A family photo taken August 2010
Jan
27
Dream Home
Jan
23
You cant step in the same river twice
The kids' first Metro ride in Helsinki (October 2010). Some people spend a lifetime trying to see what my kids have seen in the past 16 months. One of the many things for which I am thankful.
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, according to Plato, that you cannot step in the same river twice due to the constantly-changing nature of the river. It’s a pretty good metaphor for expat life, especially when that expat life involves moving every 2-4 years. I think I’ve mentioned before that I lived in the same general area of a not over-large suburb for the first 18 years of my life, so this constant moving thing does not come naturally to me.
But that’s not to say that I don’t embrace it. In fact, I’m starting to believe that it is the act of stepping into that river, and realizing that it’s different than it was last time, that keeps me moving forward, keeps me interested. And it’s a good thing, because even though we’ve only been in Helsinki 16 short months, we now know that in June we’ll be moving on.
Jan
22
There’s More to Lapland than Santa’s Village!
A sunrise fit for Santa himself!
One of the unexpected joys of living in Finland (and there are many) is Santa mania. According to This is Finland, Finns have been claiming that Santa lives in Finland since 1927. Reindeer, after all, can’t survive winter at the North Pole, but they can in Lapland! It follows that Santa’s Village, located in Rovaniemi right on the edge of the Arctic Circle, is a major tourist destination for those who decide to make a winter trek to Finland. Many families with children add a visit to Rovaniemi to their winter itinerary, taking the scenic overnight train north and visiting Santa, Mrs. Claus, and the elves. From what I’ve heard, it is pure magic for the children, and includes ample shopping and activities to keep adults entertained as well.
Nov
25
The Liebster Blog Award
Thanks so much to Sara Toole Miller for nominating Terminal Verbosity for a Liebster Award! Her blog, which is all about the writer’s life, is a constant source of inspiration to me in my writing journey!
The Liebster Blog Award is given to blogs that have less than 200 followers and deserve more recognition and encouragement.There are some guidelines that have to be followed while giving or receiving the Award.
The rules for receiving the award:
- Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
- Reveal your top five picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
- Copy and paste the award on your blog.
- Hope that the people you’ve sent the award to forward it to their five favorite bloggers and keep it going!
So here are five blogs that I love, and therefore nominate for the Liebster Blog Award:
- Nicole Leonard’s Photography Blog- This woman takes amazing pictures!
- Besides sharing my love of soup, Angel at Elder of the Sweetbunns Brigadeis also living & writing about the expat life!
- Anna at Jenkki in Helsinki not only writes about life as an expat here in Helsinki, but her battle with breast cancer.
- Kellie at My So-Called Green Life is full of fun green tips.
- Christian at The 365 Kitchen is a friend and fellow foodie. Read his new blog to get an awesome recipe every single day!
Thanks again, Sara, and happy blogging everyone!
Nov
01
Distopian Dream Girl
October was a quiet month at Terminal Verbosity. Not only was I busy indulging my francophile tendencies with an amazing trip to Provence, but I was also busy planning my second novel and first National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short) effort. Yes, that means that November will be kind of quiet around here as I have publicly promised to pen 50,000 words in the next 30 days.
If you want to follow my adventures, or are participating in NaNoWriMo yourself and want to be a buddy, look for TerminalVerbosity, or look me up by title: Distopian Dream Girl. Just to tantalize you a bit further, I’ll give you the first line of the novel as it stands on Day 1:
“Kiitos, kiitos, kiitos,” she mumbled under her breath. At least they had a word for thank you in Finland.
Oct
05
Windsor with Children
It wasn’t until I went to link back to my Windsor post that I realized I had not, in fact, ever written it. So here it is, over a month after our return…Ed.
The stunning Round Tower, take from the Moat Garden, Windsor Castle
Traveling with elementary-aged children typically involves some negotiation and compromise between what the parents want to do and what will keep the children entertained enough to prevent complete melt-down. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the best possible solution to this dilemma–Windsor, England.
The very walkable size of the town, the number of outdoor attractions, and the presence of Lego-Land make this small town just outside of London a great location to visit with children. Having spoken to many parents who shudder at the thought of losing a child in the crowds of London, I think Windsor offers a nice balance of kid-friendly activities and amazing historical sites bound to please family-members of all ages.
Oct
04
Gabriel Patrick, my September Angel
At long last, Gabriel is the proud owner of a pocket knife! To date, he still has all 10 digits.
Another September has come and gone. I can already feel the days getting shorter and the light is definitely beginning to wane. Always a month of transition, September has been particularly difficult for me the past five years because the fourteenth of the month marks the untimely death of my father.
