Winter

I’m off Facebook now–I even went so far as to delete the app from my phone–so I feel an even stronger compulsion to be sure and keep this blog up to date now that I’m not regularly sharing photos with faraway family on any other platform.

I haven’t deleted my Facebook account, because it feels sort of stupidly Luddite to sever what is in fact my only channel of connection to a lot of people I’d like to stay in touch with.  Nor have I ruled out the possibility of some day returning.  I find it sort of refreshing to be out of that virtual world.

Which isn’t to say I’m not still out there browsing the web.  How could I, when there are still gems like this to be found out there?

I think that’s my favorite sciencey one since the classic:

The bartender says, “We don’t allow your type in here.”  A neutrino walks into a bar.

And…

“To get to the other side.”
“Why did the neutrino cross the road?”

But none of this has anything to do with the subjects of this blog, so let me get back on track.

The last post covered a good chunk of January and was actually posted around the middle of February, so even though the last post was relatively recent, we are about 4-5 weeks behind.

The darkness has gradually been receding, but as I write this we’re in the middle of a horrible Arctic cold snap that’s freezing up our waterways and pasting Denmark with snow (just a few centimeters in our area, but big amounts in the southern half of the country).  March is coming in like a lion.

Maddie got very briefly possessed by the concept of stop-motion videos at one point, and we decided to make one together.  She had a special app designed for the purpose, and had been having a lot of fun making ridiculous (ie, age-appropriate) videos with her friends.  So one weekend afternoon we set out to make a stop-motion video with Legos.  Plot: the café is robbed by bad people.

Maddie set it up very well.

Unfortunately, we learned that Daddy doesn’t have the patience required to make a good stop-motion video, nor does he have the indifference to detail required to make stop-motion videos with 9-year-old production values.  So in the end we both got irritated after spending about 45 minutes having the robbers case the joint and sneak up on the cafe–about five or ten seconds of actual video.

One January Friday, Maddie’s class had a “casino night,” for which all the kids dressed up to the nines.

Maddie really looked fantastic and I’m sorry the lighting in the picture doesn’t do her justice.

No idea what’s going on in the picture below — looks like blackjack, but who knows?  It’s the only picture of Maddie from the event that I was able to steal off the class website.

Meanwhile, that same night, Trine was off on a very late girls-only julefrokost with some friends.  They took a party bus.

With Maddie and Trine both out, I had an evening alone with Molli, and finally persuaded her to watch one of my favorite movies.

(It’s a shame that Danes relying on subtitles would get the iconic line “Welcome to the party, pal!” delivered as a simple, “Welcome to the party!”)

True to form, Molli got tired about halfway in and asked if we could finish some other time — and then we never did.  (So shhhh… she still doesn’t know what Hans Gruber is really up to.)

There’s been a lot of handball, as usual. . .  Here’s Maddie (#11):

It was during this period that Maddie had her first session with the Eastern National group.  Out of about 150 girls invited from the eastern part of the country, about a hundred were invited to return to the second session, and Molli was among them, so she’ll be attending that in mid-March. 

Maddie continues to make great strides of her own, and I recently watched her score six goals in a match.  She seems to be investing more of herself into handball as she comes to the unhappy conclusion that she’s not as good at dance or gymnastics.  So the current plan is to give them up at the end of this season, and next fall she’ll stick to handball and take singing lessons.  Handball’s going to be a little harder next year, though, since virtually all the other starters on her team will be advancing to the 12-and-unders, meaning she’ll be the only starter remaining with the 10-and-unders.

And the next photo is just a note for the permanent record: this spring, all these bushes on the north side of the house are getting trimmed down to two meters.

Yet again we had the pleasure of some very late nights of football keeping up with the Pats during the playoffs.  The AFC Championship was a great game, and it let us wallow in two weeks of glorious anticipation.

Meanwhile, Maddie needed a photo for a commercial audition, and I got a couple of fun shots of her out of the effort.

I said earlier that the darkness has been receding.  But it sure took it’s time: this shot of Østerport is from about 7:15 in the morning.

Another enthusiasm Maddie got caught up in this winter was making her own slime.

I don’t know why I took the photo below, but it’s cute enough to keep.  (I think I had opened her door to find her taking photos of herself in her mirror, which is something that happens quite often.)

