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2 June -
Tim was out playing a concert today, Andrew was out ploughing a field, while Katie and Tracy baked (photo, left - click for enlargement).
This evening, Katie is going out to a birthday party.
Although the sun is still shining, we're coming to the end of our spell of wonderful weather,
with rain forecast more or less solidly for the coming week.
At some point in the future you'll read in the news that there's been an avalanche in Norway. During the past three years we've written often about rocks falling onto our road and about being stranded in our valley due to larger avalanches. So you may well say, "what's new?" The expected avalanche will be just outside �ndalsnes, close to where we lived throughout the 1990s, and consists of a rock that is in the process of sliding off one of the mountains. The rock is moving at the rate of several inches every year and is constantly monitored, with measurements examined every minute, night and day. If you think this doesn't sound like a big deal, think about it like this. Find yourself a pyramid-shaped, 1000-foot-high mountain, with a base half a mile long by half mile wide. Got one? Now lift it up 6000 feet (you might need someone to help you with that bit). And then drop it. (I should have said to make sure there was no-one underneath at the time, but never mind - no-one will ever know.) The debris (between 25 and 100 million cubic metres of rock - the mountain you've just dropped was 50 million cubic metres) is expected to block the whole of the Romsdal Valley (including the main road and only railway line to the North of Western Norway) to a depth of some 70 feet. There's a big river that runs through the valley, so within three days there will be a lake, 70 feet deep and several miles long, that will flood several dozen houses and farms. And if that dam then bursts, the resulting flood will wash away most of �ndalsnes. So if you're considering moving to the lower part of the Romsdal Valley (a very beautiful place), don't say we didn't warn you.
3 June -
After church this morning we were taken out for a lovely Chinese meal and then came home to assemble a new wardrobe, while
Thomas Andrew has been cutting hay on our field closest to the house, using yet another of his new accessories.
As well as a hay cutter he's just acquired a potato picker (photo, right - click for enlargement).
On 2 May, Tracy and Katie were at a Matt Redman concert in Kristiansand. You were promised a report about it, but none was ever received here so you've not had one either. But you can see a photo showing them there.
10 June - Apologies for the gap in entries. The last couple of weeks have again been absurdly busy for us all. The last 48 hours have been typical - after a whole day of meetings in Stavanger, Tim went to a planning meeting at Vikes� in the evening before setting off on a 4-hour drive to Grimstad to collect Matt. After packing Matt's belongings into the car there was a 4-hour drive home, then out straight away to a wedding in Bjerkreim. Tracy in the meantime spent the day at a mission meeting. The wedding was immediately followed by us both attending a Saturday-evening birthday party which started at 6pm and ended at 3 this (Sunday) morning, meaning that there were both morning and evening services for us both to take/play at. And tomorrow means for Tim a full day's work at Stavanger followed by an evening meeting. But from Tuesday things quieten down for us both (though there's still a lot of catch-up office work to do for us both).
So Matt is now back home after college at Grimstad. He's pleased to be home and to be closer to his girlfriend, but naturally had a twinge of sadness at leaving Grimstad, which he's enjoyed greatly. But for the next year he'll still be connected with the college, putting in a few weeks there between periods of work.
The birthday party was for our friend Elsa, who we knew well when we lived in M�ndalen in the 1990s and she was the local vet there. She comes originally from a village between Vikes� and the sea (roughly where most of our beach photographs are taken) and she returned here towards the end of our time in M�ndalen. So it was a happy reunion with her when we came to live here three years ago. The 9-hour party included a good dinner, many speeches, games, music (from Tim), a short "sermon" (Tracy), two slide shows and coffee and a vast selection of cakes. The one slide show was of pictures from Romsdal (M�ndalen area) and the other was of the coast near here. The invited friends fell into the same two groups - which meant that we had the pleasure of seeing again a dozen old friends who we've not met for over a decade. We felt that the Romsdal pictures were far more exciting than the ones from around here and we became quite nostalgic!
I should really have reported from Tuesday 5th - Wednesday 6th that Katie had a school class outing which involved walking up into the mountains, putting up lavvos in which to spend the night, along with swimming in lakes, kayaking and fishing for trout (which they had to fillet themselves and cook over a bonfire). On her return from there on the Wednesday, Katie had an hour or two at home before leaving for another kayaking trip, this time on the moors above Bjerkreim, organised by the 4H group.
Lonely Planet has produced a list of the top 17 things to see in Norway. We're very familiar with them all and agree pretty much entirely with the list (though there are one or two more that we'd happily have added).
11 June -
The pupils in Katie's class have all done an end-of-year woodwork project - to produce a traditional wooden cup of the type that people take when walking in the mountains.
She's carved it from a solid block and mentioned several times recently the amount of chiselling that this involved.
But now it's finished and looks very handsome (click photo, left, for enlargement).
The reason for the "A" is that she's giving it to a friend - Alex.
