MAY.......You Have a Great Syttende Mai and Other Things

The Latest from Aktiv: Sunday is Syttende Mai, the biggest celebration in Norway. We chronicled our experience from the 2017 festivities in one of our first articles. Have a read if you haven't. It was an amazing experience. This year will be different but there are several ways to celebrate at a distance. You can join our friends at the Norwegian American and their online program, make some lefse or just watch some "slow tv" like the Nordland Rail Line from Trondheim to Bodø. We will probably be doing a bit of all three.

What we are listening to: New music continues to be released and we are impressed with the previews from Jason Isbell's latest album along with the latest from The Airborne Toxic Event and the Indigo Girls. Our Apple Music account has definitely been getting a workout!  An unexpected highlight from the Stay-at-Home reality is the amount of online concerts that have bubbled up. Some favorites include: Frank Turner, Into the Woods and Midwest favorite, Martin Zellar.

Movies/TV: We are working our way through "Brooklyn 99" on Hulu and recommend it for any fans of "Parks and Recreation", "The Office" or "The Good Place". The cast is amazing and Andre Braugher steals the show every episode! On the movie front we have hopped around from classics ("Rear Window", "Casablanca" and "The Godfather") to more recent, lesser known films that may have been missed. As a family we really liked "The Half of It" and "Always Be My Maybe" on Netflix, while Leslie and I have continued to lap up the craziness on "Killing Eve".  Simply put, there are so many options!

Sports this week: They are back this weekend...with some limitations. The German Bundesliga, which includes some amazing young American soccer players, restarts on Saturday without fans in the stands. NASCAR will race on Sunday as well without spectators....which won't be as much of a change for them. #hurtful.  Anyway, we have really enjoyed the Michael Jordan focused documentary on ESPN, "The Last Dance" and look forward to the conclusion Sunday night. 

Best thing we ate this week: For Mother's Day, Nate made Chicken Marsala from a Food 52 recipe and it was a fantastic take on the classic dish.

Best things we saw this week (NON-COVID-19 related): 1. This deep dive into the beginning of Scandinavian Noir from the Paris Review; 2. Jason Isbell uncomfortably excels in the grayness; and 3. There is a kangaroo loose in Western Norway....