Header picture: Ørsdalen river, 1 March

1 March - The Shooting - Minus more degrees than we care to think about. Driving back from Sandnes today, Tracy was stopped on the road towards Ørsdalen by an armed group which was firing with rifles at the mountain. They weren't hunting bears; they were shooting down icicles off the overhanging rockface. A couple of tons of sharp, pointy ice spear is no joke if it chooses to drop through your car roof, so they need removing. Click left for chilly pictures of Ørsdalen this evening.

2 March - Tracy has left for Norway's south coast, where she's running a course for the next couple of days.
(She returned in due course, tanned and relaxed - only joking: it's almost as snowy there!)

7 March - Three months ago I was supposed to be taking the trailer to collect some logs, but I had to delay it until the snow had cleared from the road (the trailer only has summer tyres). I'm still waiting. And although the weather is warming gradually it certainly won't be this week, either (it's to be -9° on Friday and more snow over the weekend). The snowman that our friends constructed one month ago (next-to-last picture here) is still more or less intact, though he has reacted to occasional bouts of warm sunshine — thanks to natural melting (we've not interfered at all) he has lost a bit of weight and is now looking with an expression of some dismay to the left (where the sun rises) (photo here).

Comments Norah - March 8th, 2018 Beautiful pictures. We have had the British version of a freeze up but Caernarfon only had a small covering of snow. Even so, all activities were cancelled and we shivered in the cruel east wind. Naturally, everyone grumbled. It was a delight to see the children clambering up the hill opposite and shooting down on their orange coloured sleds. I wonder what brilliant shopkeeper had these ready in stock joanna - March 8th, 2018 Hi I do pray the cold is easing with you! The Beast from the East presented us with chocolate snow!! Wouldn't like to try and eat it! Where we had wet roads and fields the run off was splashed up by the wagons!! There are still 3 roads that I know of that are blocked by drifts the local farmers obviously didn't need to use them. They had cleared most of the back roads! Gosh was I cold and the noise from the wind was awful. You have been here so you will realise when I say that the wind blew across from Ringstead and the fields! Much better now praise the Lord. Tim - March 9th, 2018 Glad it's improving for you - yes, I can imagine that wind blowing over the Hunstanton fields and Caernarfon sea. Here it's getting much better. Still below freezing and deep snow everywhere - and a couple of feet of new snow forecast for Sunday - but the temperature is climbing steadily and is due to be plus one or two next week: that'll mean a big thaw! We're looking forward to it!

9 March - At the same time as we've been having this a cold snap for the past three months, the heating system in one of the churches in Sandnes has been being a little temperamental. This has led to the most catastrophic conditions — as I'm sure Norah and others who are used to British churches will appreciate: on occasions the temperature has even fallen below the legal health-and-safety-at-work minimum of 19°. This, not unnaturally, has led some of the other local organists to protest loudly, muttering dark threats about the union and things. For my part I constantly give thanks that the place is always above freezing and the roof doesn't leak, but never mind. Anyway, I turned up at that particular church today and found that this equipment had been placed around the organ: panel heater on the wall, fan heater behind the organ bench, heated cushion to sit on, pair of fingerless gloves and a thermometer. I think the ladder is an emergency escape if things get too bad. So maybe we will survive the cold after all (though they've turned up the heating in general as well, so it's actually very cosy). And yes, there is already a comfortable armchair in a corner of the organ gallery. Just time for a quick doze before the next hymn ...

Comments joanna - March 10th, 2018 It's a good job your Norwegian organists don't have to play in our ancient Anglican Churches! You put on extra clothes for services!!! Tim - March 12th, 2018 Don't I know it, Joanna. I'd have been very glad of the "emergency kit" many times in UK churches. It does remind me of playing for a TV broadcast in the big old church at Clynnog Fawr in Wales, where the main door by the organ had to be open due to power cables and the producer had to keep coming over to wipe snowdrifts off the organ keys for me.

12 March - Happy birthday, Ann!

The promised top-up of snow arrived yesterday (visibility down to nil in places while driving to church because of snow blowing over the road) and I had to re-dig the path from the house to the garage on Sunday evening and again on Monday morning. But, like it does here, spring has arrived with a bang; by mid-day on Monday the temperature rose sharply — 20 degrees warmer than yesterday! — and the sun was so strong that I could sit outside and sunbathe, listening to the snow and ice cascading off the mountainsides all around. Lovely! (Photos, right).

