Too Long

You realize it has been a long time since you have blogged when your computer doesn't recognize your blog address. Ha. Well, I am back computer. Get it? Consider the address saved.

It snowed today. Yes, today, April 18, SNOW! But hey, it is Norway for Pete's sake. In 2007 it snowed in June in Raufoss. The sun is shining right now and the wicked and wild wind that has been blowing for a few days stopped. Yesterday I had to keep my mouth shut when I was outside. Okay, stop your laughing. Yes, I am known for usually having my mouth open, so it was difficult to keep my mouth shut. Each time I opened it I had Iceland crunching between my teeth. A volcano erupts in Iceland, it grinds air-traffic in parts of Europe to a halt and it scratches my veneers. I read the ash is actually tiny, very tiny molecules of sharp glass. I could feel it and my teeth kept crunching the glass. JH and I thought it sounded like a licked a beach.

We saw the Northern Lights the other night. After returning last weekend from the US we were still awake at 2 a.m. when NK made a great discovery of a beautiful green ribbon winding around the sky. We watched it on and off until 4:30 a.m. Needless to say it was a l-o-n-g day at work on Wednesday. Zombie. I will post some photos.

I need to upload the photos of our US trip. It was so nice to be back in the Midwest. We had a great trip. I will type some stories when I post the photos. We left mid-spring and returned to late winter/early spring in Norway. Although, in the last week a lot of snow has melted in our yard. The snow earlier today has already melted for the most part and we still have the mounds of drifts which are hard as ice and covered with dirt (maybe ash) and they have been slow to melt.

I will say one thing about our trip to the US. We came back heavier. I am not just talking about the suitcases, although we shopped 'til we dropped. We each gained pounds in America. Fast food combined with fattier food, combined with Mt. Dew, combined with the kindness of family and friends cooking festive dinners resulted in us eating, and eating and eating. Nearly every night in the US I went to bed with a stomach ache. I guess I really did forget how our diet has evolved. We simply don't eat fast food, or the abundance of fatty foods in Norway as we did in the US. More grains, more fish, less soda pop, less red meat and less fried food. I kind of felt like the guy from that move about eating every day at McDonald's, and I am convinced I would have had to seek medical attention for my stomach ache had we stayed longer in the US. I just couldn't stop myself from brownies, McDonalds, fries, steaks, yellow cheese, and the heavy sauces and dressings I LOVE in America.

Forrest the cat is so happy with spring. He has been out and fighting his way through the neighborhood to reestablish his prominence as king cat.

We are returning to longer days. I love it. For most of my life I was a night owl and to some extent I still am, so it is nice to live in Norway during the warm months. Lots and lots of daylight. I miss the dark nights and starry, starry skies, but I don't miss the long dark days of darkness that is winter in Norway.

Tonight I will figure out how to work with my two new (yes 2) cameras to upload photos and after some photo shopping I will post annotated albums of photos. So I guess, coming soon....

Excuses, Excuses

I had someone ask me this week, "Why haven't you posted anything on your photo-blog?" I have no good reason. I have a reason but I don't think it is a good reason, I think of it more as an excuse. Around the holidays I had a couple of people say to me "So, what fabulous place are you going this holiday season?" And it wasn't a nice question, but more of a derogatory, jealous child emphasis on the FAB-U-LOUS. I guess I felt a little bit lousy. Angry, yes. Mad, yes. And so each time I have sat down to post something or upload photos I got pissed-off and did neither.

Should I post my ugly pissed-off photos? The photos of me or JH after an argument? The photos of Nick after he cried because he is homesick for America? The photos of me looking like a fat pig in my bathing suit regardless of how I photo-shop it?

Should I post stories about how miserable I am in Norway (still some days) hating this stupid culture and missing my family and friends and job in the US? I don't know, maybe I should. Would it make the people who have criticized me for having a "wonderful and privileged life" feel better to know I have a lot of misery and pain?

I had someone close to me say that my life (mine???) is so easy, that I always I come out on top. Well life is a bowl of cherries for someone, but it ain't for me. I bust my ass to make my marriage successful. I am not the nicest person in the world and I sure as hell am not the easiest person to live with. I am negative, mean, spiteful and ugly...a lot.

I am middle age, fat, have congestive heart failure, asthma, weak spine from a failed spinal fusion, bad joints, nerve damage and I am a little OCD.

