Forest Wood Norwegian Rosemaling & Craft

Arriving in perfect time for Christmas on Christmas eve was a wonderful parcel of goodies from a dear friend. The Rosemaling and timber goods are just what I really like and the fact it has come from a special friend makes it all the more treasured. Here is the Rosemaling art work from Guðriður, who lives in the north of Iceland.

"Bogan" is neither an improvised word nor of unknown origin, asProfessor Wilkes (Letters, December 16) would have us believe. It derives fromIrish Gaelic "bogan", meaning "soft ground", and is cognate with English"bog".Hence the Bogan River. Irish "bogan" also means "a soft-shelled or shell-less egg". Evidence that this has been extended to mean "soft-headed" is given by ScottishGaelic"bogan(-ach)" which translates as "simpleton" or "fool". Hence the current perjorative slang term.

Please, no more misinformation. The above details can be easily verifiedby consulting an Irish-English dictionary.

"Bogan" is Gaelic, as are many other "Australianisms", including "fairdinkum", "yakka", "cobber", "esky", "snazzy", "cack", "gob" and "boof(head)".

Chris Cleirigh,

Department of Linguistics,

December 19 University of Sydney.

SCANDINAVIANBOOKLOVERS

The Scandinavian Bookclub isin recess until 10th January 

Over the holidays we hopethat you will find time to read an Icelandic or Finnish Author. Some are availablefrom the Council libraries.

I am currently reading TheDraining Lake by Arnaldur INDRIDASON (a psychological thriller)

But he has also written“Arctic Call”

The Draining lake revolvesaround the accidental find of a skeleton in a lake. The water level in the lakehas been dropping for some time due to earthquake activity in the region, and askeleton which had been immersed in the lake in the cold war era of the 1960’sis now visible. A Russian listening device from the 1960’s was tied roundits waist. Was it an Icelandic spy?  This detective story delves into Iceland ’spast as a significant player in the cold era due to its strategic location. Asalways there is a personal struggle that the protagonist has to confront, inthe course of the novel, and his relationship to his family is analyzed in the processof chasing an illusive ‘missing persons’ case.

Other Icelandic authors youmight also like: Halldor Laxness (The Fish can sing), (Independent People)

                               Yrsa Sigurdardottir (My soul to take) and (Last Rituals)

                               Jon Sveinsson

                               Olafur Johann Oflafsson (Biography)

Or some Finnish authors:

Johanna Sinisato

Matti Joensuu – TheStone Murders

Jarkko Sipila –Against the Wall

Aleksis Kivi – SevenBrothers

Elina Hirvonen – WhenI forgot

Aili Konttinen –Kirsti came home (historical)

Laila Hietamies – Red Moon over White Sea

Monika Fagerholm –Wonderful Women by the Sea

Antti Tuuri – A Day inOstrobothia

I hope you enjoy readingsome of these and please email me and let me know what you think of thesebooks.

Merry Christmas,

Amanda  

DID YOU KNOW?  (probably?; maybe?; maybe not?)

Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to

pick the little 'stringy things' off of it. That's how the primates do it.

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store.

If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil.

It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.

Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef.

It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of

spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. MeltAndesmints

in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste

of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply

chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them

in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350

for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!

Reheat Pizza

Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low

and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on

the cooking channel and it really works.

Easy Deviled Eggs

Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

Expanding Frosting

When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer

for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes

with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

Reheating refrigerated bread

To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in

a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food

moist and help it reheat faster.

Newspaper weeds away

Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers,

put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and for-

get about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not

get through wet newspapers.

Broken Glass

Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

No More Mosquitoes

Place a dryer sheet in your pocket.

It will keep the mosquitoes away.

Squirrel Away!

To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper.

The cayenne pepper doe sn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

Flexible vacuum

To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel

roll or empty gift wr ap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in nar-

row openings.

Reducing Static Cling

Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt

or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose.

Place pin in seam of slacks and ... ta da! ... static is gone.

Measuring Cups

Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water.

Dump out the hot water, but don 't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such

as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Foggy Windshield?

Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of

your car . When the win dow s fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

Reopening envelope

If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside,

just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals

easily.

