Creating a picture story with Lego

As I have written about earlier on this blog. Having fun and being creative is only about your inner boundaries. Who said adults cannot play with action figures on holiday? DaVinci? Don't think so. And he was a cool dude.
Well, now the family here at Sagene has gone even further in their playful behaviour. It's Lego time!


Maybe you weren't aware that adults playing with Lego has become a major source of income for the danish toy giant. They are not buying for their kids, no I'm talking about complex but fun advanced Lego building. I am not one of those. I'm nothing but a humble amateur trying to see if I can use Lego as a storytelling tool. (Actually, I'm concidering implementing some of this in my many business presentations and lectures.)
But let's look at this just for the fun of it for the time being. Lego worth half a Chanel bag takes you far. A good digital camera even further (this family use a Canon EOS 400D with Tamron 17-50XR Di II, so that's not for the kids). And to top it of you can use a program like Comic Life from Magiq. This program makes it easy to create comics. In a few minutes you can create something like what you see below. (Click on image to enlarge.)


So what are you waiting for? Go play with your kids and create stories. Remember, they are just an excuse, so if you don't have any small ones available at hand, just say "I play with Lego and I'm proud of it".
It doesn't mind if your beloved ones have high acceptance factor for "different" behaviour either...

Elfes through the history - A very rough guide

Christmas is getting nearer. And for absurd but proffesional reasons I've had the pleasure of getting close up and personal with elves.
Elves is off course closely linked to the name of this blog, Volvur. "I didn't know that" you might say in pure and honest surprise, and few will claim that your lack of knowledge is something to be mournful about for more than a brief moment. Just a bit shorter than the time Thor will use to raise his hammer. But before Thor gets too confused of the analogy let's get back to business. Elfes.
Thing is, there is a US retail chain, Office Max, that for the last 3 years have done a so called viral marketing campaign with tremendous success called Elf Yourself. And since marketing is my profession it was easy to find arguments to delve into this phenomenon that has made more noise in America than Thors famous hammer.
The result will be revealed later in this comment. Again let me try getting back to the elves.
Here goes, a rough guide to the history of elves. For many young and poorly educated soul in the northern hemisphere, elves comes from Midgard/Middle Earth (Tolkien, Lord of the Rings or Hringadrottins Saga in Icelandic or Ringenes Herre in Norwegian). This is off course incorrect. Tolkien, was in many aspects inspired by norse mythology. As with the name of this blog. Volvur also stems from norse mythololgy and is the name of the seers (volves in english?), the women who spin threads from the world tree Yggdrasil and tells us about the past, present and future. Hmm, people spinning threads from the world tree like a web of knowledge you might ponder, kind of like a ancient world wide web? Indeed so.
Yggdrasil has it's roots in three of the norse worlds nine homes. Alfheim, or the home of elfes is not one of them. But it is the first historic reference of elfes. Not the Middle earth of Tolkien or the green silly anglosaxon modern christmas version.
But my ramblings stems from the modern version. So with this thin thread of historic elf trip, here is my anglosaxon happy christmas video to all friends and family.



With hopes of this being a merry inspiration to keep smiling through all the hectic pre-christmas activities that steals all the positive thunder from eating birds, pigs, figs and other findings in mother nature. A slightly early, happy christmas from the family at Sagene, Oslo, Norway, temporary home of silly elfes.
And by the way. I have no idea of how the americans clearly succeded in ruining yet another wonderful myth by making them into silly xmas ornaments.

PS For those who understands the norse inspired language norwegian. More marketing info on the campaign Elf Yourself can be found on my marketingblog.

Never save for tomorrow...

In these economic worrying times the headline might sound a bit absurd, but there is a lesson to be learned behind it.
Never save for tomorrow what you might gain pleasure from today, because the pleasure might be gone tomorrow. Earlier in the autumn my wife and I found this superb chocolate pasteria in Lecce, Italy. In the window display you could see the dessert creations being made in the kitchen via live TV transfer. It was pure joy, and impossible to resist a purchace of their produce.
So we brought home some goodies. And as often happens when we buy these extra treats we saved them for that special occation.

