Monday without Poetry

Today the topic is Memorial Day, which I'll skip as usual.
Memorial Day is not celebrated in Denmark, and as I am not one for praising soldiers or war efforts in general, no poeming will happen.

  - - - - -

Next Monday the topic is Yo-yo.

  - - - - -

Instead of a poem I'll post some photos from the past week.


Our view on our way home yesterday.

Pirate cut the watermelon the other way. It's pretty.

You can just see the sea in this photo.

Saying good-bye to the statue of Virgin Mary of Aasebakken after the pilgrimage yesterday.

Words for Wednesday - May 25

This Wednesday WiseWebWoman gave us following words:

Battery
Remain
Age
Bite
Produce
Workshop
Forest
Critic

As this is a The more, the merrier kind of endeavour, please, remember to follow the links, go and read other peoples' stories.

And please leave a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction, feedback and encouragement.
We ALL need encouragement.

I am continuing the story of the mysterious examination in transformation. I used a couple of the prompts. But not them all. I'm not satisfied with the story or my writing skills. But I want to tell this story! I hope to continue soon.


After dinner they were ordered to stop thinking more of the test. A big fire was made in the meadows between the beach and the small forest and they sat around the fire watching the setting sun. It turned cool, and  the mosquitoes came out trying to get a bite off of them, but the fire was warm and the smoke kept the mosquitoes mostly at bay.  Torben got his guitar, and they sang new and old songs, Swedish, Danish, English and even a Finnish song, When Torben became tired of playing, Fiona and Veronika gave it a try. Then Susan timidly asked to take over and played some of the songs of Shu-bi-dua. A very popular Danish band, singing contagious, nonsensical texts. She even braved some of the tracks from their brand new album "Shu-bi-dua 4". Everybody sang along, and thankfully did not notice or at least did not come with any critical comment on her errors. These songs were tough to play, fast and with eternal shift in tempo and keys. The fire burned down low and the apprentices got into the sleeping sacs in the eight big tents, two for each team, one for boys and one for girls. The boys from the green team, Knud, Kalle and Terje felt a bit lonely in their big, green tent until they found out that the yellow team also only had three boys, Then they simply invited them over. This invitation was thankfully accepted by Elvin the oldest of the yellow boys, Elvin's compatriot Josh, and the Norwegian Bjørn of roughly the same age.

As the teachers were also sleeping in tents or gypsy-like caravans down in the meadow, the apprentices mostly slept.
Still it was late before the sun set, and it rose early next morning as the sun do in summer time in Denmark.   Strong coffee and hot tea were brought by the nisser and hot buns too.
While they still ate and drank, Thora distributed the mail. Some of the apprentices had letters, but most had not. Much to her surprise Susan had a letter. It had foreign stamps and was addressed to Ms. Susan Olsen, The Unicorn Farm, Unicorn Island, 4700 Naestved, Denmark.
... to be continued

Tirsdagstips -- Digital post

Only for Danish readers this tips - and an end, even a happy one, to my eternal frustrations with MitID and E-boks. I now have found an easy and simple way of receiving e-mail notifications from hospitals, the municipality, tax authorities etc.

-- 📧 --

     Dette tirsdagstips kan kun bruges af dansker læsere. Samtidig er det en sløjfe på og en god afrunding af alle mine trakasserier med MitID og E-boks.

-- @ --

     E-boksen er nu blevet virksomhedernes kontakt med nuværende og potentielle kunder, og kontakten mellem det offentlige og borgeren er i stedet at finde på borger.dk. Det er så også derfra, jeg gerne vil have besked, når der er besked fra det offentlige - det være sig svar på mammografi, tandlægetider til børnene, biblioteksafgifter, ejendomsskatter ...
     Jeg gik en sidste gang ind på e-Boks og frabad mig besked om post fra det offentlige.

     Så åbnede jeg Borger.dk i min browser ...

... valgte Digital Post i den grønne ring og loggede på. Det kunne oven i købet lade sig gøre med NemID! Men hvis man ser nyheden ude til højre, så kommer MitID også hertil.

Så valgte jeg Beskeder om ny post i Indstillinger - de tre vandrette streger øverst til højre. (Billedet er fra i dag. Der er allerede kommet breve)

Skrev min e-mailadresse i det relevante felt (her malet grønt) og trykkede på Rediger.

Derinde valgte jeg Til til at modtage e--mails om ny post.

     Superenkelt! Allerede næste dag fik jeg bevist at det virkede. Der var der nemlig e-mail fra Borger.dk i min indbakke med besked om breve fra Slots- og Naturstyrelsen. Og ikke noget fra e-Boks.

-- 📧 --

     Som en sidste lille krølle satte jeg efterfølgende min Indbakke op til automatisk at flytte alle e-mails fra Borger.dk til en mappe navngivet DigitalPost og til at markere alle breve fra e-Boksen som læst og flytte dem til en underfolder, hvor jeg så kan læse dem, når det passer mig.

    Nemt og bekvemt, som det burde have været hele tiden.

Poetry Monday :: Turtles

Today is Poetry Monday.  Diane - who has taken over the hosting of  this challenge - and Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings - who supplies us with many of the topics - are also writing wonderful, funny, thought-provoking, ingenious and honestly well written verse. Go and read them!
  Karen of Baking in a Tornado has joined us in this crazy pursuit, and promises us at least a poem a month!
  SpikesBestMate often publishes a nice verse in the comments.
  Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey who has been a faithful participant, is slowly returning to blogging after her husband's passing from this world. Let's continue to send warm thoughts, good energy, and lots of prayers her way, now that her mum's health is in need of a prayer too. But still we dare hope that she will join Poetry Monday again.

For today's topic, Turtles, a nonsensical dialogue between a Flatlander, F, and his guest, G.


G: How is the Earth upheld in its place?
     How does it hang suspended in space?

F: It stands on four elephants mighty and great
    Created for this, for so is their fate.

