Spring Is Here
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Hi everyone and welcome to episode 21 of the Sweet Paul podcast, Chasing the Sweet Things in Life. We are called I'm Paul. I'm James. And I'm James.

This episode I have called Spring is Here. Yeah, is it? Well, yeah, it's April. It should be spring most places now, right? Yeah. And it's actually overcast and a little bit cold here in Palm Springs. Yeah. Which is very early spring, I guess. We had an extremely dry winter. Yeah, we had four or five rain days.

days. Yeah, not very much. Yeah. So it was a mild winter. Mild meaning it was colder than normal. Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, there should be spring all around the country and it's spring and Miss Corona is still here. We are still on lockdown. Yeah. Now it's even more severe now in order to leave the house. If you're around other people, you have to wear a mask. Yes. So

So we were super lucky because I don't have a sewing machine here, but we had friends that sent us masks. So we have four masks so we can change according to outfits. Yeah, except that we have beards. So I think the regular masks don't really work for us. So I went out yesterday and I just put a bandana over my face, which actually covered my entire beard. So I think that's better. I feel like these masks are actually working. Next time we go out...

Which might be like next week. Next week, yeah. Next week. We have groceries for this week. We're not going to starve. But we need to get groceries next week. You have to at some point. At some point we have to venture out. Yes, essential shopping. Yeah. We take the dogs out for little walks. But that's kind of just around the neighborhood. And we never see anyone. No. Maybe a person working in the yard or something. But no, we don't see anyone. Yeah.

It's all good. Okay, spring. Yes, let's just imagine we're running through fields of flowers. Well, here's the thing. Being a Norwegian and spending most of my life in Norway, spring is actually extremely important for us. Yeah, because winters are probably so bleak. Yeah, they're bleak.

They're black. Dark. Dark. Remember, the entire winter, when it's at its darkest, I think we have like four or five hours of sunlight. That's so crazy. I know.

Well, imagine up north where there is no sunlight. Is northern Norway in the Arctic Circle? Yes. It is. Yeah. So it's literally like the North Pole. Yeah. So it's complete darkness all winter. But then in summer, they have sunshine 24-7. 24-7. Yeah. Which also is really weird. I have been up north in summer and it's full potty at like

Three o'clock in the morning. Yeah. It's kind of crazy. I've been to Sweden in the summer and the long days are amazing. Yeah. I've been there in February and it wasn't super dark or super cold, but is November when it's the darkest? I actually think it's December, January. Is the darkest days. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And that's why it's so nice in December because you have all the Christmas lights. Yeah. But then, of course, in January, all that is taken down and it's like, oh my God, so bleak. Yeah. So what are the first signs of spring in Norway? The temperature starts to rise a little bit. The days become a little bit lighter. Yeah. But it's still cold. It can still be cold, but you feel the most amazing sound. You'll feel the sun is getting warmer.

Yeah. So the most amazing sound for me in spring. The melting ice. Yes, the dripping. Yeah, the dripping. The dripping on the outside and you can hear the ice dripping from the houses. And the birds singing maybe. Yeah. Yeah, because the sun's out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can hear it actually. Yeah. You know, the first little flowers like tulips and daffodils. They push through. They will push through.

And that probably comes from the melting snow water. Like the ground is just so moist. They just want to get up. They're tired of sleeping all winter. Yeah. So yeah, I remember like when I was a kid and being outside, always loved that sound of like that. And you could feel the sun on your face. Oh yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah.

I would always get sick in spring. Really? Yeah, because I would always dying to wear like cute spring outfits to school and stuff. Too early. And I would always wear it too early. Yeah. And I would always get sick. Oh my gosh. Getting sick for fashion. I know. Yeah, no, that happened more or less every year. Yeah, I didn't grow up with that kind of fully visceral... Well, you grew up in LA, so... Well, yeah, you don't know. I mean...

It's all the same. I mean, it's all the same. The only real difference is summer here because it's very warm. Yeah. Otherwise, it's kind of the same in fall, winter, and spring. It's all sort of the same. So, yeah, I didn't really have until I moved back east in my 20s. And then it was like the seasons. Yeah. And that was really fun. Yeah.

