Valerie's Voice – Page 22 – Musings on Life

Tromsø

Here are four things I will remember from Tromsø, the 3rd largest city in the world above the Arctic Circle. Tromsø is a city of 71,000 people in northern Norway, 200 miles above the Arctic Circle.

The midnight sun! Photo taken at 2:16 am.

One: We spent two nights in a hotel room that overlooked a harbor. I love the sea and it was so nice to have a great view from our room. Each morning we ate our breakfast overlooking the harbor. And during the night, I would get up and look out to see the midnight sun.

Our our hotel window…always no screens, no air conditioning. This photo was taken at 10:39 pm.

Two: The sun was shining in Tromsø. This is not an everyday occurrence. There are many cool and cloudy and rainy days. However, we were in Tromsø during a record-breaking heat wave. It was 30* Celsius which is 86* F and people kept telling us this was not normal for Tromsø. And the sun shone brightly. We spent one morning at the Telegrafbukta Park and Beach, at the southern tip of Tromsø, and submerged our feet into the sea.

Three: We took the cable car up to the mountain ledge Storsteinen (1400 feet).

After taking in the stunning views overlooking Tromsø, we walked back down the mountain.

We started out on a trail before connecting with the “sherpa steps” the remaining way down (there are 1,300 stone steps in all). We ended up at the Arctic Cathedral, another pretty icon of Tromsø.

We made a cairn to leave our own mark on top.

Beautiful stained glass in the Arctic Cathedral.

And four: we enjoyed the Arctic-Alpine Botanic Garden, the world’s northernmost botanic garden. There were plants from the Arctic and from alpine and cool parts of all continents.

We went after dinner, so it was about 8 o’clock, and we walked around for over an hour with no concerns that it would get dark.

Maintenance sheds in the garden…with sod roofs. We saw sod roofs throughout our travels. Photo taken 8:30 pm.

The flowers were so pretty. I used my Picture This app a lot to help me identify flowers. My favorite flower in bloom was the beautiful, blue Iceland Poppy.

Tromsø’s most popular tourist season is in wintertime when you can see stunning Northern Lights. They also offer a lot of winter activities. Of course, in winter it’s dark most of the day.

It’s such an interesting world we live in.

A Norwegian Odyssey

It’s been two weeks since celebrating America’s Independence Day, the 4^th of July. Although we didn’t get to see any fireworks in the night sky, Gary and I were welcomed to Bergen, Norway on the 4^th of July with an American flag waving for us, in the reception area of the Bergen airport. A few of my second cousins met us at the airport to welcome us to Norway. What a great way to be greeted on the 4^th of July. It was better than fireworks.

Warm greetings from the Norwegians, for Gary and I.

When we first arrived in Norway, a week prior to meeting up with the relatives, we flew directly up to Tromsø, a city 200 miles above the Arctic Circle…the land of the midnight sun. And we were witnesses to that sun that did not set…I saw the sun at 2 am one morning when I woke up.

The midnight sun, from our hotel room window, 2:16 am.

After two days in Tromsø, we boarded the Hurtigruten, a Norwegian coastal ferry and postal service boat that travels along the Western Coast of Norway, making many stops along the way. We had reserved a cabin on it for three nights…and it was amazing. We were delighted and surprised to realize it was more than a working ship, but very much a comfortable, not extravagant, ship with wonderful buffets at mealtime, and relaxing chairs next to large windows overlooking the magnificent beauty of the Norwegian coast. We liked the size…not too big…and the only entertainment was the breathtaking sea and scenery, and that was enough.

We disembarked the ship in Trondheim, where we spent the next two nights at a hotel. We walked around the city for two days, plus had a needed, relaxing rain afternoon.

Trondheim is the city where St. Olaf College performs choir concerts in the majestic Nidaros Cathedral. I’ve heard about this cathedral for years while working at St. Olaf. It was fun to finally see it….and when we purchased tickets…we learned the young woman behind the counter had been to St. Olaf College singing with her Norwegian women’s choir.

I don’t understand the question mark on Bergen’s airport identification sign.

Then… we flew to Bergen, where we began the second half of our trip with my wonderful, amazing Norwegian relatives, who treated us like royalty. We spent the next nine days with them and it was over-the-top wonderful!

From the airplane, along the mountainous coast of Norway.

From the airplane…along the western coast of Norway.

Norway, a country of 5 million people, is a stunningly, beautiful country with mountains, fjords, pristine shorelines, and breathtaking natural beauty. It is clean with friendly, warm and welcoming people.

In the coming days I will be posting blogs about this amazing odyssey. I will struggle with what photos to share…I took many!

