Holiday

We're all going on a summer holiday

No more working for a week or two

Fun and laughter on our summer holiday

No more worries for me and you

For a week or two...

Today we're off to England - Reidar, Jeremy and I, all together, for the first time in many years.

We're borrowing a car from my brother-in-law, David, and will drive down to Cornwall tomorrow.

(Little bubbles of excitement! Tomorrow!)

Beautiful St Ives is one of the places we'll visit. You can't go to Cornwall and not go to St Ives. So think of us, raise a glass to us and wish us a lovely time!

White car, white cats

Elegant - aren't they?

Fields of gold and pretty clouds

This year the fields around our house are planted with oil seed rape - an unattractive name for an amazing-looking crop. When the yellow flowers are gone the seed-pods fatten up, and when harvested, are crushed to produce bio-diesel. The plants actually smell pretty bad - a cabbagey, farty sort of smell - but the sight of acres of golden flowers is very uplifting.
The sweet little yellow house belongs to Anne Mette.

A bouquet of wild flowers

I'm sure Tamsin misses her childhood widflowers so I've been out and picked a bunch for her. Buttercups (smørblomst), Rosebay willowherb (geitrams) and Harebells (blåklokker). Hope you like them!

Cabin fever

We've always been lucky with having friends who have holiday homes in nice places, and for the past three days have been exceptionally lucky. On Friday we were invited to Else's cabin by Rokosjøen - our local lake. We brought ice-cream with us, and Else and her daughters had strawberries, so we sat on the jetty enjoying our treat in the sun. Anne Solveig has a little Cavalier King Charles spaniel who loves water, so we had great fun throwing sticks into the water for Sonja to retrieve. We've been visiting this cabin for many years now, and always enjoy the privacy and peace there.

The following day was Arnold's birthday, and to celebrate he invited a group of friends to his private trout pond to eat home-caught, homesmoked trout. It was absolutely delicious! We later went back to his house for birthday cake.Another peaceful and relaxing evening spent close to water.

Today we went to visit Anne Mette at her cabin by lake Mjøsa - Norway's biggest lake. This cabin was built just before a law was passed, stipulating that no cabin can be built within 100 metres of the shoreline of any body of water.

The picture shows the veranda with three steps down onto the rocks on the lake shore. We drove down a remote track and parked the car. We then had a 300 metre walk through a pine forest, then there was the cabin - right on the edge of the lake. Walking into the cabin was the strangest thing, because as you enter the living-room you're immediately confronted by the lake! There is a glass door and a large window, so you

get the feeling that as soon as you get indoors, you're outside again!

We spent a lovely day there, sitting in the sun chatting. Anne Mette's son Sigurd was there with his girlfriend Anne Grethe, although they went off on the boat Sigurd built, to sail. Isn't it a beauty?

Did we get fed? But of course we did! Waffles with strawberries and cream when we arrived, and later a beautiful danish-style sandwich called Hakkebøf.

I've spent three days sitting in the sun ( or rain in Arnold's case) in idyllic settings with good company and wonderful food. Does it get any better?

Midsummer madness

Living in the land of the midnight sun is confusing. Today the sun rose at 03.41 and will go down at 22.54 ( 10.54 pm to those of you that don't understand the 24 hour clock). We now have 12 hours and 58 minutes more daylight than we did on the shortest day. This means that it's not completely dark, and the birds sing all night. People sit out on their verandas all evening - well covered in insect repellent, because the mosquitoes are at their most active then.
So when the sun wakes me at 4 am I must remember how much cold and darkness we get in the winter, and how we long for this time of year - and put the pillow over my head and go back to sleep!

Getting to know you

This is my grandson Espen David North. Isn't he wonderful? We met for the first time in April, when we travelled halfway round the world to meet him. It was love at first sight. we spent three intense weeks in his company, and I wouldn't have missed a second of it. He is, of course, the most beautiful, intelligent, talented and witty baby in the world, and is destined to be great.

Thinking about our time together, I must admit I talked the most awful rubbish to him and he didn't seem to mind at all. It's a good thing he can't talk yet, or he'd make some cutting remark like;- "Get a grip on yourself, Granny! you're babbling again. People are looking at us!"

It was really, really hard to say goodbye to him, and I hunger for new pictures of him and reports of his progress. I miss Tam and Nick too, but I've known them for much longer. It's a bit like being in love, so I say;- "Thank goodness for Skype!"