SUMMER NIGHT, VÅLER

GRÅPUS AND PINGLE

Up till a couple of months ago ERLEND'S parents had four CATS ..and not just four random cats, but a little CAT FAMILY ..consisting of a mom, a dad and two brothers. In the beginning when I met the cats I didn't know that they were a family, yet alone a quite modern/untraditional family ..both if you look at it from a human's and a cat's perspective. From this little cat family's story I learned that it is possible for the female cat to be pregnant with several different male cats SIMULTANEOUSLY. This was completely new to me ..and fascinated me a LOT. Actually, thinking about this now, this means that you in some ways can say that cats have a more democratic reproduction system, at least than humans (I don't know how it works with other animals), where the man kind of blocks the woman's uterus when he impregnates her. So, anyway, this is what happened to the mom of this little cat family. She was impregnated by two different male cats, actually two very different cats, if you look at at how her sons turned out.

The one son is TIMID and RED. He was very scared and insecure as a kitten, but grew up to be a very CURIOUS and social little cat. Him we call PINGLE (from the same norwegian word which means that you are sort of weak ...and in some contexts it can mean that you are easily scared). I call him just PING, because it works better with his personality today ..and it's fun to say when you say it like it's a sound. The other son also received a very descriptive name, it's GRÅPUS, which basically means 'gray kitty'. Gråpus was a very calm kitten but grew up to be quite shy, at least till he gets to know you. He has a lot of soft grayish fur ..and sometimes looks a little bit like an owl ..because of the long fur on his ears. Non of us have ever met Gråpus' BIOLOGICAL DAD, but Pingle's dad chose to stay with the family after the kittens were born ..something that is quite unusual in the CAT WORLD. It was very easy to see that he was Pingle's dad, they looked very much the same, except for the fact that the dad; also called PAPPAPUS, was almost twice as big as Pingle ..and had a much more calm and stoic presence. He always seemed to be unusually attached to his family ..he also snored  ..like so many other dads. The last family member, MAMMAPUS, is on the other hand very moody and bossy. Both her sons respect her very much/is afraid of her ..and between us humans, she is without a doubt everyone's LEAST FAVORITE. 

I sometimes think of them almost like a HUMAN FAMILY ..where the mother is kind of a BITCH who doesn't care that much about her family .. but at the same time met this super nice calm man whom wanted to be with her no matter what ...and be the father of not only his biological son ..but also the son of this other dude ...that she was having sex with ..at the same time as she was having sex with him. 

This winter Pappapus passed away, and with that something unexpected happened. We had always thought that he would be the family member that would have the most problems if one of the other members were to DISAPPEAR ...but the fact is that suddenly after he passed away Mammapus started to act really strange. She suddenly became almost aggressively COSY and NEEDY and wanted to be on someones lap all the time. Again my mind wandered and I thought of them as a human family again .. of the mother that seemed like she didn't care ..but maybe always did..or at least realized she did after she lost the one who had STOOD BY HER, against the odds all these years.

NORWEGIAN SUMMER

After one week in BERGEN, I am spending this week in the eastern part of the country; some days in VÅLER, some in OSLO and some in MOSS. After a lot of traveling together with many summers spent abroad I am this year really looking forward to spending my summer in NORWAY. Even though the weather is not as nice and warm here as in the more southern parts of Europe, it's something absolutely beautiful about the northern light during the summer, and especially the long SUMMER NIGHTS. Maybe the nicest and most surprising impact traveling has had on my life is how EXPANDING my life through newfound love and interest for new places and countries, has EQUALLY expanded my love and interest for my home country. I hope to be able to show you some of that through these next months.

SUMMER IN MY PARENTS GARDEN

NEW FAVORITE TREE

This is the THIRD year in a row that we spend time at CASCINA COLLINA in PIEMONTE. We started going there because my sister's boyfriend's family had a connection to the vineyard, and this third summer it almost felt like coming back to our SUMMER HOUSE. I think especially since we have been traveling so much ..and not really had a real home in almost a year, a place where you have spent time two years in a row, almost feels like HOME when you return the third time. In some ways I actually almost think of GUNVOR and JOAR, the couple running the place, as some sort of aunt and uncle. I think that part also has something to do with the fact that when I was growing up in BERGEN we only saw my dad's sisters and their families during the summers. They all lived in TRONDHEIM where the weather, at least the way I remember it, was a lot nicer ..and we drove to visit them there every year during our summer break. Thinking about it now, only seeing them during the summers was actually kind of nice because then I associated them with great things; SUN, strawberries, ICE CREAM and holiday; basically almost every child's favorite things. So I guess these last years Cascina Collina has become the grown up version of that, just with wine and delicious food ..instead of just ice cream and strawberries, but still with the sun and the time off.

Last year when we visited I fell in love with an APRICOT TREE that is situated right at the end of the pool. This year when we were there it was not bearing fruits, either because it's just too early ..or because last year was this tree's last time to shine. It had not been bearing fruits for years, but after a really hard winter where it almost died it suddenly last summer came back to life.. in a big way. But so yes, this year I found myself a new favorite tree, a CHERRY tree. It's not quite as magical as the one with the apricots, but still, I really liked it:)

POPPY FLOWERS AT CASCINA COLLINA

BACK 'HOME' AFTER A FEW DAYS AT CASCINA COLLINA, PIEMONTE

VENICE LIGHT