Myklebust Photos

NK and his cousins Gabriel and Ruben. Their great-grandfathers (Jon, Rasmus, and Harald Myklebust) were brothers.

Below are photos taken at my favorite beach on the island - near the bird sanctuary.

JH, NK and I had out photo taken on this rock eight years ago on July 4th, 1999. We revisited the site.

NK and JH in the boat in the Myklebust marina. NK is learning how to row with a little help from dad.

This lady is JH's grandmother's sister. They live near the farm house at Myklebust. Lovely people.

This is a whaling ship - the Kato. It is based at Myklebust. We picked-up a big box of whale steaks before we left the island. Sorry folks - but they are yummy. They taste like a high quality of beef steak. The fat content is very low. Since the year 800 it was known that Norwegians hunted and ate Minke. For more information, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minke_Whale

This stash of rhubarb was found on part of the farm property near the beach. We took it home and cooked it down and feasted! We have 12 pints in our freezer and one in the refrigerator! Yum!

This is the view at the base of the farm property near the beach where I plan to retire. I will keep my eye on this property - but someday this is where I will be found in a little cabin enjoying the view.

This is the main view of the farm where I would like to build a home someday.

NK at his great-grandparents grave. We cleaned it up a little and planted flowers.

NK after a long day. Enjoying the sun at the farm.

This is a flower that Norwegians use to make tea. A small/mid-sized pink flower. Tasty.

Moments after taking ths photo I ate these blueberries. They weren't quite ripe but they were good. In a week or so this will be blueberry heaven.

This is the soccer field that has been used on the island for a hundredish years. It is at the base of the mountain. A great place for hiking, bird watching and eating berries.

The north end of the Island once belonged to Sweden and the south end (Myklebust) belonged to Norway. This is the border marker.

A factory on the Island makes some of the largest boat and other usage winches in the world.

Looking out the back of the farm towards neighbors and the marina/harbor.

The Myklebust farm house - Bakken.

This is NK at the end of a long day. He crawled in the car for a snooze.

Do you recognize the ship's captain?

The captain is with Rune who lives on the island with his wife Tracy and daughter Louise. They invited us over for a day of eating, drinking, swimming, fishing, hiking and enjoying the sun at their new beach front home.

The two fisherman in my life.

My rock climber. He has on his life vest because he kept scaling rock fronts hanging above the sea. He fell once.

NK and Louise enjoying the beach.

Looking back at our island from a small island where we fished and swam.

NK on the North Sea;-)

Tracy with the catch. Actually, Rune trapped this feast the day before. We didn't set any crab or lobster traps this trip - next time.

On the Way to Myklebust

The Island of Haroy is above with the village of Myklebust at the base of the mountain near the shore.

Last Thursday evening we drove to Myklebust on the Island of Haroy, JH's father's family homestead and ancestral community. JH posted some photos of his earlier trip to the island. Here is a link to Haroy/Myklebust, http://maps.google.com/maps?tab=wl&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

NK and I packed up the car (at our home in Gjovik). Packing reminded me of how badly I hate packing after packing our house for months! We picked up JH and off we went from Raufoss. We drove back through Gjovik and up the shore of Lake Mjosa towards Lillehammer. I drove this trip which was more complicated by a near constant rain.

The winter Olympics were held in Lillehammer in 1994 and there are reminders everywhere on signs. This is a beautiful place to be (and live!) and Norwegians are proud of the honor to share this region with the world.

There is a lot of history in this area on Norway. JH provided great commentary on the trip. Since NK and I love history we had an interesting trip. We heard a lot about the World War II resistance and the battles against the Germans. The story of the King and cabinet escaping Oslo through these valleys aided by the resistance and the Norwegian and English forces. We learned about Iron Age and Stone Age settlements and findings which were also marked with signs by the roadside, including carvings and ruins.

When we were tired of talking we popped in our Chicago CD. Ironically we then sang along with Chicago. I am so lucky, my kid and husband both love Chicago;-) NK especially loves the instrumentals with lots of drums. JH loves the woodwinds. I love the brass. If only NK had been wearing his Chicago t-shirt we would have looked like real Chicago groupies - even roadies.

It is high "holiday" vacation season in Norway. Everyone who has a camper "caravan" is either on the road going somewhere or parked near a gorgeous vista. There are pine forests everywhere. Flowers of all colors are blooming along the roadside.

I am still relearning how to drive a manual car, so the rain and the weaving and rising and falling into valleys was a chore. Rivers run most of the distance in the valleys between Gjovik and the West coast of Norway. Water falls pour off the mountains and form great waterfalls which run into the rivers. With all of the rain in Norway this summer the rivers are gushing. Even the river rafting sites along the way had no daredevils in the water.

Sorry for the quality of some of the photos the rain and fog were tricky to work with.

It was interesting to note that when we crossed the continental divide the rushing waters rushed down into the central valleys or down towards the coast and the sea fjords. The color of the water(s) are so beautiful - and cold. Many of the are ice feed from snow capped mountains.

The farmsteads along the way came in batches of white houses and red barns or clusters of brown houses and barns. It amazed me that some of the farms were thousands of feet up the side of the mountain from the valley floors. JH said that they had pulley systems to get supplies up and down the mountain to the secluded farms high above the valley floor.

The Norwegian government has great systems of highway rest stops every few kilometers all the way (6 hours from Gjovik) to the coast. Every few stops has a bathroom. Even the smallest towns have a gas station which also serves as the local grocery and fast food (think QuickTrip style).

There were bicyclists everywhere. In the rain on the very narrow (sometimes hardly wide enough for two passing vehicles) and winding mountain rodes were bicyclists. Most of the riders were solo and some were in groups with younger (teenage?) riders. And some of the riders were well past middle age. All with legs of steel. Biking is becoming huge in Norway.

The trip to Myklebust is beautiful. We made the ferry by about 10 minutes.

These are photos taken from the ferry looking back towards the coast and out to the Islands. Haroy is the Island to the right in the photo of JH & NK.

Catch-up Post

My "interview" with Norwegian authorities wasn't an interview. We went to the mall to a self-service photo booth and had my photo taken. NK thinks my photo is hysterical - great. I do look a little goofy because I didn't (can't) read Norwegian very fast or well and since I didn't save the first photo quickly enough the booth re-took my photo. Just as it was ready re-take the photo JH stuck his head in to "help" me read. The photo almost caught JH with his head in front of my head. In 1995 at a mall in West Des Moines JH and I sat in a photo booth at a mall and took photos. I still have them - somewhere in a container in the North Atlantic. Anyway, I started laughing because the photo caught us by surprise. Oh well - this is just the photo that will be on my bank card, my drivers license and my "green"/immigration card. I might as well look happy. VERY happy.

The office at the Police Station for immigration opened at noon. We were there by about 12:20 and we had about 7 groups/families/individuals in front of us. My guess is that we waited 45 minutes until it was our turn. The lady in front of us was European, and the rest of the groups in front of us and then in the line that formed behind us were all Eurasian, Asian and North African. Or, at least from the languages I heard and the burkas and Asian-dress that is my guess.

The diversity excited me - because it was noon and I thought of one thing. Asian food! With all these Eurasians they need to shop somewhere. There must be an Asian/Middle Eastern supermarket and I am going to find it!

NK was bored while waiting in line. I thought it moved faster than I expected. Since JH is a Norwegian citizen, and NK is a dual citizen (US and Norway) I was the only "immigrant". The policewoman said my immigration request to live and work in Norway should be processed in 2- months. Wow. The website says 4-8. Is there anyway they can slow this down so I can continue to sleep-in. Kidding.

All immigrants must go through a 300 hour course of language and culture. My classes start in late August. The classes are paid for by the Norwegian government. And, I can extend the classes by a few THOUSAND hours if I need it. Let's hope that I don't need it. By random conversation classes and advanced Norwegian will be nice - if needed.

The immigration process was so efficient and pleasant. I remember being terrified when we drove to Kansas City for JH's immigration interview. We had heard horror stories about rejections and grumpy US Immigration officials. Of course my worries were unfounded and we spent about 5 minutes in our "interview". We spent the rest of that afternoon in KC shopping on the plaza.

NK and I are still trying to get acclimated to Norway and to Gjovik. Norwegians love to speak English to me - so much so that it could EASILY become a crutch. At the supermarket and stores and offices they quickly switch to English as soon as they hear NK and I talking with one another. They even stalk me and help me. This is a nice town. Nice people. It is clean and beautiful and very pleasant.

The super markets do have a huge amount of international foods (I am still going to find the Asian grocery this week - I know it exists - somewhere). Food is somewhat more expensive than in the US - not a lot. The meat is the most expensive. Beef, chicken, turkey, horse (deli meats), pork, and NK's favorite...fish. The breads are great. They are all fresh so they have a short shelf life. For the most part you can select your own bread and then put it in the slicing machine. I am still weary about the slicing machine - but I will be a veteran...soon.

We have not been able to find an apple sauce NK likes. He likes the smooth US style. The apple sauce here is chunky and he doesn't like it. We have found peanut butter...Skippy not his favorite (creamy Jif). NK's favorite sandwich that he eats for breakfast, lunch and dinner is fish cakes with peanut butter on crustless bread. Here is a link for a fishcake (fiskekaker) recipe, http://www.matoppskrift.no/sider/recipe_11746.asp

Here is a link to the Skibladner - the old ship in the photos, http://www.skibladner.no/engelsk/index.htm

By the way - this is the wettest/rainiest summer in Southern Norway for the last 104 years. It was rainy when we left Kansas. My guess is that the rain has followed us.

Still, no word on Forrest. FREE FORREST!

And FYI, I heard on the news that a container ship sank near Iceland. I hope it wasn't the one with everything I own on it. Blah.

Photos from Around the New 'Hood

Here are an assortment of photos. Photos of our condo/apartment the front, side back. Photos looking down the street toward the lake and then some photos of NK's school. Enjoy...I sure did as I took the photos this evening. The flowers are aromatic and the view is a million kroner view!

