The Hunt

There was a family of five living in our condo for nearly six months while we were away this past year.  They left it in incredibly good shape, but sadly, the only thing they broke was a light fixture, on the last day they were cleaning up the place.  It wouldn’t have been so bad, as everything we have is from a thrift store, expect that was the only thing in our condo we don’t own – it was on loan from a relative.  We spent the best part of the day going from thrift store to thrift store in downtown Aalesund, looking for one just like it so we could replace the globe that broke.  It’s a fairly common type, but probably at least fifty or sixty years old, so we feel terrible, and will keep looking until we find it.  It was a good excuse anyway, for me to go shopping! 

Just because I didn’t find what I was looking for, didn’t keep me from finding many things I didn’t need.  It was another great day of hand-made Norwegian treasures, filling up our home and driving Kory nuts.  Even he has to admit though, some of the stuff is pretty cool.  I also bought a pair of in-line skates for Kaleb for five bucks, and another thermos for road trips for 80 cents, and a few items for baking.  I didn’t find any type of food processor or hand held blender however, except in the new stores - and they were a hundred dollars on up, so that eliminated that possibility.  Ugh.

This morning I drove Kaleb over to Daniel’s house as he’d about had enough of hanging with us and needed some boy time.  I’m sure they haven’t moved from the couch all day, as Daniel loves electronics as much as Kaleb.  He’s spending the night and is now at least carrying a toothbrush and spare pair of undies in his backpack everywhere he goes, as the offers for sleepovers seem to come at the last minute. 

I stayed on and had a luscious cup of coffee with Tina (Daniel’s mom) this morning and as we chatted, I watched the constant parade of boats going in front of her place.  I couldn’t believe the variety of vessels there are out there and she has quite the vantage point in which to see them.  We chatted for a few hours then I had to get home and pick up Kory to go hunting for that light fixture part.

The rain never stopped today but downtown Aalesund is still as gorgeous as ever (top photo and last 2 below).  We managed to hit every thrift store in town before I met up with My Pal Vestina (above) for an afternoon cup of coffee at our favorite café (run by Youth With a Mission).  Kory went in search for other things we needed for the condo while Vestina and I had a quick chat trying to fill in the highlights of the last year of our lives.  She kept telling me I hadn’t aged a bit, as if I should have.  She is still as hot as ever and still has the same boyfriend.  They were in Spain the last few weeks and she’s sad to now be back in the rain and out of the warm sunshine.  I’m sure most Norwegians feel that way, too.  She’s got a new job working in an office, shuffling papers.  She loves it and they love her and I must admit, I love that girl as well. I feel right at home to be back with her – cracking up at the slightest little things.  She loves to laugh and it’s contagious. 

Kory and I were home alone tonight.  I wanted to go visit Tante Kari, but she’d stopped by earlier today when I was gone, so Kory visited with her by himself.  She was excited to be getting internet in her condo today.  I love it that she wants to learn how to use it.  Her sister Aslaug (age 86) is already a whiz, posting photos to Facebook and keeping up with all her grandchildren spread out throughout the land.  She’s incredible and I’m sure she’s the one that motivated Kari (age 84) to give it a go as well.  Kory wondered how it was going with her, but he couldn’t tear himself away from his Stressless chair and his I-pad to find out.

I spent the whole evening on the internet myself, researching different things for our road trip to Sweden week after next.  I’ll be too busy next week to do much of anything, since we have company coming, so I wanted to get a handle on where we are going, how long the drives are between hotels and what there is to do in each town where we’ll be stopping.  It’s more planning than usual, but it helps maximize the time.   I already suffered a setback, when on my initial plans I had set aside a whole day in Lillehammer, for Kaleb, since there is an amusement park there.  Turns out we will be there the day they close for the season, since school starts that day and I’m sure they don’t want to give any Norwegian kid an excuse to miss the first day of school.  The fact it’s still mid-August has nothing to do with it, apparently.  He was sorely disappointed, so that propelled me to check each website for each place I was thinking of going, (including some thrift stores!) to see when and if they are open. 

I’m especially looking forward to prices being a little cheaper in Sweden, than in Norway and also that thrift stores are all the rage there so who knows what I’ll come back with.  I’m sure Kory will keep me in check.  If he doesn’t, at least our bank account will.