We’re still in Norway but our trip is coming to an end soon. In the meantime, here’s a view from the top of a mountain…
…overlooking the fjord where we’ve been staying.
That’s Farsund you see in the distance. It’s a cute little city with about 9,000 people, shops, a marina and a great waterfront.
This week’s photo challenge was perfectly timed , given I’ve been enjoying some pretty extraordinary views while here. I’ll post more soon.
Stay tuned.
Our host’s view of us.
We’re still away, and there is little time to blog, but I’ve been working on editing several hundred photos and I thought maybe you’d like to peek.
Our home away from home.
We are exploring southern Norway, following my husband’s family history. It’s beautiful country.
Near the site of my husband’s great grandfather’s home. What a view he had in the early 1900s!
It’s hard not to fall in love.
Small communities dot the coast. I wonder what it would be like to live here.
We will be home soon. I’ll write at least one post about our experiences. I don’t know how I’ll pick the photos.
Following the coast looking for sweet images. They were everywhere.
There’s just so much to see.
This looks like a peaceful spot.
I’ll catch up on your blogs when I get home. I fall asleep every night before I can make much of a dent in my email.
But it’s a good sleep.
image from the internet clipart
Growing up there was a band program in our school system, but no orchestra. So, though my mom played violin, there wasn’t an option for any of us to play strings. And, truthfully, I never really had a hankering for the violin.
No, the sound I really enjoyed the few times I heard an orchestra play was the cello. That deep rich sound pulled at my heart. As a kid I thought maybe someday I’d learn to play one.
And now it’s fifty plus years later and I’ve never even touched a cello, which is why I decided to put “Find someone willing to teach me how to make a sound on a cello.” on the list.
Last week I talked to our local music store. They have cello teachers and will rent me a cello. Lessons are $25 to $35 dollars each. Renting the cello is $50 a month, a three month minimum.
I need to think about whether I want to expand my original idea of sitting with someone for a one time experience into three months of cello lessons.
My goal was to just experience what it was like to cradle a cello and pull a bow across the strings. I never thought I’d want to really learn how to play – it was more an experiential thing.
So…should I just put the word out and see if anyone knows of anyone who’d be willing to let me hug their cello? Or should I jump right in and spring for lessons and a cello to (temporarily) adopt for my very own?
I’m not home yet, I wrote this before we left for our trip and scheduled it to pop up while we’re gone. I’ll read your responses from wherever I am, but might not be able to acknowledge them.
I will make a decision when I get back from our trip….but I’m curious…what would be your vote?
We’re traveling, I set this up to post while we’re away.
I will catch up on all your blogs when I get home. Meanwhile, don’t worry if you don’t see much here for a bit.
And I hope the images of flowers from my garden make you happy.
Cee set us free to pick our image this week, just like the seeds from this dandelion were set free in the breeze of an early summer evening.
Father’s Day has rolled around again, the fifteenth one without you.
I don’t have any new photos of you to share. I wish I did. I wish I could just snap a few the next time I’m down in Alabama. Photos of you laughing like you used to. Or reading the paper. Or sound asleep on the sofa after a day out on the lake.
Photos of you building something, or fixing something. You used to build stuff for us all the time and you could fix anything.
I wish I could take a picture of you sitting in the back of the church during Mom’s evening organ practice, timing the pieces she planned to play at the next Sunday’s service, letting her know when you thought it would be cool if she played a bit louder.
And I’d love to snap another memory of all of us out in the boat, you driving while one of us skied behind, you grinning. Us too.
Or climbing Smith Mountain and then the fire tour. You were seventy-five and still raring to go all the time. No mountain was too tall for you, no fire tower had too many steps.
I wish I could spend another holiday with you, the family favorites on the dinner table, us all sitting around the table talking and laughing long after the meal was over.
I wish.
But all the wishing in the world won’t make any of that happen, so I have to be satisfied with the memories I have, the snapshots I’ve already collected. But darn, I wish I had some new pictures to share.
Happy Father’s Day in heaven Dad. We all miss you every single day.
From our visit to NYC a couple of years ago, across the street from the World Trade Center museum.
I liked how contemporary and turn of the century exist together in this image. It captures how an urban environment is a melding pot of diverse cultures and styles.
This week’s smile comes courtesy of my mother-in-law’s rosebush. It’s always the first rose to bloom each spring, and it’s the most fragrant. Years ago my father-in-law picked the first blossom each year and took it into the house for his wife. So sweet.
Millie’s rose.
I think about them both every time I pass this bush which we transplanted to our own yard several years ago. And the memories always, without fail, make me smile.
What made you smile this week? Write a post and link to Trent’s weekly smile blog, he’ll recap on Monday and then you’ll be able to share smiles with lots of other happy people!
Change Is Hard 