The Life Tree

Momo was long gone as was the snow and the tree. Everywhere was bare, full of dust with sheets over furniture that had been left behind. I pulled the sheets back. Yes, it was the same old furniture, Mofa's leather chair and foot stall where I saw Momo, just a moment ago. No trace of the tree. It was real, I mean it was actually there, right in front of my eyes. Now it looks like it has disolved, right under my nose.

I sneak a peak under the closest sheet. Under one of the sheets I saw the edge of a large gold  frame, I pull the sheets back expecting to see a mirror. It wasn't, it was a painting of the tree that I had just seen. It was beautiful. It was painted on raw silk and had gold thread outlines around the edges. The tree's trunk split into six and once again appeared like a wood, except when I caught a glimpse from the corner of my eye it looked more like a waterfall. In the painting it was easy to see the figures that float within the branches of life, situation and relationships. I wondered if one of them was Momo. It looked like the same church where mum and dad got married, could it be?

The Great Park and the Dragonfly

Ah, yes. That is the picture I painted. It's of my youngest brother, we were very close. I had six siblings, two brothers, four sisters. My youngest brother died very young. Some say it looks like my own son, Einar. It is strange because they're right. It was painted so many years before he was born and yet It looks just like him. The dragonfly is there because my brother enjoyed going fishing with his dad to the lakes that were deep in the forest. There were always dragonflies darting in and out of the bullrushes. One day he cried because it landed on his nose and he thought he was going to turn into a dragon.He used to sit there and fish and imagine what it would be like to be a dragonfly. To have such big eyes to be able to see all the way round, to see out from the back of your head. To hover, almost to float mid air and to land on water and never sink.Oh how it would be to be a dragonfly.I'm not sure my children heard this story because during the winter, after heavy snow settles the first thing they do is go to the great sculpture park. Luckily it was only a couple of blocks away at the end of our road. They would make tracks in the snow along the paths beside the statues of life, running down the many paths over and over and then carefully placing one foot directly infront of another. This took all day, afterwards they were so proud claiming they had made a perfect giant dragonfly. Of course back then I didn't understand, I didn't get it- now I do many decades later as an arial photograph of the park with it's paths look - just like a giant dragonfly. I still don't know how they could have known.

The Dragonfly Park.

A Dragonfly Causes a Cry.

I ran up to the window, past the tree and into the front room. The window was awkward and heavy, but eventually I managed to pull it shut. The wind and snow stopped and then I was left in perfect silence. The room was empty except for a large old desk , there is an inkwell that was placed perfectly on top of a silver waterfall. I roll my t-shirt up to polish it, It's a pyramid shape with smooth water running in the middle, over rough rocks that poke through at the edges .

 It shines and glistens bright. Inside I see a reflection of a greeny blue dragonfly. I look up and expect to see my friend from the plane, but it not. That's odd, still a dragonfly, except this one is red. The painting however is mostly green. It's of a boy crying as a dragonfly flies past. Is that the painting that Momo did? I'm sure I've heard about it before.

I'd ask her.

I walked back into the other room.

She wasn't there.

Kjære Gud jeg har det godt

Kjære Gud jeg har det godt Takk for alt som jeg har fått Du er god, Du holder av meg Kjære Gud gå aldri fra meg Pass på liten og på stor Gud bevare far og mor (Og alle barn på jord)

Dear God, I have it good Thank you for everything that I have You are good, you look after me Dear God, never leave me Look after all the young and old God look after father and mother (And all the children on earth)

Nobelsgate 13

The door was ajar. It was dark and cold. I walked through the hall into the drawing room. Had I walked inside to outside? Or summer to winter? Something didn't make sense. It was blowing an almighty blizzard and the snow settled in drifts up against the memory of what should have been a wall. In the middle of the room was the biggest tree I had ever seen was in the centre.

It was so big it looked like the trunks had split to become a wood. I looked high up, I couldn't see the celing, it was more of a night's sky. Black and white doves perched, tweeting and flying within the branches, it almost made me feel giddy. I squinted my eyes, were my eyes playing tricks again or could I see a house, a church a boy and a girl. It's vague, almost see-through. Did I hear a giggle, what was that noise? Crashing water, a waterfall perhaps? In the corner of my eye I can see Momo. I'd never seen her  before, she died way before I was born. I knew it was her from the pictures mum had shown me. She looked young and beautiful. She was sewing something in patchwork. She had a crown of daisies on her head. Momo smiled, but she couldn't see me. She was singing.

