Have to work sometime: June begins on tour - Tim is in Germany for a concert and some recording work (with a couple of days recovery time at the flat at both ends of the trip). Tracy, hard at work in Norway, where it is snowing fitfully, does not want to know and must not be told that temperatures here this week have averaged the mid-30s, dropping to 30 or so around sunset; in the swimming lakes and rivers (speaking from regular experience as well as from the daily temperature display by the lake) the water temperature has been up in the 20s. For the work part of the trip, it's always pleasant to return to Thüringen, where I've been playing concerts regularly for nearly 20 years, and to where the children used to love coming when they were small enough to get the time off school; this time involved visits to Gräfenhain (which we've described before in 2013 and 2018) and just over the border into Saxony to play at Glauchau. And between the two, lots of wonderful places in the spectacular landscape of the Thuringian Forest. It's somewhere around a 5-hour drive from the flat, depending on the number of roadworks (this time, 12 different sets of contraflow systems on the motorway between Leipzig and Neuruppin) and assorted stops. On this occasion, on the return trip I took a short cut which led past a small lake with steps invitingly set into the water; after a long drive at 30-odd degrees it just couldn't be resisted, so a quick swim added another 10 minutes to the journey. Photos, left.

7 June - Hitchiker's Guide to Northern Norway - “Time is an illusion", says Douglas Adams; "Lunchtime doubly so”. The starting time for one of the concerts I played in Finnmark in the early '90s had been advertised as "after milking"; according to the local organist, people would turn up when they got round to it, with an hour or so's margin of error (although some, he said rather disconcertingly, might turn up the next day). One outlying island community, about 25 miles north of where Jon and Sarah live, has taken this a step further and applied to officially abolish time; to become a "time-free zone". Obviously no fans of parking meters there. After all, when it's dark all the day in the winter and light all night in the summer, the idea of 9-5 is a pretty irrelevant concept. "Just stress, constantly looking at the clock", the locals say. Will be interesting to see how it turns out in the course of time. Or not.

10 June - Uneven - If you happen to drop in this week, take your time on the drive (we still have time here). All half mile of it is under re-construction (photos, right) and it's now awaiting two large lorry loads of new gravel. We're looking forward to the new improved version!

11 June - Tracy has left today on her latest trip to Thailand and Cambodia; nearly a fortnight in a hot, rainy season.

Night sounds - For the long, overnight flight, Tracy has taken some noise-cancelling headphones to try to escape from the constant on-board engine noise. The trouble is, this requires playing a sound file of some description — which has to be at least as long as the flight and not too distracting in its own right. So to make her feel at home, we put out sensitive microphones and recorded the sounds of the night in Ørsdalen. We were rather interested to see what we'd find in the morning; to listen to what goes on out in the garden at night. When we looked at the file in the morning, the entire night looked like this. The only sounds were a little twittering from the birds at bedtime and more enthusiastic birdsong at breakfast-time (extract from recording below, for bird enthusiasts). Except at one point — about 4 in the morning — there was a sudden and brief patter of tiny paws past the microphone. So when you read in the papers tomorrow that there was a riot on a flight somewhere over Kazakhstan because a batty female passenger suddenly woke everyone up by standing on her seat shouting "mouse!", you'll know why.

12 June - all moving on - We noted earlier that Matt has been studying electrical automation. He took (and passed) a final exam this morning and is shortly starting his new job (congratulations!). Lilly has also graduated from university this week (congratulations to her too!) and is due to start a new job not far from Matt's, so (as Matt said yesterday) it'll mean a lot less travelling for them both! Three years ago, on 16 June 2016, we noted the End of School, when Katie's departure from Vikeså meant that schooldays were for ever over for our family. For the past three years, Katie has been at "Hogwarts" — the 6^th-form college attached to Stavanger Cathedral — but this morning a final exam (about German politics) brought even that to an end. University is calling in the autumn, but in the meantime, Katie and Tim celebrated with a visit to a funfair in Sandnes this afternoon (photo: taking pictures from the big wheel).

Comments Norah, 16 June I liked the picture from the big wheel! It is impossible to imagine your warm weather in Germany, it is November style here in Caernarfon. The house is to be repainted, back & front, & for this scaffolding had to be erected yesterday. Front & back doors were wide open as the men carried poles & planks through the house, while I sat shivering in spite of wearing three sweaters. If the weather continues this way goodness knows when the work will be done. It is going to be a chilly exercise. Congratulations to Matt on his exam results and I hope release from school is wonderful for you, Katie bach. Katie mawr, 20 June Thank you Norah!

