Some dog walks in July

The Klevfoss Industry Museum (used to be a paper mill)

On the bridge leading from the museum over the falls into the woods.

In Remarka, Lucy balances on a tree trunk that has fallen across the path.

The WWII memorial at Målervatn lake.

Målervatn with water lilies.

Beaver dam at Målervatn

Terror in Norway

I was in the kitchen - I guess I was cooking - when Husband said: there's been a big explosion in Oslo 3 minutes ago. It was just before 3:30 pm. Pretty soon information began to come on what had happened, and films and pictures of the devastation on the internet. A large bomb had exploded devastating the buildings that house the government offices. I was thinking: the timing was good, partly because a lot of people are on vacation in July, and of those who are not, many would have already gone home for the day by this time on a friday afternoon. Also it is just the time for shift change at most hospitals and urgent care facilities, so that they can easily get more staff by holding back the day shift... We were following developements. I contacted the boys, especially Tormod in the US. A couple of hours later came the news that there was shooting at utøya an island where a political youth camp w being held. It seemed like forever before we heard more about it in the news. When we went to bed the shooter had been arrested, and there was talk of several casualties. All the Oslo hospitals were in catastrophe readiness and I had been called in to work an extra day shift in the morning, so I went to bed early. At midnight I was messaged from work that the catastrophe readiness was reduced, andI didn't need to come after all.

What was our surprise and shock to wake up in the morning to the news that over 80 kids - the camp participants were from 14 to 25 years old - had been shot dead! How could one man kill so many? The massacre at utøya completely overshadowed the bombing, which, though destroying several government buildings, only killed 7 - 9, and severely wounded 10. Of course there we a lot of minor injuries. A colleague who also works at the Oslo urgent care said they treated 70 patients for injuries from the bombing. On the island 85 were killed outright, 20 are in critical condition, and altogether about 70 were more or less seriously injured. 2 are still missing in the ruins from the bomb, and 4-5 are missing on the island. I went orienteering with Lucy, listening to the radio on my mp3 player and crying. It was all so incredibly sad. The stories these kids told were heartbreaking. The shooter had dressed up in a police uniform, which made the kids uncertain and chased them all over the island, shooting as many as possible, even shooting at the boats that were rescuing swimmers from the water. It has been a day of mourning in Norway. All flags at half mast. This tragedy hit not only Oslo, but the whole country, as there were delegations at Utøya from every county in Norway. The guy they arrested, a right wing ethnic Norwegian, seems to be responsible for both attacks, and apparently did it alone.

Today I have been called to do a night shift, as the ER is still keeping more staff than usual. Because the trauma center is overloaded wih patients from the bombing and shooting, othere hospitals, such as the one where I work are taking some of their regular patients. I've been thinking about acts of terror and what they try to accomplish. What they arer attacking. This attack was typical in tht it constitutes an attack on Norway's social democratic values: on openness, tolerance and an inclusive society. Terrorist attacks typically aim for a polarisation of society, and are ofen carried out by fundamentalists of one persuasion or another. In the case of the islamist attacks on the United States The effect was unfortunatly that the amereican sosiety turned in the direction of a police state, due to the hate, fear and rage spawned by the attacks. I hope Norway will come through this with her commitment to her core values intact.

Kringsatt av fiender, gå inn i din tid
Under en blodig storm, vi deg til strid.
Kanskje du spør i angst, udekket, åpen.
Hva skal jeg kjempe med? Hva er mit våpen?

Her er din vern mot vold, her er dit sverd:
Troen på livet vårt, menneskets verd.
For all vår fremtids skyld, Søk det og dyrk det,
Dø om du må, men øk det og styrk det.
- Nordahl Grieg

A Simpler Life - July 6th to 12th

July 6th: On this warm and sunny day, we set off for Valdres and the cabin by Vinster lake, high in Norway's central mountain region, at the gateway to Jotunheimen. This little cabin, belonging to our good friend, MaryAnn and Nils, has neither electricity, nor running water, yet this is where we have been coming each year to gather strength in the simplicity of everyday living, and the beauty of nature. We come here, even though the weather forecast is for nothing but rain. Even though we have to pack wool underwear in the height of summer.

The mountain cabin on the far left. To the right and behind it is the barn containing the outhouse, and just in front of the car is the wood shed. The other cabins and barns were unoccupied. In the foreground is the fence that surrounds the 3 summer farms, giving Lucy a large area which she can run freely in.

Hot and sweaty after a long drive in the car I jumped into the Lake for a refreshing bath. It was the last time as far as I was concerned. The water is freezing, but Husband bathed in the Lake almost every day.

July 7th: Long relaxing day: reading, writing, sleeping, meditating, long walks, training the dog. Above is my thinking spot here, at the very tip of the tongue of land that sticks out into the lake, while below I am sitting on a rock near the end of the driveway on our morning walk.