G: And they in their turn, on what do they stand?

F: They stand on a turtle so mighty and grand.

G: And he in his place, how is he upheld?

F: He stands on another turtle's even bigger shell.

G: And under him, there's what? Please do tell.

F: Another one with an even mightier shell.

G: How does it end, this I don't understand?
     Does the lowermost turtle stand on the land?

F: The answer is "Turtles all the way down".

G: But tell me then, how does the last one not drown?

F: My dear, how ignorant can you be?
     Don't you know that turtles live in the sea?


Next Monday the topic is Memorial Day, which I'll skip as usual.
Memorial Day is not celebrated in Denmark, and as I am not one for praising soldiers or war efforts in general, no poeming will happen.

Words for Wednesday - May 18 ...

This Wednesday WiseWebWoman gave us following words:
Withdrawal - Pollution - Embrace - Prosecution - Year - Represent - Cottage - Overwhelm
And a photo

And this is a The more, the merrier kind of endeavour, so Please, remember to follow the links, go and read other peoples' stories.
And please leave a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction, feedback and encouragement.
We ALL need encouragement.


I am continuing the story of the mysterious examination in transformation. I used a couple of the prompts, but then the story took off. Bits and pieces are missing. This whole chapter is in for a solid re-write before making it into the book. But as I can't just leave out a bit of the story, here you are:

With Susan's withdrawal to the library it became clear to the other apprentices that just watching Terje solving the puzzle was not going to help them find out what was the answer to the many questions.
They slowly drifted back to the two pushed together tables, where Knud had emptied the green bag. Knud picked up the strange hollow stone, Hilde had dropped and examined it.
"This might be an opal," he said. "I once read about them, they are formed inside rocks, from silica, I think, and the pretty colours come from pollution with other substances such as iron or copper. I might be off to the library as well." Knud left, clutching the stone.
Veronika picked up the two leaves, they were long and slender. She sniffed them. "Wow what a smell! And they have that exact waxy green colour of the crayon we always fought over in the lower grades. I wonder what tree they came from, and if they have any healing or magical properties. I think I might be off to the library as well."
Hilde looked at her and Rósa, Josta and Marja laughed at her words.
"What's left now?" Hilde said, "a strange wooden thingy and some flowers."
"Those are the same as in the puzzle, Marja said. I think they are jasmine. They look like the one on mother's teabags."
"You are right, Marja" her sister Josta said, "I was sure I had seen such a flower before. That's it."

...

Susan, Knud and Veronika returned laden with books form the library. All of them books on Australia, Animals of Australia, Australian gemmology, Marsupials and Mammals, Healing herbs and magic spices, secrets of the Australian bushes, and many other titles.

"I found that animal, Susan said triumphantly. "It's NOT a joke, but a real live animal. It's called the  duck-billed platypus, and it had grown up researchers thinking them a joke, or the aborigines pulling their leg as well. It is odd all the way through. It is an egg-laying mammal, it builds nests of mud and incubates like a bird. It gives milk to the babies by just exuding milk through fissures in the furry skin, no udder or teats. They hunt by electricity like a shark, closing eyes, ears and nose while diving in. And it captures its prey underwater, but eat at the surface. It lives in and out of the water, it's even poisonous as one of the only mammals to be so. And of course they only live in a small part of Australia."

"Australia seems to be our code word," Veronika said. "Those leaves are eucalyptus leaves. I found them in the chapter on koalas in one of the books. Koalas eat them, and they have healing properties for common cold. Also their leaves pick up gold from the underground! I dare bet this is why some texts say they are good for arthritis while other say they do not help."

"You can't tell me gold is a medicine,"   Kalle said. "It's a metal. Metals ain't medicines."
"Oh yes they are," Veronika said. "Gold has been used since forever for rheumatoid arthritis, and old Hippocrates knew about the antibacterial function of silver."
"Gosh! We're turning into a terrible bunch of nerdy know-alls," Kalle said with a deep sigh.
"And I'm loving it!" Veronika said with a big smile.
Kalle threw his pencil at her and the room erupted in a free for all rumpus. Before anyone or anything was hurt or broken the dinner bell rang. They all got to their feet, brushed off knees and elbows, set clothes straight and hurried down into the barn.

... to be continued.

Mor Ugles hævn? Revenge of MommyOwl?

     I slutningen af april fortalte jeg hvordan  ugleparret på UgleTV havde fået deres æg ædt af en mår og mod alle odds var begyndt at ruge igen. Ungerne er nu klækkede, der er to eller tre, og Uglefar bringer bytte i massevis til reden, hvor det ligger stablet op og venter.
     I dag så det sådan ud.

--- 🦉 ---

  Late in April I told of how the  owls in OwlTV had their eggs eaten by a marten, and how they in spite of all expectations began brooding again. The owlets have now hatched, two or three of them, and DaddyOwl is diligently brining home prey for MommyOwl and the owlets. The surplus of prey lies in the nest.
  Look at this.

Er det en mår ude til venstre?  --  Is it a marten to the left?

Words for Wednesday - May 11

  Once again I publish half a bit Tuesday evening to clear the shelves for tomorrow's Words.

  I used exactly one word from last Wednesday's batch: White.

  For May 11 we were given these words: white, painter, courtesy, recommendation, neighbour, disagree, traffic, ambition, conference, and healthy. And this charming lighthouse.




"Now shouldn't we try and solve the puzzle?" Anna asked, juggling her piece and jumping from foot to foot. "I have some of a white flower, some petals, that is.
They all placed their pieces at the table. Anna's flower petal fit in with Terje's piece, Knud's red jewel fit with Kirstin's piece featuring a bit of a multicoloured thing, maybe a ainbow. Susan and Hilde's ears clearly came from the same animal, a koala most probably, but some pieces were missing, and they were not equally thick.