For a long time I din't like my job...I hated Norway, and I was a miserable mess. But, everyday I got out of bed, put a smile on my face, greeted my husband and son with love and patience, and went forth trying to make to the next day.

Do I have a fabulous husband, an incredible son, a job that pays me way too much money, a loving family, a great house, lots of friends, and many amazing life experiences...yep.

Do JH and I still have $20,000 in student loans...yes. Do I have a lot of nerve pain...yes, daily.

I worked hard to get a masters degree while working full-time and I was pregnant. I fought my way into a management position at a young age by working harder than everyone else, working longer than everyone else.

So what the hell?

Is my life rosy and easy...nope. I work hard. I work hard to make my marriage happy, my son a good person and to keep my self mentally stable (from not being depressed because I miss America and everything in it). Life isn't easy. It is not easy at all. I realize I am so richly rewarded. So if my photos of lots of world travel, doing exciting things and enjoying life looks incredible...well, it is. I work hard, I deserve it. I studied my ass off, I make good money, I am not afraid to take chances and I take each day...one by one. I keep trying and trying...even when it hurts to try.

Okay, there. I said it. I feel better. Stop envying me. If your life sucks...do something about it. Don't whine to me...I don't care. If you care, do something about it...I do everyday...and it isn't easy, but it is worth it.

Hello Twenty Ten

Alicante from the air.
Fireworks over the city building & plaza with the castle on the mountain behind.
Unique flower planters...old shoes!
NK in a tree that has survived the modernization of Alicante from a fortress city on the shores on the Mediterranean to a bustling Spanish city.
People crowding into the main plaza below our veranda.
So spectacular. If you can be anywhere on New Year's Eve 2010, be in room 209 at the Mediterraneana Plaza in Alicante. Definitely a room with a view.
We toasted with champagne and kissed on the veranda above the masses at midnight as NK took video of the madness.
A street party.
In the lower right corner is the drum group ala Stomp.
NK the videographer.
Our crazy clown.
Ole!
The mad elf.
Blueman.
NK holding up the city of Alicante.
JH enjoying the vista on a cliff above the sea.
The rooftop patio at our hotel.
The plaza before the midnight masses.
JH standing next to ruins of an ancient fortress.
The Blue Moon.
A Jesus statue erected on the site of a Moorish Fortress. Remember the crusades?
An ancient walled city.


Relaxing along the seawall.
Long and winding roads through the Andalusian countryside.
NK skipping rocks into the sea.

Our hotel pool early in the morning.
Sunrise over the Mediterranean.
The Woman of Mojacar.
Stairs everywhere in the Mojacar Pueblo.
NK and I enjoying a restaurant terrace in Andalusia.
The fields are terraced everywhere in this region for groves of olives, oranges, lemons, bananas and root vegetables...and lettuce varieties. Also, there are many wine vineyards. We enjoyed some of the local table wine and brought some back to Norway.
Mojacar from the seaside.
The beach in front of our hotel.
Peaking into a mountaintop church.
NK enjoying lunch with a view.
Exploring caverns.
Orange orchards. The juice was magnificent.

A new year. 2010. Wow.

We read today that Betelgeuse might burn out in the next few years. What the heck? Betelgeuse has to be the star with the best name, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse. It is not my favorite like say Mizar or Alcor, but still. Burning out???

We spent New Years eve at a KA-RAY-ZEE celebration in Alicante Spain. We had a room overlooking the central plaza with a veranda to lookout at the Castle Santa Barbara. What we did't know is that all the people in Alicante go to the central plaza for a party which STARTS at midnight and then goes for hours of dancing and conga lines with loud music and thousands of hip wiggling Spaniards. It was a blast. We had the best room in the city...by accident. A group kind of like stomp set up below our veranda with their drums and played a concert which lasted about an hour. NK loved it.

December 31 was also a Blue Moon day. The second full moon in one month. We saw a beautiful corona around the moon as we walked along the beach front in Alicante.

We drove down the coast (Costa Blance) of Spain to a resort outside of Mojacar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojacar with a lovely beach front area with the mountains on one side and the Mediterranean on the other. Beind the hotel perched on the mountain was the Mojacar Pueblo where several hundred pepole still live. The town is whitewashed and cobbled together as it was when the African Moors established it. Described as being a mini-Casbah, it has winding roads and staircases leading up and up and up. It was so incredible. The sites and places I have been, this ranks in the top five. Sitting in a courtyard sipping drinks and snacking on local breads while enjoying the view for hundreds of miles. Amazing.

