owen's friday five

here it is again!

1. J-O-Y. Mama that spells JOY! Said with absolute, well, JOY, while tracing the bright red letters outside of Sprinkles with delightfully decadent fudgey milk chocolate cream cheese frosting fingers (I was meanwhile enjoying somered velvet) while celebrating B's birthday on wednesday.

2. What's in my nose? (umm, boogies?) No. Chocolate cake! Said every day, several times a day since the above wedensday. I'm starting to get a little concerned, but nope--only boogies in there.

3. Look! There's the North Pole. Over the mountains and then across the icy river! Shouted from the back of the car on our way into Riverside to see Santa as the crisp San Berdoo mountains came into view. I believe this one comes from obsessively watching Dora " A Present for Santa."

4. Mama, you look SO cute! Said with a kiss when I put on a nice sweater to go out for tacos.

5. Daddy needs to come home to put up MORE lights on our house! Said while admiring our haphazardly hung snowflake lights. I'm sure the fact that we go christmas-light-driving everynight has nothing to do with it ;)

and, just as i'm about to post this (and funny enough upload an image of the north pole) owen says: "i need to go see this guy. this guy's at the north pole" while holding a little santa claus ornament proudly taken off "this is my christmas shelf" with his special christmas books and ornaments he parades around th ehouse.

oslo last weekend

I'm on way my back to California tonight, and so excited. I haven't been in Cali since Halloween, since we spent Thanksgiving up in Seattle/Puyallup. I travelled from Sweden back to Alesund last weekend and I'm sharing some pics from my stop in Oslo. I had about 4 hours to kill waiting for my plane, so I did some walking around Karl Johans gate (street) and picture taking. Not the best quality with my 2.1 mega pixel camera from the early '90s.

Tonight I fly back to Oslo.. stay the night.. then early tomorrow go from Oslo to Amsterdam to Seattle to Orange County.. home!!

(Karl Johans gate -- ready for the holidays)

(they setup a ski ramp and rail for some sort of competiton.. it was kids from the UK vs. kids from Norway.. of course Norway won)

(sign for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony... happened this week)

owen gets elfed again!


but this time he's riding with santa and mrs. claus! today owen had the ride some kids just dream of-- he rode on santa's sleigh for the "silent sleigh" parade at csdr. we weren't sure how he'd react to going off in a carriage with a big guy in a red fuzzy suit and an enormous white beard but we pulled into the school parking lot just as the parade was queuing up and "papa santa" came up to the window and waved and owen shouted "there's santa mama!" and he felt right at home on mrs. claus' lap (just as sweet and lovely as his own nana ;) and then i slipped the elf hat on, put on some reindeer antlers and ran alongside the sleigh waving at all the little kids shouting "there's santa and a cute little elf!" it was awesome.
and this picture just went up on the carriage company blog-- owen is hiding behind his new "build a bear" cheetah named "blue bird"--but that's another story ;) that's molly the horse pulling the sleigh (not, i was corrected, an actual reindeer--but i assured owen that molly and rudolph were good friends). i'll keep my eye out for local coverage-- papa santa and nana mrs. claus were busy all day signing to the deaf children at csdr and there's nothing more amazing then seeing children light up when santa can sign!

"what number is it? what is this song about?"


since thursday has turned into friday i give you five for friday--

"owen said": the weekly top five

1. "no, west cannot go for a walk. he doesn't have a dog." said very matter-of-factly at the sandbox.

2. "i hear a trombone!" shouted from the backseat when track one: the Thelonious Monk Septet performing "Abide With Me" played from our lifted cd. musical genius? i think so.

3. "bye bye mr. sushi-maker-man!". my favorite of course because it includes a neologism-- said with a wave after sitting at the kanpai sushi bar for an hour and eating half a dozen california rolls and eagerly enjoying sake and toro.

2. of course this one gets its own number from the same sushi experience: "i must eat that octopus!" emphatically asserted while standing up on a barstool while getting a sashimi lesson. go little man! (so said the 2 dudes sitting at the bar next to us--that and "oh man mom, you're in trouble. no more happy meals." well duh.)