Weekend of work, 15-16 June - Of course, every weekend is a weekend of work. Tracy is hard at it (travelling from Thailand to Cambodia on Sunday for the second half of her trip), while Tim had three weddings on Saturday and the usual Sunday service. Funny thing, really; all the weddings in Norway seem to start with the same (actually rather unsuitable) hymn, which is number 666 in the hymn book. "Now that the bride has arrived we can all turn to number 666": not terribly flattering to her. But it was a weekend of work in another sense as well: the annual collective effort on the village hall. Cutting back undergrowth, pressure-hosing the walls prior to re-painting them, fixing a few tiles on the roof, and (this year) cutting down a few trees. Photos, left.

Comments - I've still no idea why my comments box system stopped working, but I've re-designed it more simply and it is now functional, at least. Comments are once again very welcome: do test out the revised system!

20 June - Here, as in Caernarfon, it is a bit November-ish. Have lit the fire — this is going to be a shock for Tracy when she returns from tropical climes on Saturday. Cloud is so low it's almost down to house level (click flowers, right for photo). But there's a row of birds singing merrily on the garage roof, there's a smell of summer forest, the roadside verge is lovely (photo) — and a moment ago a huge hare was sitting on the drive, waggling his ears and enjoying the day. I was just a moment too slow with the camera. So Ørsdalen remains idyllic, despite the absence of summer.

Comments joanna, 20 June Love all the 'fox and cubs' flowers in the verge. Its still not really warming here either!! Tim, 20 June Hopefully we'll all get summer soon!

21 June - A couple of Katie's stunning photographs - click small picture, left.

Banging the gong - The head teacher banged a large gong to mark the end of school for all the final-year students. The awards ceremony was held in one of the buildings at Stavanger's new concert hall complex. An excellent location, and a good event to celebrate the successful fruits of lots of hard work, together with friends and family. Photos, right.

22 June - Tracy safely home from Cambodia!

23 June - After our respective services, we went together to the beach, lay down in the sand (comfortably warm, though by no means summer yet) and went to sleep (one of us jet-lagged and the other keeping her company). A pleasant Sunday afternoon!

For the 11^th time we've had "St Hans" — midsummer — in Ørsdalen; village party and bonfire until far into the night (just at the moment it never really goes dark). Click for photo

25 June - Hare today ... The hare that was sitting on the drive on 20 June was evidently in the process of moving in: it now seems to be spending all its time around the garden. Still rather good at avoiding the camera - but here is our best shot. On our way home from work today, the temperature had unexpectedly crept up to 20 degrees, so we celebrated by stopping off at the swimming lake on the back road towards Ørsdalen for an impromptu swim. At least, one of us did and the other of us sat in the car and watched. Temperature was survivable, but there's still scope for further improvement.

Gone tomorrow? ...

Comments joanna, 26 June Not a bad photo of the Hare, they are so and so's to get! We had one day's summer on Monday 24th!! Back to winter again! Still awaiting knee op! Need a heart check unexpectedly! That has put everything back!!! Prayers please as life is getting very difficult! love to you all Tim, 26 June Hare today ... gone tomorrow. No sign of it today - but then, we do have a visitor with a dog! Sorry to hear about heart and knee: yes, prayers certainly in order! And hope you get a bit more summer than that, too!

27 June - Gravel
Q: When is an organist a manual worker?
A: (a) When he's not playing a pedal solo
     (b) When two lorries have just tipped 20 tons of gravel in a heap in the yard, which all needs spreading out by hand.
Boy, is this organist going to be stiff tomorrow. And the day after. Mercifully, the first four lorries (of eight in all) that were supplying the gravel for the drive managed to spread their load gradually along it, so once it's been raked by the tractor and compressed a bit, driving up to the house is going to be a whole new experience.

28 June - Mamma MA - Faced with the question of how to fill up her many hours of free time, Tracy decided to do a Norwegian MA in theology. As well as a whole raft of modules over the past couple of years, she researched and wrote this dissertation on a very special revival near Sandnes in the 1950s. And today a large envelope arrived, containing this certificate. Congratulations!

30 June - Gravel done - At last — gravelling is finished! All 20 tons spread out over the yard, and 120 tons spread on the drive and compressed. Now we can rest those sore muscles! (Photos, right)

The euology - We've had an occasional series of handy Norwegian words. A word that is useful in that it has several meanings is "treffe" (past tense "traff"). You use this word for anything related to intersecting — if you meet someone (your paths intersect), if you hit something (your aim intersects with them) or a coincidence (where meanings intersect). Meanings certainly intersected — unintentionally, we believe — when someone was doing a euology at a funeral where Tracy was presiding. "He [the deceased] was a very good shot with a rifle. He traff his wife in 1972".