Ooops! He's 91, not 93 and I should have said "farfar?"

My hubby just said, "I hope I am still making soup at 93!" Good for farmor!

Hmmmm....I am reading that book right now! I am flying through it but don't want it to end. Vikram Seth's knowledge of music is amazing. I wonder if he plays an instrument? I do like his books. In a rather weird coincidence I was searching youtube last week for the name of the little song my Samsung dryer plays when the load is finished. It turns out it is "The Trout," or rather, part of Schubert's Trout. Then, to my surprise, it is featured in that book! Like you, I have been searching for the music in the book. One can find almost ANYTHING on youtube.

This is why memories must be written down. I often think of things I want to ask my mother or aunts about my Norwegian ancestors but I can't because they are all gone. It's sad. The only thing I can do now is write about my own memories for my children so at least they won't be lost forever.

Wow! I am shocked that Marta is already 18 years old. When I started reading your blog she could not have been more than 12 years old. I don't know where the time went. Happy Birthday Marta! You are a very fortunate young lady to have such a wonderful family AND.....to have been born in Norway. Lucky, lucky.

I also love, love, love New Mexico and Santa Fe. I would live there in a heartbeat but I am worried about the extreme drought New Mexico is suffering. My husband and I were married in a little village in Northern New Mexico in an old adobe church by a Hispanic minister dressed in Franciscan robes. Just across the plaza from the church was a sty with two giant pigs. Very New Mexico and we loved it.

This is always a consideration for us although we do not travel much right now. But...even a two hour drive to a specialist dentist involves the necessity of preparing something suitable to eat on route. WE ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT EAT FAST FOOD! We stay home a lot other than working part time and always bring lunch from home. I shudder to think what we would find to eat if we traveled often. I think the US is a food desert, more so, of course, in the Winter. Maybe it is slowly starting to change. I know that when we do drive 3 hours to the nice college town where our daughter lives, we will find lovely food there! So....more power to the people who want clean, organic food!

I still read your blog almost every day, too, Britt-Arnhild. As you may remember, my grandparents came from Norway to the US in the early 20th century, so reading your blog lets me know more about my ancestral country.

I was trying to think of a song and didn't come up with one. Just the same, I do still read your blog from time to time. Sometimes I skip a day or two but then always go back and read the posts I have missed. I was trying to remember how I found your blog way back before I had ever read ANY blogs. I am pretty sure I Googled something to do with self sufficiency or living on a farm and found a blog that had your blog listed on the sidebar. When I saw the name Britt Arnhild I knew immediately that that was a Norwegian name. Since my grandparents came from Norway I was immediately intrigued. So here I still am, reading your blog. Thank you.

That was very, very eloquent, Britt Arnhild! I need to remember that.

I have noticed that many people hang their artwork too high. I can't help but notice it all the time. I was taught that it should at the very least be EYE LEVEL. After all, what is art for? Viewing! These days I often ask myself....do my rooms look too old fashioned? You know, as if one's granny lives here. My adult children like the way their home looks but they like the familiar, as most children do. I am tired of too much stuff. Stuff becomes a burden. I am trying to give away things to the kids now, rather than leave it for them to have to do it sometime in the (I hope) very distant future!

Oh! This is very sad to hear. I have not made it to France (yet) but have often dreamed of the (supposedly) wonderful food there. I guess the awful truth of prepared, sub standard food created simply for profit like we have in the US has crossed the ocean. It's just another way we are destroying our planet. I will continue to make almost everything from scratch. Now...I will try mayonnaise this weekend. I know it's very easy!

I read the book "French Children Eat Everything." It's very good advice and since my children have all flown the coop, I plan to share the book with some young mothers I know. Of course, MY OWN children ate everything, they were perfect children, ha, ha. I do remember my oldest asking for escargot and they all ate broccoli happily, also nasturtium flowers. I never made them a different dinner from what we ate, either. That's ridiculous. It seems that parents EXPECT their children to be picky and timidly offer only what they think the children will accept. Thus...the children are TAUGHT to be picky. Why, oh why were the kids allowed to take the power away from the adults? I know a large part of the reason is that the parents themselves are picky, too, and not educated about food. I have to remember that today's parents are from a different generation than my own. What happened in the last 30 years, yikes? I see 90 percent of school lunches go into the garbage while the kids eat fruit roll ups and chips and drink juice boxes instead of milk or water. It's because the parents generally don't eat well themselves and don't know how to make the effort to get their children eat well. This is one major reason for all the heart disease and diabetes in the US. But.....the "food" producers continue to make big profits. I would love to see school lunches at my school like they serve in France with a whole hour to eat and enjoy them but I know that's not going to happen in the US.

Well! I know that IT IS YOUR BIRTHDAY TODAY! So....Happy Birthday to you!

What a handsome man your father is! I wish mine was still alive. Yesterday I listened to some polkas and they made me cry. My dad used to play the accordion for us and he loved polkas. Treasure yours while you still have him!

