Wednesday, August 27, 2014

that kind of week


we're seeing dinosaurs in the clouds.

i forgot my id at home today and had to sneak in the door behind some others at work, as well as bumming lunch money off of a colleague. not lunch money, per se, as we "pay" with our id and then it's subtracted from our paycheck. yesterday, i sat at my desk with headphones on, trying to watch a youtube video (yes, i get to watch youtube videos at work, as part of my job), and only after far too long realized my headphones weren't plugged in and the sound was blaring out of my computer. and it sounded like i was watching beavis & butthead, tho' i was actually watching something that was actually quite relevant to my job. that was not at all embarrassing. luckily, someone had brought in a meter of chocolate (for reals...1 meter of little 4-square sized ritter sport), so i only feel vaguely out of synch and not unhappy or frustrated.

i think i'm distracted by this school switch. we made our decision on monday and the switch will happen on thursday. we feel we've made the right decision, but i think i will only rest easy once she's settled in. and that will likely take a few weeks. so i think i'll tether my work id to my computer bag and eat the odd chocolate to get through it. which is actually weird, because normally chocolate is not my go-to problem solver of choice. but when there's a whole meter of it on the shelf behind your desk, what choice do you have? that amount of chocolate could solve a whole lot of problems.

Sunday, August 24, 2014

the view from sunday night or what a week it's been


it's been a full week. there have been tiara-wearing kittens (that got a whopping 252 likes on flickr, which is the most any of my flickr photos have ever gotten).


there were days of rain, and blustery winds, but also glorious, golden light spilled through in between showers, making it ok that it went from summer to fall overnight.


there were more photo sessions with kittens, where i came to understand why they say you shouldn't try to herd cats. they are at their most lovely and irresistible right now. i'm enjoying every yummy minute of them.


there was a bit of early access to the series 12 minifigures, which won't be in stores until october (hence the blurry photo). i've got 13 of the 16 and can't wait for them to be released so i can get the other 3.


there was teenage mutant ninja turtle homework to do. i do love the kind of homework i'm asked to do at my workplace, even tho' tmnt aren't my favorites. this little spaceship was mostly an upside down build, which was new for me. it's also quite a lot sturdier than it appears, which is cool.


we harvested the last batch of honey - boosting our total harvest for the year up to 90 kilos, a much better harvest than last year. now we just need a big box of new honey jars so we can fill them up and maybe even sell some.


and when we weren't eating shark burgers, the weekend was spent discussing the school options. we visited two schools on friday and both have their own advantages. so much so that we've not had a gut feeling that one is a better choice than the other. that's been a bit difficult for me, as i normally rely on my gut to tell me things and in this case, it's told me that we should definitely find a new school, but it isn't obvious which one is the best choice. the child, on the other hand, is sure which one she wants, so pending a couple of questions tomorrow morning, we are going to go with that one - she is, after all, the one who has to make the switch. it's up to us to make the logistics of it work and to ensure that she keeps her social circle intact, as well as building a new one. that one, we're not really worried about so much. probably, we'll ultimately choose the public school, because we pay an awful lot of taxes and education is something they should just get right. and the new school gives a good impression of getting it right (of course, we're currently easy to impress in light of how bad things are at her current school).


and the weekend ended with a long walk with husband in the forest. the rainy weather has been good for mushrooms, both the edible and the photogenic kinds (these are the latter). a long walk has a way of clearing out any last vestiges of restlessness and discontent. and now i'm ready for the week ahead.

* * *

molly has been on a roll (of awesome posts) lately.

* * *

me, probably not making all that much sense, 
in danish, on the radio last wednesday evening.
talking about what danishness is.
(hint: full calendars, booking people two months ahead,
being able to talk to the boss no matter your level in the org. 
and being afraid of conflict)

* * *

i'm liking stuckinplastic
what's not to like? minifigs. life philosophies. lemonade. gratefulness.

* * *

a heartwarming story of love that finally happened after 60 years.

* * *

has amazon gone to the dark side?