It never came. In time at least. Here is one of the cookies we bought.


Mould has never been the highlight of our daily intake. This has happened to us more often than I like to remember. Truffles from Umbria, dried ham from Barcelona and the list goes on. I know we're not the only ones who happen to experience this.
An interesting research study I picked up some years ago. In economic downturn we happen to buy the finest goods on Sundays in Mini marts and similar stores. Theres few places a beef cost as much as in those venues, but it is a comfort buy when we're filled with daily worries. Daily escape through absurd purchase. Irrational, yes. Human, yes. Smart economics. No.
It's irrational but human to save. In older times we were forced to dry the meat to even have meat in the coldest months of the year. Today it is a pricey high street product. One that we still save for those special treats. So unfortunate that those are rare and we have forgotten to preserve.

A good advice. Celebrate today, even the smallest thing. And make sure to look in the cabinets for those really precious goodies. They don't last forever, with or without you.

A different holiday story from Italy and Croatia

In many ways I behave like a big child. And I really like that. A childlike behaviour keeps you young at heart and helps keeping the creativity flowing through the brain.
As a result I went perhaps a little overboard on my wife and I on holiday this September. We went from Naples (Napoli), to Amalfi, to Lecce, to Bari, to Hvar and ended in Dubrovnik. A great trip.
And I made this very different picture story from parts of the trip. Do yourself a favour and click on the Full Screen icon (the one that looks like a screen in the bottom right corner) so you can read the text more easily. Enjoy!

Adventures Of The Cavalieris

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

More typical info from the trip might be posted on the blog later. In the meantime some lovely pics have been published on Flickr from the various cities.

Sandspollen, Scandinavias best natural harbour

Some people argue that the islands outside of Stockholm are better to cruise than the ones in Oslofjorden. In many ways I think they are correct. But the one thing they can´t beat is some of the gorgeous natural harbours of The Oslofjord. The most beautiful in my opinion is Sandspollen.
On our virgin sleepover trip with our new boat Solrun II, a Weekendcruiser from NorDan (7800 version) we chose to spend the night in Sandspollen.


So far so not so interesting you might think. Hang on, the fun starts now. This weekend was rather hot and humid and the weatherforecast predicted very little rain. But just when we arrived the clouds rejoiced and opened their floodgates. In a massive way. At this point I would like to mention that we were not dressed for heavy rain.


But full of optimism we found a lovely spot, anchored and I used a couple of trees to connect us to land. At that time it sounded like a easy and good idea. Also, the trees would give me some protection from the rain since I had to use the grill since all our food was based on having a barbeque.



In between the first rainshowers I was actually able to dish up some really good food, but then the wrath from above really kicked in. It started with daaark clouds and rolling thunder. Then it looked like Flash Gordon had been to kind to a lot of babysitters based on the numerous flashes over the sky. Please do remember how I connected the boat to land. Via ropes to the nearby trees. ..
And what are the 2 things to avoid in a situation like this?
1. Do not be at sea in small boats
2. Do not sit under trees.

We did both. Off course we listened to the news on the radio with its long antenna (I mean if the first two wouldnt do us harm then a radioantenna clearly couldnt do any lightning damage). The weatherman announced that this was not a good time to be in a boat (You don´t say???) and also talked about the surprising but very fascinating weatherphenomenon that occured right in front of us. You see this was a tropical rainshower. Outside of Oslo, Norway. Tropical!? And some people still say that Al Gore is a liar. Visit Oslo is my reply.
After the fun passed, tropical showers of this kind is brutal but short, the sun actually came back for a short while and gave us some nice photops when we explored the natural surroundings. Nice isn´t it?



