On the 1st, John, Judy, Karen, Timothy, Clara, and I visited the Vigeland Parken. This is a very large park with 212 sculptures. The bronze and granite sculptures and the park itself were all designed by Gustav Vigeland. We spent a few hours here, as there is a great deal to see -- and the kids loved it! There is one area where there are several statues of babies, which Clara just loved.

Timothy enjoyed clambering around on the large granite statues. He was not alone -- many others were enjoying the statues in the same way. A friend of ours related the following story after we returned:

When I visited, my cousinish relative (what's your grandfather's brother's grandson called?) told me of a visit to the park in which a German lady got very upset with him for letting his daughters be so ill-behaved as to enjoy the park, and he replied, "Pardon me, but my grandfather climbed on these statues, my father climbed on them, I climbed on them, my daughters shall climb on them, and I hope my granddaughters will climb on them also."

There is a huge maze in the pavement around the fountain near the center of the park, constructed in such a way that one could follow a single line through countless hundreds of twists and turns and switch-backs, slowly making one's way all the way around the fountain. Timothy and Karen spent a long time doing just that, but got less than a quarter of the way around the fountain before we went on to see more of the park. Here is a sketch of the maze; to give you an idea of the scale, the square in the center (for the fountain) is probably about 50 feet across.

After spending a nice long time in the park, we headed over to the Norwegian Nobel Institute, where John has been a Senior Fellow this semester. It was a Friday mid-afternoon late in the semester, so things were very quiet. However, we did bump into the director, Dr. Geir Lundestad, on the stairs. Timothy shared not only his name, but also how it is spelled; then he told Dr. Lundestad that he wanted to win the Nobel Prize (we'd been telling him a bit about it on the way there, and he's very keen on the idea of winning prizes). Dr. Lundestad asked us to wait a moment; when he returned, he gave each of us a round gold foil-wrapped chocolate bearing the name and likeness of Alfred Nobel (see photo). Cool!

When we got back to Judy and John's flat, we heard interesting news from our real estate agent via e-mail:

Lisa (one of my agents) looked at this old cape-style farmhouse a few years ago..... at that time, the owners weren't quite ready to sell. She said she'd check in with them. She did, and they are willing to give us a one-shot, for-you-only listing. Lisa is meeting with them today to get it signed up so I can show it to you when you are back in the states.

• 1840s (or earlier) Cape-style farmhouse. Mix of hardwood and soft wood floors, much of which is exposed.
• About 2500 sf. Downstairs, there is a living room, eat-in kitchen with Russian-style fireplace, family room, parlor, two small offices, enclosed sun porch on the front, and a seasonal porch on the side. 3/4 bathroom, an ex-kitchenette, and a closet that used to be an outhouse.
• Upstairs, there's a big full bath, a small bath, 4 bedrooms, the lazy-window room, and another tiny bedroom or huge closet.
• Huge kitchen with plenty of cupboards, cabinets, and an island. The counter tops are cherry. Many of the cabinet doors are glass-faced. There was a fire in the kitchen a few years back, so it is a newer, more modern, functional setup, and rather attractive. Dining area at end of kitchen has a wall of windows and a brick, Russian-style fireplace.
• Black, wooden clapboard siding, all of which has been replaced within the past few years, except for one side which they never got to.
• "All rewired and re-plumbed" according to Seller.
• 200 amp entrance with circuit breakers.
• Full foundation and full basement. One wing of the house that was a crawl space with then bought, has been dug out and a new PC foundation poured with 2 overhead doors (if we want a garage in the basement). It's hidden around the side of the house, so it doesn't make the house look goofy from the road.
• Exposed beams and ceiling in the formal dining room and parlor (which has a fireplace mantle (chimney removed so it's non-functional) and original woodwork.
• Back deck.
• Five acres of land: lawn, trees, gardens, woods, and pasture land. Perennial gardens, raspberries, blueberries. Pleasant (but not breath-taking) mountain views.
• A potting shed, which we have in mind for a play-house. Small greenhouse attached to side with water, electricity and double-glazed glass.
• House on one side ($190,000+/- value) is owned by a doctor from Washington, DC, and is used as a vacation home for him and his wife. The house on the other side ($200,000+) is set way back from the road. Newer post & beam saltbox on a big parcel.
• The field across the street is owned and hayed by a local farmer (this house's and one neighbor's pasture appear to be hayed by him as well).

Today we set out with John and Judy to return on the ferry to the Bygdøy peninsula, home also of the Viking Ship Museum and the Norsk Folkemuseum.

Though Oslo is well south of the Arctic circle, the sky never gets completely dark there at this time of year. Here's a photo of the northern sky at 12:45 a.m.

Karen, Timothy, Clara, and I left Oslo today and began our flight home by flying to Reykjavík, Iceland.

We stayed at a wonderful place called Guesthouse Sunna. Hildur and the rest of the staff warmly welcomed us and were tremendously helpful with Clara and Timothy.

Clara pulled herself into a standing position for the first time today -- you should have seen the huge grin on her face the first time she did it and heard her crow of happy laughter! Here are photos of her second successful attempt.

[29 Dec.: Many excellent pictures of Iceland are on their way soon!]

[29 Dec.: Many excellent pictures of Iceland are on their way soon!]

[29 Dec.: Many excellent pictures of Iceland are on their way soon!]

Timothy has more-or-less taught himself to read (he'll ask, "what does e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e spell?" About 80% of the time the word is learned permanently).

We went to see the house in Cabot today, and we've made an offer on it!

We just heard that our offer on the Coit's Road house in Cabot was accepted with a few minor adjustments; it's looking like all systems go!

We went through the Cabot house with a home inspector today; there's a good bit of work to be done on it, so our late summer and early fall should be full of contractors of various sorts. But we're very excited about the house itself, its property, and the town of Cabot.

The owners currently live in Peacham and are renting the house out; you can see from the photos that the owner is still storing things in the house.

For Fathers' Day, we all went to Story Land in Glen, New Hampshire. This is a peach of an amusement park -- filled with nice rides, interactive theater, and reasonably priced food options which include things that kids really like (peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, carrot sticks, etc.). Once you've paid the entrance fee, all the rides are free and there are no limits. It's particularly fun to go on a slightly rainy day (as Sunday was), since the lines are very short. Timothy and Clara had a wonderful time, and it was a very pleasant experience for Karen and me, too.

It looks definite -- we're buying the house in Cabot!

Hot here in South Hampton. We're doing lots of packing and working out mortgage details. Postmastery and Praxis Library remain works in progress -- both delayed due to our move to Vermont. However, I have launched a modest site with listings of news and events for Cabot. Called "About Cabot, Vermont," it also sells books that are unusually popular in Vermont through BookSense; purchases through BookSense support not only "About Cabot," but also your own local independent book seller.