Summer!

Summer holiday in Norway for me consists of going to the family's cottage and spending lazy days there, reading, swimming, and relaxing. Tomorrow morning, I'm finally heading out to the cottage. It means a whole week without internet access, hot water, drinking water from the tap, or electricity (except for the little we can get from our solar panel for lighting). I think it is delightfully primitive. The cares of the world seem to just melt away, and you are left with peace and tranquillity.

Dragons...they are just amazingly awesome

Of course, as the book person I am, it leaves me space and peace to read and enjoy my books. I came back from England 15 books richer, so I'll be reading and reading and READING. I have just started checking out more fantasy (after I so thoroughly enjoyed The Lord of the Rings), and I have just begun exploring the world of Pern. So far, I like it very much, but I have only read one and a half chapter. But, at the same time, it's about DRAGONS, so how could it NOT be good?

I have recently read Looking for Alaska by John Green, which I liked very much. It considers deep questions concerning the meaning of life and other such things in a way that teenagers can grasp and understand. I absolutely loved the characters - really quirky but at the same time realistic. I have also read Blankets by Craig Thompson recently (in fact, yesterday), and I absolutely loved it. It deals with some of the same themes - growing up, love, insecurity, religion, the big questions of life - and it is a wonderful graphic novel. Both books are highly recommended reads. (And for those of you for whom this might hold merit: Blankets has been observed on John Green's bookshelf. You don't believe me? Here's proof!)

So now I'm going to go and enjoy the Norwegian summer while reading more good books (at least I hope they're good...). I hope your summers are equally wonderful, and that you get enough time to sit down and read a book of your choice in peace and quiet.

Books read: 35
Pages read: 9834

Home to tragedy

And then I'm home again. I must say, it is pretty weird. Everyone speaking Norwegian, people driving on the right-hand side of the road, Norwegian spreads, and in general, food. It sure is good to be home. At the same time, everything is just the same as when I left, so it is almost as if I never left. Yes, it has changed from winter to summer, but it is still the home I know and love.

I had just come home and settled down when tragedy struck. We listened to the radio in disbelief on Friday the 22nd of July. A huge bomb had gone off in the centre of Oslo, in the area where the government have their offices. The blast could be heard all over Oslo. Windows were blown in many blocks away. In the words of the media, the area looked like a 'war-zone'. Just as the horror of what had happened to our peaceful country and town was sinking in, reports started coming in about a possible shooting somewhere else. At Utøya, a man dressed as a policeman had gone into the summer camp of the labour party's youth. When he was in their midst, he had begun shooting around him, killing with a purpose. It turned out that this man had also set off the bomb in the government area in town.

The streets of Oslo were transformed into a sea of flowers under the memorial march

Most people were in shock. How could this happen to our peaceful country, in the middle of the summer holiday? Why would anyone do this? As the death toll started growing beyond anything that has happened in Norway since World War II, shock turned to disbelief and grief. The Norwegian people went out to show their support and stand together in the face of tragedy. Yesterday, a rose march was planned, but too many people turned up to show their support of the victims and their families. The Prime Minister, luckily unharmed by the bomb, addressed the crowd, and the marchers went home again, decorating the city in hundreds of thousands of roses as they went.

As shocking as this is, I can't say I haven't been expecting something horrible like this to happen. But at the same time it is horrible when more than 75 civilians are killed in one day in peace-time. Many of my friends have lost their friends and family members. As far as I know, none of my friends are harmed. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the people who are affected by this. I pray that peace and love will prevail, and that this will lead to an even more united, but at the same time open and including, Norway.

Books read: 33
Pages read: 9123

Gardens and waterfalls

This is going to be the last post about my time in St. Vincent. I know it is overdue, but at least now it is here. The last couple of weeks in the Caribbean, Kristina and I did some sightseeing, so that I could experience the must-dos of the island.

One day, we went to Kingstown to visit the botanical garden and Montreal garden. It was wonderful. The botanical garden had a wonderful alley, see picture. At the top of the alley, there was a space where you could get married. How amazing would that be? It was very well kept, and it was lovely.

From the botanical garden we took an overpriced taxi to the Montreal garden. It is a privately owned garden, and it was absolutely enchanting. There were wonderful flowers everywhere you looked, and cute walkways to experience it all. Most of it was pretty jungle-like, but some parts were manicured and beautiful in that sense. I absolutely loved it and went wild taking pictures of all the wonders of nature.

