A special visit! Mount Melleray Abbey

Mount Melleray Abbey is situated in the county of Waterford in Ireland and was founded in the year 1833. My friend took me for a drive to this place yesterday and in the middle of February the air was mild and the fields still green. The Abbey is on the southern slopes of the Knocklemealdown mountains, around five miles from the borders of Tipperary! The landscape is mild and beautiful as we see the big, light grey cathedral.

It was a quite day and inside there were no other people than us. The monks of Mount Melleray are members of the Cistercian or Trappist Order, an Order of the Benedictine family, founded at Citeaux in France in 1098.

Constitution 7 says:"In the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance the way of life is consecration to God expressed in fraternal union, solitude and silence, in prayer, work and a disciplined life". My friend tells me that she visited this place often as a child. Now, I became curious! Why? They visited her grand uncle who was a monk at the abbey and further her father was a monk at the abbey, but decided to leave the Monk Order at 23 to start a family. So this is a special place for you, I replied! Yes, she said and told me a facinating story about her grand uncle and her father, once a Monk.

The confession boxes looked rather scary I think, and it was a strange thing to sit in one! A poster invited me to stay and live with the community and actually stay for life as a monk. I could stay for a while, but at this point, certainly not for life.

My friend tells me that at one point there where so many as 700 monks at the Abbey, and they were self sufficient with food, equipment and even had their own power station. They had huge land areas, animals and crafts. It's said that they put food in a certain box for the beggars and poor, and the box never got empty.

Its a special place for my friend, and all her stories made it a special day for me.

A multi creative artist - Ole Jørgen Ness

I first became aware of this artist when he was main artist at the Bergen festival "Festspillene" i 2006. I just love his paintings, sculptures and installations!

It´s difficult to categorise his art, but critics often describe him as a surrealist!

He is born in Bergen, Norway in 1961 and I think he represents me and the cultural zeitgeist i´ve developed in. The strange thing is that the artist represent 9 different artists, with different personalities and artistic styles. His works represents all of these alter egos and styles!

I think his art resembles street art and art forms of art that have been developed outside the mainstream art environment. His work can be figural and abstarct, expressive and impressive, natural and non-natural, real and surreal: Independent of tradition, time and space.

Ole Jørgen Ness works have been exhibited all over the world and are now actual at Stenersenmuseet in Oslo, Norway.

A photo ilike!

Sometimes I´m lucky! I like to take photographs! Snapshots of people, art, nature, urban life and street art. I am specially interested in street photography. I am no photographer, and do not have professional equipment. I have my Iphone and I have my panasonic dmc-tz10. The photo presented here is taken with a panasonic dmc-tz7. A camera I unfortunately lost

The picture is taken at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, end of may 2010. It was spring and weather was good. Central Park was packed with people. It was not a busy day at the museum and that was fine for me. I could peacfully walk in this huge building packed with wonderful art. As I walked into this section, I first saw a beautiful woman who looked as she was from a different time. She was alone in the room until I came in and she stood peacefully watched the pictures. The woman is unknown and I think she was unaware of me taking this picture.

Glastonbury 2011

 I love the glostonbury scenery with relaxing people, banners and wellies.

This years Glastofest had an incredible lineup. So many good acts that it was difficult to put together a sensible schedule. I unfortunally lost some concerts, but at the other hand the once I saw, was great!

 

Before the festival, it had rained heavily in the Somerset area, and the ground was soft. The festival site was quickly turned into a mudland.

Elbow had 20 years anniversary this year and was a new aquintance for me. They made a really good concert. Some use the mud and wellies in a creative fashion. 

 Its always something nice to see which makes you smile. Last year U2 cancelled their show because Bono had back problems. They made a incredible comeback. Biffy Clyro delivered an energic show as usual. A really great band.

The weather became better and better, and the mud became sticky. Pilton farm is a big area and it was quitehard to walk around from area to area. However, life is good with wellies and good music.

U2 finally made it to Glastonbury this year and they did a fantastic show. These concerts are quite special and Bono said in an inteview that he was quite nervous before going on stage.

 

The festival area is a wonderful sight!

 

Paul Simon did a wonderful gig in the sun and many scandinavians gathered to see Lykkeli from Sweeden in the Park. Sunday evening Beyonce did the grand finale in front of more than 175 000 people at the Pyramide stage.

There will be no Glastofest in 2012 because of the Olympics in London, but in 2013 I will be there for more......

Street Art

On my travels I usually visit a galleries or museums. I´ve seen amazing art, classical and modern! I enjoy this very much. During time I´ve become more and more aware of the "art" which exists in the cityscape while I´m on my way somewhere.  Street art is a broad term for illegal pictures or pieces on buildings and installations in the city. The "artists" often use pseudonyms or signatures to mark their piece. Its also usual to paint on public transport and underground tunnels/stations.

 John and Yoko in New York City

Artists use different technics from big wall paintings, colourful pieces of texts, stencils, simple signatures and much more. Most "artists" make their pieces with spray boxes. Some of these artists have over the years become known (Like Banksy or Dolk) and makes contemporary careers in museums and galleries all over the world.

