The Bryllup Saga

The lilac flowers are from our tree in the back yard.  Why they are at the top of this blog entry will become clear later.

Back on May 10th, I wrote: 

"Christine emailed me to let me know that both death certificates arrived on the same day.  Stephen is taking one of them to Los Angeles today to get the apostille.  Then I will fly to Oslo to get the affidavit of my marital status, and, badabing badaboom, just like that I'll be able to get married.  My only concern is that by the time I get cleared to marry, Tove will have to renew her proof that she is eligible to marry!  But, we'll burn that bridge when we get to it. :-)."

Little did I know  . . .

Christine mailed the death cert with the apostille on May 17th.  It has yet to arrive!  Panicked, when it did not arrive by May 30th, I wrote to Christine and told her that if it did not arrive by the time we got back from New York, then Stephen would have to take the other death certificate to L.A. and get an apostille affixed to it.  Well, we got back from New York, no death cert with apostille in the mail, so we proceeded with plan B.

Stephen went to L.A. on June 10 with the old death certificate I had sent to Christine, but the Secretary of State rejected it because it contained an unauthenticated signature of the coroner, besides the authenticated signature of the county registrar.  So Stephen had to go to Orange County to get the doctor's signature authenticated.  It was too late to go back to L.A., so he went back to L.A. on Monday June 13.

I was beside myself!  Tove and I were getting very worried that we would not be able to get married before our wedding party scheduled for July 9th.  I called FedEx to see about "overnighting" the apostille/certificate.  They told me that they could not get it here quicker than 5 days!  I called the USPS and they told me that they could get it here in 3 days.  Great!

I gave Christine instructions.  She went to the post office.  They told her they could NOT get it to TRONDHEIM in 3 days.  They recommended FedEx!  It was too late to go to FedEX, so Christine had to go the next day, June 14.  I was getting extremely anxious by this time.  It frustrated me to no end that we had started the process of getting a marriage license in February and by the middle of June we had yet to get a license.

On June 14 the FedEx was sent.  We tracked it (almost hourly!).  It arrived in Paris on June 15.  Excellent!  It arrived in Oslo on June 16.  Great, maybe we will get it on Friday the 17th and I can take it to the Folk Register on Friday.  No. no. no.  On thursday it was handed over to the Norwegian post office.  What? FedEx abdicates responsibility and gives it the office that has not delivered the original apostille/doc that was mailed on May 17th?!!!  Yep.

But, because it was "FedExed" the post office uses a service called "Bring" which hand delivers FedEx docs.  So MONDAY JUNE 20 it arrived at about 11:30 a.m.  It was a beautiful blue sky and huge white cloud day.  I drove into town, picked Tove up at work and we drove out to Melhus about 10 miles away to deliver the documents directly to the functionary responsible for issuing the license.  She said the license would be ready on Wednesday June, 22. 

Late Tuesday night, Tove was rushing to get some clothes out of the washer when she stubbed her little toe on the steel leg of the sofa in the cellar.  Ohhh, we all know how that HURTS!  She came to bed and said it was still hurting.  We decided if it was not better by the morning we would go to ER.

5:30 a.m. Wednesday morning Tove's foot was swollen and worse.  We went to ER and they diagnosed a fractured little toe.  Nothing to do about it except use crutches.  But Tove is still not fully recovered from her sprained wrist, so crutches are a bit hard to use!

Next, we went to Tove's work to deliver the doctor's orders to be off work for 3 days (Later, Tove's doctor changed the order to 4 weeks).  Next, off to Melhus to get our marriage license.  We got it!  It only took 4 months!

Thursday I went to the court house to reserve a date to get married.  We will get married on June 30.

We have a long list of things to do to get ready for the wedding party on July 9.  On the list was making table tent cards for party.  So I cut some lilac branches from the tree, put them in a vase, made a white back-drop out of oversized white paper and took a dozen pictures.  Here's the photo I chose for the table tent cards:

Here it is cropped:

Then, at the top of this blog entry is the final "photoshopped" image I used to make the tent cards.  We finished the cards, but I won't show them here until after the party.

Tove is doing very well.  She is very strong and determined not to be hindered by the toe fracture.  We are very excited.  In one week Devon, Patrick an Piper will arrive.  Wow!

The NY Wedding

A few weeks ago I promised to blog about Unn and Ole Morten's wedding in New York. We have been so busy with getting ready for our own wedding and wedding party that I have fallen behind!




