1 October - Tracy was welcomed back to Ørsdalen not by the threatened snow (which politely didn't hang around for her), but by the usual traffic delays on our road. Apart from the customary sheep and a couple of suicidal hares, she had to queue behind two moose that were debating which field to invade next.

Comments Katie, 5 October And the plural of moose is indeed moose because it's an animal which was traditionally hunted. Tim, 5 October I never knew that. Then the plural of treasure must be treasure? Have always thought that the plural of moose ought to have been moise, though — it would have been much better. Tracy, 5 October Surely the plural of moose is mice? Tim, 5 October I think mice are traditionally trapped rather than hunted, which is grammatically different, though this is not a huge comfort for the mice. Jon, 7 October The moose / mouse confusion is a known problem in Norway. I once tried to explain to a local that I had seen a moose on the way to work, and it was taller than me. They nodded, and looked confused (in that "are you on drugs" way). A few minutes later they relaxed and said, "Oh, you mean elg!". [Editor's note and today's Norwegian lesson: the Norwegian word for "mouse" is "mus", pronouced the same as the English moose; the Norwegian for moose is "Elg"; the Norwegian word for "sweetcorn" is "mais", which is pronounced "mice". Hence Norwegians will be fine if you offer them pizza with mice on, but will have a fit if you offer them a moose pizza]. Tim, 7 October When people look at me in that "are you on drugs" way I just explain that I'm an organist. That seems to put their minds at rest, for some reason: almost as though it's a good way of convincing them of your sanity and stability. They just respectfully take a step back, or two, and don't ask any more questions. Tim, 7 October By the way, Jon, how did you know the moose was on its way to work? If it was wearing a uniform, then that may indeed be a sign of illegal substances, either on your part or that of the moose.

5 October - at the end of the garden - Walk today in Austdal, the valley that lies beyond the end of the garden, directly on the other side of the mountain. Click picture, left, for photos.

Comments Katie, 6 October Did you stumble upon a kind stranger to take those pictures of you two, or was it the Austdal ghost? Tim, 6 October We enlisted help from passing moose. Very singular occurance.

12 October - enjoying your weekend? - A man in Stavanger had a rough start to his weekend. He arrived home from work to find a stranger in his flat. Not satisfied with breaking in, the intruder, according to the news, had made himself sufficiently at home that he was sitting down, drinking a glass of wine. The homeowner quietly reversed out of the door and rang the police, who duly turned up to arrest the burglar. It was at that point that the Stavanger man realised that he had a problem: it was he who was actually in the wrong flat; the wine-drinking man was in his own home.

16 October - The Wedding (you'll not fail to understand the reference to next June's highlight) is a matter of regular discussion here; so it was that the subject of photography was mentioned the other day. This put me in mind of the one — and only — time that I had a "professional" engagement as group portrait photographer. "Professional", you understand, in the sense of paid, not of expertise. Almost 40 years have passed, and I've never had a repeat order. I had been booked to photograph a choir near Reading. When the film was developed I could see straight away that the results were Unique. I've never seen comparable group photography before or since. You can review my extraordinary choir photograph here — the first time it has ever been shown in public. So I hereby offer my special skills for the occasion. Reasonable rates.

20 October - Autumn is a lovely season on the German lakes - it's still warm enough to kayak, though the water is a bit too chilly to swim, but the sun is shining, the leaves are colourful and there is that autumnal scent and stillness in the air. We came down for a couple of days in order to move the kayaks and other assorted things into the boatshed for the winter (photos, left), but we're also enjoying a few restful days. Our first challenge, actually, was to remove the tentbox from the car. It was lifted up there, a little reluctantly, seemingly, by four genial ex-army types at the tentbox dealer's workshop. And lifted back down by myself. Not, I hasten to add, because I am in any way equal to the tentbox quartet, but purely with the aid of the handy gadget in the garage. Anyway, at the end of a rather dull church conference day attended by T&T — dull, that is, with the singular exception of this zany sketch that features Tracy dancing into the room with a teacup — we loaded ourselves onto the overnight ferry, breathed out with relaxed contentment and set off. Apart from sorting out the boatshed, we've also enjoyed walks (photos, right) and a trip to Stavenhagen, with an unexpected meal in a Greek restaurant.

20 October - Lazy late-afternoon lakeside reading in the warm sunshine (photos left).

25 October - saving for a rainy day - I thought it had been going on the whole time we've been here, but apparently it was as recently as 1996 that Norway started putting away a bit of its oil revenues in a savings account in order, so to speak, to save up for retirement. At least, it's known officially as the "State Pension Fund Overseas" or popularly as the "Oil Fund". Once in a while the Norwegian news mentions that the fund is doing particularly well, or particularly badly; today's news includes a fairly inconspicuous little paragraph that the fund for the first time has exceeded £1 million million. Which should be enough to secure our pensions, at least. Whether it's right for a country whose population is 7% of that of the UK to have savings on that scale is another question, of course.

26 October - Moving house - One of the very first things we mentioned here on these pages (half way down the page on August - December 2009 was the Norwegian habit of moving house — literally. Just now it's happening on a large scale (just over the border into Sweden), as the entire town of Kiruna is being moved. So here is a film of historic buildings trunding down the street on the way to their new homes. I particularly like the parking sign on the wall of the house: would you get a ticket if the parking sign has gone away while you're parked there?

We, on the other hand, are spending the weekend with 90 members of Tracy's church at a retreat centre on the coast — for a parish weekend that Tracy has single-handedly organised (a tremendous amount of work). The wwekend is being a great success — everyone seems to be enjoying and appreciating it. This photo (right) shows part of the building. You'll notice that all the grass roofs are connected by a system of narrow bridges. These are — and I "kid" you not — so that the goats that graze the grass roofs can walk safely from one roof to the next (no doubt pulling faces at the troll underneath).

The Stavanger regional paper today reproduces this photo of Tracy among other priests, as part of the sketch mentioned above on 20 October, in connection with a report that 43% of the priests in the deanery are women.

29 October - Golden days - The late-afternoon sunshine at this time of year lends startling colours to our house, garden and forest — it has to be seen to be believed! (Photos, left, but they don't really do it justice!)

30 October - High church - You always get coffee and cake after a church service in Norway (certain of us have been known to try out the cakes at the one church before heading off to his wife's church to try theirs) — as well as after funerals. The tradition of good cake after a funeral is also a feature of our part of Germany; but mourners at a funeral near Rostock (on the north coast of our county) got more than they bargained for, as is reported in yesterday's news. Really high church.

Comments Joanna, 11 November Hi there. I have just got home from 5 weeks in hospital!! 2nd Oct ended up on the bedroom floor for 3 days and was then being treated for Sepsis in Kings Lynn. 4 weeks lying on my back has weakened me but am now slowly getting stronger not an infection I would recommend to any one!! Still praise the Lord I survived by the skin of my teeth. T&T, 11 November That really doesn't sound like something to make a habit of, Joanna. We're so very glad that you survived it - and you're in our prayers. I'm sure all our readers send you their best wishes.