Once home it seems we have been on the run all afternoon/evening: Husband unpacked, then mowed the lawn, vacuumed where Funky has left a trail of sawdust and the birds have been spitting seeds and feathers, and picked strawberries. I picked up Topsy who had had an adventurous farm vacation complete with bicycle accident. She had to have stitches and antibiotics, but Andrea, the dog-sitter had taken care of everything, taking her to the horse clinic just down the road, and she has healed up just fine. Not even limping anymore. Afterwards, I unpacked, sorted and started laundry, and went through my mail, canceling books from my 2 book clubs, and making a list of things to take care of after the weekend. In the mail was a speeding ticket. Believe it or not, driving 88 km/h in an 80 zone is going to cost me $320! I am never going to speed again. Finally I picked up Blubbulf (my beta fish), and started washing 3 weeks worth of eggs. For dinner we had omelet (we'll be eating a lot of eggs for a while) and peas from the garden.
GARDEN NEWS
Started getting caught up with the garden today. Pulled up all the turnips and radishes, getting two large bowls of each. I expected them to be both wormy and woody, and was surprised to find that the ones I cut up for salad today were clean and tender. Two heads of lettuce had gone to seed so I pulled them up, but there is more lettuce as well as arucula, new zealand spinach, sugar peas, and for the first time ever scallions! The corn is getting close to knee high, the zuccini is blooming, the beans and kale, onions and carrots are looking good. A second sowing of lettuce has just come up. In the flower garden I see that I missed my new iris', though I'm happy to see that they did in fact bloom. Hopefully they will survive another winter so that I can enjoy them next year. The clematis and honeysuckle have grown, still no flowers though. In front of the cabin the poppies and lupines which were blooming when I left are done; peonies, lilies, roses and delfiniums are blooming instead. The herbs are all doing well; in the sandy bed on the south side of the house, lavender and flax are blooming, while the chamomile is going to seed. My indoor vegetables this year consist of a cucumber, a tomato, a melon and several peppers. The tomato is so heavy with green fruit that the branches were breaking off the stem. The melon actually has a melon on it and another threatening. But I'm dissapointed in the cucumber. So far the female blossoms have all dried up and come to nothing. There are a few more blooming right now, if they dry up too I'm throwing it out.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
Homeward Bound, July 10-11
We stopped when we got into New Jersey to fill up with gas and buy sandwiches for lunch. Got to the airport way too early. It is only 11:30 and check-in for our flight isn't until 5:30pm. Husband has a headache. We have hours and hours to kill! The only wireless connections I can find are local access and I have to sit on the floor to be near a power outlet. Still we found a Starbucks and had coffee. So that's something.
So eventually we got checked in and on the plane. Though we only had 50 minutes in Munich we caught our connecting flight and arrived as planned in Oslo at 1:10pm. When we sent Audun a message he messaged back that he was still on the train home. They, Audun and Irene, had left 26 hours before us and only arrived home 2 hours before. So we took the train to Stange where Audun picked us up at the station. Here is what happended:
Their journey was a real Saga. They got off from Ithaca all right on wednesday morning, taking the bus to NYC and then out to La Guardia airport. All the planes seemed to have delays except theirs to Boston. However it turned out that the crew was on a flight that was delayed coming in so they still ended up leaving for Boston 3 hrs late. Then there was bad weather in Boston. So bad that their oversees flight was cancelled and they were put up in a hotel. They flew out of Boston at 9am thursday. At Heathrow in London, British Airways refused to honor their ticket since they had missed their connection to Oslo. They offered to sell them new tickets at $350 a piece. There they sat at the airport wondering what to do. There's free internet at Heathrow, so they started surfing. Audun found that Ryan Air could sell them tickets for the 6am flight out of Stanstead. By a stroke of luck there was a train going to Stanstead at 3am which got them there in time. Ryan Air flies into Torp airport giving them an extra hr's train travel home. They still got in sooner for the combined cost of about $280!
So eventually we got checked in and on the plane. Though we only had 50 minutes in Munich we caught our connecting flight and arrived as planned in Oslo at 1:10pm. When we sent Audun a message he messaged back that he was still on the train home. They, Audun and Irene, had left 26 hours before us and only arrived home 2 hours before. So we took the train to Stange where Audun picked us up at the station. Here is what happended:
Their journey was a real Saga. They got off from Ithaca all right on wednesday morning, taking the bus to NYC and then out to La Guardia airport. All the planes seemed to have delays except theirs to Boston. However it turned out that the crew was on a flight that was delayed coming in so they still ended up leaving for Boston 3 hrs late. Then there was bad weather in Boston. So bad that their oversees flight was cancelled and they were put up in a hotel. They flew out of Boston at 9am thursday. At Heathrow in London, British Airways refused to honor their ticket since they had missed their connection to Oslo. They offered to sell them new tickets at $350 a piece. There they sat at the airport wondering what to do. There's free internet at Heathrow, so they started surfing. Audun found that Ryan Air could sell them tickets for the 6am flight out of Stanstead. By a stroke of luck there was a train going to Stanstead at 3am which got them there in time. Ryan Air flies into Torp airport giving them an extra hr's train travel home. They still got in sooner for the combined cost of about $280!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Road Trip, July 6-9
ITHACA,NEW YORK - ANN ARBOR,MICHIGAN
We left early this morning from the farm. We are taking Father to a therapeutic retreat in Ann Arbor at the Rudolf Steiner Health Center. He'll be there for 2 weeks. It was hard for Mother to let him go. She kept thinking of last minute things that Father might like to pack: a book, a recorder... But at 8:15am we were on our way. We had a nice drive, stopping frequently. We had our home-made sandwiches in the park pavilion in the little town of Findleys Lake close to the Pennsylvania border. It wasn't even on the map, but the name sounded promising and there were no more rest areas for many miles. The lake was obviously something of a resort, with gracious villas along it's banks. From the park by the old mill (mill wheel still turning, though not pulling any grindstones) we could watch an excursion boat, a man fishing, and kids swimming. They swung out over the lake on a rope hanging from a tall branch of a willow tree and then dropped into the water with a big splash.
In Ohio, we stopped for ice cream.
The Weber Hotel in Ann Arbor, Michigan where we stayed the night, is an independent hotel and very posh, with indoor pool and jacuzzi, garden terrasses, and nice restaurant. We have a big room with two double beds, one for Father, one for Husband and me (Ingvild will be sleeping on the floor), refrigerator, TV and free wireless internet. While Father rested, we checked out the pool and jacuzzi.
States traveled today: New York State (rt 17), a little corner of Pennsylvania, all of Ohio, and a little corner of Michigan.
ANN ARBOR,MICHIGAN - CHARLSTON,WEST VIRGINIA
Breakfast at the hotel restaurant was very good: golden malt waffles with fresh strawberries, bacon, coffee and orange juice. The chatty waiter told us that the guy who first started the restaurant in 1937 (the hotel, pool etc were added on bit by bit) still comes to have sunday breakfast there.
The Rudolf Steiner Health Center is in a big house set a little bit off the road, with a lush garden in back. We were met at the door by a couple of young women coworkers. Inside I saw several small parlors as well as a large common room, complete with fireplace and grand piano. Upstairs the bedrooms were named after plants. Father will be sharing a bright corner bedroom with another guest. Before leaving we even got to say hello to Dr Molly. She said (looking at me)"You must be Willwerths". Isn't family resemblence great. Both Mother and Ilian have been there, and she was pleased to hear that Ilian would be coming to pick Father up.
From Ann Arbor we drove south through Ohio, getting stuck in trafik just north of Columbus. A flat, fairly boring landscape with ugly towns. Why anyone would choose to live in Ohio is beyond me.
After crossing the Ohio River into Kentucky we started heading east. In Kentucky, all along the river we saw mines, iron and coal, refineries and power plants. These continued when we entered West Virginia, though not as frequently because the landscape quickly became very hilly.
Spent the night in Charlston, which is described in the guide books as beautifully situated with a classical capitol building and cultural downtown. All true, but unfortunatly surrounded by mining, refining and power industry, which kind of ruins the effect. We stayed at a "Day's Inn" ($78 for a room for the night for 1-2 people, kids under 18 free), right on the Kanawha river, which contained our 2 main requirements: breakfast and free wireless internet. As an extra bonus (for Ingvild) there was a pool.