"A puzzle with only eleven pieces is not much," Josta said. he looked at his piece, more of the koala, he was sure,  and then to the items at the table. "There's one more of them notes. Susan you read it!"
Susan gingerly unfolded the note, ready to throw it far away at the first sign of spontaneous combustion. She read aloud:

"Eleven pieces to a puzzle.
Exercise your magic muscle.
To make the pieces fit,
Try thinking, just a bit!"

Susan threw the paper across the room, but it did not burn, instead it turned into a huge drop of water, drenching Terje, who tried to catch it.
"Ugh!" he exclaimed.
"Fire, water," Rosa said what's next?
"Earth or air," Knud said.
"Earth is here," Hilde said reaching for the stone.  
"It's too light for it's size," she said amazed.
"Shake it? Is it hollow?" Knud suggested. Hilde shook the tone, and everybody heard the muted, rattling sound.
"Hollow indeed," Hilde said.
"We need to find out more about those carved figurines too," Susan said, still intrigued over the composite animal.
"And do something about the missing pieces. And why are the pieces we do have, not the same thickness? That's a bit stupid."
"Maybe there's more inside," Kirstin said. She turned her piece, featuring blue water and yellow sand over and over again, her black curls keeping time to the turning of the piece. "No, there's more underneath. It's a stack of pieces, actually!" She now held two pieces in each of her hands.
Soon all the apprentices were peeling off puzzle pieces and they ended up with 72 wafer thin pieces.
"I love jigsaw puzzles! Let me have a go!" Surprisingly this was Terje, the big, slow Swede. He gathered in all the pieces, carefully and started sorting them, and almost by themselves the pieces began attaching to one another.
"Do, what you're best at,"  Knud said. "It seems Terje is best at puzzles.What do the rest of us do?"

"I'm off for the library," Susan said. "The koala is an Australian animal, Kalle told us. And I'll try and see if a book can help me find out about that puzzled-together animal as well."
"Good thinking," Hilde said.  "Off you go!"

... to be continued, hopefully tomorrow, and hopefully with more of the Words.

Tirsdagstips :: Muslingeskaller og knogler

Tuesday Tips - Shells and bones

I Uglebo er vi samlere. Går vi tur på stranden, finder fine sten, vandslebne glasskår, fine muslingeskaller og mange andre spændende ting vej ned i vore lommer. Går vi i skoven, er det kogler, planter og fjer, der kommer med hjem. Og når vi spiser, vil vi gerne gemme fine knogler og muslingeskaller og krabbekløer og, og, og.
     Problemet med mange af de fine ting, er at de ikke er så lækre at have liggende: Planter visner, men knogler og ting fra fisk og skaldyr lugter! Vi har prøvet at lægge dem i blød - det stinker bare endnu mere, i en myretue - men så kommer der en fugl eller en ræv og napper dem, ude i solen - men så mister de farverne.
     Forleden dag spiste vi muslinger, de fleste var blåmuslinger, men der var nogle, der var meget flotte imellem. Måske er det også blåmuslinger? I hvert fald kom Uglemor i tanker om noget, hun engang havde læst. Knoglesmede - eller hvad de nu hedder, dem der laver ting af ben og horn - gav deres knogler en tur i opvaskemaskinen. Det måtte testes. Vi placerede en fin, stor muslingeskal under en ske, der kunne holde fast på den. Og så ventede vi til næste morgen.
     Muslingeskallen var fin, og selv Uglemors følsomme næb opfangede ikke den mindste lugt. Succes!

Så hvis du ligesom Uglemor og Ugleungerne ind i mellem gerne vil gemme en flot muslingeskal eller krabbeklo, eller måske prøve at lave noget ud af knoglerne fra aftensmaden, så er opvaskemaskinen din ven!

Friskopvasket muslingeskal - Shell fresh from the dishwasher.

In The Owlery we are collectors. When we go to the beach, stones, sea glass, shells and many other interesting things find their way into our pockets. When we go to the woods, it's pine cones, plants and feathers we bring home. And when we eat, we would sometimes like to save some of the bones, shells, crab claws, or, or, or ...
     The problem with many of the fine things is that they're not so delicious after a few days. Plants wither, but bones and seafood things smell! We've tried soaking them - it just stinks even more; putting them near an anthill - then a bird or a fox comes and grabs them; placing them out in the sun - but then they lose their colour.
     The other day we ate mussels, most of them were blue mussels, but there were some very nice ones in between. Maybe they are blue mussels too? Anyway, MotherOwl remembered something she had read once. Bone smiths - or whatever they're called, the ones who make things out of bones and horns - gave their bones a run in the dishwasher. It had to be tested. We placed one of the different shell under a spoon to hold it down. And then we waited until the next morning.
     The mussel shell was fine, and not even MotherOwl's sensitive beak picked up the slightest smell. Success!

So if like MotherOwl and the Owlets you'd like to save some shells, or claws or try making something out of old bones from your dinner, the dishwasher is your ally!

Nyt fra ugleTV - VIDEO - News from the Livestream Owl's nest

Poetry Monday :: Purple for Peace

Because it's Poetry Monday today.  Diane - who has taken over the hosting of  this challenge - and Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings - who supplies us with many of the topics - are also writing wonderful, funny, thought-provoking, ingenious and honestly well written verse. Go and read them!
  Karen of Baking in a Tornado has joined us in this crazy pursuit, and promises us at least a poem a month!
  SpikesBestMate often publishes a nice verse in the comments.
  Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey who has been a faithful participant, is slowly returning to blogging after her husband's passing from this world. Let's continue to send warm thoughts, good energy, and lots of prayers her way, now her mum needs a serious prayer too. But still we dare hope that she will join Poetry Monday again.

Today I present one of my lilting verses.
Alliterations, near-rhymes.
Lilting rhytms and times.
Peruse at your pleasure!

Purple for peace? Why purple and not pink?
I'd prefer other colours. Now, please let me think:

 White for peace: Newfallen snow with no trace of blood, 
 Like a blank paper, a newly lit candle                                

Blue for peace: The ocean in moonlight, skies serene,
flowers, poetry, Our Lady's mantle.

