Another Storybook Day

30 May 2013

It’s hard to believe, after the tough three months with all that rain we had last year here in Norway, that we’ve had so many dreamy days this year.  First it was the 17^th of May parade in Oslo day, then it was the hike up to Pulpit Rock last week, and today was yet again another incredible experience here in Storybook land.  (I only say that when the sun is shining, mind you.)

While Kaleb was doing his schoolwork today, Kory was finishing up the bench he made inside the little trailer for Philadelphia Church.  I was busy making food to take along on a hike I’ve been waiting to take for a very long time.

We’ve been up the mountain at Runde a few times in the past, but we’ve never seen the puffins.  It’s the only place in all of Norway where they nest, and they are only here the month of May.  They will leave early if the fish they eat leave the area –even if that means they abandon their nests and leave their young behind to die. 

So, we’ve tried many times this year to get someone to go with us to Runde as it’s way more fun to hike with friends when a long drive is involved, but things didn’t work out with either timing or weather.  Looking at the weather forecast for the weekend, I realized today was the day we must do it so we asked cousin Bjørn and his family yesterday if they wanted to join us once the twins got out of school – and they agreed!  Woo hoo.  It was hard to believe they’ve lived here their entire lives and have never gone out there.

It’s about an hour and a half drive to get to the island we can see from Aalesund but with the ferry crossing, lots of one lane bridges and a few tunnels, it takes a while to get there.  The bridges are more than freaky as they look like the back of a big dinosaur and just one lane wide.  If another car is coming, there is a wide spot at the top of the bridge where one of the cars must wait for the other to pass.  Glad I wasn’t driving as there were three of them to go over.  Yikes.

The weather couldn’t have been better and the visibility was incredible.  They’ve made some improvements to the trail since we were there four years ago… the first part of the trail is even paved!  It’s a very popular place to hike, obviously, as that’s the first paved trail I’ve seen.

The ascent is incredibly steep at first so it takes a while to get up on top, but once up there, the trail and terrain are very friendly.  The southern side of the island is nearly a straight drop off into the sea below, but because the rocks on the island are so crumbly, they have made for nice little nooks and crannies here and there for the birds, but they also make for a bit of danger if one gets too close to the edge.

On the western edge of the mountain is where the seagulls hang out and make their nests, but a little further east from there is puffin territory.  There are actually several types of sea birds mixed in the bunch as well, but the puffins definitely dominate the place.

Since their babies and eggs are tucked safely behind rocks and are not accessible or threatened by any other birds, the puffins are gone all day fishing in the sea.  They start coming back around seven at night, but between eight and ten at night they swarm in.  They fly like bats and land like they don’t know what they are doing. 

Standing up on the cliff face looking down into the waters below wasn’t my favorite thing to do but the birds made me do it.  They swarmed like mosquitoes in the hollows of the cliff.  It was so fun when they’d fly right overhead and land on the cliff face behind us or come right in to the cliff face beneath us and disappear like magic.  I could have stayed there for hours and watched them, but we had bedtimes to deal with and ferries that only ran once an hour in the evening, so we had to depart.  I’m anxious to go back though. It was magical.

When we were nearly back down to the bottom of the mountain, one of the twins realized he’d left his jacket up on the rock where we’d stopped for coffee up on top.  His dad, who was wearing boat shoes because one of his hiking shoes fell out of the back of the car in the driveway and he didn’t realize it, ran back up the mountain and back down in about 15 minutes.  He was soaking wet from sweat, but he was motivated to catch the 9:30 ferry and not have to sit in the car with three kids so late at night waiting another hour for the next one.  The blisters on his feet will remind him for a few days of the wonderful workout he got today.  I feel like I got a workout too, but I just walked up and back down.  Oi.  

Summer Came Today!

29 May 2013

These are the days I live for.  Warm sunshine and not much to do.  The day lingered and I took as many little walks as I could with my shorts, flip-flops and sleeveless top.  It was an all-out summer day today in Norway and may very well be the best day of the year.  It hit 80 and it was 94 on our deck.  All windows and doors were open, I pulled out the awning to cool things down and we ate popcicles twice.  Now that’s my kind of day!

I didn’t have a thing on the agenda for today so I piddled it away, doing a little writing, running a few errands, visiting a few folks.  Kory went to Philadelphia Church across the street and worked all day building a seating platform inside a little trailer that will be used Sunday (probably in the rain) for a children’s festival that day.  The pastor of the church asked him if he had time to do it and he was happy to help.  Lars, the guy staying at our place right now, also helped him a little so the two of them were gone all day being carpenters.

Kaleb slept in until 10:30 then sat inside and did schoolwork, against my advice.  I wanted him to at least sit on the deck so he got some sunshine on his bones, but he’s so afraid of getting a sunburn that he wore a long sleeved shirt even in the house! Crazy kid.

