Easter Sunshine 2012

(..oops. bit of a late blog-entry, but surely late is better than never? ...apologies ;0)...)

So, it was EASTER time again, in Norway. In Northern Norway this means a trip to the mountains, to relax, to ice-fish, to drink schnapps late at night, and generally to enjoy the sheer joy of this sunshine-laden heavenly snowquality time of the year! I Love Easter should be the North Norwegian motto, as people seem visibly relaxed after the hard winter. The sun is back, it's not going to disappear for MONTHS to come now, and the worst is behind you. (mind you, I do love magical winter trips in the dark-time also - but I think you have to enjoy this part of a Northern winter to be able to manage here).

So, it was with a full pulk and an eager husky that Per and I set off for the Swedish border this year. I was out 6 days, and Per for 10.  (I have this little issue of a Norwegian Exam looming: not nice, but needs some attention, hence the foreshortened tour for moi) :( 

Mind you, one can't complain at all, when the temperature drops to -20C at night and is pure sunshine in the daytimes! We were lucky, out in the hills, as back in Tromsø it snowed the whole week - we were definitely in the Right Place. 

So, I was able to enjoy some days camping with Per and the dog, before Dovre and I peeled off, circled back through the woods and returned to the car... I drove out of the hills, and I caught up with friends back in Målselv for a few days before departing back to the city...  In Målselv it was lovely to be 'home' there, as having lived their 2 years I just love the place now I have left! (funny, but natural how that happens...). Whilst I was there, I entered an Ice Fishing Competition on Andsvatn, the lake where I used to rent my cabin (didn't get a single bite...), drank excess coffee and caught up with friends and had a lovely daytrip up the local hills :) All in all: a good Easter.

So, here you are: a sample of Easter 2012, for you all. I wish many of you could have seen and experienced it with me. It is such a simple pleasure to ice-fish and it is pure delight to pulk on skis in a thin layer of snow on a hard surface beneath.  Ah! 

I am lucky to be here, in Norway, and active and able to do all I am doing. I don't know who I should thank for this, as I am not the religious type - but I do count my blessings on such trips away. 

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." 

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) 

 (at the Swedish border - a sign reveals a warning of missile/rocket testing range area. 

Yes! We had been camping there. ...small wonder it was so quiet and we had the place to ourselves ;))

 One happy, tired puppy!

 Ice-fishing competition, Andsvatn, Målselv. 

People are SERIOUS - little or no small-talk between the competitors.

 Just row upon row of intent 'fishers'!  

It is 2 hours of intense concentration: not sure I can stand the suspense of more competitions like that. Think I would rather kick back and fish in my own time! ;)

Sparking about

Well, the snow finally arrived, and everyone had a big smile on their face, temporarily... Temporarily, I say, as Zeus decided otherwise... Norwegians had evidently had had it enough good, he must have pondered. Rain, high winds and mild weather generally has followed suite.

So, out with the Norwegian SPARK. This helpful device is as Norwegian as they come: an ingenious tool to help 'get about on sheet ice streets'. It's the equivalent of trawling a shopping trolley behind you, I guess. Except that you push it in front and kids are - shall we say - keen on it (especially when someone else is pushing!).

So, whilst we negotiate the icey streets of Tromsø for a while yet, here's hoping the snow comes back again soon!

...and so, Zeus, can we have this weather back please??

Søltilbakk - 21 January

There was a reason behind my smile here. I will let the photos tell the tale... ;)

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(Tromsø town)

(the slopes of Lille Blåmann mountain)

(shadows from the sun we hadn't seen for 2 months)

The sun is back. Long live the sun!

Toilet with a cold seat

New Years Eve in a cold place

A trip to Rostadalen, Dividalen National Park boundary.

A cold and beautiful place.

God jul - Christmas, Norway-style

Pre-Christmas in England, to celebrate Mum's birthday, then Christmas in Norway. Brilliant (utterly!) to have time at home, and yet nice to be back in Norway, also.

Reflecting, I have had the good fortune to spend Christmas in different places before. I've shared other people's Christmas days in New Zealand, Canada and Iceland. To be abroad is never the same as Christmas 'back in Blighty', but it is very wonderful nonetheless. You really don't know what to expect, so the experience of Christmas is a fresh and exciting surprise. And, Ah!The traditions of others... I'll never forget my mixture of fear (terror?) and delight at the live candles on the tree, when dancing and singing around the tree in Iceland (...great, but totally insane, insurance-wise, no?). Then there was joining into the snow golf tradition of playing golf with the neighbours and friends of my kind and generous friends the Ripley's, in Fort Macleod town, Alberta. Ha! That was one tradition that has not only survived but also enriched the years for that family, it appears: playing golf in the street The Day After The Day After Boxing Day with a club that is anything but a golf club (dangerous? Yes). And Boy! did we all get tipsy on cocktails at my friend Jo's, on her family's sheep farm in Otago, New Zealand! (the response to my question, "what shall I bring" was, "...a bottle of liquor" ;)).. Then, after learning how to make various delightful combinations of drinks with Callum and Matt, it suddenly poured rained from the heavens - right on cue, as the lamb was being roasted out on the grill on the lawn, and we were just settling down into a classic Southern hemisphere Christmas of winter sunshine and high temperatures....

So, to Norway (and to less talk of high temperatures)

Well, it started off with a stroke of Christmas luck - with me winning the almond in the rice-pudding dinner/dessert that you traditionally scoff on the eve before Christmas Eve. I'm proud I won, so you get to hear the whole story!

It's called risgrøt and is cream, rice, some tasty spices and... a hidden almond, buried deep (and blanched, for detectability-reduction...)... He he! - and I won the marzipan pig prize for finding the nut treat. Er, small problem: didn't know the rules. How was I to possibly know you are not supposed to EAT the almond evidence....? and if you eat the bloody evidence you don't get the massive marzipan pig prize. Hmm. Problem. Yep.

(Hmmm. I did show the evidence, but it was not so pretty - a half consumed almond is never much to look at!)

And then, to Lyngen, to see the family, exchange gifts, relax and... eat. Home-cooking, Norway-style, at its best. Pork chops, a broad range of home-made picked herring... and lots and lots of coffee and cake!

.. Add a trip in the snow-flurried darkness up to a mountain hut one afternoon and a massive fire in the woods up the valley (yes, those ARE Ferrero Rocher chocs you see there, melting beside the flames).... it all was pretty magical.

Cold. Dark. Warm. Christmas in Norway :)