It's always really fun to be able to wear your fall and winter clothing. And then you're over it. It's fun in the beginning and then you're just like, oh my gosh. I mean, where we live now, it's like... I mean, it literally is like, oh, am I wearing... Am I wearing shorts or am I wearing shorts? Am I wearing a t-shirt or no t-shirt? Like, it's literally like, am I running around in like shorts or am I running around in...

Or no shorts. Or no shorts. You know what I mean? It's like, it's very... I mean, I can't even remember last time I wore pants on this day. Yeah. Well, I'm wearing sweatpants right now. And then we put on sweatshirts for the dog's walk yesterday because it was probably about 60 degrees. Yeah, it was colder. But yeah, it's much different here than Norway. Yeah, I know. I really looked forward to hearing those noises, seeing the birds and the flowers and all that stuff.

But one thing I dreaded because I knew it came with spring and that was like the mega spring house cleaning that would go on. Yeah. And it would go on for like,

Really? Yeah. Did it happen once all the snow was melted? It happened when, you know, that very unforgiving spring sunlight that will come in and you will see everything. You will see all the dirt and dust and, you know, everything. So my grandmother and great aunt, they would more or less take a week.

Because all the curtains would be taken down and washed. Really? And pressed and hung up again. That was the big thing. Yeah. And my mom had, oh my God, this is so funny. I don't know if you have that here, but it would only be in the kitchen. She would have curtains for the different seasons.

Oh, really? So there would always be Christmas curtains, which were these red gingham curtains. Okay, yeah. They were very cute. Yeah. And then she would have spring curtains, summer curtains. Yeah, it was like flowers. She would change it out because she would buy new ones. Yeah, yeah. And then she would definitely have summer ones. And I think I remember the summer ones were like white lacy curtains.

stuff very like thin yeah and then fall ones were more like rust and brown and green yeah yeah that's cool yeah she would have like different seasoned curtains in the kitchen but yeah everything was taken down all the carpets was taken out and oh actually my grandmother would do that before the snow went away she would put the carpets in the snow

What? Yeah. The rugs. All the rugs were taken out. Like, you know, what's that they call? Persian rugs and... Yeah. Yeah, kalims and all that stuff. Yeah. Took that out. She put them upside down in the snow and she would beat them. And then she would roll them up and take them inside. And it actually kind of cleaned the carpets.

Because you saw where they were upside down, where she had beaten them, that all the dirt and stuff was stuck in the snow. Huh. That's interesting. Yeah. But yes, things were clean. I mean, they would clean the ceilings, the walls, the floor, like everything. Everything.

Yeah, we didn't have a spring cleaning growing up. I mean, our house wasn't that big. And I don't remember there ever being a spring cleaning thing. Did you have chores growing up? No, I actually don't think so. Your grandmother did everything. I mean, let's face it. I was spoiled. I wasn't a brat, but I was spoiled. I was spoiled with attention. So you didn't have to...

vacuum or take out the trash or... No, but I once in a while would get this idea. So, you know, when we went away and stayed in the hotels, I was always very mesmerized by the cleaning ladies' cart.

Yeah. I somehow in my head thought that was very cool. Yeah, yeah, of course. I always had a thing for carts, the same as like on the airplane, like the stewardess with the, you know, coffee tea, me. So I remember a few times at home, I would make this little cart out of cardboard boxes and...

I can't remember what the wheels was from, but I would make this little like cleaning cart and I would like play clean. Yeah. Like the turndown service and put chocolates on the pillow. The fantasy version of housework instead of. Yeah. And one time my parents didn't realize, I think I put the chocolate like underneath the pillow. So they didn't realize that, you know, I put chocolate in. I must've been very young because the chocolate wasn't even like covered with anything. Well,

Oh, my gosh. It was just a piece of chocolate that I broke up and, you know. Yeah. So they woke up the next day and it looked like chocolate everywhere. Yeah. Yeah. It looked like my mom had, like, poop on her face. Oh, my gosh. That's so crazy. I didn't have chores. I mean, my grandmother and great aunt did everything.

Yeah. If I was hungry, they would make me food. Of course, too much good food. They cleaned all my clothes. I mean, my grandmother would iron and press my underwear. My gosh. So amazing. Why do you not press my underwear? Okay.