From left to right:  Kristine, Ole Morton's Mom, Marit,  His Sister, Jeanette, and Tove

We arrived at the Norwegian Seamen's Church before the bride and groom.  Poor Kristine had quite a trip.  She had booked her flight to connect through Reykjavik, Iceland, but her flight out of Bergen, Norway was delayed.  When she finally got to Reykjavik, she'd missed her connecting flight.  Ole Morten and Unn helped her reconnect through Paris, but the delay caused her to arrive in NY just hours before the wedding, instead of the day before.  But she looked great, despite the ordeal.  Young people.

Ole Morten's mom and sis were visiting the USA/NYC for the first time.  I think they had a great time.  If Macy's June revenues exceeded forecast, Macy's needs to send thank you notes to Marit and Jeanette.





The Church

The church is in a nondescript building in midtown Manhattan near the UN.  It is just around the corner from where my brother lived when he worked in NY.   It is a haven for Norwegians longing for Norwegian waffles (served daily) or foodstuffs they can't find in the States.  Perhaps the most unusual item (and most telling) found in the little store in the church is "ordinary green soap" used for cleaning wood floors, wooden furniture, etc.





The green soap is centered

Once the handsome groom and beautiful bride arrived, the wedding ceremony commenced in Norwegian.  Unlike an American wedding, the "witnesses" (equivalent to the best man and maid of honor) sit facing the wedding couple, who are also seated facing the witnesses.  In this wedding the witnesses were Kristina and Ole Morten's sister.

After the ceremony we sat down for cake and coffee.  One of the church workers had baked us a delicious Norwegian-style "moist cake". 





The bride and groom cut the cake




Chatting at the church

After the wedding, Tove and I went to a sidewalk cafe and had a nice salad and enjoyed the mid-day warmth.  We had a couple of hours before dinner to wander around so we decided to walk from the east side to the west side to the restaurant where Ole Morten and Unn had reservations for all of us.  Walking in our dress shoes became tiresome, and since I had planned to buy walking shoes in NY anyway, we stopped at a nice shoe store along the way and bought some good walking shoes.  I bought these: http://www.merrell.com/US/en-US/Product.mvc.aspx/22605M/0/Mens/NTR-Seismic?dimensions=0



Properly shod, we continued on our cross-town journey.  The weather was beautiful, in the low 70s, it was breezy, and perfect walking weather.  Eventually, we arrived at Basso 56 a fine Italian eatery (http://www.basso56.com/home.html).  Dinner was fantastic. Tove had salmon and I had striped bass.

It was very festive. 

"Destination weddings" are nice and New York is a great place to have one.  Unn is "a fan":

If you don't want to go to the Norwegian Seamen's Church, you can always contact this guy:

http://revido.com/

Tove and I saw the guy in Central Park getting ready to officiate a wedding.  He wore a baseball cap that was inscribed "Rev I Do Dot Com". 

Summer Solstice

The sun will set tonight at 11:37 P.M. and rise at 3:03 A.M. Although it sets and rises, when it dips below the horizon, its depth is so shallow that it is never "dark". Night at this time of year is better described as "dusk".

Tomorrow I will drive to Melhus to pick up our marriage license. I'll describe the events leading up to tomorrow, tomorrow. In the mean time: a little Shakespeare:

THESEUS
1 Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour
2 Draws on apace; four happy days bring in
3 Another moon: but, O, methinks, how slow
4 This old moon wanes! she lingers my desires,
5 Like to a step-dame or a dowager
6 Long withering out a young man's revenue.

HIPPOLYTA
7 Four days will quickly steep themselves in night;
8 Four nights will quickly dream away the time;
9 And then the moon, like to a silver bow
10 New-bent in heaven, shall behold the night
11 Of our solemnities.

THESEUS
11 Go, Philostrate,
12 Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments;
13 Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth;
14 Turn melancholy forth to funerals;
15 The pale companion is not for our pomp.

[Exit PHILOSTRATE.]

16 Hippolyta, I woo'd thee with my sword,
17 And won thy love, doing thee injuries;
18 But I will wed thee in another key,
19 With pomp, with triumph and with revelling.

Bloggable Weather

I wish I had pictures.  Next time.  Those of  you who have never lived in Southen California near the coast might not understand, but the slightly hyperbolic statement of fact is, "We don't have 'weather' in Southern California."  The perhaps apocryphal story of the bet between the meteorologist and the engineer will illustrate the SoCal weather:  A few years back in L.A., an engineer bet a TV meteorologist that he could "out-predict" the weatherman regarding the weather over a 90-day period.  The rules were that by 10 P.M. each day, both men would lodge their predictions for the next day's weather.  They had to predict the high temp., the wind, and the cloud-cover, and rain.  The engineer won.  It wasn't even close.  His technique:  he always predicted that tomorrow's weather would be the same as today's.

