Oslo by day

Day 2
Oslo, Norway

Just to clarify, I'm well and truly back in Canberra now, almost two weeks. I'm being a bit old-fashioned, sharing the photos and stories from my trip after the fact. I didn't take a laptop with me, and while I was away I favoured photography & sightseeing (or sleep) over internet time.

So, just one night and one day in Oslo. We had work meetings in the morning and free time after lunch. Everyone was keen to see Vigeland Sculpture Park so we all went there together and spent a while there. It is a fascinating place, all the sculptures are by the same artist (Gustav Vigeland) yet with some variety of themes and styles. Later we wandered off in smaller groups until we had to meet in the late afternoon to catch our train to Sweden.

I had an excellent afternoon's walk through the city with a friend, with a peek in a shop or two but mostly just strolling and taking photos. There are more of my Oslo photos in the Oslo Flickr set.

Oslo by night

From Lillehammer we took the train to Oslo in the late afternoon, and our hosts treated us to a six-course dinner at a very fancy restaurant on a hill overlooking the city. The bright streak of light on the hill in the background (in the middle of the upper third of the photo) is another ski jump, strikingly lit up at night.


Fancy restaurants are always more tricky - they'll never just throw together a pizza or pull a quiche out of the freezer. This place really made a gallant attempt to come up with something different for the two of us vegetarians for each of the six courses, and each plate did look different, though they all seemed to involve a similar pile of salad leaves. There was a cheese course but unfortunately I am also a bit squeamish when it comes to strong cheeses. All the meat-eaters were complaining of being too full by the end, whereas I was just comfortable.

Where were they going without even knowing the way?

Day 1.
We started our trip in Lillehammer, Norway (and neighbouring Hunderfossen where we stayed the Sunday night). After the work portion of the day was done, we were driven to the top of the town and offered the choice to walk down beside the ski jumps. It seemed like a fun thing to do and a good opportunity to admire the views and take photos.

What we hadn't expected was the people would actually be jumping! There was no snow but apparently they don't need it, they were just landing on the green plastic surface - some kind of fake grass I suppose.







gif created with Gickr

I never promised you a rose garden

I've been back since Sunday morning, and sleepy most of the time since then. Except for at 5am on Monday morning when I was WIDE AWAKE and that was all there was to it. (This never happens to me, I can always sleep a bit more in the morning if time permits, so it was disconcerting).

I had a terrible time trying to watch Dark Knight last night, at the pricey Dendy Premium cinema. I had really been looking forwarding to seeing it and we been trying to find a time to see it before I went away. We ended up at the premium cinema because there was no evening session in the regular cinemas. And even with iced tea to start, coffee and cake about an hour in, a loud soundtrack with a subwoofer that shakes the seats, and overall an intense and violent movie, I simply had no control over my level of consciousness, and was horrified to find myself nodding off a few times. I didn't miss all that much time-wise but I seemed to miss a lot of important plot points. It was excruciatingly frustrating. Maybe I'll laugh about it later. But I am determined to see it again as soon as possible.

Thanks to this week's sleepiness, I haven't done much with my trip photos yet. This one is from my last day in Paris. After using up almost all the available time (I was leaving Paris earlier than most of the others) getting across town to a particular restaurant for our last group lunch, which I wasn't able to stick around to order and eat, I was racing through the metro station on my way back to the hotel for my luggage. I heard beautiful music up ahead and came across this string group with a small crowd watching and photographing. I felt slightly bad that I took the time to get out the camera but not to fish out any coins!

fresh from being patted down at security at Changi Airport Singapore

Don't worry, they seemed to do it to everyone.

I'm on my way to Europe for two weeks. This is a work trip and I haven't actually talked about it to many people. Not because of work security requirements. (Though I don't want to get dooced any more than the next person).

No, it's because I haven't been very keen about this trip, and everything related to it has seemed stressful (even though I don't have to do anything very hard) and I couldn't face telling that story too many times, and watching that look appear on their face that says I am a crazy person.

Anyway there will be some bits of free time and, I hope, some stories to tell later.

See ya!

Everything but the beak and feet

I am a lucky duck.



My grandmother knitted this for me earlier this year for my birthday. I picked a plain 5ply cardigan pattern from this Paton's Bluebell book, chose four contrasting colours from my Bendigo Woollen Mills shade card, and left the patterning up to her.


The photos above are a bit washed out - this one shows the colours more accurately. And with all that going on, my primary button adviser
(Mum) advised me to pick really simple buttons that pretty much blend into the band. It took a bit of searching for a colour that isn't truly blue or green, but I did manage to find some that work.

I think it was a good deal I struck. It's lovely to have someone to knit for you, I've been lucky enough to have a supply of cardies and jumpers all my life.

Goth pears?

This is a pair of pears (Hee hee, I never get tired of that phrase) for someone who likes things a bit on the gothy side.


The reddish one is Patons Jet again. The other is a combination of Armytage - the white to grey colours - and Cleckheaton Merino Spun for the bottom. It looks almost black but it is actually a wonderful very dark purple.

No she cannot really see me cause she sees her own reflection

I've been having a great time these past few weeks searching for good 'pear colours'. It has made for some slightly weird conversations with purveyors of fine hand-painted wool and also people I bump into in places where wool is sold. I think I just start muttering something about 'good pear colours...sort of organic?' and this doesn't necessarily get across the criteria that make sense in my head.

From left to right: Lincraft Prism, Sean Sheep Armytage (marmalade) - oh Big W, why don't you sell this any more?, Paton's Jet, and Cleckheaton Vintage Twist.

I also recently made a little pod carrying on the theme of Mum's pitcher. I liked that name, Donna Lee!

Upside down it makes me think of a tomato.

You never stop dancing, you don't make much sense

My scarf! Mine mine mine. The pattern is the Bryher cable scarf again. The yarn is Cleckheaton Country Naturals 8ply in a lovely dark blue. The photo below is probably the most colour-accurate.

The yarn seemed drapey and soft, but I worried that I was forcing it to be chunky and stiff by knitting it double stranded on 6.5mm needles. I thought about going up a size but decided to trust the blocking. And it worked, once washed and dried the scarf became softer and drapier just like I had hoped. I completely used 2 balls and it is only just the right length.

The buttons are a pair of very special wooden beads which have been waiting for just the right project. My sister sent them to me a few years ago and I have always loved them.

Bon anniversaire, Maman!