wanderingquilter

The great thing about having a dog is that you HAVE to get out and walk.  The rotten thing about it is, however, that you HAVE to go, even if you don’t want to, or are tired, or it’s totally miserable out.  Lucky for me, today wasn’t one of those days.  David left early, and the sun was shining brightly, just begging me to go and enjoy the break from rain and cloud.  A quick check on the weather site got me going right away, as rain is forecast for most of the day – AND tomorrow. Naturally, Snoopy was ready and willing.

We often follow the same route, down to the park and then along the stream.  There are several places where there is an alternate route – a great thing in the mornings when there are a lot of cyclist on their way to work. On the narrower trails, one can meander, and stop to look at the flowers – or sniff them, as Snoopy does.  Sometimes, I think I will have to change his name to Ferdinand (the bull who didn’t want to fight, for those who don’t recognize the reference), although he is probably checking out stopping places of other dogs, rather than admiring the colourful blooms.  I’ve just switched pocket cameras, and this one has both an exposure setting and a super macro setting.  I love that I can get photos of white flowers now, and also super close up. Walking with a dog, one cannot use a sophisticated camera and play with manual settings.

Anyway, back to the walk.  I like going the same places because there is always something new to see…. wild flowers are just ceasing to bloom when there are new ones beginning, and still more leaves to wonder about. It has been an unseasonably cool spring, and most of the trees and flowers are behind schedule.  The rhododendrons should be a riot of colour by now, but the first blossoms are only timidly opening.

And, sooner or later, I remember – or take the time – to look things up to find out what they are.  Take this photo of a sign that I took in March – always planning to check and see if “mølle” meant “mill”- and never thinking about it when I returned home.  This morning, I looked up the translation on my phone – and yes, of course, it does…… and THAT is why the mill stones are along the wall, and a small table is made out of one on the path side.  By the way – the mill was just demolished in the 70’s – not that long ago, really.

We’ve had a lot of rain lately. The stream is running almost as high as we’ve seen it. When I emptied my rain gauge Monday morning, there was 34mm – that was just since Sunday evening.  The snails are out and about today – here is one fine fellow out for his morning walk.  While reading my beginner reader book from the library, I’ve learned that this is a “snegel”.  His “hus” was about the size of a quarter – about 2 cm across. Some snail shells here have bright yellow stripes.

And here is a relative (of the snail, that is) on a dandelion.  The slugs here are not huge, and are all brown, unlike the striking colours they display in BC.

And there are the mallards with their heads fluorescent green in the sunlight…. still only the males in attendance on the ponds.  I love to see them sailing downstream with the current….. I’m positive that they fly back upstream so they can do it again.

And rain drops on the grass – that’s one thing you have lots of opportunity to photograph – rain or dew drops on leaves.  I’m getting quite a collection.

Here is a bit of the park that I love – not all closed in, but a long lane of trees.

After a lovely walk, I stayed outside and cleared some more weeds from my flower beds… it’s feeling almost warm enough to do it now.  I got back inside just before the rain – but it let up in the afternoon, just long enough for me to go and pick up my new wheels.  Just watch me go now!

Did you know that a candle making factory is called a chandlery?  I didn’t.

The Byrkjedal Candle factory was once a cheese dairy, established by local farmers in the early 1920s. They produced well renowned cheeses until 1978.  In 1988, it was converted to a  chandlery where they made candles both in the old dipping method, and also in moulds.  The restaurant was added in 1991, where they serve homemade traditional Norwegian fare…….. the stick-to-your-ribs type of food needed in a rigorous climate like this.

This troll that guards the parking lot, and and welcomes visitors to Byrkjedal.

We started out wandering through the childrens’ farm – with the reproduction dairy cottage,  a pair of white goats, and of course, the three Billy Goats Gruff.

They have an underground reception hall that will hold over 1000 people, and a band.  the lady in charge was awaiting a tour bus that hadn’t arrived yet, so she offered to show us around. The photo isn’t great, but you get an idea of the atmosphere with the candles lit.

We wandered through the shop, which was incredible – and huge.They have lots of other things besides candles – t-shirts, sweaters, mittens, magnets and mugs….

These angels reminded me of my cousin, the Beadcraz-e lady, who makes wonderful things our of glass.  Here’s to you, Karen!

The rosemaling (rose-painting) here is wonderful. As everything in the old houses was dark and made of wood, and they lived without much sun for half the year, the women painted walls and furniture and other ordinary items to brighten up their environments. I want to learn more about this traditional Norwegian art form. I love the colours, and the designs…. do I feel a quilt design coming on? They have a whole room devoted to Christmas crafts.  I really wanted to take this nativity scene home with me…. maybe later.Here is a child dipping a candle in coloured wax.  We met her parents and Grandparents, who were from Canada.