Thursday, August 21, 2014

the comfort of ice cream or why we're looking for a new school


so weird how one thing going wrong can weigh you down completely and drive you to crave ice cream, which is arguably better than driving you to drink. and by you, you may have guessed, i mean me.

we're well into the second week of school around here. at the end of last year, there was a a bit of trouble with her homeroom teacher (i wrote about it here). after the mail of the mixed metaphors from the principal, there was silence and nothing really changed. then came the summer holiday and the silence stretched on. then came the first week of school. on the first day, the same teacher was there in homeroom, tho' they announced that she would be moved to the special education class and a new teacher would be taking over the class. that teacher wasn't there yet for the first week (tho' it's unclear why), but the regular schedule wasn't in place yet either, so that was more or less ok.

but as the week progressed, the stories i heard each evening painted a more and more worrying picture. students being told to start behaving like responsible, mature young people in one breath and not being allowed to stand up and plug in their computer (which they are required to have with them in school since the school does not provide computers) without raising their hand to ask. which is it? do you want them to behave responsibly and act for themselves or do you want them to sit down and shut up? you can't have it both ways.

i also heard tales of a student who used to love math, but nearly cried in frustration during a long-winded explanation by a teacher who apparently didn't notice that all motivation and desire to learn was draining from the students as he droned on and on. and i heard stories of a young teacher who has reached a point where his back is so against the wall that the slightest question from students makes him defensive and he sends them out into the hall. it is, in short, a series of stories of a school in crisis.

on top of it, the school has fostered an environment where if you're the best at something (e.g. english), it's not ok to say that or show that. but instead, you have to hide in the crowd and pretend you don't know. i brought this issue to the attention of a number of teachers last year, but nothing changed.

and lastly, there are new school reforms being implemented, with longer school days and apparently, in the case of our school, less breaks - they have one break in the middle of the day, but otherwise, no breaks mid-morning or afternoon (tho' other schools seem to have managed to put together a schedule that gives kids a breather). odd, i take breaks during my work day, to go to the bathroom or grab a cup of coffee or just have a little breather, so why wouldn't kids be even more in need of breaks to help them refresh and be able to concentrate? you'd think people who work with kids would know this.

there are half-hearted attempts to supposedly make things better and create a better atmosphere, but they are too little, too late. for some reason, the bad leadership is convinced the class is the problem, not the teachers, tho' this same class was the most harmonious one with the best class environment when they left the elementary school at the end of sixth grade. six people have already left the class - moving to other schools and even going to efterskole a year early, but apparently the leadership doesn't see this as a big, flashing red light. and now, we too are looking for a new school for sabin, because this isn't good.  i don't want her to be demotivated and uninterested in learning because of weak teachers and bad school leadership which doesn't have the sense or ability or wherewithal to support their teachers properly in good time. i'll admit i find it very disheartening and tho' moving her is a big step, the situation is really that bad.

i do realize these are luxury problems compared to race crimes committed by police officers in missouri and journalists being beheaded by terrorists, but this does loom large in our little world.

what is danishness?


today's (yesterday's?) jyllands posten (you may remember them from a certain set of mohammed cartoons) had an article about a study suggesting that danes think the biggest problem with foreigners is that they don't understand and embrace danish values. i wouldn't have known about the article, not being a reader of jyllands posten, but i was contacted by my radio crush to be part of a radio program about the article this evening.

so i dashed into 7-11 and bought their last copy of the paper, which oddly, they had hidden in a back room, and i prepared for the program. what struck me about the article was that it was unclear what these danish values that we foreigners apparently reject are. that was completely unstated in the survey where people had come up with that answer and it wasn't until halfway through the second article about it, on page 6, that a list of values even was mentioned. they included things like democracy, equality, valuing work and the vague "personal freedom." those strike me as pretty universal and not exactly uniquely danish. western, perhaps or even protestant, but difficult to narrow down to a particular nationality.

