Ine and Hasse

Kath and I often get asked "how our norwegian is?" to which I would always love to reply in some great Norwegian phrase, but sadly my current spoken vocabulary is pretty limited to general conversation set pieces, or asking for food! Of course with the aid of google translate you can pretty much pull off most email conversations (as proven by managing to purchase the house!) but i have  had few woeful moments,  the worst of which was telling Arvid (the lovely man we bought the house from) that i was arriving in the morning (i morgen) at 10.30 which meant tomorrow at 10.30, when I actually meant in the morning at 10.30, but in about 4 weeks time.  Luckily we cleared that mishap up before he left home and embarked on 7 hour drive........oops.

We've got the obligatory Berlitz guides and i even found an 1970's guide called Instant Norwegian!(which was probably one of my better late night ebay purchases) and we've been following the NTNU free online course which is pretty good (but currently on hold due to never having enough time.......note to self,  create a free evening)

The best thing by far though are children's books! Not only can i usually understand them, but i can also read them to Ned and Maisie at bed time so no extra time required. To date we've tackled Krokodille Knut (aimed at very early years........so perfect for me) where I've learnt that when it's windy you fly a kite, and when its sunny you go to the beach :) and by far my favourite is Poka og Mina - Morgenstund which is a great story aimed at slightly older children.......say 4-5 ;) and about a a very sleepy dad and his daughter who tries to wake him up and then promptly nods off when dad is awake and they go out (sound familiar?)   The kids however have been truly represented (literally) in a lovely book called 'Gi Gass Ine'. ( which i think means 'give it some welly Ine! as in go faster!)

It's a beautifully illustrated book, where the story of a little girl called Ine and her younger brother Hasse, is told with amazing collages and is basically Ned and Maisie! The little girl is quite determined to cut down a tree and the young boy is obsessed by tractors. On their journey to the woods they meet a huge array of woodland animals and eventually a big tractor arrives to take them, their newly cut tree and the animals home - beautiful :)  Now if only I could find someone with a tractor who maybe lives in the farm next to ours........hmmmm if only...............

......and what of my witty come backs......well for now I can at least quote that famous crocodile when asked what have i got (Hva had du der).........mange glefsende tenner!

.....many snapping teeth :)

Warmth.....

I've often been at the receiving end of many a pisstake about my rubbish log burning skills ( you know who you are!) so you can imagine my sheer joy when on the first day when I lit the log burner when Maisie and I arrived at the house, that not only did I get it going with 1 match, but also without the aid of fire lighters, unlike one of my Norwegian neighbours we met today who happily tossed in a fire lighter pouch ( in fairness if I'd had one to hand I probably would have done the same thing ;) ) . 

So this happiness was only heightened about 30 minutes later when Maisie said the fire was making a strange whistling noise?! .....you mean I actually managed to get it hot enough to boil a kettle on top!! Indeed I did! 

In the house we have a log burner in every room, ranging from the utilitarian  jotul stove (the first lit!) through to some absolutely beautiful ornate stacked flue burners. 

I also found an old stove in the barn and 3 more stored in the basement so that makes a total of 10 wood burners! At least we will never get cold! ( provided I can get enough wood to feed them) 

The most ornate wood burner was located in the shoe making workshop which we are due to turn into 2 bedrooms, so we had to move it, which on turn meant dismantling it.....eek. Well I carefully prised the top section apart to not only discover 150 year old soot ( lots and lots of soot) but also the every section was made up of individual   pieces......help.....I think is what I cried as it started to collapse before my eyes, my well practised plan of numbering all the parts to remember where they went a long past ideal by this point. Suddenly, child hood memories of dismantling things like old clocks, watches and valve radios as a kid came flashing back as did the memory that I never actually managed to get any of them back together! Suffice to say, said wood burner is neatly stacked and was luckily photographed prior to its hasty demise and fortunately i am no longer sneezing out soot! 

 In our first week,we have been welcomed by the neighbours and everyone we have met!.........and that has been a warmth to rival that of my little wood burner. :). 

Back to the UK tonight..... 

Photo of the dismantled burner sat next to our bedroom upright burner (with a fox on the front and oven section on top!)