Conditioner

Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and

leaves your legs really smo oth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you

bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

Goodbye Fruit Flies

To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2' with Apple Cider Vinegar

and 2 drop s of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the

cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants

Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't

digest it so it kills t hem. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works

and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

I thought the birds would like a Christmas present too.

Today is so humid, one cannot think of opening a paint tube. So I will settle for something I did last month

December 13th will mark St. Lucia Day. Lucy/Lucia (283-304) was a Christian who lived among pagans. She dedicated herself to God, pledging to remain pure.

She refused to marry a pagan, and gave her dowry to the poor. Her would-be husband denounced her as a Christian to the governor of Syracuse, Sicily. She was condemned and was to be put to death. Miraculously the guards were unable to move her or even set her on fire so the guards took out her eyes with a fork. She is the patron saint of the blind.

The current tradition of having a girl portray Lucia is said to have started in the late 1700s. She wears a white gown with a red sash and a crown of candles on her head. She is at the head of a procession of women carrying candles. Boys have recently joined the festivities. St. Lucia's is not an official holiday in Sweden. Many cultures have a similar celebration and Scandinavians around the globe continue to observe this ancient celebration. A special bun made with saffron is baked for this day called Lussekatt (St. Lucia Bun.)

Communities around the world celebrate St Lucia in many ways. In  my town, a combined Norwegian and Swedish service will be held in the Swedish church.

Recycling materials or fabric scraps and remants into tote bags or altered fashion tops is satisfying my innner enviromentalist.

Pictures will follow.

Right now there is a whole bunch of ideas floating on the bed along with various scraps of materials and stretch knit.

Scandinavian Book club

Suggested read for November:-

Smilla’s Feeling for Snow by Peter Høeg (Dk)

Were you aware that the Eskimos or Inuit people of Greenland have many different words to describe snow?  Just as English uses a variety of terms for water eg: (liquid, lake, river, brook, rain, etc), so Eskimo uses the aput 'snow on the ground', gana 'falling snow', piqsirpoq 'drifting snow', and qimuqsuq 'a snow drift to name just a few. The intimate connection or “feeling” for the characteristics of the harsh arctic landscape is central to the story of crime, intrigue, and romance in “Miss Smilla’s feeling for Snow”.

Like Greenland, the central character Miss Smilla is cool, distant and reserved and gives off this feeling of loneliness. Growing up in the Arctic environment means that Smilla is a strong woman who struggles with trusting anyone, but who has also developed certain skills that enable her to solve a murder Police are convinced was as ‘accident’. A young boy falls from the roof of an apartment building in central Copenhagen. Did Isaiah jump or was he pushed? Secondary to the intriguing plot is the relationship between Danes and Greenlanders and it is an area that Høeg considers in this novel. The reasons for Smilla’s reserved nature slowly develop throughout the book by revealing pieces of her childhood in Greenland amidst the Inuits and the different social backgrounds from which each of her parents come.

“This novel is more of a feeling than anything else. Feeling of coldness, blinding whiteness and some fantastic warmness in between the two. It’s like a journey to far North where nothing but your senses remain. It’s as if you are sitting on Smilla’s coach wearing warm woollen socks and drinking hot cup of tea while contemplating the snowflakes whirling outside the window and feeling the intense cold of the winter.” (review)

Høeg’s novel was so surprisingly popular, it was made into a motion picture in 1997 starring Julia Ormond

Hope you enjoy it.

Amanda

**Final Scandinavian Booklovers meeting for 2009:

Friday November 27th 

Venue: Danish Club

(Book club will be in recess till Feb/March)

Discussion points:

1.     Review of Smilla’s feeling for Snow by Peter Høeg

2.    Favourite Scandinavian title for 2009?  Is it crime or historical fiction? True stories or psychological thriller?

 3. Suggested Scandinavian summer reads

The Norwegian club of Queensland has produced a high quality carry bag made from Calico in celebration of their 40 years in existence as a ethnic club.

Appropriately, I saw the reverse side as a blank canvas and set about to add some distinctive norwegian touches. Now I have 10 or so more to paint, thanks to some norwegians who were impressed with it. which was a bit unexpected but also nice to receive such positive feedback that they want more of  my artwork. Here are two of the finished products: