My mom

We recently learned that my mother has an incurable form of leukemia and that it is quite advanced. Her oncologist, who is a dear friend of mine advised me that she has days to weeks. I am here in Norway and I have an obligation for a few more days but I will get to my homeland of Rapid City as soon as possible and stay there as long as possible. In the meantime

And in the Fjord
I see the blue sky, the water
The trees
I see my mother’s eyes
And I feel her presence
Her will, her determination
Is in my blood driving me to seek
Beyond the ordinary
To strive to touch
All that seems untouchable
And to answer “yes”
To the question
Did you do your best?

End of a beautiful boatride

We passed a cruise ship
An omnious looking submarine with French sailors
Got cheeky with the Frenchies
Saw some Bali-Wood dancers in rehearsal for a film

Took in some more beautiful coastline

A Fine day for a Boat Trip

Ona her fiancee' Tor, and I went down to the Fjord today and geared up for a beautiful ride. The boat is Tor's and it has a lower cabin with a small kitchen, bedroom and even toilet. The day was wonderful and we went along the Oslo coast. here are some of the sights.

Tor is a very capable captain
I figured out how to get to the front part of the boat without falling off.

This is the new Opera house in Oslo. It is built to look like a ship and needs no stairs as it is all ramp! The ramp comes right down to the water.

Norwegian Wood

A beautifully productive and exercise-filled week. Rip-roaring bike rides into the University of Oslo (man the bike trails are awesome yet congested...with bikes Who knew?) Yesterday a 50 minute run by the Fjord and today a hike in the woods. Two papers are well on their way, a meeting with yet another one of my academic crushes. What more is there to life?

Simen has his 19th Birthday

So Ona makes him the best brownies for breakfast and he sleeps in. The fire-cracker candle is a nice touch, don't you think? He then got up and secured a summer job for himself. A good kid!

Norweigan Colleagues from Universitit !Oslo

Present (couter-clockwise)

Solveig Alma Lyster; Charles Hulme; Linda (me); (hiding is Erna Horn), then Eva-Signe Falkenberg, Marianne Klem, Ona BoWie, Kjersti Roland, Kari-Anne Ness and then Bente Hoqtvet. I LOVE OSLO!

Simen Graduates! Russ Outfit in Norway

The tradition of Russ is famous in Norway. Students in thier last year of High school plan for THREE years for a two-week party called Russ. They split into groups, buy a van or even a buss, choose a name for their group, choose activities and commision a band to make up a song for thier group. They spend thousands of Norweigan Crowne for the event and learn to work in groups.

http://russen.no/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=34

In this link you can see Simen in his local newsapaper partying it up!

http://www.aftenbladet.no/russ/article634681.ece

San Diego Conference CI 2008

Nice People, Nice trip. Son A., Shelley, Ginny, Linda, (Alex in back) Ann and Monika.

One

Puppies!

Thank you to Julile and her man for the photography of Rudy and Stella. What great baby-sitters they were. Hugo, on the other hand, threatens to bbq our dogs..... (smile)

New Home

This will be our new home. The Spencer family is officially moving to Geneseo, NY this summer as Linda accepts a job wt SUNY Geneseo as an assistant professor in the Communication Sciences and Disorders. I beieve I have the best family in the world, as they have been supportive and very brave in accepting this adventure. Here are some photos of the new digs

Mama and Uncle Neil and onto OSLO

Well March meant a trip to the Western NY area (GENESEO) close to where these two grew up, then to Rapid City, then plans were made to hook up with my pal Ona, in Oslo (late May). Busy, Busy times for us all. The Move will begin in late June. Whew!

Just as Nadar Predicted....

"You just KNOW some soccer mom is going to come along and make a cake with SEVEN colors, and one-up YOUR rainbow cake." It was true. (those bitches!) :)

The LAST year of the dreaded HORN Elementary FUN night and yet ONE more year with NO Spencer familly win in the cake-decorating contest. Look at that beauty...it is a HOT-AIR balloon, that was made with the OFFICIAL rainbow cake recipe. I paid BIG bucks for the recipe, took a class and to no avail. Oh well, somebody got a GREAT cake this year at the cake walk.

Rehearsing

Please don't let the ice ruin our beautiful snow cover. The skiing has been the BEST ever here and the gift of our last Iowa winter needs to be extended!
Nathan has kept our sidewalk the dryest and the cleanest on the street.

Do these jokers look familiar?

It was a Mall of America thing and I believe it is the most favorite surprise I have ever been presented with.

Finally BLOOMS for the Cactus

If you have followed this blog for several years, you know that year after year, I was disappointed about the Easter Cactus and how it lacked blooms. I got a Christmas one in 05. Just last week, the first week of 2008, we found this!

The HOT grandma!

So Kira and I went to the Minneapolis airport ot pick up grandma. By the time we got through the security line and to her gate, her plane was already almost all unloaded. Kira and I waited until the last person got off the plane, and no Grandma. The stewardess crew deplaned and we asked if they rememberd a "grandma" who was quite short and elderly. They totally had no recollection of such a person. We were flumoxed. Kira and I started to wander around looking for her. Then we saw her as she had already proceeded to the baggage claim (over a .8 mile walk) The crew saw when we found her and they said, "OH, you should have said you were looking for the "HOT grandma" then we would have known who you were talking about!

We wish you all the best from IC

The best gift is the gift of love, laughter and being together.