My last weekend, I decided to visit some waterfalls in the area where I was staying. I went with some friends to a waterfall called Trinity falls. It was quite a long hike, but we found provisions along the way. There were a lot of ripe fruits growing along our route. We found oranges, grapefruit, and mango, and we also bought a pineapple from a farmer we met along the way. The picture shows me holding the almost invisible (or almost eaten) pineapple. It was a bit smaller than I give the impression of, but it was very nice and juicy.

I find water very interesting. We are dependent upon it to survive - our bodies are mostly made up of water. It also makes for interesting visual experiences, and there is something attractive about water falling down a hill or a cliff. It is almost dreamlike to capture in a photograph, but it is the basis of life on this planet. It is everywhere, but at the same time, it captures our interest and draws us to the places where it behaves unusually (i.e. falls down vertically). Clean water is beautiful, not only when it falls down a sheer drop, but when it comes out of our taps or when it saves a baby from dying.

But there are people who don't have access to clean water. In East Africa, there is a drought right now. And instead of just sitting at home enjoying the fact that we can drink the water that comes out of our taps (and the fact that we have water coming out of taps in our homes), we can do something to help other people to enjoy these privileges. If you want to donate to help in the East Africa crisis, you can go here. If you want to help creating a stable and safe water source for communities in developing countries, go here. This organisation works to help children, and therefore also works on creating clean water sources. Water is vital for our survival, and everyone should have access to it.

The day after I had visited Trinity falls, I visited Dark View falls. This is closer to where I was staying, and a wonderful quiet haven. The falling water seemed dreamlike and magical when captured with a camera. It seemed like a beautiful veil, fit for the princess of the forest, from a forgotten fairy tale.

I have a feeling most of you didn't understand last week's blog post. I made a promise to myself that when I finished my challenge of reading 30 books between Christmas 2010 and Christmas 2011, I would write a very silly story incorporating all the titles of the books I had read. So that was last week's blog post, and you can check it out here. Now that I have completed my challenge, I think it is time to reveal to you all that I have had another reading challenge going for a while. I want to join many other people in trying to read 50 books in 2011. So I will be removing the book I read in 2010 from my list, and I will count books and pages read from January 1, 2011.

Books read: 29
Pages read: 7824

The romp in the park

A beautiful morning in the whole of the nation, the hobbit awakened the princess. Diaries written that day tell that Matilda, the princess, decided to have a day of naked liberty in the park. Everyone thought it was a good idea, and also an event furthering the education of little Tree, which is what the twits of the town of the two towers called the mayor's son. The mockingjay was singing in the treetop, and the hunger games, a game to see who could eat the most, was well under way.

The big, fat general, or the BFG, as the fantastic Mr Fox had called him, was the judge of the competition, together with a golden mare. The general was wearing clothes the colour of magic, and was high on juice from the night before. The winner of the competition was therefore chosen by a horse, and the life of Pi (so called for being small and round) just became more interesting. Horsefeathers! he exclaimed as his hair was catching fire and he stood there with his prize. The fellowship of the ring (the fire brigade of the town) rushed him to the seventh well, which was the closest. Harry Potter and the deathly hallows, the master potter and the gardeners of the town, stood watching as all this was happening, ready to continue watering the plants (and guests), as they had been doing, without fault, for the last 3096 days.

The father of the princess, who had been researching fantastic beasts, and where to find them, was on his way home again. On his journeys he had met Charlie, and the great glass elevator (a fantastic transparent beast who was hovering behind him), and another Charlie, and the chocolate factory (a strange, multicoloured animal which regularly defecated the most wonderful chocolate). The return of the king was accompanied by the sound of music from an orchestra conducted by the great Gatsby, the best conductor in the country. The ceremonial 13 little blue envelopes of the city (for wealth and stability) were presented to the king, and the celebrations continued into the night.

Books read: 30
Pages read: 7969

Stars

Stars above and stars below
join together in the glow
of nature speeding on its way,
always towards another day.

The starry dance is slow, slow,
but underneath me stars will grow.
Born into this world
when water is swirled.

The dance of fiery points in air
continues on without a care
for the waltz up there
or the tango here
under waves so clear.

All together they join in time
nature's climb
and decline.

Rolling like waves
    ever changing,
    always the same.

The huge eternal ballet
of nature dancing on its way
through night on to a new day.


Books read: 29
Pages read: 7765