Category Archives: writing
Keeper of the Garden
This used to be a garden
A sunny, happy place
Where someone pruned and planted, with a smile on her face.
I remember Hanna’s patience and all the love she gave
I remember Hanna’s laughter, as I passed and gave a wave.
A gentle rain would fall
The wind would softly blow
And that’s what made the garden a place where things would grow.
Now, the keeper of the garden must rest her weary back
For time has taken over, the weeds are growing fast
She pulls the covers close and dreams of flowers past.
For Hanna
One year later
‘Hjemmet’ means the home
As many of you may already know, I wrote my life story. I was also given the opportunity to publish and so after some long hard consideration, I did.
Last April family and friends traveled with me to the Netherlands to celebrate the launch of Fly Away Home!
From there I was swept into the whirlwind of cyberspace… Tweeting, blogging and trying to promote a book. I had NO idea what I was getting myself into but worked around the clock doing whatever necessary.
To promote the book here in Norway I contacted a Woman’s magazine (called Hjemmet) and asked if they’d be interested in taking photos of my house. They were and did! I blogged all about it, which you can read, here and here and here.
It’s been ten months since the photo shoot and the article was published this week!
At first glance, I was excited… Then I started seeing flaws…
They took forty-two pictures. Eighteen of them made it into the magazine but were not the photos I would have chosen!
The glossy pages make my walls look canary-yellow, instead of the pale yellow they really are.
They left out the best pictures showing the incredible view we have of the water.
Worst of all, I told the photographer no bedroom pictures. One was taken anyway -I was assured it would not appear. It did!
Looking back I have to wonder, why did I publish my story and open my house to the world? A lot of theories come to mind but I truly don’t have one definitive answer.
It’s been quite a year and I’ve experienced many different emotions along the way… Surprise, glory, good fortune, stress, insignificance, embarrassment and maybe even a little regret. But as the Norwegians say… Gjort er gjort, whats done is done.
For those of you who don’t live in Norway, here are the pictures:
‘drøm ved sjøen’ means a dream by the sea
The article mostly talks about the furnishings I’ve collected while living in America, the Netherlands and Norway.
the dreaded bedroom picture
The article also explains how my husband and I met and where we live
And of course the book
Fly Away Home
photo by Martin Brigdale
I’ve hit a milestone today and I’m celebrating with tea. This is my 100th post!
Last year at this time, I had just made the monumental decision to publish my life story. In other words, share the good and reveal the bad. All of it. To-the-entire-world!
If that wasn’t nerve-wracking enough, I was also strongly advised to start a blog. Me? A blog! The thought was terrifying. I was afraid people would show up looking to read great posts, written by an experienced author and instead find me. What would I write about and what would it sound like without an editor to help polish things up?
Obviously I found stuff to write about, this is my 100th post and everyone’s been great in overlooking my bad grammar. Everyone except my daughter Michele, that is…
Stick it out for one year, or one hundred posts, whatever came first. That was the deal I made with myself last April, when starting the blog. But what will I do now? I honestly don’t know.
My biggest dream is to have my book translated to Norwegian and yet I haven’t spent much time working on that. I have one son leaving for college and another who will be a senior in high school next year. I also have three, precious little grandchildren living right up the road and I’d love to spend more time cuddling with them. I hate that I sit at one end of the house and my husband the other, on our computers every night. If there was only more time, or I had more energy.
For now all I can do is thank everyone who’s followed along, stopped by once in a while, and pushed the like button. I’m also giving away a signed copy of my book, Fly Away Home. If you’re interested, pop over and visit Janneke, at DrieCulturen and leave a comment. She writes an interesting blog about growing up in other cultures. Check it out…
win a free copy!
One Truth About Autism and the Sandy Hook Elementary Tragedy
My daughter is five years old. She is in kindergarten. She likes to wear a hat everywhere she goes. As she falls asleep, she gently rubs her blanket with the tips of her fingers. She is afraid of the vacuum. She loves bacon and stealing sips of my coffee. When she's hurt, she'll ask me to kiss her "boo-boo-owie." She's watched "A Bug's Life" so many times, she has the dialogue memorized.
