Oh Wow -- I actually forgot I even had this blog. What a shame that life gets so busy when one is 44, mother of teenagers, wife and house owner and goes back to university to get her master's degree. Who would have thought that some things would have fallen through the cracks?

Perhaps this will be the beginning of a new era?

Or perhaps I will see the stray individuals who come here in another year and a half?

Holmengrå Lighthouse and Sea

Holmengrå Lighthouse is found west of the most westerly civilised point of Norway, the island of Fedje.

Some fun facts about about Holmengrå: 

-- it was first erected in 1892

-- it's total hight is 35.5 meters

-- built of both wood and concrete, it finally became automated in 1986, and therefore does not need attendants

but....

-- Holmengrå Lighthouse us open for business with tourists. It can be rented out yearly and bathing and fishing are permitted when visiting the island. For more information contact:

 l-renate@online.no

-- local rumours say that Holmengrå might actually be a giant boulder lying on the sea floor. Old lighthouse keepers claimed they could feel the ground move during large cyclones. Some research/investigation was done, but nothing conclusive determined. 

My husband, myself and my kids took a boat trip out to Holmengrå for the fishing. We have a small Askeladden, a modern motorboat that is seaworthy, but in which we in any case, would not travel to England. It takes us about 1.5 hours to travel from our cabin to Holmengrå. 

What must be said about the sea out at Holmengrå: on a calm day there is not much more beautiful than the scenery here. The sky and the sea continually blends in every shifting nuances of blue. Looking at the picture with my daughter, the horizon can be located. In reality, it was almost impossible to pinpoint, leaving the constant feeling that one was living in a dream.

Looking back towards the shore, the thin line of dark blue is actually the chain of Sognfjord Mountains. The seagull kept hanging around us, hoping for a big catch. Unfortunately we only caught one fish, which we released again.

And then, because I was suffering from.a little bit of sea sickness  (those deep rolling waves can catch you unawares), we left after a couple of hours. 

I still remember this as one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. 

One foot in and one foot out

If you've managed to accidentally land on this post, boy are you lucky! You will probably never find a resident of Norway who is quite like me.  I am a 100% permanent resident of Norway. But I do not have Norwegian citizenship. This is by choice of course. I have lived here about 20 years and while I consider this question annually, and have actually paid too much money to apply to have Norwegian citizenship, I have never gone through with the process. At the same time, I have no intentions of leaving this country. I am Canadian by birth, and though Canada is also one of the top countries to live in globally speaking, I still have a better life here.

But living in this country is quirky, to say the least. Even though I have lived almost half of my life in this country at this point, even though I am fully integrated and speak the language fluently I often run back and forth between experiences that have me exclaim, "Oh my gosh! I am so lucky to be alive and being right here, right now, in this time!" and experiences that have me shake my head and say to myself, "What am I doing here?"

All in all, it's still 90% positive, which is more than many people can say all over the world.

This blog intends to be filled with small posts about the wonderful strangeness that I see around me every day. It entertains me, in any case. Perhaps it will entertain you as well.

Oh yes - every blog post needs a picture - here is the first picture of my first post.

Two weeks ago we drove to Geilo, which is almost right in the middle of Norway. To get there from the west coast of Norway, Hadangervidden needs to be passed, which is a super high plateau. Even though it was the first weekend in June, snow was still plenty abundant. I even saw two cross-country skiiers in the distance, trying to make a final go of it. The snow does disappear most summers, and this will no doubt be even more true as global warming continues, but it never disappears for long.