Don't even start. But yes, that was a big thing in our house, the whole spring cleaning. Yeah. And then when did the gardening start? As I said before, my grandmother loved the garden. So as soon as it was dry enough, because if it's too wet, it just gets muddy. Yeah. And you ruin the lawn, ruin everything. As soon as it was dry enough, yeah, she would be out there.

Yeah. And I loved helping her with that. I thought that was very cute. Yeah. I had a little basket with some tools and I had a little straw hat and stuff. Yeah. Did she collect seeds from the previous season or you had bulbs or what was it? No, she would order. You would do like mail order seeds. Yeah. For tomatoes and herbs and stuff like that. Yeah.

And some herbs came back every year because that was like the first thing that came up. It's like all the herbs. Yeah. But we had this little like glass veranda on the back.

And that every spring would be filled with like little pots that she would start, like the seedlings. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would help her with that. I remember there was something, I think they were called jiffy pots. There was these little discs that you would pour water on and they expanded and became this little thing of like soil that you could put seeds in. Oh. But I remember that was always my job to like put water on the little discs so I could see them grow because I thought that was like...

like super cool yeah I thought that was kind of like magic hocus pocus cute okay should we do a little break and then come back yes yes okay we will be back

Okay, we're back. We're back. What are the early holidays come spring and summer? Well, of course, it's Easter, the big thing. Yeah. And then after Easter is 17th of May, which is Norway's Liberation Day. Who were you liberated from? Denmark? Norway was kind of for many, many centuries. We were kind of like this parcel that was traded between Sweden and Denmark. Yeah.

Interesting. Yeah. So for many years... But Norway is the biggest landmass of all the Scandinavian countries. Yes. We were for many, many centuries under Denmark and then Sweden. And there was actually a war between Norway and Sweden. And Norway won. Really? And now we beat the Swedes. We killed the Swedish king.

Are you serious? Oh my goodness. I know. Are there any movies about those days? I don't know. There might be. So interesting. Is there books? Yes, tons of books. I always remember when my grandmother, whenever we would go on like to Copenhagen or Stockholm, which is the capitals of the two countries.

She would always say, oh, this is what our money went to. Okay. Always. Oh, my God. So Norway was totally liberated. It became its own country in 1814. 1814. Okay. Yes. Still a few years after that, we were in a committed relationship with Sweden. Yes. But I think it's 1904 or 1907, we became 100% our own country. Yeah. And we decided that we wanted to be a monarchy. And of course, so we...

Prior to that, you had no king or queen. No, because we were under Denmark or Sweden. So we had like... Yeah. So the Norwegian people actually elected a king. So we elected a Danish prince as our new king. Really? Yeah. So his name was Håkon, King Håkon. Yeah. And his wife, Queen Maud, she was British. She was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

So the current Norwegian monarchy is not Norwegian. No. Interesting. Yeah, I know. I'm surprised they didn't arrange a marriage between a Norwegian and the... Well, you know, Norway used to be a kingdom many, many, many years ago. But, you know, they had a...

Died out. Oh, so there was a monarchy prior to... Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, okay. So what is the actual point of a monarchy? Just as a symbol? A symbol of unity. Yeah, it's like a uniting force. Yeah. I have to say, like, compared to the British monarchy, our monarchy is very down-to-earth. Yeah. The king and queen, who's now King Harold and Queen Sonia, I met them both. They're extremely nice people.

It's like, you know, the queen just did a speech. Yeah. Queen Elizabeth. Not as formal. No, the king and queen of Norway also did a speech and that was outside their cabin in the mountains. Yeah. And they're both wearing like... Sweaters. Leisure wear. Yeah, yeah. You know, yeah, it's very different. The really cool thing about, especially the queen Maud, was that she was extremely fashionable. She was very beautiful. Yeah.

And the rumors was that she had several ribs removed because, you know, the fashion back then was very, very tight corseted. Yeah. And there are clothes of hers that you can go and see in Norway. Yeah. In museums. And her waist was tiny. Tiny. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. I think actually I would both hands could like grab around.

It's like crazy. So the first king and queen, they had one son, King Olaf, which in the first Olaf. And he was an extremely popular king. Oh my God. Extremely popular.