Lucy watching the cows coming down the road to find pasture after morning milking.

The fence around the summer farms has been fortified with an electric band to keep grazing animals out, as the grass inside is to be made into hay. Below one of the cows has waded out into the lake, and gone round the fence. The water came way over her udder. Husband and Lucy chased her back before the others could follow her lead.

July 8th: 5 hour hike to skreddalsfjellet (1440 moh) and svarthamartinden (1471 moh) in bright sunshine today. Didn't expect the sun, so hadn't brought suntan lotion, and thus got burned.

Lucy carried a pack with mittens and hats, treats and our sandwiches.

Husband at our first resting place.

Lucy hunted lemmings the whole way.


On the top of Skreddalsfjellet.

Sheep. This is why we had to keep Lucy on a lead.



By the time we got to the second peak, where we stopped to have our sandwiches, Lucy had eaten so many Lemmings that she must have been full. At least she took the dried pigs ear we gave her and dissapeared into the rocks. She seemed to come back too quickly, so I went looking for it in all the nooks and crannies. Suddenly I discovererd a place wherre the moss was scraped away from the ground. Further investigation uncovered the pigs ear buried under moss and lichen. This time she ate it up however.

July 9th: Spent the day with MaryAnn and Sigrid, her elderly neighbor. We went to synkakudagen at Marit Anny's Vevstugu in Lomen, in Vestre Slidre. This weave workshop was hosting a cultural day. Local craftsmen were exibiting and selling their work: woodwork, ceramics, woven stuffs of course.


MaryAnn is in the middle. The woman on the left is Sigrid, while the gentleman on the right is Sigrids brother who was exhibiting and selling his woodwork.

In the cafe on the second floor you could buy coffee and kvikaku with sour cream and berry preserves as much as you could eat and drink for 75 kr. We ate at long tables, while the kvikaku were being baked on a "takke" in the middle of the room. There was entertainment as well: a tv weather man who spends his vacations in the area told weather stories, local musicians played on the langeleik and the accordion, and an old woman told stories of life on the summer farms in bygone days.

July 10th: Windy, with alternating periods of sun and violent downpour. Husband started talking of leaving a day or two early. He is getting restless. I however am nowhere near ready to leave. The very thought made me all stressed out. Spent a quiet day though, reading, playing games, writing letters. Got back into my routine of meditation and training sessions with Lucy 3X daily, pluss 2 long walks. On the second walk we passed a herd of cows both coming and going. A Jersey cow showed intense curiosity about Lucy, who got a little worried, but we made it through the herd okay. This afternoon, I took advantage of one of the spells of sunshine to fire up the barbeque. This evening there was a beautiful rainbow. One end of it came down by a rowboat beached just by the end of our fence. I could have gone there to look for the pot of gold.




July 11th: It is decided. We will be leaving tomorrow. Today dawned with lovely sunny weather, and absolutely calm. Though we could see clouds in the west, they were high in sky, promising a day of partly sunny, partly cloudy weather. Since we had to drive through the toll gate anyway to get water, we took the opportunity to hike along the Bygdin Lake.

To get water I called at the kitchen door at Bygdin Fjellkro. An unfriendly woman who manages the kitchen was less than gracious about the water, though she did fill our container part way. She may be a good cook, and is surely able to keep her staff in line, but her service mindedness was sadly absent.

Lucy seemed a bit footsore, though it might be that she is less inspired when on leash, carrying a pack, along a dirt road. She seems to much prefer the mountain paths. Below are pictures from the hike along Bygdin Lake.

Døla-uka, July 1st to 3rd: part 3

Cows at the summer farm where today's run was being held.

Before leaving for todays run in Alvdal, we had to pack and clean out the cabin. We got up at 6am, packed up our stuff, and then sat down to coffee and breakfast. At 8am husband took Lucy for a long walk, while I started cleaning out the cabin. By this time the others were up and in various stages of breakfasting and packing, so I started by sweeping the bedroom. As there were 2 bathrooms, I next went ahead and started cleaning one of them. By the time I was done, the clutter in the kitchen was pretty much gone, so I started on the first counter and stove. I was cleaning the second counter and sink, when one of the other ladies said I had done enough, and practically took the wash rag out of my hand. Husband was back from his walk with Lucy, so we left for the run.

Here you can see the summer farm with the tents of the orienteering arena behind.

Lucy waited for us tied to a fence while we are out running.

The arena was in a field behind an idyllic summer farm, with cows grazing in the adjoining pasture, and cowpiles between the tents. The 3.3 km C-level course was dissapointing: almost the entire course was laid along paths, with the controls directly on the paths. Of 2 stretches that left the path one was marked with plastic bands tied to the trees, for the other one could choose a detour by sticking to the path or take the more direct compass course. Husband and I chose the compass course, while the kid who won stayed on the path. Anyway, with the exception of that one stretch, the course was more like an N (novice) than a C-level course.

