Memory Lane

Several months ago I got an Honest Scrap Award from Sans where I was supposed to tell 10 honest things that people don't know about me, but since I'm not doing awards, I answered only in a mail to her. Now I have also been tagged by Rebecca on Flickr with a request to share 10 random facts about myself and post a photo. She posted two photos, and the second related to some facts and stories from her childhood. On her blog Rebecca has also posted photos of her childhood furniture.

I was inspired by her photos like I have been by all the stories callsmall tells about her family, so I thought I'd use the opportunity to respond more properly to Sans' award as well.

I'll start with the photos. Tomy and Annika was kind enough to lend me their room and some of their furniture for this post.


The little doll in the bed is made by Cocco. The duvet and pillow are of my own making.

The bed and the matching drawers, the fish tank, the green chairs and the paper basket are all from my childhood. The bed can be folded up. Both Tivoli posters have been there since I put them on as a child.
Most of the toys in these pictures have survived my childhood, like the bus and the cars, the doll's houses and the farm. Recent additions: The little people and the farm animals are from Micro Playmobil sets. My children have the Ikea Mammut table and chairs, but these are the Lundby version together with the red flower mirror. The rest of the furniture are Re-ment and Playmobil.

I had a little elephant and a dog just like these when I was a child. These ones are from the "in my pocket" series. Pippi Longstocking was one of my childhood favourites, this copy is a gift from Grace at TreeFeathers.

Now, to the facts:

1. I have played the piano since I was 6 years old. I got the piano from one of my grandmothers and was taught to play by the other. I thought about studying music but found I wasn't good enough to make a decent living of it.

What I like most is to sit by the piano and improvise, it helps if I'm stressed or sad. Most of my songs are rather melancholic. I made my first song when I was seven, it was just one line and was supposed to sound oriental :-) I have written down some of the songs, but none of them are very original. The first song I wrote down, at 14, was one page long and was dedicated to a boy in my class who I had a crush on for several years. I wrote my best piece when I was 18 and gave the notes as a present to my grandmother who had taught me to play.

Recently my nerd of a husband wrote a Pre-Indo-European blues with the subtitle "The horse, the wheel and language blues" based on a book review. I made a tune to it, with all the blues clichés I could think of, and whenever I play it, he gets in a good mood. (I thought blues should have the opposite effect?)

2. I have sung in choirs most of my life. These days I sing in the church choir (which often consists of me alone).

3. I once won a limbo contest, but now I'm sadly unfit, so there's no chance I will be able to repeat that.

4. When I was fourteen we were in Morocco, and my father was offered 35 camels for me, luckily for me he rejected the offer.

5. I hate housework, so when we finally decided to hire a cleaning women, our house was a real mess.

6. I also hate woodeating ants and I am almost obsessive about killing them.

7. Like Rebecca, I'm interested in genealogy. One of my foremothers was Norway's most famous witch, Anne Pedersdotter, who was burned alive at the stake in the city of Bergen on the 7 April 1590.

8. I love reading about the Big Bang, nuclear physics and the space, even if I just understand a fracture of what I'm reading.

9. I'm an avid Dr Who fan, but I've only known the 9th and10th doctor.

10. I added the Gauguin painting not only because of the colours, but because a copy of the painting (by one of my great aunts) is the picture I remember best from my grandparents home. Now it's mine, and below is the painting hanging on my staircase wall. Underneath it is a painting I did myself some years ago inspired by François Boucher (when I had a wall that needed something in those colours).

Les Créations Cocco

ENG: I want to start this new year with a presentation of my dear friend Cocco. For many of you who follow my blog Cocco is a wellknown name, at least if you read the credits after each post. Cocco has designed the logos for Spook House and Gjengangere, she has made the moon lamps and shopping bags in Spook House, the little seven chair and much more tiny things like a Christmas marzipan pig and a lego box. I got the big lego box for Christmas from hubby's brother!

NOR: Jeg vil starte det nye året med en presentasjon av min kjære venninne Cocco. For de fleste av dere er Cocco kjent, enten fra denne bloggen eller fra dukkehusforumet. Hun har designet Spook House og Gjengangere brukt og antikk-logoene , laget moonlampene og handleposene i Spook House, den bittelille syverstolen og mange flere små ting som en marsipangris og en legoboks. Den store legoboksen fikk jeg til jul fra min svoger!

