God Jul!!! Some Christmas photos and Winter-scapes!

  Hello and God Jul! So, quite a bit of time has past since my last post! It's Winter here now, of course, and we have had a few good snowfalls mixed with a bit rain since it has been rather unseasonably warm lately. I've included a few photos of the beautiful winter snow-scapes and as well as some Christmas pictures, to give you an idea of "Jule" decorations and customs. I may add to these as the Christmas season continues, but here is a little taste for now.

View from my bedroom window

View from the porch

The Oak tree in winter

I've also included a few photos of some foods. There are many foods traditionally eaten around this time of year--such as smoked lamb ribs, lutefisk, rice pudding, as well as desserts such as caramel pudding, chocolate, Christmas fruit-breads and saffron rolls, and lots of marzipan candies. Also there are Christmas ales, spirits such as the caraway-flavored Akevitt and of course, the mulled wine beverage, Gløgg. A good recipe for Gløgg can be found here: http://www.npr.org/2011/12/22/144101579/get-into-the-holiday-spirit-with-scandinavian-glogg

A good non-alcoholic Jule-Øle and a Marzipan pig (usually used as a prize for whoever finds the almond hidden in the Christmas rice pudding)

Rack of Smoked Lamb ribs hanging out before being chopped apart via hammer and axe, and then steamed over birch-sticks for cooking

Good picture of what they look like when "done"

Coconut Macaroons I made from a freshly hacked apart and toasted coconut

Below are a few photos of decorations for a feel.

Fresh greens: Holly, Ivy and Juniper cut from the woods used to decorate

Christmas Creche

Greens in the foyer

Jule-post!

Some wooden mushroom ornaments added to the greens, a nod to the beserkers of old... 

And the Jule-Nisse by the Creche, of course. After all, nisse hang-out in stables.

Our tree with the Norwegian flags and straw ornaments

One of my presents is a lovely example of Norwegian wool-work.

The Nes

That's all I have for now, hopefully I can get some more photos taken and posted soon. 

FYI -->

If any of you are interested in purchasing postcards, prints, etc. of any images on this blog, I finally have a Deviant Art account and put a few up there, if there are any requests just feel free to shoot me an email at z155240@gmail.com and I can edit a photo and put it up there. Rates are pretty darn good for a high quality print or postcard and you can help support me as a starving artist =P

My account is: http://riahart1989.deviantart.com/


Anyway, promise to take some more photos and get a REAL post up soon!

Cheers!
~A

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks" -John Muir

I have to admit that autumn is my favorite time of year. Don't get me wrong, I love all the seasons for different reasons--but there is something about the dying, or rather "falling asleep" of the natural world that is melancholic but nonetheless romantic. Norway in the fall has been quite the treat for me, despite the frequent rain, I'm finding that the cloudy grey-ness of it all makes one appreciate even more the few spatterings of sunlight that appear in increasing rarity.  I'm certainly taking this post as a way to clear off some camera images, so its probably not the most "interesting", but there are some beautiful shots I got.

Norheimsund from elevation

Lichen covered tree

Freshwater lake in the mountains.

For those of you interested in the Sami people, there is a very fine article in this month's National Geographic about them, here is a link to some of the lovely photos from the article: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/11/sami-reindeer-herders/larsen-photography#/16-summer-reindeer-calf-marking-670.jpg


Finally, I'll leave you with a little Hauge:
Everyday
Drops in the East Wind, 1966

You've left the big storms
behind you now.
You didn't ask then
why you were born,
where you came from, where you were going to,
you were just there in the storm,
in the fire.
But it's possible to live
in the everyday as well,
in the grey quiet day,
set potatoes, rake leaves,
carry brushwood.
There's so much to think about here in the world,
one life is not enough for it all.
After work you can fry bacon
and read Chinese poems.
Old Laertes cut briars,
dug round his fig trees,
and let the heroes fight on at Troy.

The folk who live in the waves call out to me- "We sing from morning till night; on and on we travel and know not where we pass."

There were some blustery autumn winds today and as a result the fjord waters were quite choppy. Went for a stroll down to the Ness and I figured I'd share it with you all. 

Waves breaking on the rocks

Shed overlooking fjord

Stone steps to the shoreline

Boats being over turned by the waves

So, boats getting turned over, high winds, overall dangerous conditions....what do the locals do? Stay inside? NO! Those Viking Badasses go WINDSURFING!

AND boating....with the dog even!!! Crazy Nords.

These converse were NOT made for walking

Snow on the Mountains

So, sorry that it has been a while since I last posted! We've had a lot of rain here lately and I've had some medical issues that I'm coping with thats been slowing me down. Anyway, finally had a sunny, beautiful autumn day today and felt good enough to exert some energy, so I took a walk around Torfjell and about the old summer farms nearby. The mountains now have their first dusting of snow for the season. The summer farms were a large part of the old Norwegian agricultural society, they were used by the maids who tended to the sheep in the mountains during the summer months away from the men and older women who stayed back at the homestead. There are some that are hundreds of years old that are still standing alongside many new hytte (or vacation cottages).

Torfjell with "new" snow.

Boathouses new and old

Note mix of Summer farms and hytte on hillside

Beautiful hytte

Old "Summer Farmhouse" and it's outhouse

Hiker enjoying the last of the warm days