If the engineer used the same method in Norway he would lose . . . big!  For example, yesterday it was rainy and 58 degrees.  Today it is about 72 and cloudless.  So weather in Norway fascinates me.  I have friends who could not live here because the weather is too unpredictable.  They enjoy and prefer the sunny, warm, dry climate of Southern California.  I like SoCal's climate, too, it's just that I can adapt to other climates, and one good way to adapt is to enjoy the changes.

Last Saturday the day started with thunder, lightning and showers.  Big, black looming clouds opened up and drenched us with warm rain.  Then, it cleared and the temperature reached the high 70s with a light breeze.  It was beautiful!  So, after completing some housework, Tove and I decided to take a bike-ride out to a local lake.  It's a pretty little swimming lake with a very nice asphalt trail around it.  The trail is designed to accommodate wheelchairs, which makes it nice for bicycles.

There were dozens of people, mostly families, enjoying the sunshine and swimming in the lake.  I felt the water and it was cool, although not as cold as the Pacific at Newport Beach.  If I had brought a swimsuit, I would have jumped in.

I would have had to have jumped in quickly, however.  Within minutes after arriving at the lake, we watched as the black clouds came toward us.  Suddenly, the wind kicked up and the calm little lake was beset by white-capped waves!  Everyone got out of the water "Jaws-style" and started packing up and leaving.  Tove and I decided to leave after watching several bolts of lightning strike the surrounding area. 

Soon after we left for home, buckets of rain started to fall.  We pulled off the road and found cover from the forest, only to be bitten by angry ants!  We were standing on their ant hill.  So we took advantage of a slight let-up in the rainfall and continued home until it started raining heavily again.  This time we stopped underneath some lovely lilac trees in the front yard of a neighborhood house.  We watched the lightning, listened to the thunder and waited for the storm to pass.  It did, and we made it home fairly dry and a bit weary.

I love weather.

Riding Bikes in NYC

What is Tove pointing to?  Why is her right arm wrapped in a map of New York with strips from a plastic bag and the strap from my Nikon camera holding everything in place? Hmmmm.

Thursday was a lot less humid than Wednesday.  We decided to take advantage of the cooler, clear weather by renting bikes and taking a long bike ride.  We used Bike and Roll.  They are great! http://www.bikeandroll.com/newyork/  They have several places to rent bikes throughout the city.  You can, for example, rent near Central Park, bike down to Battery Park and then return your bike down there and take the subway back uptown.

We decided to rent at Pier 84, bike up along the Hudson River through Riverside Park, then cut over to Central Park and bike around the park.  We packed a lunch for a picnic in the park.  New York has a good bike trail system and bike lanes throughout the city, although signage leaves something to be desired as it was a little confusing cutting over from Riverside Park to Central Park.  But we made it.  It was a truly great ride, except for the accident.  The weather was great and the neighborhood in the legendary Upper West Side is charming.  Central Park was beautiful.  I strongly recommend biking in NYC.



Jackie Onassis Reservoir, Central Park





I think this school in on West 78th




Broadway, Upper West Side




The Happy Cyclists




The bike trail along the Hudson River below Riverside Park

The last photo is where the accident happened.  We were about a mile or two away from the bike rental place on our way back when Tove wanted to stop to take a picture.  As she stopped, she lost her balance, due in part to her lack of experience in riding a "man's bicycle" with the top bar between the saddle and the handlebars.  She was stopped, but she toppled over toward the fence and landed on her right knee and right arm.  Her arm was terribly disfigured and I was certain she had broken her radius.  So I immobilized it as described so that we could bike back to the rental place.  After returning our bikes we took a taxi to St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital at 59th and 10th. http://www.slred.org/  Other than freezing from the AC, we were well-treated there.  They x-rayed Tove's arm and diagnosed a sprained wrist.  The ER doc was as surprised as I was that the arm was not broken.  Tove has very strong limbs!  No osteoporosis in her bones.

We did not get back to the hotel until after 9PM.  Famished and exhausted we decided to check out the little Trat across the street.  Tiny, cute place. Man! It was sooo good!  http://www.mercatonyc.com/trattoria.  Go there.

One more thing . . .
You've heard that people look like their dogs, or vice versa.  Anyway, what do you think?  I took this photo in Theodore Roosevelt Park, during our bike ride, I think.




Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is one of my favorite breed of dogs.

Next Post:  Wedding in the Norwegian Seamen's Church around the corner from where my brother Marc lived for several years.