Three years today since we moved to �rsdalen and this house!
13 June -
We have our own special tunnel into �rsdalen, but where we used to live in M�ndalen we had a vast tunnel towards �ndalsnes, which at the time was
one of Europe's longest road tunnels. Since then, several even longer ones have been opened in Norway, including a whole series on the road out of Bergen.
If you're so bored that you would even be prepared to watch a film of driving through a 15-mile tunnel, you may do so here.
The scenery's not up to much, but it's an impressive bit of tunnel construction!
Exercise machine. Remember them? (Photo, above right - click for enlargement). We're keeping fit by pushing this thing around. We can claim to be very ecological at the same time as saving on petrol and servicing costs - but with our amount of grass it's hard work!
14 June -
Tractor painting in progress in the garage (photo, left - click for enlargement).
This year, Andrew has commuted daily to his school - an hour's drive in each direction in addition to (sometimes long) time spent waiting for someone to collect him. For the next school year he's planning to live in a small flat in Sandnes - and today he signed the contract on a very pleasant little flat between Sandnes and his school. It will (hopefully) be ideal - his first "independent home". Perhaps there'll be something about the new term for him to look forward to during the summer holiday!
15 June -
The last Friday of term (school ends on Thursday of next week) and it's a perfect summer's day.
Here (photo, right - click for enlargement) is Katie walking down our drive towards the school bus this morning).
On Sunday Norkirken is supposed to have its annual outdoors service in our garden.
Last year the weather was dull (see photos here);
this year, despite the fantastic week we're having, it's forecast to pour down on Sunday, which would be a shame.
Austrumdalsvatnet lake (one of the smaller lakes by �rsdalen) looking bright and inviting this morning (photo, below right - click for enlargement).
17 June -
Matt is home from a weekend youth camp, full of beans (click photo, far left, for enlargements).
The rain arrived as promised, so we had the annual outdoor service at �rsdalen's village hall rather than at home. Katie did a wonderful (and very amusing) puppet presentation of "the lost sheep" story - a good one for �rsdalen - and there was, as usual, time for food and relaxation (click photo, near left, for enlargements).
21 June - Last day of term! The driver of the �rsdalen school bus always organises some sort of event on the last day of a term and today, instead of being brought straight home, the pupils were driven to the lakeside for a barbeque, games and swim. It's a beautiful day so Tracy and Tim went to join in! Click photo, below left, for enlargements. Now the summer holidays have begun!
Rolling home.
From today's national news we see that the Chief of Police in Norway's northernmost county is proposing that bars should hand out
rosineboller - sweet rolls with raisins in - to guests at closing time.
The thought is that giving people something nice and at the same time raising their blood sugar will make them less argumentative and less likely to cause mischief on the way home.
Nice thought.
But I can see the "equal opportunities" people saying that people who don't go to bars ought to get one as well, just to be fair.
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23 June - Early this morning we drove Tracy to the airport and packed her off on the day's first flight to Oslo.
From there she's flying to Geneva, together with a group (photo, right - click for enlargement), and then onwards to Cambodia for a 17-day mission trip.
She'll be posting comments about this trip whenever possible on her church blog.
She arrives home on 11 July, which is also our 25th wedding anniversary, so the day will be a double celebration!
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St.Hans, or midsummer eve, this evening.
In �rsdalen this is always celebrated with a big bonfire on the lakeside beach, to which the whole population of �rsdalen comes, together with food, drink and silly games.
If the weather has been good for a while the children might swim in the lake.
This is - unbelievably - our fourth St.Hans in �rsdalen.
See photos from 2009
and 2010.
This evening, though, it was pouring down so hard that the children could have swum on the road if need be
and it would have taken Elijah to get the bonfire to light.
So the party was held inside a barn instead.
How do you toast your sausages over an open fire when you're indoors? Click photo, right, for enlargement.
28 June - A long walk in the mountains.
It being yet another beautiful day, Katie and I (Tim) decided to take the dogs for a long walk in the mountains.
We settled on Austdalen, the valley that runs parallel with �rsdalen, just the other side of our mountain.
To save some time and effort we drove part-way up the road towards the �rsdalen tunnel and then walked from there.
It was to be a long walk, in order to wear out the dogs and to enjoy the spectacular scenery - at the same time as feeling virtuous ourselves.
Click photo, left, to view our progress.
28 June - Son shines whilst making hay.
Thomas Andrew has been cutting another of the fields by the house to make hay (small quantities - mainly for the guinea pig this winter!).
So Katie and dad were on gathering duty (photo, below far right - click for picture series).
Talking heads? (photo, near right - click for enlargement).
It's lovely weather here, but North Norway is not so good today - this photo (left) was taken today on the northern coast
(between Vard� and Kirkenes, for those who have been there with us).
30 June - Yesterday evening we received a message that Tracy's dad, Rob, died in hospital following a stroke.
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