Soon, out tummies were full of good, solid Norwegian fare, and we were off again. I hope we can visit again in the summer when everything is green.

Thursday’s rain just took the spunk out of me, especially cycling home from the train station.  I knew my bike helmet wasn’t water proof, but hadn’t thought of rain dripping off my nose while I was riding. That was the straw that broke the camels’ back.  I just wanted to get HOME, and curl up under a blanket with a book.  No stop at the Coop for eggs or milk… I didn’t even want to go back out in the evening.  Enough!

I’ve been volunteering at the May Jazz Festival in Stavanger this week – making sandwiches in the mornings for the crews setting up for the performances.  It’s exciting to be a part of this huge affair – I guess I’d just hoped for sunny weather.

Instead of whining, however, I’m going to show you a few photos of just how beautiful it is here when the sun shines – and to be fair, we have had several days of sun, if not heat.

Spring is slow in coming, but the trees are finally leafing out – the lovely “fairy’ leaves that look like lace.

There is a mother duck and babies here in the stream.Although I’ve joked about summer being May 1, and it being over already, I’m sure there will be a warm day of two.  And I can hardly wait.

make such a difference, when you stop to think about them.  Small changes in life that you hardly notice – or you go into kicking and screaming.

May 6th.  We awoke to snow on the roof tops.  Now, the temperature is nearing 5C and there is a fine rain falling from an almost totally blue sky – so fine that you catch yourself thinking you might be imagining it.  Sunday – a lazy day with an incredibly slow, delicious beginning.  Crawling, bleary eyed into the morning, sitting in bed drinking coffee and reading… the kind of things that can’t happen on weekdays,  Snoopy, patiently waiting his breakfast and walk, snuggling up on the bed beside David.  Surely, he is a lapdog soul in a tall dog body.

We are torn, on weekends, between going out and exploring, and just settling down to relax.  The weekdays begin so early, especially now that David is cycling the 18 km to work.  I can relax and plan my day afterwards, but it has already begun at 5:30 am, and I’ve never been one for going back to bed.  And all next week, I will be heading into Stavanger on the 9:25 train to help with the catering for the May Jazz festival.  It tires me to go out every day, but the upside is company and a feeling of doing something new – and maybe even meeting someone who lives close by and needs someone to have coffee with once in a while.

Yesterday was May 5 – Cinqo de Mayo celebration in South America. Definitely NOT Cinqo de Mayo weather – we had intermittent snow showers all day, punctuated by clear blue skies.We were busily surfing Google maps for bus directions as David wanted to buy a fishing rod, and then we were invited to a celebration by friends from Halliburton – he is from southern USA – she from Brazil.  This is a new experience for us – not just being able to hop in a car and go where we want – and WHEN we want. I think the hardest part of it is having to work on someone elses timetable. Rushing the mile plus downtown to catch the bus to the mall – and JUST making it…. sitting in the bus shelter at the mall, awaiting the bus to take us to Ingrid’s house…. watching the scenery as we trundled along on the bus, and wondering if we would pick the correct stop to get off…. following the map on my phone to get us to the right street.  We did it – I guess we can survive the next 3 months.

Because of the cold weather, Ingrid has the heater on to make it seem more like the celebration in her native Brazil.  I even had to take my sweater off – it was so good to be warm. Good Mexican food, fruit smoothies or beer to drink.  Young Norwegian co-workers – good company and great conversation. They switch from Norwegian to English with such ease, even Ingrid, who grew up speaking Portuguese.  Her lovely, blue-eyed daughter, 3 1/2, bright and cheerful, seems to adapt to the national epidemic of divorcing families. (Here, they have an uncanny knack of remaining good friends, often living next door to each other so there is minimal disruption in the childrens’ lives). And it is so nice to be accepted – and invited- by a younger generation.  I understand now just how special it was for my parents when my siblings’ friends would come down to visit with them.

After a lovely afternoon/evening, we trudged off towards the bus stop homeward bound – and decided we would splurge and take a taxi – buses don’t run so often on weekends.  With our limited grasp on Norwegian pronunciation, it was a bit of a task to explain to the dispatcher just where we were, but in the end, we were soon sitting inside a taxi, on the way home.  Funny – after just two weeks, how wonderful it felt to actually ride in a vehicle again – something I had taken for granted for so long.

And so today – a long walk with the dog, and then, I think, it will be studying Norwegian grammar, and also the Driving manual so we can take our written test and be on the road to our new Norwegian drivers licenses – in 3 months or so!  At least the sun is shining.