We ordered in Pizza. I called 2 pizza places, one which I found in the yellow pages, the other had an advertizement in the room. Both these places said they did not deliver to Kanawha City (which is what this part of Charlston is called). We ended up having to choose Pizza Hut.
CHARLSTON,WEST VIRGINIA - HARRISONBURG,VIRGINIA
It is funny to compare the Day's Inn to the Weber Hotel. They offer all the same things, except that the Day's Inn has the cheap version. When we got to the breakfast room this morning, a largeish woman with a charming southern drawl, was proudly presiding over her breakfast: rice crispies and cornflakes for cereal. Bags of instant oatmeal. Wonder bread, wheat bread and (check this out!) french toast next to the toaster. Various fake maple sirups, fake butter, "fruit spreads", real honey and real cream cheese. Bread bagels (not real ones), and Sara Lee Danish and muffins. And of course orange juice and coffee. I had the french toast with honey, and an apple danish.
We headed east through West Virginia, a beautifull mountainous state. You don't see much agriculture or forestry. I wonder what the people live from, besides mining and mining related industry. Mining, I guess. I wonder if old-timers still cling to the land, deep in the forest, making their living from whiskey and poaching. Anyway, we missed much of the landscape as we drove through a violent deluge which lasted an hour or so.
Luckily it had cleared up when we reached the Blueridge Parkway at Buena Vista, around noon. We spent the afternoon driving north on the parkway. Beautifull landscape, peacefull green forest, flowering milkweed, black cohosh and black-eyed susans, bird song, and deer grazing at the road side. Highlights:
- A 10 minute walk to wigwam falls from the reconstructed bit of logging railroad.
- Ravens Roost, a fantastic overlook over the Shenandoah valley.
- Humpback Rocks, a 20 minute hike to craggy rocks, from which you can watch the birds of prey, circle far below.
- The open air museum, depicting a mountain farm, with one room cabin, weasel proof chicken house, complete with chickens, barn, spring house, bear proof pig pen and vegetable garden. You could easily imagine life around the turn of the 19th century.We had dinner at an Italian restaurant in the shopping center adjoining our motel (Econolodge, $50). The place looked expensive, real cloth napkins, impecable service. They even put on an Andrea Boccelli CD at Ingvild's request. We were only planning to have salads and desert so we figured we'd be able to afford it. The food was exquisite. My shrimp pasta salad was a mix of hot and cold. Penne, shrimp, veggies and melted mozzarella hot on a bed of lettuce, garnished with tomatoes, cucumber and onion. For desert Ingvild and I shared a New york Cheesecake on Fudge with caramel and pecan topping. Husband had tiramisu. The desert plates were tastefully decorated with a leaf pattern in chocolate and strawberry sauce. I thought at first it was the pattern of the china.
HARRISONBURG,VIRGINIA - LANCASTER,PENNSYLVANIA
Econolodge seems to have a simpler standard: i.e. no in room refrigerator, much simpler breakfast, indifferent personell. Breakfast here consisted of various bagels, doughnuts, muffins. No bread or french toast here. The condiments limited to butter (fake), jam and cream cheese. The cold cereals were Corn flakes and honey nut cheerios (my favorite). Juice and coffee of course.
Since we didn't have so far to drive, we got off of the interstate shortly after entering Pennsylvania, and took US 30 to Lancaster through Gettysburg. We stopped there to visit the Civil War memorial drive, and had lunch at a local family restaurant. At the civil War Memorial there was a herd of cows: 2 calves, 2 heifers, 2 cows and a bull complete with nose-ring, all hanging out under an oak tree. Unfortunately just as I was trying to photograph them they turned their backs and wandered off.
While researching motels for the next night I discovered something. The price seems to depend not so much on the chain or the standard as on the location. I looked in vain for motels under $73 in Harrisburg or Allentown Pa. The I started looking in smaller towns. Here the rates were cheaper, but did not include breakfast or internet. Finally I researched Lancaster. It is a fair sized town, but off the beaten track. Lo and behold, I found several motels with both breakfast and free wireless internet for about $50. The Day's Inn seemed most promising but we ended up at Travelodge (our backup plan) because we couldn't find the Day's Inn (It turns out it has changed owners and name and was recently rated nr 8 of the 10 dirtiest hotels in the US. The Travelodge in Lancaster is new, the staff are very friendly, the soft-water pool is in an inner courtyard, it has a fitness room, refrigerator, microwave, etc etc. All for $55. Best standard motel so far and one of the cheapest! The breakfast here was the best ever: 4 kinds of juice, coffee, english muffins, blueberry muffins, danish pastries, 3 kinds of fruit, 2 kinds of cold cereal (cheerios and cornflakes), and waffle dough so that you could make fresh waffles with syrup.
LANCASTER,PENNSYLVANIA - NEWARK, NEW JERSEY
I must have forgotten to write about the last leg of the journey. It was 2 years ago, but really it was just about getting to the airport and flying home.
We left early this morning from the farm. We are taking Father to a therapeutic retreat in Ann Arbor at the Rudolf Steiner Health Center. He'll be there for 2 weeks. It was hard for Mother to let him go. She kept thinking of last minute things that Father might like to pack: a book, a recorder... But at 8:15am we were on our way. We had a nice drive, stopping frequently. We had our home-made sandwiches in the park pavilion in the little town of Findleys Lake close to the Pennsylvania border. It wasn't even on the map, but the name sounded promising and there were no more rest areas for many miles. The lake was obviously something of a resort, with gracious villas along it's banks. From the park by the old mill (mill wheel still turning, though not pulling any grindstones) we could watch an excursion boat, a man fishing, and kids swimming. They swung out over the lake on a rope hanging from a tall branch of a willow tree and then dropped into the water with a big splash.
In Ohio, we stopped for ice cream.
The Weber Hotel in Ann Arbor, Michigan where we stayed the night, is an independent hotel and very posh, with indoor pool and jacuzzi, garden terrasses, and nice restaurant. We have a big room with two double beds, one for Father, one for Husband and me (Ingvild will be sleeping on the floor), refrigerator, TV and free wireless internet. While Father rested, we checked out the pool and jacuzzi.
States traveled today: New York State (rt 17), a little corner of Pennsylvania, all of Ohio, and a little corner of Michigan.
ANN ARBOR,MICHIGAN - CHARLSTON,WEST VIRGINIA
Breakfast at the hotel restaurant was very good: golden malt waffles with fresh strawberries, bacon, coffee and orange juice. The chatty waiter told us that the guy who first started the restaurant in 1937 (the hotel, pool etc were added on bit by bit) still comes to have sunday breakfast there.
The Rudolf Steiner Health Center is in a big house set a little bit off the road, with a lush garden in back. We were met at the door by a couple of young women coworkers. Inside I saw several small parlors as well as a large common room, complete with fireplace and grand piano. Upstairs the bedrooms were named after plants. Father will be sharing a bright corner bedroom with another guest. Before leaving we even got to say hello to Dr Molly. She said (looking at me)"You must be Willwerths". Isn't family resemblence great. Both Mother and Ilian have been there, and she was pleased to hear that Ilian would be coming to pick Father up.
From Ann Arbor we drove south through Ohio, getting stuck in trafik just north of Columbus. A flat, fairly boring landscape with ugly towns. Why anyone would choose to live in Ohio is beyond me.
After crossing the Ohio River into Kentucky we started heading east. In Kentucky, all along the river we saw mines, iron and coal, refineries and power plants. These continued when we entered West Virginia, though not as frequently because the landscape quickly became very hilly.
Spent the night in Charlston, which is described in the guide books as beautifully situated with a classical capitol building and cultural downtown. All true, but unfortunatly surrounded by mining, refining and power industry, which kind of ruins the effect. We stayed at a "Day's Inn" ($78 for a room for the night for 1-2 people, kids under 18 free), right on the Kanawha river, which contained our 2 main requirements: breakfast and free wireless internet. As an extra bonus (for Ingvild) there was a pool.