Green for peace. All growing things, leaf and bud,
but as the frog sings: "It's not easy being green."

 But for me peace is yellow. Please let me be done:  
 A canola field glowing under the sun,                      
 pungent smell of honey, sounds of busy bees.          
 this is peace!                                                             

 - - - - -

Next  Monday's topic: Turtles.

NOTE: I found out about the alien connexion of Purple for peace, before publishing this post, but after writing the poem, and I found no way to include it without writing a whole new poem.

Sunday Selection :: Hør -- 💠 -- Flax

I dag skal vi se nærmere på mit 1 ㎡ hørbed.

-- 💠 -- 💠 --

Today ... taking a closer look at my square metre flax.

     Ups, skiltet er blæst væk. Hønsene arbejder stadig på bedet til venstre, mens jeg er blevet færdig med det her bed og har nået et godt stykke af det til højre.
     Her i bedet gror der også Hopi-farve-solsikker, der burde farve lilla. Til højre har jeg sat mine overskuds-tomater ud. Rabarberbladene skal holde ukrudtet væk, måske. 
     Vi må tættere på.

-- 💠 -- 💠 --

  Ohh, my sign has blown off. The chicken are still at work in the next bed, while I'm digging through tis one and the one to the right.
  The sunflowers are Hopi dye sunflowers, supposed to dye purple. To the right the "surplus-tomatoes" have been planted out. The rhubarb leaves are an anti-weed protection.
  Let's get closer.

Noget er der spiret frem. De stikkende grene har holdt fugle, duer og katte på afstand.
Vi må tættere på.

--- 💠 ---

It looks like something has sprouted. The prickly branches has kept off birds, doves oand cats.
Let's have an even closer look.

Det ser fint ud, ikke også. Nu håber jeg søreme bare, det er hør og ikke ukrudt.

-- 💠 -- 💠 --

This looks fine. Now I fervently hope this is actually flax and not some weed.

Nyt på Ugle-TV -- News from Owl-Livestream

Mindst et af æggne på Ugle-TV er klækket i dag!
Skærmdump følger, når jeg får et godt et.
I dagens anledning delte vi en UgleØl.

Uglemor bliver nok aldrig nogen fan af øl, Men Skribenten, Hvalrossen og to af Ugleungerne kunne godt lide den - så får jeg flasken 😉

--- 🦉🥚🥚🥚 ---

At least one of the eggs in the livestream Owls' nest has hatched.
I'll post screenshots, when I succeed in getting any!
We celebrated by sharing an OwlBeer.

No MotherOwl is no fan of beer, but The Writer, The Walrus and two of the Owlets did like it. And I get to have the bottle 😉

Fredagsfrustrationer - e-Boks Plus - Now also in English

RANT concerning Danish digital mail from hospitals, tax and other official places.
But now after an update, a revision, call it what you like, it does not work as I thought it was intended. The worst thing is that it does indeed works as intended. 
UPDATED with text in English after I tried Google translate - sorry to be so tardy - please scroll down.

--- 📧 ---

Vi har en digital postkasse, e-Boks, der skulle sørge for let og samlet adgang til al kommunikation med det offentlige. Nu, den 21. marts, er den så blevet til e-Boks Plus.
     Jeg havde været til mammografi en gang i februar - det er alle danske hunkønsvæsener med jævne mellemrum, jo.
    Så jeg ventede på besked ... midt i marts kom der så et e-brev: "Der er besked i din e-Boks fra Region Hovedstaden." Jeg fandt al mit elektroniske tingel-tangel frem og loggede ind til en pæn besked om at svaret desværre var blevet forsinket, pga syge og travle læger. Nåh, ja. Læger bliver jo også syge, så jeg venter da bare.
     Jeg ventede længe ... meget længe.
     Så først i maj var der igen besked i min indbakke. Denne gang stod der: "Du har fået ny digital post fra Aarhus universitet." Aarhus universitet? Gad vide, hvad de vil mig ... forhåbentlig er der ikke noget helt galt? Forundret gravede jeg igen al det elektroniske isenkram frem og ... ta-daaa: en spørgeskemaundersøgelse om Covid-19.
     Nu jeg var logget ind, så jeg at der også var et svar fra Region Hovedstaden. Det havde faktisk ligget der i næsten fjorten dage. Heldigvis lød svaret: Intet mistænkeligt fundet.

På e-Boks' hjemmeside står der når man logger ind:

Ny digital postkasse?

Offentlig Digital Post vises nu i flere postkasser. Den gode nyhed er, at du ikke behøver en ny postkasse. Du kan fortsætte i e-Boks, som du plejer. Læs mere om den nye løsning her.

Problemer med at se post fra det offentlige i e-Boks appen? Få hjælp hos vores brugersupport. (Ikke-virksomme links).

Hvis man trykker på Læs mere står der:

Er du i tvivl om, at du skal have en ny digital postkasse?

Den 21. marts går det offentlige i luften med en ny Digital Post-løsning, og den offentlige post bliver nu tilgængelig gennem flere postkasser. Den gode nyhed er, at du kan fortsætte med e-Boks, som du plejer.

Det havde jeg læst, flere gange endda, og forstået sådan at jeg ikke skulle foretage mig noget, for fortsat at få post fra det offentlige i e-Boksen - og naturligvis en e-mail notifikation, når der var noget nyt.

Men hvorfor havde jeg så ikke fået besked om at svaret på undersøgelsen lå i min e-Boks? Havde jeg gjort noget galt i forbindelse med al rodet med MitID, mon? Det måtte jeg hellere se at få opklaret, næste gang kunne det jo være noget virkelig vigtigt!
Fluks skrev jeg derfor til e-Boks-support og fik dette ret forbløffende svar:

"Da e-Boks ikke længere er formidler af offentlig post sender vi heller ikke adviseringer ud ang. denne post.

