Moving in

ENG: After years of consideration Karl Edo Spook finally has decided which house to buy and he and his friend Arne Vaa used this weekend to move in! In the photo Arne is doing the work while Karl Edo has one of his many breaks. He prefers enjoying physical exercise from a distance!
The apartment is small, but that's okay, because they spend so much of their time in the Paris apartment.

NOR: Etter mange års leting har Karl Edo Spook endelig kjøpt hus og han og vennen Arne Vaa brukte helga til å flytte inn! På bildet er det Arne som tar seg av bæringa, mens Karl Edo har en av sine mange pauser. Han syns fysisk fostring nytes best på avstand!
Huset er lite, men det gjør ikke så mye siden de i lange perioder bor i leiligheten i Paris.

ENG: This is how the living room looks so far. Pictures and more lamps will come, but Karl Edo won't rush such important decisions.

NOR: Stua så langt. Bilder og flere lamper vil komme etterhvert, men Karl Edo vil ikke forhaste seg i så viktige spørsmål.

Credits: The house is the 2005 Lundby Stockholm house, kitchen is Lundby Småland repainted by me, sofa table by me, Arne Jacobsen dining table by Brio, sofa, chairs and lamp by Lundby, orange shelves and chair re-ment, accessories re-ment and ebay finds.

A doll's house

NOR: Dette er postet etter flere henvendelser om referanseforklaring for mine utenlandske lesere. Jeg håper mye av det kommende er kjent stoff for norsktalende.

ENG: Even though I was the one having a birthday, it was the Lund family who received a load of new books to read in the mail. Helmer is trying to recover his school French, he has even bought himself a dictionary, and can now put it to use when reading "La guerre des boutons". But reading french was a bit exhausting, so he had to have a coffee break and wondered if he shouldn't rather relax with the butterfly book. Tomy is reading his new "Noah's ark" and Annika enjoys her "Alice in Wonderland" filled with wonderful pictures as it is. She also looks forward to start reading "The little house on the prairie" books, of which she now has got the whole series.

Nora had also bought some books, but wanted to finish her " A dolls house" first. Not only did the author, Henrik Ibsen, come from Skien, the same town where they live (and I), but more peculiar was the coincidence that the main characters in the play are a couple named Nora and Torvald Helmer. Nora found this so weird, she couldn't stop reading.


UPDATE the 24th of April:

Apparently the Lund family are more aware of current events than I am. Yesterday, I just was told , was infact the International Day of the Book!

Credits: Miniature books by Grace at TreeFeathers and Jean Day. Thank you both!
The dolls house book is an ebay find.
A dolls house is a play by Henrik Ibsen, 1828 – 1906, born in Skien.

The complete works (mostly plays) of Ibsen are

• 1850 Catiline (Catilina)
• 1850 The Burial Mound also known as The Warrior's Barrow (Kjæmpehøjen)
• 1851 Norma (Norma)
• 1852 St. John's Eve (Sancthansnatten)
• 1854 Lady Inger of Oestraat (Fru Inger til Østeraad)
• 1855 The Feast at Solhaug (Gildet paa Solhoug)
• 1856 Olaf Liljekrans (Olaf Liljekrans)
• 1857 The Vikings at Helgeland (Hærmændene paa Helgeland)
• 1862 Digte - only released collection of poetry, included "Terje Vigen".
• 1862 Love's Comedy (Kjærlighedens Komedie)
• 1863 The Pretenders (Kongs-Emnerne)
• 1866 Brand (Brand)
• 1867 Peer Gynt (Peer Gynt)
• 1869 The League of Youth (De unges Forbund)
• 1873 Emperor and Galilean (Kejser og Galilæer)
• 1877 Pillars of Society (Samfundets Støtter)
• 1879 A Doll's House (Et Dukkehjem)
• 1881 Ghosts (Gengangere) (the main characters are Helene and Osvald Alving)
  
• 1882 An Enemy of the People (En Folkefiende)
• 1884 The Wild Duck (Vildanden)
• 1886 Rosmersholm (Rosmersholm)
• 1888 The Lady from the Sea (Fruen fra Havet)
• 1890 Hedda Gabler (Hedda Gabler)
• 1892 The Master Builder (Bygmester Solness)
• 1894 Little Eyolf (Lille Eyolf)
• 1896 John Gabriel Borkman (John Gabriel Borkman)
• 1899 When We Dead Awaken (Når vi døde vaagner)

Source: Wikipedia

Happy Birthday to me!

NOR: I dag er det fødselsdagen min og jeg fikk lyst til å feire den med en fest med mine minste venner i et av selskapslokalene drevet av Noras mor og far Glenn Closenough og Sean Kommer'u.



ENG: Today it's my birthday and I wanted to celebrate it by throwing a party for my not so great friends in one of the reception rooms owned by Nora's parents Glenn Closenough and Sean Kommer'u. (Sean R. U. Coming)


NOR: Rundt bordet sitter Karl Edo Spook, Cocco Flanell, Arne Vaa, Glenn Closenough, Helmer og Polly Line. Sean Kommer'u går til og fra og serverer, men holder seg helst i nærheten av sin kjære kone.

ENG: Gathered around the table are Karl Edo Spook, Cocco Flanell, Arne Vaa, Glenn Closenough, Helmer and Polly Line. Sean Kommer'u is serving, but prefers to be close to his dear wife.

NOR: Glenn Closenough har valgt interiøret i rommet med utgangspunkt i favorittbildet sitt.

