Very appropriate (and no, it's past 1 April). This sign (left) that Tracy spotted on the gates to a Stavanger graveyard offers an "open day" at Easter.

One April fool - We did succeed in "getting" one person on the 1^st — though it's a bit too technical to explain in full. In brief, the Norwegian church unbent its rules a few years back to allow congregations to use whatever liturgical music they wanted in services, but has now changed its mind and re-introduced restrictions. All this is just in the last stages of being finalised, and given that the conference that decides this sort of thing was held the last couple of days in March it seemed to Tim like a good idea to send out to his colleagues the text of a fictitious "new directive", on 1 April, as it happens. The severity and scope of the restrictions listed there was such as to drive at least one gullible colleague to make a furious phone call ...

A great pair - We mentioned in the catchup information that Matt and Lilly were looking forward to spending more time together after the summer. They will be spending considerably more time together: they have announced a wedding on 13 June 2020. Congratulations! Lilly (photo, right) is lovely and we enjoy spending time with her (and Matt, too, of course). Congratulations also to Matt, who has just got a job that he very much wanted, within electronics automation.

6 April - We're enjoying a few days of heatwave (hotter than Barcelona, apparently) to indulge in the year's first sunbathing out on the balcony, while admiring the brilliant green leaves just coming out on all the valley's trees.

12 April - No fire without smoke - It's the time of year for burning off the dead grass and getting ready for the spring growth that will keep all those sheep happy on the hills. So yesterday, the valley was thick with smoke from the burning hillside. But no-one minds: it's a sign of spring.

As we've said before, Easter is not a time when the churches are full, unfortunately, because it's the time when "everyone" heads off to cabins in the mountains to go skiing, eat chocolate and watch crime mysteries on the TV. Seasonal flavour is achieved by using yellow candles in place of the more normal red or white ones. (It's a firm tradition in Norway to light a candle when you have a meal, or even for your evening coffee and chocolate). So the population around Ørsdalen (and especially up by the ski centre) will increase ten-fold this evening, while the city areas (Stavanger/Sandnes) will empty of people. Some people, though break with Norwegian skiing traditions and head off for Mediterranean temperatures, with the Canary Islands being a favourite. We just hope that the planes will find their way. Today's news reports that SAS has started a new route to Florence. Unfortunately, as they were taking off for the inaugural flight on this new route yesterday evening, the pilots realised that they didn't know the way to Florence, so they had to fly to Bologna instead and send the passengers onwards by bus. Not all the passengers were particularly pleased about this. Obviously male pilots: female ones would have stopped on the way and asked for directions from a passer-by.

13 April - Keep the home fires buring - We took advantage of the extended period of glorious spring weather to walk up to nearby Månefossen waterfall. It's a short walk in distance, but a near-vertical pull up a mountainside, so we were pleased to find that despite the after-effects of a winter (when we're usually less active than during the summer) we could still manage to get up the path. The drive home takes us past the beautiful Frafjord, over the boulder field, and past a lake that has an inaccessible beach that we keep meaning to try to get to by kayak. As we got back into Ørsdalen we could see thick smoke rising from somewhere that was disconcertingly near home. Today's mountain fires are just upwind of us, so the house was almost hidden in smoke (thanks, neighbours - there was washing on the line!), but we had a walk around to check and there doesn't seem to be any danger of the fire getting too close. Photo sequence, right.

In the event, the fire was rather more exciting than we might have wished. By nightfall it was burning dramatically in the forest (with a couple of trees well alight) and was sufficiently uncomfortably close to the house that we got as far as packing a few things into suitcases and moving the cars further down towards the road in case we needed a quick exit. T&T divided the night between them for "fire-watch" duty, with Tracy (who doesn't mind late nights) taking the first watch and Tim (who doesn't mind early mornings) taking the second one. In the event that was a very good bargain (for Tim, that is) because the fires died down at about 1 in the morning, which meant that the second shift was allowed just to slumber on. By morning there was just the odd bit of smoke drifting out from the trees.

