Setrer

Yippee! Today I did some digging around and found some poems about setrer (shielings or high mountain dairies) by Edvard Storm dating from around 1770. They are the earliest texts that I've found so far, and they are sort of precursors to the cabin literature that I'm really focusing on. The good thing is, I totally think I can write an article about them and that will kill two birds with one stone: they are "early modern" and border on folkediktning (although not technically actually folk poetry they are written in dialect and depict rural life, so they are in tension with true folk poetry)--both categories that are on the list of desired competencies for the next permanent position that will open up (someday) in my department.

I am almost done with Francis Recycled, after basically knitting it three times. I had a lot of trouble getting gauge. I should easily finish it this evening, assuming nothing weird happens.

ETA: I did finish Francis Recycled, but as expected I'm not happy with the three-quarter arms. They make no sense to me. Why have chilly arms while wearing a thick, warm winter sweater?? Since it's top down and since I have lots of yarn left, it will be easy to make them into full length sleeves. Tomorrow.

Nedtur

After all the nerves and build up about giving a plenary address at the Hamsun conference, it was inevitable that I would come down pretty hard after it was over. I woke up with a splitting headache this morning and can barely open my eyes.

But all in all it was a good experience. I'm really happy with the paper I presented, though I can still see all kinds of micro-flaws in it. Mostly they are errors of omission. When I discovered something I couldn't support, I took it out, which is kind of a cop out.

I had some good conversations. I forced myself to introduce myself to some people who intimidate me--people who either have a reputation for being merciless or who come across as arrogant--and that went pretty well. I was disappointed that so few people came to my paper, but I am hoping that it was less a factor of my reputation and more a factor of it being scheduled at an impossible time. Even though this experience brought out all the worst of my social and professional anxiety, in the end I learned a ton and am a better scholar for having done it.

After three or four frantic last minute rounds of revisions (very unlike me! I'm usually done weeks in advance of a conference) the paper is very polished and almost ready to submit for publication. I found out at the dinner last night that the first editions of the novels I wrote about have been digitized and are thus available (and searchable!) on line. The last thing I need to do on the paper is get the quotes from the first editions (rather than the later modernized editions that I used, since that's all that is available in the library, or so I thought). I'm excited, and so wish I had know about the digital versions earlier. I spent a lot of time doing things the old fashioned way--reading and rereading the texts again and again looking for certain references. It will be fun to see if I find even more support for my argument.

The dinner banquet was held at Gyldendal publishing house's recently (2007) renovated office building. It was an amazing space designed by Sverre Fehn (one of my favorite architects), with only the exterior facade and an interior fragment of the original building preserved. This photo doesn't really do it justice--the atmosphere (especially at night) was amazing, and not nearly as 70s shopping mall as it appears here:

The photo is borrowed from this blog. The director of Gyldendal explained the presence of this old building within the new one during his welcoming speech. Apparently, when Danish Gyldendal set up its branch office in Norway, they built a little addition off the back of their building that was a replica of part of their Copenhagen office. It looked out over the "bakgård" (the enclosed outdoor area behind the building) and this outdoor space was where Gyldendal held its parties. The Gyldendal of today needed a lot more space, so the new building appropriated all the exterior space of the bakgård. Fehn built a new replica of the old addition on exactly the same spot, incorporating the original windows. It now serves as gallery space (Hamsun letters and first editions were on display there last night). I loved it because it's a textbook example of a simulacrum--doubly so since the original structure was already a simulacrum. A colleague thought it was a disturbing way of preserving history, and on one hand I agree. It is kind of a fetish object (to use a phrase that was bandied about a lot at the conference), but I guess that doesn't bother me.

Oppe og går

Yesterday things started to fall a bit more into place for me. I worked at home, and was actually able to use my little office they way I had intended. There are still piles of stuff to be sorted and stored, but it is now a functional room! I celebrated by finally doing some serious work for the cabin book. I have been so distracted by all the other commitments and projects I have had over the past eight months that I have done very little that relates to the new book. Yesterday I cracked into a really important area that I need to have covered, and it was so much fun. Turns out there's quite a bit of research out there on medieval shieling practice in Scandinavia, and in my mind at least the shieling is the precursor to today's cabins.

And if that wasn't exciting enough, I officially ended my knitting hiatus. I wanted to work on something very easy with bigger yarn and needles to go easy on my hands, so what I decided to do was frog the picot pullover I knitted a while back (wasn't happy with the neckline) and start on a Francis Revisited (Ravelry link) with the yarn. I'm calling it Francis Recycled:

Not much to look at yet. It's a top down raglan, which I've never done before, so that will be fun. Very soothing knitting so far.

Fra barn og fulle folk...

This morning I drove E to preschool. He was very chatty along the way, explaining how he loves his name and wouldn't want to be called anything else. Then he said: "Mamma, jeg elsker livet mitt!" (Mom, I love my life). Gosh, how neat! I must not be a total disaster as a mother.

ETA: Found a reference to this incredibly weird blog, a collection of disastrous cake decorating called (suitably enough) Cake Wrecks.

