Painted and written by Kristin Andrine Krogh Sissener
COLUMNPUBLISHER
Mountains
I sat proudly and accepted the recognition from my mum. She had speech difficulties after her last stroke, aphasia. It's like throwing all the letters of the alphabet up in the air and then the letters fall down, and then sorting the letters again in the correct alphabetical order. It wasn't easy for a tired old lady who has always liked to talk and now she couldn't manage all the words anymore, much to her frustration. I was so grateful and happy inside for the words mum managed to get out and that she
got to see the picture I had painted before she died. My mum was a great teacher in developing my creative abilities and using them correctly. She taught me about art and had a background in the art world and art schools in Bergen and Sweden. My mum had a strong desire for me to apply to art school in Bergen, which I never did. I wanted tobe an actor. I wascreative and had ahappy and wonderful childhood with her. My mum is my role model of a warm, good person whom I loved very much, and she will always have an honorable place in my heart. Thank you for good years and for life, mum.
Living environment
In 1966, my sister, mum and dad moved from Nordnes to a new apartment in Fyllingsdalen. Into a new twelve-story tower block with a lift and laundry. There were many different types of people living in the block. It was fun and exciting to live in a tower block. My sister had a boyfriend who came to visit her. My mum was pregnant, and my sister was going to have a little sister. She was a cheerful kid, and it was me, "Titteline".
My mum thought I had cancer, and nine months later I was born at the Women's Hospital in Bergen.
A September day in 1967. My zodiac sign is Libra, kind, helpful, caring and loving people. That's me. Mum was proud and happy to have a little princess. It was so nice to have a little toddler, my mum told me when I was an adult. "She knitted and sewed clothes for me when I was growing up. I was always nicely dressed and had everything I needed. I had Sunday clothes and everyday clothes. We had to wear money clothes when we went to town or when we visited.
My mum saw the play "Kristin Lavransdatter" several times at the theatre in Bergen before I was born. She loved the play and gave me the name Kristin. She wanted me to have an allNorwegian name. The middle name was Andrine after my grandmother from Nordfjord, which was Dad's wish. My grandmother died long before I was born.
I'm a light version of my parents with turquoise eye colour. My parents had dark hair, my dad with hazel eyes and my mum with big sea-green eyes. We turn brown pretty quickly when the sun comes out. Once, my mum met a neighbour in the lift. He was talking to me in the pram, and then he said: "Do you sunbathe both day and night, dear?" As an adult, people say to me: "You're so lucky because you tan so quickly." Then the answer is: "I smile at the sun when it appears in the sky in Bergen, and it smiles back at me." As an adult, I make sure I apply a high sun protection factor. I don't just like lying on a sunbed and sunbathing, I like to keep moving and do fun activities instead, like swimming or playing games or going for a walk in the nice weather.
Small people
My older sister has always loved her little sister. She was newly married and pregnant when I was born. They stayed with us at Smiberget for a short time while they waited to move to a new apartment. I became an aunt when I was eight months old. My sister's daughter was born in May 1968 and I in September 1967. I was the older of the two of us and the most active.
Our parents put our cots next to each other in the bedroom and thenit was possible for me toclimb over to myniece. In the living room, the adults sat and listened to our baby conversation and probably wished they understood our language, a language of its own, just for little people. I'm sure they thought it was funny to hear babies babbling. We little people had a lot on our minds.
My cuddly toy
A brown felt horse was my first cuddly toy
Dad probably missed the farm where he came from in Nordfjord. Theyhad horses andsheep there. "I started rolling along the floor at an early age to get around," my mum says. "When I started to crawl, I pulled myself forwards with one foot and the other was in tow. My sister told me that she had seen my grandson do the same thing. I have four grandchildren, two boys and two girls, and now the fifth is on her way into mum's tummy. I can't wait for the girl to be born. Thenthere will be five grandchildren. The dessert of life.
Happy
I loved listening to my mum tell the fairy tale about Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, princes and princesses and how everything ended happily every time.
I loved dressing up in nice dresses.
When the doorbell rang, I picked up the bathroom scale and stood on it. I just reached the handle and managed to let the guests in, yodeling withjoy thatwehad guests visiting. I've always been sociable and loved people.
Fruit platter
In our home, there were always oranges and fresh apples in the fruit platter. When I could stand up and hold on to the coffee table, I pulled the fruit platter to me and made a signature with bite marks in each of the apples.
So, when someone visited us to help themselves to an apple, there were little marks from my milk teeth. I was active and enjoyed climbing from an early age. I wasn't afraid of heights. One day my mum came into the bedroom, and I was sitting at the top of the wardrobe, dangling my legs and smiling. I was less than two years old when my parents put a lock on the wardrobe door. When I got a little older, I pushed a chair over to the wardrobe and pulled the lock aside so I could climb to the top again, much to my parents' dismay. Dad made a little doll's house with three rooms and a kitchen, which I could take the roof off, and a storehouse that stood in the windowsill. My little budgie Julius liked it there, or on his vantage point on the curtain rod. I was so fond of my little turquoise bird. It was my first animal. Once I found a cork for a fizzy drink bottle and I gave it to my big sister and said, "Dadda, buy me some tronesis?". She did and I was proud that I had paid for my ice cream with a crown I had found.
City-trip
A photographer took a picture of my mum, me and my niece one Saturday when we were out enjoying ourselves. My aunt had given me a pretty dove grey coat with a white cap and matching hat. I liked to walk, and my niece liked to relax in a pram.
At Christmas, we used to look at the Sundt elves with their big heads swinging round and round inside the window, singing Christmas carols. If it was raining, I was allowed to carry the umbrella, and then it looked like a little walking umbrella in the streets of Bergen. I had to climb all the stairs that existed all the way to my grandfather's house, up and down all the way to Nordnes. There were quite a few stairs, but my patient mum smiled and took her time. We ended our city tour with a visit to grandad, who was an elderly man. He and my aunt still lived in Nordnes. My mum, dad, aunt and sister lived in Nordnes before I was born. At weekends, the whole family gathered at my grandfather and aunt's house, and there were many of them. Mum would buy Napoleon cake or Norwegian strawberries atthe market, which we had with our coffee. We always enjoyed ourselves together, I remember. It was always nice to visit grandad.
On Saturdays and Sundays, I was dressed in pretty clothes before we travelled to town or went on a visit. My mum liked me to look pretty and thought it was nice to dress me in homemade clothes produced by herself, local and for her little model. We'd go to the market square and stop off at Kløverhuset or Sunt, because mum needed some new stockings, or we'd go shopping for presents.
TV
If there was movement on the TV screen, I sat down and looked at the square box. My mum thought it was funny when she saw me sitting with a book upside down, singing in front of the TV at home.
I scratched my niece like a little kitten when she pulled the door in front of theTVand was going to torment me watchingchildren's TV. "Playroom" with Vibeke Sæther on our black and white TV. She bit me back, and I grabbed her hair and stroked her. It's called sibling love, and we fought like two little wildcats from time to time. She had sharp teeth and I had sharp claws. We were otherwise perfect friends growing up and were done fighting.
Autumn in the park
Autumn has beautiful colors. I was born in autumn, and September is a great month to have a birthday. My friends back home at Smiberget can usually come to my birthday party at that time of year, which is perfect because I love to keep company.
In Nordnesparken, there arelots of autumn-colored leaves lying on the ground.
Tall, old trees standing in a long row next to each other. Maybe they have invisible arms and are holding hands. Maybe they talk and dance when we can't see them. What if they come alive when we'renot in the park? Twirl, twirl, twirl. It's good tohug and a tree I can give a hug without it saying a word. It's nice to hide behind thebig trees. I was sothin andsmall thatI disappeared completely behind them. And if it was too long before I emerged again, mum would shout and wonder if I'd disappeared into the tree. "We're going to move on now, stop fooling around, Titteline, and come out right now." Imagine if I shrank and there were rooms and stairs inside the tree, so that I could enter it. And that I was a little, pink, happy troll who lived inside the tree. Peekaboo, here I am. Titteline on snei. That was my nickname as a child. Because I was so curious and made up a lot of things. I almost get dizzy when I look up towards the treetops. It's fun to spin round and round, lie down on the lawn and look up at all the trees dancing in the air way up there in the sky. I throw the leaves with my hands into the air and kick the leaves from the oak trees lying on the ground. Leaves in beautiful colors rain down from the trees, yellow, orange and brown earth tones.
There was a piece of play equipment that looked like a tin can of peas, which made a lot of noise when I started running on it. I ran as hard as I could and it went faster andfaster, forcing me to keep running, but I eventually managed to stop, and it became silent as a mouse when I stopped.
There's a carousel there. I'll finish with that. Mum gave me speed. "She ran and pushed, a real super mum". No wonder she sometimes got a flat tire on the sofa in the afternoons at home. I was active and had a lot to experience. In the park, I could practice balancing on logs and jump paradise that was lined up with paint, and play tag, which was great fun. I always had my rock ring or skipping rope with me. On Saturdays, we visited my grandfather in Nordnes. My mum would give me money to buy sweets at the general store in Klosteret. I bought ten pieces of chewing gum for a penny and a chocolate love on a stick. Then I played with the rocker outside my grandfather's house in Haugeveien while chewing colored round Donald chewing gum.
I managed to get the rocker ring round my waist many times. As an adult, I get it three times round, and then it goes bang on the ground. Not as fit as when I was a kid. Telly Savalas starred in the TV series Kodak in 1973, and it was all about getting the same big bump on his cheek that he always had. Telly was bald and loved chocolate love on a stick, too.
Bathing area in our city
Nordnes sjøbad was packed with people in the summer. We were lucky enough to have a swimming pool in the park just off Haugeveien, where my grandfather lived.
The family was often there. It was a nice place to be in the summer, and we sunbathed on large blankets on the lawn. A lot of families with children, grandparents and young people used the pool. I bathed in the pool and my mum in the sea. I loved swimming. We changed into swimwear. We had to shower before we went in the bath, that was the rule before we could go in the pool. We brought a picnic in a basket and ate lunch in the open air. And we stood in a long queue.
to buy ice cream in the ice cream parlor. There were lots of children there, who we played with in the pool and had a great time all summer long. Sun cream from Nivea for the children and peanut oil for the adults. In 2023, we use a high sun protection factor. It's important to take care of your skin when sunbathing, so you don't get sunburnt and damage your skin. We learn something new all the time.
Traditions
On 15 May, my mum stood on my grandfather's balcony and planted fresh red flowers in the wrought iron urns attached to the balcony. She applied white linen cloth and small balcony flags that would be waving in the wind on 17 May to the urns. Mum did a great job for Constitution Day.
Mum had a green thumb. In other words, she was good atlooking after flowers and they thrived. "At home we had lots of beautiful green plants and flowers. It was a bit of nature on the inside, and it was healthy to have green plants around," said mum. "I have my living room full of beautiful, lush green plants asanadult. And it feels good to be surrounded by green. When we kids would watch children's TV, either with "Pernille and Mr Nelson, "Pippi Longstocking",
or "The White Stone", there was a disturbance on the TV. The Nordnes Archery Corps marched past with their little fox Dilter, who came from the back of the line. The boys' shadows looked like big giants on the living room wall in the sunlight. But when we lookedoutof thewindow, we saw tiny little archers down there on the street, beating as hard as they could with the sticks on their drums. Sohard thatit shook the windows, and the aerials hanging on the wall interfered with the television broadcast, so we couldn't watch children's TV and had to watch them march instead. They were cute boys and fun to watch as they marched with drums and rifles down the street and a roaring boss holding the flag, marching in front of them with his belly in the air and his nose straight up in the sky, while shouting: "Forward march!" And the parents who proudly followed them, with younger siblings in carriages. We could watch it all from grandad's balcony.
Constitution Day
The 17 May parade in Fyllingsdalen consisted of kindergartens, primary schools, a marching band with drummers, perhaps a vintage car from a neighbor, and Uncle Police made sure everything went smoothly. And we waved Norwegian flags. Parents and families stood along the road and waved their flags back. There was a good atmosphere and many happy faces to see that day.
Wechildren were proud ofour banner that wehad made together with the kindergarten, or when we went to school. In the afternoon, there were activities at the primary school, with raffles andsales ofsausages andice cream. Later intheafternoon, we went into town to visit grandad. There were Norwegian flags on the balcony and grandad waved as we walked down the street. We ate rømmegrøt, fenalår, sausages and even more ice cream. Mum had sewn an everyday bunad for the three of us, and we all looked great. Then we went to Nordnes school and bought lottery tickets from the stalls, and there was also a trip to the funfair. I always had a great time on our national day, and it's one of my favorite childhood memories.