A Dragonfly and The Hatch

A dragonfly landed into the palm of my hand. It was beautiful, with wings that glistened a web of silver and a body of jewelled emerald and aquamarine, all the colours of a tropical sea. Ever so slowly I tried to pull my hand out and take a closer look. But then I scared it off. I'm not sure if it flew away from me or it came with me out of the screen, it was all too quick.

I saw something at the back of the plane. Then I saw it again, something glistening only now and then. I went to go and have a look as there  wasn't anything else to do anyway. There were five doors at the back of the plane, which didn’t include the two large exits. Four of them were toilets which left one to the rear left. I stood exactly at the very spot where I thought I saw the light. The light I thought I saw that glistened from the dragonfly's wing. I tried the door and to my surprise it opened onto a spiral staircase. I ran up closing the door behind me hoping that no one saw.

At the top I came into a room which looked like it belonged to the cabin of a boat. It was a small room with low ceiling, bare except for four bunk beds that surround the walls. I looked at each of the beds, they were so inviting I just wanted to lie down, I was so tired. I sneaked into the closest bottom bunk, someone had left a blanket hanging down to keep out the dull light from over head. I lay down and slowly drifted in and out of sleep, tossing and turning, but I couldn’t quite get comfortable. Fed up I pulled the blankets and pillow away. I try again but it's a 100 times worse. I look again to check under the mattress and to my surprise I found a hatch, how about that. I wondered what could be on the other side. Maybe my wonderland. That would be too weird, because there is no such thing.

Without thinking, sensibly I mean, I pulled the latch of the hatch. Then I was sucked into a tremendous gust of wind. Oh no, how stupid, I felt so scared. All I could do was shut my eyes, - how silly of me. I was sure this would be the end of me. I thought that I had opened an exit door and had got sucked right out of the plane. How could I have been so careless, so stupid! I waited for what felt like infinity, over and over for what I thought was to be, my untimely death. – I held my breath, as if that would help. Then I fall, literally out of the sky, I couldn't hold it anymore. And.... then I gasped, so I was breathing. I had landed on a pavement. I pinched myself. I must be alive or maybe even worse, I had fallen out of heaven and gone straight to hell.

I took a deep breath, opened my eyes and slowly picked myself up. I was at a crossroads, I could see tramlines crossing the other side, I felt heavy and dazed, there was something memorable  about this place. I saw a white picket fence. I sat there and reached forward and without realising I had traced the letters just above my head. Nobelsgate – Of coarse, it was familiar. I stood up and ran pass one house and stopped at the next. I stood in front of the white gate. On the post was the number 13, again without being aware I traced my fingers over it. Then the strangest thing happened, the gate opened. It looked like Hansel and Gretel's gingerbread house it had red roses creeping up the white walls, or maybe it's sweets, it was hard to tell.  I felt happy, I could smile, I was safe. I know exactly where I was. This was my great grandparents house in Norway, my mum's Momo and Mofa's home in Norway, where her mum and brother were brought up, I've seen it in old photos. I was  in  Oslo -Nobelsgate 13 to be more precise. I ran up the stairs to the front door at the side of the house.

Christmas Eve

Everyone always asks me, have I written letter to Father Christmas. I write and ask for the same every year, a surprise please! And this year, that is exactly what  my sister and I got. We got on a plane and we didn't know where we were going. My sister thought we were going to Lapland to see Father Christmas, I wasn't so sure. I thought we could be going to the other side of the world. This is because the aeroplane took forever, for infinity. I watched Alice in Wonderland twice, I was very tired and wanted to go to sleep, but somehow I just couldn't even though everyone else had.

The more I kept staring into the video screen, I wished I could fall asleep, but it only got harder. Eventually the screen went fuzzy like pixel snow. The more I looked the more I could see things, like when you can see the shape of a cat or dog in the clouds. 

But then something happened.

 When I watched the pixel squares, they turned into dots, and then they slowly turned into tiny bubble spheres. It looked magical how the light caught and reflected so many colours off it. When the bubble sphere caught a colour, it kept it while darting in and out of others across the screen. It looked like a game of space invaders.

I kept looking at my screen. It's amazing as the little dot - sphere- bubble things are arranging themselves into something. Soon it made a wonderland. Wow, how could that have happened? I wonder where Alice is? It looked so beautiful and magical, I found it hard to believe let alone imagine. I then touched the screen and to my amazement the screen seemed to dissolve and my hand slipped through.