Hjernearbeid

Crank. I feel like I've been through the wringer today and yesterday. After giving myself a couple days off from it, I returned to the lecture on Knut Hamsun's Wanderer trilogy that I'm slated to give at the big Hamsun conference next weekend. I had gotten really stuck last week, but yesterday I saw a new and better way to shape the argument. Today I cut out a lot of irrelevant material and added a bunch of new more relevant stuff, including a conclusion that I think actually works now. I also accidentally found a passage in one of the novels that perfectly proves the point I am trying to make. I had highlighted it, but somehow forgotten it when I sat down to write. I was flipping through looking for something else, and suddenly there it was (cue celestial music of revelation). I'm pleased as punch. It feels great to really stretch myself intellectually on a difficult argument, but I'm absolutely exhausted now. A friend is going to read it for me. Can't wait to hear whether she thinks it works.

My class starts tomorrow. It will be fun to meet the students and get underway with the semester. I can't believe summer is over!

The political season here in Norway has started too. Unlike in the US, it lasts only four weeks. KE and I watched the first of a series of party leader debates. It was fascinating and fun. I love politics. It confirmed that the party we (well, okay, KE) plan on voting for is the right choice for us. What, you don't know anything about Norwegian politics, you say? Well, just click here for a handy primer.

Still on knitting hiatus while my wrists and fingers rest up, so unfortunately nothing to report on that front.

Shoe wrangling

I think I may have reached a low point in how mundane I can make a blog entry: today I'm going to write about organizing shoes!

We live in a house without closets, and like most families we have tons of seasonal outerwear and footwear of all persuasions.

I also have a completely different philosophical approach to cleaning than my husband. He is what I would call a stoic. He sees the mess and dirt, then dutifully picks everything that's strewn around (say shoes) up, cleans thoroughly, then puts everything back in an orderly fashion. Usually it's a mess again within hours, but at least he's done his duty.

I, on the other hand, have a fundamental antipathy toward any type of tidying that takes work, and to any type of cleaning that requires me to pick things up and then put them back again afterward. So basically, unless there is a good system in place, I never clean. That's not good.

This weekend I reached a breaking point on our entry way. I knew we needed a system for all our stuff, so I broke down and spent a bunch of money on a coat rack and a wall-mounted shoe rack.

Here's the before of our shoes (not including any winter shoes, I might add...):

There's no way I'm picking all that up to vacuum. But this I can handle:

Yay! 13 cm of clearance under the shoes means that I don't have to pick up a thing to vacuum! Unfortunately, I need to buy a second rack (with two shelves) to corral absolutely all of the footwear that we typically have out, but now at least I know that there is a solution to the problem. We just need three big hooks on one of the other walls for our three backpacks, and the hall will be perfect.

Oh my gosh, I was just about to write and say that my hands hurt too much from all the assembling of various things to knit, when I realized I didn't mention the most important organizational home improvement around here. Ta-da:

Here's a little corner of my "roterom." It's one of the two "Billy" bookcases. This one is filled with yarn, fabric, and craft books (oh, and the compact edition of the OED). I know that this isn't much of a stash compared to many, but it's enough to make me feel guilty. I hope that seeing it all will help me curb any desire to buy more before I've used up a lot of this. The other bookcase (out of the picture to the left) is filled with my small library of beloved books that came overseas with me. The bags on hooks each contain a work-in-progress.

I love getting things organized! Even I can clean when there is a logical place to put things. I just hope my hands recover from all the assembly...

ETA: a very juvenile (and very funny) short video on swearing in Norway. I love kids like this.

Å lese

I love to read. According to my mother I more or less just figured it out on my own. She didn't have much patience for reading aloud, so she let me look at books on my own at bedtime, and apparently I just started doing it at four or so (Mom is pretty vague about such things). To say that reading has been a huge part of my life is an understatement. It is who I am personally and professionally. Some of my most profound experiences have come through books.

So given that background, you can imagine that I'm a bit apprehensive and really excited as E starts to show interest in words and letters. I think he's been giving off indicators for the past two months or so that he's ready to start cracking the code. I feel a huge sense of responsibility. I don't want to spoil it for him. I want him to love it, though I can't possibly expect for him to love it as much as I do.

The issue is complicated a bit by his bilingualism, and by the fact that he won't be eligible for any special training in English language skills when he starts school (next summer, or maybe the summer after if we think that would be better). After talking to a friend who is in the same situation (American married to a Norwegian, Norwegian in the home, kids bilingual, etc.) and she said she basically did supplemental "home schooling" in English language arts while her kids attended regular Norwegian elementary school. That seems like the best solution, so I've just started the overwhelming task of looking into what's out there. My sense is that it absolutely hast to be secular (not much of that in the homeschooling world) and that I want books, not computer programs.

I'm going to use this post as a clearing house for what I find. So far, through a secular homeschooling discussion forum called The Denim Jumper I've found the following recommendations (I'll come back and post links as I find them and comments as I find out more):

• Reading Reflex (Amazon link): Here's a link to a detailed user review
  
• Teach Your Child to Read In 100 Easy Lessons: (website link, Amazon link):
  
• The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading (Amazon link):
  
• Phonics Pathways (website link):
  
• BOB Books (Amazon link):
  
• Alpha-Phonics: A Primer for Beginning Readers (website link):
  
• www.starfall.com (website link):
  
• Pup and Pop series (Amazon link):
  
• McGuffy Reader series
• Explode the Code (website link)
  
• Stairway to Reading
• Sing, Spell, Read, Write

If any of you have experience with these, I'd be extremely grateful for any feedback and opinions you can give me. I'm already overwhelmed with just this list, and have no idea what to do. I suppose it will more or less depend upon chance...