55 and Still Alive!

I’ve had one too many friends die before they reached the age of 55, so I’m very thankful I’ve made it, I’m healthy, I’m blessed and I had a great day.  Does life get any better?  I guess if I didn’t have to set the alarm clock this morning it would have been slightly better, but all in all, it was wonderful.  And I’m not done celebrating yet!

At the suggestion of friends, we took a road trip out as far as the ferry system will go – to the island of Ona where only 20 people still live.  It was a fishing village for hundreds of years and I’m sure it has many stories to tell, so it was fun to walk around and see what there was to see.   And nothing suits me more than having something picturesque to photograph, so I was in hog heaven.

The ferry only goes there every three and a half hours and the only ferry that stayed more than 10 minutes was at 11am, so we had to get up early to catch that ferry or else we would have been stranded on an island for over three hours with nothing open and no where to hide from the elements.  This is why the alarm clock was such a rude awakening this morning, because we had to get up early enough to drive to the first ferry in order to catch the second one on time.  Oi.

The rain came and went today but thankfully, while we were on the island and without a car, we had no rain.  We stopped at all of the islands on the way back to just poke around and drive down roads to see where they went.  I love that kind of stuff – nothing planned  - just seeing what’s around the next bend. 

I packed a lunch for us since I knew there would be no restaurants open anywhere, and I was right.  Even the store on Ona was only open for about five minutes after we got there, then they shut down.  That is so Norway.  We happened upon a fishing shack (above and below) full of crab pots and nets that had a table and chairs inside so that’s where we had lunch.  The minute we sat down to eat, the skies opened up and just dumped the rain hard on the metal roof we were under.  It was so cool.  And then, the minute we were done eating, the blue skies returned.  I got several great photos today as remembrances for the days our traveling life might be over… heaven forbid.

My friend Kristin made me a scarf that I love for my birthday and my friend Sandra dropped off some antique things  - an old spoon and some pewter napkin rings that I also love.  It’s so nice when people “get me.”  My boys made me dinner after we got home so that was another huge treat – to sit and read all my Facebook messages while they were busy in the kitchen.  Hallelujah for that.

The celebrations are far from over, as we are going to Greece in three weeks as the final celebratory part of this momentous birthday and this weekend we are taking a trip up into the mountains with some friends/relatives.  And I’m not even thinking about the record breaking heat wave going on back home this week because the rain is starting to soothe my soul and I’m focusing on the inward sunshine that makes life all the sweeter.