Monday, June 29, 2009

Skibladner - my 50th birthday party


We met at the train station in Hamar. Nils N and MaryAnn had come down from Valdres, the other guests were from Hamar or Stange: Andrea, our dog-sitter, whom Husband used to work with at Nøttestad , Nils B, and also Inger and Erik, who used to live across the street from us, but recently have moved into town. And of course the children: Irene, still suffering after her wisdom tooth extraction, Ingvild with her Columbian boyfriend, and Audun who was coming down from Lillehammer on the train we were waiting for. We missed Tormod and his girlfriend sorely. I hope we'll be able to do something nice together to make up for it.


As we were buying our tickets Audun called to say that they had left Lillehammer 10 minutes late and that now they were stopped in Moelv for reasons unknown. Things got a little hectic for me for a while: it turned out that I had written down the wrong number for the cell phone to the ship - I had been given a number to call in case of a delay. Irene called her housemate who got on the internet and accessed my e-mail to find the number. With the right number I was able to call the ship and tell them that we would be about 30 minutes delayed. They promised to wait: "after all," the captain said, "it's Sunday, the weather is fine, we're in no hurry." And sure enough, the ship was waiting when we arrived, the passengers had spent the unplanned docking time swimming off the dock.


The trip from Eidsvoll to Hamar goes up the Vorma river then under the bridges at Minnesund where the Vorma flows out of the Mjøsa lake, and up Mjøsa. There is a stop on the western bank before the ship crosses over to stop in Hamar which is about half-way up the lake. The whole trip takes 3 hours. The weather was hot (80's) and sunny, but with a nice breeze on the water. Dinner was served at 4 pm in the plush dining room. The traditional meal of baked salmon, potatoes with a light sauce, cucumber salad and fresh ripe strawberries with cream for dessert was absolutely perfect. They even crushed Irene's strawberries for her so that she could eat them.


After dinner we hung out on deck, watching the familiar landmarks where we walk the dogs: Store Re, Lille Re, Stange Church and even Hammerstad, where Husband works, pass by. There wasn't any music, but they shot off the cannons about half-way through dinner. All in all a great day with good friends and family!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Styrkeprøven (endurance-test) and O-Festival


My first week of vacation started with the "Styrkeprøve" for Husband: a bike race from Lillehammer to Oslo: 190 km. Husband cycled with the Ottestad Second Bike team with the goal of finishing in under 6 hrs without leaving any members behind. They made it in 5 hrs and 40 minutes. The weather was mixed. Mostly sunny with some wind, and occasional rain showers, even a hail shower. I waited at the roadside in Ottestad (about 1/3) of the way with bottles of juice and water and food to fill his pockets: raisin buns, figs and bananas. Teamwork is the main goal for the Ottestad cycle club. They cykle using a chain technique where they constantly rotate who is at the front. Those who need to rest hang at the back of the chain. The captain organises the chain. When one of the cyclists slid on the rain-slick asphalt and flew off his bike, hitting the divider and breaking his collar bone, the team stopped to make sure he was okay and was picked up by a support car before continuing. When one of the members was almost too tired to keep up in the last long hill before entering Oslo, 3 or 4 teammembers took turns pushing her up the hill so that she would be able to finish with the team.


This weekend Husband and I packed the dogs into the car and went to the Orienteering Festival on the west edge of Oslo (Bærumsmarka). We had rented a cabin at a nearby camp ground. We had great weather: 80's - an unusual treat for Norway. Found some nice walks for the dogs near the camp ground. The races were fun. The world cup was going on simultaneously, and we could follow the commentary and watch the progress on a big screen in the Arena while waiting for our start times. On friday afternoon I ran an A-level course in the womens 50 class: 2,7km. It was a very difficult course. I spent as much time on just one controll as Husband (mens 40 A) had spent on his whole race. In the end though, I found all the controls, finishing in one and a half hours, 17 minutes behind the next to last contestant. However there were 3 that were either disqualified or had given up, and though I considered giving up, I'm glad I finished. Saturday I ran a C-level race, though this was 3,6 km. Though I finished in 50 minutes (nr 38 of 63) I felt I had run a bad race. It seems I should have been able to run faster. Most of the controls were along paths, and easy to find. Don't know why I was so slow. The heat maybe... It sure was great to put my head under the sprinkler at the finish.
The dogs were very good, lying in a shady place and waiting for us while we were out running.
Husband had his debut with A-level courses. In his age group they are much longer and though his placement was about 2/3 down the list still I feel he ran a good race. Friday he ran a 3,6 km course in 38 minutes, finishing nr 50 of 75, 13 minutes behind the winner. Saturday he ran the 4,8 km course in 1hr and 2 minutes, finishing nr 21 of 34, 21 minutes behind the winner.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Summer vacation

Finished the semester today with two breast cancer surgeries. Finally the last 9 weeks of intense praktical studies coupled with work in the ER have come to an end. It was a period of getting up at 5:30 every day, of leaving the house at 6:45 and coming home at 8 pm - mostly because either dentist appointments, orienteering or dog training followed immediatly after work. For 3 periods in the past 9 weeks, I worked for 12 days in a row before I had a weekend off. Almost every week I had a 15 hour workday, when, after spending 7 1/2 hours as a student in the OR, I went downstairs to the ER to work my regular 7 1/2 hr evening shift.

Ahead of me are 9 weeks of summer vacation. Time for the house and the garden. Time for travel and friends. Time to cook proper meals. I started already this afternoon by cooking spoonbread with fried bananas and steamed aspargus for dinner. Then I watered the plants, fed the cockatails and cleaned their cage. In the garden I rediscovered the strawberry plants under the weeds. They are blooming prolifically and I covered them with netting and also wrapped up the cherry tree in netting.

A phone call to Father, and a surprise visit from my brother-in-law and his familly rounded off the evening.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Whitsun O-meet


Whitsun weekend. Lovely warm sunny weather with night-time lows in the 50's, and daytime highs in the 70's! Lilacs and Mountain Ash are blooming, the forrest floor is covered with Arctic Starflowers and violets, bright yellow dandelions dot the lawns. Birds flit to and fro on the business of raising their families and birdsong fills the air. On my morning walk with the dogs, we hear the cuckoo calling and we see a fox cub come out of the brush, and stop to look at us before dissapearing into the wood on the other side of the path...

Since the relative success of running an A-level course in my age group last fall when I managed to complete the course just before everyone had packed up and gone home, I thought I'd try again on saturday. Imagine how pleased I was that I not only completed the course, I was not even last to finish, but actually 3 minutes ahead of the last contestant. This is progress indeed, and I have now signed up to run the short distance A-level course at the orienteering festival at the end of June. Didn't do too badly in Sunday's C-level course coming in the best half (16th of 36) finishing the 3,5 km course in under en hour, and even better in monday's race where I completed the 3,4 km in 48 minutes, and finishing 20th of 39. Tor for his part won 2 4th place prizes over the weekend.

Lucy is a good orienteering dog. She has waited patiently in the finish area where she was tied up in the shade, with a chew bone and her water bowl, sleeping and watching the other people and dogs.

The kids are gone for the weekend. They have taken my car and gone to Oslo to plan their father's 60th birthday party. So Tor Idar and I are alone this weekend. Besides orienteering, I am slowly catching up with the garden, putting in seeds and planting flowers.