16 April -Those home fires just keep burning - This morning we noticed that the forest had started smoking again (and we thought it had given it up!). Went up there, only to find the grass well alight and the flames spreading up the mountain. Our neighbour (the one who started the fire a couple of days ago) had already rung the fire brigade and — even though they always say that they won't come to Ørsdalen — within an hour our yard was full of fire engines and thirty-odd assorted firemen, police and what not. They laid out hoses to "secure the property" in case it spread too close and have also been up the mountain trying to get things under control, with the fire chief at the bottom flying a drone to keep an eye on things. Photos, left. It also hit the top spot on the local news and even got a mention on this evening's NRK news.
6.30pm - After being here since lunchtime, the fire crews are just drinking coffee (our coffee machine has been busy!) before heading off. We're to ring them if things start to hot up again.

Last night we had our annual Passover meal (a bit early because Tracy is off to Germany tomorrow), together with an assortment of friends. A lovely evening. Photos, right.

A nice BBC film about Solund — a place where I've been a few times to play concerts (on the larger island, that is; not the single-person one).

17 April - I mentioned on 12 April that Easter is a time when "everyone" watches crime stories on the TV. This year there's a series of Vera, which we're pleased about. But you don't even have to turn on the TV — even the milk cartons invite you to solve crime puzzles. Then, once Easter is over, the next job is to change the wheels on the cars — but because of the glorious weather I've already done it. Summer has arrived! Tracy has departed — for a few days together with friends at the flat in Germany, where it's even warmer.

20 April - Happy birthday, Matt! - The birds are singing fit to burst and the forest is turning greener by the hour. On the photo, left, you can see how the brilliant green of the newly-opened leaves just reaches a certain height — and the green line gains a bit more altitude each day. It's a really beautiful spring feel. As expected, there are a few tourists around — a couple of caravans parked down by the river, with Sandnes/Stavanger people enjoying the peace. Further afield, reports are coming in of all the usual Easter mishaps, including a lady whose car got stuck in the middle of a ski track miles out in the mountains (see photo on this news story) after her GPS took her on a short cut.

This picture shows the green-line effect even better, as well as some scorch marks after the week's fires.

24 April - Although it's over 30 years since we left Lurøy — the Arctic-Circle island that was our first home in Norway — we have by no means forgotten one of the signs of spring there: the road. There was only one road across the island and in the total absence of tarmac it turned into a boggy swamp every spring as the snow and ice melted. We had a large-wheeled 4x4 at the time, which was one of the few cars on the island that could actually get through the mud. Driving involved much revving and lurching from one mud-pit to the next; if you stopped it was impossible to get going again. The local authority came out every few days and ploughed the road to try to flatten it off a bit, but the benefits were short-lived. The road on Lurøy has long since been surfaced, but there are still plenty of roads up there that haven't, so this picture in today's news (of a northern road not far from where our good friends Jon and Sarah live) brings back lots of memories.

25 April - The warm spell means that I've started to slow down as I pass one of the little lakes on my way home from work. Once the water warms up a bit, the locals anchor a floating bathing platform with diving board out in the lake. And just occasionally, on an extra-warm day, the lake beckons irresistably as I'm passing and I stop for a quick swim before driving on. (There's always an emergency towel in the boot of the car). But today, although the sun was shining, the water was still much too cold — and a stiff breeze was making it very rough (photos here). So no temptation for a few weeks yet!

27 April - ten years on! - Ten years ago today we signed the contract to buy the farm at Ørsdalen! You may remember that when we moved here, in the summer of 2009, we put our address and a couple of photos onto a web page so that you would know where we were and what things looked like. Shortly afterwards, we had a mail from Joanna — "can't you say a bit more ... and put up a few more pictures?". And thus this "blog" was born. All down to you, Joanna! So perhaps we should celebrate the anniversary with a little competition. How many words have been written in these pages since then? To make it a bit easier, you can choose between four alternatives:
A       10 000 words
B       50 000 words
C       100 000 words
D       quarter of a million words
(If you want something to compare this with, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is 120 000 words).
Send your answer here.