Du skal gå ind på borger.dk og taste din e-mail og telefonnummer ind hos dem og så vil du fremover få besked fra digitaliseringsstyrelsen ang. post fra det offentlige.
Vi sender stadig ang post fra virksomheder."

Javel ja. Jeg levede i den vildfarelse, at e-Boksen stadigvæk primært var til for at sikre en let, ubesværet og sikker digital kommunikation mellem borgerne og det offentlige. Men det var åbenbart ikke længere tilfældet.

Inde på e-Boksen ledte jeg rundt, og fandt ud af, at godt nok kunne man tilmelde sig breve fra det offentlige, men man kunne altså ikke rigtigt framelde sig breve fra "virksomheder".
     Jeg loggede ud igen, efter omhyggeligt at have sagt "Nej tak" til post fra det offentlige via e-Boks.
     Så loggede jeg ind på Borger.dk, hvor det offentliges post nu er samlet, og sagde "Ja tak" til at få et e-brev fra dem, hver gang der er post fra hospitalet, kommunen, skattevæsenet osv.
     Breve fra e-Boks bliver for fremtiden via et filter i min indbakke markeret som læst og puttet i en underfolder for sig selv. Så kan "virksomhederne" hygge sig dér.

--- 📧 ---

In Denmark we have a digital mailbox, e-Boks, which should provide easy and secure access to all communication with "all of Denmark's municipalities, regions and state authorities" (From their home page). Now, on 21 March, it has turned into e-Boks Plus.
     I had a mammogram in February - all Danish females of the relevant age group have them from time to time.
    So I waited for the results ... In mid-March, an e-mail arrived: "There is a message in your e-Box from the Capital Region." (Denmark is split in 5 regions for hospitals, roads etc.). I got out all my electronic stuff and logged in to a nice message saying that the reply had unfortunately been delayed, due to sick and busy doctors. Oh, well, doctors get sick too, so I'll just wait.
     I waited a long time ... very long.
     So it wasn't until May that another message arrived in my inbox. This time it said: "There's a message in your e-Box from Aarhus University." Aarhus University? I wonder what they want ... hopefully there's nothing wrong? Puzzled I dug out all the electronic stuff once again and ... ta-daaa: a questionnaire about Covid-19.
     While I was logged in I saw that I had mail from the Capital Region as well. It had been sitting there for almost a fortnight. Fortunately, the answer was: nothing suspicious found.

On the e-Boks website, when you log in, it says:

New digital mailbox?

Official Digital Post now appears in several mailboxes. The good news is that you don't need a new mailbox. You can continue in e-Boks as usual. Read more about the new solution here.

Problems viewing public mail in the e-Boks app? Get help from our user support (non-working links).

If you click Read more it says:

Not sure if you need a new digital mailbox?

On 21 March, the public sector will go live with a new Digital Post solution, and official mail will now be accessible through multiple mailboxes. The good news is that you can continue using e-Boks as usual.

I had read that, several times even, and understood it to mean that I didn't have to do anything to continue getting mail from the public sector in e-Box - and of course an email notification when they sent something new.

But why hadn't I been notified about the mammogram resulsts? Had I done something wrong with all my messing around getting MitID working, I wondered? I'd better get that sorted out, next time it could be something really important! I promptly wrote e-Boks support and got this rather astonishing reply:

"As e-Boks is no longer a public mail service, we do not send out alerts for this mail.
Please go to borger.dk and enter your e-mail and phone number and you will receive a message from the Danish Digitisation Agency. mail from the public sector.
We will still send mail from companies."

I see. I thought that the e-Box was primarily there to ensure easy and secure digital communication between citizens and the public sector. But apparently that was no longer the case.

I searched the e-Box platform and found out that while you could - as told - sign up for letters from "municipalities, regions and state authorities", you couldn't really unsubscribe from "companies".
     I logged out again, after carefully saying "No thanks" to mail from municipalities, regions,  and state authorities via e-Boks.
     Then I logged on to Borger.dk, where the public sector's mail is now primarily kept (e-Boks is only a secondary access point), and said "Yes, thank you" to receiving an e-letter from them every time there is mail from municipalities, regions, state authorities, and suchlike.
     In future, letters from e-Boks will be marked as read via a filter in my inbox and sorted into a subfolder of their own. Then the "companies" can have fun in one another's company down there. 

--- 📧 ---

Allernederst fandt jeg et bud på svaret om, hvorfor:
"e-Boks blev etableret i 2001 og er ejet af Nets og PostNord."
Nets er dem, der står bag det uduelige MitID, og ikke formår at forklare, hvad de gør eller hvad man selv skal gøre, når det ikke virker, ud over at give et standardsvar.
PostNord er dem, der er skyld i at et almindeligt brev nu tager mindst fem hverdage om at nå fra afsender til modtager, har sat taksterne op og forringet deres service fra dag et.

Den nye, vidunderlige e-Boks' forside.Man kan faktisk se, hvem det er til gavn for på dette billede

The new, wonderful digital mail box. From this picture you can see, who is benefitting from it (banks and insurance companies' logos all over).

Catch-up -- Words for Wednesday.

Ouch, it's almost a month ago since I last wrote anything for Words for Wednesday. I have written something, using some of the J words from Wisewebwoman's first batch of words, and even a few of Messymimi's older ones. I'd better just publish this before I (hopefully) continue with today's batch, which can be found HERE.

