Thursday, June 18
Lamentations 2.2
The reading Meg did at Grandpa H.'s funeral:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
"The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."
The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
The revision Meg thought about reading at Grandpa H.'s funeral:
The steadfast love of the Red Sox never ceases, their mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
"The Red Sox are my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in them."
The Red Sox are good to those who wait for them, to the soul that seeks them. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Red Sox.
We all know, Grandpa would have loved it.
posted by Judy at 2:32 PM|link
Wednesday, June 17
Charleston Trip
Dewey and Kira's wedding was a lovely event and nice balance of tradition with innovation; the wedding recessional was Stevie Wonder's 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered'. Just like Walter did for Meg and Jason's wedding, their friend, Fred, became a web-certified Reverend for the ceremony. His own loving relationship and lengthy thought on what that meant was expressed in his 'charge to the couple', which ended with a poignant exploration of how a lasting relationship should be based, not on expectations of specific results, but rather on the expectancy of an undefined, yet mutually agreeable result. It's a distinction I want to remember.
We arrived in Charleston a day early so had plenty of time for walking the historic district and getting a sense of the place. Here are some photos collected from this trip.
posted by Judy at 2:50 PM|link
Tuesday, June 9
Hey Dad - Peter's Tribute, June 6, 2009
We are all here this morning thinking about you and your impact and influence on us as we celebrate your life. Strange thing is that, while many of us have had many years to say the things we thought, some thoughts have never been said before. So these are some of my personal reflections. I'm sure all here today have their own memories of your impact on their lives.
Dad, you were always into sports and know that in the game of life, the final score is recorded when the game is over. At 93+ years your game was well into extra innings and we had a call in to the bull pen for relief pitching. But let me check the score card.
1. Married for 69 years - home run.
2. Dad for 67+ years - 4 children.
3. Grandpa for 43 years - 10 grandchildren.
4. GGPa for 17 years - 13 great-grandchildren.
Dad, it looks like you hit for the cycle - home run, triple, double and single. Wow, pretty amazing.
When you grow up, and I'm thinking about me now, you think that you are supposed to do a lot of things independently. You don't think much about the context of growing up, only what you should be doing and what you should become. So many expectations and so little said. You can easily lose sight of "where it all began".
At various times in the recent past I would do something and Judy would say, "You're turning into your Dad". You might imagine what I was doing. But as I reflect more closely, she was right in many positive ways and it happened a long time ago. Dad, there were many ways you shaped me, and all of us, and I'll put a few on the score card.
Sports, Coach: Your athletic skills and interest were passed on - you were my little league coach - you supported us when we played - sports became a critical part of me.
Education, Learning: PTA, emphasis on good grades and push for higher education - we carry that ideal that the next generation does better than the last.
Family Focus: You took us to church, on family trips like Nantasket and the Cape (are we there yet?), but the major impact was when you built the family house on Nantucket 30-years ago - a place for multigenerational family life - thank you.
Photographer: You documented in film and photos the family growth - it's well recorded. I followed this path too.
Hard Work, Loyalty, Achievement: A great salesman, you worked your way up the corporate ladder, pretty much with one company, ATF - seems a few of us also followed that consistent path.
Humor: We liked your humor - a very quick wit delivered with a twinkle in your eye - often a laugh at a serious time. A classic and recent "one liner" happened at Mom's 90th birthday celebration. As lots of family and friends were saying nice things about Mom there was an ebb in the conversation. You had been quiet the whole time and Mom turned to you and said, "Bill, what do you have to say?" You looked over at her and said "Amen", which brought lots of laughter.
