HAPPY NOTES

Fantastic flowers across Oslo

I'm a very bad blogger these days, but I have my good excuses. Moving house is nerve wrecking, and especially this period that I'm in now, styling and preparing the house for sale. But my watertight plans have proved to be just that so far…. watertight. I knew I was an expert at logistics! The house was due to be photographed last Thursday and an hour before the photographer arrived the house was styled and ready to be presented to potential buyers:

"Very attractive family friendly house."

Now all we have to do is cross our fingers for the viewing on Sunday and Monday.

Haha - that last sentence is so UNTRUE! Now we have to clear even more of the house - all the stuff that was hidden from the camera lens, pulled aside, or in storage places that are easy to spot by an observant viewer. We have garden tools lying around on shelves outside our front door, we have laundry scattered in our utility room, we have things stored under the basement staircase. I think we're a bit like everyone else in that respect, though I must say I'm impressed at myself and my family for throwing out A LOT of old belongings.

Lilacs - my favourites - coming into full bloom these days

Flowers planted on my terrace for the very last time

Still - having been to the dump and the recycling centre several times over the last couple of weeks - a first visit to our new flat immediately told me that there's not nearly enough room for the "few" pieces of furniture we have left. All windows, no walls - hence nowhere to hang my paintings! But I was pleased with the big hallway, the kitchen and the wall colour - a tone down from white. Nevertheless, if you listened carefully you could hear me yelling in stress the following day, as I was finishing the house styling: "I don't wanna move! I don't like the new flat! I thought it was horrible!" Which of course it was not. It's just that it'll take some time saying goodbye to thirty-one years in this house.

Something has happened to my husband lately. He has started eating again, he's feeling happier, less tired, more energetic. Suddenly it's fun shopping food with him because he'll suggest meals he'd like, and he says they actually taste good! I believe this new situation is a combination of several things - the side effects of the treatments have finally left his body, his anti-depressant dosage has been increased and changed to a type that enhances his appetite, and in addition his recent visits to a therapist have certainly helped! No doubt it's useful for him to lean on others while struggling with all the aspects of his illness, and to talk about topics he is reluctant to share with his closest family. I know this for a fact after having been in therapy sessions myself this winter and spring. 

Oh yes, my husband is back, and we're all so incredibly happy for him and for ourselves.

Tempting food! And it was eaten too!

Tomorrow I'll be entering my last year as a "fifty-something." A bit scary, but then again - age is only a number. At least this is what I keep telling myself. And having been through the ordeal that started for our little family on October 9th 2013, I know I must appreciate every hour, every day and every year that I'm lucky enough to receive in this life.

Our friends never cease to amaze me - bringing peonies around, just because they want to

Happiness is getting out my summer shoes - here my Toms

My new jumper from Lauren Vidal - I simply love the colours!

This afternoon - a straight-from-the-hairdressers-selfie

May sky over Oslo

THE DARLING BUDS OF MAY

Sonnet XVIII

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st.

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Whenever I need to find some appropriate poetic words for my musings and emotions, or for any occasion for that matter, I turn to my best friend Bill - William Shakespeare. The above is one of his most popular and well known sonnets, and of course I feel - as always - that he speaks directly to me. Not only does he tell me here that I'm lovelier than a summer's day, in all aspects, and that I will never get old (well, I'll live on in the lines of this sonnet) - but he speaks of my favourite month - May. 

I identify completely with my birthday month. I was born on the 21st. I consider everyone who was not born in May very unlucky. Okay, according to Shakespeare rough winds may shake those darling buds of May, but come on! The beauty of the greenness and the flower explosions and the rejuvenating of all nature - the rebirth of all that was dead and hibernating…. that's my month! And which of the views below do you prefer? I know which one I prefer!

My spiraea - heavy with rain today. (Every time I look out my window and spot it I jump because I get associations to snow! That's how much this white winter has affected me…)

I usually throw a party on my terrace on or around my birthday every year, but this year it'll have to be postponed. The days after our return from France have been filled with clearing out, throwing away, packing and storing our stuff. We came home to a freshly painted living room and kitchen (redecorating for the buyers I'd say, but it was necessary). Yesterday I had a visit from a property stylist, and this was very useful! Her advice was not to go out and purchase a lot of new items in order to perform a total make-over of the house, but to use things I have already. She was impressively observant and spotted objects that were tucked away in the background: "Ooo - there's a sweet little pink stool you can use - just place a small flower on it" - or "I love that blue picture, matched with the blue-framed mirror and those silver coloured storage boxes - that'll give the impression of a boy's room!" And she suggested using my huge tea mugs for creating a cosy kitchen atmosphere. But the best thing she told me was not to move everything out for the photo session - simply push superfluous furniture out of the camera angle. Brilliant! This trick provides me with some extra time to get rid of more stuff while the estate agents process the property portfolio, before the house goes on the market at the end of the month.

So  - believe it or not - now I'm actually looking forward to pimping my house!

Another brilliant idea (I really appreciate them these days - anything to make moving easier) is this invention: Mobile storage! They drive the storage container to you, leave it right outside your house for a couple of days, then pick it up and store it in a hall where you have access to it all the time. Not that I think I'll need the access - with the help of best friend Grete I pretty much filled it to the brim, including Christmas tree! 

My mother was also born in May, and we visited her in the home where she lives on the 1st of this month. She has Alzheimers and definitely did not realise it was her 88th birthday. But she's very responsive to caresses and hugs and is always glad to see my husband. They've had a special bond ever since they met. In her cupboard I found an old photo album where unfortunately most of the photos had been ripped out - and most of these were of me as a child in New York City. Anyone who has been to an Alzheimers ward knows that the residents frequently make visits to the other rooms and help themselves to other people's belongings. Happily living out what must be the ultimate experience of "what's yours is mine!"

Or perhaps someone thought I reminded them of their own child.

My Mum & I, Brooklyn 1958

My Dad & I, Brooklyn 1958

My Mum & I at English's Oyster Bar in Brighton, England 1979. This is how I'll always remember her.

Having some fun with selfies - well, no one else ever takes my picture!