Parking in Stavanger around Christmas time can be a bit difficult.

Joking aside, this is a car placed on the wall above a bank, as an advertisement.

PS. I hope this does not mean that the bank drives their customers up the wall!

(this is an English idiom: http://esl.about.com/library/glossary/bldef_370.htm)

Todays photo was taken around 4 o'clock this afternoon, less than 24 hours since I took the photo of the statue. Strange that things change so quickly.

We have had rain, fog, and suddenly the weather is much milder.

There were not that many people in town today. Many families are probably just having a lazy and cosy long week without work and school.

A fountain / statue nearly covered in ice.

Another shot to show winter in Stavanger.

It is COLD !

Last night the lowest temperature recorded in the area was -21.4C.

Tonight when I was out in the car, the temperature outside varied from -20C up to -7C during the course of a short, 10-15 minute, trip in the car.

Not so long ago, Gabriela A. Stensland, who is a designer of jewellery started to sell her items at "Atelier Katarina". I guess there must have been several ladies in and outside Stavanger who have received one of her beautiful pieces of jewellery for Christmas. (As said in the post 4 days back, the place is in Nedre Strandgate 52.)

A well known Christmas motiv represented in gingerbread :)

God Jul / Merry Christmas / Feliz Navidad to all followers and CDP contributers.

And of course to everyone else who takes an interest in my blog.

Mr. Bjergsted has been selling Christmas trees for years, both from the marked place at Hillevåg, and from here at the harbor near to the fish market. At Christmas he will be back to his ordinary job, out on one of the oil plattforms in the North Sea. I guess they have a Christmas tree there as well?

This is Katarina, who is an artist and creates beautiful items in colorful glass. My husband bought one of the pieces. She has her "Atelier Katarina" at Nedre Strandgate 52, on the edge of what is known as "Old Stavanger."

Another yummy gingerbread house...

This is the telecommunications tower, Ullandhaugtårnet, which is easy to spot from most places in Stavanger. It was built in 1964, and is 64 meters tall and 199 meters over sea level.
Some years back, a child wrote to the Mayor of Stavanger and asked if it could be decorated with lights at Christmas, and the wish was fullfilled.
It now looks nice the whole of December, as a kind of "Christmas tree".
It is situated in a popular Place to go for walks. Every weekend there is also a cafe that is open for people who goes for walks in the surrounding woods. There is a nice view from levels 2 and 3. The rest of the building is mainly offices, and is not open for the public.

Our big local newspaper, Stavanger Aftenblad, has continued their big collection/exhibition of gingerbread houses made this year by children & adults, both privately and through schools.
Unfortately, a few of the photos that I took with the small camera did not turn out quite as I wanted, so I have to say sorry to the Syrian family and the lady from Ormøy who I had wanted to show photos of.

Many Norwegian people used to have rice porridge (risengryns-grøt) on Saturdays for lunch.

To make it:
Use 3dl. Porrige rice and 3dl, water,
Add 1l, milk and bring it to boiling point,
Then let it simmer for 45 minutes.
Add salt to taste (a small amount).

Serves 4 people,
When serving, add sugar, butter, cinnnamon,
Some people also like to add raisens on top,

Enjoy!

Many people have stocked up with wood ready for the winter.
In many places Norwegian wood has been supplemented with wood from the Balkans due to the high demand.

Once again, a photograph from my favorite Florist's window.
Decorated for Christmas.

Even coffee bars sell more than just coffee these days.
This cuddly dog is for sale ( including batteries to make it sound like it is sleeping), in one of the trendy coffee bars in central Stavanger.
- iPad posting

Many people decorate their homes, both inside and outside, with Father Christmas figures. But the last few years there has been increasing criticism of the use of these as a symbol of Christmas.

In Norwegian we call Father Christmas, Julenissen.

This is a statue above the entrance at the fashion shop "BIK BOK" .

There used to be a pharmacy in the building, and as far as I remember it was called Hygiea.

I am pleased the statue has not been decorated for Christmas, just standing there looking out over what is happening in Kirkegaten.

I got a nice gingerbread man as a present from someone who had been to Hungary.

He survived the long journey all the way to Stavanger.

He tasted Yummy.... and was still smiling also after I had eat both the arms and legs:)

I passed the big Christmas tree in the city centre tonight, and I decided to share the view with you. We have had rain more or less for the last 24 hours, so most of the snow has now disappeared.

A small shop in the area we call "Old Stavanger".

Nice handmade articles for sale.

I do not know Frida, a girl who must be around 8 years old and who has created this lovely painting of all the angels. They are really cute! Well done Frida! The red mark shows that this is an award winning piece of art!:)

I just want to say "Thank You" to all of you who take the time to leave comments on my blog.

It is very much appreciated!

I know it takes time, and for many of us, English is not even our first language.

When I popped over to the shop tonight I found a little something that I want to send to one of you.....

The only thing YOU need to do if you are interested in winning it, is to tell me, and the other readers of this blog, what YOUR favorite Christmas music/song is by writing the title in a comment here...

At midnight tomorrow, I will ask my husband to pick a number. If for example, he picks 3, comment number 3 will be sent the package in the post (The winner will have to send me his/her postal address).

Update: Friday 10 Dec 2010 As my husband read the 7 comments for this posting before he was supposed to pick a number out of the air, we decided to pick the winner by "rolling" an 8 sided dice (program on an iPad) and re-throw if 8 came up. The first number "rolled" was a 5, so "Sequium Daily Photo" is the winner with Santa Baby (which was also chosen by "Nato"). Thank you to everyone who took part. I will try to hold another little competition soon.