Yesterday, I was on a bicycle for the first time in over 6 years.  And it’s true what they say, you never forget.

Since April 23, when our temporary drivers licenses expired, David and I have been on foot.  He tuned up the old bike we bought for Dayne (his son) when we lived in Grande Prairie, and began to ride to downtown Stavanger to catch the company bus to work at 6:20 am ( that’s catching the bus, not leaving the house).  I have continued to walk everywhere, including to the nearest train station almost a mile (1.5 km) when I was going into Stavanger.  Last Monday, I walked over 8 1/2 miles – and I was tired.

David bought a new bike, and we picked it up on the weekend.  May 1st was a holiday here, and David tested it out by riding over halfway to work. The rest of this week, he has made the whole trip there and back – about 17 km one way – and the first hill is a “killer”.

And yesterday, I took the plunge. My knees are fine and my legs aren’t stiff after it, so it is doable. I need to buy a new helmet, as the buckle is broken on my old one, and a larger backpack so I can do some shopping.

If we are both riding, we can explore a bit farther away on the weekends.

I guess this is a bit like making lemonade with the lemons life throws your way.

Sunday was a wonderful day – the sun shone all day, and we worked outside.  The sun actually arrived Saturday afternoon.  I know from all my whining, you’ve begun to wonder if the sun never shines, or if I just live under my own little cloud.  I’m happy to report that neither is the case.

We crawled lazily into the day – after all, it was Sunday, and during the week David leaves just after 6 am on his bike to catch the bus to work. We did our usual walk in the park with Snoopy – a bit shorter than usual because we had yard work to do.  But here you see the park in the sunlight –

and those mystery flowers, that now have huge leaves –

And our back yard –

In Norway, you also own the street and the strip of land on the other side.  This means that the raggedy flower border that I look at through my kitchen window all the time is MY responsibility! First, I took out my miniature roses and our tiny tomato, basil and strawberry seedlings to enjoy some real sunshine.

David tied Snoopy to the lamppost out back, and set up to put linseed oil on the wooden chests etc that we have accumulated over time.  Jenny (the cat) pussy footed out and under the neighbors’s deck after exploring the patio and eating some grass.

After planting my tiny thyme and lavender plants, out I went, armed with gloves, spade, bucket and trusty dandelion digger.

The border is about 10 meters long – by the time supper rolled around, I was about 2/3 done.  Not perfect, but you can see the progress. And now I know what kind of spaces I have to fill with my own choice of plants.

Rainy again today – a good thing because while pulling all that grass, I seem to have sprained (or strained) my little finger.  Forecast of sun again tomorrow, so I’d better rest up.

but only a visit.  Last Saturday, we headed for the hills, so to speak.  We don’t know yet what is happening with our drivers’ licenses, so this might be our last weekend for a while with a car, and there is so much still to see.

After doing a mega grocery shop (everything heavy that I don’t want to carry back the mile from the Coop), we grabbed the maps, the dog and away we went.

Our initial objective was Byrkjedal. . There is a candle factory there, as well as a shop, restaurant, and small farm.  But more about this later.

There are two ways to get there from Sandnes – so we decided to go the long way and come around the circle.

Soon we were driving along narrow, winding roads beside lovely lakes and dancing streams full of rocks. Many tiny waterfalls graced the sides of the mountains – and we could see snow-caps in the distance. There were not very many places to stop and take photos, so lots of mine were through the not-so-clean window. The first time we stopped, it was quite warm and nice…….. there is pure sand at the end of this deep mountain lake –

When we reached the boulders of the Gloppedalsura, we hustled back to the car for our jackets pretty quickly. There is snow not too far above us.   I sure wish our GPS showed elevation, as we had climbed quite a lot.  Anyway, here is the write-up on this scree landscape from 10,000 years ago –

And here is what it looks like.

David climbed to the top of this huge boulder by the parking area.  He wanted Snoopy to come and join him for the photo opp –but Snoopy didn’t think it was a good idea at all. Another write-up and a plaque commemorated a battle between Norwegian troops and German forces in April 1940.

Soon we were on our way again, and soon reached Byrkjedal. But I’ll show this to you later…. lets’ get on to the snow.   Rather than head straight home, we decided to go a bit towards Sirdal, where the closest ski hills are.  Soon, it looked like this –

And then THIS!

We stopped and waded through the snow to a bridge and crossing it, found ourselves on a golf course.  Snoopy remembered running in snow, and shoved his nose into it for the first time I’ve seen him.  Our old black lab, Puddles, used to love burying his nose in snow drifts.

