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I am a firm believer in the proverb "A stitch in time saves nine." , that is: "A timely effort will prevent more work later." I did, however, not know anything about the origins of this proverb and went searching for answers on the Internet.

I found a good article at The Phrase Finder that had a nice story and some historical background for this proverb. Even though I knew the meaning of this proverb, I  - like many others - found myself asking: "saves nine what?" Well here's the answer given at The Phrase Finder:

"The 'stitch in time' is simply the sewing up of a small hole or tear in a piece of material, so saving the need for more stitching at a later date when the hole has become larger. Clearly, the first users of this expression were referring to saving nine stitches."

As is usual with many proverbs, it is meant as an incentive to the lazy. If you are interested in more background information for this proverb, you can read the entire article at The Phrase Finder. If I am completely honest, I have to admit that I although I am a firm believer in this proverb  I have in recent years become a bigger procrastinator.  Or perhaps I am just getting better at prioritizing? Or perhaps I'm just making excuses?

I must admit I thought the rhyme "April showers bring May flowers." was used in elementary school to help us learn the months of the year. I was unsure, however, and decided - as usual - to do a little research. I found the following written by Ken Bolt at Feelings and Flowers.

“April showers bring May flowers.” We’ve all heard this rhyme at some point, usually having been taught it at an early age by our parents or teachers. It’s a popular thing to say and hear around the springtime, but one thing you might not know is where the rhyme originated from. It can be traced back to the mid 1500s, although earlier use of “April showers bring May flowers” may have existed.

In 1557 a gentleman by the name of Thomas Tusser compiled a collection of writings he called A Hundred Good Points of Husbandry. In the April Husbandry section he wrote:

Sweet April showers
Do spring May flowers

As you can see, the rhyme was originally a short poem. There is meaning behind the words, as well. “April showers bring May flowers” is a reminder that even the most unpleasant of things, in this case the heavy rains of April, can bring about very enjoyable things indeed – in this case, an abundance of flowers in May. “April showers bring May flowers” is a lesson in patience, and one that remains valid to this day.

Many of life’s greatest things come only to those who wait, and by patiently and happily enduring the clouds and damp of April you can find yourself more easily able to take in the sights and smells of May. After all, it’s easier to love something if you begin with an optimistic outlook! Here’s some more in-depth information about the meaning of “April showers bring May flowers.”

I doubt our elementary teachers went into all this detail. They probably just wrote it on the blackboard and told us to write it down 10 times. I think 10 was some kind of magic number, like a guarantee that if we wrote something down 10 times we would remember it for life. Maybe they were right?

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The beautiful colors of autumn are almost gone here in Norway. Before the snow of Winter arrives, we are doing our best to enjoy the last remnants of autumn.

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“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."
― Albert Camus

What a lovely quote. In October I usually start worrying about the upcoming winter months and end up baracading myself inside. I should instead be inspired by the following words of wisdom and get myself out of the house and enjoy these next few weeks of autumn.

"I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house."
― Nathaniel Hawthorne, The American Notebooks [Notebook, Oct. 10, 1842]

The image is a derived work based on the PSD Vault tutorial "Create Leafy Face Photo Manipulation in Photoshop".

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I am trying to get motivated for going back to work tomorrow after a week off. I have really enjoyed playing around with PSP for the first time in a long time. Hopefully I will find a better "balance" between work and pleasure. :)

I made this from two stock photos from freedigitalphotos.net HERE and HERE, as well as brushes and textures.

NOTE: The quote in the image is attributed to both Robert Brault and Kurt Vonnegut. That's the reason I have not included a name in the image.

This is a quote that has inspired many of us. It reminds me of another famous quote:

For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: 'It might have been.' Poet John Greenleaf Whittier

Both quotes are a reminder of being aware of living fully in each moment. Of course we want to remember and cherish those big events, such as graduations, weddings, new jobs and the births of our children and grandchildren. But what about those little things – those simple pleasures of each day that add to the richness of life? As I get older I realize more and more that it is truly the little things that give meaning to life.

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As you can see, the list of resolutions in the image for this post has not been completed. I have, however, started thinking about my goals for the new year. So far, I have the following (not in order of importance):

• Drink more water (perhaps I should have written; "Drink some water everyday." since I hardly ever drink water.)
• Exercise a little every day (and try not to be a perfectionist; so that I end up doing nothing).
• Write my mom every week - even when nothing special has happened. :)
• Try out at least one new recipe every month.
• Take more photos.
• Support my children (not just financially, he...he...), but try not to pester Bjørn-Eirik so much about his school work. (He is now 18 and will soon be going off to college and needs to start learning how to take care of himself and prioritize school work.)

NOTE: Image above is based on this tutorial at Planet Photoshop and this tutorial at myJanee.com for the bulletin board.

While browsing on the Internet I found the above quote that really made me stop and realize how true these words are. Here is another inspiring quote that I like:

"Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings."
― William Arthur Ward

The past week I have been working on making a template for a Facebook cover/profile timeline. It turned out to be more difficult than I expected especially since I found out midway that Facebook had changed the setup in June 2014 so I had to start over from scratch. If you are interested you can download my Photoshop template (.psd file) HERE. You can use this template when using a combined profile/cover look (where the profile image and cover image are integrated with each other) or a separate profile photo. To be honest, I got interested in this because I don't like to use a real photo of myself as my profile photo. I do, however, try to use a profile photo that gives meaning or that the viewer can figure out what they are looking at. :)

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Click on image for larger image. Image based on the tutorial "Glossy Snow Globe Text Effect" at textuts.com, a site with lots of great Photoshop tutorials.

Despite the fact that I was born in the Deep South, I much prefer snow to cold, yucky rain. So,  I say: Let it snow!  Provided of course that the "men of the house" do all of the snow shoveling. 

