First Meeting with Baby Vagabond - Wednesday, Oct 28 - 2009

Fore those of my Readers that follows ABC-F: It is here

Due to the H1N1 Flue, we were not permitted to visit Ingelin and Kaya at the Hospital.
Hence we had to wait until Baby Vagabond was 3 Days old and out of the Hospital. Guess we were eager to see the baby and the proud parents.

Precautions were of course taken. Washed our hands and cleaned with special cleaning soap before approaching.

You are invited to see some of the photos taken this Wednesday evening.

Our first glimpse. Ready for travelling again, baby vagabond? Three Days young.
Never to early these Days.

You must come up and say hello. To the World - family and friends

Baby Vagabond: ahhhhaa - I had a good meal and a nice nap.

Grandpa with Grandson - first time meeting. They looks smart both of them;)
What do they have in Mind?
And: See how big hands Grandpa have?

Look at this modern carrige. Can turn on a penny. So practical and weights like a feather.
And can be packed into a suitcase. Ready for Baby Vagabond to travel.
Believe it or not: Made by Stokke, a Norwegian company that have created the smartest solutions for baby and children care.

More to come.... (Family gathering)

Baby Vagabond is out and alive

We are all of us so happy.
Dear you, we wish you wellcome to
a world that can unite like your parents and grand parents
have done - hope you will live in Peace.
Love from grandpa
,
Baby Vagabond has arrived this late afternoon.
What a relief and what a wonderful new citiciens of the World.
Gender: Male

More to come...

Marta - the Kitten

Here she is:

nice

sweet

In December Marta will move to her new Home. To real Cat-lovers.

Vence to Grasse - Vacation report 12

Sunday August 2, it was time to visit Hakon and Angelica.
This day we were able to drive without trafic jams. Only some very rough rainshowers and thunder storms slowed us down for some minutes.

Vis større kart
We were heading eastwards in the direction of Nice. But at Cagnes-sur-Mer we turned to the North and startet climbing up to Vence. (You can navigate on the Map and hence follow our route - use the left arrow on top left side of the Map to find Vence).

We were invited for lunch at Angelica's place. What a view.

Before lunch, we simply had to take a swim in the Pool. Wonderful.

Here you see Hakon and Anna at the Table.

Angelica prepared a wonderful lunch, German style.
Here she is about to serve a delikatessen.
Apple Pie for Dessert.

Wow - what a taste. Only premium apples for this recipe. A speciality you are only served by Angelica.

We had a wonderful time. And it is curious to think about:
Anna had not seen Angelica since 1991. But we have been known since about 1975. In Oslo.

Hakon we have seen more often, as he used to visit us in our summerhome for many consecutive years. In his age (80), he has realised it's a rather hasardious project for him to drive all the way from Vence to Norway. Here is one of the posts I did make in 2007.

Anna is a Book lover. Here in Hakon's Garden.

Here we say goodbye - for now.
My last visit to Hakon is blogged here.

Monday Aug 2, en route again. We went from Vence via Tourette sur Loup (Use the left arrow on the Map to follow our route) in the direction to Grasse)

We stopped and Anna ran out of the Car. Wooow.

What a view - Provence towards Nice - Behind the Hills in the background, on the right.

It's steep. Lot's of Spring River Gorges. We are in Alpes Maritime. Beach Life and Mountain Hiking within 30 minutes by Car. Here le Bousquet down right. When passing the Village heading West, you have to turn left and pass the Bridge over the Gorge.

The route we choosed is very curvy. But also very scenic. (Go back to the Map above)
Be very observant when driving here. The Locals knows the route and drive fast and don't be surprised it you have one just sniffing the rear of your Car.
Talking about sniffing. Here we are in Grasse - The Perfume Capital of the World.
Click on the Photo and you will see some famous Perfume Companies.

Next: Meeting Renny and Diane......