WWW's J words from May 4:
Jewel
Jigsaw
Jerboa
Jasmine (not the word, but the flower is there)
Jerrican
Jump
Jumbo
Jellyfish

Messymimi's from April 27: 
Behaviour
Comfortable
Bubble
Pluck
Share
Ton
Bear
Conversation
Line
Action
Quality
Carrot

"Now listen everybody!" Jon said. This was totally not necessary as everybody were already all ears. He held up four bags, one red, one yellow, one blue and one green. "In these bags there's one jigsaw piece for each of you apprentices. When I'm done talking, one from each team come forth and get their bag. Then you go to your classroom and there you each pick a jigsaw piece from the bag. In the bags you'll find seemingly random objects as well. You'll have to think, you'll have to work together, to do your best and to do what you're best at to solve the riddle and transform the right things into what's relevant for the completion of the task. You'll have until tomorrow just before lunch to complete the task. Tents have been put up in the meadows, and all your parents have been informed. No outside help allowed, don't ask the teachers. Don't send out letters - we'll know. And don't even think of asking the Nisser for help. Now Sif, Helge, Ingrid and Knud, come here and get the bags." Sif got the yellow bag, Helge the blue one, Ingrid purple and Knud the green one. The green team all followed Knud up the stairs and into their room. "Why was Knud chosen?" Hilde asked as soon as  the door closed behind her, "I'm better at transformation than he is."
"So are most of you," Knud answered. "But I'm the oldest of the green team, as is Sif, Helge, and Ingrid of their teams."
"I wonder if that's a clue," Kirstin said, jumping up and almost overturning table where Knud had placed the bag. "Sorry," she said, shaking her head so that all her black curls began dancing. "It just so exiting. Look, there's a piece of paper tied to the drawstring. Susan, you read it aloud. Jon told us to do what we're best at."
Susan smiled and carefully plucked the paper from the string. The paper unfolded and letters grew on it. Susan read: "Congratulations. You began the right way. Now all in order of descending age pick a jigsaw piece from the bag without looking. But first; place this paper at an empty table."  Susan quickly placed the paper at the table near the window. The paper folded itself together, shrivelled up and caught fire. "Oof!" Susan said and jumped away from the table with the burning paper.
"You begin, Knud" Hilde said, "you're the oldest."
"I know," Knud said placatingly and put his hand into the bag. He did not say a word, but his face contorted. He pulled his hand back out of the bag and looked at the piece. I featured half a red jewel.
"Terje, you're next!" Hilde said.
"Yes," Terje said and without further ado jammed his hand into the bag. "Yuck!" he said and pulled out his hand very fast, but clutching a piece too. It had some white petals on it.
"And now it's my turn!" Hilde said and with a smirch thrust her hand into the bag. Her smile diminished and turned to a frown, but she too pulled a jigsaw piece from the green bag.
She pulled herself together and looked at her hand. Her piece shoved like the others' a green backside she turned it over and looked at the fluffy ear on her piece.
"It's a teddy bear!" Kirstin said.
"No, a koala, I think." Kalle said, his blond hair almost glowing in a stray ray of sun.
"Now who's next?" Hilde asked. "Most of us are 12  just like me, But I was sure I was the oldest, as I'm going to turn 13 in a few days." 
 My birthday is in November, Veronika said.
"Oh, then I'm older, than you," Susan said. "My birthday is September 23."
"Mine is January first," Rósa said.
"That's a cool day," Kalle said, "And exactly a month before mine."
"Josta?" Hilde said and looked quizzically at the younger of the Birch sisters.
"March 23, I'm the youngest."
"Ooh!" Kirstin said, "same day as me, only you're a year older than me, no two years, I'll turn 11 the day you turn 13."
"And I won't turn 11 until almost a year from now. June 14." Marja said.
"Then you're the youngest of us," Anna said. "I was born in December, also the 14th."
Susan, your turn!" Hilde said, and Susan put her hand into the green bag. The fabric was soft and sleek, cool to the touch, but inside it ... it felt like cold porridge or mashed jellyfish. Cold, slimy and clinging. Susan's questing fingers touched an oblong object, a round stone maybe a jumbo-marble, and something wooden and slim before they finally closed upon a jigsaw piece. She clasped it and as fast as possible pulled her hand out from the bag. She looked at her hand. It looked normal, clean, or as clean as it had been when she put it into the bag. She slowly turned her hand over. Not a trace of the slimy substance adhered to it. Her jigsaw piece also had an ear on the front side.
"Does it fit Hilde's piece?" Kalle asked.
"Not now," Hilde said impatiently, "let's all get a piece before we try to fit them together."
First Veronika, then Rósa and after her Kalle, Josta, Kirstin, Anna and Marja all put their hands into the bags, and with varying expressions of displeasure pulled a jigsaw piece out of the bag.  
"What was in that bag?" Marja asked. "It was yucky!"
"Yes it was like mashed jellyfish or cold porridge," Susan said.
"More like goo or old glue," Kalle said. "Like what you use when sticking up wallpaper."
"Cold, but fresh cow pies!" Hilde said. "But no smell, and nothing clings to our hands. I bet it's some magic. Knud, please shake out what's left in the bag. Jon said there was more in it."
Knud shook the bag, and first came a small wooden object formed almost like a letter V, but with round edges and smooth, rounded ends, then a stone, looking a bi like a giant marble, all brownish grey but not totally smooth like a marble. A couple of slender, long leaves followed and then two small, carved statues. Susan picked up one of them. "Someone is making fun of us!" she said. "Look at this one. I never saw such an animal. It has a bill like Donald Duck, a tail like a beaver, giant paws and a body that's otter-like."  
Hilde had picked up the other statue,"It's the one with the ears from your piece," Kalle said. I told you it was a Koala!"
"A koala?" Marja asked. "What is that?"
"It's an animal living in trees in Australia," Kalle said, "It's a marsupial, like the kangaroos and they are totally cool and eat loads of leaves."

... to be continued - I hope.

Poetry Monday :: Music Works now, but still No Poetry

SORRY

  I committed the unforgivable error of reading others poems before writing my own. In this case Messymimi's genius poem on ... go read for yourself!
  This is why you'll have no poem for me this Monday. If something should pop up anyway, I'll update this post.