Expat Author: Maggie Myklebust's Memoir Moves Between Norway and New Jersey, Offering Rich, Heartfelt Material
It takes a lot of courage to write about one’s life.
In her memoir Fly Away Home, Maggie Myklebust tells an honest, heartfelt tale about identity, place and belonging.
Maggie begins at the beginning, with her Norwegian relatives, and then moves into the story of her parents, her birth and her girlhood escapades in New Jersey. Fly Away Home shifts between those two crucial settings, both of which she calls home as her life’s journey zigzags back and forth across the ocean and, along the way, twists into something new and unexpected.
I Left My Heart in New Jersey
I'm a Jersey girl, through and through, and while I've been in Oregon for eleven years, and the D.C. area before that, I'm still a Jersey girl. Born and raised there. My dad was raised there. My mom moved there when she was young. I grew up on a tree-lined street in the northern Jersey suburbs, taking trips into New York with my family, loving my town, my neighbors, my life there.
Cause down the Shore every thing’s all right...
I’m here today, sipping a glass of sweet iced tea and ready to give my definition of a real honest to goodness Jersey girl. I’d also like to pay tribute to all those girls like myself, who’s path led them elsewhere. (You know who you are)
Any girl born in the state of New Jersey can call herself a Jersey girl and I won’t argue with that.
The Chicago Marathon–by guest blogger Michele Muth
See that picture there? That’s my name on a HUGE wall of names. Names of people who ran the Chicago Marathon on October 7th. I STILL find it hard to believe that my name is on that wall. That I was one of such a determined group of people just blows me away.
Well, instead of going on and on about the training for the race, I thought I would talk a little more about the race itself.
Book Review
Going Local in Gran Canaria by Matthew Hirtes
Going Local in Gran Canaria is the type of book that would become dog-eared in a traveler’s backpack or read feverishly by an expat moving to the island. It truly is a book that has something for everyone establishing residence or simply visiting. Matthew Hirtes manages to cover everything from starting a business and getting a mortgage to which restaurant to visit on a Saturday night, and how to get there.
The book is peppered with enjoyable stories that others have shared with the author of their personal experiences on the island. It really adds a sense of the island becoming a home, not just a vacation destination. Useful phone numbers, addresses, and websites are included, and are all details that visitors and expats to Gran Canaria so desperately need.
Cover to cover, Going Local is chock-full of everything you need to get started. Hirtes is very effective at taking his vast knowledge of the island and putting it on paper for everyone to enjoy. The first thought I had after reading it was hopping on the next flight, book in hand, to experience everything this wonderful island has to offer.
Available on Amazon
Look Here
I’ve been getting up early lately to read posts and drink tea and thats when I stumbled across this post by Paula Acton. It seems I’ve been tagged in a new game…
The idea of the game is to locate the word ‘look’ in whatever manuscript you have lying around, then post a few previous and following paragraphs around it. Afterwards, invite other authors to do the same.
My “look” comes from chapter 15, in my book Fly Away Home.
My heart began to pound as I looked over at the man I once loved, now sitting behind his desk staring at me with utter detest.
“Where were you this weekend Mag?” he asked vehemently.
“We took the kids to Pennsylvania for the weekend,” I answered smugly.
“Why didn’t you ask me first?” Ask him first, who did he think he was? I thought.
“Because you never ask me when you take the kids. You just do what ever you damn well please! So how does it feel when I do the same?”
“Oh, so you were trying to teach me a lesson. Well, that was a big mistake!” he yelled, and pounded his fist on the desk before continuing on. “Don’t you ever take my kids anywhere, ever again, without asking me first! You got that?”
“Only if you promise to do the same. Things are different now and the sooner you except that, the sooner we can all move on. If you don’t, then be prepared to go to court!”
With one panther-like spring he leapt towards me. Frightened, I turned to run but as I fumbled with the doorknob, I felt a quick hard punch hit me right between my shoulder blades. Unprepared for the blow my knees sagged, the door finally opened, and I escaped without looking back.
___________________
Here are the writers I’m tagging:
