A more cultural day 28 June

Believe it or not this is my second attempt at what was quite a long blog, that suddenly disappeared when I went to save it, so as cannot sleep at 3 30 in the morning will try again.

Late start, first breakfast and conversation then as Jean was going out so Mykle and I went on a pleasant walk to look at the Nicolai Astrup museum not far away at Astruptunet,not being a great follower of art I had not come across this artist before

  It seems he is a famous Norwegian painter who moved to the area when quite young, married had children and used the setting of mountains lakes and the general scenery from his studio for inspiration,  as his income Improved so he moved from house to house next to each other, all now preserved. His homes were so basic compared to those today. We had a young guide explain about his life and paintings, that went from landscapes of the area to

portraits,  plus some more complex subjects, the guide also gave background to his home and family, I have never been that interested in any particular artist but, I found some of his paintings very attractive to look at, also to see the houses preserved and odd little things like the roof was covered in vegetation that turned out to be bark from trees which it seems is a very good strong resilient way to protect the roof of a house, also I found with my bad back that the doorways into the houses were quite low, my presumption was that this was because Norwegians were small, the guide explained in actual fact it was done this way so that anyone attempting to get in and attack had to bend down very low so then gave the owner a good chance of hitting them over the head with a weapon, it just goes to show there is a good reason for everything.

It had been raining unlike previous days so it was as well we had umbrellas to protect us on our walk back, when we arrived so had Jean so we had something to eat, whilst eating, there was another visitor to the bird feeder, namely Cyril the squirrel,  he was a red one, I had only ever seen one before, but it seems they are common in the area, he set to eating some of the food Jean had put out, so I took a series of photos of him.

As Mykles computer was still not working spent some time trying to resolve, but was unsuccessful even with the assistance of fivety plus forums kind assistance, and that of my computer expert back home via e mail.

During my time here I had not watched or missed the tv but tonight there was a programme 50 years of Richard Attenborough, the others wanted to watch so we did, it was funny to see how he had aged from a young man and how technology had progressed over the years to enable them to observe and record more detail of the life and environment of animals both during the day and night.

Mykle and Jean then showed me photos that charted their progress from the original plot to their present home, it must of taken so much desire, determination, planning, skill and physical effort to of achieved such a fantastic home in this sort of setting, where the elements conspired against them.

It was late so I went to bed but could not sleep, so decided to read a little of one of my e books, More William by Richmal Crompton,  whose books I had read when young, I had not realized until starting this book how long ago it had been written,  in fact it was 1922 a very differt world to the one we live in, the book though was still an enjoyable finish to the day.

More beautiful scenery today 27 June 2013

I must apologize to all you readers, firstly I cannot remember my password for the blog, so it is ceating a problem for those trying to post comments, also as am so busy with all these adventures I am falling behind with updates, so will try to do better, also when return home will attempt to add photos out of the 400 or so I have so far taken.

Now back to the plot, we had a trip into Ford so Mykle and Jean could do some shopping, I went for a wander round the art museum, most of the exhibits I could not understand, then a sandwich and a drink, the prices here are so much dearer than back home, but not particularly for Norwegians,Norway is a very rich country,followed by a walk along the riverbank, whilst waiting I noticed a fire engine, I looked through the zoom lens only to find that the 2 firemen were watering the flower beds,

an interesting way of using resources, so sat and waited on a bench before meeting up again, we drove to the agricultural college, Jean explained less and less youngsters go there as they now wish to do more modern things such as computers as a job, they took me through the grounds to a really magnificent waterfall,

we continued our drive looking at further beauty spots, then stopped at            to look down at the road and the series of hairpin bends, it made me dizzy just looking down,

the scenery is so different to that at home and I have never seen so many waterfalls.

Eventually returned and tried to assist Mykle who was having difficulty connecting  his laptop to the internet, we tried various remedies, then asked advice from some of the people on Fifty plus forum, still no success,  I even tried my computer man back home via e mail, in the end gave up, he will take to shop instead

Then had a well deserved rest, whilst writing this out in rough, I was sat in the garden a mixture of all sorts of plants and colours, the only noise was birdsong and that from the waterfall, bliss. Later another enjoyable meal cooked by Jean with good company and conversation.

Despite the fact it was quite late, the sun still had not set and the sky was turning a delicate pink, I have taken a photo with the tablet but not yet worked out how to upload it, I think I am going to be very busy with the number of photos I have taken trying to sort them out when I return home.

Day Two At Myklebust 26 june 2013

Had breakfast, what a view outside the dining room window, went round the garden and full plot of land, I could see how much time, effort and energy Mykle and Jean had put into making it such a fantastic place to live,This is what the plot looked like when they first aquired it

was shown log splitter and how it works, Mykles vehicle to carry heavy loads,  the vegetable garden, what a good idea to raise some of the beds to make it easier.

We walked across the other plot to their Waterfall,

  what a feature to have on your land Mykle explained how it froze up in winter, it was hard to believe with such a strong flow of water. We went for a walk around the area, it was a mixture of modern and older properties, but everywhere the views were stunning and apart from the odd car passing, so peaceful and quiet.

Came back met up with Jean and had something to eat, then off on a trip that included the glacier museum, fjaerland, Mundeal village, which is the book town where shops are former piggeries, boat houses etc, we also went to boyum arm glacier, that Mykle tells me is the largest in northern europe, even from a distance it was huge and almost intimidating

its so hard to explain how impressive it all was, when I get home I will try to upload some of my photos to give a better idea.

That evening despite all the driving Jean cooked us a delicious meal, after we sat and chatted, it was still fairly light outside although getting on for midnight, we finally retired to bed to prepare for our next adventure.