This sounds wonderful, the "piggy party," I mean! Every March or April we buy two piglets from a farmer and raise them on our smallholding. One pig is for us and one is for my husband's friend who we call his "piggy partner." Dan acquires the pigs for us and also supplies the food because he lives closer to the farmer. We do all the other work, feeding, watering, retrieving when they escape from the pen, etc. Both the men get the pigs "ready to go to the butcher" in October. About two weeks later we are delivered two huge bags of meat for the freezer. We get two hams, one for Christmas and one for Easter dinner. Those hams and bacon are superb! It is a good arrangement but not as much fun as your neighbors have. Hubby would some day like to prepare them for the freezer himself. He knows how to do it, it's just a matter of finding the time because in October, he is usually hunting elk and cutting that up himself, too. It's awfully "meaty" around here in the Autumn! We and our neighbors are planning to do way more of this kind of food production for ourselves. It's as it should be and always was in our ancestors day. Fortunately we live in the country and can do it. I remember my Norwegian grandfather trying to feed me "blotklub," a sausage made from beef blood. I didn't like it one bit. But, it's fascinating realizing the motivation behind all the strange things they ate back then. In a word, "survival." "To Much Information" for an "almost vegetarian?" So...you can see, I never buy meat at the supermarket. I like the recipe for shrimp burgers. I will try it although any shrimp I can get is from Thailand! That's too far away. Imagine the fuel costs! I have to stick to trout caught at the lake up the road.

Wow! You have had a wonderful 7 years! It was great to see the photo of Jeanne looking so happy and feeling so much better! It made me smile. My hubby is also 60 years old now and I dream constantly of just "chucking it in" and living somewhere else for a long time. Spain, probably or Mexico, since I speak Spanish. We'll see! ¡Feliz año nuevo a todos!

I find this a meaningful coincidence, Roz. On Saturday, when I returned from shopping in town, there was a large dragonfly buzzing around my car. I got out and gazed at him and he continued looking at me and flying around my car and myself. I could actually see his large eyes. He seemed to be trying to communicate with me. This lasted for about 5 minutes and then he flew away. Later, while I read an article in a magazine, there was mention of how for ages people have believed the the dragonfly is communicating a message from a loved one to us. How strange! Was it my mother? Or someone else who has departed? I will look upon dragonflies with new curiosity now!

Maybe you have not looked at my photo page. I have posted several photos of the hummingbirds at my little farm. I know you said once that you "do not look at Flickr." There is also a short video. They are very prolific here in the Rocky Mountains.

Hmmm....now that I think about it, your explanation makes perfect sense. May, June, and July are YOUR main summer months. We are still carting things to town to put in storage until this summer is over. Usually by mid July the "monsoons" start. That is, a quick rainstorm almost every afternoon after lunch. Let's hope this year they will come to help with the VERY HIGH FIRE DANGER. The problem is, a quick rainstorm comes with lightening, too. We are going to be "on patrol" this week here in the country to make sure campers at the campgrounds up the road do not have open flames. We are on stage 2 fire alert. Only gas grills are allowed. no campfires AND NO FIREWORKS whatsoever. But..you know there will be some careless fools who will defy that rule. Just another danger, FYI, there has already been a bear who broke into the restaurant kitchen at the lake! YIKES!

Why do we call it "midsummer" when it's the first official day of Summer? That has always mystified me. I am in Colorado. We have had numerous wildfires this year and it's not over yet. We have our car loaded with survival things in case we cannot get out of our rural location by the one road. We are also moving valuable/sentimental things to a storage closet in town in case we have to evacuate. It's nerve wracking. So....we could use some of that rain you are getting. Send it this way, please!

Oh! I have been meaning to tell you that there is no "search" box on this page to click for Amazon.

What a gorgeous photo! I love that particular time of day, too, and also the dawn. I live way out in the country near the biggest wilderness area in Colorado. People would say that there is "nothing" to do here either, other than listen to the doves, hummingbirds, wrens (they sing the sweetest song of all) magpies, ravens, robins, horses,and coyotes. There is also fishing for trout in the river that runs by our house and at the lake up the road. Just yesterday there were two "cattle drives" right past my house on the way up the mountain. Early this morning I heard an elk bugle and deer sleep under the apple trees every night. We also see wild turkey, swallows, turkey buzzards and osprey! Sometimes I can't even make myself "go to town" for a week or more. Raccoons, bobcats and bears visit from time to time and last summer a deer was killed by a mountain lion in our yard during the night. We have chickens and pigs, too. It's not a ranch, just a little farm. I suppose that some day I will need to live closer to "services." Until then, I'll happily stay in the country!

I have tried twice to comment here using my new laptop. Something is going wrong. Now I am on the desktop. I just wanted to say that that is a beautiful photo of you two and it made me tear up.

Wow! He really does look like you!