Yeah. He refused to have a bodyguard. He would walk the streets. You would see him like walk. Yeah. And no one approached him. I remember once on TV, the journalist said, well, why aren't you walking with a bodyguard? And he was like, I don't need that. I have four and a half million bodyguards. Oh my gosh. That's fabulous. So when he died, that was a very sad time. Was he the prior king to who is now? Wow. His dad.

That's so cool. So May 17th is the celebration. So May 17th, yeah, it's the celebration of Norwegian independence. And you know how a lot of countries, they have the same kind of day. But they, you know, it will be like military parades, tanks and the military, like marching in the streets. In Norway, it's kids.

Kids? Mm-hmm. Aw. So we will get up early in the morning and we will put on our best outfits. A lot of us, if we have, we'll put on like Norwegian folk costumes. And we will all have little flags that we wave. Yeah. And there are parades of kids in all towns. And in Oslo, the kids will march around.

in the main street, and they will march by the palace, and the king and queen and the royal family will stand on the little balcony, and they will wave to all the kids. Oh, my gosh. So sweet. It's very nice.

Is there like an official song? Well, it's the national anthem. Oh, okay. But yeah, they will sing and they will have marching bands and all that stuff. It's actually very special. You should look it up online. Yeah, so that's the big, big, big holiday. Yeah, that's the big one. And, you know, we eat ice cream and cake and hot dogs. And it's kind of like a day for the kids more than you know. It's kind of like 4th of July. But, you know, Norway, when it comes to the weather, it's kind of iffy.

So there has been 17th of May where it's been snowing. Oh my gosh. I know. That's so crazy. It's so depressing. It's so, yeah. Oh my gosh. But that's just how it is. And then when is Midsummer officially? Midsummer is June, mid-June. Oh, it's in mid-June. Is it the same as Sweden? It's bigger in Sweden. Yeah. Do you have the Maypole and all that in Norway? We don't have that. That's very Swedish. I haven't seen that movie yet.

But midsummer, is that the summer solstice? Mm-hmm. Okay. So it's like the longest day. Yeah. Of the year. Yeah. I think that's June. I thought it was in May. Maybe. No, it can't be because it's not warm enough. Yeah. Maybe it's June. Yeah. It is because that's like summer. Yeah. Okay. A little break and then we're going to do some questions. Perfect. Yes. Okay. We'll be back.

We are back and it is time for our segment called What's Up Sweet Paul? What's Up Sweet Paul? Okay. The spring edition.

Phil from San Francisco. I know you both are Drag Race fans like me. The new season is on and I have to ask who your favorite favorites are. I have mine, Gigi, but dying to know who yours are. Keep up the pod. I really enjoy it. So awesome. Thank you, Phil. Oh my gosh. Yes, we are. Our favorite subject, RuPaul's Drag Race. I know, I know. I have a lot of opinions. You can start. Well, one of my favorites got eliminated last

Last week. Aiden Zane. Which, I don't know, he didn't have the fiercest look and the most talent of the group, but there was just something about him that was extremely... I agree. Awesome. He's controversial. A lot of people can't stand him. No, I know. But I really identify with him. First of all, I think his face is extraordinary. Yeah.

his aesthetic is like true eighties British punk. I know. Like so good. So good. And,

And such an interesting reference for a kid that young who comes from the sticks in Georgia. And I also empathize with him because people were just ganged up on him and were very mean. They were extremely mean. And people took their own sort of shortcomings out on him. Yeah. Britta. Yeah.

And it's just ugly and unacceptable. And so he was the underdog. Clearly did his best with the resources he had. But I think his aesthetic and his face painted is extraordinary. No, I agree. So one of our favorites is gone. One of our favorites is gone. Who's your favorite? Well, this last episode was the Snatch Game and Gigi Goode, who is already proven to be

a polished fashion girl has done well in the performances, whether it's singing, dancing, acting.

But then her Snatch Game performance was extraordinary. Yeah, she killed it. And she played a robot. And she was hilarious. It was funny. It was clever. It was genius. It's like she's going to win. And she's 21 years old. Yeah. Gender fluid. And has a mother who sews all her costumes. She's kind of like the 2.0 version of a drag queen. I know. Let's just give it a crown and call today. Yes. And if you have no idea what we're talking about...