We ordered in Pizza. I called 2 pizza places, one which I found in the yellow pages, the other had an advertizement in the room. Both these places said they did not deliver to Kanawha City (which is what this part of Charlston is called). We ended up having to choose Pizza Hut.
CHARLSTON,WEST VIRGINIA - HARRISONBURG,VIRGINIA
It is funny to compare the Day's Inn to the Weber Hotel. They offer all the same things, except that the Day's Inn has the cheap version. When we got to the breakfast room this morning, a largeish woman with a charming southern drawl, was proudly presiding over her breakfast: rice crispies and cornflakes for cereal. Bags of instant oatmeal. Wonder bread, wheat bread and (check this out!) french toast next to the toaster. Various fake maple sirups, fake butter, "fruit spreads", real honey and real cream cheese. Bread bagels (not real ones), and Sara Lee Danish and muffins. And of course orange juice and coffee. I had the french toast with honey, and an apple danish.
We headed east through West Virginia, a beautifull mountainous state. You don't see much agriculture or forestry. I wonder what the people live from, besides mining and mining related industry. Mining, I guess. I wonder if old-timers still cling to the land, deep in the forest, making their living from whiskey and poaching. Anyway, we missed much of the landscape as we drove through a violent deluge which lasted an hour or so.
Luckily it had cleared up when we reached the Blueridge Parkway at Buena Vista, around noon. We spent the afternoon driving north on the parkway. Beautifull landscape, peacefull green forest, flowering milkweed, black cohosh and black-eyed susans, bird song, and deer grazing at the road side. Highlights:
- A 10 minute walk to wigwam falls from the reconstructed bit of logging railroad.
- Ravens Roost, a fantastic overlook over the Shenandoah valley.
- Humpback Rocks, a 20 minute hike to craggy rocks, from which you can watch the birds of prey, circle far below.
- The open air museum, depicting a mountain farm, with one room cabin, weasel proof chicken house, complete with chickens, barn, spring house, bear proof pig pen and vegetable garden. You could easily imagine life around the turn of the 19th century.We had dinner at an Italian restaurant in the shopping center adjoining our motel (Econolodge, $50). The place looked expensive, real cloth napkins, impecable service. They even put on an Andrea Boccelli CD at Ingvild's request. We were only planning to have salads and desert so we figured we'd be able to afford it. The food was exquisite. My shrimp pasta salad was a mix of hot and cold. Penne, shrimp, veggies and melted mozzarella hot on a bed of lettuce, garnished with tomatoes, cucumber and onion. For desert Ingvild and I shared a New york Cheesecake on Fudge with caramel and pecan topping. Husband had tiramisu. The desert plates were tastefully decorated with a leaf pattern in chocolate and strawberry sauce. I thought at first it was the pattern of the china.
HARRISONBURG,VIRGINIA - LANCASTER,PENNSYLVANIA
Econolodge seems to have a simpler standard: i.e. no in room refrigerator, much simpler breakfast, indifferent personell. Breakfast here consisted of various bagels, doughnuts, muffins. No bread or french toast here. The condiments limited to butter (fake), jam and cream cheese. The cold cereals were Corn flakes and honey nut cheerios (my favorite). Juice and coffee of course.
Since we didn't have so far to drive, we got off of the interstate shortly after entering Pennsylvania, and took US 30 to Lancaster through Gettysburg. We stopped there to visit the Civil War memorial drive, and had lunch at a local family restaurant. At the civil War Memorial there was a herd of cows: 2 calves, 2 heifers, 2 cows and a bull complete with nose-ring, all hanging out under an oak tree. Unfortunately just as I was trying to photograph them they turned their backs and wandered off.