At grandfather's house
My grandfather lived in a large apartment on the second floor, which was centrally located in thecity. There were two large living rooms. The ceilings were high, there were brown carved wooden chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and both living rooms had wide moldings with beautiful borders, and a wood-burning stove that was freshly painted with stove paint. There were tall white
double doors to both living rooms and the grandfather's room.
On the writing desk, my grandfather's candy lay on a tin ashtray.
Outside my grandfather's room was a balcony with a blackpainted wrought iron fence, where my mum had decorated the front with red flowers in black-painted wrought iron screws. Mum loved to sit there on the balcony and sunbathe. She wore a flowery sun hat on her head and enjoyed every ray of sunshine from the balcony. I was outside playing with the other children. Mum could look over and see that everything was going smoothly down there onthe pavement, where wehad marked out paradise or the trip with chalk. In the kitchen, there were tall, beautiful cupboards up to the ceiling, and there was room for lots of things. Grandad made oatmeal soup. I still eat that for breakfast as an adult. I always got a plate of soup when we visited on weekends. My grandfather's oatmeal soup was good. I mimicked Grandad, who slurped. Mum said to me: "Stop it, Titteline." "Well, Grandad does," I said, and then Mum pulled me aside and said, "Grandad is old, and you're going to learn." Grandad lived alone as a widower all the years after my grandmother passed away in 1945. Mum was only 17 years old at the time. "What if I lose my mum when I'm 17," I thought. Because my mum was probably in menopause and a little older than many of the other mothers of my friends. Today, I realize that she was tired at times and that the air went out of her with a daughter as active as I was. Play alive.
Small Ramps
Grandad had an old-fashioned toilet. The water tank hung onthe wall. It was nice to pull the string, then the water ran out, completely empty. Those in need couldn't flush, so the toilet burst open, and they shouted: "Who pulled the string and emptied the tank?" I smiled a little to myself.
They had to put up with that much. Pulling the string and emptying the water tank was fun. I liked to get up to some mischievous mischief from time to time. For the most part, I was a kind and obedient child with blonde locks and two big innocent eyes. Although I knew very well who was behind the pranks.
High-rise block
Living in a tower block was great. That's where my friend Lizzie got stuck in the lift once when we were five, and I had a great idea for both of us. She would hold the skipping rope on the inside of the lift and I on the outside of the lift. She pressed the 5th floor, and the lift was stuck. She couldn't open the door, and through a narrow window I saw a terrified friend. I shouted at her to press the red button, which she did, and shortly afterwards the caretaker stood there and unlocked the lift with some kind of key. And we two girls were told to be more careful and not to play with the lift. We took the stairs a few times after the incident, but then it was forgotten, and we took the lift again. It was a bit scary and not fun to be stuck in a lift, at least not to see your friend terrified as she stood on the inside and couldn't get out of the lift. There was a tall woman living in the block who had a tall adult daughter. They were always climbing the stairs and hurrying past us. The two of them were always in a hurry, it seemed. The mum went first. It seemed like they were always running after each other and that they never talked to each other.
My mum and I had plenty of time, and my mum talked to me. We talked my whole childhood. She saidit was important not toshout at each other. If we talked and didn't shout, we would hear and understand each other better and listen with interest and respect for what we had to tell each other. It was just the two of us and we had many great conversations together, mum and I, right up until I grew up and mum died. I really miss her and our good times together. Now she's gone forever, but the memories remain. And my mum has a special place in my heart.
The silver trophy
There was always something to do at grandad's house. In his room, he had a silver trophy he had received in honor of his long working life as an electrician in Bergen.
And it was filled with brooches and tie pins that he had found on the street and in Nordnesparken, when he went for his daily walk with his cane and bumped into things that lay on the ground and glistened in the sun. I looked forward to looking at the beautiful needles with stones in all sorts of colors every time I came to visit my grandfather. It was exciting to seewhat new treasures he had found! After all, he was a landlubber with all these treasures. I was proud of my grandfather. It didn't matter that he was old and walked with a cane or slurp. He listened to me and was present in my life, as a grandfather should be if he is lucky enough to be given the opportunity. Grandad had a silver watch in his waistcoat, which he lifted to see what time of day it was. It was really nice.
"Just look, but don't touch," said Grandad. He loved watches, and this one in particular.
