Preparing a Thanksgiving feast in a foreign country -
Larry and I had been in Ireland and Scotland for Thanksgiving and Larry had been in Costa Rica but this was the first time we cooked a turkey outside of the states. We really enjoyed it.
We invited a Norwegian couple and a French couple we know from bridge for Thanksgiving Dinner. Anders, the Norwegian, had enjoyed a Thanksgiving dinner in Gabon 12 years ago and both he and his wife had lived in the States in the 60’s. It was a new experience for our French friends

After Larry worked until the mid-afternoon we went for a walk in blustery wind to the Vaulen fjord area. It didn’t rain all day nor was there any sun. I had no difficulty finding a turkey which at $21 for a 12+ lb. frozen turkey was very reasonably priced. We substituted a Nowegian berry, tyttebaer, for cranberries though they can be found here and had apple crisp instead of pie as we don’t have a pie plate or rolling pin and I couldn’t find frozen pie crusts at the stores. And no shrimp as Mac wasn’t with us. Working in the small kitchen wasn’t as much of a difficulty as I had expected. And Larry did most of the dishes so I didn’t miss the kids or a dishwasher for that. We missed being with family and celebrating for more than a short day but enjoyed sharing my favorite holiday with new friends.

My apologies for Larry’s blurry photos.

This is our last week in Stavanger until April. Larry has much to do before leaving and is giving a talk at the University on Friday; I’ll be sorting, cleaning, packing and going to the movies on Wednesday, Friday celebratory lunch and bridge Saturday evening. Sunday we leave for a week in St. Petersburg, followed by a week in Germany and then to Zurich. Blog updates may be rare.

God HØsttakkerFest

Sunday, 11/19, we hiked for 3 ½ hours near and to the Arboretum. Larry had been entranced with the solitary boulders at the top of the ridges when we walked there in the rain 2 weeks ago, so we went back to get a photo. These boulders were dropped by the glaciers, particularly on the lee side of ridges. This one was dropped perhaps 12,000 years ago. The boulders gave rise to the legend of trolls. The idea was that when trolls got annoyed with each other they hurled giant boulders at one another. For defenses they pile up boulders in walls. As recently as the mid 50’s a noted glaciologist reported a conversation with a local farmer in which the farmer stated that this was the only plausible explanation he could find for the boulders. The last half hour we walked in the dark – and not along the proper path - we walked through farms next to cows and across boulders.
We’ve enjoyed sunshine interspersed with rain since last Thursday and hope for a little sun tomorrow for Thanksgiving. However, just before I returned our rental car Monday morning, I went outdoor swimming one more time in cold rain.

Have a wonderful THANksgiving

Rain, rain go away...
There’s a popular, overused Nowegian saying “there’s no bad weather just bad clothing.” I beg to differ. Each time we ventured out to walk this past weekend, it started to hail or rain. We did walk for an hour on Sunday but I chose a beautiful island walk that I did just a few weeks ago and now it was way too soggy, marshy to make it to the top. Just as well as it started to rain before we returned to the car. This morning I swam outside in the rain. Every day it rains off and on – mainly on. For a few weeks we enjoyed glorious weather on Wednesday and sometimes Thursdays but that seems to have ended as well. When the skies do clear there can be lovely vistas of distant, snow-covered mountains.

The first Saturday of November was raining as well so we decided to walk the wooded Rogaland Arboretum, about a 25 minute drive south of our apartment. We did make it to the top and as we were walking back down, met a couple we know from PWC/bridge/hiking. There were only about 20 people in the Arboretum and to meet two we know was a great feeling.

It is cooler and I've started wearing fleece and gloves, but there are still leaves on many of the trees and I still see roses in bloom.