Remember the Blog Gathering in Oslo -August 2010

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Official Program

Vacation report 11 - Crossing half of France on August 1 - 2009

I'm Back - can post photos again
- Hurray - let's continue our Vacation in France
You can even click on the Photos and you will see details you never had thought of - LOL)

The weekend around August 1 is the most busy in the year at French Roads.
This year August 1 was on a Saturday.
Why is it so busy?
Because in France people have vacation normally in July or still most common in August.
For a whole calendar Month.
On August all people that went down to southern France or to Spain, they went back up North.
Most of them through the Rhone Valley.
And even more went down south the same Valley on the same Day.

On the Radio on the Morning, when we still were with our dear old friends, Claude and Paulette in the middle of France, we listen to the Radio to find out the best choice of highways to go down to the Riviera. Estimated normal driving time is about 7 hrs 30 minutes.

On the Radio we heard it was 5 million Cars heading south in the Rhone Valley.
Average speed 6-10 miles pr hour.

Can you believe the difference from that fact to what you here see. When we did visit our dear Friends Neighbour, the old, charming lady. Really Calm.

But this Saturday:
We had a visting agreement for Saturday Evening. Close to Nice.
So what to do?
Well, only a very few years ago it was opened a new Motorway across the Central Massif.
Very scenic and an impressive contruction from A to Z.

Please join us on the Tour.

The start was pleasant. We just crossed miles after miles in highway speed.

Suddenly: What is this. Above the Road:
A Warning. Two to twelve kilometers ahead: Bouchon - Queue - Stop - Bump

We needed some food for Lunch, but we were not alone
From the Central Massif in France. Not very well known for foreigners. But this is the "real" old France - the land of the real French which has been more or less freed from invaders during centuries and wars. The landscape and cultures are among the richest and also the oldest in Europe. Here you will find the oldest Cave Paintings in Europe among others. The most deliciouse cheeses - you might have heard about Roquefort?


Down here you see the River Tarn. In the background the Town of Millau. Nearby the amazing Gorges de Tarn. One of the most exeptional river valleys in Europe.


Seems to bee a nice place for a rest and a beautiful view. The Volcanic Parc in Auvergne, France

Some circulation you see? But Papa allways keeps a safe distance.

We did cross the Millau Viaduct.
More than 20 years ago we went the same route, long before this Motorway even was planned. Then we had to go down from the Hills (1100 meters above sea level - about 3500 feet) and down to the charming Town of Millau (alltitude 360 meters) and then up again to about 1100 hundred meters. Took hours, then. But if you have time: Do visit it. At least for a great Lunch. Much better than served along the Autoroute.

Just a closer look at the Bridge - See the Trafic? It is 2,5 km long.

After crossing this impressive construction, we were only 1/4 of the Road down to our destination. And thought:
- We will make it in due time.
BUT: It took much longer than expected. We were not alone.
Not at all. For the next 5 hours it was bump- bump - bump. Nothing to share but trafic, so no photos. Luckely we did not see any severe accidents.
I would like to drive this Autoroute on a normal day. The nature is beautiful and the road construction impressively take care of the Nature.

After passing by le Mount de Saint Victoire - just east of Aix-en-Provence - famous from among others painters like Paul Cezanne.

We did not reach our old Friend in Vence, as planned. Had to call from the car around 8:30 pm:
- we are still 100 km away from you.
- The Road information systems signals an average speed of 22 km. Which means still more than 4 hours. Have been driving for 12 hours. Don't think we we take the chance for another 4-5 hours.
- We agreed upon that fact.

And stopped over night in Saint Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume. In fact, we had been there before, about 18 years ago.

Some short Facts:
The town's basilica dedicated to Mary Magdalene was the site where Mary Magdalene was rehabilitated in the 13th century and remade as the sinning figure of perfect penitence and the co-patron, with the Virgin Mary, of the Dominican Order.

We stayed overnight here: Hotel le Covent Royal. Originally founded in the 13th century by The Dominicans.

But we went outside to the Town center for Dinner - Fish and Shellfish.
Very relaxing and local atmospere.

and Anna relaxed - in a combination of a Cafe and shop for local products

and even papa could relaxe for a moment. More than 12 hours driving is pretty tough in heavy traffic.

More to come...
(from a very special Lunch in Vence)

Oslo Blog Gathering 2010 Preview

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Official Program Site

Oslo Blog Gathering 2010 Preview

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A short Cat-report - # 4

My regular readers might remember we returned from our Summer House to our Winter Home with seven Cats? Two weeks ago.