after talking with the journalist, i decided to think about danishness instead and see if some values fell out of that. what are the things that strike me as so danish after all these years? a lot of workplace behaviors came to mind - like the fact that it's ok to have a conversation with the boss and to even grill him (and i do mean him, since that whole equality thing isn't as pervasive as they might like it to seem) a little bit during that conversation, regardless of your position in the firm. i've not really seen that outside of denmark. leaving at 3 p.m. to pick up your kids and having no one look askance at you. wearing a kind of monochrome (read: black) uniform for most of the year, outside of a few wild weeks of summer, where everyone breaks out the summer wardrobe they purchased back in the late 80s and which never wore out, due to the limited use it's had, and embraces a kind of retro madness during the warm weather. and then there's the full calendars which quash all hope of spontaneity because you need to book someone for a dinner party at least two months ahead, even tho' you have no idea if you'll be in the mood to have people over for dinner two months from now.  and then there's the design thing - it's important to have the right lamps (PH) and chairs (Arne Jacobsen) and couch (Borge Mortensen) and table (Piet Hein) (see, i even had so much respect i capitalized their names). of course, that design thing creates a uniformity in homes, that while it's in good taste, ends up quite sterile, impersonal and, dare i say it...boring. (yes, i dared to say it, tho' i myself have Hans Wegner and Kaare Klint chairs and some Tom Rossou lamps, plus the fabulous Triplex lamp). (i wonder if that means i'm integrated?)

and this sameness in design principles and clothing got me thinking about that supposed value of "personal freedom." if there were really personal freedom, we'd have the space in which to choose other chairs and lamps and you'd see more variety in the clothing shops (there's a great deal of black, i can tell you). so i wonder how much personal freedom there actually is. there is, of course, personal freedom in terms of one's right to be gay or to have an abortion and those are important things, but again, they are true many places and aren't uniquely danish.

so i'm still wondering what these danish values are that we foreigners are so reluctant to adopt...and why it's such a source of worry for the danes. perhaps if they got better at communicating and outwardly sharing their real, core values (and not just a bunch of stuff that could be from a UN pamphlet), we'd have an easier time adapting to them.

the ivy


there are no less than a dozen draft posts behind the scenes here on mpc. it's been like that lately. i sit down, start to write and get interrupted and don't come back for days on end. or when i come back, i can't get myself back into the mood i was in when i started the post and therefore can't finish it. so i thought i'd start at the simple end of the posts. with some beautiful food.


i ate this beautiful food (that's salmon sashimi in those top two photos) at the ivy a few weeks ago when i was in london. i'm not sure i realized the significance of lunch at the ivy at the time, tho' i knew it was a posh london club and i knew that a lovely two hour lunch on a friday was something special. and i fully appreciated the wonderful intriguing, interesting conversation that i had with my lunch companion, who is a person i met a few months ago at a conference.


the specialness started to dawn on me when i had to go in through a secret entrance through a flower shop. it was nice, a bit stiff upper lip in decor, but also comfortable. i probably didn't look around me enough to spot celebrities, as i didn't know that aspect of the place at the time. i was too absorbed in the food and the great conversation. but i suppose that's as it should be.


the food was just lovely and the perfect amount of chef-y. pretty presentation, delicate flavors, fresh flowers as garnishes and generally a delight to the senses. especially this delicate lemon dessert, a take on lemon meringue pie. it makes my mouth water all over again, just looking at this iPhone photo.


it was all rounded off by a lovely coffee with latte art. i'm a little bit glad i didn't realize the significance of being invited to lunch in the private club at the ivy at the time, as i might have been overawed and not enjoyed it nearly as much. as it was, it was a lovely, completely engaging experience. one of those where you're just fully in the moment, savoring it. every delicious bite.

and now there are only 11 more drafts to go...

Monday, August 18, 2014


whoa, last week just flew by. even little lucy can hardly believe it. or maybe that's me. it's already monday evening and i feel like it was just last monday and then i blinked. why does it seem that time is accelerating? it usually slows down when i'm reading murakami (i've got the new one, colorless tsukuru tazaki and his years of pilgrimage), but instead it has definitely sped up. even our kittens are growing up insanely fast.


last week was the first week of the 8th grade for one teenager in this household and it was the first week where most everyone was back at work after the summer holiday. perhaps it's that that's making time fly - being back to business as usual. it's good and bad, as being busy is better than not being busy, but i feel like i'm missing out on life somehow, as it speeds past.


* * *

this story is strange.
and i love this quote from it:
"At the same time I can't help but be fascinated. The world needs more of this kind of madness."