Målfrid and I running up the finish line. Målfrid beat me on every run.

Here is the course map. As you can see it follows paths all the time. The only real choices were from 6 to 7 where one could cut across by compass course or follow the path around (I cut across). The other choice was form 9 to 10 where one could either follow the stream or take the road, follow the fence and then cut down to the stream. I took the road and it was a killer: steep, boring, and you still had to wade through the brush along the fence. I regret not having followed the stream, which surely was a pleasanter route, if not faster.

Døla-uka, July 1st to 3rd: part 2

Peach (10 wks) and Lucy playing.

Second day of Døla uka. Lucy slept in her crate last night. Using a crate is the first thing I have successfully shaped. We got up long before most everyone else, had our coffee, and our breakfast and walked the dog. As everyone else was getting ready for a late breakfast we were leaving to visit my in-laws, who live near where todays run was being arranged. Mother-in-law has recovered nicely from the surgery after breaking her thigh bone 12 days ago. She seems to get along no worse than when we saw her a month ago. We had yummy waffles and Lucy showed off her tricks and played with Cathrine's irish setter puppy.

Event arena in Folldal. You can see the ski jumps behind the arena.

The run was in typical Folldal terrain: pine woods with a reindeer moss ground cover. To get to start you had to climb an incredibly steep hill where the ski lift goes in winter. By the time I got to the top, I was both hot and sweaty, in spite of the cool day. It was a fun course though. Husband won again. I placed 6th of 10.

When we all got back to the cabins, the grills were fired up, we made salads and set out tubs of potato salad, then all gathered again for a joint dinner. The party increased withour hostess' parents and her oldest son.

This is today's map. A fun course. Didn't have any trouble with it really. I especially enjoyed the bit from 2 to 3 where the path follows the course of a mountain stream. My only difficulty was coming down from 9 to 10, I couldn't find the path that hugs the hillside and ended up too far down, so that I had to run up the road to 10, before running back down to get 11.

Døla-uka 1st to 3rd July: part one

We stayed in the middle cabin. Our hosts lived in the cabin on the right. This is also where we had our common dinners after the run.

What possessed us to choose Døla-uka as our summer orienteering event, and travel 3 hours to a part of Norway where it has been known to snow in july? It was 13 degrees C and pouring rain when we left home, as we progressed north up the valley, the temperature dropped steadily to only 7 degrees C on arrival, though the rain had let up somewhat.

Husband relaxing in the spacious living room with Lucy at his feet.

One of the families in our orienteering club has 3 large cabins that they rent out. For this occasion club members were invited to live there for free. The cabin is spacious, with running hot and cold water, electricity, fully supplied kitchen, tv and fireplace. Staying in our cabin besides husband and myself and Lucy (our dog), are a single man, and two families with 2 children each. It is quite a challenge for our shy dog, not only to be in a strange house, but to share that house with so many strangers. We talked to all the childreen about ignoring her, and not trying to pet her, nevertheless one little boy did try to pet her and got snapped at for his trouble. No harm done, and hopefully he learned his lesson, but it shows that we have to supervise Lucy constantly. So I was glad that I had brought along the travel crate, so we could put her away occasionally.

The view over Savalen Lake from the cabin porch.

The event arena for the first run was in walking distance from the cabins. No sooner was the club tent up than a veritable downpour started. I ran a 2 km A-level course for the sprint. I had expected a much more difficult course. Really, I only had difficulty with the first controll, as it took awhile for me to get my bearings. When I compared mine with husband's C-level course, I really couldn't see the difference in difficulty. Husband won his run. I was last in my class (women 50-54), but second to last of all who ran that course. Ah well.

Husband won. His prize, appropriatly was a towel. It was pouring rain.

We all gathered at the cabin of our hosts to have tacos together after the run. There was candle light, plenty of good food. After dinner the adults continued talking around the long table, while the kids played cards and board games. There were altogether 9 kids and 11 adults. It was so pleasant, and our hosts are truly gracious people. I hadn't bothered to change before walking back to the cabin after the run, and I was the last to shower and only had barely lukewarm water. Maybe that was why I am feeling so cold this evening. My teeth are chattering after taking the dog for her evening potty walk, and I can't wait to get under the duvet

And here is the course map. I got all confused at the start. Didn't realize that the start controll was in the intersection of a ski path and a road, not the road intersection. Once I got my bearings I did ok. From control nr 10 I went back up and around the lake instead of continuing east which would have been shorter. I was worried that the marshy area at the east end would be hard to get through. Apparently, according to those who chose that route it was just fine.