Mother’s Got A Dot Com

And a real manic Monday it’s been too! Mo wanted a drink, but I haven’t been able to muster anything but gunpowder coffee all day.

Paperwork, paperwork - something to do with taxes (any other country still bothered with that nonsense?) - and I’ve been at it all day. I’m finished now. And knackered.

Care to join me for a Calvados later, Mo?

Mo can!

A little while ago, I translated the Norwegian word for “outbuilding” a bit too literally, and came up with “outhouse”. I learned from the comments I got that an “outhouse” has a specific purpose, and that the word is “outbuilding”…

Todays Manic Monday is in honor of the outhouse, the outdoor can!

Room for two!

A modern interior…

A necessary feature everywhere before the WC, you’ll still find these cans where there’s no running water (cabins in the mountains or by the sea). On some farms, they’ve been kept for nostalgic (and sometimes practical) reasons. Apparently, there is still a septic service in Oslo (our capital) that will empty the few that are still in operation… (yes, it’s 2008 here too!)

Mo wants to know what we want…

World peace by funkyluke

World peace, good health and prosperity for all - though tangible enough, they’re sadly unachievable. Not that we should give up
the endeavour - we should all do what we can do, within our social, financial and democratic reach. People will be people - how can we hope for world peace if we can’t get along with our families and neighbours???

What do I want? I want for nothing, but…

A simpler life, a life of being self-sufficient with produce from our own land, with less need to earn, earn, earn. With reality banging us on the head with various taxes and mortgages, the need for electricity, the need our kids (and ourselves) think we have for TV, Internet, cell phones and all the “goods” we’ve learned to crave, total self-sufficiency is probably as unachieveable as world peace. We can, however, achieve degrees of it. We can grow our own food, raise the livestock we need for meat, milk and eggs, and perhaps feel more fulfilled in the process.

I also want my kids to survive every surge of hormones from here to adulthood, and grow up to become responsible people living the lives they want to live. I want the Earth to survive the people we elect to govern her regions, as well as the other things we put her through, and if at all possible, I want her to get her health back, so that my kids (and yours) can live to see their grandchildren grow and prosper.

I want… tolerance.

Mo’s had an explosive week…

I don’t keep photos on file that connote well with explosive. There is the odd sunrise and screaming brat, but I’ll leave those alone today. What did come to mind was volcanoes, and the closest ones around here are found on Iceland.

Now, Iceland is explosive in many ways, and it’s also a place I would absolutely love to visit one day. Iceland has hundreds of volcanoes, varying in age, maturity and activity. Many are extinct, but there are 27 central volcanoes of various size and activity considered active at the moment. Some of these haven’t erupted for a few centuries, but some erupt on a fairly regular (but not easily predictable) basis. This makes Iceland the largest volcanic island in the world, and many people there are literally living on top of a powder keg, on an island or islands with an ever changing topography.

The most famous volcano is Hekla, and it has a very explosive history. As far as I’ve learned, the last eruption was in 2000, when these pictures were taken.

Explosive can be said of other natural occurances on Iceland, both results of the volcanic activity on the island(s) -

Geysirs

And hot springs

- where you don’t need a fire to boil your eggs…

Geysir pics: Kjiver.no (go there for more) Volcano pics: Volcano Discovery

Mo is on a twosome today…

I just have time to post this before my two three day trip!

These two seem to have overdosed on energy drink…

<3 Mo <3!

Oh, dear, what to do on heart in February?

I’m a sucker for a chocolate heart - how about this one for a romantic gesture?

All right - a little romance…

To finish - these two hearts beat as one… Hubby & me, 2004.

Mo wishes to know our wishes this week!

I’m wishing for spring…

I’ve always loved dates. In this country, up until very recently, dates were something you had for Christmas. They were packed in little boxes, and they were small and rather dry. I loved those too.

Then, of course, the world grew smaller. Dates are still a Christmas treat, but you can have them all year round now. They’ve also changed… What we get now are large, succulent, sweet and aromatic fruits that make you want to move to sunnier climes…

Dates “au naturel” - Dates on tree - Dates with bacon….

Mo is hosting a Manic Monday Blog Carnival today, and he’s got some great MM entries lined up over there! I missed it, sadly, since I only went to check on this week’s MM word this morning! That’ll teach me!

Put on your mask, and hop over to Mo’s, for the Carnival!

First week of the year, and Mo’s word is one… It’s also Manic Monday’s  one year Anniversary - Congrats Mo!!!

I haven’t done any memes since before Christmas - come to think of it, I haven’t blogged much, either…

So - let this be number one of a long list of blog posts of marvelous content - bwaahahaha!

We had one day of proper sledging conditions… This was taken the day before yesterday - as you can see, there’s not much snow, but one makes the best of it when one is 5 years old, right???

Then, yesterday, it was great! lots of snow had fallen during the night, and the day was spent with the older siblings, clearing snow and sledging.
Mum’s camera had mysteriously disappeared, but no matter - new photo opps tomorrow, right???

Wrong.

It’s raining. Those lovely, drooping trees with snow on them are bare again, the slope/road up to our house is a very slippery slope (hahaha), and Mum is wondering whether she’ll be able to get away with one attempt at getting back up with the car later today…