There are many many windows that are decorated for Christmas, and look similar and as cosy as this photo of a window that I took at a friends place this morning.

Christmas decorations have been put up most places now.

Some love decorations like this, others find them tacky.

To see what it looked like last year, click on the "xmas-pub" label below.

Amy`s Coffeebar has got an artistic new wall painting in their back garden.

It was done by two of the regular guests.

Unfortunately the girls working there did not know their names.

A glimpse inside my favorite florist shop...

I passed this huge poster at the Culture House where the Children´s Museum is also situated.

The message is that you can attend a workshop at the Museum and make your own Father Christmas figures out of empty loo rolls/toilet rolls every day in December.

Than I started thinking about all homes who carefully put out these handmade figures, given as presents from small family members, children or grandchildren. They probably still make them in kindergardens, with lots of busy adults who put more work in to finishing off creative presents, than the childrens parents will ever know.....

Yes, I still have some old samples..... with a funny grin on their faces.

I guess you all have something similar. Enjoy decorating!

I am off to this years first Christmas dinner tonight...... well actually I had one in January, since it was soooo busy around Christmas last year.

Have a nice weekend!:)

Today I met Mr.Olsen in the shop. He had the most unique "hat" that I have seen for a long time. It was a gift from a friend he said.

Some photo students had just asked him if they could take photos of him, and he also told me that he had played a leading role in a Norwegian film some years back.-

Keep warm,- it is COLD in Stavanger these days!

To the left in this old photo you can see my late grandad, who would have been over 100 years old now if he had still been alive. Anyway, at that TIME, having a photograph taken was a big event! He told me he was scared stiff (look at his hand and face) because the photographer who was hiding under under a "blanket" behind this huge camera box, said that "he" was going to be sent to America..... My grandad didn't realize that it was not him, but the photo that was off to relatives in the USA....

Today kids have got thousands of photos/documentations of nearly everything that they do.....

TIMES HAVE CHANGED!

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

In the centre of Stavanger, this afternoon around 5 PM.

A nice stroll around Old Stavanger, where shops and galleries were open for the public.

Some of the houses had already decorated their doors and windows for Christmas, it looked very cosy!

"TASTA KVINNS" is a group of women / a choir, who today sang at the Christmas Market in the area known as Old Stavanger.

I have never seen nor heard them before, but they really created a nice atmosphere!

What can I TELL you about a photo like this?

Well, the TELL logo is nice and the company http://www.tellit.no delivered such professional help Thursday afternoon when my "Mac" suddenly died with a black screen!

Friday afternoon I got the message that it was ready to be picked up again, so this morning my Mac (nicknamed "Big Mac") came back home, and to me that is something to TELL!:)

So I think TELL will be Number One for service in Stavanger!

Thanks TELL (who does not know that I will "TELLIT" to you).

Work is going on at many places around the city to decorate for Christmas.

This is outside the Cathedral and also next to the market place.

I just had to ask for permission to take a photo when I saw this suitcase.

Mr. Arne Solli told me that he works as a journalist/photographer for the Teachers Union's magazine, and the labels he told me, where both from"business and pleasure trips."

He did not have one from Stavanger,-but perhaps next time he will get one?

Anyway, what do YOU collect when you are out traveling?

Friends waiting for friends.

Afternoon at Engøy, part of Stavanger, and one of several islands just 5 minutes by car over a big bridge and through a tunnel to the city centre. To me it looks like an idyllic place to live.

On my way to my dirty car, I passed this dirty Volvo, decorated with a face and a heart.

Than I saw the little label...... "Hells Angels in Stavanger."( Click to enlarge the photo.)

So when I came back home I used internet and found : http://www.hells-angels.no/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25

I learnt something new, and by clicking on the "links" I saw that "Hells Angels" are in many cities.

Those were the days...

Stewardesses the way they used to dress.

The photo was taken at the Aviation Historical Museum. (Flyhistorisk museum)

"The Irishman" is a popular and cosy little pub next to the Culture House in the centre of Stavanger. Sometimes they have live music.

Some people have jobs that most of us could not do......

A street shot taken in the centre of Stavanger, next to the Cathedral.

To Steffe/Leif etc. I don`t know anything about the woman reading:)

I just wanted to show you all, what a beautiful bright winter day we had today!

Volkswagen, old and well kept!:)

I just had to look twice.

We were some friends who gathered together this afternoon and evening. As you can see Kjersti Haga, the artist who in this snapshot, is holding one of my favorite paintings, is very good at both technique and colors.

This evening I had an interesting chat with Mr. Erik Walle-Lie.

He has retired from the Aviation Industry, but is, and has been using much of his spare time and knowledge at the Historical Air Museum for between 10 and 12 years, where he, and other men meet up and restore the old airplanes that we all like to see in a museum.

Tonight he was working on part of the wing that belongs to a Catalina plane.

I saw the plane too, and I learned that the wing span is as big as 32 meters!!

The number of visitors at most museums are mostly going down, but at this museum the numbers are "reaching the sky", as I read in the newspaper a few days back.

Today I bought a few Christmas cards that I will send as "snail mail" to friends and family living as far away as South Africa.

Not all people are on "Facebook" or use "Skype".

I know it is still 40 days left, - so I guess I should manage to write and get stamps before December.

Do you send Christmas cards?

Today has been slightly warmer than the last few days, but there has been a lot of rain.

This road looked more like a river and I am not sure if people were expected to drive or sail along it.