fredag, desember 19, 2008

Swimming in November


Earlier on
I bragged about going swimming - here's the proof!



It's two o'clock, and already dark of course. I have to admit we cheated a little bit - there's a sauna nearby! Still, some people opted out. They prefered to drink a small brandy, while watching and telling us how brave we were:-)




Here's the beach while there's some daylight:


fredag, november 28, 2008

Buy books for the holidays

Not a bad idea, and a great blog:


tirsdag, november 25, 2008

9 o'clock 25.11.2008

The view from my office window - taken with my mobile camera.

søndag, november 23, 2008

lørdag, november 22, 2008

HB lives up to the blog name

It's November. There's lots of snow. It's 8 degrees Celsius below zero (-14.4 Fahrenheit). Time to go swimming in the ocean! :-)

Båtsfjord this morning.

onsdag, november 19, 2008

February 2008

In June this year I started posting photos from my first year in Finnmark: August, September, October and November. I've checked my photos, and I don't have many photos from December and January. Perhaps I was too busy, or more likely - it was too dark! In the middle of December we only have some kind of blueish day light for about half an hour. It's really beautiful, but doesn't last long! This year I'll bring my camera to work, and see if I can manage to capture the light:-)

Here are some photos from the beginning of February 2008 - the sun had just come back again!




Last pic: it's about 2 pm and the sun is setting.. but a couple of months later it's up almost all day:-)

søndag, oktober 26, 2008

Today - Sunday trip to Syltefjord






*cough* I have to admit I didn't take any of these. All credit goes to Curiousa!

tirsdag, oktober 21, 2008

Cool music

Small crush...

Check out this Carnivale-inspired music video!

søndag, oktober 05, 2008

Weekend-trip to Vardø 2

Driving from Vadsø to Vardø. It's about 70 kilometers, and you drive along the fjord all the time:





lørdag, september 27, 2008

Weekend-trip to Vardø 1

Driving from Båtsfjord to Tana:





A beautiful autumn day! More photos to come! In the meantime, if you want to see some gorgeous photos from Birtavarre, go here, here and here! Someone is blogging more frequently than me, as you can see. Here's a little taste:

It's not easy to cross an old bridge when your legs are so long and slim:-)

fredag, september 12, 2008

Dogs of summer

Pia. A bit shy, but such a sweetheart:


Linus, still a puppy. The wife taught him to walk the stairs while we visited. After he had managed walking them the first time, he ran the stairs up and down like eight times - before collapsing on the floor and falling asleep within two seconds:



Sita. Not a puppy anymore, but she still got lots of energy:



Update: If you want to take a look at the puppies we visited in Båtsfjord yesterday, go here! We'd love to have a dog, but can't because of allergies. Sigh. Still, the owner of these dogs said we could borrow one whenever we wanted to go for a walk:-) He's a "professional" dogowner, and last year he won the 500 km race in Finnmarksløpet, the world's northernmost sled dog race. Not bad!

lørdag, august 23, 2008

torsdag, august 21, 2008

More summer photos

The first day of our summer holiday - Ifjord mountain on the road between Båtsfjord and Hammerfest. Not the fastest route, but we wanted to drive along the coast. The snow? Yes, that's the end of June in the north of Norway:


Sunny Hammerfest! Taken from the house where the wife lived during our long distance relationship stint last year. Didn't like being apart, but the house and family where she lived in Hammerfest are truly lovely. We keep in touch with them, and stayed there a couple of days on our way south.


Birtavarre, where the in-laws live. 700 km further south than Båtsfjord, and a bit more summery!

tirsdag, august 12, 2008

Engineer's Corner

Engineer's Corner
(Wendy Cope)

(Why isn't there an Engineers' Corner in Westminster Abbey? In Britain we've always made more fuss of a ballad than a blueprint...How many schoolchildren dream of becoming great engineers?
-- advertisement placed in The Times by the Engineering Council)

We make more fuss of ballads than of blueprints--
That's why so many poets end up rich,
While engineers scrape by in cheerless garrets.
Who needs a bridge or dam? Who needs a ditch?

Whereas the person who can write a sonnet
Has got it made. It's always been the way,
For everybody knows that we need poems
And everybody reads them every day.

Yes, life is hard if you choose engineering --
You're sure to need another job as well;
You'll have to plan your projects in the evenings
Instead of going out. It must be hell.

