Winter in Denmark

Marianne:
The winter in Denmark came early this year. Or at least in parts of Denmark. When we went to bed yesterday, it was snowing quite heavily and when we got up this morning, everything was covered in a beautiful layer of snow. Sadly, the tree outside my office window (at home) lost a branch due to the heavy snow. I heard a stance sound late last night, but did not realize what it was, until I got up this morning. I do not hope that this is the death of my tree - because I am very fond of that tree!
During the past month, I have taken some pictures of the tree, because I think it's fun to see how much it has changed - from still having plenty of leaves to being all covered in snow.

November 22nd,  2015 at 9.35 am

November 21st,  2015 at 5.10 pm

November 21st, 2015 at 11.23 am

November 8th, 2015

November 3rd,  2015

October 23rd, 2015

My plan today was to make a trip this morning to Allerod, the neighbor city. The company Sirius had their yearly inventory sales, and I thought that I might want a few things there. But I could not get out! We were simply not able to get out due to the snow. The snowplow didn´t clear our parking lot until 1.10 pm, and that didn´t even do the trick. We still had to throw quite a bit of snow ourselves. Michael did the most and I helped a bit. Mission completed - and I left for the outlet. Came back with a few nice things - however nothing but the things that I had planned. Wow!

Now it's time for a cup of gløgg (mulled wine) and I am going to make a few cards. It´s been a while - and the weather is perfect for such projects.

Music

Marianne:
During the past month, Michael and I have gone to two concerts. Very different and both great experiences.

The first (October 9th) was an acoustic concert with Michael Falch (a Danish singer) in Galaxen, located in Værløse, the nirghbor town. It was a really nice experience where we felt that we came pretty close to the man Michael Falch. The repertoire was broad - both well known and lesser-known songs. Everything was spiced with humorous anecdotes and harsh life stories. A lovely evening, which was made even better since we met my friend Birgitte, who we had not seen in a looong time. (Birgitte is my oldest friend. She and her family live close by us). Oddly enough, I met Birgitte again the day after at the gym.

On Tuesday (November 3rd) we were in Vega to hear American Gavin DeGraw. Also an acoustic concert, but with more stuff going on. Fi and Per contacted us during the weekend, to ask if we were interested in going on a cancellation together with them and their good friend Torben. We were game. None of us thought that we knew a whole lot about Gavin DeGraw, but when he first started to play, it dawned on us that he has a lot of catchy, well-known tunes on the repertoire. With him at the concert he brought a percussionist and a guitarist. Along with his own superior piano playing, it was a terrific combination.


Before the show, we ate a classic Danish dinner at Restaurant Klubben. A 150 year old, cozy restaurant in Vesterbro (part of Copenhagen), which is famous because it used to be the hangout of Tove Ditlevsen - a Danish author. The menu was roast pork with parsley sauce and pork hearts in cream sauce. Of course it was served with cold beer.
Lovely with such an impulsive event in very nice company.

A little something from the last couple of months

Marianne:

Marianne:
The last few months quite a few things have happend that I have not previously written about. Probably because it didn´t really fit into the context. So here it is:

It's hard to believe it, but this year it is 30 years ago since I started on the Royal Danish School of Pharmacy. Today called the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the Healthcare Sciences at Copenhagen University. Some of us, who started in the same class, decided that this was something that needed celebration. So on September 11th we had a reunion at Karen´s. It was a glorious event in which the 18 people showed up. It was great to see everybody and especially to hear what each has achieved - both professionally and privately. There were many interesting stories. We managed to make a group photo before it became too dark - a wonderful memory!

This year the Fall has been amazingly beautiful! Outside my window in Farum is the most fascinating tree and it has shown itself from its most gorgeous side. The leaves are still hanging and they have such vibrant colors.

Inspired by Birgitte and Nicolai, whom we visited last weekend, we took a walk by the beautiful, local Farum Lake.  It is very nice down there - for sure something that we have to do again. It is a spectacular area that we have chosen to live - and fortunately there are still a ton of places that we still havein´t dscovered yet. It makes us feel very good that we have decided to stay in this area.

And apropos: Finally, they started to building our house! We were almost  about to give up since the project has now been delayed twice, The plan is now for us to move in on March 1st. It is three months later than scheduled. Fortunately, we can stay until then where we currently live, which makes it easier to handle - practically. However emotionally it is quite different, because we are so ready to get our own place.

Right now we are in FriisBo - our summerhouse. We arrived Thursday evening, after having made a stop at Max´s (Michael´s mom´s husbond) . Michael has played a couple rounds of golf - one with my dad in Brønderslev. Meanwhile my mom and I  made a trip to Aalborg. I had gotten the idea that I wanted to try a fish spa. The real reason was that I have a psoriasis outbreak, and since it mainly has attacked my hands and feet, I thought that it should be tested if that might help. And it was not bad. My mom accompagnied me - even though she basically was a bit reluctant. We are both very ticklish - and especially on the feet. But it was not as bad as feared - and altogether a fine experience. And they were darn effective, those small fish. Mom got the nicest baby feet afterwards.



Last night my parents invited us for dinner at a new restaurant that opened recently in Brønderslev called Asia. It was very delicious - and a lovely evening. Thank you so much!

Today I needed to relax. Michael has cleaned our garden tractor and made ready for us to have a number of trees on the north side of our property cut down. The 35-50 feet tall pines have died, and we are not crazy about the idea of a violent storm that might overturn them. Fortunately, the neighbor on whose grounds the trees actually stand, also like the idea. We expect this to happen before the winter. Exciting. It's going to make a HUGE difference and will definitely make the lot look baren. We are certain that after a couple of years, it will all look nice again.

We took the bikes and drove along the beach to Løkken. We were curious to see if they had started the building of coastal protection in front of the threatened houses further south. It has been banned, but the owners of the houses recently won a lawsuit and can now go ahead with the project. So far nothing has happend. In Løkken, there were some shops open and we said hi to and old friend of mine, Torben, who was working wife´s clothing store. We drove by the road back home.

And here we are, relaxing. I bet that Michael is reading the newspaper on his iPad. I have been updating my Facebook and this blog. It has been a very nice day.
Tomorrow is a work day for me. Michael has some pratical things that he needs to deal with before we pack our stuff and head back to Farum. The end of another nice visit in FriisBo - but we´ll be back soon!