  As a consolation this drawing. Yes I have posted it before, but I hope you still like it. It's a depiction of my reaction when listening to my son playing Impromptu in Ges-dur by Schubert on the piano (notice the smile). All the flats have fallen off the staff, but the notes are the right ones ;)
  And now you should be able to listen to the music by following my link.

 Diane - who has taken over the hosting of  this challenge - also writes wonderful, funny, thought-provoking, ingenious and honestly well written verse. Go and read them!
  Karen of Baking in a Tornado has joined us in this crazy pursuit, and promises us at least a poem a month!
  SpikesBestMate often publishes a nice verse in the comments.
  Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey who has been a faithful participant, is slowly returning to blogging after her husband's passing from this world. Let's continue to send warm thoughts, good energy, and lots of prayers her way, now her mum needs a serious prayer too. But still we dare hope that she will join Poetry Monday again.

Sunday Selection -- Disorderly Edition

     Ja, det er stadig søndag, en god time endnu.
     Vilde haver! Lad haven være rodet! Plant for bier og sommerfugle. Alt det har Uglemor gjort i mere end tyve år. Det er sjovt pludselig at være moderne, og se de blomster og planter, jeg med stort besvær har skaffet, fundet frø til i afsides hjørner af skove og internet, sået og passet, pludselig være til salg i det lokale supermarked.
     Lad os kigge på nogle vilde hjørner.

--- 🌿 -- 🥬 -- 🍃 -- 🍂 -- 🌸 -- 🌼 -- 🥀 -- 🌻 -- ⛈ -- 🌈 ---

It's still Sunday here!
  Wild gardens, let some disorder live in he corners, plant for butterflies and wild bees. All this MotherOwl has been doing for over 20 years. It's fun all of a sudden to be in, and to find the plants I often at great expense have found in strange corners of woods and Webs, sown, nurtured and grown, suddenly for sale in the local supermarket.
  Let's look at some wild corners.

Hvad laver jeg dog her? Slip mig fri!! En kylling i et busstoppested.
What am I doing here! Let me out!!! A chicken in our bus stop.

Birketræet på stationen lever endnu.
The birch tree at the station is still alive.

Bronzefennikel i blomsterbedet - den er da flot!
Bronze fennel growing with the flowers. It is pretty isn't it?

Bispehue slås med skvalderkålen, dele af et gammelt birketræ, en frøsø med andemad og iris og en gryde fuld af biologisk aktivt vand til bierne.
Pink Bishop's hat fighting the ground elder, pieces of an old birch tree, a pond with duckweeds and irises and an old pot with stale water for the bees.

Stikkelsbærrene blomstrer og jeg hepper på humlebierne.
Gooseberries blossoming - I'm cheering on the bumblebees.

Min stenfrø er overlevet og blomstrer blåt hos Haveuglen.
The lithospermum survived the winter, and is now flowering in a pretty blue, making GardenOwl happy

Og jordbærrene, som jeg har flyttet, blomstrer. Så er der arbejde til bierne.
The strawberries have been moved, but they are also flowering - work for the bees.

Ramsløgene blomstrer. Her er også vildt, syreplanter, guldnælder, mælkebøtter, og violer.
The ramsons are flowering. This is also a bit disorderly with sorrel, yellow archangel, dandelions and violets.

Guldnælde fra skovene omkring os og endnu en gammel gren, denne gang fra et æbletræ.
Yellow archangel, originally from the woods, and yet another old branch. This time from an apple tree.

Krydderurtedag - Herb Day

     Tak til Messymimi for at fortælle om den årlige krydderurtedag, der altid er den 1. lørdag i maj, i år 7. maj, altså i dag. Jeg kan ikke rigtig finde nogen der fejrer den her i landet. Men det er da en god undskyldning til at vise mine nylugede urtebede frem.

--- 🌿 ---

  Thanks to Messymimi for telling me that today, the first Saturday of May, is International Herb Day.  I can't find anybody celebrating this day in Denmark, but then it's as good an excuse as any to show off my newly weeded herb beds.

Alt det andet - Everything else

Løvstikke og ukrudt! - Lovage and weeds!

Og så er der lige mynten. Den har jeg ikke fået luget endnu, så den må komme senere.

--- 🌿 ---

And then there's the mint. It has not yet been weeded. I'll have to show it off later.

En kvadratmeter hør - 💠 - One Square Metre Flax

De nordiske håndarbejdsforeninger har sat et initiativ i gang med at dyrke en kvadratmeter hør. De siger selvfølgelig en masse om bæredygtighed og sådan, men jeg betragter det mere som en øjenåbner, der skal lære os hvor meget arbejde der ligger bag en T-shirt; og så en bestræbelse for at holde liv i de gamle håndværk.
     Lige meget hvad, jeg meldte mig til. Og fik et hør-kit sendt med posten. Kittet består af 10 g hørfrø, en historie om hørdyrkning, en logbog og et skilt.

--- 💠 ---

The Nordic Crafting Associations have started an initiative called One Square Metre Flax / 1 sq m flax. They of course say a lot about sustainability and so on, but I like to see it as an endeavour to make us aware just how much work one T-shirt represents, and to revive, or keep alive the old skills.
No matter what I signed up, and received a packet in the mail.  It contained 10 grams of flax seeds, a diary, a story about a flax-growing lady, and a sign for the square metre.

-- 💠 -- 💠 --

Jeg læste historien, og forstod at det var vigtigt med ukrudtsfri jord for hør at gro i.

--- 💠 ---

I read through the story, and grasped the importance of having weed free soil for the flax to grow well.

-- 💠 -- 💠 --

Men det bed, jeg havde tænkt mig at bruge til en kvadratmeter hør, så sådan her ud. Jeg har brug for hjælp!

--- 💠 ---

But the bed, I had intended for my square metre looked like this. I needed help!

Heldigvis har jeg seks hjælpere, der hellere end gerne vil hjælpe mig med at få alt det grønne væk. Og et par Ugleunger, der kan overtales til at hjælpe med at flytte dem.