Oh Oh what was happening. In shock I pulled my hand back.

This wasn’t Alice’s Wonderland, It's mine!

Not somewhere in a film or a book but somewhere real, right in front of my eyes. I turned around and I could see that my family were fast asleep.  Everyone else was also asleep, except for the crew walking down the isle with juice and water. I waited for the air hostess to pass by and then I touched the screen again. My finger and then my hand followed through the screen. I felt a bit braver this time and stretched my whole arm in. Fiddle sticks. I couldn't go any further. I could get as far as my arm pit, but my neck gets in the way. I couldn't tuck my head in either. It's no use, my arm is dangling inside the screen, but what about the rest of me? I felt hot, but I knew there was a breeze, because I could feel it tickle every strand of my hair as it stuck up on my arm. If only I could go there, actually get in there I mean. If I pulled my arm out ever so slightly I could see a little more. I've got to try and Think!

On the 24th Day of Advent the Itchycoo House gave Mimi a Carousel.

Riding on a Carousel, face towards the wind
 going 'round in circles, coming back again.
Grabbing for the brass ring, just when it's in sight
 lights are shinning all around ... maybe some too bright. 
Sometimes as you feel in life , going 'round and 'round
 for like this happy carousel it has it's ups and downs. 
The music plays so gaily, sometimes it's way too loud 
enjoying the excitement... you're caught up in the crowd.
 You've come again full circle, you think you have returned
 now in search another ticket ....more lessons to be learned.
You hope this ride will last forever, you know it never will 
too soon your time is over ... the motion ever still.
The music quickly ceases, so silent as the night
 your vision slowly dims .....the lights are not so bright.
 You look with in your pocket, no ticket to be found
 with sadness, slowly walk away .. as quiet as it's sound.
 In life just like the carousel..... there's not another ride 
never is in black and white, real life and dreams collide.
 You turn to take, just one last look ...... to ride it one last time 
the lights are on for others now....... you understand this rhyme?
 You had your fun, you rode it well ..... you know it's now their turn 
the music comes alive again ....... the lights now brightly burn 
You thought you had the brass ring ..... held tightly in your hand 
but it no longer glimmers ...... will never shine again
. It now is realized what you've learned .... the lessons you have found 
in life there's many ups and downs ....... but only one go round. (Unknown)

On the 23rd Day of Advent the Itchycoo House gave Mimi a Ship in a Bottle.

A ship in a bottle a-sailing away,

In flying-fish weather through rainbows of spray,

Over oceans of wonder, by headlands a-gleam,

To the harbours of youth, on the wind of a dream!

By Cicely Fox Smith

On the 22nd Day of Advent the Itchycoo House gave to Mimi, Three Monkeys:

Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil

On the 21st Day of Advent the Itchycoo House gave Mimi a Ladybird

Ladybugs, or Ladybirds as the names suggest, are not actually bugs or birds but belong to the family of beetles. Not all ladybugs are "ladies." There are both male and female ladybugs. The ladybug scientific name Coccinellidae literally means a small red sphere in Latin, although ladybugs are found in a variety of colors, ranging from yellow, orange, maroon, and scarlet. Some ladybugs are completely black, with bright red spots on their wings.
Another name for ladybugs is coleoptera, that means sheath winged. So how did the ladybugs get their name?
In the Middle Ages, these insects were named after the Virgin Mary, who was often shown wearing a red cloak in many paintings and were popularly known as the 'Beetle of Our Lady'. The seven black spots on the wings of the ladybugs were said to represent the seven joys and seven sorrows of Mother Mary. The name 'Beetle of Our Lady' was eventually shortened to 'ladybug'. Other names by which the ladybugs are known are 'ladybird beetles' or 'lady beetles', 'lady cow' and 'lady fly'.

On the 20th Day of Advent the Itchycoo House gave Mimi a Cupcake

Cupcakes

Cupcakes in the morning
Cupcakes in the sun
Cupcakes in the evening
I want to let the cupcakes run

A cupcake for your worries
A cupcake for your cold
A cupcake for your sorrow
The cupcakes always do as they've been told

A cupcake is so soft
A cupcake is so sweet
A cupcake is so yummy
I have a cupcake for you to meet

Cupcakes are the best dessert
Cupcakes are the best reward
Cupcakes are the best creation
Yes, cupcakes are the best of all!

EAT ME!!

