Six Hours of True Daylight...

No, seven.

The sun is "up" at eight and it's dusk by three. The true bright sunlight is from about ten to two these days. I did my daily walk at 3:30 today and caught another of Oslo's brilliant sunsets through the trees skirting the Vigeland Park.

These are the koselig days...I just stocked up on candles at IKEA, and so far, so good on the seasonal affective disorder. At this point, only a month or so into winter, the dark feels sort of festive and romantic and nice, and I value the light so much when it's here. I wonder how I'll be doing in January? February?

We went to England for a few days. My parents were there and I went and spent two days with them at my aunt and uncle's place in Reading. Ben met me there in time for an Indian feast and then the two of us went into London for three days. Nice times in London; despite some rainy weather and a little travel-weariness on my part we saw some great art and some great friends. The Rothko at the Tate Modern was fabulous, but then, I have seldom met a Rothko I didn't like.



We also saw the Turner Prize finalists at the Tate Britain, which to my mind was not worth the seven-pound entrance fee, as well as a Gerhard Richter exhibit at the Serpentine Gallery that was good but made much better by the quality of the Serpentine Gallery's bookstore, where Ben and I spent an hour and would have spent more had our old friend Sarah not called to arrange immediate lunch plans. Sarah is our friend from Peru, a woman we lived with for a month in Cusco in 2004 and whom we'd not seen since January 2, 2005, when, still hungover from New Year's Eve, Ben and I left her in the pouring rain to catch a bus to Bolivia. She hasn't changed--it was lovely to see her.

Then an amazing vegetarian Indian meal with my relatives Sue and Derek. I think I would have enjoyed the meal even more if I hadn't had Nepalese for lunch and Indian the two previous nights. Oops.

Then back to winter in Oslo. Agnes clearly thinks it's time to ski:



But Inga just wants to lie around doing eye-rubs.




And this, friends, is truly the man of the hour: guess who passed the California Bar on the first try? The one, the only...

Marcus Benjamin Eichenberg. Hurra! Gratulerer, Ben!




Vi sees,

Susie