* * *

a bit of scatological LEGO humor.

* * *

a lot of fun is being had in honor of benny's 30th birthday.

capturing the spirit of the times

copenhagen picture - 1983-89 - even the frame was handmade by the artist, otto frello
i went on saturday with our local creative group to an exhibition of the works of danish artist and illustrator otto frello at the museum in varde. i'd never heard of him but i intentionally didn't google him or look at the museum's website before we went. i wanted to have a totally fresh, unbiased first experience of seeing his works.

he was, for many years, an illustrator for a danish publisher and didn't start painting until he was in his 40s. he's now well into his 90s and still going strong. while his works weren't exactly my taste and not something i'd want hanging on my walls, i do think they were very interesting.

perhaps his most famous work is the copenhagen picture above. the woman at the museum told us that he had once bragged that there was nothing he couldn't paint and so someone asked if he could paint the spirit of the times. and he embarked on this painting of amagertorv in the heart of copenhagen, depicting the many layers of people who had passed through it over the years and years it's been there. from 17th century fishmongers to an 80s punker, times are all mixed and melded and present there in the picture. so while i wouldn't necessarily want it on my wall, even in poster form, i think it's quite a fascinating depiction of the imprints and layers of history that are left behind, whispering in a place, if we were to just listen attentively.

and i very much enjoyed the experience of just letting the impressions of something new wash over me, without any preconceived notions of what i would be seeing. it feels like with all of the information we are bombarded with all the time, it's hard to have such experiences - where it's just completely something fresh and new and we get to experience it for the first time. i'm going to be looking for more chances like that.

malevich's black square (1915, tho' this one was a version from 1923)
it was interesting to contrast with the experience i had of malevich's works at the tate modern a few weeks ago. there, i knew a great deal about the works and the history and the whole era in which they were produced and i appreciated them in a completely different way. a way that was, admittedly, probably much deeper than my otto frello experience. but that could also be because malevich himself was much deeper. looking at the black square today, it doesn't seem radical, but it was truly radical in its time. and as i stood before it, staring into its black depths, and feeling for a moment a sense of vertigo, i caught some spirit of those times.

it struck me that the way in which we experience art matters - whether naively or in an informed way. the malevich moved me much more. it was partially a matter of taste, but also a matter of knowledge and yes, also of talent. but then, the black square was valued at $60 million not that long ago and for one of frello's paintings at the museum, which was for sale, they were asking 300,000DKK ($53,000). a pretty penny for a living danish artist, but ultimately frello is no malevich. and while both experiences were interesting, give me malevich any day.

Sunday, August 17, 2014

cats in scarves


she seems bent on taking our picture, but what are these things she's put around our necks?


are you kidding me? do we really have to have these scarves on, lady?


just go with it. it's like that thing with the crown.
she'll take a few photos and then she'll lose interest
and then we can go back to playing without any scarves on.


hey, wait a minute...


...i actually do look pretty cute with this thing on.

jamie, please bring your italian to denmark!

spicy pork cracklins
a few weeks ago on our holiday, we ate at jamie's italian in oxford. if you must eat at a chain restaurant, this is the one. relaxed surroundings, food served on chunky wooden bread boards and simple, delicious food. what more could you ask? i find myself rather longing for it on this rainy, grey sunday.

super food salad with grilled mackerel
i probably have most of the ingredients for this super food salad (minus the mackerel), but it's just not the same if you have to make it yourself, is it? avocado, quinoa, sprouts, quark (we call it skyr around here), pomegranate. it was delicious and healthy. and i'd like someone to bring one to me right now.

burger with polenta chips
the burger was on good bread, grilled perfectly and with plenty of fresh lettuce and tomato. polenta fries (or chips as the brits call them) gave a twist on the usual french fries. a bit of rosemary and parmesan on top - delish!

polenta chips
i didn't know what to expect with polenta chips, thinking that sounded awfully heavy, but they weren't at all, they were light and crispy and quite delicious. i'm not sure i could duplicate it at home, as when i make polenta it seems heavy and porridgy. i'll have to see if he's got a recipe on his website, because it could be fun to try it. but really, at the moment, i'd rather just hop a ryan air flight to stansted and find the nearest branch of jamie's italian and tuck in.