1. "we can't see santa claus. it's not christmas yet." very logically stated when i asked if he wanted to see santa on the toys for tots christmas train down in san clemente.

the scandanavian poll

is on hold, btw, but i'm still taking informal votes in the form of comments posted below, by email, or general conversational rant. feel free, however, to vote for fudge ;)

insomnia and elves

so instead of lying in bed thinking about all the things i needed to do and trying to make a plan for some momentum with this neverendingsagaofadissertation i thought i'd get up and print the 48 pages of this draft i've been adding to for weeks with one eye shut and see if tomorrow it makes sense then i read about floods , honey elixrs , rookie pitchers, and tigers and then i thought i should delve through the hundredthirtysome messages in my inbox which led me to check out the links to family blogs which then led to the most productive of all:

i elfed the fidfam!

pics from Karlstad

(Karlstads Cathedral was built on Lagberget 1723-1730 by Christian Haller. However it took sixty years before the church was fully decorated. Some parts of the Cathedral were destroyed in the great fire of 1865. The church was rebuilt and got its present exterior. The Cathedral was renovated the last time in 1998 and got new bronze plates on the steeple.)


(The peace monument erected on the city square on the 50th anniversary of the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden)


("Sola i Karlstad" - Sun in Karlstad - The statue was made by the sculptor Herman Reijers and was unveiled in 1985. Despite it's beeing only fifteen years old, the Sola statue has already become an important symbol of Karlstad.)


(just a funny sign in the elevator at my hotel)

saturday six

i missed last week'sthursday thirteen although i was thinking of the thirteen best and worst things about being sick (an excuse to watch cartoons all day, eating white bread toast, phlegm, waking up at 4 am wide awake because you fell asleep at 6 pm. . .) so instead i thought i'd get festive and sneak in a saturday six (or you know, six dozen):

favorite christmas music

6. a charlie brown christmas. the whole album.

5. silent night. anyone singing it anywhere at anytime moves me to tears.

4. and you've gotta have ella fitzgerald singing sleigh ride

3. ok so i'm cheating here and sneaking in a few-- under the rubric of "new favorites": jack johnson's rendition of rudolph the red nosed reindeer and the bird and the bee singing carol of the bells (which is just a fabulously lush and festive and glittery christmas carol anyhow) from the new starbucks collection stockings by the fire (yes i look forward to a new christmas cd every year--this one is highly recommended and includes old favorites--cheating again!--like dean martin's i've got my love to keep me warm) and then i can't get enough of rufus wainwright singing hallelujah from the lifted--songs of the spirit compilation (i've had this at least a year or so, but i did notice the 'bucks still carried it)

2. of course i can't help but get sentimental now when i hear frank sing i'll be home for christmas

1.
and lastly the entire collection of john denver & the muppets a christmas together with john warming our hearts with the peace carol and what could be more fun then the muppets singing the twelve days of christmas?

"it's christmastime!"

sweden

I came out to sweden this week to help out another Rolls-Royce site that we are implementing. I left Seattle on Tuesday and arrived in Oslo wednesday morning with the hopes of an easy train ride to Karlstad, Sweden (the town where I am staying), but, the trains were not running, so I got here by the combination of a one hour taxi ride and a 4 hour bus ride.

I am enjoying my first non-work day here in Karlstad by avoiding the wind and rain and near freezing temps, and taking walks around the mall (and their Ikea-ish shops), and getting my Löfbergs Lila (same stuff you can buy from Ikea) coffee from a place called Waynes coffee. It is very ironic that they say this about this town:

"Karlstad is often associated with sunshine and the symbol for Karlstad is a happy sun. Karlstad is reputed to be one of the sunniest town's in Sweden and a local waitress, known as "Sola i Karlstad" (Sun in Karlstad) for her sunny disposition is also commemorated with a statue."

I braved the weather a bit to take the following pics:


(my hotel)


(town square while I am trying to shield myself from the wind/rain under the big x-mas tree)