keeping tabs on Helen: Ode to Summer '13

In Northern Norway you get spring, then summer... blink or you'll miss it, and then it is suddenly autumn again.

This blog entry is late, so late that the leaves have left the trees and the white stuff is back again....

Indeed, so late that it is 2014!

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As a synopsis, I graduated and left my books behind for a spell - essay writing was replaced by job application writing. Summer flew past, with a visit home to the UK, for a family reunion, which was totally fab. And then, more applications, more waiting, and more hoping. I was now qualified as a Lower/Upper secondary general science teacher... yet not a job on the horizon yet...

But we never know what is around the bends of lifes many roads.

And, seemingly many moons later: I got a JOB OFFER and so, I find myself in Nordreisa kommune, a little further north from Tromsø and a little less people. If you look at a map, Storslett is positioned between Tromsø and Alta. Sort-of. The mighty Reisa Elva (Reisa River) and 100km long Reisa valley serving as a natural route to the sea. Historically, it's the meeting place of Kvensk, Fins, Sami and Norwegian. A right mixed bunch of people have settled here over the years... thought it might also suit me fine then, also ;)

The place I live now is a reminder to me of Canmore, Alberta, and Glenorchy, New Zealand. An agricultural oasis, between mountains and sea. As the expression goes in Norwegian, "I like myself here."

I work here, and cycling to work (or skiing!) is manageable and a sheer joy:

So, after moving here in August it was simply a case of settling in, and watching the leaves begin their hasty senescence and departure from the trees.

....in anticipation for winter (which has come!)