I was feeling a little under the rainbow today

August 31, 2010 | Iowa,Weather

Books: Runaway

August 20, 2010 | Books

I just read Runaway by Alice Munro, recommended by SommerÃ¥pent on NRK this summer in Norway. I really like what she does with characters. I was a bit thrown off, though, by the short stories, and I was frustrated she didn’t write more about Juliet. (She had three stories about this character.) I wish she would have written an entire book about her.

I’m a guest blogger

August 14, 2010 | Blogging

Hey, I’m over at Bill’s place today, filling in while he’s on vacation. Seems to be a popular theme with me. I wrote about my summer vacation on his blog a couple of years ago. Hope you have a fabulous vacation with your family, Bill!

Over the mountains & through the woods

Family,Norway,Traveling,Vacation

My last hike was with my husband over the mountains (yes, more than one) into town to my sister-in-law’s home.

It was Charming Marie’s last hike in the Norwegian mountains. I’ve had lots of fun with her this summer!

We took a break at this lake. It was so quiet and pretty there.

We saw sheep everywhere.

See that bump in the background? That’s the top of Jendemfjellet.

See that yellow spot there? That’s a boy. We watched his progress over the top of one mountain and down another until he met up with us. He was RUNNING. The whole time. Makes me want to have a heart attack just thinking about it.

Skihytta — this is a ski cabin that’s open in the winter.

Getting close to town. These are ski paths with lights (for the winter). Folks use them for all kinds of things during the summer … hiking, biking, walking, running, etc.

Just about there! I think I can smell dinner from here.

I thought I’d slow things down, but when we were done, it hadn’t taken any longer than “normal” — about three hours. Yay, me!

Eidskrem

August 13, 2010 | Family,Norway,Traveling,Vacation

Every time I see this sign, I sing, “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.” Every. Single. Time. For almost 20 years now. I sang it out loud with the kids in the car. So, who knows. Maybe I’ve infected them too.

Books: Norsk, ikke sant?

August 3, 2010 | Books,Norway

I also read Norsk, ikke sant? Norge, Nordmenn & all things Norsk by Jenny K. Blake. A funny follow-up to her Brown Cheese Please book. Good stuff. Good as brown cheese.

Books: Brown Cheese Please

August 2, 2010 | Books,Norway

The entire time I was in Norway this summer, I searched for a Norwegian doll for my friend’s little girl, who has a collection of dolls from around the world. I’ve seen them in souvenir shops. I have one from years ago. But I couldn’t, for the life of me, find one this summer. I saw them in store windows, but they were only for display, not for sale. I stopped in one jewelry store that had them in the window, and they couldn’t even remember where (or when) they had gotten them.

I had given up and relied on Plan B (wedding-cake toppers wearing Norwegian bunad).

Then? I went shopping at the Oslo airport.

Whee!

There was a shop with an entire shelf of these dolls.

Shopping at the Oslo airport rocks. I found a bookstore with an entire shelf of translated-to-English Norwegian authors, many of which I’d looked up and found impossible to get my hands on anywhere else. (As if I hadn’t already bought too many books in Norway. It’s typical that the last thing I could possibly spend kroner on before leaving the country … was books.)

*rubs hands together with a greedy grin*

Two of these books were by Jenny K. Blake, an Australian who lived in Norway. She hit the nail on the head about Norway and Norwegians with her drawings and words.

I read Brown Cheese Please: Norway inside out from the outside in on the plane ride home. She had me giggling all the way from Oslo to Minneapolis. If you’ve never been to Norway or you don’t have a weegie of your own, you might find it more confusing than amusing. But if you have and you do, give it a try and see if she doesn’t make you smile. Extra points if you laugh out loud.