Although that day was particularly hard (something about hitting the five-year anniversary made this year worse than the last few for me), September also marks another major milestone in my life: the anniversary of the day I became a mother–Gabriel’s birthday. So after trying unsuccessfully to put a coherent post together on my feelings about the loss of my father for nearly three weeks, I’m going to bag the sad middle of the month and move straight on to the happy ending 
I’ve already weighed in on G’s super-star birthday party, but since the craziness of the party last week, I’ve had more time to reflect on the little man himself and on the journey we’ve undertaken together.
Sep
25
A Photo Journal of Andalucía
It’s almost time for fall break and choosing this year’s destination was tough. I’m still acting like a kid in a candy store when it comes to planning holidays even though we’ve been in Finland–and therefore tantalizingly close to some of my all-time favorite places–for close to a year now. I mean, I can fly to Norway for cheaper than I used to be able to fly to Phoenix. Need I say more?
At any rate, after lots of thought and discussion, we chose to return to Provence. But I was really, really tempted to revisit Andalucía. So when I heard that a friend was heading to Spain next week with a rather open itinerary, I had to put together my visual case for visiting Andalucía. It’s been nearly ten years since we were there, but it still stands out in our minds. The food, the amazing melding of European and Muslim architecture, the beauty of the hilly terrain dotted with olive trees…Highly recommended. So here goes…
Sep
24
Never say never
Photo from the State Library of New South Wales collection (http://www.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryofnsw/)
When Gabriel was about 18 months old, I got together with a group of my friends from college. Several of us had children within a few months of each other, so there was a lot of talk that weekend about how life had changed and what we had to look forward to as our children grew. One friend who had older brothers told us about a recent birthday party she’d attended that involved pony rides, a cowboy, and goodie bags that cost roughly $20 a pop. We all howled about how ridiculous that was and about how we’d never, ever, ever do that.
The kids’ first few birthday parties held true to my proclamation. But that’s easy in Boulder County, where dressing up often meant pulling on the new Icebreaker or Mountain Hardware hoody and putting on the dressy jeans that weren’t frayed at the bottom from wearing them with flip-flops. Birthday parties there usually involved playing out in the back yard and oodles of home-made whole-wheat cupcakes, with a few gluten/dairy/soy/corn/nut free ones for the children with food sensitivities. Favors I offered in the past included little pots filled with dirt and basil seeds, home-made play dough, and little bouquets of natural dye-free lollipops.
Sep
08
Naerofjorden & Aurlandsfjorden
The mountains outside Gudvangen
As a long trip comes to a close, you always hope there will be something spectacular left so that you can head home on a high note. I wish I could take full credit for the stunning end of our journey in Norway, but I have to admit that it was luck that we did the tour counter-clockwise, leaving the beautiful Naerofjorden & Aurlandsfjorden area for last before returning to Oslo.
Once again, it took a train, a bus, and a boat for us to make it to Flam and the delightful Freitham Hotel, but the views from each were nothing short of amazing. Plunging waterfalls, steep cliffs, and green so lush that it almost glows leave you rubber-necking the entire trip. Between Matt & I, we took nearly 1500 photos in just under 2 weeks and many of them came in the last two days.
The boat between Gudvangen and Flam in particular was gorgeous, although getting a good seat involved some quick and aggressive maneuvering. Gudvangen is at the end of Naerofjorden, the narrowest fjord in Norway, and Flam, our destination, is at the end of Aurlandsfjorden. Although the two fjords meet inland, you still get to see two different types of fjord landscape during the several hours of the cruise.
Still, we wanted to see the fjords even more close-up, so we took the Fjord Safari that leaves from Flam and retraces the route of the much larger ferry boat. With only ten passengers and a boat that put us right at water level, it was a fun and fast-paced way to take a second look at the scenery. As if we’d called ahead, the sun returned for this portion of the day, making the views even more beautiful.
Waiting for us back in Flam was an expensive but decadent dinner from the Freitham Hotel’s famous buffet. Full of locally cured meats, hand-made cheeses, and lots of traditionally-prepared fish, this buffet was worth the price in terms of exposing us to the best foods of the region. The next day, we were restored enough to venture of a fairly lengthy hike to a waterfall overlooking town before boarding the Flamsbana railway that would climb steeply up toward Myrdal, where we caught the bus back to Oslo and caught our flight back to Helsinki.
This trip was without a doubt on my top five list, even though many of the others on that list were completed in what seems like total luxury (i.e. without children!). It not only showed us an amazing cross-section of exquisite Norway, but gave us hope that the children (now aged 5 and almost 7) are very nearly old enough to keep up with our globe-trotting ways.
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- The view from our fjord safari boat
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- On our hike up to the waterfall about Flam
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- A classic view of the fjords – Aurlandsfjorden
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- The Flambana railway out of Flam passes beautifully desolate landscapes
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- Views on the bus to Gudvangen
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- The narrowest point of the Naerofjorden
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