This is the view down into our neighborhood from NK's new school.

NK and JH at the school yard. NK's bike is in the background.

This is NK's new school. It serves kids from 1st - 10th grades. Kindergarten is not common in Norway and kids are only required to go to school through 10th grade. After 10th grade it is work, college, travel, military service or whatever. Norway still requires males to fulfill military service although NK says he won't. Oh well - good boy - he has a lot of time to further develop his convictions and politics.

The hillside/mtn. side across from the school has been cleared - upper left of the photo. There is a lottery for homestead slots on the hill.

This is a photo of the lake - Mjosa looking down our street. It is a cloudy evening - July 4th. It rained almost all night last night and it rained until 3PM or so today. It is about 68 degrees F and quite mild and a lovely evening.

This is the back of our condo/apartment. You can maybe see the potted flowers on my table.

This is the front of our condo/apartment. NK loves this ramp. I have had to remind him not to use his Heely's - which of course is very tempting for him. Our front windows to the far left have the view down the street and to Lake Mjosa.

This is our mailbox. The mailman has harassed JH to put our name on the box, so JH had put a little white note. I decided to make it more permanent and official and wrote our name on the box. It still has a painting of the old troll lady. We need to get an artist by to redo the painting of a troll family with a little troll boy.

This one eared cat came down a path at NK's school and then followed me a little and brushed up against me before heading into the pine forest. Forrest would be quite upset with this. I can't wait to have my kitty strolling around the hill with me. I have seen a lot of cats, including one which our landlady says in the neighborhood bully. Well, there will be a new sheriff in town shortly.

Gjovik

We are finally catching up with our sleep and getting settled in our new apartment/condo in Gjovik. Although this still kind of feels like vacation. Today while cooking dinner I looked at the knife I was using and thought, "I have a knife like this" and then I it occurred to me that it was my knife. Strange.

NK is getting familiar with the neighborhood. He is spending a lot of time riding around the streets and riding around the school grounds. He seems to enjoy the ability to head out on his own. Although he and I are both confused at the daylight hours since the sun doesn't set over the mountain until nearly 10PM.

I am curious if at some point my subconscious will stop feeling as though this is a vacation and start feeling well acquainted with my surroundings. Tonight after we went swimming I did say that I was tired and wanted to head home unless we bought groceries quickly. HOME.

On Friday, July 13th I will no longer have a home in Kansas.

JH says that we live on a hill. I think it is more of a mountain. Depending upon the source on the Internet a mountain is a hill higher than 1000ft OR 2000ft above sea level. Our hill/mountain is about 1500 feet above sea level. Bigger than Walton Mountain and smaller than Everest.

We live on the side of the hill/mtn. on the south side of Gjovik. We live in a condo/apartment in a fairly middle class neighborhood which is close to NK's school. Norwegians love flowers and there are so many wonderful flowers in bloom - most notably the lupines - which I will get a photo of to post sometime this week. We went to a greenhouse and purchased some indoor and outdoor flowers/plants. Our landlords who live on the other side of our condo/unit keep our yard beautifully groomed with flowers and blooming bushes that smell lovely. We put the flowers in pots on our deck. I couldn't wait to buy an African violet. Home = African violets.

We also bought some candles. I love candles and JH knew I wanted some so he had staked out some great stores with candles. We have also found the bakeries. Norwegians know baked goods!

NK and I have been practicing our Norwegian. We aren't very good at it, but it is fun. NK has been watching the Disney channel. Most of the shows are dubbed but he laughs at the right parts. BBC has been my friend. Since I am a news junkie.

I haven't been able to find Mtn. Dew but I found Urge. Didn't they/Coca Cola market Urge as Surge in the US. Anyway it is expensive and I probably won't drink a lot of it. After nearly decaffeinating myself it felt good to have the Urge!

I have been trying to drive around the area without JH prompting me. After two days of watching him I think I understand the winding, twisting, small streets which criss-cross this small mountain city. I have had a small challenge with driving a stick shift, I haven't driven a stick in a while so doing it in the hills/mtns has been a riot. I have killed it occasionally.

I think the highlight of our first few days was going to a small pond/pool in town to watch NK swim. While watching him we saw a double rainbow although I think only the single shows up in this photo. With the Olympic Hall which is inside a mountain downtown, the lake Mjosa which we live near (60 miles long and at times 5 miles wide) which has lots of walking areas and beaches, and the zillions of paths in the pine forest near our house - NK is so excited about the endless opportunities to "do things" and have fun. Tonight we went to an indoor water park after we found out that we can swim for free since JH works for Nammo Co. NK went crazy in the wave pool, the slides and a river which lived up to its name "wild". It was wild. It has a maelstrom which NK enjoyed going around and around until I couldn't watch anymore.

Tonight we are getting my documents out to prepare for our meeting tomorrow with the police to start my immigration for a resident/work permit. I will have more to share later about the process!

I am tired so enough for tonight!