Also worth noting, even with a crappy photo: we had that crazy Super Blue Blood Moon during this period.

I told you it was a crappy photo.  I didn’t tell you it was one of two.

We had a stretch of bad luck in January: within a single week, Maddie lost her retainer and her bike was stolen straight from the rack at school… and Molli’s bike stopped working, and mine broke down completely (I got an estimate on repairs for my bike and it was high enough that I just scrapped the bike and will now either buy one of the cheapo biks they sell brand new at grocery stores, or a used one in much better shape than my old one was; meanwhile I get to enjoy winter all the more with my walks to and from Værløse Station every day).

About ten days after Maddie’s bike was stolen, I met Trine and Maddie at the library (in Bymidten) on my way home from work.  Afterwards we had to run up to Kvickly (the grocery store).  Then the girls wanted to shop for some clothes: I decided I’d rather just go home, so started walking.

Had I remained with the girls, I would not have stumbled across this:

That’s an actual photo taken in the moment.  It was Maddie’s stolen bike.  Unlocked.  Leaning against the fence next to the thrift store.  Perfectly intact.

Serendipity! 

An anecdote that will no doubt be lovingly recalled whenever the girls become impatient with me for wanting to leave them while they shop for clothes.  (“Great things happen when I abandon you guys in the midst of your shopping!”)

But as long as we’re dealing with stolen bikes: here, for the permanent record, are their bikes’ serial numbers (insurance would not have covered the loss of Maddie’s bike because we had been unable to find her serial number).  First Maddie’s:

And Molli’s:

A winter romp in Hareskov with Didi:

We were very excited about the Super Bowl, obviously.  It was a great game, very exciting.  I love the Patriots, but if your quarterback throws for 500 yards and three touchdowns and you lose, it’s time take a good hard look at your defense.

Hopefully they’ll do that during the offseason and make another effort in Super Bowl LIII.

Normally I have a lot of pictures of us watching the Super Bowl.  This year, the pictures end after a shot of Pink doing the anthem and one of the fly-by, which I thought was particularly strange given that the game was in a dome.

You can skip over the following photos: I just wanted them for the permanent record.  This was Trine’s electrical solution to our outdoor holiday lighting.  She connected so many wires and splitters and extensions in so many creative, weather-proof ways that I’m sure come next year we’ll never remember how we made it all work; hopefully this quick visual record will help.

Maddie’s enthusiasm for chess continues.

The first Sunday of winter vacation we cashed in the certificate for go-kart racing that Santa had given us.

Unlike last year, we had a lot of others on the track with us.  Also unlike last year, this was February and not May, and we were freezing out on the track.  By the final few laps I couldn’t even grip my steering wheel comfortably: my hands were getting numb!  The girls had the same experience.

Our results are here for the permanent record–despite the cold, we all shaved time off last year.

Up until March, by the way, this was about as much snow as we’d seen all winter:

Maddie spent one day of her vacation down with Mormor:

The Prince Consort Henrik died during this time.  While visiting mormor, Maddie wrote this card to Dronning Margrethe.  Mormor insists this was neither requested, encouraged, or in any other way prompted.

“Dear Margrete [sic], I hope you’re okay, but you were out looking at all the cards and flowers and remembrances for Henrik.  Here is mine.”

You don’t see a lot of coffins on condolence cards, do you?

Mormor and Maddie then went in to lay the card down among the flowers being left for the royals at Amelienborg.

You don’t see a lot of big smiles at memorial tributes, do you?

We went bowling one evening.

Trine set a family record by rolling seven consecutive balls without hitting a single pin.  That’s a stat for the permanent record.

One afternoon toward the end of February I finally made it out to the brewery in Hareskov that I’ve walked by one to five times a week for the past four years without ever having stepped into.  It’s a cozy little place.  It’s on the side of Hareskov where you have to leash your dog, which is why I’d never made it in there before, but I’m thinking there may be more detours in Didi’s future come spring.

Near the end of February I finally finished the first “real” first draft of my novel and promptly sent it off to my two rapid-response readers for quick feedback.  One of them sent me a message a few days later with a photo attachment… Here’s a picture from Allison at the Old Town Pub in Chicago getting ready to dive into it.