ENG: Glenn Closenough has chosen the interior, based on her favourit painting, but she's forgotten who painted it, so if anyone knows, she would be grateful if they could tell her! (the large painting)

NOR: Nora, i nytt antrekk for anledningen, står og konverserer sin mors søster tante Fiolett paa Traadén. (Etternavnet fikk hun da hun giftet seg med Knut E. Paa Traadén, men de er for tiden separert)

ENG: Nora, in a new outfit for the occasion, is conversing her mother's sister tante Fiolett paa Traadén (aunt Violet's It Slip)

NOR:Først mot slutten av middagen dukket Helmers tante Dolly Barton opp, etter å ha tilbrakt det meste av kvelden i puben til sin andre nevø, Bart Ender Barton.

ENG: First towards the end of the dinner, Helmers aunt Dolly Barton showed up, after spending most of the evening in the pub of her other nephew, Bart Ender Barton.

Credits: Furniture and lamps mostly Lundby, fruit by Cocco, spungecake by me (my first attempt) kransekake (tower cake) by Christel, fruit cake and other accessories are gifts and ebay finds.
Paintings are by Diego de Silva y Velásquez, Orazio Gentileschi, Pierre-Paul Prud'hon and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres.

Gjengangere second-hand shop

ENG: With all the redecorating Nora has done after Spook House opened, she can almost singelhandedly keep a second hand store supplied. Luckily for her, it didn't take long before one opened either and next to Spook House, too, very convenient for Nora indeed! It's called Gjengangere (The revenants), and the owner and manager is Osvald Halving.

NOR: Etter all møbelutskiftingen og oppussingen Nora har satt i gang siden Spook House åpnet, kan hun bortimot egenhendig holde en bruktbutikk forsynt med varer. Heldigvis for henne tok det ikke lang tid før det åpnet en heller, vegg i vegg med Spook House, ganske så hendig for Nora. Den heter Gjengangere, eies og drives av Osvald Halving.

ENG: No sooner has Nora brought some new stuff to the shop, my daughter's doll Carol Line, married to Helmer's brother Henrik, is there to see if there could be something of use for her home.
So the little café in Gjengangere soon became their favourite place for a cup of tea. The café is run by Osvald's industrious wife Martha, who also cleans Nora and Helmer's house. I think she might have given her husband an inside tip of all the old furniture that was piling up, with the sole purpose of being in her way.

NOR: Ikke før har Nora levert noe nytt til bruktbutikken så er min datters dukke Carol Line, gift med Helmers tvillingbror Henrik, på plass for å se om det er noe hun kan bruke i sitt hus, så den lille kafeen i Gjengangere ble fort et yndet møtested for dem. Kafeen drives av Osvalds driftige kone Martha, som også vasker huset til Nora og Helmer. Ikke umulig at hun har tipset mannen om alle de gamle møblene som hopet seg opp hos arbeidsgiverne hennes, uten annen hensikt å gjøre det vanskelig å komme til med støvsugeren.

Bedroom stories

ENG: Nora has been in a decorating mood ever since Spook House opened, and the latest room to suffer from her frenzy is the bedroom. Even though it had been decorated just a couple years ago, into this...

NOR: Nora har hatt oppussingsdilla siden Spook House åpnet, og det siste rommet som har fått gjennomgå er soverommet. Selv om det ikke var mange årene siden hun sist pusset det opp, så det ble seende slik ut...


ENG:...she kept on, with this as the final result:
NOR:..fortsatte hun, med dette som resultat:

ENG: The last picture shows the bedroom seen from the terrace. The floor tiles are original.

NOR: Det siste bildet viser soverommet sett fra terrassen utenfor. Flisene er husets orginale.

Credits: Re-ment chair, but I have coloured the fabric purple. The chest of drawers are from Brio, but painted with metallic paint. Scrap book frames. Other furniture and accessories are from Lundby, beads, or self made.

The day after

ENG: What no one noticed, until too late.

NOR: Hva ingen så før det var for sent.

God påske!

ENG: Holy Wednesday is Chicks Night in the pub.
NOR: Onsdag i påskeuka slår kyllingene seg løs.

ENG: Inspired by this hilarious book:
Bitter with baggage seeks same
by Sloane Tanen

NOR: Inspirert av denne utrolig morsomme boka:
"Bitter Berte med bagasje søker likesinnet."
av Sloane Tanen.


NOR: Flere påskeinspirerte bilder fra boka:
ENG: More Easter inspired pictures from the book:
(In Norway Easter means reading crime novels and watch murder mysteries on the TV)

Nora's sewing room

ENG: Being a dedicated Arts and crafts teacher in secondary school, Nora of course has to have her own sewing room at home, too.

NOR: Som lærer i kunst og håndverk på ungdomsskolen, og med stor kjærlighet til faget, må Nora selvfølgelig ha et syrom hjemme også.

ENG: Nora's many rolls of fabric and a view towards the garden
NOR: Noras mange ruller med stoff og utsikt mot hagen.

ENG: Nora also has a collection of old dolls.
NOR: Nora har også en samling gamle dukker.

ENG: Nora at work. You can see she has been shopping in Spook House...
NOR: Nora klipper til stoff. Du kan se hun har handlet i Spook House...

Credits: Lundby ceiling lamp, Brio table and chest of drawers (from my childhood) the drawings on the board are by my children (not scaled afterwards), Spook House bag by Cocco, fabric samples in Lego shelf. Art by Mucha and Klimt.