--- 💠 ---

But as luck will have it, I have six willing helpers, and some Owlets who can be bribed to help me move said helpers.


Da hønsene havde gjort deres del af arbejdet og atter var i sikkerhed i hønsegården, tog jeg fat. Først med en greb. Det var godt nok hårdt!

--- 💠 ---

When the hens had done their part, and were back in their yard, I took a garden fork and began the hard work.

Næste dag tog jeg så fat med en håndkultivator. Der var godt nok mange rødder. De ligger til venstre for bedet på billedet her.

--- 💠 ---

What a lot of roots! I used a small hand cultivator. All the roots lie to the left in this photo.

Og så blev de 10 g hørfrø sået. De meget stikkende grene er en vildrose. De skal holde fugle, duer og katte væk.

--- 💠 ---

Then I sowed the 10 grams of flax seeds. The purpose of the thorny branches, a wild rose, is to keep off birds, doves and cats.

Så håber vi bare på regn og sol i rette mængder. Og husker at luge.

--- 💠 ---

Now to hope for the right amounts of sunshine and rain. And remember to weed!

Comments marked as Spam - Re-updated with some good News!

During the A - Z Challenge some new people commented at my blog. This seemingly set Blogger off. Now randomly comments are being marked as spam. And where before I just hat to go to the "Spam folder" to release the comments from Limbo, I now have to go to the comments list. mouse over each and every comment, look for a check-mark, click it and agree to publishing the comment.
I sure hope this idiocy ends soon, and I apology to all A - Z participants I have not revisited, or whose comments I have not freed from their Limbo-state.

Let me show you. I hope that you - Elephant's Child, Kristin and others are OK with being showcased here, else please holler!

On first glance everything looks normal:

But on mouse over this can be seen:

You then have to hover over the check-mark. The text in the black box says: "Not spam"

  When clicking the black box, an extra box appears, asking "Is this not spam?" You can then choose Publish (Udgiv) to make the comment appear on your blog.

I found more than ten comments put in quarantine. I just hope I found them all.



UPDATE
This seems to be actually just a new feature of Bloggers. Here's how to find all the quarantined comments. Thanks to Messymimi for showing me this simpler way!
Go to Comments (Knommentarer in Danish). Click the arrow inside the red circle.

A drop down menu appears. I have three comments mared as spam:

Click on the line with
Spam    3

Then check the box in the red circle.

Hover over the checkmark - it says"Mark these comments as not-spam and make them public." Click the checkmark. 

Are you sure? If yes, click Publish (Udgiv).

Hooray! No spam here!

Furthermore it seems that they fixed the picture insert options. Pictures now at least most of the time insert at the cursor

and not at the end of the post! Hooray!
EDIT: Place the cursor in the text and the picture ends up there. Place the cursor at an empty line, and the picture ends up at the end of the post.

May 4 - Words for Wednesday and IWSG

This month Wisewebwoman was going to provide the prompts on her blog - but she is on a writing break and has sent the first week's prompts to Elephant's Child. The prompts will be there for the month, whether supplied by Wisewebwoman or Elephant's Child.

For today we were given:

Jewel
Jigsaw
Jerboa (Ørkenspringmus)
Jasmine
Jerrican (Reservedunk)
Jump
Jumbo (very big)
Jellyfish

Use some or all and add another J word of your own if you like. Have fun.

I'm going to go easy on myself and play A- Z Challenge for one more day. Let me see if I can put in more of the J words given here and maybe even some of Messyminmi's words from last Wednesday?  Here they are, and I used one!
I promise to return to the Unicorn Farm and my writings - soon!

Behaviour
Comfortable
Bubble
Pluck
Share
Ton
     and/ or
Bear
Conversation
Line
Action
Quality
Carrot

J is for Juglans regia, the common Walnut.

When we moved into our house, The Owlery, four trees grew in the garden: Two big birch trees, which were felled as quickly as MotherOwl could wield an axe and a saw, as she suffers from birch pollen allergy - ACHOO! We had a friend with a chainsaw and he came and cut down the de-branded boles later that summer.

A spruce tree, taller than the house, grew next to the house, making the rooms very dark during our first winter. Next Christmas we used the top for our tree, and slowly lobbed off the branches to protect delicate greenery form the terrible frosts we had that year. Our chainsaw wielding friend returned next summer.

Then there was a big apple tree. All the Owls were disappointed when we found out that the apples were inedible. The tree is good for climbing, so although its branches are slowly being et up by fungus, it is still alive. The Owlets love it and the Writer spend several days a year pruning and cutting for our safety.
The first thing we planted was a walnut tree. It grew big before it gave any nuts, lots of nuts, lots of inedible nuts, because it had some disease making the nuts black and inedible. Then in 2011 we bought two new trees from a man specialized in walnut trees for Danish gardens. Now we eat lots of fresh and delicious walnuts every autumn, and we share happily with the squirrels.
The old tree was cut down - using a hand saw - and was slowly falling to pieces.

The other day The Writer and MotherOwl agreed that it was time for the tree to move. It was so decomposed, that placing a hand on it made it go back and forth, just like a loose tooth.
MotherOwl extracted the tree, and placed it by the pond for all the teensy-weensies to eat.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

May 4 question: It's the best of times; it's the worst of times. What are your writer highs (the good times)? And what are your writer lows (the crappy times)??

MotherOwl's answer: Best of times are when the Words for Wednesday just makes my writing juices flow and I can continue my story, often over several instalments / days.
  Worst of times: I know how my story should unfold from here, I know what I want to write, the Words are just what I wanted, but the words just won't come. I sit staring at the monitor, at the blank paper in Word, and plain nothing happens. Nothing helps, not just writing anything including shopping lists, not gardening, not thinking of someone who would like a story; my old trick, as most of my stories in the beginning were told to The Owlets before bedtime. I just have to wait ... and I hate it!