Oct. 11
Last night we went out to resturant in Oslo that served traditional Norwegian "christmas" food - lutefisk and something called Pinnekjoet - of course, I had the lamb and it was delicious. Stayed at Camilla's house in Moss and had a chance to meet her absolutely charming children and husband.

Oct. 12
Up and out this morning to catch flight to Sundsvall, Sweden - plane took me to Stockholm and then up to Sundsvall where I am meeting Mats Sjoling. Mats is partner to Miek Jong who is a friend of Mary Jo's. Mats has been gracious to invite me to their home in Sweden (other home in Holland). Mats and Miek just bought this home Sept. 1. It is an old farm house from 1750. Originally it was owned by the "governor" of that Swedish area - in the basement was the "prison" and it also had a sawmill as part of labor. Here is the house as I saw it when arriving that evening.










Oct. 12
Mats and I were up early for a walk to the ocean - how nice it is to have the ocean in your back yard!











After walking and exploring along the shoreline we returned to house for breakfast. Here is a photo of their house in morning light.












Mats had prepared a day of meetings with his colleagues at the Mid-Sweden University - where he teaches in the Nursing department and is a research scientist. Because my day was mostly meeting people, I have here pictures of the campus - which was really lovely, only 10 years old - architects were marrying the old with new.















The following is an explanation of the connection of Mats to Miek to Mary Jo to me.

Mats and Miek are both interested in Integrative Medicine where one and a half years ago, Mary Jo met them both at an integrative medicine conference in Tromso, Norway. At the time, Miek lived in Holland where she heads up the integrative medicine program at the Louis Bolk Institute. Mats lived in Sweden where he was promoting and initiating an integrative medicine into the nursing and public health program. From that conference, Mats and Miek started a relationship. Miek and Mary Jo made also made a professional connection at the conference - so when I was preparing to go to Norway, I made contact with Miek to meet somewhere between Norway, Sweden and Holland. As it turns out, due to her schedule and my ability to travel to only so many places other than Norway, I am here with Mats instead. Here is Mats coming out of his office at Mid-Sweden University in Sundsvall, Sweden.














Oct. 13
Up again at the crack of dawn - even before the sun rise - to spend the day with my relative Lars Hogberg - who lives in the next town of Harnosand. Lars and I have had a few other experiences together when I have traveled to Sweden so we were pretty familliar with one another and knew, we'd need to start early if we were going to do all we wanted to do. Lars and me at Mats house.











Lars is 65 years old and by trade he is an architect. But really, Lars is an archeologist and has spent many years studying the area of Angermanland to learn about the Stone Age people who had inhabited the area. Lars is a wealth of knowledge and when he gets started there is no turning him off. Of course, I am enthralled by all of his stories and the places he takes me to see the old ruins. Which is exactly what we did that day - we started out visiting a new grave site he recently found in Sundsvall - then into Harnosand to take lunch - then back out into the field to see an old stone age fortress (below is a video of Lars explaining this site) - and back again to Harnosand to walk the viking road with stories about every 10-15 feet. Needless to say, I returned to Mats house around midnight and dreamt of historical anecedotes.






Oct. 14
Up at 5:00 to catch a train to Uppsala to meet with Terry Hartig at the University of Uppsala by 9:00 am. Now for those of you who don't know of Terry, he is one of the main scientists doing the work in Restorative Gardens. Terry shares a post with Uppsala and Gavle University in the Dept. of Psychology - specifically Environmental Psychology. Terry was born and raised in Michigan and he arrived to Sweden through the door of a Fulbright and has been here ever since. The day including meeting with Terry and learning about how he and the botanical garden will be combining their talents for research to be conducted in restoration in the garden.











We also went to the Orangeria - where some of the oldest specimens of trees are located. Below is a Ficus over 100 years old along with the man who gives it (and other plants) care.














Now for those of you who are not familiar with the University of Uppsala - it is the holy grail for horticulturists because it is the home of Carl Linneaus - the grandfather of the naming system for all plants and nature. For more information about Carl check out this document below - http://www.bioresurs.uu.se/skolprojektlinne/pdf/life_of_linnaeaus.pdf
Being that I was in Uppsala I had to visit Carl's home and garden - BUT it was closed for the season. Here is a sign at the front gate of the gardden/museum.















Although I was disapointed that I did nt get to see Carl's digs, I really enjoyed walking around Uppsala, which is a really lovely city.

