Brighter days ahead

Here, on the southwest coast of Norway, the cold days of winter are relatively short. The sun struggles from about the end of October until the middle of January to make any kind of significant appearance. There are some hours of daylight as it lingers on the horizon, but it’s never able to reach its full potential. It will however, make up for its shortcomings by working overtime during the summer months. That doesn’t necessarily mean the weather will be nice. As always we still have the cold Northern wind and lots of rain clouds to deal with.

Sometimes it’s hard to believe a beach girl such as myself ended up here (it must have been love).

I was suppose to be in school yesterday, studying Norwegian (one can never be too fluent) but for some reason my class was cancelled, or rather postponed. It was a beautiful but cold day, the temperature was -4 degrees Celsius, that’s about 20 degrees Fahrenheit. I decided to join some friends who were going over to the mainland for a walk along the old railway track. The trail takes you from the little town of Egersund to an even smaller place called Hellvik. There are a lot of twists and turns through the mountains and along the shore.

In some places we could see the island where we live, across the ‘fjord’.

Can you see the small group of white houses in the top center of the picture? One of them is mine.

We also walked through an old train tunnel, where giant icicles hung like daggers above our heads.

There was a sign posted outside which read, Enter at your own risk. 

You can hardly take fifty steps in Norway without walking uphill, which can be absolutely exhausting, but at least you don’t have to worry about freezing. We walked for quite some time before taking a break between the rocks, in the sun. I could barely feel the sun on my face, but it was there, trying, and that’s good enough for me. It seems brighter days now lie ahead.

Summer is almost here!

I love summer, its my favorite time of the year. There are no guarantees the weather will be nice in Norway, but thats why we have airplanes to carry us off in search of the sun. When my children were little we always went to my parents house in New Jersey. There the weather was always warm and the kids enjoyed the swimming pool in my parents yard, while their mother enjoyed the air conditioned shopping malls (just kidding…).

Now the children are grown and my husband and I like to travel around and see new places. This years vacation spot is, Cinque Terra. Whats interesting, is how I found this location… I casually stumbled across the picture above on Naomi Baltuck’s blog, Writing Between the Lines and immediately commented, Where is this place? Three days later our trip was booked! I’m sure once you read about “the five lands” on the Italian Riviera, you’ll be dying to go too…

Blogging has been quite rewarding lately, not only did I find this year’s vacation spot, but I’ve also had three blog awards bestowed on me. First was the Versatile Blogger Award which I received from Beth’s blog, it’s a whole new world. Beth is one of those people who feels like a good friend, even though we’ve never met. The second is a Liebster Award from Robin Coyle her blog is, The writing Life of Robin. Robin has a great style and her blog is overflowing with writing tips. Since I already have a Versatile Blogger and a Liebster Award, I’m going to jump right over to the third one which is the Sunshine Award. I was nominated for this one by Paula’s blog, stuff I tell my sister. Paula is also a delightful person and her blog is a warm and cozy place to visit. Check them out, you won’t regret it!

The Sunshine Award guidelines are:

1. Link the award to the person who gave it to you.
2. Answer the questions that come with it.
3. Pass it along to other bloggers and let them know they have received it.

Here are the blogs I nominate, (I tried to see who already had the award, but that was a lot of work and then I got my lists confused, so I’m just randomly throwing some names out there. If you already have it, then I’m sorry. If you don’t have it and your name is not on the list, just take it, I’ll never tell…)

1. An American Hermit Crab in Denmark

2. Expat Alien

3. The Wanderlust Gene

4. Expat Lingo

5. I was an expat wife 

6. Building Bridges

7. M. Latimer-Ridley

8. it’s a whole new world

9. How the Cookie Crumbles

10. Writing Between the Lines

Now for the questions…

1. Favorite color-  When the sky is solid blue, thats my favorite color.
2. Favorite animal- Thats a toss up between Mia and Khloe…
3. Favorite number- That has to be six, because I have six kids.
4. Favorite non-alcoholic drink- Easy! Tea (warm or cold).
5. Facebook or Twitter- Definitely Facebook (thats where all my real friends are)
6. My passion- Everyone will expect me to say writing, but its scrapbooking.
7. Giving or receiving- I love to buy gifts but when people ask me what I want, I always answer, “I don’t know.”
8. Favorite pattern- Hmm… Burberry plaid.
9. Favorite day of the week- Without a doubt Friday night, I love having the weekend in front of me.
10. Favorite flower- After living in Holland for three years, I have to say tulips.

Thanks everybody!

Live in the moment

We have had the most beautiful weather in Norway, eleven days of warmth. Thats big here and this Jersey girl has appreciated every moment of it. To be able to wander in and out without a jacket, shake the mothballs off my summer clothes and drive with the window down for eleven days may seem like nothing, but believe me its something.

 

Don’t get me wrong, Norway can have beautiful weather, but seldom is it this nice and for so long. I think what I enjoyed most was watering my plants everyday, that’s something the rain usually takes care of. I can’t remember the last time I spent this much time in my garden and my husband managed to paint the whole house!

 

Its amazing how good the sun makes me feel. In the winter when its dark I can’t wait to go to bed at night and now in the bright evenings, its the furthest thing from my mind. At this time of the year we always wake up and usually go to bed with the sun still shining. For me this makes the short, dark days of winter, well worth it.

 

I don’t know how many days are left before the bad weather returns because I learned years ago not to check weather reports, but I do hear people talking… The temperature has already gone down a bit and there are a few clouds today, but I refuse to think about it and have decided to live in the moment.

 

I’ve posted pictures taken from my garden and from a window in my house, so you too can enjoy the beautiful weather in Norway…