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The hat-day at the museum
By spotogspindel | September 5, 2010
Our local museum had it´s annual open-day yesterday, with a twist. It was a hat-day. So I dressed up, found my best hat, and away we went!
When we got there, we met my friend Nina, who was demonstrating how to decorate candles and making apple-wreaths.
With all the tiny apples falling prematurely off my apple-trees in the wind, this might be a good way to use them after all!
Oh, they warm colors of fall! (Allready?!) Nature is a queen at color-mixing!
Here´s my little wreath, made with the berries from the dog rose. They grow wild around here.
There were other demonstrations as well. The blacksmith was there, offering to pull out teeth for only a dollar! 
In another of the old houses, three girls were making jams and drinks from apples. (Isn´t that blue-color on the door amazing?!)
In yet another house two old ladies were making flatbread, or “lefsa”, which is a sweet version of flatbread. You moisten it, leave it for ten minutes, and serve with butter and sugar (or syrup) and it is SOOO yummy!
Ok, I had to show this one. Isn´t it just supreme? A kid´s high-stool. Made by a prisoner while in jail. I´m captivated by the organic flow in the lines of the carving and the stool itself.
Another thing that truly fascinates me, are these old bowls. Until the 1950s, when we found the oil offshore, Norway was one of Europe´s poorest countries. And the picture below shows how one took care of ones possessions in a completely different way than today. When a bowl broke, instead of throwing it away, they would mend it. Not with glue, but by drilling small holes in the porcelain, and hammering in small metal plugs, fastened on each side of the crack. This was a difficult job (no wonder!) and was usually performed by traveling gypsies, up until the 50s.
Back outside, one of the most popular activities was making your own bark-boat. The kids shaped the form of the boat with knives, made a little hole for the pole with the paper-sail. The museum had even made an “ocean” for all the ships!
Here is the interior of another house. This one is from the middle ages. Isn´t that kind of cool, that there still exists houses from the middle ages? Anyway, these houses are square, with earth floors, covered in juniper and heather, with an open fireplace in the middle of the room. Along all the walls were built-in benches, where they would sleep. And apart from the tables, and the free-standing benches, there wasn´t really much more in there. Right above the fireplace is an opening in the roof, to let the smoke out. No doubt practical to let the smoke out, but a lot of heath went with it, not to mention all the rain and snow coming in. They owe a gold-medal to the guy who invented the chimney!
This was after all a hat-day, so where are the hats? Well, actually, a lot of people were wearing hats, but there was also a big hat-exhibition.
Kirsti Norberg Moe, one of less-than-a-dozen Norwegian hat-makers (she´s not a mad-hatter 
talked us through her part of the exhibition. This is the royal head-wear department. See the tiaras on the plates, serving as “name-tags” for Norways four recent queens and crown-princesses?
Here she´s explaining her thoughts on how freedom was effected by 9/11, and how it inspired her to make the black version of Liberty. The other hat is called Nefertiti, from the Egyptian queen.
Last, a picture of a little boy with his little bark-boat.
Topics: Diverse | 4 Comments »
September 5th, 2010 at 11:32
Hei. Så deg ikke! Men så var jeg låst på kaféen. Det var en kjekk dag!
September 5th, 2010 at 20:11
Så fin du er, og den hatten kler det kjempegodt! Ser ut som en veldig fin dag blant gamle ting… Gøy!
September 7th, 2010 at 04:55
Hey janne, well you look good in a hat
That bowl is interesting. I saw a show set in china (tibet?) where they did exactly the same thing. I didn’t know Norway was poor. Didn’t you have Raohl Daahl? he must have bought in some cash….
Your new project looks superb. I’ve been reading English History as well. bad bunch those old kings. But a lot of them were from norway
even william 1 indirectly.
September 9th, 2010 at 20:31
love your hat what time period is it from? xo