After checking out a few more small villages and snow-bordered streams,

We tried the road that leads to the Kjieragbolten, (this is a tourism shot, not mine) a boulder wedged between two cliffs 1000 m above the fjord, but the road isn’t open for the summer yet.

We took a different road home after Byrkjedal, back out of the snow.  The drive was beautiful – and I can’t wait to see it in the sunshine.

You’ve seen plenty of photos of the park just down from our house – but I haven’t shown you the “Trimparken” yet.

When I was living in Grande Prairie, Canada, my friend Connie and I went to the ladies gym called “Curves”.  It was a type of circuit training, where you worked on one machine for a bit, then jogged, and then moved onto the next machine in the circle. Now, I’m really NOT a gym person – I would rather do almost anything rather than work out, especially in a sweaty room with loud music blaring.  But the music there wasn’t so bad, and Connie and I kept each other going.  I really miss her and having someone to make me work out.

David has been going to the Elixia gym since we moved to Norway, and he encouraged me to join as well……… uh-uh, it just isn’t going to happen.  If they had a sauna or pool, maybe.

When we moved to the house in Sandnes, I discovered a wonderful alternative.  Outside, not far from my door step, and no membership fee.  So, for almost 2 months, I’ve been walking by the Trimparken, looking at it as I went by, and even stopping to check out the sign.  But I can’t do it with Snoopy, can I?  And if he’s not with me, I always seem to be on a mission.  My husband set me straight on that – it won’t hurt Snoopy to be tied up and wait a few minutes for me.  OK – point taken.

So this morning, I had a better look at the set up.  The first machine really had me baffled….. it’s called a Taiji Push.  I followed the printed directions (in English, would you believe), but it just didn’t seem right, so I checked the rest out, and came home to look it up.  Turns out, it simulates an exercise in Tai Chi, and is very good for the lower joints – something I’m having a bit of a hard time with in this colder weather.

So, here is my plan….. I will try to work out in the Trimparken at least three times a week – although I won’t promise if it is pouring rain.  Lets see if I can put my actions where my words are, and benefit from the thoughtfulness of the park planners in Sandnes.  This country is amazingly in tune with exercise and healthy living – guess I need to join in.

Wish me luck!

Saturday is the day that we can sleep in if we feel like it……. or get up early and just drink coffee, chat, and browse on the internet……

Or go for a long walk. We decided to go downtown to see if we could get breakfast somewhere – preferably outside as we took Snoopy with us.  I’ve been to the mall side of the tracks downtown, but never into the older shopping district.  We were in for a real treat.

One street, about 5 blocks long, has been made into a pedestrian mall.  I counted three different book stores……. one I’ve never been in before too.  Unfortunately, there was only one place to eat that early on a Saturday morning, but there were tables outside.  This is the view from our table –

David went in to order, and soon came out this steaming mugs of coffee – always a necessity in cold weather – and a huge egg and shrimp sandwich. Shrimp is a mainstay here in Norway. For Friday-night dinner, they love to eat freshly peeled shrimp on bread with lettuce and mayonnaise ….. and a bottle of wine. And now, we were having it for breakfast instead of our normal bacon and egg.

We took a different way home, and stopped in at two different farm-service hardware stores – kind of like Peavey Mart, for you Canadians. The had almost everything.  I’ve never seen an entire store wall filled with horse shoes before.

I bought a rain gauge (wouldn’t you know, it’s hardly rained since I got it – maybe that’s the secret).

When we finally arrived home, we had a bit of a nap (told you I love Saturdays) and then took the car to do a bit more exploring, and buy some cat food and litter.  We went through Sola, so stopped to buy some wine and I went into the quilt shop for a moment – I was good – only two small remnants. As we were driving through Tananger, we went down to the harbour there for a cup of coffee, and went out on this rock at the edge of it.  Here you can seen the Tananger fishing harbour –

and houses right on top of the rocks –and here is the north Sea.  It was pretending to be quite gentle and lovely that morning, wasn’t it?

After picking up cat food, litter, and a few dog treats, we drove back to Sandnes where we live, and went along the East shore of the fjord. This housing development is rather unique There was supposed to be a restaurant in the small village – of course there wasn’t – GPS doesn’t know everything.  We did have a lovely views of the fjord though.

And this bush is a Ribes – or currant.  I saw these blooms in Aberdeen, but didn’t get close enough to identify it.  Wish I had room for one.

And as we walked back to the car, we saw this playground……. look at the bumpers on the bottom of the teeter totter.  No hard bumps for the child on the high side here.

The rest of the weekend was consumed mostly by moving furniture and emptying boxes. Slowly, the place is taking shape and it will soon look like we live here, instead of just moving in.