While researching motels for the next night I discovered something. The price seems to depend not so much on the chain or the standard as on the location. I looked in vain for motels under $73 in Harrisburg or Allentown Pa. The I started looking in smaller towns. Here the rates were cheaper, but did not include breakfast or internet. Finally I researched Lancaster. It is a fair sized town, but off the beaten track. Lo and behold, I found several motels with both breakfast and free wireless internet for about $50. The Day's Inn seemed most promising but we ended up at Travelodge (our backup plan) because we couldn't find the Day's Inn (It turns out it has changed owners and name and was recently rated nr 8 of the 10 dirtiest hotels in the US. The Travelodge in Lancaster is new, the staff are very friendly, the soft-water pool is in an inner courtyard, it has a fitness room, refrigerator, microwave, etc etc. All for $55. Best standard motel so far and one of the cheapest! The breakfast here was the best ever: 4 kinds of juice, coffee, english muffins, blueberry muffins, danish pastries, 3 kinds of fruit, 2 kinds of cold cereal (cheerios and cornflakes), and waffle dough so that you could make fresh waffles with syrup.
LANCASTER,PENNSYLVANIA - NEWARK, NEW JERSEY
I must have forgotten to write about the last leg of the journey. It was 2 years ago, but really it was just about getting to the airport and flying home.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
50th Anniversary Celebration, July 3-5
When we got back to Ithaca, Audun and Irene had arrived from Norway, and my nephew Beren from the City. My Sister, Ilian and Joe who had been driving across the country from California arrived later in the evening with Finley, an 80 lb golden retriever. That night there was a great fireworks show, up at Ithaca College, complete with a roof fire, big enouph that you could see flames. The next day we took the kids to the Premium Outlet Mall at Waterloo for shopping and lunch. I indulged in Chinese-American fast food (I can't get sesame chicken in Norway).
We celebrated Mother's and Father's 50th Wedding Aniversary over 2 days. We all met up at Skenneatles for an excursion boat ride on the lake on the afternoon of the 4th. Adam had gotten in with his family and Tormod late the night before so we saw them there for the first time. I had had T-shirts printed for everyone with a pattern that I had drawn (and improved according to the input Adam, Ilian and Roland had given). Tormod had digitalized the drawing, and Roland helped me choose the colors (black with the pattern in light blue). Every one liked the shirts and the excursin boat crew felt honored to be hosting a 50th anniversary event. In fact, when the ship was full, but some of us were still stuck at the back of a long line of people, they called for the 'aniversary party'to come and board. After the boat ride we all met at the farm to visit and eat. Mother and Father napped while Husband and I prepared a simple spaggeti and tomato sauce meal. We all sat outside to eat.
At 7pm Ilian and Joe, Beren, my kids, and I took off for Ithaca. The kids to play cards and watch movies, Ilian, Joe and I to contra dance. It was a great dance. House callers. Kitchen Chair played. Several of our friends were there: Luke, Phil and Katie, Dave, Ted and Pam of course and others. Great to see them and dance with them again.
The second installment of the Celebration was Dinner at a winery on Lake Cayuga. The food was very well prepared, tasty, a little pricey, but it came with wine tasting with each course, and the chicken (which I had) was even organic.
A damper on the festive mood was that Ilian's cat Katya was sick and needed an emergency veterenary appointment. Luckily what ailed her could be cured, but Ilian was understandably upset (also Finley had stepped on a wire or something and hurt his paw today). Back at the farm, we sat around visiting with Adam and family between packing (we're taking Father to Ann Arbor today for a 2 week therapeutic retreat at the Rudolf Steiner Health Center).
We celebrated Mother's and Father's 50th Wedding Aniversary over 2 days. We all met up at Skenneatles for an excursion boat ride on the lake on the afternoon of the 4th. Adam had gotten in with his family and Tormod late the night before so we saw them there for the first time. I had had T-shirts printed for everyone with a pattern that I had drawn (and improved according to the input Adam, Ilian and Roland had given). Tormod had digitalized the drawing, and Roland helped me choose the colors (black with the pattern in light blue). Every one liked the shirts and the excursin boat crew felt honored to be hosting a 50th anniversary event. In fact, when the ship was full, but some of us were still stuck at the back of a long line of people, they called for the 'aniversary party'to come and board. After the boat ride we all met at the farm to visit and eat. Mother and Father napped while Husband and I prepared a simple spaggeti and tomato sauce meal. We all sat outside to eat.
At 7pm Ilian and Joe, Beren, my kids, and I took off for Ithaca. The kids to play cards and watch movies, Ilian, Joe and I to contra dance. It was a great dance. House callers. Kitchen Chair played. Several of our friends were there: Luke, Phil and Katie, Dave, Ted and Pam of course and others. Great to see them and dance with them again.