I worked on a few articles, organized and put away my thrift store treasures and made dinner.  Those were my big thrills for the day, other than the short nap I took out on the deck with the sun baking my skin into a deep bronze tone.  I’m still short on Vitamin D so I need to soak it up when I can.

After dinner the three of us took a long walk around the outer perimeter of the malls nears us then stopped in to buy more popcicles because they are on sale right now.  Normally one popcicle costs about four dollars, but today we bought a box of them and they were only about 75 cents each, so we couldn’t resist.  Kaleb loves the pear flavored ones but I think the peach flavored ones are pretty good, too.  They even have pear flavored pop here which is all of our favorites, but we don’t buy pop very often.

Kaleb made a little money on our walk as he picked up some pop bottles along the way.  The deposit on them is either about 18 cents or 45 cents, depending on the size, so he made over a dollar just picking up trash as we walked along.  Folks just leave the bottles on tables or sitting on top of garbage cans as they don’t want to be bothered with taking them to the recycle machine.  A person could really supplement their income in Norway just by picking up bottles and cans.

Today I saw in the back of a grocery store, two employees heaving all kinds of food into the dumpster.  It looked like packets of things like nuts or candy or something.  Previously I’ve been to the mall at closing time and the bakery does the same thing – they just toss out all the baked good that don’t get sold that day. There are no food banks or hungry people here.  Everyone has a good life and is well supplemented by the government so there is no need to keep that kind of stuff.  It just seems wrong to me, but there is nothing practical that can be done with it.  There are homeless people here in the summer from Romania, begging in the streets, but no one wants to feed them or more will come. 

Tonight was a special meeting at Agape Church they have once a month for the “heartbeat” of the church – the core group - kind of a deeper training for people who are very involved in the life of the church.  It’s a time for the staff to talk about the vision and passion of the church and for them to emphasize important aspects of Christian life.  We were honored to be invited and it was good to see the many ways they want to grow the group spiritually.  They don’t talk about numbers of people attending their church, as far as church growth goes, they talk about getting closer to God.  Now that’s my kind of emphasis.  One woman was prayed for as she starts a two year stint on Mercy Ships in Africa as an optometrist.   Norwegian churches or individuals don’t sponsor missionaries like they do in America.  Each person with a heart to serve on the mission field has to come up with their own financing, so they just prayed for her and let her talk about how long it took for this dream of hers to come true – 12 years!  I guess it took awhile for her to save the money she needed.

Kaleb spent a few hours at Daniel’s house while we were at the meeting and he wasn’t pleased when we picked him up a few minutes before he expected us to be there, so we visited with Are and Tina a bit before we headed home.  The sun was setting when we got home and it couldn’t have been a more beautiful ending to such a sweet summer day.

A Glorious Day

28 May 2013

I thought today would be rather relaxed and I was looking forward to sorting through my treasures and figuring out which ones to take home and which ones to leave here.  I wasn’t up even an hour before all those plans changed.  I was able to snap a photo of all the rosmaling things I bought, though.  (Photos to follow of my other treasures.)  The trunk we bought was only $40 and it’s from 1904.  I can’t believe people don’t want this kind of stuff!

I got a message from my friend Tina asking if I wanted to go on a walk with her.  With the sun shining out the window, I couldn’t think of an excuse not to, so I walked away from the mess I’d created in unpacking things and figured I’d be back shortly.  Well, that didn’t happen.  Tina and I took a good long walk on a trail I hadn’t been on before and we chatted away and enjoyed all the nature God put in front of us. When we got back to her house, she asked if I’d help get her pots planted with flowers she bought too long ago. 

Normally everyone has their decks and yards ready for summer by the 17^th of May, but Tina and her family decided to go away for that long weekend and she never got around to it, even though she had all the stuff.  So she was running a week behind and needed to get the plants in larger containers and I was happy to help.  Three hours after I left the house, I returned, only to have Kory sitting in the car waiting to drive me into the city.

Kory and I want to volunteer for a few weeks working on “The Miracle House” in Aalesund (above) before we leave Norway.  They hope to open up this summer.  It’s the only house that didn’t burn down during the fire of 1904.  It was purchased and given to Philadelphia Church and they are going to use it as a tourist attraction/prayer house/café.  We are so excited to be part of this whole deal and to have time to help get it ready.  So today Kory was meeting with the pastor of the church to see what work still needs to be done.  We had an appointment to meet him there so I barely made it home in time for that.

The inside of the house is nearly fully restored but some final things need to be done with the café kitchen and lots of work yet outside.  The house has been painted inside and out and stairwells rebuilt.  They are putting bathrooms out the back and a veranda off the café, so that’s what Kory will be working on.  I’m going to be washing ceilings, walls and floors for a few days getting all the dust off things in preparation for moving in furniture and fixtures.  I couldn’t be more pleased. 

