Mitt hjerte alltid vanker...

Det skulle igrunnen vært versjonen hun synger med Tabernakelkoret - men den finner jeg ikke på Youtube... Vi fikk en signert cd igår av misjonærene her i Stavanger. Cd'n 'Spirit of the Season' med Sissel og Tabernakelkoret har ligget på #1 plass på Billboard Classic listen i flere uker, men er ikke å få kjøpt i Norge. Moren til eldste Bagley (misjonær) hadde kjøpt den i Utah, og fått den signert av Sissel i butikken, før hun sendte den hit. Best of both worlds, don't you think?

God Jul!

Afternoon in the blue light

A peaceful Sunday afternoon in Richmond, Virginia.

Eirin

Thanksgiving in Norwegian

 

Some of the ex-pat families in our congregation decided they wanted to invite the Norwegians to a thanksgiving weekend at a cabin in Sirdal. It turned out to be the first weekend of snow. We were about 100 people and a few dogs. ;-) Lots of good food, snowball fights and pleasant company. Truly something to be grateful for.

-Joanna

Goodbye and good luck

I made a card for my manager, Geir, who is leaving my company now while I am away. It is not really a card, it is a box with a little book where the guys in the office can write a little something and wish him good luck with his new job. The bottom of the box unfolds and I have decorated it with words that describe him. The cards I have made in the past have been quite boring if i may say so, but this one I am actually quite happy with.

Then again it took forever to make it…

Cold roses

Christmas cards

Red leaves

The good people do

There is a lady in our friend’s church who needs an operation that her insurance is not covering. She’s got no chance of paying for this by herself so the people in her church are throwing a fundraiser, a craft bazaar.

So I am making some cards hoping people will buy them at the holidays. Not that I think it’s going to bring in the big bucks...

I am so grateful that I live in a country where insurance companies are not deciding if we will get the healthcare we need. However, because the people here have to deal with this sad system, they have to pull together and help each other. They have built a tradition for helping from hand to hand while we trust our system to take care of us. Not having a safety net causes so much pain, but it makes the kindness of the people around more visible. It makes me happy to experience all the good things people do for each other. I just can’t understand why they can’t put it into a system so people would get the care they need without going bankrupt.

Fall in Charlottesville

Riding through fall

Today is a bright day. The trees have turned, the colours are clear, glowing, warm. The leaves float away with the breeze, ending up everywhere. I am riding my bicycle through Thomson Road, Aldman Road and Jefferson Park Avenue. I don’t have to be anywhere. People pause from washing their car or sweeping their porches and wave to me. Like they know me. Maybe they do. I am just a bicycle rider. I don’t have to be anywhere.

Animal life II

Here Jonah has taught Nemi to 'play dead' - except she can't keep her tail still! I'm constantly amazed at how happy she is. I have an idea for a LO in my head - 'Lessons learnt from the Dog...'

1. To enjoy the moment
2. To love unconditionally
3. To show everybody how happy I am
4. To run with a bounce in my step
5. To not hold grudges

And at the annual stempel & scrappemesse last saturday I found some of these cool 7gypsies lists...

I had to get them - for the blog. Of course.

-Joanna

Animal life

Charlottesville is cooling off now, we have had over 40 C the past week. The crickets are playing all night and we have two squirrels in the garden who are having a great time throwing cones at our new car. We have had a monster spider building his net outside our laundry room. I have never seen a spider that big in my whole life and B got the camera and made a horror movie out of it. We sure have a lot of wild animals around us for living in the middle of a city.

I now have wireless Internet in my new home! It is sooo much easier in the US compared to Norway. We had to wait for Telenor to get their act together for 3 months in Stavanger, while here it took less than 24 hrs!

Eirin

A paid vacation

Happytriggers is just the best name for this blog, and the fact that it was available made me very happy too! I am now more or less installed in my Virginian southern style house and is in the very beginning of my 6 months stay in the US. It is kind of surreal to be given the opportunity to be here, not having to work and spend most of my time just doing whatever drops into my head! Just the thought of that makes me happy ;o)

Eirin

Here we go!

Well. Actually here Eirin goes. To the US. For months. Leaving me here all alone. So how could we stay in touch, and and be constructive and have fun at the same time? The idea of a joint blog came up, where we could document the things that make us happy - and well ; here we go!

My Happytrigger for the day was finding out that Happytriggers was available as our blog title. ;-)


-Joanna