So even though the trip didn´t turn out as planned we got some really nice pictures and a good story to tell friends. And the boat? Slept like a baby. Next morning we discovered that the battery didn´t serve enough power to ignite the Wallas cooking stove. Thankfully I had brought a gasheater as well. So we got our morning coffee. Did I mention that in weekends there is a boat delivering fresh bread in Sandspollen. How many places do you know of with floating bakeries?

More boat stories will be published over the summer.

A beautiful outdoor wedding in Iceland

Perhaps outdoor and wedding sounds like a strange combination with Iceland. Include a forest and it might sound like I´m doing advanced storytelling. But it is true and quite possible, and definately beautiful.
My brother in law, Loftur and his now wife, Edda, invited my wife and myself to be part of their wedding. Of course the medal had a flipside, it was named Labour, but to be honest, working a couple of days in a lovely forest to prepare for a wedding under the midnight sun is quite allright by my standards.
Here is how you do it:
Invite some close friends and family to arrive a few days before the actual wedding.
Use all your contacts to get hold of all you need like, aaahh say, a tent, flooring, chairs, heatlamps etc.
Make sure your phone is fully charged in case of urgent help needed.
Invite some more people if it seems that deadline is coming a bit too fast.

Our family has experience in this area. This was the third consecutive successful outdoor wedding we´ve held on the east coast of Iceland. The first two was in a greenhouse so this was different but the work crew was up for tha task.

None of us being experts on putting together a tent to hold several hundred people meant that the first night of montage included a lot of plundering and confused looks. After a couple of phonecalls it all came together quite nicely.




Here are parts of the crew having a short break.


And then we started on the decorations. May I point out that this is from the night before the wedding and at times I believe that more than 20 friends and family were taking part. isn´t that just great? At least I think it is lovely.




Allright, just to show that I have a slightly artistic side. Here is one of my artpictures.



And then they got married under the tree´s. Call me a easily touched but I think that is seriously romantic. Just dont quote me on that...



Out of respect for privacy I´m not publishing photos from the actual party were faces can be seen. If you were attending the wedding and want to see more pictures, send me an email to get access to more pictures.

For everybody else. Pleas make sure you either have a outstanding weddingplanner and a huge amount of cash, or very good friends and family (read a healthy workforce) before you step into this kind of event. In the end it is totally worth it, if ever you should be in doubt. The memories, the memories...

Goodbye to our Daycruiser Solrun

For 6 wonderful years our daycruiser Solrun, a Draco 21 SC, has given us and our friends enjoyment in the summertime. We have explored most parts of the Oslofjorden, but have been repeat visitors to Middagsbukta and Sandspollen. The Oslofjord has several small islands that are perfect for anchoring up and having a picnic.
Many foreigners are not aware of how hot it can get here in the summer, even the water heats up rather nicely. 23 degrees are not unusual. My personal limit for jumping aboard is 20. Most of my friends call me a chicken for that...
If you are concidering purchasing a used daycruiser you cannot go wrong with a Draco 21 feet. Unfortunate I was taken by the 3 feet illness (as we call it in Norway). Actually I was hit rather bad so the illness became a dramatic 6 foot illness. The result is Solrun II. More about her later. Below is a image of Solrun, click it to see more pictures of how great it is to have a daycruiser in the Oslofjord.

From Draco

Chocolate Mascarpone Creme dessert. Yummie!

This might not be a receipe I have invented, but I can honestly say that I have never seen it in a cookbook. This is a delicious dessert (heavy so dont make large portions) that is highly reccomend to try to make yourself. Success is partly in using quality coffee and chocolate. If you don't mind alcohol in dessert please do use Cointreau in it to give it that extra height.
As long as you make sure that ingridients are tempered when preparing and don't serve it fridge cold, but just slightly chilled it will make your guests go mmmmm.
If you make it and come up with adjustments that you believe make it better, please leave a comment on my blog so others can follow your idea. Last note, it might be a success adding 50 grams of extra chocolate. This is adult dessert, kids will find it slightly too bitter.
If you click on the image it will enlarge for easier printing.