While well-heeled poets ride around in Daimlers,
You'll burn the midnight oil to earn a crust,
With no hope of a statue in the Abbey,
With no hope, even, of a modest bust.

No wonder small boys dream of writing couplets
And spurn the bike, the lorry and the train.
There's far too much encouragement for poets --
That's why this country's going down the drain.

søndag, august 10, 2008

Holiday is over

And I'll post photos one of these days... :-)

Here's a photo from today's sunday walk:

onsdag, juli 16, 2008

Bye bye rainy weather (hopefully)

Off to Bulgaria tomorrow! We're staying half a mile away from Nessebar.

Paul likes pics

søndag, juli 06, 2008

Anniversary

Happy anniversary to us!

Just outside Birtavarre a few days ago, we went fishing in the evening. Got to see the midnight sun:


Now we're in Harstad:




Going to Bodø tomorrow!

tirsdag, juli 01, 2008

Road Trip

We're on holiday! Until the end of July/beginning of August. We started from Båtsfjord Saturday, and so far we're 800 kilometres further south already. We plan to go here and here, amongst other places. We're going to take it slow, and make lots of room for relaxing, swimming, good food, friends - and taking photos of course:-) Wish you all a wonderful summer!


Jungl Thomas' photo. (Cos we haven't been there yet!;-)) Check out his blog, he's got some really cool photos.

onsdag, juni 18, 2008

I like you so much better when you're naked!

Listening to at the moment:
I like you so much better when you're naked - Ida Marie. So far this is my summer song! I also like Stella.

Scared of heights - Espen Lind. Tuba and ukulele are unusual instruments in a pop song:-)

Lost - Erlend Bratland. The song is a bit over the top for me, but I got to say that this kid (17 years old) has an amazing voice.

tirsdag, juni 17, 2008

November 2007. Photos

Daylight doesn't last long in Finnmark towards the end of November. These photos were taken within half an hour - and as far as I remember, I didn't do anything with shutter speed and such things. (Too complicated! Too much work;-)) This is a lovely place called Kongsfjord (King's fjord), about 100 kilometres from Båtsfjord.



torsdag, juni 12, 2008

Norway Parliament Approves Gay Marriage

"The gallery at the Norwegian Parliament erupted in applause and cheers on Wednesday with the passage of legislation allowing same-sex couples to marry.

The law also recognizes both partners in a marriage as equal parents and gives lesbian couples the same access to "medically assisted reproduction" as opposite-sex couples.

Parliament voted overwhelmingly to approve the bill, despite opposition from the Christian Democrats and Progress Party."

Read the rest here!:-)

onsdag, juni 11, 2008

Norway Moves To Legalize Gay Marriage


Hooray! Norway has legalized gay marriage! Like 20 minutes ago! So in fact we have moved - in the right direction:-) Couldn't find recent news in English, so heres an old article:

Norway Moves To Legalize Gay Marriage
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Posted: March 14, 2008 - 11:00 am ET

(Oslo) The Norwegian government on Friday introduced legislation allowing same-sex couples to marry and have joint custody over children.

The country already allows gay and lesbian couples to enter into civil partnerships, but LGBT rights groups have long complained the law does not go far enough and has created two classes of citizenship - one for heterosexuals the other for gays.

The new legislation amends the definition of civil marriage to make it gender neutral.

It also says that when a lesbian who is married to another women becomes pregnant through in vitro the partner will have all the rights of parenthood "from the moment of conception".

The legislation additionally states that in cases of adoption, both partners, gay or lesbian, would have complete joint parenting rights.

Family Issues minister Anniken Huitfeldt in introducing the bill called it "an historic step towards equality."

Read more here. I'm sure they'll write more about this soon:-)

Here's good reading too: Did gay marriage destroy heterosexual marriage in Scandinavia?

And Mark Morford talks about California and what's happening there.

søndag, juni 08, 2008

Autumn Gilt

The late September sunshine
Lime green on the linden leaves
Burns bronze on the slated roof-tops,
Yellow on the farmer's last sheaves.

It flares flame-like on the fire hydrant,
Is ebony on the blackbird's wing,
Blue beryl on the face of the ocean,
Glints gold on the bride's wedding ring.

A sparkling rainbow on the stained-glass window,
It's a silver sheen on the kitchen sink,
The late September sunshine
Is a chameleon I think.
Valerie Bloom

Valerie Bloom is a new favourite! And so is The Poetry Archive.



I think the photo might be from the beginning of October, but the sunshine is still worthy of a poem:-)