s o r r y m u m

Det er den tiden - den tiden jeg blir som et barn igjen og vil spise kaker hver dag. Forskjellen nå fra jeg var liten til voksen, er at det er jeg som baker alle småkakene. Men det hemmer ikke apetitten. Jeg baker nemlig de kakene jeg liker best selv. Tørre julekaker. Ut-og-inn-kaker. Mine går ikke inn igjen. Så blir det tomt, da. Og jeg spør meg selv igjen:                "Hva ville Mormor gjort?" Mormor ville ha porsjonert ut julekakene nøye. Planlagt. Eller hun ville, i all hemmelighet og uten å si noe til skokken med barnebarn som kom på besøk i Julen, hun ville bakt nye når det ble tomt. Hå! God Jul!

Photo: Linda Gabrielli My dear Friends, Its been a while. But it is time. For change. I am writing to ask you a favour. Not for me, but for our children and our grandchildren. It can be difficult to teach an old dog new tricks – a saying. The old dog being me and perhaps you. Still - we are the ones who need to teach the children new tricks. To educate them on how to take care of eachother and of the planet. I believe the right way is not by exploiting nature, but by exploring nature – like small children do. In order to fall in love. When you are in love you want to nurture and learn how to do that in the best way and in the right way for love to flourish. Make the children fall in love with planet Earth . I ask you to show the children, teach them, take them to the woods and the lakes, the oceans and the desserts. Show them the beauty and the magnificence of Nature. Show them her fragility and her strength. Show them the beauty of whales playing and purring betw...

Soon Tuesday will come, and it will all be good...Even for cats and even in Venice Mondays exist. Stay calm. Wait it out. Down the step a beautiful Tuesday arises. Have faith. Do something else this afternoon. Yoga is good for you. Read up on what the Pope says about the environment and the climate change http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html= And for the sake of the planet, yourself and a happy Tuesday  - dear Americans: vote for Hillary. Today is Wednesday - and it still feels like Monday. What happened, USA?!!!  s o r r y m u m

I got my hair I got my head I got my brains I got my ears I got my eyes I got my nose I got my mouth I got my teeth I got life, mother I got laughs, sister I got freedom, brother I got good times, man I got crazy ways, daughter I got million-dollar charm, cousin I got headaches and toothaches And bad times too Like you Pretty hippycow! You are adorable! s o r r y m u m

You cannot stay in Venice and not notice how much the  dogs are loved. Everywhere you see them. In the streets, at the restaurants, at the trainstations, in the shops, at the bars. Not so unusual. What I found extraordinary, however, was the owners attitude towards their dogs. I never saw an owner yell at his dog. Only patience and love. And the dogs where socialised and included . And happy and patient. How wonderful to see the old dog allowing the puppy to say hi and the two owner chattings in the street - going in different directions but taking the time to stop and let their dogs greet eachother. This is how the puppies learns about other dogs and how to be a dog with other dogs. Stuff only a dog can teach a dog. I photographed these dogs and their owners in Venice in april 2016. Thank you, Venice! s o r r y m u m

Nydelig selvplukket og dampet stillehavsøsters. Photo: K.Udland For 3 år siden skrev jeg følgende: Østers plukket i en liten bukt i Sandefjord. Sitat fra www.renmat.no : Vi oppfordres av Havforskningsinstituttet til å lete etter Stillehavsøsters som er i ferd med å foreta en "unfriendly takeover" langs kysten vår. Den kan bli et problem i årene fremover, og vi oppfordres derfor til å hente opp og spise så mye stillehavsøsters som mulig. Havforskningsinstituttet er også takknemlige hvis du melder fra hvor du finner den....Stillehavsøsters liker seg på grunt vann og er utsatt for måkeskit. Derfor bør stillehavsøsters varmehandles før de spises. Flatøstersen er den norske arten - truet av stillehavsøstersens inntog i fjordene våre. Globalisering og innvandring uten papirarbeide, men for en smak! Dampet som blåskjell - tar noe lengre tid før de åpner seg - smaker de fortreffelig en solskinnsdag sent i september. Legg de i gryte med litt hvitvin, eventuelt bare vann...

It`s not about what I earn.  It`s about what  I do. 

Piri on Rarotonga. "You can only appreciate so many mountains and beautiful lakes, sunsets and turquoise lagoons - then you have to meet the people ", a friend once said. And he was right. When travelling over time, as I did a year, your surroundings start to not give any meaning. You stop seeing and appreciating nature. Nature fatigue . Very interesting phenomena that can even make you sad and depressed. Pointing out the reason helped. I knew I had to meet the people, so I changed my focus. On Rarotonga, an island in the Cook Islands, I met Piri. In 2002. First at his coconut-tree-climbing show where we als where taught how to make a fire with sticks and to cook with hot stones in the ground. We all had to work together and it gave meaning. It  took us half a day to cook the meal. Piri making a fire. The stones were heated by the fire we made. Piri worked hard with dry moss and two sticks and we all gave shelter from the wind so he could nurture the fire. Piri work...