Sunday, August 10, 2014

scenes from the past week


if i'm honest, the past week has been full of flies and wasps, but thankfully, i have no photos of those. we have the warmest summer in 147 years, you see, and that means loads of flies and wasps (they're more bee-like than our nasty american kind of wasps, but totally annoying if you're sitting in the garden with a glass of wine). but i choose to focus on gorgeous baby bunnies instead.


on monday, our dear pigs, bacon and bacon, were sent to meet their fate. on wednesday, we scrambled to figure out what to do with 200 kilos of pork! yes, 200 kilos (that's 400 pounds for the metrically-challenged). we bought two freezers on the blå avis (our craig's list equivalent), if you were wondering. i made weinerschnitzel as the first meal. and yes, in denmark, that's made of pork, not veal (weiner means vienna, not veal). i think you can taste that they were happy and loved. so many of our friends and co-workers wanted pork that we have paid for the whole experience and are still knee-deep in pork chops (200 kilos is a LOT of meat, if you were wondering).


on thursday afternoon, some very good friends came to visit. the skies provided a double rainbow, just as we went for an evening walk. such a thing would almost make you believe in odin.


friday afternoon found us harvesting honey. 25-odd kilos, with one more round to go. this year, we have enough to get us through the winter and to sell a little bit. and man, is it good. and it's definitely helped me minimize my allergies. they're not gone yet, but they're much better than they were. the healing powers of honey are awesome.


gorgeous friday afternoon weather found us in the garden, building benny's spaceship and playing with our adorable baby bunnies. they're at their cutest right now. this was her very first attempt at eating a dandelion leaf. this photo looks like she succeeded more than she actually did.


unikitty in a spacesuit. is there anything more awesome? (if there is, please don't tell me.)


i got out my quilt book purchase from the V&A museum as i emptied the last of the suitcases from our trip (yes, i'm slow, so sue me)...even their bags are gorgeous, don't you think? the quilt exhibition was back in 2010, but the book is gorgeous (more about that another time) and thought-provoking.


sunday, we had another visit from good friends and exposed their daughter to bunnies for the first time. suffice it to say she wanted one, but we're not sure the bunny felt the same way, as her impulse was to grab it and squeeze as tightly as she could. by the end, she understood admonitions of "gently." she's a smart kid and is already a real charmer. i predict she will go far, but first, she'll probably put her parents through a bit of trouble.


the weather's been hot and so garlicky, cold, salty gazpacho has been on the menu. other than all that pimm's we drank in england, i don't think there's anything more summery than a delicious cold gazpacho.


my time of late has been taken up with this...the exo suit, a fan-created product from LEGO ideas. what a privilege it's been to work with an ultra creative group of people in rolling this out. i took this photo at the end of may and it's utterly unlike me not to use a photo immediately, but that's just how things are these days. i'm adjusting to it and it's expanding my spontaneous horizons. it's hard but also undoubtedly good for me to have to keep secrets.


this was another secret. i also got to play with the research institute ahead of time, since we needed photos for a blog post. it's the latest fan-created set from LEGO ideas. i'm truly blessed to be working with these projects. and how awesome is that magnifying glass that actually magnifies?!

Here's hoping your past week was lovely too...

Monday, August 04, 2014

horse people are crazy


oh the joys of crazy horse people...

at the end of june, we found a buyer for matilde the wonder horse, as sabin has outgrown her and it was time for her to go to another family. the people seemed very nice and thus we agreed to an arrangement where they got to take matilde home for one week to try her out, whereafter they would make a first payment on her and then the second payment august 1. they wanted to see if she would get along with their other horses and if they liked her, which was ok with us if it meant finding the right home for her.

after one week, they had had shoes put on her and had nothing but gushing praise for her. she fit them like a glove, got along with their other two horses and was just their very dream of a pony. we were happy and they were happy. we truly thought we'd found a great home for her and that's what we had most hoped for. then, the time for the second payment rolled around and lo and behold there were suddenly a whole lot of very insurmountable problems with her hooves. we've always had shoes on her, but took them off last december when we brought her home and weren't going to be riding her. her hooves have a tendency to flake off around the edges, so she's a horse that rather needs shoes on. but there's not really anything wrong with them per se and she's never been lame. they needed work when they took her home and we recognized that, so i reduced the price by the cost of one shoeing.

