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This morning, I had a Zoom hang with half of my former master’s class. It was such a wonderful community, the group of people I got my master’s degree with back in 2015. Now, sitting by my kitchen table, it felt like such an amazing thing, to be able to connect across space and lock-down isolation, from England to New Zeeland. A wonderful start to my Sunday.
It made me think of another weekend four years ago, when several of us gathered in Oslo to visit Hanna, one of our group, who had moved to Norway for graduate school. Three days of wandering, laughing and drinking very expensive cocktails. And, of course, I made everyone go garden-hunting with me.
It was a beautifully crisp, sunny January afternoon with temperatures just below freezing, when we visited Botanisk Hage, the Oslo university botanic garden. Mid-January in Oslo doesn’t offer much in the way of greenery, but the frost that covered the grass and branches made everything glimmer in the setting sun. The garden takes up an entire inner-city block, and has a hill in its center. The garden is mainly open grass and old groves of deciduous trees, flowerbeds and small ponds on the hillsides. I can imagine it being lush and full of flowers in late May. Now, the browns and gray-greens that ranged from moss to mint felt very tranquil. Like a breath of fresh air in the middle of the busy city center.
Perfect for some frosty yoga.
Photo: Botanisk Hage, Oslo, January 2017. Posted on Instagram February 21, 2021.
Katja Malmborg 