Lilacs

We’re just past the blooming season of lilacs. Below are three haikus about the delightful spring flower.

A lilac bouquet
on a dining room table
brings nature inside.  (by Sheri Eichhorn)

A transport in time
The fragrance of a lilac
Where does it take you? (by Valerie)

Lilacs in new bloom
Are the most beautiful smell
Nature offers us. (by Sheri Eichhorn)

One Mourning Dove

For the past few mornings, I start my day by saying “good morning Papa Bird” to the mourning dove nesting in the eaves, outside our bedroom window. I think he likes being greeted, now that he knows I’m not going to harm him. If he’s facing me he smiles (!)…if he’s facing the opposite direction, he lifts and turns his head to look at me.

I started by calling him “Mama Bird”, but after a little research online, apparently the male dove sits on the nest during the daytime.

He is in the direct sun from the west, and with these hot temperatures I wonder how he tolerates the sunshine and the heat. I want to put up an umbrella to give him some shade, but that’s not possible.

In the meantime, I will continue to open the window a crack to talk to him a few times throughout the day, and then say good night in the evening. And I’ll keep watch to see what happens when the baby doves appear.

Aspelund Wine & Peony Gardens

Last weekend a friend and I went to delight in the peony gardens in Aspelund. I was reminded to visit this lovely acreage now, this time of year, when the peonies are in bloom.

In the background is one of the out buildings on this acreage. The peony gardens are front and center.

This year there was a lot of color, yet there were many buds to still open, which was the stage of the peonies in my garden, and that’s why I had to be reminded that the Aspelund gardens may be ready to explore.

The location is a scenic, peaceful, country setting, about twenty minutes from Northfield. There are a couple of out buildings, the wine tasting room with an attached deck and table and chairs, there are rows of grapevines, and a lot of rhubarb growing all over…and of course lots and lots of peonies.

The peonies are for sale…but you are most welcome to visit these gardens without purchasing anything.

The coral color was one of my favorites.

There is a tire swing hanging from a large, old tree and two little girls, in cute little dresses, were enjoying themselves on the swing that afternoon. It was a very nostalgic and sweet picture…that I didn’t capture on my camera.

We met up with a blogger friend of mine, and her husband, who were at the gardens the same time we were. We meandered the peonies, found chairs on the lawn since all the outdoor tables were taken, and ordered a flight of wine to taste a couple of the many variety of wines they offer.

It was a lovely and relaxing way to spend a late spring, almost summer, afternoon.

It was hard to get a photo of this yellow peony, but the color was delicous.

These are a few photos of the vibrant peonies I took, but I want to share a link to an expanded blog about this Aspelund Winery, written by the friend with whom we were enjoying the wonderful afternoon in Aspelund. Check out Minnesota Prairie Roots and enjoy a great tour.

A New Deck

Twenty-seven years ago, in 1995, one year after we moved into our house in Northfield, we added a cedar deck in the back. Gary took good care of it over the years, but it finally started to deteriorate.

We decided to replace the deck, and we decided to use composite material that does not need to be stained every other year. It should hold up well – perhaps for the next 27 years…

The deck will be a bit different. We had flower boxes built into our old deck, which I loved. Our contractor said he had not seen that design before…well, that’s because we designed it, and the carpenter, who build our deck back in 1995, built it how we designed it.

In summer I planted petunias in the flower boxes.

In winter I added evergreen boughs and lights in the flower boxes.

At our home in Burnsville, we also had flower boxes on the deck…so I’ve had flower boxes since 1980. I think I’ll miss them.

We kept the pergola Gary and our son built years ago.

We enjoy our deck, and use it a lot. We have shade trees that help keep it shaded for much of the day…however, there are a few hours in mid-afternoon when there is full sun.

We like the way the deck turned out… and the openness it offers that we didn’t have before.

An Unexpected Gift

I was the benefactor of an unexpected gift recently. I can’t remember the last time I received an unanticipated gift. A gift, intended only for me…for no reason…no special occasion. A friend just thought of me when she saw the gift, bought it and wrapped in up in a “brown paper package tied up with string”.

A beautiful surprise: a brown paper package tied up with string…

Wonder, why, love…were the thoughts and questions I asked myself as I read the sticker on the paper with the string forming a frame around the words, “Thanks for being you.” I was deeply touched.

I carefully untied the string and removed the brown paper. It was a small, vintage book titled, One year of haiku. What a thoughtful gift. I like books, especially old ones. I write haikus, and like to read haikus written by others. The gift inspires me…not only to write haikus, but to pay it forward.

Thank you, friend.

