PS 1 (Olafur Eliasson)

on May 18th we headed out to Queens to PS 1 to see the icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson's show

it was an almost perfect afternoon to spend wandering around this giant old building (it was raining outside), and a big memory for the girls I think.

this was almost impossible for me to photograph in any way that communicates how strange and beautiful it was. You entered a pitch black space in which he'd run water lines with nozzles that were shooting a very fine mist. A high intensity, but tightly focused spotlight was aimed into the wall of mist, creating a shimmering rainbow wall that floated and churned in the middle of the blackness. It was hypnotic and we could have watched it for an hour. The girls were pretty amazed and walked around in the rainbow.

the Mattress Room (this was not an Eliasson installation actually)

This was a huge space with, as you can see, a mirrored disk suspended from the ceiling at an angle. It was motorized and spun fairly quickly. The idea was simple, but the effect was immediately profoundly disorienting and, again, hypnotic. We laid on the ground for about 10 or 15 minutes

17. mai fest (a few more)

August, Hennie, & me





Torild & Frank (and his newborn)

Jean & his son Lucas

17. mai fest

we decided to throw a cookout for the 17th of May / Norwegian Constitution Day:

calm before the storm / showing off their Bunads

we had sack races and a potato relay in a momentary attempt to organize the kids.

deirdre and una

we had 40 people (of various heights) over in a swirling mass that ranged from the backyard, up the stairs to the deck and into the house and back down thru the basement and out again. luckily the day was beautiful after having rained all day and night previously (and poured rain again on the day afterwards). it was really a lot of fun and it seemed everyone else enjoyed themselves as well. there was a huge quantity and variety of quality beer and wine and akavit, and a hundred pigs worth of hotdogs (or maybe thousands of pigs worth; because who really knows?). Theres a semi-famous old Italian butcher next to my office and I'd picked up quite a lot of homemade italian sweet sausage and some delicious and beautiful (green) sage and pork sausage, and a large soppressetta also made on-site. and I had a large hot cajun sausage left in the freezer from louisiana. I also got 8 really large duck legs for my brand new smoker and marinated them for 24 hours in a mixture of oranges, ginger, cinnamon, miso, and belgian fruit beer. and smoked them over medium heat (and a bowl of a very similar marinade) for about 3 hours. luckily most people filled up on the hotdogs and there was enough of the duck to go around as everyone was starting to think about dessert. we also had potato salad, salad, ice cream, rødgrøt, a bløkake, and a kransekake, which, no surprise was huge hit with everyone whether they were familiar with it or not. (hege got it from the Norwegian Grocery in Bay Ridge). it was a wonderful afternoon and i think everyone enjoyed meeting each other and letting off some steam.

sabine, owen, & jenny (owen's mom)

and, there was no drama amongst the kids whatsoever - they were fairly wild, but no fighting and very few tears. here is Edana, Mette, and Helena.

einar, helena, and jared (helene's father)

most but not all of the kids. i'll try to name most, left to right, bottom to top:
Marco (climbing), Edana, Sabine, Charlotte - Helena, Mette, Milo - Remy (in face paint), Sophia - Zora, Etta, Hennie - Mia, and Lucas

August

Sabine, Edana, Mette, Mia



Clan Weiss (sans William and Bo)

chris & owen

mia & marco

helena & mette



Megan & Uncle David

winding down - una is always the last to leave these parties and its nice in that we all sort of sit down and finally relax for a while...

and hege assesses how far over my drink limit i went that day

new dresses

i stopped in a store on impulse last night and got a couple of dresses for the girls. its a dumpy place that i pass regularly that sells heavily discounted clothes in a flea-market like atmosphere. so its good for a whim on knock-off dresses for rapidly growing little girls. we took some photos this morning

hennie is regularly asking to borrow hege's sunglasses lately

mothers day (05.11.08)

julie & jed invited us and jack & rebecca to come over for a potluck dinner again this year for mothers' day. this is becoming a minor tradition it seems, and its always been a really good time.

the lush backyard - unfortunately it was just slightly too windy and cool to sit outside and eat

mette, hennie, veronica, natalie, sabine, & sophia