So I say now Dad, thank you, we love you and we miss you. Amen Dad, Amen.
posted by Judy at 6:12 PM|link
Monday, June 1
Last Day at the Opera
After seeing a number of articles in architecture magazines about the year-old Oslo Opera House and then spending an afternoon last week visiting an exhibit on all of Snohetta's work, we signed up online for a building tour in English. We arrived slightly before noon, did some initial reconnaisance, located the cafe for our morning lattes, toured the building with our guide, returned to the cafe for a very relaxed late afternoon lunch/dinner and finished the day with a final rooftop climb. The building truly is spectacular; every element works together to provide an extraordinary experience of fine craftsmanship and artistic details in what will become a beautiful seaside setting. It couldn't have been a better last day.
posted by Judy at 4:10 PM|link
From Munch to Vigeland
Friday and Saturday were devoted to Norway's finest - the most famous artist, Edvard Munch, and the less well known but equally impressive sculptor, Gustav Vigeland. My knowledge of Munch was broadened beyond the Scream and Starry Night to a vast and diverse collection of paintings and other media examples of his work. At the entry, a series of short films about his life set a context for his work that made our gallery tour even more enjoyable. From there we walked across a lovely park by the Natural History Museum to find our destination at the DOGA, the Norwegian Center for Design and Architecture, closed for Pentecost. We continued our walk into Grunerlokka only to discover that also meant most stores, including the design store, Norway Says, would be closed as well. Our design pursuit instead became a fitness and sightseeing walk, through some interesting ethic neighborhoods. We did find one business that was universally open on Pentecost, the neighborhood frizor, or barber, where I could have gotten a close clip along with all the young boys in anticipation of the holiday weekend.
We knew our plans for the next day would be safe since most of the Vigeland sculptures are outdoors in Frogner Park. As we sat with our lattes in a cafe next to the park, we saw people arriving with blankets, chairs and even small portable grills, obviously prepared to spend the day. By the time we entered to find the famous sculptures, the place was teeming with families at the water park and sunbathers everywhere on the grass. Though we didn't find the main gate with the only signs telling where things were located, our meandering walk led us to happily discover what we had come for all on our own. That included a lovely garden restaurant on a shaded veranda overlooking the Frogner ponds and the unexpectedly open, even on Pentacost, Vigeland Museum, the original home and studios of the sculptor now housing the remainder of his work.
Here's a mix of photos from the two days.
posted by Judy at 3:03 AM|link
Sunday, May 31
Day in Bergen
After our late bedtime the night before, we slept in as long as we could without missing the hotel breakfast - a smorgasbord of eggs, potatoes, fresh fruits, vegetables, smoked fish and fish in all kinds of different sauces. I tried a bit of all the different fish preparations but didn't find one I really liked, other than the smoked salmon of course. Then we strolled the town until our train left just after 4 pm. I guess we've become Oslonians (like Buffalonians, ya know?), because we didn't like Bergen nearly as much.
posted by Judy at 1:38 PM|link
8:11 to 20:34
08:11R Train from Oslo
12:53 To Myrdal
13:27 Train from Myrdal
14:25 To Flam
15:10 Boat from Flam
17:20 To Gudvangen
17:45 Bus from Gudvangen
18:50 To Voss
19:20 Train from Voss
20:34 To Bergen
The pictures tell the story of our journey from one side of Norway to the other, but for ending with a traditional seafood dinner in Bergen and bed at midnight. That my friends, is Norway in a Nutshell.
posted by Judy at 3:14 AM|link
Wednesday, May 27
Day of the Forgotten Battery
I was sure the camera wasn't broken, but why wasn't it turning on when I pressed the button? And why was the camera so light in my hand? The careful reader will have already realized the title gives it away. After recharging the battery last night I simply forgot to put it back in its little cradle so the days' pictures were not to be.
The first photo I missed was right outside the train station where we went to pick up our Norway in a Nutshell tickets. It was a 20-foot high, brightly colored painting of a huge convertible, probably from the late 50's, with a license plate that said 'Honk, New Jersey'. Now you know how much a picture is worth, but unfortunately these twenty or so words are all I can come up with at the moment. Keep your excitement in check and I'll try for the photo again tomorrow when we go to the station for our trip.
