Showing of my youngest

... it is time to show off!

It is not too often, that Kristian appears on this blog. I've often bragged about my handsome soldier son - alså back when he was my handsome student son. You've heard me go on about my beautiful, tough, creative daughter - a number of times.

What of Kristian, then? Is he dull - stupid - nothing special??

To that I gotta say: quite the contrary, my dear!



Kristian doesn't take up a lot of room - on the trouble-side, that is. He is easy. He is well mannered. He does well in school, and has a good number of friends.

Maybe that is why I don't brag so much about him? I don't know! It is certainly not due to him being less good-looking, smart or clever than his siblings!



Actually Kristian is the kind of kid that makes you warm inside. He is incredibly loving and sweet - there is always time for a hug and a few tender words. And sometimes he displays a personal maturity, that leaves me speachless and proud. He has integrity - like his sister, he doesn't give a hoot about the brands stuck in his clothes, even if he is less flamboyant in his style.

This bragging-session comes because we went to the scheduled school/home interview with him. Even in the letter sent forward, we could tell that he was making us proud as usual.

"Kristian is a sweet and well behaved boy. He is sensible and in many situations very deliberate."

The technicalities of school were no less impressing. In all subjects he got so much praise, that we hardly knew what to do with ourselves reading it.



Yes - we are incredibly proud of him. His father and I. And if I am not very mistaken, his bonus-father doesn't much mind the kid either!

Advendt workshop

...what just happened?

I turn my back to my computer for just a moment, and several days pass by!
Really....!

Anyway, thursday ... Bodil and I went to advendt workshop at Bankdata. This year my colleague Susanne (the one from Lund+Lund)who coordinated the arrangement.



Kristian actually planned to come too, but he had a boys trip scheduled that evening with the club - going to Kolding to shoot laser guns! That was a bit more appealing than messing with branches and candles!

Susanne took a rain check too, as her daughter picked just that night to come home from a long trip - she'd been to Cuba. So she was going to Kastrup to wave at the airport! The other Lund - Jytte, her sister-in-law - came and represented the family :-)

Our instructor was as usual our former colleague, Lene, from Pilen og Blomsten. An ex-co-worker, gone - perhaps not to seed, but at least to flowers...



Lene had us under firm control, and she brought decorations to be inspired by, materials and "bonus stuff" such as glass balls, trays etc. that we could buy.



Stuff was being produced! Hands were not idle! And much cozy chatting and tasting the chocolate and sipping a glass of red wine - because that is very much a part of the traditional christmasarrangement at Bankdata.



Bodil made a calendar candle decoration with the blue candle she picked at Læsø, and a decoration with a spiders web candle, that I found hiding in the closet. I made an advendt wreath with dark red candles and ribbons - and Bodil made a wreath as well, for her own room.



That beauty is in the eye of the beholder, was also evident this evening. I have, at former arrangement, heard people sigh admiringly over the super nice velvet candles, that I find horrific to an extent that might make me buy them to give away at the fun package-games, that go around this time of year - just to laugh wickedly over the poor souls that won them... So this thursday was no exception.
I saw decorations, that I found very pretty, and other, that I thought were exquisitely ugly.

Long live diversity! It's wonderful that we are all not the same.

Bikesafari with my honey

We had a nice evening yesterday. And didn't get too late (or wet) for us to seize the oppertunity to get out into the lovely fall day today.

This morning was foggy and gray. So I enjoyed sitting inside with my knitting. It lights up any shade of gray - this pair of socks I started up friday with some yarn I had.



Around noon the day got clear, and the sun came out. It looked nice, and when Bruno said he was planning to drive to Kolding and test the biketrip all the way around Kolding that he was doing with a bunch from the bike club next saturday - did I want to come along? - I was quick in accepting.



So the bikes went in the car, and we were off.
If you wonder about the plastic numbers on our bikes, it's due to us doing the winter cup this year. You need your team number on your bike, and they are on there with strips, that don't open easily.



The mood was cheery enough for me to feel moved to take this rather silly self portrait. The glasses may not be pretty. But they are practical! They shield your eyes from the wind and from stuff getting in your eyes. The glass part is switch-able, and I also have a dark one for sunny weather and clear ones for a gray day.

We parked out west of Kolding, by an old train station. We zigged and zagged our way down to Kolding harbour, and from there on we had to go by the yacht harbour. Bruno had been told of a path leading there by his friend Laurent, but it wasn't easy to find. We managed, though, even if I at this point thought he was trying to lead me astray:



We got by the yacht harbour, and went on. All the time we were skirting town, even if it felt very forest-ish. Would you believe we were just about 100 metres from lots of houses?



This guy was my tour guide. Even in bike glasses and a helmet he manages to look good!



I took this pic in the exact same place as the prior. And behind Bruno you can see the houses, I am speaking off - no kidding.
Just minutes later we got into a spot of rough riding - a narrow path next to a stream. It got me a bit jumpy. Bruno thought he had an owl riding behind him (going UUUH UUUH) but it was just me. Fortunately I managed to miss the stream :-)

Luckily, this path was the wrong way, so we got back into a path, that was somewhat more civilized. Not for long, though. The middle part of the trip was the most difficult one - with paths that went up-and-down. Not my favourite thing. Particularly up, I sometimes have a hard time. If you put your weight too far back on the bike, it rears up on you (and you crash), and if you put it too far forwards, you lose traction on your hind wheel and stop going forward (and you crash).
When the path on top of that is muddy, filled with fallen leaves, that hide sticks and branches, and are pretty bumpy, there is plenty of challenge for a not very accomplished and unexperienced mountainbiker.

As I usually tell Bruno - winter cup is my terrain - a bit of road, a bit of track, easy paths (except, of course, if you pair up with Carsten who is really good at finding clever shortcuts by crazy paths paved with rubble).

Well then - the middle part was NOT very winter-cuppy. Bruno found it easy - but it was a bit technical for me, and demanded a better shape than I am in at the moment.

There are upsides to all that crazy up-and-down stuff, though - going around a corner, to find a view like this:



And yes - we were still skirting town - wow!

But what comes up, must go down. A bit later we were looking up at the place this picture was taken.

We got around some today, even if it was just about 25 km. But that is actually quite a bit, when it's on paths and forest tracks. We met a lot of people out for walks, and for bike rides in the nice weather. The cutest ones we met were these guys (or gals):



After 3 hours the sun was going down (it was nearly 4 pm) and it started to get cold. Luckily we were back at the car at that point, and could take off the muddiest clothes and head for a warm shower and coffee.

The bikes were filthy!



My shoes, though, were actually cleaner than when we headed out. I had forgotten washing off the crap (actual crap - as in cow made fertilizer) after our last ride.



It was a great trip, and now i am spent. It's amounted to 3 times of exercise this week - monday working out and spinning, yesterday the same, and today this lovely trip.

I hear my couch and my knitting calling. I deserved it.

It was really cold this week!

Wednesday in particular - even with my rabbit-vest I was freezing most of the day - except for the last hour of work, spent in a meeting at my boss' office. He'd turned up the heat in his office to sauna-heat, because he'd been cold in the morning.

Well warmed up after that meeting it was time to go home. On my high heels you have to go carefully. We work in a former lamp-factory, that my company have plans to rebuild to offices. There are lots of grid-stairs and uneven floors, and salting for ice rarely makes it all the way over to us from the main building.



This room I frequently pass on my way in and out of work, and we also have a couple of conference rooms back here.

Safely down the stairs, this pretty sky greeted me. Goes to show that even in a dull industrial neighbourhood you can find something pretty.



Thursday I worked home. Started out the day by driving Bodil to Bøgeskov (for the 3rd day in a row), where they are practising their school musical. Went to see the result on thursday night - it was fun! Bodil was, of course, splendid.

My hortensias still display some pretty colours, I discovered the other day...



Today is saturday, and I have a spinning session planned in an hour. Tonight we have a dinner at Brunos boss, so we have to find some flowers for his wife. Can't show up empty handed, right?

Wedding Aniversary

Yesterday was Brunos and my wedding aniversary.

We've been married for 6 years and were wed at Fanø County House on a clear, beautiful november day.

At that time we'd been living together for a year. After seeing a young neighbour in his early 30'es drop dead without warning, we'd been talking about securing each other, and after researching laws and rules (my job ;-) I came to the conclusion that stepp one would be marrying.

So I proposed very romantically to Bruno.
"Honey - I've checked out the law about inheritance. It might be a good idea if we got married."

Fortunately, he agreed :-)

To begin with, I was all for a quick trip to Fredericia County House in our lunch break, but Bruno thought, that was a bit to minimalistic. We talked about it, and came to following premises:

* We'd be wed in a cosy, romantic, pretty place.
* It would be just him and me - and everyone else would get to know later.
* We decided to wear rings
* I thought about it hard and decided to take on his last name.

We ended up going to Fanø. A pretty, small red brick building on a coupled square.

The ceremony and the day itself - the beautiful weather, the unexpected tickle in my tummy, the mayors fine, empatic speech - I will remember always. It was a beautiful day and beautiful moment, even if it started out as a practicality.

We were wed on a friday - like yesterday - and we'd taken the day off to drive to Fanø and get married in the morning. Afterwards we drove home. On the way home we had lunch n a nice inn, and in the evening we went out for dinner with the oldest of our kids (Lasse, Andreas and Christina) in Odense. There, we told them that we had gotten married.

We don't really make a big deal of our wedding day. Sometimes we cook a nice dinner, and talk a little about it, maybe hug a bit more. But our normal everyday life is so full of love, and it's hard to be extra-romantic. Some years we've even forgotten our aniversary - and realized a few days later.

That is okay. We don't wait for special days to celebrate our love and our life together.

For us it is part of our everyday life - that it starts by enjoying the fact, that it is precisely the two of us, waking up together.

On slippery ground

Thursday morning, as I stood by the little door leading into the ice hockey field, wearing padded pants, torso cover, shin protectors, smelly gloves, a helmet, hockey skates and a huge white shirt, I only had on coherent thought: "F***!"

I had to swallow once. What the heck was I doing here - wearing skates and holding a stick in my hand - when I never EVER tried ice skating before, and really have found myself wanting the few times I tried inline rollerskates?




That step from safety and onto the ice was a long one.
And I felt so much like Bambi on ice - specially looking at those of my co-workers, that were good at skating - the ones that slid gracefully and easily over the ice.

That was when I noticed I wasn't the only one clinging to the side of the field. We were at least a handful that was sure never to get headhunted for Holiday on Ice.

A kind colleague (thanks, Merete) came over and instructed me a bit. Something and other about bended knees and such. And then I skated cautiously around (WITHOUT holding on to anything but my stick) - not elegantly, but I was moving.

Maybe my confidence came from the fact, that wednesday nigth was an unusually successful one, on the dance floor. We're starting to get it - really, we are! Actually we experienced moments of not merely moving around to the music, but actually dancing! Easily enough that Bruno looked at me in that way that always make my knees go soft :-)

Of course, Bruno wasn't with me on the hockey field - but I'm sure that wednesdays dance-success was helping me staying on my skates. And I was starting to feel confident, when Aleksei aka Irma called the team over - to the opposite side of the ice!

Damn! It's a long way, crossing a hockey field like that, when you have around 5 minutes experience skating. But I made it there - as opposed to another co-worker, who didn't much want to let go of the side of the field. Finally Aleksei/Irma went over to get him, pushing him all the way across the field. Looked funny!

Ice hockey looks somewhat different, when the team is made up by a bunch of programmers, project managers and consultants - than when it is one of the teams of the ice-league. There were a lot of un-motivated crashes (solo-accidents), and several of us had a hard time hitting the puck and maintaining balance at the same time.

And by the way, what do you do, when that d...ed puck slides in and comes to rest between your skates?? You just try striking it, when it's settled there!

Yes - I did have a few crashes. Really appreciated the padded pants. And spotted a couple of problems there.

1) Getting back up. I picked the cowards way ... pushing myself to the side on my hands and knees and elevated myself up there.

2) Try picking up the hockey stick with those sausage fingered gloves. It's impossible!!

But I laughed so much my cheeks hurt (the upper ones) - both on the ice and off it. One of my co-workers won the nickname "Bambi" - he actually looked pretty good on skates, but every once in a while he'd suddenly crash for no reason of all. Cute!

The game ended with a 1-1 score, after us being behind for some time. Fortunately! It would have been unbearable if the opposite team had been able to taunt us the rest of the day!!



I haven't gotten pics of the game yet, so the once you see here, are from wednesday, when we picked our team name and created this handsome banner.

I actually think we won on style points - the other team had no name and no banner - yeah!