The Bronx is up and the Battery's Down



42nd Street as seen from the Hudson River


There's a Seinfeld episode in which an attractive out-of-town female acquaintance comes to New York and asks Jerry if she can spend the night at Jerry's apartment.  Jerry is excited but uncertain as to her intentions.  He is looking for signs from her regarding what she might be looking for.  Jerry doesn't want to spoil his chances, so . . . .(From http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/TheSeinfeldChronicles.htm):

"[Scene: Jerry's apartment. Jerry shows Laura the apartment]
JERRY: So uh, what do ya think?
LAURA: Ooohhh, wow! This place isn't so bad.
JERRY: Yeah, it kind a motivates me to work on the road...So uh, make yourself at home. [Laura sits down on the couch, takes off her shoes and opens some buttons of her shirt] So uh, can I get you anything? Uuhhh, bread, water...salad-dressing?
LAURA: [laughs] Actually uhm, do you have any wine?
JERRY; Uh, yeah, I think I do.
LAURA: Oh, do, do you mind if I turn this down? [points to the lamp]
JERRY: Uh, no, yeah, go right ahead. [she turns down the lamp]
LAURA: Uh, Jerry, uh, I was wandering: would it be possible, and if it's not, fine, for me to stay here tomorrow night too?
JERRY: Uh, yeah, yeah, sure, why don't you stay? Yeah, uhm...What is your, what is your schedule for tomorrow? Are you, are you doin' anything?
LAURA: No, I'd love to do something, uh, I have my seminar in the morning, then after that I'm right open.
JERRY: Really? What would you like to do?
LAURA: Well...now I know this sounds touristy, but I'd just love to go on one of those five-hour-boat-rides around Manhattan.
JERRY: [doubtfully] Yeah, we could do that...why not, why not. [pours the wine] I'm just, I'm really glad you're here. [the phone rings; he picks it up] Yeah, hello...yes...yes, she is, hold on. [to Laura] Uhm, it's for you.
LAURA: [she takes the phone] Hello?...Hi!...no no it was great, right on time...no, I, I'm gonna stay here tomorrow...yes, yes it's fine..no, we're goin' on a boat-ride...don't be silly...I'm not gonna have this conversation...look I, I'll call you tomorrow...OK, bye [she hangs up the phone]. Never get engaged.
JERRY: You're engaged?"

Of course Jerry is stuck going on a 5-hour boat ride with the engaged woman.  I was thinking about this episode (and laughing at the idea) when Tove and I decided to take a 3-hour boat tour circumnavigating Manhattan.  But I am very glad we took the trip.  It was never boring.  It was fun and informative.

It was a hot and steamy day in New York.  We walked down to Pier 83 42nd Street at the Hudson River, to see about renting bikes.  It was pretty humid and we envied the kids playing in one of those fountains designed for kids to play and cool off in.



Notice the Aircraft Carrier?



Just to the left of the fountain is the quay for the tour boats.  They offered a 3 hour tour that was leaving in 20 minutes. "Want to go?" "Yes, let's do it!"  It was certain to be cooler out on the water.  It was.  The trip was entertaining and comfortable -- a very nice way to spend an otherwise "sticky" afternoon in NY.

Yearning to be cool 



Ground Zero.  New building will be tallest in US, I think.




Very Northern tip of Manhattan -- Parkland and Columbia's Crew Base. 

Next Post:  Renting Bikes in NYC! Roosevelt Hospital ER.

New York, New York

it's a helluva town.  Tove and I were there last week for Tove's daughter's wedding.  It was a great trip and a very nice wedding.  Tove noticed some good positive changes to the city since her last visit there in 1989.  It was my first extended stay there, although I had been there three times over the past 10 years on business -- but those were short trips burdened by business responsibilities.  I was also there as a teenager with my family, but we were only there for a couple of days.  So having six days in New York was a real treat.

We arrived at Newark Airport on Tuesday afternoon, then took the train to Penn Station.  We walked from there to our hotel at 39th St. and 9th Ave.  It was warm and humid.  I broke a wheel off of Tove's very nice suitcase when I dragged it from the sidewalk to the street at a crosswalk.  That was not fun.

We checked into the Candlewood Suites Hotel.  The location was good and we liked that we had a kitchen to fix breakfasts while we were there.

After unpacking and unwinding we walked to Times Square and had dinner at Havana Central.  It was a wonderful, balmy evening and a good first night in the City that Never Sleeps.  But we did.

Times Square May 31, 2011



Havana Central


Next:  Boat trip circumnavigating Manhattan.