My friend Tina decided today was a good day for a hike. It was warm, but overcast, so we headed for the hills with her son Daniel (in the red shirt), Kaleb and Tobias. It was going to be just a quick trip up to a viewpoint, but it went so quickly, we decided to keep on going up to a mountain lake. We weren’t disappointed. It was good for the boys to do something other than electronics and it was good for me to get off my butt. I’ve been sitting at the computer just a little too much lately and feeling a bit lazy. I have so much to do I’m not motivated to do much, so thanks to Tina I got some fresh air and exercise today before the rains came to Aalesund.
Kaleb had a great time with Daniel last night and wanted to keep playing with him, but Tobias also wanted to spend time with him so we invited him on the hike, then Andre called asking for Kaleb to come over, so he had to make some tough choices. In the end I took him over to Andre’s after the hike and I’m not sure if I’ll see again anytime soon. Andre has been gone all week to his grandmother’s house and just got home. Kaleb was crying his eyes out yesterday telling me that he thinks Andre likes his grandmother more than him. I tried to explain that was the way it should be, but he just didn’t understand. He said one time he was at Toben’s house and they called Andre to come up and play, but Andre said if they wanted to play with him, they needed to come to his house because his grandmother was there. Kaleb was so upset when he said, “He sees her ALL the time – she comes over at least ONCE a week!” Poor Kaleb, he’s so used to being the center of attention he doesn’t know what it’s like to share. But these are the things that grow him up so I’m thankful for that. But now he has Andre all to himself so he might just stay there a few days.
Tina kept me entertained today as we were hiking with stories of her adventures in the wilds of Norway. I can’t believe what a Mountain Mama she is. She likes to hike and has been to the highest peaks around here. She went with eight other women to the highest mountaintop but only three of them made it all the way because they had to scale some pretty steep rock faces and the others thought it was too dangerous. Not Tina. She also likes to hunt and told me of the time she packed out a hundred pounds of cut up elk (I don’t think she even weighs that much) in her backpack, four hours down a steep mountain in the black of night. She kept falling and had a hard time standing up with all that meat on her back. I didn’t understand her persistence on that one, but she said she likes to challenge herself and she never gives up. Then she told me about the time her door was left open a crack and she was welcomed home by a poisonous snake in her entryway. She took a shovel to it hoping to chop it in half but the skin was so tough it just pinched it and made it so mad the snake kept striking at the shovel. She dared not let it go and had to keep pressure on it a long time until it finally gave up the ghost, then she threw it outside and crushed it’s head with a rock. I was in awe of her gumption and bravery, not to mention skill and determination in all her experiences. What a woman. She also told me about harrowing experiences her husband has had. They are both walking miracles. Thankfully today didn’t produce any exciting stories to tell, it was just a nice walk in the mountains with lots of blueberries for the taking along the way.
I found out today there is another berry that looks exactly like the blueberry, called a blokkaberry and one taste tells of the difference. They grow right next to each other so for novices like me, it’s easy to mix them up. Blokkaberries are quite bitter and unfortunately, I put a whole handful of them in Kaleb’s mouth. He wasn’t at all happy about that, but I didn’t know until it was too late. Apparently the leaves on the blokkaberry are the same shape, but slightly greener and when the berry is squeezed, it has a clear liquid inside rather than the reddish liquid in the blueberry. At least they aren’t poisonous – now that would have been a story, if I’d given Kaleb poisonous berries. Uff da.
Kory in the meantime continued to lie on his back and be bored all day at Odd and Turid’s. He’s getting a little grumpy now as he wants to do more, but can’t. He sat with us out on the deck tonight and ate dinner with his left hand because his right hand was busy keeping the weight of his body off his back. I hate to see him in pain so it’s hard for me to be around him. It’ going to be a long week.
Kaleb had a great time with Daniel last night and wanted to keep playing with him, but Tobias also wanted to spend time with him so we invited him on the hike, then Andre called asking for Kaleb to come over, so he had to make some tough choices. In the end I took him over to Andre’s after the hike and I’m not sure if I’ll see again anytime soon. Andre has been gone all week to his grandmother’s house and just got home. Kaleb was crying his eyes out yesterday telling me that he thinks Andre likes his grandmother more than him. I tried to explain that was the way it should be, but he just didn’t understand. He said one time he was at Toben’s house and they called Andre to come up and play, but Andre said if they wanted to play with him, they needed to come to his house because his grandmother was there. Kaleb was so upset when he said, “He sees her ALL the time – she comes over at least ONCE a week!” Poor Kaleb, he’s so used to being the center of attention he doesn’t know what it’s like to share. But these are the things that grow him up so I’m thankful for that. But now he has Andre all to himself so he might just stay there a few days.
Tina kept me entertained today as we were hiking with stories of her adventures in the wilds of Norway. I can’t believe what a Mountain Mama she is. She likes to hike and has been to the highest peaks around here. She went with eight other women to the highest mountaintop but only three of them made it all the way because they had to scale some pretty steep rock faces and the others thought it was too dangerous. Not Tina. She also likes to hunt and told me of the time she packed out a hundred pounds of cut up elk (I don’t think she even weighs that much) in her backpack, four hours down a steep mountain in the black of night. She kept falling and had a hard time standing up with all that meat on her back. I didn’t understand her persistence on that one, but she said she likes to challenge herself and she never gives up. Then she told me about the time her door was left open a crack and she was welcomed home by a poisonous snake in her entryway. She took a shovel to it hoping to chop it in half but the skin was so tough it just pinched it and made it so mad the snake kept striking at the shovel. She dared not let it go and had to keep pressure on it a long time until it finally gave up the ghost, then she threw it outside and crushed it’s head with a rock. I was in awe of her gumption and bravery, not to mention skill and determination in all her experiences. What a woman. She also told me about harrowing experiences her husband has had. They are both walking miracles. Thankfully today didn’t produce any exciting stories to tell, it was just a nice walk in the mountains with lots of blueberries for the taking along the way.
I found out today there is another berry that looks exactly like the blueberry, called a blokkaberry and one taste tells of the difference. They grow right next to each other so for novices like me, it’s easy to mix them up. Blokkaberries are quite bitter and unfortunately, I put a whole handful of them in Kaleb’s mouth. He wasn’t at all happy about that, but I didn’t know until it was too late. Apparently the leaves on the blokkaberry are the same shape, but slightly greener and when the berry is squeezed, it has a clear liquid inside rather than the reddish liquid in the blueberry. At least they aren’t poisonous – now that would have been a story, if I’d given Kaleb poisonous berries. Uff da.
Kory in the meantime continued to lie on his back and be bored all day at Odd and Turid’s. He’s getting a little grumpy now as he wants to do more, but can’t. He sat with us out on the deck tonight and ate dinner with his left hand because his right hand was busy keeping the weight of his body off his back. I hate to see him in pain so it’s hard for me to be around him. It’ going to be a long week.