I strongly suggest, and let's face it, guys, you don't have anything else to do anyway right now. Start watching RuPaul's Drag Race. I mean, it's literally these kids, like what they endure and the talent that they display is incredible. Yeah, it's amazing to watch, I really have to say. It's my favorite thing to watch on TV. Yeah, cool. Okay.

Moving on. Next question. Michelle from London. Cheerio. Oh my God, we're so international. We are. Love it. First of all, I hope this message finds you safe. Yes, we are safe. Such insane times. I'm stuck alone in a small flat in North London. I'm really starting to feel the solitude.

I've made Paul's little friends and I find myself having full-on conversations with them. The vegetable friends? Yeah, the little vegetable friends. Thanks for that one, Paul. My question is, do you guys talk to yourself or is it just me? Well, first I have to say, so on Instagram, we have this thing now where...

Every day we post little crafting videos and it's mostly from, I have a lot of crafty friends, maker friends, and I ask them to make little videos. And I've done a couple too. And one of them is where I cut out eyes and mouths.

From fashion magazines. And then I glued them onto vegetables. Make like little families. Yeah. So funny. Yeah. When you did that, we were sitting here. I think we recorded a podcast. It was almost like having an audience. It was very strange. I know. I know. I can totally understand how you. You would talk to them. Well, it's like reverting back to childhood where you just have these like fantasy playtime. And it's just like. Yeah. When I'm by myself, I totally talk to myself.

Yeah, maybe. Oh, I do. I totally do. I don't think you do. No, I don't talk to myself. Paul sort of gets irritated with me sometimes because I'm very much in my head all the time.

And so it can come across as me not being responsive or me not paying attention or me being shady. But it's just I'm in my head a lot. So I have conversations, inner conversations over and over and over, scrutinizing everything, thinking through things that have nothing to do with what actually is right in front of me. And so, yeah, my conversations are internal. Yes.

No, when I'm by myself, I definitely talk to myself. Oh my gosh, I love that. I'm going to have to do a hidden camera so I can watch you. Not like full on conversation. Oh my gosh, can you imagine? No, it's not full on conversations, but it's kind of like, oh yeah. You'll speak out loud. Yeah, I need to do that. Oh yeah, chop down and stuff like that. But then, of course, we have two doggies. You'll talk to them too. We talk to the dogs. But they're so rude, they don't answer.

I know. Bitches. Well, Michelle, thanks for your question. Yes, and stay safe. Yes, and... Keep talking to those vegetables. Yeah, I mean, being in a small flat during this time, hopefully we'll be able to get out of here sooner than later and that you'll come out fully safe and sane. Okay, Caroline from Westchester. You both talk so much about your dogs.

What are their stories? How did you get them? And are they related? Love the podcast. Five stars all the way. Aw, thanks. Thank you. So Lestat, the older gentleman, he came with my ex. Yes. And when we broke up, Lestat became my dog. Well, the long story is when Paul got together with his ex-wife,

Paul came out to Arizona where his ex lived and they drove back to New York together. And Lestat was crying in the backseat. Lestat was probably what, like four or five? Yeah. And he sat on my lap from Arizona to New York. Yeah, he grabbed him from the backseat. Yeah.

And he sat on Paul's lap from Arizona to New York and pretty much became Paul's dog. Yeah, he would like follow me everywhere from day one. Hugo is more an impulse person.

Yeah. Oh, and I also have to say, so Lestat is from a pet store. They're both from a pet store. I'm sorry about that, but they are. Yeah. Lestat was on clearance. I know. Lestat was on clearance. Lestat was final sale. I love it so much. Because he was a little bit older. Yeah. So Lestat was heavily discounted. But I have to say, I've never met a sweeter dog in my entire life. He's incredibly sweet. Yeah. Hugo, on the other hand...

So we had talked about for a while because I felt like Lestat was a little lonely. Yeah. And maybe even like depressed. So we talked. And this is with his ex. Yeah.

So we had talked about getting another dog. And one day I'm in the best village and I walked past this pet store. Oh my gosh. And I'm like, I'm just going to go inside. Oh my gosh. And I go inside and there is a litter of little blonde Frenchies. Oh my. Like dying.