now, i'm being bombarded with texts filled with ridiculous lengthy statements on how there are long-term problems with her hooves and one has a big bump on the side and how it will be months and months and perhaps never be able to be fixed. funny how the farrier she had there during that trial week never mentioned any of that when he put the shoes on her.

turns out they're using a vet that we know from sad experience is a real piece of work. misleading people into having unneeded x-rays and diagnosing dire problems that require loads and loads of veterinary visits on horses that don't actually have a problem. all for their own gain, because they know that horse people are gullible are completely batshit crazy will do anything for their animals. she also tried to tell me that matilde so badly needed her teeth floated that it cost extra (she had had it done by this vet), despite the fact that she'd had her teeth floated by a trustworthy vet less than a year ago and there was simply no way it could have been as bad as they told her.

luckily, at the beginning, before they took her home, we both signed a written contract which states that we know of no problems with the horse (which is the truth), but that there is no guarantee, as she is 15 and a living animal. so they will have to cough up the rest of the money or we will go get her. i really don't want to do that, as we'll just have to start this process all over again and chances are the next person will have just as much of a crazy horse person brain.

i'm still hopeful we'll work it out and that we can be happy that matilde found a good home (because it genuinely did seem like a good home). i just think it really sucks when a dishonest vet intervenes and causes trouble.

running (or is it sailing?) away


i'm pondering running away on one of these. that big one in the foreground actually had a sign saying, "ask the crew if you want to ride along to bergen." of course, if i'm running away, i'm not really going to say where i'm going, as that's surely half the fun.


but since life is actually pretty good and i don't really have a very good reason for running away, i think i'll only do so if i get to wear one of these hats. aren't they awesome?


if i'm honest, this boat is probably more my speed, but first, we gotta get rid of that wanker that's onboard. how much of a tosser does he appear to be?

what about you, do you sometimes consider running away?

Sunday, August 03, 2014

bye-bye bacons


today was a sad day. you see, we took bacon and bacon to a nearby little butcher who does such things for people with small holdings like ours. it was time for them to become the bacon they were named for. their joyful little countenances have given us happiness since the beginning of april, but it was time. if we let them get much bigger, the roasts and pork chops would have been quite unmanageable for us.


they had a very good life here with us and we thoroughly enjoyed them. but what it was about in the end was that we would know the source of our meat supply. we would know what they ate, whether they had space to explore and whether they were allowed to root around and be pigs. and they had all of that. plus, we really did fall a little bit in love with them. they are friendly and curious and happy. and we will honor them by preparing them lovingly for our table over the coming months.


they were so curious, it wasn't at all difficult to get them interested in hopping right up into the trailer. we just used some boards and blocked off and opened the ramp. curiously, it didn't feel like we were tricking them or leading them to their death (tho' we sort of were), it felt right and it was a big relief that we could load them without any struggle at all.


it helped that it was late afternoon and time for a snack anyway, so they were very keen to check out what was in the buckets we placed in the front of the horse trailer to coax them in. it was important to us that they didn't feel stressed out by the experience.


they were a little unsure of the footing on the ramp at first, but the clean, fresh straw inside and the sight of their buckets helped them overcome their fear and they were soon inside, happily munching away. it was a stress free experience for all of us, which was a big relief. i didn't go along to the butcher (they will actually be slaughtered tomorrow), as that would have been too much for me, but husband said that one of them was so relaxed when he got there that she was lying down, relaxing and didn't want to get out of the trailer.


we've not yet finished our smokehouse, so we're just having them cut up in a traditional way, into roasts and pork chops and such. i will try to make some fresh sausages, because that's something i want to learn, but we will leave the ham-making to next spring's pigs. because we are definitely doing this again. this is why we moved out here to the countryside. and even tho' i will miss them, i also know that they are fulfilling their purpose and they are helping us move one step closer to our goals of being at least partially self-sustainable and when we eat them, we will definitely be eating local.