It's Finally Springtime!

After last night’s failed attempt to print or even get a good internet connection, I made an executive decision to put Kaleb’s Honors Algebra course with Johns Hopkins University on HOLD until the fall.  Even with the dial up modem option, the signal keeps dropping and it’s not very fast, so for him to watch lectures over it would be a nightmare.   He wasn’t too upset about that and it takes a lot of pressure off me to get him hooked up everyday to the internet to do his math.  I had him stay home from school today, thinking we could go to the library and print out the mid-term test he needs to take, but there was a huge wait for computer time there, so that fixed the deal.  No math for several months.  At least I brought his grammar books along.

My Pal Vestina sent me a text message inviting me to her see her new place today at 11 and there was no misunderstanding in THAT invitation.  Kory and Kaleb went with me into town since Kaleb wanted to go to the bigger downtown library to see what books are available and Kory wanted to see if any shrimp boats were in.  He loves buying shrimp right off the boat and eating them on a bench overlooking the harbor.  I was just glad to have some chick time with my sweet friend from Lithuania.  She now has a steady boyfriend and they’ve taken their relationship to the next level by buying a condo together, so I just had to see it. (see photo) It was incredible with floor to ceiling, wall-to-wall windows overlooking the fjord and mountains beyond.  It’s pretty small, but it’s all they need.  She made me lunch and bought little marzipan cakes for me because she remembered I love marzipan.  Too sweet.  We didn’t have enough time to catch up on everything, but it was a good start.  There’s still plenty of time ahead for future visits.

The sun came out today so Vestina walked with me into the heart of town (see photo) where we went shopping for some second hand furniture for her.  She didn’t know about all the thrift stores I do, so she was glad to be shown where they are because they really aren’t in obvious locations.  We ran into Kory and Kaleb while we were walking around.  I asked Kory where he parked (I needed my wallet to buy a few treasures I happened to find), and he told me he found a free spot over by my old school.  I told him there was no such thing as a free parking spot in downtown Aalesund, but he insisted there was.  It’s only two bucks an hour to park, but his tight-fisted nature gets the best of him sometimes.  As we headed back to the car later, we found a parking ticket on the windshield for $60 (300 kroner).  Ouch. I didn’t need to say, “I told you so,” but I really wanted to.

Kaleb was anxious to get home to meet up with his friends after school so we cut our downtown time short.  The sun was still out and I could have taken photos for hours as everything was just so beautiful to me – being back in the heart of the city – but we had to go.  I needed to get going anyway because I invited The Good Teacher Inga and her husband over for dinner.  We had a few good laughs with them and a nice visit (see photo).  I showed Inga the text message I’d gotten from Kristin about going for a “tur” (hike/walk) and she interpreted it the exact same way I did, but then right away she said, “It could also mean just come on over…” and when I told her about showing up to a fancy lunch in my rain gear, she cracked up.  She did say she probably would have made the same assumption, so I shouldn’t be too hard on myself.

They had many similar experiences living in Ireland for a year as we had living here in Norway.  Her husband, Pat, is from there.   He told us some of his observations about living in Norway and how different it is even from Ireland.  One thing new I learned tonight is around the rules for hunting deer.  Apparently only farm owners are allowed to shoot them.  They are allowed so many deer each year based on how big their farm is, and only during a three week period, and only within a certain range of their farm.  Inga’s brother just took over their family farm so he has a three deer limit, because it’s a small place.  It must be one of those laws that goes way back – not only to protect the farmer’s crops but also to provide meat.  I guess venison is hardly ever in the grocery stores and when it is, it’s very expensive, so they made sure I understood what a special treat I got the other night being served deer stew.

The rules for fishing around here are also a bit strange, Pat said.  Anyone can fish for anything out in salt water, with no license and no restrictions, but fishing salmon in the rivers is highly controlled and very expensive.  Not only does one need a license to fish, but they need to pay rent to the farmer that owns the land they will be standing on when they fish.  The licensing fee is about $30 a day, but the rent to stand on the farmer’s land can be up to $200 a day.  Only the farmer has the fishing rights to the river going through his property, but he is free to sell it at any price, so the good fishing holes get a good price. 

The other thing Pat said was that saltwater fishing has been totally unrestricted up until just recently when they started clamping down on the Germans.  Apparently they’ve been coming up here in droves, driving in their motorhomes and catching all kinds of salmon, freezing them in their RVs, and filling up ice chests to take them back to Germany and selling them.  Entire tour groups were coming up because it is free food, so then the Norwegians got concerned all the salmon might go away, so now there is a limit, but it seems, it’s just for the Germans because they only place that law is enforced is at the border when they pull over motorhomes.  Funny.

And that ends yet another day in Paradise.  Our house is filled with tulips, as everyone that comes for dinner brings a bouquet or two.  I’ve never had this many tulips in my house in Skagit Valley at one time – even living with fields of them out our front door.  Spring has most definitely arrived.