On the 19th Day of Advent the Itchycoo House gave to Mimi, a Nice Cup of Tea

Cup Of Tea 
When the world is all at odds
And the mind is all at sea
Then cease the useless tedium
And brew a cup of tea.
There is magic in its' fragrance,
There is solace in its' taste;
And the laden moments vanish
Somehow into space.
And the world becomes a lovely thing!
There's beauty as you'll see;
All because you briefly stopped
To brew a cup of tea.

"If you are cold, tea will warm you;
if you are depressed it will cheer you;
if you are excited it will calm you."
~William Gladstone

A little cup of friendship
With a bag of tea
When you drink this
Think of love from me.

On the 18th Day of Advent the Itchycoo House gave to Mimi a Ballerina Inside a Swan

Swan 

by Joe Eijyuu

Let me be a firework

When you are in the dark,

Let me be a pond not but a crystalline 

Lake for my so graceful dancing swan.

Let my firework to

Explode into a rainbow too,

Let my lake kiss your cute feet till

She transforms to a princess beautiful.

So you can dance like

A prima ballerina in my Swan-lake.

Not in the dark but under my rainbow

And firework of love till dawn tomorrow. 

On the 17th Day of Advent the Itchycoo House gave Mimi a Mushroom Home

Mushrooms

BY CHARLES TOMLINSON

Eyeing the grass for mushrooms, you will find

A stone or stain, a dandelion puff

Deceive your eyes—their colour is enough

To plump the image out to mushroom size

And lead you through illusion to a rind

That's true—flint, fleck or feather. With no haste

Scent-out the earthy musk, the firm moist white,

And, played-with rather than deluded, waste

None of the sleights of seeing: taste the sight

You gaze unsure of—a resemblance, too,

Is real and all its likes and links stay true

To the weft of seeing. You, to begin with,

May be taken in, taken beyond, that is,

This place of chiaroscuro that seemed clear,

For realer than a myth of clarities

Are the meanings that you read and are not there:

Soon, in the twilight coolness, you will come

To the circle that you seek and, one by one,

Stooping into their fragrance, break and gather,

Your way a winding where the rest lead on

Like stepping stones across a grass of water.

On the 16th Day of Advent the Itchycoo House gave Mimi a Typewriter.

Type Me

On the 15th Day of Advent the Itchycoo House gave Mimi a Dolls House

My world is as a doll's house 

And it's where I want to be 

But I can only dream and wish to enter 

I am can only watch and see 

I interact with all inside 

Move all things both far and wide 

But they wont see me anywhere 

They cannot see that I am there 

On the 14th Day of Advent the Itchycoo House gave Mimi a Fallen Star

STARFISH 



One day an old man was walking down the beach just before dawn.  In the distance he saw a young man picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back into the sea.  As the old man approached the young man, he asked, "Why do you spend so much energy doing what seems to be a waste of time?"  The young man explained that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun.  The old man exclaimed, "But there must be thousands of starfish.  How can your efforts make any difference?"  The young man looked down at the starfish in his hand and as he threw it to safety in the sea, he said," It makes a difference to this one!"

At times in our lives, we are all the old man, the young man, or the starfish.  Sometimes, as the old man, we don't see the purpose to actions.  Sometimes, as the young man, we persevere and make a difference.  And sometimes, we are the starfish who just need a little help.

On the 13th Day of Advent the Itchycoo House gave Mimi a Teapot.

Twelve in a teapot, four times three
Twelve little fairies brewing glee
Twelve in a teapot, two times six
Twelve funny fairies playing tricks.

On the 12th Day of Advent the Itchycoo House gave Mimi a Penguin

Penguins cautiously reside

on our planet's underside,

where they're careful not to cough,

lest they trip and tumble off.

by Jack Prelutsky

On the 11th Day of Advent the Itchycoo House gave Mimi a Case for an Emergency!

Break glass, should you need to.

On the 10th Day of Advent the Itchycoo House gave Mimi a Deer

Antlers are symbols of antennae, connections to higher forms of attainment. Deer 
with antlers thus can be a signal to pay attention to your inner thoughts and 
perceptions, as they are probably more accurate than you think.

Ted Andrews - Animal Speak

Woodland dreams of intuition come with the graceful deer.
I greet you, graceful brothers of the forest.
Your gift of magic will brighten my life.
Transformation will come to me.
Like you, I stand listening to the drum beat of life,
Poised to follow my guiding spirits.