Oct. 5
Today I met with Helena (see photo) - she teaches landscape architecture courses here at UMB. Her research is very interesting - she has been studying how people "look" in the green environment. She has collected data with subjects wearing a tracking devise that will record where they look once they get into a green environment. She showed her subjects different images of green spaces and then asked them where they would find most relaxing and comfortable. Her data shows "hot spots" (that is the collection of most looks in one place) on or near seating, under a tree looking out at people coming towards them (Tree - bench - people). Her findings are very new because no one has ever done tracking in landscape architecture - it is done quite often in marketing and advertising to see where to locate different products. It is all very fascinating and I enjoyed learning about what she is doing.














Later today, Grete and I drove into Oslo to meet up with Marianne Gonzalez - a psychiatric nurse who recently completed her PhD at UMB studying therapeutic horticulture in a green care setting. Marianne and Grete will be implementing the course I have working on - so the purpose of our meeting was to discuss the course. Marianne is married to a man - Orlando - who came to Scandinvia as a refugee from Argentina (under Pinoche). They met at a Tango dance class and now live in a beautiful home just on top of a hill overlooking downtown Oslo. It is a gorgous home with a lovely planted landscape. Our time together was both productive and enjoyable.










Oct. 6
Today I got up, packed and ready, to go to Malmo, Sweden. I got to the bus stop early only to find I was 1.5 hours early - so I sat and waited for the bus - when it finally arrived it was running 30 minutes late so had been sitting along a busy highway for over 2 hours. Good thing I had my iPod so mask some of the traffic sounds.

Got to the airport and had some problems with security because I was carrying a jar of jam as a gift to host I am meeting in Malmo. There was a bit of "discussion" and they allowed me to carry in but the permission was given in a hushed tone. My flight first took me to Copenhagen where I caught a train that crossed over the Baltic via bridge and tunnel into Sweden. Malmo is on the southern end of Sweden and it is a gorgeous city. My arrival went smoothly navigating the city to hotel, Master Johans - located in the "gammla" (old) part of town. I arrived at around 3:00 so I had a few hours to walk the streets before night fall. Did I say it was raining and the wind nearly blew me over - but I enjoyed myself none the less. I was even able to shop in one of my most favorite stores that I order from on-line!






















Oct. 7
Up and ready to go by 6:30 for a 7:30 pick up to Alnarp University - in a neighboring town. Caroline Hagerhall is a professor (she was the advisor to Helena) at the University of Alnarp and has a 20% position at UMB, too.











Caroline brought me to the rehabilitation garden I had read about over the years. Upon arrival I knew I was amongst kindred spirits - Lillian the PT and Frederik the gardener welcomed me with open arms and heart. We talked for a couple hours and then took a tour of their garden. This garden started out as a demonstration garden a vision of Patrick Griat (sp?) who is the head of the LA department.











On the drawings below you will see how the garden is laid out - first area near the buildings are where the interactions are held and in back is more a strolling area with a forest garden and woodland edges.













The primary participants attending this garden are people with depression/fatigue/chronic pain who have not been working for years and this program is the "last" resort (after conventional vocational therapy does not work). Lillian practices with the Rosen method - a noninvasive gentle form of interacting with both mind and soul. Anne (who I only was introduced, but did not talk to because she had a client group) is the OT and there is also Mary - (who I did not meet at all) is the psychotherapist who works individually with clients. Together, this team of four integrate plants into all aspects of their work. I was most impressed - as this is my idea of perfect combination.

There are two ares of the front garden - the "human being" and the "human doing" areas. As the titles imply, one area is for interaction the other for relaxation and calm. They have a geodesic dome green house (used in fall and spring)mostly for sensory awareness, along with a solarium used mostly in winter (made with repurposed glass and wood). The other areas include programming areas in the building, a propagation greenhouse and a variety of planting areas.




















After our time at the rehabilitation garden, Caroline took me on a tour of the Alnarp campus. Alnarp is the oldest agriculture university in Sweden - and is sister to the University in Uppsala. The buildings on the grounds are on the national trust list and have been restored and repurposed. Below are some images of the old horse and cattle barns that is now the library, auditorium and classrooms.















We went to lunch and got to talking that I was running late for my train out of town - we raced to the station and I caught the train 5 minutes before leaving the tracks. I made to flight in plenty of time and arrived back to As safe and sound.

Oct. 8
Today was my last time swimming with Grete and her boys. This morning, all the Patil family joined in the activity. It was wonderful to see the whole family playing in the water together.










After swimming and returning to the apartment, I was thinking I would go to office to work on final draft of course, but it was such a beautiful day - I decided to walk into town to see if Odd wanted a cup of tea together. As I was walking to his house, he was coming up the street - of course, he does not know English and I don't know Norwegian - so our time together was mostly smiling, trying to relay ideas and looking at my pictures on iPhone.

I had wanted to take photos of the sculpture in his yard - so after tea, we went to his home and I began talking photos. Most of what is in his yard are models of much larger pieces installed elsewhere.













As I was out back clicking - Odd was on the phone to both Ruth and Trine asking them to come over. Ruth suggested we go to Ramme Gaard (a nearby park) instead so she came and picked us up and we headed to Vestby for a walk along the coast. Before we could get to the coast, we had to walk through the forest on a trail - this was a river crossing that was so beautiful.













We walked at a leisurely pace and enjoyed the waning days of autumn.










After our hike, it was time to say good-bye. I had been preparing myself for this but of course when it came to pass I melted into a puddle of tears. I was able to compose myself enough for a final picture with Odd.










Oct. 9
Today it was raining - so I gathered up my materials and headed to office where I worked all day/ night finalizing the draft course. I was able to get most finished before heading back to apartment where I needed to get packing - I am to be out of my room tomorrow by 12:00.

Oct. 10
I am packed and out of Kaja Veien - tonight, I have a final meal in Oslo with Ruth, Camilla Grete and two others (here from Canada). I stay with Camilla tonight and tomorrow I head to Sweden - where I will be for the duration of my time. Still more to come, so stay tuned!

Bente field trip and art

Oct. 4
Today I was up crack a dawn to catch the train from As to Moss and then from Moss, I took the ferry to Hotten. There, Bente Berget picked me up and we drove to a "care farm".

Here is the Hotten wharf.











At this care farm, they specialize in sheep - not just any kind of sheep, but the "Spalsau" sheep. It is an old norwegian heirloom breed that comes from viking times and were found on many islands around norway.

This particular care farm serves people in need of both vocational and psychological services.
There are up to seven participants at a time - working days Monday - Friday - either with the horses, rabbits or sheep. Participants have the option of staying 1- 2 years to work on their "plans" to reintegrate into work life. Many participants attending have had difficulty with drugs/alcohol stemming from depression.

Today I had the pleasure of meeting four of the seven participating at this time. I was not able to take photos due to confidentiality, but was able to talk with them about their experiences. I asked each one what they liked best about working on the farm - each had something to say about how the animals make them feel better and make them happy. But one fellow was very introspective and said how the animals give him an opportunity to give care and nurturing to another being - and how that is important for people to learn how to give care to someone outside of themselves.

We talked also about their stories and how they choose the farm - some stories were heart-breaking - but I felt honored to be there to listen and learn how sharing time with the animals have given them renewed hope and motivation to get back into the society. It was a very fulfilling experience - one that I will treasure in my memories.

Here are some photos of the house and some of the sheep.



















P.S. I have also been meaning to tell you a funny story. Since I arrived, I noticed a little blue cooler out in the lawn in front of the Tower buidling. It has been there for weeks and weeks (here is a photo)













So, the other day I thought - this is ridiculous, no one has moved that cooler - I will bring it to the main office so someone can claim it. Well, I come to learn, this is not just any cooler - this is an "art" cooler. Yes - it is a public art piece that is one of the UMB's pride and joy! I asked Grete about it and she said "oh yes, it has been there for over 6 years now - we love it as a conversation starter". She and I laughed after I told her about how I was going to bring it to the office. Anyway, here is the plaque that is attached to a neighboring tree and another close up of this provocative art piece (and some insight into the Norwegian humor).

Andelsnes

Oct. 1
Got up before dawn to catch a train into Oslo - this was the weekend I planned to see west Norway. I was heading on the Rauma railway to Andelsnes (http://www.visitnorway.com/en/Product/?pid=72709).

Even though the intention of the trip was to see the countryside as I traveled to Andelsnes - the day started and ended with rain. That did not stop me from enjoying the train trip though. I was memorized by the beauty of it all.

The train left Oslo at 8:04 and I arrived in Dombas 12:22 - then, stepped out of one train and into another heading to Andelsnes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rauma_Line)



En route to Andelsness, I went through an amazing tunnel that goes in one side of the mountain, curves around and goes out the other side -called the horse-shoe tunnel. I also passed over the stone bridge that was used in Harry Potter movie.


This is a road can be seen from the train and is called "trollstigen" or trolls ladder -it is a popular tourist attraction due to its steep incline of 9% and eleven hairpin bends up a steep mountain side, the road up is narrow with many sharp bends, and although it has been widened, vehicles over 12.4 meters long are prohibited from driving the road.





Here are some photos from when I arrive into town. It was rainy and misting - but that did not keep me from a three hour walk up into mountain about half way up and then along the ridge - was great and invigorating.





















Oct. 2
I woke up early to walk along the shore - the sun was coming up over the mountains - left station for Oslo around 9:00 am












Oct. 3
Today I taught my last class - it was a wonderful group of students - here they are working in small groups on activities that we would later task analyze and apply to a case study