Oh havefryd

Kronisk sorte negle
Øm ryg
Rifter på begge arme
Et fraværende udtryk i ansigtet når samtalen ikke drejer sig om jordforbedring/gødning/andet haverelateret...
....
Det er dejligt, det er blevet forår igen! Indre Erna har nusset i haven hele dagen; Indre Helga var også med og har insisteret på, at der i år sås i lige rækker MED skilte, så man kan se hvad der er sået. Indre Erna mener jo, at det kan hun nok huske, meeeen hun er jo lidt oppe i årene, så det er nok meget godt at Helga skærer igennem dér.

What I did this weekend

Rebooking people to flights which then got cancelled, so I rebooked the people again a few days later and then those flights were cancelled, so then we booked a rental car and when they showed up to pick up the car there were no cars because the companies have more or less lost track of where their cars are right now; they're flitting across Europe on oneway rentals, so the travellers took a taxi and got on a train - standing room only - and then they spent a night in a hotel and then they were lucky enough to get a car and at first, I had to tell them to drop the car just south of the border between Denmark and Germany because Danish citizens are not allowed to drive foreign cars into Denmark and the fines are huge if they get "caught" doing it, but fortunately Skat (which does not, in this context, mean Darling - or Treasure - but Customs&Excise) have made an exception so it is allowed at the moment, and now they are back in Denmark, halleluja, only a few hundred more to go, or perhaps a few thousand. Really, I couldn't say how many people are stranded here and there. But we're doing what we can to get them home and with a bit of luck, most of them will be back soon.

Really, Eyjafjall - I'd rather be gardening.

Green

Dear boyfriend and I went for a walk in the woods today. Risskov (a forest near Aarhus) is warming up to The Great Stench, which is the time of year the ramsons ("wild garlic") flower. It's not quite there yet, but the leaves are up and we picked a big bunch of them. They will end up in our dinner tonight (um... it's after 9pm now, late dinner) and the plan is to put them into an Iranian dish, thus combining the Persian and Nordic cuisines in a very modern fusionist way. If it's a success, I'll share - otherwise, the next post will be titled "And now for something completely different"

It was lovely and green (in a month's time it will be even greener) - windy out by the coast, but a bit further into the woods it was nice and quite warm. And there was a tiny pond, with quacking ducks and everything. The kind of pond where suddenly you hear a disturbing stream of bubbles and then a dead body floats to the surface...A woman's body, deathly pale, blue lips, long flowing hair and clad in a white dress.  Uh, sca-a-a-ry!

But no dead bodies today, everything peaceful and green, see:

OK, this snowdrop was not in the little pond, but very close by.

(note to self, perhaps import some bulbs to own garden?)

And then we went all self-sufficient and went hunting for food. A big shopping bag full of ramsons, but there's still plenty left over for all the fancy chefs for whom ramsons are a big part of The New Nordic Cuisine. And for me - just another bag or two...

Look, food!

Yesterday, I made my contribution to Integration in DK. That sounds impressive, doesn't it? A citizen pulling her weight. *ahem* Actually, it was a playdate. A new friend (love immigrant from Australia), copious amounts of butter, maple syrup, sugar and cinnamon which we teased into The Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls, a stack of DVD's, Pepsi Max, and a guinea pig named Hampus proved to be the ingredients for a perfect Good Friday. Making new friends is one of my favourite things!! :-)

PW's cinnamon rolls are sooooo good by the way. I instantly wanted to become a Catholic, just so I could go to confession. "Forgive me Father for I have sinned and it has been 20 cinnamon rolls since my last confession"  -Of course, 10-rosaries-and-all-is-forgiven won't stop them from ending up on my thighs.

Easter

Some people call me the Christmas Nazi because I have very firm ideas about how it should be done. Nowt wrong with opinions, I say (but it's probably a good thing that I don't have children. They'd decorate the tree all wrong...)  But really, I am a very peaceful, mellow person - I just like the Holidays. And that includes Easter too. This time of year, I'm all about the eggs, bunnies, chickens, and of course the classical Danish Easter Brew (beer, strong, interesting effect if consumed in vast quantities)

So I put up a few decorations for Easter; my mum has always done it so of course I thought "everybody" did but apparently that's not the case. I have to admit, it's less...elaborate than my Christmas decorations; the good thing about that is that it takes much less time to put up (and, of course, take down again).  The most important part is the Easter Tree (apologies in advance for poor photo quality, it must be the camera) which is basically just 10-12 short branches from the local park in a vase. After a few days inside where it's nice and warm, they think it's really spring and the leaves come out.  I decorate them with some wooden Easter eggs I got from my mum.

(The "table" is a sub woofer. Although the boyfriend loves the

decorations, he is not too happy that he's not allowed to play very loud

music while the Easter tree is sitting there. We all have to

make sacrifices...)

The Easter tree in my hallway - I put it up yesterday so no green

leaves on this one yet

I have another sign outside that says "EASTER". Just in case the neighbours didn't know.

It's a little service I provide

The coat rack. Handy for when you run out of places to put flowers.

And even though there's also a thick winter coat and a woolen

hat in the photo, it is spring. It's just my boyfriend who hails from a

place about 4,000 kilometers further south who thinks the temperature

should be a lot higher before winter garments are stored away.

And just look at these - in a months time, these will (hopefully) be ready to go out in the garden! It's been raining here so the only gardening I've done this Easter is filling some flowerpots with pansies and tiny daffodils. I'm champing at the bit!

Happy Easter!