Header picture: Tracy on a narrow river (Full picture here).

1 August - When at first you don't succeed - Katie is now successfully repatriated. We drove today to Poland and whizzed her off on a Wizz Air flight from Szczecin to Stavanger. Szczecin airport (more properly, Solidarity airport in Goleniów) is great — always completely deserted until a little rush of customers arrive for the couple of flights each day. Then we returned to enjoy the sun and the water a little longer (photos, left — what's the river bird, anyone — lots of them around? Look like cormorants, but beak and tail are a bit long.).

Comments joanna - August 5th, 2018 Hi Tim I suspect it is a cormorant, the alternative being a Shag but they are generally slightly smaller! Also at this time of year the Cormorants are in moult stages and newly fledged young can look odd! So I think I am backing the photo being a Cormorant! I think its angle that makes the tail look longer!! Norah - August 14th, 2018 I know very little about birds but that one looks just like a Caernarfon cormorant- better known here as a Bilidowcar.

May the brown cheese be with you - It is, as Jane Austen would have said, a truth universally acknowledged, that any Norwegian travelling abroad, must be in want of a block of brown cheese, (a necessity to life that is largely unavailable outside Norway). "All" travellers must take an emergency block with them, which caused problems a few years ago when airport X-ray machines were unable to distinguish between brown cheese and TNT. This makes it less surprising than it might otherwise have seemed that (as Jon points out) the NRK news reports that a brown cheese has now been sent into space, before returning sweaty but otherwise more or less edible. This naturally opens up the possibility for Norwegian astronauts to travel into space, appropriately stocked with necessary provisions.

And so the final ten days of this year's summer stay rolled by, filled with good things. We had a short visit from our good friends from mid-Germany, Christoph and Annett, who joined us for lake swimming, kayak tour and the like (photo), walked and picked berries at the little nearby village of Priepert (population 314) (click sunflower, right, for pictures) and made the most of the final sunny, lazy days before the return to everyday reality. As usual, we drove up to Hirtshals at the northern end of Denmark to take the overnight ferry to Stavanger. Arrived to find that most ferries that day had been cancelled due to a hurricane at sea, and hastily bought some sea-sickness tablets. In the event, we had a perfectly good crossing and arrived in Stavanger on time and fit for a weekend's services.

Comments Norah - August 1st, 2018 What a lovely holiday you have had, in so many different places. Last week I was at a funeral here where Arthur played the organ. Apart from the music there were all manner of pops and squeaks & long hums-- I have invited him here this evening to look at the wonderful organ in Germany & will let you know what he says! Tim - August 2nd, 2018 Thank you, Norah. I hope that summer in Caernarfon has been as wonderful as summer here. - or have you, too been roaming? Tim Arthur - August 1st, 2018 Hello,Tim.what a wonderful experience to have access to these treasures As an amateur enthusiast I get by with what is at my disposal.St Mary's Caernarfon is a delightful instrument particularly in those superb acoustics, but Llanbeblig should have been decommissioned years ago. After three years of part time singing in the Cathedral choir in Bangor, I am at present negotiating for a chance to have a try there. Hope to contact you shortly on a technical Bach matter. sincerely, Jane and Arthur. Tim - August 2nd, 2018 Lovely to hear from you, Arthur. I look forward to hearing your Bach thoughts - do send me an email and we can chat about it

14 August - Back home to the familiar landscape. For this month's lake (left) we return to one of the most photogenic ones (Fuglestadvatnet).

But autumn is around the corner (photos, right).

Comments joanna - August 14th, 2018 Tim a very happy birthday!! Don't the years keep piling on!! Have a good end of holidays and back to Norway. Incidentally Norway has a great young sprinter! Seen on European Games info!! Tim - August 15th, 2018 Thank you very much Joanna! We've now made it back home to Norway (will catch up with stories very soon!). The sprinter is from Sandnes (where we both work) and we've been following his career for a goodly while! Norah - August 14th, 2018 Bore da Tim. Pen Blwydd Hapus Iawn! Gobeithio bydd yna teisen efo canhwyllau a digon o hwyl. Tim - August 15th, 2018 Diolch yn fawr, Norah! 'Rydan ni gartref bellach ac yn dechrau gwaith (2 angladd ar fy mhenblywydd!) - ond mi gafodd deisen efo canhwyllau, felly pob dim yn iawn. ('Dwi ddim wedi clywed oddi wrth Arthur eto, gyda llaw)

The good thing about this time of year — our compensation for the end of the holidays — is the annual visit from Jon and Sarah (pictures, left: more photos and description to follow).

As in much of Europe, it's been the dryest and hottest summer in Ørsdalen since records began, and whle we were away we kept seeing photos of a dried-up river bed at home and reading warnings of camp-fire bans and potential forest fires. All drought and fire warnings are now off; after a day of torrential rain we went for a look up the river to see whether it has come back. It has (photos, right).

19 August - After a good week with Jon and Sarah (photos from a walk along the stream near the Stavtjørn ski centre), they are heading home and we are preparing for our return to reality and everyday work.

Congratulations to Beth and Gjermund on their beautiful new house on the island of Bolsøy, just outside Molde. The house overlooks the mountains around Måndalen, so Beth feels at home! Photos here. The address (which of course you'll also find on the Information page) is:
Dragarøra 21,
6457 Bolsøya
Norway

22 August - Flea market going with a bang - You can picture the scene at today's flea market at Lier, near Oslo, (reported in today's news). Come over to that table in the corner, where a customer has picked up a curious-looking paperweight and is idly tossing it from hand to hand. Nice and heavy, and looks interestingly like a … it can’t be, really … they surely wouldn't be selling a … I think it really is an unexploded grenade. Put it down gingerly and back away. The army are presently there to check, and in the meantime, all fleas are off and all customers and neighbours at a safe distance. [PS After checking, the army decided that it really was just an imitation-grenade paperweight after all.]

24 August - apple picking - Despite (or perhaps because of) the drought, it's been one of our best years for apples. Picked some of them this afternoon (click picture, left, for photos).

26 August - start-up service - Last Sunday, Tracy's church started up all its activities again after the summer holiday; this Sunday it was the turn of Tim's church. After both these services, the traditional "church coffee" was extended to include the traditional sausage grilling and silly games (pictures from Tim's church, right).

31 August - filling in forms - Part of the joy of starting up again after the summer break, is filling in all those forms which you know are going to be filed away and never, ever looked at by anyone. Lists, statistics, procedures. The news reports on a senior doctor in Norway who was so fed up of having to complete and send in a form every time his department prescribed a non-standard drug to a patient that he's been running a little private experiment for the past year to find out whether anyone actually reads the stuff. Under "reason for administering the drug" he's been writing: "for treatment of queasy water buffalo", "for vitamin B deficiency in hamster", "for phosphate deficiency in moles", "to treat a plaice for water on the brain", and such like. All the forms have been accepted without comment. The news of this has been met with great hilarity and recognition within the medical community, and with great irritation from the Department of Health. "It's not fair" was their response.