The next photo I missed was an interesting black graphic on an advertising banner, set off by another of those orange walls I like so much. This will probably remain a memory, since I'm not at all sure exactly what route we took to our next destination, the main gate of the Akershus Slott or Castle. We walked past lots of construction, climbed a hill and finally located our first objective, the Norwegian Resistance Museum, which housed a timeline of Nazi occupation and the incredible resistance mounted against them by the Norwegians from 1940-1945. Then it was on to the castle itself, a medieval castle from the 13th century. Though normally open to the public, to quote the guidebook, 'Today the castle's beautiful ballrooms are used by the government for State events', the unfortunate truth on this specific day evidenced by the lock on the door. At least the grounds were lovely to walk through on our way back to yesterday's architecture museum for late lunch in the Cafe Grosch. I got the moules frites and didn't even have to say 'blaskjell'.
All in all, it was a bit of a bad luck day because our planned final museum visit to the Museum of Contemporary Art was also stopped by a bolted door and sign 'Closed for Construction. Reopening May 28.' We filled in with stops at various nearby crafts gallery but didn't really mind getting home early in anticipation of an 8:00 am departure for tomorrow's long day of train, boat and bus touring on the way to Bergen. Fret not however; our spirits remain high.
posted by Judy at 1:08 PM|link
Tuesday, May 26
Cruising and Browsing
Early to bed and early to rise got us on our way so soon our regular cafe wasn't even open. Instead we stopped at the Red Goat, a funky coffee cart parked in the middle of an open square. Yesterday, later in the day, we had seen it surrounded by Mom's, kids and strollers, but early in the morning people lined up, got their coffee and left immediately for the T. That's what we did too.
By the time we got into town and down to the waterfront, the gray sky looked like it might clear, so we only debated briefly before picking up our lunch cruise tickets. We were among a fearless few - just six other people opted to join us. Maybe the stay-behinds already knew we'd be sitting at picnic tables on the open deck with just a tarp hanging above us, a situation that was okay when we started out and saw a bit of sunshine but not so comfortable once the sun disappeared. The waterfront however was fascinating, especially with a guide to identify all the things we were looking at, though by the end of the cruise we were huddling in the doorway of a small cabin to escape the cold and light rain that had started.
Landing at the dock just after noon, we hustled across to the very nearest museum, the Nobel Peace Center, to get out of the rain. In the warm inside, we enjoyed an excellent photography exhibit called the Dream of Europe, and a number of provocative stories about asylum seeking, but the other exhibits were very high techy - lots of flashing lights - and just seemed to be trying too hard.
From there we headed to the next nearest museum, the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, as the rain, though light, unfortunately continued. We ended up spending the rest of the afternoon inside and dry, happily looking at the complete works of Snohetta Architects. The first room held models of completed and proposed projects. What we didn't understand in this first room was made clear in the second by illustrations, photographs and better labeling. The last, and best part, was upstairs where we watched a film about the Alexandria Bibliotek, followed by one showing every step in the construction of the Opera House. We were sitting down, we were warm, and even though most of the speaking was in Norwegian, we watched for over an hour, getting more eager than ever to visit the Opera House in person.
posted by Judy at 3:41 PM|link
Monday in Bygdoy
So it turns out that most of the museums are closed on Monday, except for those on the almost-island of Bygdoy. Getting an early start at 11:30 am, we were having lattes before noon and on the T by 12:15. A bus ride then took us to the Norsk Folkemuseum, which was a bit like Sturbridge Village, except much bigger, older and nicer. As you can see in the photos, we were fortunate to have another perfect sunny day.
After completing quite a trek around the grounds of the Folk Museum we hopped back on the bus to its final stop at the Kon Tiki Museum. The model of the Kon Tiki was fascinating, and seeing it firsthand, made it even harder to imagine six crewmen making the actual trip.
Riding the bus required hanging on tight along a very windy road. Looking out the window was like being in California, maybe in Tiburon, all green and very lush with prosperous looking and architecturally interesting homes. We ended the day with a 10-minute ferry ride and walk back to the T, heading home on the early side to get to the dock by 10:00 am for a lunch cruise of the fjords tomorrow.