The Norsk Institutt for Kulturminneforskning (Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research) has created a website based on its work to reconstruct the city of Oslo in the year 1324. Along with information in text, the site contains a two-minute video of a walk though the city and some of its structures at the time, complete with muddy streets, plank pathways, and dimly-lit rooms inside the buildings.

Image credit: NIKU

[Image description: A screenshot from the video, showing a few buildings on a muddy street with some plank walkways laid across it.]

Image credit: NIKU

[Image description: A screenshot from the video, showing an interior room dimly lit by a few candles, with two narrow, deep windows. The walls are stone, and the floor and ceiling are made of wooden beams. Two long benches form an L-shape against the far walls. An arched doorway leads to another room.]

While the fourteenth century is well after the end of the era known as “The Viking Age”, the site is well worth exploring if you are interested in the history of Norway, or simply appreciate the amazing work done by the people involved.

NIKU has done over 1,000 digs since 1994, which you can read about on their main website. One of the finds in the Tonsberg dig was an Arabic-style chess piece made of antler, probably from the late Viking era.

Both sites are in Norwegian, but with the help of a web-based translator, I was able to review most of the information in English.

A fascinating way to spend a few hours!

Douce Souvenance
—Jessie Redmon Fauset
(“Douce Souvenance” translates as “Sweet Memory”)

Again, as always, when the shadows fall,
In that sweet space between the dark and day,
I leave the present and its fretful claims
And seek the dim past where my memories stay.
I dream an old, forgotten, far-off dream,
And think old thoughts and live old scenes anew,
Till suddenly I reach the heart of Spring—
The spring that brought me you!
I see again a little woody lane,
The moonlight rifting golden through the trees;
I hear the plaintive chirp of drowsy bird
Lulled dreamward by a tender, vagrant breeze;
I hold your hand, I look into your eyes,
I touch your lips,—oh, peerless, matchless dower!
Oh, Memory thwarting Time and Space and Death!
Oh, Little Perfect Hour!

This article by Tara Haele on Medium discusses the challenges to maintaining one’s mental health in the endless disruption that is 2020.

tl, dr: Our brains are not wired for endless stress. Be kind to yourself. Get help when you need it—and we all need it at some point.

“Ambiguous loss elicits the same experiences of grief as a more tangible loss — denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance — but managing it often requires a bit of creativity.”

“While there isn’t a handbook for functioning during a pandemic, Masten, Boss, and Maddaus offered some wisdom for meandering our way through this.”

1. Accept that life is different right now
2. Expect less from yourself
3. Recognize the different aspects of grief
4. Experiment with “both-and” thinking
5. Look for activities, new and old, that continue to fulfill you
6. Focus on maintaining and strengthening important relationships
7. Begin slowly building your resilience bank account

I’m doing okay with most of them, most days (except when I’m not).

The one I’m not managing well is #2, which is a surprise to exactly no one. Part of the difficulty (aside from being raised by a perfectionist Virgo mother) was that, at the start of the pandemic, I was suddenly at home, since all of my business travel was cancelled. This gave me unexpected time to do many of the projects I always said I’d do if I were ever home to do them, so the first couple of months (after a few rotten weeks of adjustment), I was actually able to make a lot of progress. Then I hit the same slump as everyone else, and it’s been a daily adventure (some days, more of a slog than a joyride) to keep myself motivated and focused. And some days, that just doesn’t happen.

Hang in there, take it one day/hour/minute/second at a time. Take care of yourself as best you can. Things will change for the better.

Double Rainbow, Alberta Kaninaskis

[Image description: A photograph of a double rainbow, highlighted by puffy white clouds against a blue sky. The foreground is dark, and the background has green grass and two mountains.]

It’s a Long Way
—William Stanley Braithwaite

It’s a long way the sea-winds blow
Over the sea-plains blue,—
But longer far has my heart to go
Before its dreams come true.

It’s work we must, and love we must,
And do the best we may,
And take the hope of dreams in trust
To keep us day by day.

It’s a long way the sea-winds blow—
But somewhere lies a shore—
Thus down the tide of Time shall flow
My dreams forevermore.