In a little follow-up to my last post, here is a video capturing the excitement of the day last week when Veranda, the Duck Mother, moved her Duck Babies from Jens Stoltenberg’s house to the park across the street. I found this video on YouTube and have no idea who posted it, but he/she seems to be enough of a fan of the Prime Minister to include him in his/her daily prayers. Ahh, bless.



Anyway, back to the ducks. Look at how sweet they are! As the video progresses, the PM explains that it’s a bit difficult for the tiny birds to get down the big steps and that, near the bottom of the stairs, our Duck Mum takes a wrong turn into the garden instead of down the driveway to the open gate, as planned. She also makes a detour to test the water in the fountain in the PM’s garden, which he points out isn’t a good idea because the water is chlorinated---oops. Out of the fountain, Veranda worries everyone by again going off-track into the bushes, causing the PM and his watchers to scurry out of the garden and onto the sidewalk outside to wait for her to pop out from under the fence.

Finally, the much-anticipated journey across Parkveien and into Slottsparken, complete with traffic-stopping bodyguards, photographers, and a very proud PM/Duck Godfather. I must be turning Norwegian, because the sight of Stoltenberg’s seemingly genuine pleasure in watching Veranda and her ducklings march to their new home brought a real tear of affection to my eye.

I have a feeling he’s going to miss them, and I’m certainly going to miss this story. It’s been a nice break from a lot of very bad news around the world---deadly tornadoes, continued wars, E.coli outbreaks, Sarah Palin maybe running for POTUS. So, yes, thank you, Jens Stoltenberg, for giving me something to smile about while reading the newspaper and reminding me that sometimes it’s the littlest things that give the greatest pleasure. And best of luck to you, Veranda, and your Duck Babies. Be careful out there and be well!