It Starts With Lunch, Then A Walk, And Finally A Couple Runaways…

So I thought of you all this morning as I was making my lunch…I thought of getting my camera to take photos of my lunch so I could share that with you…I know I know, contain yourselves…

First you start with a package of potato lefse (a Norwegian soft flatbread- kinda like a tortilla only made with potatoes)

Then you need some Snøfrisk which is like cream cheese only it’s made with 80% goat’s milk and 20% cow milk. If you can’t find this at your local store, cream cheese will work fine.

Next you want to cut up some sun dried tomatoes and red onion…

With some ham and fresh basil you put it all together…

And voila- LUNCH!!

The little monkeys at work asked me what I was eating and when I was telling them the ingredients they looked at me with squiggly little faces and said, “SNOW FISH???” (for the Snøfrisk) They are such monkeys….As an added note here, you can also exchange the ham, basil, tomatoe, and onions for smoked salmon and chopped leek on top of the snøfrisk (cream cheese), roll and bon appetitt!!

So I came home from work today and it was a gorgeous day so I decided I’d take Bently and we’d use the spark. The Spark is a nifty little invention to help Norwegians (and anyone else who happens to be in very cold places with snow and ice on the ground) around…

You can tell I use mine alot right?? Hahahaha, just kidding, we’ve had some snowfall lately and the kids haven’t had school this week because of winter vacation, they usually use this thing to get down to the bus stop fast when they are running late….I would come to understand why later on in my trip…but let’s begin shall we?

There is my spark all cleaned off for snow and ready to go with one Leonberger attached…sorry about the pee pee marks in the snow…instead of leaving bread crumbs our dogs pee on the snow so we can find our way home again…they’re well trained don’t ya think??

Heading down the first hill which is straight ahead in this photo (around the curve) I realized that those metal feet on the spark move quite fast on ice and snowy grounds and I’m not very talented when it comes to driving fast things. So after a wobbly descent down the hill I decided I better take it easy and figure out how to drive this thing before I throw caution to the wind and try another hill.

A bit past these woods I decided to throw caution to the wind again…a tad prematurely I’d soon find out…as I raced down the hill the speed of my spark increased like a ferrari on a race track. I knew a crash was eminent and all I could think of was my camera was going to be smashed to bits…I didn’t think of myself or even my four legged friend attached to the speeding “bullet” just my camera. When I realized we weren’t hitting flat ground and slowing down I decided it was time to ditch my ride in order to save my hide…all I remember was throwing the spark to the side and diving into a pile of snow right outside a vacation home (which hopefully wasn’t occupied when I made my life saving jump). My hat flew one way and I remember twisting my body so that I landed under my camera and my camera landed on me- saving it from any permanent damage…I on the other hand was left terribly shaken, embarrassed, and confused…I surveyed the damage- my hat lie a couple yards back, my spark was on the side and a stunned Bently was looking at me like- “what the hell just happened???” Trying to collect myself as quick as possible in case there was an audience watching me from the vacation house and trying to calm Bently down who was obviously shaken by our high speed race down the hill and finally our uncontrollable crash. No, I didn’t take pictures of this…but after I collected myself and my pooch we continued our walk…I’ll be quiet for awhile and let you enjoy it…

(psst….these are ski tracks, they are all over the island, The Captain has been on just about every one)

(psst..me again, this is a sign showing a path into the woods that leads from the place I am standing at (vikhagan) to the church (kirka). I thought it was neat and wanted to show you)

(psst….yeah yeah, me again…just wanted to tell you, this is looking from Helgøya toward Tingnes which is a little village next to our island. That bridge is what I cross every day to get to work and anywhere else I might need to go…)

(I know you’re wondering what these poles are- they are the top of the fence around the local park here on the island, you can’t see the rest of the fence, it’s under the snow…)

You know, spikes on your chin are actually quite fashionable in certain circles….

I think somebody’s cold……good thing he’s got that fur coat on!!!

I don’t know if you can make the photo big enough to see this but in the right hand top window there is a face in one of the bottom window panes….oooooo scary!!!!

As we got back to the top of the island and closer to home we met Julia who came skiing out of the woods….”ugh….you haven’t seen a couple leonbergers by the name of Nanna and Jackson have you? We lost them in the woods…” Not the words you want to hear so off we went as quick as we could to the house, yelling the whole time for Nanna and Jackson and getting no response. Thomas was apparently still in the woods looking for them and I jumped into my car and drove around to the back side of the woods in case they ran out on that side but no such luck. However, by the time I got home again Julia was pointing down into the field…and I saw them…Bonnie and Clyde…aka Nanna and Jackson trotting along the tractor tracks in the snow…

We called them and called them and they stopped up and looked at us, obviously exhausted from their little runaway romp in the woods…

We called and called and at times they looked like they would take the dive and jump into the snow in front of them and make their way home…

But they were too tired and weren’t budging….so Julia had to wade across the deep snow in order to make a path for our oh so spoiled four legged family members…

With the new path Julia had just made for them, the gang finally made their way home…

I was going to get mad at my two runaways but then I saw that face come up the hill toward me and how could I be mad at her?? They just found a great smell in the woods and had to track it a bit…they are kids…and the woods and snow = FUN FUN FUN!!!

Thanks for spending the day with me folks…I’ll try not to make it too long tomorrow…hope you’ll be back too…

Until next time my friends….