August 12, 2008
After breakfast, I packed my bags again, so they would be ready in the afternoon. Before the day was over we had accomplished more than just a large pile of freshly split logs and packed suitcases, however. Anne made skoleboller to go with coffee while splitting logs. I was completely impressed. I played some more fiddle music in the beautiful afternoon weather. After coffee, Johan started pulling off one of the walls of the stabbur - it's next on the repair list.
Since the bus into town left the bus stop a half hour drive away at 6:30, we had to get started on dinner pretty much immediately after afternoon coffee. We headed to the store and bought some additional kjøttkaker, as well as tomatost! Dinner was kjøttkaker with brown sauce, ertestuing, carrots and new potatoes - typical Norwegian food. While Anne made dinner, I made sandwiches to take on my journey. We listened to the Jonssonslinje CD I gave them; It made me think of home.
It was hard to leave Steinviknesset, but I made it in the car. Anne is a fabulous conversationalist and she managed to keep my mind on all of the exciting things that are coming in my future and didn't let me dwell on how much I would miss her and Johan and how much I already miss all of you in Seattle. At least Sonya's coming soon!
The bus ride took almost no time. There was a little excitement when the bus driver started to drive off before I had gotten my suitcase out of the bus, but he only got a few meters. At the Bodø train station I talked to my dad and Tom on the payphone, before I made my way out of the smelly waiting area and onto the uncomfortable train. I did manage to sleep, but I'm sure glad I'm not taking any exams today. I woke up outside of Trondheim, uncertain if I was more excited to get off the train or onto the internet.
Showing posts with label cabin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cabin. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Gårdstur og kaffekveld
August 11, 2008
Anne took a break from sawing logs to show me around the buildings. I clearly have trouble counting to four; there are four buildings on the property, not three. Besides the house, there is the woodshed, the stabbur (formerly used for storing things like salted meat, now half renovated as an extra guest house for three), and the barn/dairy which hasn't seen much renovation, yet. They started working on the buildings ten years ago and now they've had the house fully upgraded for a year. Steinviknesset is everything you could want in an ancestral vacation home and more.
Once Anne finished for the evening, we set to work looking at her photos. Aided by a glass of wine and a cup of coffee each, we worked our way through their vacation and into mine. Before we knew it, it was dark here. As Johan put it, autumn is coming; as Anne put it, there will be another summer, but lots of skiing in the meantime. Tomorrow, I'll take the bus back to Bodø and then the train all the way to Hedmark where I'll be in Trysil and Hamar for the remaining days before school starts.
Anne took a break from sawing logs to show me around the buildings. I clearly have trouble counting to four; there are four buildings on the property, not three. Besides the house, there is the woodshed, the stabbur (formerly used for storing things like salted meat, now half renovated as an extra guest house for three), and the barn/dairy which hasn't seen much renovation, yet. They started working on the buildings ten years ago and now they've had the house fully upgraded for a year. Steinviknesset is everything you could want in an ancestral vacation home and more.
Once Anne finished for the evening, we set to work looking at her photos. Aided by a glass of wine and a cup of coffee each, we worked our way through their vacation and into mine. Before we knew it, it was dark here. As Johan put it, autumn is coming; as Anne put it, there will be another summer, but lots of skiing in the meantime. Tomorrow, I'll take the bus back to Bodø and then the train all the way to Hedmark where I'll be in Trysil and Hamar for the remaining days before school starts.
August i Nordland postscript
August 10, 2008
I was so thrilled by the fishing trip, I forgot to say anything about the first half of the day! We began with a leisurely breakfast, followed by midday coffee. Here we had a small dilemma - there was no jam in the house! Not to worry, Anne had a plan. We head out to the current bushes (red and black, rips og solbær) and picked two cups full (an easy half liter of berries). Then I was set to the task of making the jam. I squashed the berries and added sugar. Num num It tasted great on the fresh waffles.
I also haven't said much about the house we are at. It has belonged to Johan's family at least since his grandfather lived here which is possibly when it was built. His mother's family lived in the house across the small inlet. On the property is the renovated house, woodshed, and stabbur. I think they also have a boathouse down by the water and, if I understand correctly, it has a Nordlandsboat inside that Johan takes out for competitions.
I was so thrilled by the fishing trip, I forgot to say anything about the first half of the day! We began with a leisurely breakfast, followed by midday coffee. Here we had a small dilemma - there was no jam in the house! Not to worry, Anne had a plan. We head out to the current bushes (red and black, rips og solbær) and picked two cups full (an easy half liter of berries). Then I was set to the task of making the jam. I squashed the berries and added sugar. Num num It tasted great on the fresh waffles.