We enjoyed exploring all the ruins along the southeast coast of Spain. Old castles and fortresses from the Moors, Romans and Greeks. We enjoyed the food, the fresh orange juice from the orchards and the pleasant people. We celebrated our 14th anniversary in Spain. On the day of our anniversary JH had a touch of food poisoning, so NK took me out on a big date. He carefully selected a restaurant...that he liked...KFC. Yep, we ate chicken. NK was so proud and he at the restaurant he leaned across the table and asked me if there was anyone other than his daddy for me to celebrate my "honeymoon" with, was I glad it was him. Of course I was glad, even though we sat holding hands across the table at KFC. It was a perfect moment with my son. He is a great stand-in for his dad.

It was difficult to return to Norway the land of lots of snow, freezing temperatures and darkness. Since December 21 the days are getting longer...a tiny bit each day, but at least it is going in the right direction. It didn't take as long as we thought it would to dig our car out at the airport, but we had a long trip home in the bowing snow on snow and ice packed roads. But, alas, it was wonderful to be in my own bed.

Christmas Message 2009

2009

A year of highs and lows. We started the New Year in the USA where we had spent the 2008 Christmas and New Year holidays with our family. It was cold, snowy and wonderful. At the time we flew out of the US, the Midwest was seeing some tremendously cold temperatures. It was bittersweet to depart from the US – leaving our friends and family for the return trip to Norway – our new home.

Both John and I have traveled this year on business within Europe and of course to the US. I started the New Year with a return trip to the US not long after arriving back in Norway. I had meetings in Washington DC just days after the inauguration of the new US President.

The company we worked for hired me as a permanent employee this year and enrolled me in the executive management training program. John was promoted to Project Leader for an international program which has provided him with a great learning curve and an interesting career move. So, Nammo has been a good company by providing great opportunity for our family.

Nicholas is becoming such a Norwegian boy. I think that kids are so versatile. They adapt so quickly and Nick has adapted so successfully. Of course transitioning to a new culture has had challenges, but Nick has weathered them so incredibly well and he thrives. We still have bouts of homesickness and probably always will. He loves his school and his sports clubs. He is getting into the music scene in Norway and is starting to follow European and African music, with favorites not from Los Angeles, but from Germany, Sweden and Africa.

Nick always has bruises. From the time he was not yet three years old and he was riding his bike without training wheels and building ramps I knew he had the makings of a daredevil, so now the trick skis, the snowboards, ATV tracks, scooter jumps, well, it is scary for a mom. We just make sure he has the necessary equipment, helmets, back supports, gloves, pads, boots, etc. Prayer helps.

Again Nick spent some weeks in Iowa. He loves being a sidekick to his grandpa Jack and a fishing buddy for the Vermie relatives and spending time in Omaha with the Miller family cousins. Nick loves peddling around Mitchellville and eating Casey's donuts.

We have traveled quite a bit this year on leisure travel including in Europe, NW Africa, the US, and of course Scandinavia. We enjoyed boogie boarding in the surf on the Spanish isle of Tenerife where we spent some time with John’s parents, and backpacking in Scotland to see the beauty of the area on the west coast of Great Britain, and the beautiful week we spent at a beach house in Denmark where my mom joined us for some relaxation and amazing sunsets.

The time we have had in Norway with John’s parents became essential when we found out the John’s mom had lung cancer. The memories of our trips to their cabin in Northern Norway above the Arctic, and the trip to Spain and the time at the Myklebust family farm on the west coast of Norway created great memories for Nick. Eli passed away in June. We lost our seamstress, our maker of Norwegian gloves and sweaters, a mother and grandmother a good listener and a great cook.

Being so far from the US has been unbearable when friends and family in the states go through challenging times, and of course we miss the celebratory events like weddings and birthday parties and family cookouts. I think in 2010 I will officially declare myself to be a global citizen and try to not feel so dissected between the US and Norway but celebrate and appreciate all the good things going on around me wherever I am. Unabashedly, John and I support global initiatives which promote social justice, empowerment and hope. In a world where so many have so little, our family is blessed, and we are thankful. The news of global chaos - the economy, high unemployment, pandemic flu, natural disasters further complicated by destruction to the environment gives good reason to be thankful for a warm bed, and a quiet neighborhood.