ENG: But what you don't know is that I probably wouldn't have had a blog without her! It's not even certain I would have had this hobby without her, because when we met, I hadn't done anything with my childhood dollhouse for years, not since I was 11 years old . It was just used as a display for furniture and accessories that had survived my childhood. But as soon as we became friends she came with suggestions like improving the art on the walls, doing something with the ugly sofa (I then coloured it with green fabric dye) and getting some dolls who could sit. My childhood dolls were the ones who are now known as Martha and Osvald Halving. She made new clothes for them and even though I wasn't much interested in dolls I did buy some new ones, now known as Karl Edo Spook and Cocco Flanell. Later I got more dolls to fill my reception room, and sent a bunch of them to Cocco for a makeover and to my surprise they came back as real little people with different personalities! And as you know, it wouldn't have been much of a blog without them! Below are the men she has dressed up:

NOR: Men det dere ikke vet er at jeg sannsynligvis ikke ville hatt denne bloggen uten henne! Det er ikke engang sikkert at jeg ville holdt på med dukkehus, for da vi møttes hadde jeg ikke gjort noe med mitt barndoms dukkehus på årevis, ikke siden jeg var elleve. Det sto der bare som en slags settekasse til å vise fram møbler og småting som hadde overlevd barndommen. Men så snart hun fikk se dukkehuset begynte hun å komme med forslag til forbedringer som å få bedre kunst på veggene, gjøre noe med den stygge sofaen og få dukker som kunne sitte. De dukkene jeg hadde da er nå kjent som Martha og Osvald Halving. Hun lagde nye klær til begge og selv om jeg ikke var spesielt interessert i dukker kjøpte jeg også noen nye, som nå er kjent som Karl Edo Spook og Cocco Flanell. Senere kjøpte jeg flere for å fylle opp selskapslokalet mitt og sendte dem til Cocco for en makeover og til min forbløffelse kom de tilbake som levende små folk med forskjellige personligheter! Og som dere vet hadde det ikke vært mye igjen av denne bloggen uten dem! Her er mennene hun har har kledd opp:

ENG: From the left above is pater Maximillian, his twin brother Sean Kommer'u, Helmer with his new knitted sweater and Arne Vaa. Pater Maximilllian was a gift for my 40th birthday and he was the reason I had to build a church! He came with three layers of clothes as displayed below.

NOR: Fra venstre over ser dere pater Maximillian, tvillingbroren Sean Kommer'u, Helmer med den nye strikkegenseren og Arne Vaa. Pater Maximillian fikk jeg til 40-årsdagen min og han måtte jo selvfølgelig få en kirke! Han kom med tre lag klær som vist på disse bildene:

ENG: Last year he was joined by the altar boy Minimillian.
NOR: Sist høst fikk han selskap av ministranten Minimillian.

ENG: She also made new trousers and a leather jacket for Helmer last year:
NOR: Hun lagde også nye bukser og skinnjakke til Helmer i fjor:



ENG: And here are the women after their makeovers.
NOR: Og her er damene etter sine makeovere:

ENG: From the left above is Dolly Barton, (who also was on rehab at Cocco, because she was in a really bad shape when she came to me), Nora with her new bunad, (see also the picture on top) her mother Glenn Closeenough with her new knitted jacket (In who's who you can see her with just her dress and a matching bolero), Polly Line in her new skirt and knitted sweater (the skirt was really meant for Glenn, but Polly Line liked it too and has borrowed it), and Cocco Flanell.

NOR: Fra venstre over ser dere Dolly Barton, Nora i sin nye bunad som også kan sees i det øverste bildet, moren hennes Glenn Closeenough med ny strikket jakke (I who's who kan du se henne med bolero som matcher kjolen), Polly Line i nytt skjørt og strikket genser (skjørtet var egentlig ment for Glenn, men Polly Line har lånt det for hun likte det så godt), og Cocco Flanell.

ENG: She has also made several beautiful purses for the women, and some of them can even be opened! (The ruler is in centimeters!)
NOR: Hun har også laget flere nydelige bittesmå selskapsvesker til damene, og noen av dem kan til og med åpnes!

ENG: Cocco is also decorating the home of an retired 1:6th scale soldier known as Action Man, who lives on Montmartre in Paris and is a good friend of Cocco Flanell. Here you can see them both in his living room admiring his new Eames chair. Cocco made both the sofa and the table herself.

