Sjømannskirken i Miami

November 8, 2011 | Florida,Norway

Congratulations to the new Norwegian Seaman’s Church in Miami! It will have its opening ceremony next weekend. HRH Crown Princess Mette-Marit will attend. (The church is named after her.)

We have some good memories of Sjømannskirken i Miami. It’s where our son was baptized by Pastor Synnøve Wiseth during the Christmas Eve service in 2002.

It’s where our daughters were supposed to be baptized by Pastor Lasse Heimdal in September 2004. Because of Hurricane Frances, though, the church had canceled services, and the pastor and his family evacuated to The Norwegian Seaman’s Church in New Orleans. Before leaving Florida, he he baptized the girls in our home on Sept. 3, 2004.

Our coffee table (that we got from Beste Rise) was the altar, covered by a white tablecloth made by Beste Rise. The baptismal font was a Magnor glass bowl from Norway.

Great-great-grandmother Berta (Hestad) Hoem made Beth’s baptism gown (at left) 95 years ago for Ole Hestad, her youngest brother. Many people in the family have worn the gown including the children’s great-grandmother Rise, bestefar Anders and their pappa. Vågøy church in Norway featured the gown for its centennial Sept. 12 with mention of the first baby to wear the gown, Ole Hestad, and the last, our Elisabeth Marie.

Great-grandmother Petra crocheted Katie’s baptism gown (at right) in 1984 for a cousin. It’s the same one Andy wore in 2002.

Four major hurricanes – Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne – hit Florida over six weeks in August and September that year, something that hadn’t happened to one place in 130 years. Charley was a category 4 that hit Aug. 13. Forecasters believed it would come to Tampa, but it hit land just south of us. Frances hit on Sept. 5. We lost power several times for several hours at a time. We lost a large pine tree on one side of our house, even though Frances was “only” a tropical storm by the time it reached Tampa. Forecasters believed Ivan would come to Tampa too, but it stayed in the Gulf and hit Alabama and the Florida Panhandle on Sept. 16. Jeanne hit on Sept. 26. We were without power all day. We were luckier than most and got our power back the same day. We lost an even bigger tree in our back yard.

After that year, one might imagine how truly terrifying it was to see Katrina moving its way up the Gulf. At one point, forecasters put Tampa directly in her path. That was the only time I thought about leaving town even before evacuations started. Turns out, she veered to the west.

We are so glad the Seaman’s Church was there for us — in good weather and bad. We wish them all the best with their new buildings!

We got to see King Harald and Queen Sonja

October 14, 2011 | Decorah,Iowa,King Harald,Norway,Queen Sonja

We’ve been planning for this royal visit since February. It finally happened!

My son, who wrote a letter to the king 5 1/2 years ago, believes they came to Iowa because he invited them. I’m perfectly OK letting him believe that. Poor thing, though, he’d gotten a fever and a horrible cold the night before we left. He was not at his top condition … but I hope he remembers seeing the king and queen as a special memory.

Here they are, practicing waving their flags and shouting, “Velkommen!” (See the crown?)

And … here’s our favorite queen and king.

NOLA: Olivier’s

October 11, 2011 | Traveling

We asked the concierge if she could recommend a nearby restaurant that’s quiet. Quiet? In New Orleans? (I’m sure she wondered, “What is WRONG with these tourists? Who comes to New Orleans for quiet?) She knows her restaurants. She recommended the perfect place, Olivier’s Creole Restaurant.

Except for some fairly loud, very well-dressed girls who showed up after the Hanson concert at the House of Blues (I somewhat expect to get struck by lightning just for writing that), it was very quiet with great drinks and delicious food.

Here’s our waiter, Chris. He looked up how to make a Zombie for us.

Here is that amazing food.

We went back the next day to get pictures outside. What a fabulous place!

Charming Marie in New Orleans

October 2, 2011 | Blogging,Music,Norway,The Snake Charmers,Twitter

Remember how I took Charming Marie to Norway? Well, I thought I’d take her to New Orleans with me last month. (Yes, that’s a blue cow covered with the Blue Dog.)

But wait! Looky here! There’s Marie … for real! She flew in from Houston for the weekend. I was in NOLA for a journalism conference.

That’s Ricky. He took our picture. Yep, it was game day. The Saints played the Texans.

More pix to come.

Bird garden project

September 20, 2011 | Family,Forest City,Home,Iowa

This is what Pappa does when the rest of his family goes on vacation. He started a new project when we were in Missouri. It’s this close to being done. He made it because I said, “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could see some pretty birds from the sunroom?”

Keeping the Tooth Fairy busy

September 19, 2011 | Family

She’s been waiting so long, watching her brother and sister loose teeth. Her first one finally came out. She’s so excited! Looks like her molars are coming in, too. That explains her recent headaches.

Learning Norwegian

September 14, 2011 | Family,Norway,School

We signed up the kids for online Norwegian lessons with teachers in Norway through Globalskolen. I’m so glad I found out about this. The kids love it!

Books: A First-Rate Madness

September 13, 2011 | Books,Politics,TLC Book Tours

I just finished reading A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links between Leadership and Mental Illness by Nassir Ghaemi. I received a review copy from the publisher, Penguin.

When I first got this book, I thought, oh great. Another book about a bunch of dead guys. And it was, indeed, a book about men. It was about some of the most noted leaders in history — Lincoln, Sherman, Churchill, Gandhi, FDR, JFK, MLK and Ted Turner — and how mental illness either hurt or helped them as leaders. And it’s not what you might think.

He argues that a leader who suffers from, say, depression is the best leader during a time of crisis. With such a mental illness, he says, a leader is more likely to have the qualities of realism, empathy, resilience and creativity — all of which are needed to lead others through a crisis.

He also argues that leaders who are mentally healthy — Bush, Blair, Nixon — do more harm than good during crises.

I was skeptical at first. I figured this might be someone with a singular focus into which he wanted to fit this idea. It actually turned out, though, to be the opposite. He had a much more varied background — a degree in history, another in philosophy and another in public health — which helped him see patterns that others would not. A historian, for example, might fail to see the dimensions of mental illness in a subject’s life. Ghaemi, however, was able to draw from all of these aspects of his background to see a subject more clearly and completely.

He asked an important question after discussing Hitler (whose manic-depression was made worse by how and with what he was medicated), “Why not just exclude the mentally ill from positions of power?”

Because, he answered, “… such a stance would have deprived humanity of Lincoln, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Kennedy. But there’s an even more fundamental reason not to restrict leadership roles to the mentally healthy: they make bad leaders in times of crisis — just when we need good leadership most.”

I expected his writing to be dry or somewhat academic, but it wasn’t. He’s engaging and compelling, and the book is a great read. I highly recommend it.

Closure

September 12, 2011 | Death

We buried Mom’s ashes last weekend and got to spend the day with family, aunts, uncles and cousins. It was a good ending.

Litterbug, litterbug fly away home …

September 11, 2011 | Forest City,Iowa

… take all your trash with you and leave us alone.

Otherwise? I’ll find out where you live and dump all my garbage in your front lawn.

I’ve written about this before (two years ago to the day). I really don’t get it. An entire bag of fast-food trash? Really? I’m sure you’re “this” close to home. Why can’t you just hang on to it until you get there and put it in your own trash can? “Litterbug” is actually too nice a word. I prefer “litterpig” or “litterjerkhole.” Just stop throwing trash out your window. Please?