Best beach in Cicily - San Vito Lo Capo

There are many great beaches in Cicily, but personally I cannot think of anyone that matches the one in San Vito Lo Capo (Cape San Vito). It´s sandy, it´s long (kilometers) and the whole town is more or less in walking distance to the beach. SVLP is located in the northwestern part of the island, between Trapani and Castellamare del Golfo (appr 30 minutes drive to each).
Beware that the town is packed in the holiday season (July & August) and rooms can be difficult to find. In other words book in advance or expect to sleep in a tent.
Nuff talk, here are the pics to prove the statement.

This is an italian style beach, all included, apart from the cost of renting a sunchair, getting a piece of fresh cold coconut and well everything that can be given a price. But hearing the mamas shouting at the kids are for free.

The strange thing about the cost on the wonderful beach of San Vito Lo Capo is how regulated it is. It almost feels organised for some strange reason. Hmm, why one wonders.
Speaking of which (renting and costs that is), here is a image of our captain on a lovely boat trip to Scopello. Leonardo was steady as a mountaing and had salt running through his veins from all the years on the sea catching tuna. Now he had become tired of the blood and gladly toured the tourists for a magnificent sightseeing tour.

The best part with Leonardo was that he used his old fishing boat with a limited capacity. A good advice is to avoid the bigger sightseeing boats as they don´t give you the same personal feeling and the possibilty to take a dip whenever you feel like it. Like my wife did on the exact same spot as Catherine Zeta Jones did when they recorded Oceans Twelve in the same area.

If you feel the urge to book a stay in this picture perfect town you might want to check out my hotel review over at Tripadvisor to get the hard facts on hotels as well.

Christmas in Iceland - The Skata experience

There are experiences in life that can only be enjoyed in it´s original habitat. A good example is the Skata tradition in Iceland on the 23rd of December. My wife is of icelandic origin so I´ve had the pleasure of spending christmas several times in a wooden house far out in the countryside on the eastern side of the island. To be exact Stóra Sandfell close to Egilstaðir.
My father in law is a steady and persistent man who had a rather strong belief that for me to become a proper member of the family, I had to join in for the feast named Þorláksmessa (Mass of St.Thorlak patron saint of Iceland) were the fish skata is served according to ancient tradition. Perhaps not ancient according to the greeks but definately not 20th century either. So despite my recollections of the odor from his clothes returning home from Þorláksmessa previous years, the whole family joined this mass to make sure that we finally became one big happy smelling christmas family.
You might wonder how this glorious food looks like, so instead of bothering you with detailed descriptions, here´s a picture of a healthy skata plate.

Here is a exact description of what you see in the picture according to Iceland Review: It is so putrefied that when you take the first bite it will numb your nose and throat – so strong is the smell. The habitual way of cooking it is to boil it for about ten minutes. Then the fish is taken from the bones, some lamb fat mör is added, and then this sort of stew is served with boiled potatoes and brown rye bread.
Sound delicious doesn´t it? Remember that despite the rather strong smell the fish itself doesn´t taste as much. And how strange it may sound the preservation method is rather good for the stomach (base not acids), so it might be a good way to handle all the fat that could be served in the coming days of x-mas. I am Norwegian so putrefied food is not uncommon, so remember that I might be slightly biased here, but I really believe that it was OK. Not great, but not as expected from the smell of my father in law when he he came home from previous years Þorláksmessa.
Is it worth a trip to Iceland? No way! Is it worth eating to become a proper familymember? Indeed it is! But should you ever be in Iceland around christmas time you have to try it. Not because you wil fall in love with skata, but because travelling should evolve around experiencing local life and traditions. And it doesn´t get more Iceandic than skata. Just look at the picture of my father in law and you´ll understand. Thank you Jón for making me part of the family. See you next christmas for Þorláksmessa.

And here is the final proof of me enjoying skata. Hmm, delicious.