Of course as we move into the month of December and Christmas season, many of us take time to listen to Christmas songs.  I am sure that I am  not the only one that loves the song "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", a song written by lyricist Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne in July 1945. It was written in Hollywood, California during a heat wave as Cahn and Styne imagined cooler conditions. Although it is commonly regarded as a Christmas song, the song makes no reference to the holiday in its lyrics. In cause you want to reminisce or sing along, HERE is a link to  the official original remastered from Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas . See Wikepedia for a very long list of recordings by other artists. 

 

Today I ran across an article on Cnn.com where actress Golden Hawn talks about mindfulness. Hawn led a session at the 2014 World Economic Forum in Davos on the power of neuroscience and mindfulness to "change the world."

"It's extraordinary that this Davos this year seems to be centered a lot around the brain, a lot around stress reduction, mindfulness, all of these areas," she said.

"They're all coming out of the closet now, it's like they've all been meditating -- so many of them -- for 20 years and so forth. So it's beginning to happen -- mindful leadership."

Hawn explained how she believed a healthy mind could lead to healthy decision making.

"When the brain is silent, the executive function, which is this part of the brain that makes decisions can work much better. So when you get quiet you make better decisions, you're also more rested -- you're not as reactive," she said.

"So it's actually great for the economy, great for our leadership and our thought leaders."

 

After reading about Hawn and her panel session at Davos, I spent some time reading more about the concept of mindfulness. I found the interview/video The Importance Of The Mindfulness Tipping Point also from the 2014 Davos Annual Meeting. Otto Scharmer, chair of The Presencing Institute, has some interesting things to say about mindfulness and listening (click on link for video).

 Scharmer said listening is "at the root of everything." He said there are four types of listening, two of which many are already familiar with -- listening where "we attend to what we already know" and factual listening, where we learn something new.

But Scharmer said people today need to master two more types of listening -- empathic listening, where we are able to put ourselves in another's place, and what Scharmer calls generative listening, where we see another person in terms of past, present and future possibilities.

Shcarmer cited the late Nelson Mandela as someone who was a master of generative listening, which he said is perhaps the most important of each kind of listening.

I found lots of information about mindfulness, including benefits and techniques.  I am not yet totally convinced that mindfulness is a revoutionary technique that can solve the world's problems, but am still somewhat curious and hope to spend more time reading and perhaps trying out some of the suggested techniques.

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Not that I am depressed or anything, but I always get a little melancholy at the beginning of the new year. This year I had off 2 weeks and I mean no work (in contrast to previous years where I worked a lot at home even though I "had off"). So, it was a great vacation. But, great vacations have a tendency to make it more difficult to go back to work.

I must admit that it took me a couple of days to get my brain in gear, and several times during the first two weeks I felt like the person in the image over. But, as mentioned on the front page, I followed my two mottos:

"Take one day at a time."

"Focus on the positive things in life!"

Now, I am almost back on track. Busy, but back on track. Well, I need to get back to updating the rest of the web site.  I'll be back....

After a long period of dormancy, we have released our new website. It has taken a while to get the site in order, but hopefully we will now have more time to add new content on a regular basis. Those of you who know me are, however, aware of the fact that I enjoy putting together a new website more than I do adding new content. Perhaps things will be different this time.

The new year is off to a good start. Not!!! Lots of snow as you can see in the January 18th blog post. Oh well. What can I expect? We are in Norway. Right? 

Yes, our new website is finally up and running, just in time for the holiday season. But as usual, this will be an ongoing process.

I have learned that a web site is NEVER finished. I do, however, hope that it will be easier to maintain. I have tried to lower my expectations, but my plan is to update the site at least once a month.

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According to statistics from Wikipedia, the annual world average coffee consumption was 1.3 kg (45.86 ounces/5.73 cups) per person per year in 2008. The average annual consumption in Norway, the country with the second highest annual consumption, was 9.9 kg (349.21 ounces/43.65 cups) per person per year.

I was not at all surprised that Norway and other Scandinavian countries were high on the list. I was, however, surprised that the average consumption for the world and Norway was so low. There must be a lot of people out there having a lot of trouble thinking and coming up with great ideas. In this regards I can definitely say that I am doing my part, with an average daily consumption of at least 6 cups of coffee! Unfortunately, I can not promise that all of my ideas are "great ideas". 

I followed most of the steps in this TipsSquirrel tutorial to create the coffee foam design in the main image. The following are credits for stock images used:

• Coffee beans
• Coffee cup and saucer
• Coffee cream

Click on image for full-sized image. I just uploaded the above image as my Facebook cover/profile (24. January 2015). The "sparkle" text is based on this tutorial at textuts.com, a great site for Photoshop text tutorials. 

I often make images to try to inspire myself and hopefully others. Making the image above with the quote

"Don't ever let anyone dull your sparkle."

is my way of reminding myself that people don't always like you or what you stand for, but as long as you are striving to do a good job and/or become a better person you shouldn't let others dictate who you are. 

I am often told that I am a little too exuberant (Norwegians are much more reserved that Americans), but I prefer to see myself as being "enthusiastic".  If I can't get excited about what I am doing, then what's the use in doing it?

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Spring is truly a glorious time of the year. The birds are singing, flowers are blooming and the trees are budding. Everything feels new again and most importantly for all of us Southerners living in Norway, the snow is finally gone!

I fell in love with the photo of two cows enjoying each other's company (a stockfree image, but unfortunately I forgot to note the website). They look like good friends to me. 

The final image is based on a tutorial from PSP Cloud 9, who unfortunately no longer writes tutorials. As usual, I made a few changes in order to use the images I chose.