Changes in Latitudes

Work is going fine. My boss has given me some lab activities to keep me interested in my work, so I'm testing antibodies. The positive control turned out as expected, but it is such a pretty staining that I have to share the picture. This is an embryo of a starlet sea anemone ( Nematostella sp.) approximately 30 hours old. The green is actin (a protein in cell walls), the blue is nuclei, and the red/pink is clusters of DNA. There are some pretty examples of cell division in this embryo! Also, as of a couple weeks ago I'm officially a published scientist! ....well, the paper has been accepted for publication, so it will likely not be in the journal before next year. The journal is called ICES Journal of Marine Science. Furthermore, this weekend the mountains got a nice thick layer of snow, so I took Pancho up for his first time in a proper bit  of snow (not counting the icy leftovers that were on Jutenheimen this summer). He's now 6 months old and weighs bout 34...

[Happy birthday boy at a cool restaurant in town that had a big selection of beer] Marius turned 30 on Friday (the 30th). In August I sent out invitations for the surprise. He only knew that his sister and our friend Knut would be joining us for dinner. But from 5:30pm, more friends started to show up, even Martin who came from Oslo. I was glad he was surprised and I was able to keep the secret so long! Saturday morning we got up and took Pancho for a hike with Katrine in the rain, hail and wind. The hot cocoa pitstop made it way better. I had planned for us to carve pumpkins as well on Saturday, but had no luck after going to five grocery stores. We settled with watching Young Frankenstein and playing a game instead. We had candy in case of trick or treaters, but none showed (probably because we live in an apartment block). Without trick-or-treaters or pumpkins, I had to try to get a little more Halloween feeling. I found some inspiration online to have Pancho be a beanie baby....

Since the marathon I haven't gotten out for a run longer than 4 miles, but I have gone for lots of hikes on the ridge behind our place with Pancho. We have had relatively little rain this fall, so it will be weird to have a typical rainy week. The morning after the super/blood/eclipse moon, Lydia wandered out of the house and has not been seen since. She has been a part of our family since 1995 and things will feel so different without her. I hope that she found peace wherever she wandered off to for her last rest (if that is what she did). I will miss her dearly, and wish it wasn't the way she decided to leave us after being with us for 20 years. We love you, Lydy pity

I've been bad at updating this, but with a new puppy, work and training for my second marathon I have not had so much time with the computer.  In mid-July Marius and I brought home Pancho and we drove over to Bergen with him. A week and a half later, Mom and Dad flew to Bergen and we all drove up to Gjelvågan to the Engebrethsen's summer cabin in the north. We used 16 hours the first day in the car and 3 the next day so that we could make it up in time to go to Marius' cousin's wedding. We had a great, relaxing time up north with both sets of parents, Katrine, and other family visits. We're already excited for next summer! Here are just a few pictures from Marius' nice camera. We drove through Jotenheim National Park to get the most scenic quick route north to the summer house. Here it was in the low 40s and windy. We even saw people skiing!!! On the way back south we drove through snow flurries...it was July 31st. Exploring snow for the first...

On Friday July 17th, Marius and I picked up our little waterdog. He wasn't quite 8 weeks old, but already so good at sleeping through the night. We love him! He has very few accidents in the house and is already used to driving in the car. I have already trained him to sit and fetch. Today he is 9 weeks old! We are up in Nordland (north of the Arctic circle) with Mom, Dad, Tron and Rigmor. Pancho is learning how to be a waterdog, but the water is a bit cold up here. He'll get used to it soon. We just got back from an easy hike, which really wore him out. Hopefully I have some more patience to sit and write a bit more about the trip. I never got around to Madrid, sorry about that!

  We have been getting frequent updates on our puppy from the breeder. She says she has fallen in love with him and hopes to take him to dog shows when he is old enough. He's now 5 weeks old, and this weekend Marius and I took care of him and Sookie (his mom)! The breeder said that this is usually never done, but since he was a litter of one he needs lots of stimulation, and she thought it would be a nice way for us to meet him; and she was also able to sneak away for the weekend. 2 weeks old and his first adventure in the grass - not usually done so young, but since he doesn't have siblings he needs lots of stimulation. 3 weeks old and getting his first taste of solid food 4 weeks old and on the move! 5 weeks old - very brave and so fun to play with!

On Saturday, May 23rd, a single Spanish waterdog puppy was born. He was described to us as a black, stub-tailed male (en sorte, stumpehalet hanne --- sounds cuter in Norwegian). We finally got a picture of him and an additional description, as told by the breeder:  this boy will make his mark someday; strong and compact. The breeder told us that she chooses older males because they show good genes for a long, happy life. Thus, as a result, the litter is usually small. We are allowed to visit him for the first time after June 19th, and can take him home mid July. Names have been brainstormed, but we'll see his personality before we decide. Just a little black slug for now

I realize I never got around to posting about Madrid. I wanted to upload pictures from Marius' camera, but that has been hard to remember the few times I go to Oslo. So I promise to post something with the pictures I took with my phone. So news since Easter... April 30th I logged over 1000 kilometers of running so far this year. I saw at the end of March that I could get myself to do it, and I did! It was a great night in Bergen for making that goal as well. June 1st I'll start my training cycle for the Oslo Marathon. My second attempt, so I'm aiming for anything better than 4:09:00 - my finishing time last year. My shoes that carried helped me run past my 1000th km this year also surpassed their 1000th km of their lifetime My favorite running spot lately is Fjellveien - a road which runs along the rim of the valley just above the city- Great views of downtown, fresh air, gravel pathway. Experimenting with some new ways to fuel - quinoa berry bowl ...