The second installment of the Celebration was Dinner at a winery on Lake Cayuga. The food was very well prepared, tasty, a little pricey, but it came with wine tasting with each course, and the chicken (which I had) was even organic.
A damper on the festive mood was that Ilian's cat Katya was sick and needed an emergency veterenary appointment. Luckily what ailed her could be cured, but Ilian was understandably upset (also Finley had stepped on a wire or something and hurt his paw today). Back at the farm, we sat around visiting with Adam and family between packing (we're taking Father to Ann Arbor today for a 2 week therapeutic retreat at the Rudolf Steiner Health Center).
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Martha's Vineyard, June 29 - July 2
Spent two beautiful days in Martha's Vineyard visiting Tormod, and the family where he is living. They have a garden center where Tormod works for room and board. It is a colorful, place, ordered chaos. Not chaos really but not military presision either. They have anuals, perrenials, herbs, vegetables and even houseplants. I think, if I were not a nurse I would just love working at a garden center, surrounded by beautiful colors and scents, caring for the plants...
The fish market gave Tormod the day off to spend with his Mom, and we went to the beach. Tormod's first time as he has been working 6 days a week and so far has no driving licence. The beach by the Gay's Head Lighthouse and cliffs reminded me of summer beach trips to long island in my childhood: huge waves that pick you up and whirl you around until you surface with your ears full of salt and sand.
The second day we spent at Oak Bluff's, the island's most colorful town. In the middle of Oak Bluffs a whole bunch of brightly colored cottages from the second half of the 19th century surround a Methodist Church and outdoor "tabernacle" where concerts and outdoor services can be held. There are many touristy shops, an ice cream shop that is said to sell lobster flavored ice cream. Extremely large and fancy villas surround the oceanside park. My favorite was the Norton house (as in Norton antivirus). It has a huge porch surrounding at least 3 sides of the first floor, second story balconies, a tower, and a captains deck on the roof. There is also a beach, which faces the mainland, so that the water is clear, cool and calm. Very different atmosphere from yesterday's beach which faced the open ocean.
We fell in love with the vineyard. The slower pace. There is no road where you can drive faster than 45mph. The way the society and landscape are contained (being an island). The absence of franchises. The forests and dunes.
Tormod seems happy here, and healthier. He's excersising, cutting back on his smoking, eating well, working hard. The fish market people, 4th generation Norwegians are very nice, generous people. And Mike and Carrie at Heather Gardens with their children, Jonah, 1 1/2 and Eli 4 1/2 are a wonderfull family.
The fish market gave Tormod the day off to spend with his Mom, and we went to the beach. Tormod's first time as he has been working 6 days a week and so far has no driving licence. The beach by the Gay's Head Lighthouse and cliffs reminded me of summer beach trips to long island in my childhood: huge waves that pick you up and whirl you around until you surface with your ears full of salt and sand.
The second day we spent at Oak Bluff's, the island's most colorful town. In the middle of Oak Bluffs a whole bunch of brightly colored cottages from the second half of the 19th century surround a Methodist Church and outdoor "tabernacle" where concerts and outdoor services can be held. There are many touristy shops, an ice cream shop that is said to sell lobster flavored ice cream. Extremely large and fancy villas surround the oceanside park. My favorite was the Norton house (as in Norton antivirus). It has a huge porch surrounding at least 3 sides of the first floor, second story balconies, a tower, and a captains deck on the roof. There is also a beach, which faces the mainland, so that the water is clear, cool and calm. Very different atmosphere from yesterday's beach which faced the open ocean.
We fell in love with the vineyard. The slower pace. There is no road where you can drive faster than 45mph. The way the society and landscape are contained (being an island). The absence of franchises. The forests and dunes.
Tormod seems happy here, and healthier. He's excersising, cutting back on his smoking, eating well, working hard. The fish market people, 4th generation Norwegians are very nice, generous people. And Mike and Carrie at Heather Gardens with their children, Jonah, 1 1/2 and Eli 4 1/2 are a wonderfull family.
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