And I call my ex and say, it's now or never. This is the one on Christopher Street. Yeah, next to Stonewall. My ex comes down to the city. We go in and another couple is playing with Hugo. Yeah. And we are looking at some other Frenchies. And my ex is like, no, we want that one. Pointing to Hugo. Because the other ones was more like...

calm and sedated and Hugo was very lively. And there was a couple that was dealing with him and asking him a bunch of questions and kind of seemed like they were going to buy him. So we go up to the people that work there and we say, if they don't buy him, call us. Yeah. We'll just walk around the neighborhood and expect a call from you. And I thought the people were going to buy him. Yeah. Go for a little walk. After five minutes, the phone rings and they said they didn't buy him. They're thinking about it.

And we were like, we'll take him and walked and bought it.

And what happened was that we have another dog. What do we do when we bring him home? And they said, we came in a little box, a little carton. And they said, put the box down and open the lid. And that's how you let them interact. And we did that. And I can swear that Lestat, he looked at the puppy and he looked at me and I could hear that he said, what the F? What are you doing to me? And that entire evening,

He didn't want anything to do with Hugo. Yeah. Nothing. He would just not interact, was just not interested. Yeah. We slept through the night and Hugo slept all through the night. It wasn't a noise from him. Yeah.

Yeah. And in the morning, same thing, Lestat was not interested. I go into my office to do some work and all of a sudden my ex calls and he's like, come, come, come look. And then they're playing. They were playing, yeah. So it took Lestat like 12 hours to kind of like. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my goodness. So then they broke up about a year later. Less than a year. And then when you and I met, Hugo was about a year old. Yeah.

And was untrained. So I trained him. Yeah. He was an extremely stubborn dog. Yeah. And, you know, it was hard because I lived on the sixth floor of an apartment building with an elevator. So taking him down to pee and poop. Eight floors. Eight floors, yeah. I don't know how many times he peed in the hallway and in the elevator. It was just a nightmare too. But you did it. It was really difficult, but we did it.

And he's pretty good now. Yeah, he's pretty good now. Yeah. But he's a handful. He still has that rambunctious personality that you wanted. Yes, that we wanted. Well, I'd rather have that than a dog that just like sits around and look at you like, you know. Yeah. Okay. Okay, last one. Anne from Dallas. I'm obsessed with you two and your beards.

I really want my husband Jack to grow a big beard and he refuses to do so. Oh my gosh. He says he finds it too hot and itchy. I have a feeling that's not true. Are your beards hot and itchy? No. I'm sure that Palm Springs gets as hot as Dallas. And the answer is no. It actually shades you a little bit from the sun. The itchy thing is a myth because shaving your face is more irritating than

And it growing out might seem itchy, but no. Once it's there, it's not itchy at all. And it's actually softer than stubble. And the hot thing, no, it's not at all. I mean, you just... There's other underlying things here. Okay. Yeah. So you, yeah, just tell him to try it. Now's the time. Exactly. If he's quarantined, if y'all are quarantined, just be like...

Just don't shave until this is over. Or make some sort of like... I think there's certain months of the year that there's like a solidarity movement. That's November. Is that just mustaches? It's a mustache. Yeah. Anyway, find some other incentive for him to grow a beard. I would think it would be enough if the wife says, I would find you extremely attractive and hot and sexy with a beard. Exactly. So please do it. I mean, isn't that enough? Yeah. Yeah.

So there might be some sort of negotiation. If you do this for me, I'll do this for you. Exactly. Yes. Yeah. Demand it and then send us a picture. I know. Let us know. But no, it's not hot and it's not itchy. It's not itchy whatsoever. It's actually cozy and soft and... Snuggly. Snuggly. Absolutely.

Well, thank you guys. If you like the podcast, please rate us and give us stars and whatever you can give. Reviews, love that. If you have any questions, email us at podcast.sweetpaulmag.com or send us a DM on Instagram, Sweet Paul Magazine. Other than that, we're going to say...

Stay safe. Stay indoors, wash your hands and wear a mask and we will get through this. Okay. Yep. Okay. Until next time. Bye. Bye.