We will spend the end of the year on the Mediterranean coast of Spain where we will hike and eat good Spanish food.

We hope you have a wonderful peaceful holiday season. We believe that 2010 is a year of promise and opportunity. And we hope to spend some time with you in 2010...the fresh mountain air in Norway is amazing.

Update...pre-Christmas 2009

Can you spot the new Yellow Belt? Hint, front row and standing.

I have a lot of new photos...but my card reader is broken. I need to find the cord to attach my camera directly to the PC...I will do that during the holiday vacation and post some new photos of us, Norway, Spain, nature.

The last few months have been a busy time for our little family unit. My father-in-law, Ole, had surgery on his leg which had complications so JH flew to Bodø (in Northern Norway where Ole lives) and flew Ole back to our house where he spent sometime recovering. The leg had further problems and Ole ended up in two local hospitals before being flown back to Bodø in an air ambulance. Ole has since recovered and is back at our house for the Christmas holiday.

It has been nice to have Ole around. Of course NK really enjoys spending time with his grandfather. Although Ole is a recently retired airplane pilot, he is also a jazz trumpeter. He has a band which meets and plays in the Ålesund area, which is on the west coast of Norway in the village where Ole is from, Myklebust. So NK has been jamming with his grandpa, NK playing his guitars and Ole on trumpet, and sometimes joined by JH on the sax. I play the part of an enthusiastic fan. It is widening NK’s music interest. He loves playing his guitar, but it is nice to hear him play different genres of music. Lately he has been playing and singing a lot of Sting.

NK is busy at school. The for the second time this semester he had the highest test scores of any sixth grade student. Smarty pants. He is such a good student. We have been working hard at teaching him “how” to learn, including how to study, and how to learn the critical information and sort it from supplementary information. I think that learning how to learn has helped him. Of course we did this to help him learn Norwegian language, and it has helped him in all subjects. I spent a few hours volunteering with his class at school and it was fun. There are 30 boys and 6 girls in the sixth grade. The school has asked for more parent involvement due to some behavior problems. This isn’t uncommon in Norwegian schools. I have blogged before about Norwegian school classrooms, whereby the national law, the students are in charge...and they know it.

NK has been busy with soccer; he is in the winter league playing indoor soccer. He loves it and it keeps him busy, and he gets to hangout with his best buddies. He started back to Tae Kwon Do late this fall. He had taken a break during the early busy fall months of outdoor soccer where 2-4 days each week were games or practice. He is working out with his Tae Kwon Do class two nights a week and last Saturday he graduated to a yellow belt. He is really excited about going up a belt. It is also fun and of course a good workout. He is sweating and red faced by the end of practices. He loves the part where they break wood with their feet, elbows and hands. They are starting the combat training. It is interesting to watch, and sometimes looks like kick boxing since the kids love to kick.

JH received a promotion at work. He moved into a new position in October and he has been trying to phase out of his old position. His new position in project management will require more travel in Europe and to the US. This is good news for me, as he can know be my personal shopper on his business trips to the US! He has been working long hours though trying to get the work caught-up and learn his new program. He seems to really like it. I think it was a good move. The position leads one of the most profitable product lines for our company so it is a big responsibility in management.

I have started an executive training program at work. It is really good. The program includes learning the entire cash flow and finances of the company, and then all the management core areas. It has been interesting. It is a cohort group from our European locations, so some of the classes are in Sweden, Finland and Germany. It has been fun working with my colleagues in these other countries. I kind of get a kick out of being a Norwegian representative to this group; because of course...I am not Norwegian. I have always preferred working environments with heavy diversity and since I am an American working at a foreign company...I am the diversity. Also, working for a multinational company based in a small country, I work with customers, and colleagues from all over the world. I have a time zone map, because each call I make I have to think, “What time is it in Australia...what time is it in Italy, what time is it in Hawaii, what time is it in Washington DC?” And of course I go to meetings and there are multiple languages being spoken at the tables. Sometimes I feel so lucky that I am the person who is the native English speaker because of course the default language that everyone reverts to so that we can all communicate with one another is English. During my meetings with my Swedish colleagues we speak a tangled Norwegian-Swedish dialect. I guess it makes life interesting.