NOR: Cocco innreder også leiligheten til en pensjonert leiesoldat i 1:6 skala, kjent som Action Man, som bor på Montmartre i Paris og er en god venn av Cocco Flanell. Du kan se dem begge her i stua hans hvor de beundrer hans nye Eames stol. Cocco har laget både sofaen og bordet. På dukkehusforumet kan du finne flere bilder under temaet "andre skalaer enn 1:12."

ENG: More photos from Action Man's home: She made the mirror, the bed and the bedspread in the bedroom and also the kitchen cupboards and the kitchen lamp. None of the rooms are quite finished yet. The chair in the bedroom is a Vitra Mackintosh chair.

NOR: Flere foto fra Action Mans hjem: Cocco har laget speilet, sengen og sengetøyet i soverommet og kjøkkenskapene og taklampen. Ingen av rommene er helt ferdige ennå. Stolen på soverommet er en Vitra Mackintosh-stol.

Happy New Year! / Godt Nytt År!

New year's eve at the pub. The owner Bart Ender Barton spends the Holidays in England with his family there and Sean Kommer'u stepped in for him, his salons next door being closed tonight anyway. And since Pater Maximillian never turns down a glass of anything, Sean thought this could be a cheap way to entertain his brother. It's common knowledge that a Catholic priest in a bar is never short of free drinks from middleaged women.

Helmer came over for a beer, but left early to be with his family.

But pater Maximilian feels quite neglected tonight, since the interest of everyone in the bar is directed elsewhere!

I want to wish all of you a Happy New Year filled with miniscule pleasures!
It has been great to get so many new friends to share this hobby with and I'm looking forward to see more of your work in 2010!

Fairytales

These last days Tomy and Annika have been busy playing with their Christmas gifts. Especially the outfits from the calendar and the castles from mum and dad. Minimillian has come over to play every day, since Karl Edo's house isn't exactly children friendly.

Here is a photo Karl Edo took of uncle Arne with his nephew.
Doesn't Minimillian look just like his uncle ?

For those of you who are interested in genealogy, Minimillian is the son of Arne Vaa's sister Claire Vaa. Claire first joined a convent and planned to be a nun, but Minimillian's father to be, Troy Jansen, fell instantly in love with her when he accidently saw her and snook into the convent, disguised as a nun, to meet her. She soon reciprocated his feelings, left the convent and they married shortly after.

Credits: The castles are from two micro Playmobil sets. The furniture is new and vintage Lundby, playmobil and re-ment. Cocco has made Minimillian and Arne Vaa's clothes. Minimillian's sword and shield are lego accessories.

The Sixteenth Chapel or Mass Hypnosis

Sean Kommer'u's altar ego and twin brother William, (he has taken Maximillian as his cleric name) has come to visit and to celebrate Christmas mass in the family's private chapel.
Family and friends have met up in full for such a rare occasion, crowding the little church.









The altar boy is Minimillian from France, who is spending Christmas with his uncle Arne at Karl Edo Spook's house.



Pater Maximillian speaks about the birth of Christ: "In the time o Caesar Augustus, the Romans ordered a census tae be cairried oot ower the hale country. This happened when Cyrenius wis the heid man O Syria.." His gentle voice and the dense air of the crowded chapel makes Polly Line drowsy and her mind starts to wander. After reading the gospel, the priest begins his sermon about God's love for us. His Scottish accent is mixed in Polly Line's mind with vague memories from last summer. She dreams of happy children and bonfires, and she smiles secretly and feels the heat in her cheeks.

She wakes up suddenly, when the priest raises his voice: "And yer harts are wide open and yer innermost longings are for Him ter see!"

Credits: The clothes of pater Maximillian and Minimillian are made by Cocco! She gave me pater Maximillian for my 40th birtday and I just had to make him a church :-) The chapel is built in lego by me and my children, the stained glass windows are postcards bought in Paris and the white statue of Virgin Mary with baby is also a souvenir from Paris. The Virgin Mary with baby and angels, behind the altar, is bought in a shop in Bergen. The St. Olaf statue is a souvenir from the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim. Other accessories are ebay finds or bought in St.Olav booklet, Oslo. Birth of Christ text taken from "A Glasgow Bible" by Jamie Stuart.