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?