Being the odd person is a little lonely. When everyone is talking about cultural issues, sometimes I don’t have the experience or the knowledge to relate to the issue and sometimes the people. It can be isolating. When I feel a little isolated I also start to get homesick. I try to keep my rose colored glasses on.

To fend off homesickness I try to stay engaged and busy in community activities and busy going places with NK. Lately we have gone to watch NK take part in some Advent activities at church, attended Handle’s Messiah concert (long, but good), watched the Harlem Gospel Choir perform in our local mountain hall Olympic arena, attended the World Speed Skating Competition in the Olympic Hall in Hamar, I started a craft club, and we love to watch good films and TV sitcoms that make us laugh, like reruns of Ugly Betty, Scrubs, That 70’s Show and Dharma & Greg. NK thinks he looks like Betty with is braces, and well they do kind of look related.

NK and I had the great opportunity to go to Oslo and take part in some of the Nobel Peace Prize activities. Our friend from Wichita who was studying in London, Adam Mc Gonigle, came to Oslo to meet-up with me and NK. Ironically friends of ours from the Gjøvik are were on the same train, so we all spent time together. We went to see fantastic art, we watched Obama go to the Oslo City Hall to receive his Nobel Peace Prize and then we walked across the street to the Nobel Museum which sits on the shore of the Oslo fjord where we watched some of Obama’s speech and we had a lovely lunch while looking out at the old castle and fortress. We marched in the Nobel Peace Parade with the American Committee of Norway and the Democrats Abroad Caucus. We also attended a dinner sponsored by those groups and the American Embassy.

The parade was an evening parade, and since we have only a few hours of daylight each day at this time of year, it was dark, and cold. We marched along carrying lit torches and waving our American flags. There were protestors too, some of them peaceful and others a little rowdy. The award for the creepiest protestors goes to a group of American’s wearing denim jackets with the words “Jesus Saves”, but unfortunate for them (and the rest of us) they were chanting racial and religious slurs. It reminded me of the nutty Fred Phelps clan from Kansas. There were some anti-war protestors who tried to hijack the event and they probably created a tense situation for what was supposed to be a family friendly event. The police in riot gear surrounded them and walked them back a block or two away from the thousands of people who were standing silently with torches outside of the Grand Hotel and the Parliament building in Oslo. At the parade we met some other Americans who live in Norway and I made a new friend, Julia from New Orleans who lives in Olso.

Watching history unfold was amazing. NK really enjoyed it too. He and Adam and I had so much fun watching all the ambassadors arrive and the royalty and then of course the Norwegians in their national costumes, the bunad, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunad. I am a huge supporter of the Nobel Foundation and the Nobel Prizes. So, taking part in some of the activities fulfilled a dream of mine and I hope an experience NK will never forget.

During our free time...well, what free time? I guess we like to cook new recipes. We are always trying to get NK to eat new foods. He hates dairy, sauce, rice and raw vegetables. We find new recipes on the internet which look good and then we modify them to try to persuade NK to try them. He is my helper in the kitchen since he has been taking a cooking course at school. He has also learned how to set a table and how to use the silverware and glasses on the table. What glass does the red wine go in? Could you imagine learning that at school in the US? At his school concert the last week they sang a drinking song. Coupled with the bare breasted Madonna painted by Munch which hangs at his school (a print...not the original!), I still have my “Toto, we are not in Kansas any more” moments.

I have also tried to keep reading. I love to read...when I can find the time. I have read most of the Vince Flynn books, and each time a trot through an airport I pickup a new thriller, or biography.

Our front foyer is again becoming a storage area for skis, skates, boots, Snow boards, sleds, shoe dryers, hats, gloves, coats, and coast and more coats. Winter in Norway. Ho hum. Every attempt at organization of our winter stuff is in vain. I have coat racks, shoe racks, benches, rugs, hooks, and it still looks messy. How does IKEA make it look so simple?

We have snow, snow and more snow. Today is the shortest day of the year with just a few hours of daylight. The good news is that tomorrow it starts to reverse itself and we get a few minutes more of daylight each day until midsummer when it will start to rewind and the days will get shorter. Like the previous winters we are using our sunlamp to keep from going kooky. It helps. Forrest our cat loves the sunlamp and since he is always the kookiest, he needs it.