 I photographed this stencil in town today! Kong Oscars gt. Bergen

A piece may disapear over time because of reconstruction of buildings, that it is removed by the authorities or just painted over by owners.  A good reason for taking a photograph.

 Fighter in Dublin.

Summer 2011: Friends! Travels - Music - Hiking

This summer started in may with the EGI residential in Cortijo Romero in the southern spain. Visits to Granada and Malaga where new experiences for me. I liked this part of spain, and will for sure go back.

Doing training abroad and live together is a great change and a chance to learn and become closer to each other. 

Cortijo Romero is a calm place. A sanctuary for peace and growth.

On our free time, we bring the cameras and dress like tourists. Alhambra (Granada) is a perfect place for snapshots.

However, the big trip this summer was 14 days in UK. Beginning with London, then the Glastonbury Festival. From Bristol we rented a car which took us around to Bath, Stonehenge, Avebury (cropcircles and Silbury Hill) via Moreton-in-Marsh up to Hexham and the Hadrian Wall. Driving through England was a great experience. I just love that country. So photogenic, soft and green. Tenting and occationally Bed & Breakfast. A short stop in Durham before coming to the shore of Northumberlands Bamurgh and Holy Island (Lindisfarne). Heading north to the small scottish town Dunbar before ending up in the beautiful and familiar Edinburgh wirh friends from the EGI.

 A reunion with the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury was a happy one :-)

Finally, U2 made it to Glastonbury!!

The magical place: Avebury. Surrounded by large stone circles!

The fantastic castle of Bamburgh surrounded by beautiful beaches.

The Gothic Edinburgh Castle!

Back in Norway work waited and some of my friends went up to Sandane. I joined them for a long weekend. The weather was warm and perfect for hiking in the mountains. I had a goal this time: Ryssdalshornet. A very steep walk to the top. It was a perfect weekend.

Feeling free in Sandane!

Ryssdalshornet from groundlevel (1204 m.o.h.)

Ryssdalshornet: View from the top!

In the end of July I visited my family in Telemark. It was warm and my parents place is perfect for relaxing. I met a very old friend of mine from childhood and my other friend came visiting with his children.

 "Magasuget" in Bø, Telemark is a scary ride!

The trip to Odda in the beginning of August was very significant for me in many ways. The nature around this old industrial small town in the fjord is magnificent.

The search for cloudberries in the forrest surrounding Odda!

In the middle of august Sandane was tempting and I went for another long weekend and another perfect time in Sandane with sand volley ball, hiking and party.

 Resting at Jardalsstøylen (Sandane)

 Towards the top of Svartekari (Sandane). We should have brought skiis for the trip down!

On the top of Svartekari (1225 m.o.h.)

A summer is not perfect without our fishing trips to Øygarden. I appriciate those relaxing trips a lot. Catching crabs and lots of fish. And of course concerts at Koengen in Bergen. This years big big name was Rihanna.

Waiting for Rihanna to come on! It was a lovely evening at Koengen!

I´m no fan of Rihanna, but she did put on a good show!

Since my dayghter left for Dublin in the middle of July, I missed her a lot. We spent a week in Gran Canaria late August before we reurned to Dublin. We said goodbye and I headed for Bergen.

 The tourist machine at Anfi del mar in Arguineguin provides a good climate, but are generally boring!

Back in Dublin! 

 Dublin Streets!

This summer ended for me at my friends birthday party 31 of august in Salhus. A very special and strange summer in many ways, I would say!

A relaxing and beautiful evening with friends in Salhus makes a perfect end for my summer 2011.

Shantaram

Just finished this massive book.  A long story. A wonderful novel. Full of pain and suffering. Full of love and philosophy. Its a thin line between love and hate. Its a thin line between crime and justice and its a thin line between life and death. The opposite forces are melting together and spins like photons in a trammel. Crashing and creating new energy and drives Lin (the main character) into new hazardous situations and happenings. Torture in prison, fights and participating in war (Afghanistan). He seems to jump like a hungry tiger into this. He should of course be dead long time ago, but like a cat with 9 lives he hangs on, recover and gets ready for new adventures. He belongs to the Bombay mafia, which makes a perfect field for his dangerous adventures. The drive is love, love in friendship, love of family and of course love to a woman. Because Lin loves a lot and people love him. He loves Bombay and find a way to live a life by doing wrong for the right reasons. Well, we will not go into a long discussion about ethics here, but ethics is important through out the book. Lin is a criminal and participate in criminal activities on smaller or greater scale. Except the time he he spends in Prabaker's  village where he gets his name: Shantaram (which means something like 'man of peace'), and the time he spends in jail.

It's an exciting novel, fiction written in a autobiographical style. What's real and whats fiction is of course difficult to know, but the author himself have been a criminal, have been in jail, and have escaped from prison in real life. As reader, I find the main character in the book difficult to love, but impossible not to like.