Alarm clocks
"I had a friend who lived close to the Seamen's Retirement Home. She picked up her parents' alarm clock and a hammer, and we smashed it apart on their stairs. We wanted to see the inside of theclock. Wecouldn't put it back together again. It wasn't as easy as we had thought. My friend went in and put it back on her parents' bedside table in a thousand pieces and thought her dad would be able to put it back together when he realized. "He can do it in one-two-three," she told me. She was proud of her dad for being able to fix things again.
Grandma
I haven't met my grandmother. I've always wanted a grandmother, andwhenIhad grandchildren of my own, I wanted to be the kind of grandmother I had dreamed of having myself. My mum said she was a great lady with bones in her nose. She was from Nordland, talked straight from the liver and was very kind. When my mum was 92 years old, I saw my grandmother in her before she died. Mum was a super grandmother to my children. I was born long after my grandmother was gone. My grandmother was the daughter of a well-known GP, Growth, from Sandnessjøen. She trained as a tailor in Bergen and married an electrician called Hansen in Bergen, who was my grandfather. My grandmother was a clever, hard-working lady with bones in her nose. She came from a place called Sandnessjøen, where the beautiful northern lights dance in the sky. Mum was born in Bergen in 1927 and was baptized in St. Mark's Church (Gyldenpris) in February 1930. She was three years old at the time and went up to the baptismal font herself and was baptized.
The back room
When my niece came to visit us at the same time as our grandfather, she and I played in the back room. It was exciting and there was a basket full of fun, old toys. The room smelled old in a good way. A room with a history. It was in this room that the wall disappeared, and my grandmother saved my aunt from being blown out onto Vågen. Your uncle was swimming in Vågen when he ended up there because there was so much air pressure. Our family moved back to the apartment when it was rebuilt after the explosion in 1944. That day, my mum had to go to work in the hat shop, which was right next to the theatre. Mum was a proud 16-year-old, because now she was responsible for opening the hat shop that day for the first time. Mum loved hats, somany stylish shapes. It was aquiet morning inthecity. No birds chirping. Mum went down to the basement to hang up her blue coat at work, when there was a bang, and the door jammed. Then it went completely silent.
Mum got down on her knees, folded her hands and prayed the Lord's Prayer, because now she thought the day of judgement had come. But suddenly Mum heard someone shouting her name. The ladies working with her broke a window and went down to the basement to unlock the jammed door where Mum was. Together, her friend and mum walked towards Nordnes, but it was blocked off by the police.
Reunion
There they were stopped and not allowed to pass.
Mum met her sister, grandmother and grandfather again in a place everyone had been told to meet, and she was reunited with her family. There were many people who had been injured, lost their sight and suffered late effects from the explosion in Bergen.
Mum has told us that she went into the shelter when the air raid alarm went off, but quickly came back out of the damp room. She couldn't bear to get a grip on her head, so she went out into the open. Her greatest wish was for the war to end. It did, the following year, in 1945. Two months before the war ended, her grandmother died.
Mum and aunt moved to Sweden. My uncle was already there. My mum went to art school there, and she gained colleagues and a large network. Her good friends were the Astrup children, and their family knew my family well. They visited my grandfather at Nordnes several times and kept in touch with each other as adults. My mum was in a relationship with one of the Astrup sons when she was young. I painted this picture, and then this soldier suddenly appeared. Stories I've heard from adults growing up, and my inner image of what I was told as a child. My inner image of war. It's good to paint or use pencil and paper. Try it, and you'll see what good it can do for you too. You can get your feelings down on a piece of paper. And express them through art.
The blue coat
My mum bought the blue coat when she was 14 years old. She bought it at the Clover House with money she had saved up. It was far too big for her and too long. She wore the coat for a long time, it was never hung up. Mum told me this a few weeks before she died in 2021. "It was importantformymum to tell meaboutthecoatthatwas too long. She knew I was writing about our story.
At the age of twelve, my mum started working for a seamstress in the center of Bergen, a colleague of my grandmother's. Her grandmother had been diagnosed with cancer and was not well. Mum picked up pins with a magnet and was paid ten øre for each pin. She then delivered the repaired garments, wrapped in grey paper, to fine ladies in Bergen for sewing. My grandmother was trained as a tailor in Bergen. She always missed Sandnessjøen in Nordland and the magical northern lights in the sky.
Oranges
My mum was three years old and lived with her family and her grandmother, who was my great-grandmother. She came from Askøy, and the family was descended from the Norwegian theologian and poet Petter Dass. She was ill and lying in bed. My grandmother went to the drying loft to hang up her clothes.
