bunad

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When Marit visited over the summer, she brought her bunad , the norwegian national dress. She put it on to celebrate Syttende Mai (17th of May), the day that Norwegian Independence is celebrated. There is a parade in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, once home to a large community of Norwegians. I couldn't resist blogging her while she put on her bunad.

on the set of slekstmote

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My friend Ben Geboe is making a movie - his first feature film. It's called Slekstmote, which means, Family Reunion. He is shooting it in Norwegian. Originally it was to be shot in Norway, but for budgetary reasons most of it was shot here in New York this last summer. Marit came over from Stavanger to help out - you'll notice how tired she looks when this scene is shot. Poor gal, Ben ran her ragged. They ran all over town with the shooting. This particular scene was shot in my apartment. Then there are a couple of other minor scenes that were shot later in the summer. You can learn a little more about it at Sioux Viking

2006 Year in Highlights

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Warm holiday wishes from a balmy NYC. 2006 was a good year, some of the recap will be familiar to those of you who have followed the blog, or were at the holiday party. We start out and end on the top floor of a tenement on West 105th Street and Columbus Avenue. I rung in 2006 with a small impromptu party here and ended it with a nice holiday party a week ago. You can follow the seasons when you see the park, Central Park, that is. Most of the park photos are from my neighborhood - the Great Hill at 106th street and the pond at 103rd street. There were three trips to LA. So when you see palm trees you know I'm there (except the last palm trees - that will be Miami). The other beach you'll see is Ocean Grove/Asbury Park (no palm trees). Other highlights included are the Busch premiere party, Pride, 4th of July, Halloween and a trip to Gig Harbor. We sent Stephen off to Miami (again) and Scott off to LA (again). And then we welcomed Stephen back (Second Time Around Party). Drew, Marit, Troy and Nuno visited from LA, Norway, Michigan and Portugal respectively. Sadly, Lupe passed suddenly on December 1st - my mother's best friend. And there are cameos from Kitty Carlyle Hart, Judy Gold, Shakira, Celia Cruz, Amy Sedaris, Shrek, Madona, and the Queen of England as portrayed by Helen Mirren. Enjoy and have a Happy New Year!