Link Mondays (Tuesdays)

Beautiful, clear sky over Stavanger.
Saturday, January 14' 2012

Hi all! Did you have a good weekend, and a good Monday? Did you do anything fun and adventurous, or did you, like me, stay at home and lazed around? Mr. Sunshine went out cross country skiing for the first time with his friends on Saturday, and I took a much needed weekend day to myself. He had a good time, but said that it was hard getting hang of the intricacies of skiing, especially going down hill. We will probably go back soon to the slopes to (first learn, and then) ski. Almost everyone we have met here skis - Norwegians seem to start when they are born, and non-Norwegians seem to acquire a taste for it. So, when in Rome, ski!

Here are some pictures from Mr. Sunshine's ski trip:

Sunday, we went to a Stavanger expat tea event at an expat's home. We made some curried, and lemon thyme deviled eggs (which is slowly becoming my favorite party/ snack food) and some chocolate, walnut and sea salt fudge to take with us. We had a lovely time, and it was really great meeting new people, and hanging out with people we have met before at similar events. One of the things I really like about Stavanger is it's very social and helpful expat community. Of course, the size of the town, and it's status as Europe's oil and gas capital makes it easier. It is big enough to accommodate people from all over the world, and all walks of life, but small enough that it is easy to meet people, and keep in touch with them. And contrary to what I was told before we moved here, Norwegians are really warm, friendly, and fun people (just like any group of people in the world). Making friends here is not hard at all.

Here are some things that have fascinated me, inspired me, intrigued me, and made me smile this past week:

Picture by Crafty Dogma
of the Hidden Mothers
group.  Crafty Dogma  has
several other fascinating
vintage  photographs.  

The hidden mothers: Apparently, in the earlier days of photography, photographers taking pictures of young children would make their mothers hold their kids, so that they would be still during the photo session. What's  the big deal about that, you might ask? Well, the photographers of yesteryear had a strange (and in my opinion slightly disturbing) way of doing it. They would drape the mothers with a cloth, and then have them hold the child, such that one couldn't see the mother. Pictures were presumably cropped while being processed at a later time. This flickr group has several of such fascinating pictures. Via retronaut. FYI, this is a great website/ blog if you have an interest in history/ vintage photography. A word of warning  though - browsing through the website can be a time sink. 

This video by They Might be Giants. Illustration and animation by Divya Srinivasan. Check out both the band's songs (especially, The Alphabet of Nations) and Divya's illustrations and animations. They are gorgeous, and so much fun. Via Pinterest.

Also, this very inspiring video. The video was in response to another young girl's video that called for the boycott of girl scout cookies because the Girl Scouts of America were inducting transgender kids in it's organization. This boy is so smart, and I wish I was half as articulate as he is. The person who shared this video on Gawker, also commented: "this kid needs to grow up and be president." I agree! Via a comment on Gawker. 

Broken animal t-shirts by RWHM. Only $20. I especially love the bird one. Via NotCot. Picture from RWHM's website.