Just like in the states, we kind of kicked-off the holiday season with a Thanksgiving feast. We invited some American-Norwegian friends and we ate turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pies and all the trimmings. It was fantastic. For Christmas, Norwegians have traditional foods too - boneless ribs, fish – both fresh and fermented and pickled, meat cakes, dried meats, and sausages, also lots of gingerbread cookies, berries, cakes with marzipan, and warm drinks with a side shot of aquavit.

We went to a dinner party the other night for a Swedish feast. Anchovies and potatoes and gingerbread with Roquefort cheese. Yummy.

Well...enough for now, I also am working on a Christmas message to post in a few days. As I type this I am listening to the news in Samisk. The Sami have a sizable population in Norway (and Sweden, Finland and some in Russia). It is interesting to watch (and listen) to their TV programs. Norwegian is hard enough. I can watch programs in Swedish and Danish and understand...but Samisk...NOT!

Was I Hacked...or am I Nuts?

I was trying to type a blog posting (see the next post) and everytime I typed it turned into a language which I do not speak...nor do I write. I found out it was Hindi, and somehow it had been "Enabled" on my Settings. Yikes. Norwegian has been hard enough to learn...Hindi would be IMPOSSIBLE! Seriously. I am at the point where I sometimes forget I am listening to something in Norwegian. That would never happen in Hindi. Try as I might (and I wouldn't) Hindi ain't happening anytime soon. I do not have enough brain cells to learn Hindi. I will leave that to the billions of Indians, and all the smarty pants academics who love learning for the love of it.

I just typed a brief email to the church to say that Nicholas would join an Advent event. I felt like I was seriously smart being able to read through the materials, find the information on the internet and type a few lines in flawless (okay...maybe) Norwegian. Okay...that was the extent of my Norwegian "powers". Very limited.

My original post was supposed to be about something entirely different, but I am tired now. Good night moon.

Sun, I Don't See No Stinking सुन -

I met a friend today for a cup of expensive cappuccino at a local coffee shop। She said that it is almost a relief that we have started into the six-month winter, because now she can stop worrying about it starting and start focusing on how to get through. That is a good dose of optimism. I said that from the first snow I just think Easter. Easter will mean the end of it...until the first snow fall in the autum of 2010. Although June snow isn't uncommon. It snowed in June two years ago.

इ वास त्र्यिंग तो व्रिते अ पोस्ट, एंड मय्बे इ हवे बीन हच्केद, बेकाउसे अल्थौघ इ ऍम टाइपिंग इन इंग्लिश आईटी तुर्न्स इन्तो व्हाटेवर लंगुअगे थिस इस...इ सुर्रेंदर!

Some Soccer Photos

NK plays on a soccer team that plays all year with 2-4 practices and/or games a week. A few weeks ago they played a tournament at a local indoor arena...here are a few photo highlights.

NK and his buddy Torkjell.

NK getting his medal.

The team.

My camera was dying...JH bought me a new one in the US last week! Hopefully the quality of my photos will improve. My old camera didn't like indoor settings...nor outdoors settings...it didn't like bad lighting...nor good lighting!

Bugs

I got my H1N1 vaccine shot today. I waited in line "only" an hour. I did not feel the needle nor the vaccine go in...so far my arm doesn't hurt. I guess we will see what happens tomorrow. I think the plan for the kids is to give it at school. NK had another shot a few weeks ago at school. Since the organize doctors and dentists through the schools here in Norway, NK is braver. He does not like needles, doctors nor medicine.

I had a bad cold - maybe a respiratory flu two weeks ago, now it is JH's turn. He is very congested and has a fever. Ho hum.

NK puked last night.

I guess it is the season...for sneezing and coughing.

H1N1 has hit our area hard. Several deaths. Apparently we may have a variant H1N1 which is "more" deadly. It comes fast and is killing young healthy people.

We have tickets for the world speed skating championships in a few weeks. We asked some friends to join us and they said "no" due to the dealy local H1N1 strain. I guess we are going. I haven't thought of curbing our activities other than being the official germ freak that I am. I don't like touching public surfaces and I repeatedly wash my hands. Now I am trying to get NK and JH to do the same.

Well...the days are very short, very dark and white stuff is falling.