And so, I wrote a haiku:

Given from the heart
Unexpected gift tag read
Thanks for being you.

Getting Lost and Finding Waldo

We started our annual bike trip by getting lost. While finding the house we rented through AirB&B, we had transposed the numbers into the GPS…whoops. Eventually, we found the house.

Once settled in, we ate lunch and then took off for a bike ride. It was a beautiful day. We rode on the South Riverside Trail. It went along the Cedar River into Cedar Falls where there happened to be an ice cream shop. Perfect. We enjoyed some tasty ice cream and met a local man who had also biked to the shop for ice cream. We visited together while we ate.

We said good-bye without getting his name, and started back the way we came…but somehow missed a turn and we lost our way back to the rented house. With some backtracking we finally found a different trail back.

The next morning it was rainy so we went to the John Deere Tractor Museum and then went into a couple shops on main street in Cedar Falls, where the guys ran into the same man again. They stopped and chatted. Once again, we did not get his name, so as a group we decided to call him Waldo.

That afternoon the weather cleared; it was sunny and nice outside. We hopped on our bikes and rode out in a different direction, towards Waterloo. According to the map, there was a designated trail around the town…but we didn’t find it. It started out well marked, but soon we couldn’t find the trail. We ended up using our GPS system to get back to the house. It took about 1 1/2 hours to go four miles.

The Cedar River, our house on the right, seen through the trees.

Once back to the house, we decided to ride the same trail as the day before. We followed it and found ourselves back at the ice cream shop. Hooray!

And…there was Waldo! It was quite comical. We visited and ate our ice cream with him (but still didn’t get his name). He retired from John Deere Engineering.

Fortunately, we paid attention to our turns this time, so finding our way back to the house was no problem. We did not get lost.

Sitting on the deck, watching the river flow.

The house we rented was lovely… lots of windows and a large deck overlooking the Cedar River. It was nice sitting there, watching the river flow, after being lost three times…and finding Waldo three times.

Twenty-six geese, all in a row, swimming up river, against the current.

John Deere Tractor Museum

We were staying near Waterloo Iowa for a few days this week, on a bike trip with friends.We’ve never been to Waterloo. While we enjoyed Cedar Falls (a neighboring town) better, Waterloo boasted a John Deere Tractor Museum.

Because it was raining, we decided to visit this tractor museum, since we couldn’t ride our bicycles. The museum was well done. It was sizeable. And it was free!

John Deere Waterloo Boy Model “N” Tractor, 1920 in the lobby of the museum.

I find these early steel wheels very interesting.

My husband grew up on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania. His family never owned a John Deere tractor. They had Farmall and International Harvesters. There seems to be a lot of rivalry, and friendly banter, between tractor owners…but Gary found this museum – focusing on these green tractors – very interesting. As did we all.

Gary reminiscing using a slide rule and drafting board work stations in the “good old days” when he did engineering work.

As per usual, interesting stories were told on story boards throughout the museum.

Tractors have come a long way…from the walking plow to the modern, gigantic tractors that have several steps to get up into the cab…

I don’t remember the model of this huge tractor.

…and, that cab has air conditioning, cushioned seats, wrap-around windows and a state-of-the-art computer system. I know we’ve all seen these big machines in the fields. At night they look like space aliens out there.

The steps up into the cab of this tractor.

John Deere also manufactures the riding lawn mowers that are popular, and they used to make bicycles. In fact, a guy in our group used to own a John Deere bicycle…he was lamenting the fact that he got rid of it.

The museum was informative, and we all enjoyed it. It is definitely worth a visit…we would go to visit it again, given the chance.

When we were through the museum, the rain had stopped, the sun came out, and we were able to get back to biking.

A Serendipity

Last week we went on a picnic… Our financial advisor held a picnic outdoors under a tent in the parking lot. They handed out box lunches, and had a duo playing guitar and singing quietly in the background. It was nice.

We were first to sit at our table. Then we were introduced to a local pastor and his wife who sat down across from us. As we chatted, the places where we grew up became a topic of conversation. They spoke first and they said Columbia Heights and Fridley.

I immediately responded I was familiar with that area because I grew up on 35th and McKinley… then Gordon, the pastor, said with much surprise, that he did too, until he was six years old! We discovered we lived four houses away from each other. He is four years older so I would have been two years old when his family moved away, but he did remember playing with my older brother and all the neighborhood boys his age. There were seven or eight of them!

He also said he remembered my mother, and her name, Ruby.

What a serendipitous moment. We were excited to discover this fact, and had fun reminiscing about that great neighborhood in Northeast Minneapolis.

Later I asked my brother if he remembered Gordon, and he said yes… playing ball together.