15 March - At the end of a long (and frankly not especially good) day at work yesterday, we set off on our journey to Finnsnes, where we are staying with Jon and Sarah for the weekend. We were flying to Bardufoss and I had to check in some luggage, so I turned up at the desk with my ID. The conversation went as follows (only in Norwegian, of course):
"Good evening. Where are you flying to?"
[me: completely blank for a moment] "Err ... yes. Somewhere up north"
[lady at next desk, overhearing and enjoying the conversation] "You don't know where you're travelling to?"
[me] "Ahh, not exactly, but someone else is driving, so I don't need to navigate, do I?"
They looked up where I was going and checked in the baggage, so we left eventually. Minus 18 ° at Bardufoss. Fine display of northern lights while we were in the air, but these evaporated on landing. We were driven to Finnsnes by Sarah. Bright and sunny in Finnsnes; enjoying our visit. Tracy has completed a new jumper for Jon.

16 March - Fabulous walk in the sunshine (photos, left).

18 March - Drove with Jon across Senja for the Sunday service (far too many photos, right).

20 March - Arrived home late last night. Thomas has a nasty dose of flu, so we went to feed his sheep this morning. Our snow has melted considerably while we were away (in the process, removing all the moss that had accumulated on our roof tiles), but there's still plenty left to enjoy. See Pictures of the journey and pictures of dinner time.

Comments Jon - March 21st, 2018 Some of those sheep don't look best pleased at being referred to as 'dinner'. You'd better 'se opp' on your next visit! By the way, nice barn Thomas.

21 March - Such heavy snow today that the snowploughs were hardly able to keep up and visibility was down to nothing at times. Even though a lot of snow has melted, this photo taken today on the way to Thomas' farm shows that there's still a bit to go at. The ski centre is looking forward to a profitable Easter holiday. As T&T were driving home last night we agreed that it was very, very beautiful and very, very unwelcome.

Tracy has completed her first two days in her new job as vicar of another church in Sandnes, and arrived home at the end of busy days clutching flowers from her new colleagues and a church plant from the Rural Dean.

There's already a road toll to get into the Sandnes area, but this year a new and more expensive toll is being introduced, with a congestion charge on top. As it happens, Tracy's current church (Gand) lies outside this toll ring, while Tim's town-centre church is inside it. So Tim had the bright idea of parking at Tracy's church and finding some easy and inexpensive way of getting into the town centre. It's not very far, so the ideal solution seemed to be an electric stand-up scooter (this kind of thing) - they fold up to the size of a briefcase and you can easily take them into the office to recharge them during the day. But then we checked on Norwegian regulations (there's bound to be some here!). They are regarded as motor vehicles, which means that they need not only front and rear lights but also a number plate, horn, driving license, insurance, road tax, the works. Penalty for unregistered use is imprisonment. For some reason, an electric bike (which is very much bigger) does not come under these regulations. Don't you love it?

Comments joanna - March 22nd, 2018 How about a drive yourself scooter! Or a Segway? Mind you with the deep snow a pair of skis seems your only option at the moment!!

26 March - Happy birthday, Bob!

Today's lake photos.
The sun shone bright and warm today, meaning that Tracy sat out on the balcony, Tim and Katie went chopping logs and we all ate Ben & Jerry's chocolate ice cream (note for Jon and Sarah - only the spoon now remains).

28 March - Happy birthday, Beth!

Spring finally on its way, it's that time of year again. A first forest foray produced perhaps a twentieth of what we'll need to bring the stock up to date!

Comments joanna - March 29th, 2018 Hi all of you this is to wish you a Happy Easter! I pray you don't get the snow/sleet we are being threatened with over the weekend! Tim - March 31st, 2018 Thank you Joanna! Happy Easter to you too. We're now having day after day of bright sunshine and cloudless skies - really beautiful with all this snow that's still on the ground. The ski centre here is packed out!

It's also Passover time again. This year we had no Passover supper at Tracy's church (because it's no longer Tracy's church), so we had one at home with friends instead. Katie was photographer.

Comments Jon - March 31st, 2018 Passover pie. Yummy (or do we just pass over the pie and go hungry?)! Tim - March 31st, 2018 If we were intended to pass over it, we failed dismally. Will have to practice again ...