cat in a barrel

no heat.  at least not centrally speaking.  the guy had to order a part, maybe those bearings i mentioned yesterday, i don't know.  but it (the part) will be in transit tomorrow, and so we don't get our heat back, the forced air kind, until wednesday.  he left us with two space heaters, which we use safely, and they tend to make the circuit breaker trip and we're left really then, with just the fire, like 'olden, olden days' until greg goes and resets the breaker and we get our electricity back... about 20 seconds.

i could tell you about how the wing turney part on the threaded rod on the burley was so stubborn today because of all the rust and the cold and the salt and how it seemed that the burley was either always or never again going to be connected to my bike, but i guess i should tell you about fastelavn (fest-eh-lown) instead.  a halloween-like holiday here, which was technically yesterday, i think, but celebrated today at my school and the guys' school.  kids, and those learning danish as a second language, dress up.  william was a ninja again, henry a construction worker, i was just wearing an old louisville sweatshirt.  the entire holiday seems to have evolved from a sort of pre-lent/pre-fasting party time.  the big thing is to hit a cat out of the barrel.  no longer a real cat, but in the 'olden, olden days,' there really was a cat in the barrel.

here is the barrel event at my school....

and the hitting the cat out part...

until someone actually breaks it open...

and the candy spills out... or the cat runs away if it's lucky...

and in henry's classroom (a picture of a picture)....

the other big tradition is the fastelavnsbolle...

 a sweet roll with frosting and a filling.

 the hat didn't go with the costume, but i think it was a cute touch...

happy fastelavn!