room to say good morning, good bye and good luck with her semester finals in jazz dance and ballet. She showed me some of her ballet moves yesterday afternoon. I am really impressed. She is graceful, controlled with a lovely expression of joy in the movements, not that fake smile you so often see. I'm sure she will do well.

Had a short day shift, ending at 2 pm. Most of my patients were planned admissions. You can often have quite interesting conversations with these patients, and get to know some interesting people. My last patient was an emergency patient, quite a complicated case: He initially presented with stroke symptoms and had a history of diabetes. The first set of vitals uncovered a fever of 102.2 and rapid breathing with an odd pattern. This caused me to take arterial blood gases, which showed an elevated blood sugar, and a urine speciman, which was positive for nitrite. So now we had a hyperglycemic diabetic with a urinary tract infection, hyperthermia and stroke symptoms. So I was kept busy initiating fluid replacement and giving medication to bring down the blood sugar and fever...

I had brought a rhubarb cake to share with my colleagues, but was busy with this patient and thus didn't get to sit down with them while they were having it. Everyone seemed a little surprised that I had brought cake on a Thursday - we usually have cake on Fridays - but only one person actually asked. So then I had to admit that it was my birthday, every one said "Happy Birthday", but I was out of there, leaving the cake for the afternoon shift when they came.

When I got home there was a present waiting for me on the dining room table. It was from our neighbors across the street. They had left it in the mailbox. Otherwise I had calls from all the kids, as well as from Father and from my friend Nils. Husband had big news. He has been offered the new job he had applied for: running the isolation unit for up and coming artificial insemination boars that the pig breeding association has. It's a part time job, and the boar barn is only a 10 minute walk from our house. Better pay, retirement package, regular hours. I think he will be happy there!

In the evening we went orienteering. They only had advanced level courses so I chose the shortest: 2.6 km. It still took me an hour and a half, but this is the first time I have found all the controls on an A-level orienteering course.

When we got home and had showered I called our neighbors across the street to have some of the delicious birthday cake that Tor had made me. It was a whole wheat sponge filled with sliced banana and caramel cream, and iced with whipped cream and almond caramel sauce.

After they left, we had just made our evening cocoa and were about to sit down to a few quiet minutes of crossword and griddle solving, when Ingvild called to say she had missed her bus home. Off I went in the car to pick her up. One of the unfortunately quite common aggravations of living with a teenager. To be fair, she has only missed the bus twice in the past many months, only it wasn't so long ago last time it happened.

When I got home, my cocoa was cold, and Tor was already in bed and practically asleep. Topsy was curled up at the foot of the bed. I crept under the covers and withing minutes Piril came poking her nose to get in under them with me where she curled up against my side with her head on my arm.

And that was the end of a typical Thursday, which was also my birthday.

May 17th: Norwegian National Holiday

Woke up today to snow flurries! What a start to a day which in Norway is a celebration of Spring (as well as the constitution, democracy, independence, and peace).

It is Ingvild's 17th birthday as well, so we started the day with birthday breakfast: cocoa, boiled eggs, fried bacon, toast, presents and a little later, birthday cake. I decorated the table with balloons and bunches of flowers: daffodils and primroses. At 11am she got on the train to town. She is going to her old school to have cake and meet ex-classmates, and then to town to have dinner with her boyfriend and see the Russ (high school graduates) parade.

At noon we went to the village to watch the children's parade, listen to band music, sing national anthems and have ice cream. There is a store with Italian ice cream. Yummy!

Made a tofu veggie stir fry with fried rice for dinner. Otherwise I've been spending the day working on editing this blogg. The weather has been too unstable to make gardening savory: there's been a chill wind, and spots of sunshine, punctuated by snow/sleet flurries. Brrr.

Chicken Brains

There is something called chicken brains isn't there? There is in Norwegian at least. My little flock of 13 hens are an example. The weather has been gorgeous and we had repaired the outside run. Now we are just waiting for the chickens to actually go outside, scratch around in the dirt, and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. But no, the closest they have gotten by themselves is for the two bravest hens to lie on the platform outside the opening to sun themselves. First I stopped feeding them inside, until evening and scattered oats on the ramp. Then I moved the feeder outside and filled it there. Still those stupid chickens just craned their necks to peek out the opening put did not venture outside. Finally I simply waited until they had laid their eggs for the day and then chased them outside. The result: 6 or 7 came straight back inside, 5 of them didn't come in at all and had to be caught and put inside in the evening. They had forgotten to make note of the way in when I chased them out. Talk about chicken brains! Husband is sick and tired of catching chickens every evening. Tonight I'm home for once and this time I locked them out after chasing them out. Maybe if I don't open up until evening those 5 will learn from the others how to go back in. What I really need is to get a rooster who can teach them proper chicken behavior. They killed the rooster I had bought with them a few weeks after I got them.

MAY

May has always been my favourite month, even though it is different in Norway, than in more temperate places I have lived. There, May was the month of lilacs and the first strawberries. Here in Norway, may is the month when the leaves come out on the trees, when daffodils and tulips bloom. When the woodlands are covered with white carpets of windflowers and blue anemones dot the moss. It has always been the month of my birthday, but in Norway May is punctuated with holidays. First comes May Day, which is the European equivalent of Labor Day; then there is the Norwegian National Holiday on May 17th. Also usually falling in May are the religious holidays of Ascension and Whitsun, both of which are observed with schools and businesses closed. Since ascension always comes on a Thursday, schools typically take a 4 day weekend. The following weekend, Whitsun, is observed as a long weekend with Monday off. And working on any of these holidays gives 133% overtime in Norway (hooray for social democracy!)


May Day this year has been a productive day for me. The rain that has been threatening for nearly a week finally began coming down in earnest. I spent some time out in the garden right after breakfast: planted a sweet cherry tree, and a rhododendron. Mulched the blueberries and the other rhododendron with the remaining sack of rhododendron soil, and raked the straw mulch off the iris’ that I had set in the fall. That was as far as I got before it started raining. Perfect weather for newly planted trees and bushes!


Husband and I and Topsy also went orienteering. It was a great course, not too easy, not too hard: 1.8 km with 10 controls! I love running through the woods, along paths or just by compass, stopping now and then to study the map. I’m really not very good. I just love the challenge, the exercise and the woods. This course took me 34 minutes.


I’m at work now. The rain continues to fall. It is quiet in the ER, but I have a patient coming in by ambulance in a little while. So I’m sure there will be some nursing challenges today also.