I also haven't said much about the house we are at. It has belonged to Johan's family at least since his grandfather lived here which is possibly when it was built. His mother's family lived in the house across the small inlet. On the property is the renovated house, woodshed, and stabbur. I think they also have a boathouse down by the water and, if I understand correctly, it has a Nordlandsboat inside that Johan takes out for competitions.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Bodø III
August 9, 2008
We ate a leisurely breakfast before we headed into town. The big plan for the day was to head out to the cabin, but first we wanted to catch the free concert downtown. Operating under my go with the flow marching orders, I put on sunscreen and hopped in the car.
First was the youth concert. They featured a number of talented young adults, ranging from classical clarinet to under-enunciated, but well sung blues. They also played on a theme they have apparently been running through out the week of concerts of checking the temperature against the national weather service. We were five degrees (C) warmer - 15 instead of 10!
The day's sponsors were giving out free food. That's right, free food. There was coffee (of course) and pizza, grilled salmon and some kind of meat. First you have to understand that I haven't been speaking English unless I've called Seattle on the phone and also that it was pretty noisy in a crowd of several hundred people outside on a Saturday afternoon with a concert going on. Johan brought me a plate of delicious looking grilled meat with potato salad and asked if I'd ever had **kjøtt. I wasn't sure, but it looked good so I tried it. Tasty and a little gamey, I figured it was moose, but I wanted to be sure. I was going to ask once we got to a quieter place so I could report accurately what I had eaten, but I knew it would be awkward since they had said it several times at the concert. Fortunately, before going to bed, Anne said something about kvalkjøtt. For those of you who don't speak Norwegian, that's whale meat and it was good!
Now, back to the concert. We also heard Terje Nilssen, popular all over Norway and from the local area. The headliner, who came on after we'd been standing in the sun for two and a half hours, was Morten Abel. Rockin' pop music. Great summer tunes. If you're looking for something catchy to round out your summer music collection, look him up!
We made it home, packed our bags and piled into the car again. Anne and I passed out almost immediately while Johan drove. The scenery is so beautiful that I always wish I could stay awake in the car, but I never do. After about an hour we stopped for ice cream; my first Norwegian ice cream and I have to say - Norwegian ice cream is even better than Swedish ice cream! Another half hour of driving (I stayed awake this time) and we arrived at Steinviknesset in Gildeskål.
The house is beautiful inside and out. Anne and Johan worked on fixing it up every weekend for almost two years. Now it has all of the modern conveniences (except a dishwasher) and is absolutely perfect. We stayed up late (not that that counts as news anymore) looking at all of the photos on my computer and finally went to bed when the battery was about dead. Hopefully we'll go fishing tomorrow!
We ate a leisurely breakfast before we headed into town. The big plan for the day was to head out to the cabin, but first we wanted to catch the free concert downtown. Operating under my go with the flow marching orders, I put on sunscreen and hopped in the car.
First was the youth concert. They featured a number of talented young adults, ranging from classical clarinet to under-enunciated, but well sung blues. They also played on a theme they have apparently been running through out the week of concerts of checking the temperature against the national weather service. We were five degrees (C) warmer - 15 instead of 10!
The day's sponsors were giving out free food. That's right, free food. There was coffee (of course) and pizza, grilled salmon and some kind of meat. First you have to understand that I haven't been speaking English unless I've called Seattle on the phone and also that it was pretty noisy in a crowd of several hundred people outside on a Saturday afternoon with a concert going on. Johan brought me a plate of delicious looking grilled meat with potato salad and asked if I'd ever had **kjøtt. I wasn't sure, but it looked good so I tried it. Tasty and a little gamey, I figured it was moose, but I wanted to be sure. I was going to ask once we got to a quieter place so I could report accurately what I had eaten, but I knew it would be awkward since they had said it several times at the concert. Fortunately, before going to bed, Anne said something about kvalkjøtt. For those of you who don't speak Norwegian, that's whale meat and it was good!Now, back to the concert. We also heard Terje Nilssen, popular all over Norway and from the local area. The headliner, who came on after we'd been standing in the sun for two and a half hours, was Morten Abel. Rockin' pop music. Great summer tunes. If you're looking for something catchy to round out your summer music collection, look him up!
We made it home, packed our bags and piled into the car again. Anne and I passed out almost immediately while Johan drove. The scenery is so beautiful that I always wish I could stay awake in the car, but I never do. After about an hour we stopped for ice cream; my first Norwegian ice cream and I have to say - Norwegian ice cream is even better than Swedish ice cream! Another half hour of driving (I stayed awake this time) and we arrived at Steinviknesset in Gildeskål.
The house is beautiful inside and out. Anne and Johan worked on fixing it up every weekend for almost two years. Now it has all of the modern conveniences (except a dishwasher) and is absolutely perfect. We stayed up late (not that that counts as news anymore) looking at all of the photos on my computer and finally went to bed when the battery was about dead. Hopefully we'll go fishing tomorrow!
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