So we met with the pastor, got the once over on the house and we were back home for just enough time to change clothes and head back over to Tina’s house, since she invited us over for a GRILL tonight.  Woo hoo!  The Norway summer has begun when the weather cooperates enough to have a bar-b-que.  Kaleb was also thrilled to have extra time with Daniel.

We got over to Tina’s at four and didn’t leave until after midnight.  We had an absolutely delicious meal out on her balcony (view above is from there).  She has a friend from Thailand that made a sauce that beat anything else I’ve ever eaten.  It was good on everything!  So everyone ate until they couldn’t eat anymore and after the sun went behind the mountain we went inside for cake and coffee and a long chat. 

Tina’s always bragging about Pookie’s back massage abilities so I asked Pookie to just massage my shoulders a bit since they were still under pressure from driving on Norwegian roads home from Bergen.  Next thing I knew I was lying face down on the floor with my shirt off and she was pushing her elbow into the hard spots on my back.  I must have been there an hour as she gave my back one heck of a workout.  It was heavenly.  And boy did I need that. 

I can’t believe this woman.  She comes over to Tina’s house to cook her a meal, then she cleans it up and afterwards gives massages!  This is why the Norwegian men are falling for Thai ladies… they are all about serving.  I felt badly for her not being able to relax but she said over and over again it’s what makes her happy, so I couldn’t argue with that!  We had a great evening but the mess I’d created earlier was still waiting for me when I got back home.  It’s obvious that Pookie hasn’t been to our house.

Back Home Again

27 May 2013

We were up and ready to take off long before Ingebjorg woke up this morning so we packed the car, striped the sheets, showered and made breakfast, all without waking her up.  She was so bummed we had to leave so early this morning, but it’s a good 8 hours drive back home and I was hoping to make it in time for a Bible study meeting tonight with friends from Philadelphia Church.  We only made one long stop along the way – to a thrift store of course -  about half way home.  I got a few more treasures, which I have no place for, but they were things I just couldn’t resist and they were cheap – most of them under a buck.  We didn’t stop anywhere else along the way because there were four ferry rides involved and they are timed so we can catch them all if we go the speed limit and don’t stop.  I even drove most of the way, which kept me well occupied, as it’s really not possible to take one’s eyes off the road or sudden death will follow soon thereafter.  The main roads in Norway are anything but main (see photo below).

Kaleb sat in the back and alternated between schoolwork and electronic games.  He didn’t make a peep the whole day.  We did make a quick stop soon after we departed Bergen as there was a rest stop with a climbing wall on it and I knew he’d enjoy that.  That boy hasn’t used many muscles in the last few weeks so it was good for him to stretch out a bit.

We had sunshine the whole day and lots of beautiful scenery to look at, especially the closer to home we got.  There is nothing in Norway that compares to the mountains around Aalesund. 

The Bible study I was trying to get to started at 7pm and miraculously, we got home at 6:55.  It is in our neighborhood, so I called my friend just to be sure it was still on.  It was, but she’d shifted the starting time to 7:30, whew, which allowed me time to unpack most of the things from the car before heading over there.  I was in hyper speed sorting through things, putting them away and getting laundry started.  I can’t believe I made it home in time as we didn’t leave until a little after 10 this morning.  I’d hoped to leave at eight o’clock, but God still kept us on track with no unexpected events along the way.

Before we left on this trip I was full of anxiety about going.  If something happened to the car or to us, I wasn’t sure what we’d do.  Why I get so wrapped around the axel, I don’t know, but now that I’m back home I wonder what all the fussing was about.  We had a great trip, got to visit family, and have two of the best experiences I’ve had here in Norway – climbing up Pulpit Rock and going to the 17^th of May parade in Oslo.  It was blessed by God all the way around and I’m so thankful for the opportunity to travel so freely.  We even stayed on budget, even with all my thrift store purchases.  How that happened, I have no idea, but I’ve yet to receive the bills for all the automatic toll stations we passed through, so that will kick me over a bit, I’m sure – but that will be on next month’s budget and I won’t worry about that for now.

Kaleb wasn’t home five minutes before he was Skyping his friend Daniel and asking if he could go see him tomorrow.  I’m glad he has a buddy to hang with here, even if they do spend most of their time on the computer.

Our guests from Seattle came back tonight shortly after we got home.  They spend their days with their son and his family just a block away, but they are sleeping here for the month they are in Norway.  They leave June 8^th, so until then we are sleeping in Kaleb’s room and trying to be quiet after they go to bed. We’ve become quite the night owls but the days are growing longer and it’s still light out at midnight so it’s hard to sleep before then.

There’s not much on our agenda between now and when we head home in four weeks, except to rent out our place and hopefully find a way home for most of my treasures.  One suitcase already made it back home as our friends we met in Oslo took it with them.  I know I have a problem with collecting stuff, but I have no interest in fixing it because there’s just too much joy in owning so many cool old handmade things from Norway.