Maori sculpture by a New Zealand road. Photo: K. Udland I cannot believe people from New Zealand read my blog! That makes me so happy. I love that country. Travelled both islands in 2004 in an old, yellow car bought outside Auckland. Stayed for months. What impressed me the most on New Zealand was the people. They made me feel like a guest in their country - not a tourist. When - not if - I studied a map on the street, people would come up to me and friendly offer their help. Or invite us to their house. We even got to sleep in a marae - a  house where the maori used to live in large families. Grandparents, aunts, cousins - everybody sleeping in one big room. Until the English moved the maories by force to live in small houses which made my friend so unhappy as a little kid missing his grandma, he ran away to be with her in the night. She met him by the creek... He also told me how he used to stay in the forest for days and weeks without food and even clothes just living o...

Neigbourhood graffiti by unknown human being. Thanks, I enjoy it daily. That is sooo hard.. Don't talk about it, be about it .   I truly admire people doing that - or being that. Dedicated. Being something. Not just during workinghours, but being and living it. Waking up in the morning being that person. Being a musician, a priest, a writer, a husband, a birdwatcher, a gardener, a traveller..being just that all your hours - and loving it.  That is what life should be about. Not wanting to stop working because that job is not a job, it's what you are and want you seek to do every single second of the day. That does't mean you don't have to work hard. You do. The difference being it doesn't feel like work. It feels like fun. Like blogging, perhaps?  I know people being , but not being able to make it into a living (not enough being?), and they work as a mailman in the mornings and play the drums in a band at night. Paint stunning portraits during the da...

Photo: K.Udland PMS, vannhode, Alzheimer og menopause Jeg har lekt med fenomenet PMS og trukket linjer fra PMS til hydrocephalus (tidligere: vannhode) og Alzheimers syndrom. Hva er det som egentlig skjer med oss kvinner i denne perioden? Hva bør vi vite og hva bør våre kjære være forberedt på månedlig? Hva har skaperverket gjort med oss og hvorfor?  Jeg gjør oppmerksom på at dette ikke er en fagartikkel, og heller ikke et forsøk på sådant, men et sammensurium av undringer og forsøk på å samle dem. Noen av dem. PMS står for premenstruelt syndrom. Premenstruell betyr ”før mensen”.  Syndrom kommer fra det greske ordet for ”sammenstimling” og betyr ”en samling symptomer som tyder på en viss sykdom”.  Årsaken til PMS forklares som ”hormonelle endringer fra eggløsning og fram mot mensen”, og:  ”PMS skyldes forandret væskebalanse i kroppen. Mer vann enn vanlig siver ut fra blodbanen til vevet, og det kan godt være at dette også skjer i hjernen vår”. S...

I want to share this happy couple with you. They show so much love and respect for eachother, it is amazing. True love amongst animals. I have to believe they are capable of love seing Dash and Oranja and how they cuddle and play with eachother. Always respectfully. Lionhug. Photo: K.Udland I watched them everyday for 8 weeks - this inspiring couple making the best of their situation in captivity. Oranja has a bad hip and Dash is a nurturing and respectful friend. When I took the photos they went on like this for perhaps half an hour - calm and happy. Enjoing eachother. I do believe animals have a soul. How can I not? s o r r y m u m More hugging: Dash & Oranja. Photo: K.Udland True love. Photo: K. Udland Happy lion. Photo: K.Udland

Mondaymorning. What to choose.. Photo and even drawing: K. Udland Kan vi velge litt på en mandag, tro? Kan vi tenke at vi har to valg. La oss gjøre det så enkelt i dag. Fyrstikkmennesker og et dårlig iPhone4-bilde til tross. Du tar poenget. Ta mandagen! s o r r y m u m

Occupy Wall Street Gathering in Zuccotti Park. Photo: K.Udland DEMOCRACY - NOT CORPORATOCRACY I was there. Renting an apartment for a few days on Wall Street in September 2011 when the people started moving. Having my large latte at Starbucks on 17th of September, the coffeeshop was occupied by young people working on computers and making posters out of cut cardboard.The room was tense. Being curious as always I asked a young woman what was going on - she wouldn’t tell. Watch her on the photo up front on the pavement on her way to the New York stock exchange and Wall Street. Making a change. On the first march. Occupy Wall Street September 17th 2011.  Photo: K. Udland All was calm, I drank my coffee and left. To witness the first march on my way to the Charging Bull. Little did I know I witnessed a historic moment. Very few marchers to begin with - perhaps 20-30 at the most. The photo shows the very start on November 17th. With her - perhaps a student - up fr...

Sara og Vitani nullstiller seg på setesdalsgenseren. Photo: K.Udland Verdien av å gjøre ikkeno . Human being framfor human doing som nok er den dominerende menneskelige driven. Se dyrene gjøre ikkeno. Katten langstrakt i sofaen etter dagens arboristaktivitet. Hunden i dyp søvn på tunet etter rypejakta. Nullstiller seg. Nå skal du ikke gjøre noe som helst når du går inn i en tilstand av ikkeno. Du skal bare ikkeno. Ikke tenke. Ikke gjøre. Bare være. Etter gjøren. I klare høstdager og netter. Lade opp.  Eller meditere - finn en snutt på youtube med guided meditation, legg deg ned med øretelefoner under pleddet og la deg hvile og henføre av en stemme du liker. Kanskje skumte : sitte en ettermiddag alene i sofaen uten å slå på lys og kjenne at det blir mørkt. Bare la det blir helt mørkt rundt deg.  Nyt høsten! Eller ikkeno høsten.  s o r r y m u m