Well, once again, without a previous warning, Google asked me for money to post more photos.
7 Days later - after paying for a storage upgrade - I did manage to upload one photo. But not the way I wanted to. I had to copy and paste the html from Picasa web-album. Normal uploading resulted in a photo placed vertically no matter it was stored correctly on my computer, both edited in Picasa and Microsoft Office Picture. How Interesting.

Fra Slippeboks

The Photo I was about to upload was compressed to 59 KB! And I had allmost 1 MB left on my Free Account. But the photo above was found 4 times.
However, Click here, and you'll see them all. Even in full seize.

Well, we have only one Kitten left. The one that is inspecting the older Cats eating behaviour, from the top of the Chain Saw package.
From left: Rosa and Stompa. Felicia, mama-cat, is behind the Chair to the Right. Stompa will return to Solvi within the weeks to come. We are all looking forward to Ingelin's baby to be born.

More Cats here

My Mother 90 - My Daughter 32 - A Family celebration

Marie Louise - 90 - October 12
I have the honour to celebrate my Mothers 90 BD. And share it with my dear blogger-friends.

Not all people around this Globe will have that opportunity.
Photo taken Saturday Oct 10 - 2009.
All her Uncles on her mother side emigrated in the late 1890ies from Norway to "Promised Land"; it was North Dakota. As far as I know, all her Family has left that state.
------------------
Yesterday, on Saturday Oct 10, we celebrated her. In fact is was a double celebration.
My daughter Ingelin had her BD the day before.
We were only the closest family. Had a dinner, given by my son Niklas in his home.

Here Ingelin is about to decorate the table. As you might observe - there is one more in her body that we have not yet seen;-))



Sebastian really wanted the Tabel too look First Class before his grand grand mother arrived.He had to check it out for himself. Baloons - hehe- guess who made them this seize?

We had real Champagne - of course. From left: Kaya, my Mother, Ingelin and Anna.


Just after the Wellcome refreshment, we went outside to see Niklas 40 BD Gift. A new Bike.
Wow - that's something we did not have in my younger periode of life....

Let me tell you, my Mother and I talked and talked about old times.
We forget for a while the rest of the family sitting around the table
... just us

When I was about to be born, in April 1945, at the Clinic, just before I could see the world:
The Air-raid warning alarm was on the air. (at the end of World War 2)
That was really tough, my mother said.
But, she was the only that stayed calm.
And here I am, blogging with you. Hurray.

Now, you can understand more about who I am, born with an Air-raid warning Alarm ,-))


Sebastian asked his grand grand Mother :
- Are you comfortable? Just tell me, if you need something.

The Table was decorated by Ingelin. She does how do do it.Allmost unseen, but without, the Table would have looked naked.

Sebastian - grand grand child #3 from right. The only one but my Mother with a paper Crown.
(We all ended up with paper crowns. Before we left at around 11 pm.)

Ingelin, have you eaten too much? Kaya is anxious... Papa as well ;-))

And of course Kaya had to give a toast - my brother to the right understood as well, even Turkish.

The Dining Table at the end. LOL

My mother promised to see Ingelins Baby, and she are really looking forward to meet Kaya's parents.
Time for Gifts

What is this?
Seb wonders, my brother seems to think about something else, while my Mother have listened to a good joke. You see?

revealed:
Here is Kaya - giving my Mother 90 roses

My mother told me a secret:
If I had been the age of Ingelin, I would have done my best to capture this beautiful and wonderful young man. He has all the Qualities a woman looks for.
That was what my Mother said said to me.

Here, the Birthday Cake (one of them)

Then we neede a short break and went out on the Balconny. Here you see the South View.

However, we did also celebrate Ingelin's BD.
Firstgift: A book with Cat Cartoons. No words. Then Kaya can write the text in German and Turkish and Ingelin in Norwegian and what so ever other languages;-))

Here, another present -
(Private collection - can only be bought one place within 90 Days a Year)

Private: Z and H, do you hear? My Mother are eager to see you soon.

More to come....

This Weeks ABC-C