I Choose April

April 15, 2007
| 26 Comments

One of Norway’s famous author, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832 – 1910), celebrated for his lyrics to the National Anthem and was also a 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate once wrote a poem ‘Jeg velger meg april’ (I choose April). The story says he was writing for a magazine who wanted one poem per month, and April was the one left. He decided to make the best out of it – in an offensive way – and his reason was:
-because it storms and wipes –it smiles and melts –it’s capable and in it the summer comes!

After all, my blog is about Norway, our significant four seasons, so let me give you another example of its powerful change: Today I had another quality time with my wife, and experienced just that and I’ll gladly take you along on our trip:

Children wading at the stony shore.

Remember Norwegians have 4 – 5 months of winter behind us – a wet, cold, windy, snowy season with daylight time down to 6 hours where we live. Don’t get me wrong; my regular readers know I love it; skiing, skating, ski jumping and even curling, all outdoors with crisp fresh air. The best of it though, is the season change and you notice and appreciate it even more when the nature wakes up from hibernation. Let me give you some promising examples:

This years first BBQ among the scilla in the garden.

Blue and white Anemone (Hepatica) – and “hestehov” called horses hooves.

The two last pics are from our trip through the forest to the beach today. These flowers are stubborn as they find their way towards the spring sun through the last year’s fallen leaves. Everything longing for the warm and prosperous season and as you can see in this post’s first pics the youngest can’t resist the first wade of the year.

The smell in the air, the songs from the migratory birds busy making their new homes and also the waves on the beach make you humble. Spring is in the air and soon there will be summer again:

Norwegians exalt the spring!

For those who really like to see the contrast to this spring time, I’ve actually posted from this very beach in the winter time last year: ‘Walking on water’. In a couple of months these people will lay on the sand tanning and even swim or play in the water. Today the water holds around 10C (50F) and in June/July it’s often above 20C (69F). So all of you who are planning for summer; come visit Norway in a couple of months and see how nice, warm and sunny it can be! If you tell me in advance, I’ll gladly guide you around or you can find a lot of tips looking around in my blog of course.

Habits, Spring