June 2006 ... I could feel my time in Norway was quickly slipping away. We had blindly wandered onto a plane in New York on July 4th 2004 and headed for Norway - with a 16 year old mentally handicapped daughter and a 14 year old son in tow. A son who had voted, 'yes' to go, like Gary and I, but had no idea, like the rest of us what we were getting ourselves into.
Two years later we all had our feeling about going home. Mine? I was leaving paradise. Flat out, no question, I was going to miss it horribly. I loved our home and the 2 1/2 acres surrounding it, I loved the quiet, and the snow, and the peace that soaked into your pores and helped me heal from many old wounds. I loved the trees, and the scenic lakes surrounding our house, I loved the small towns, I loved the Bunads (the traditional Norwegian wear), I loved that all the homes seemed to be color coordinated with each other, I loved that I could point my camera anywhere and create a beautiful photograph. There was very little I didn't love - I loved the people, the melodic language, the land ... OK, maybe not the traditional food - but that was about it!
So, June 2006 - I am anxious to cram a couple more years of Norway into a month before we step back on that plane to New York and come back to the States. One thing I had not done the year before was photograph the flowers that spontaneously erupted all over the yard and the acres surrounding the house. I was dumbfounded that there were flowers everywhere, but did not think to photograph them. We actually had flowers that we did put in the window boxes, pots on the porches and decks, but the rule was I could only photograph things that just popped out of the ground all by themselves. So, exactly 3 years to this week (week 2 in June) I took my camera out, wandered the property and snapped photos of all the flowers I could find.
Today I decided to play with them in PhotoShop. I know it takes away from the beauty of the flowers themselves, but a girl has to play!
In this first photograph, there are no flowers, but brought back fond memories - it was the first photo I shot that day. It is a shot of the house (on the right) walking around to the back yard where there was a separate building lower on the mountain that was a sauna, and a small bedroom. You can see my 'stabbur' birdhouse up on the deck that I would watch birds eat birdseed throughout the year - standing out beautifully in the white snow in the winter. A few days after this photo was taken, a big gust of wind sent my beautiful birdhouse flying off the deck and it smashed into pieces. Just to the right of the sauna is a trail down the mountain that the house sat on top of to the road and the tram below. It was a trail of rocks that someone had lovingly placed as steps all the way down - they were covered in moss and in a perpetual shade from all the trees. It was a quiet, and beautiful and peaceful walk down to the tram. (To actually see all that, though, you would probably have to click on the photo!)
Two years later we all had our feeling about going home. Mine? I was leaving paradise. Flat out, no question, I was going to miss it horribly. I loved our home and the 2 1/2 acres surrounding it, I loved the quiet, and the snow, and the peace that soaked into your pores and helped me heal from many old wounds. I loved the trees, and the scenic lakes surrounding our house, I loved the small towns, I loved the Bunads (the traditional Norwegian wear), I loved that all the homes seemed to be color coordinated with each other, I loved that I could point my camera anywhere and create a beautiful photograph. There was very little I didn't love - I loved the people, the melodic language, the land ... OK, maybe not the traditional food - but that was about it!
So, June 2006 - I am anxious to cram a couple more years of Norway into a month before we step back on that plane to New York and come back to the States. One thing I had not done the year before was photograph the flowers that spontaneously erupted all over the yard and the acres surrounding the house. I was dumbfounded that there were flowers everywhere, but did not think to photograph them. We actually had flowers that we did put in the window boxes, pots on the porches and decks, but the rule was I could only photograph things that just popped out of the ground all by themselves. So, exactly 3 years to this week (week 2 in June) I took my camera out, wandered the property and snapped photos of all the flowers I could find.
Today I decided to play with them in PhotoShop. I know it takes away from the beauty of the flowers themselves, but a girl has to play!
In this first photograph, there are no flowers, but brought back fond memories - it was the first photo I shot that day. It is a shot of the house (on the right) walking around to the back yard where there was a separate building lower on the mountain that was a sauna, and a small bedroom. You can see my 'stabbur' birdhouse up on the deck that I would watch birds eat birdseed throughout the year - standing out beautifully in the white snow in the winter. A few days after this photo was taken, a big gust of wind sent my beautiful birdhouse flying off the deck and it smashed into pieces. Just to the right of the sauna is a trail down the mountain that the house sat on top of to the road and the tram below. It was a trail of rocks that someone had lovingly placed as steps all the way down - they were covered in moss and in a perpetual shade from all the trees. It was a quiet, and beautiful and peaceful walk down to the tram. (To actually see all that, though, you would probably have to click on the photo!)
2 comments:
I never wanted to visit Norway, but whenever you write about it or post pictures, I just want to throw clothes in a suitcase and head over there! It sounds so peaceful and looks so beautiful.
Me Too!
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