It's been a while....

Haven't posted anything for ages, purely because there's been nothing to post.
Almost every day has been grey, wet, and miserable. With nothing worth looking at, or telling about. But that is set to change soon.
We break up at the work for 4 weeks holidays at the end of this week. During the holiday the main event will be a 2 week visit from my youngest daughter, so at the moment I'm straining my brain to think of activities which will keep her out of the shops, and out of my wallet. No doubt my efforts to achieve this will result in failure on both counts, likely some tantrums from her, and maybe a few posts to my blog.
Also somewhere during this 4 week period we will be visiting a newly upgraded museum which has great links with the Norwegian west coast. We'll be seeing some 'real' sailing ships, and maybe taking pictures of some Horny Vikings... Maybe even catch a picture of a moder-dye ;)
At the very least we will be away from the shi**y weather we are having here and experiencing shi**y weather elsewhere.

Anyway, check back soon and follow what happens when Auld Rasmie gets round to travelling again. ;)

Yun's aa fir enoo.

Garden

So far this summer the weather hasn't exactly been nice, but since the wife bought that damned hose the garden has had plenty of watering.. Not from the hose, I hasten to add.
Most of the flowers are coming along nicely now but my favourite flower in the garden is a very small wild one called 'Maria Gullsko', which translates roughly as 'Mary's Golden Shoe'. It's a beauty, and my youngest daughter is called Mary, hence the reason I think it's special.

One of our bushes is now fully in bloom, and it actually looks like it's got snow on it.

Here's a close up of the flowers,, there are millions of them....

The other flowers and roses are also starting to look good.

And, as seen in the last picture, the ants are everywhere.

And finally. Nothing to do with the garden, but I had to sneak this picture in somewhere.... An early picture of my wife, when she really was a Peerie Trowie... British readers will know what I mean when  I mention the 'Deardrie Barlow' glasses. ;)

Onywye,
yun's aa fir enoo.

Sometimes a big house is nice.....

Especially when the house is too big to fall through the gap you're trying to cross.....

I love these little guys...

Yun's aa fir enoo.
:D

Recent thoughts and pictures..

Firstly, I never did get round to explaining the 'Guiness Can in the oven', which appeared in my last post. The explanation is quite simple. Some fool had turned the fridge thermostat too low, likely the same fool placed the can of Guiness right next to the back wall of the fridge, likely that fool was me, and yup, it was frozen solid. Nothing more than a small dribble exited the opening of the can when I pulled the ring and attempted to pour the beautiful Irish nectar into a glass... Even after half an hour in the oven with the door open so as not to cookit, it was still a frozen chunk of disappointing.

But, on to happier things. The weather.......  Nope, try again, the weather isn't worth mentioning.
Apart from, possibly, this picture.

 That's the kind of beauty that can be seen about 6am here. Just before the damned rain starts again.. At least our plants are being well watered.

And, while I'm still not mentioning the weather, yesterday saw the worst floods in east Norway for 50 years...
The mountains are wearing what the wife calls their 'summer duvet'. The blanket of cloud which lies down to about 300m

Sometimes the cloud clears and everything looks as though it has been washed clean, even at 5km away.

 I've been desperate lately to get out with my new camera and try for some wildlife shots. But between the showers the best I could get was Jeemie fishing from the pier, which will likely make him wild that I've posted it,

 And a nice little Wagtail prancing through the garden.

 On the wildlife front, there is one point worthy of note. The Swallows have eventually arrived this year, over a month late, compared to last year. The blurred image before the mountain is the only proof I got.

Summer here has many other obvious indicators. Least of which are the increasing numbers of caravans and camper vans which appear every day. These vehicles are a pain in the bum on the road, and personally I feel they should be banned.
But, just every now and then you see something which makes sense of it all... This is what caravaning should be about... Classic equipment, designed for the job, and well worth admiring.

Not much else to say just now. But the wife had a birthday at the end of May and her collection of garden ornaments expanded a little bit. The deer she got last year suddenly found a wife and baby.

 Now, before I go, did I mention the bloody rain which has caused so much trouble in Norway recently?
Well, I'll mention it now. And it's all my fault. You see the wife bought a garden hose, which I was supposed to connect for her. Being a man, I avoided this task as long as I could. Then female pressure was brought to bear one day, and like a fool I did as I was told.
The hose was connected,,,,,,, used once,,,,,,, and it's rained ever since. So here's a pictures of what is responsible for all the flooding in Norway.

Onywye, yun's aa fir enoo.

Bloomin' Bush

Yup, it's that time of year again. That damned bush, which I have previously threatened to introduce napalm into, is now in full bloom. And even a grumpy old devil like me has to admit it looks bright and cheerful on an otherwise dull night.

Peerie Trowie bought a lot of plants last weekend, and she's busy doing something with them.... so here's my latest 'bum shot'.. I honestly don't understand what she sees in these plants, but then again she's not colour blind, so maybe they're not all green/grey weeds in her eyes. ;)

Guess I'll get shot for that pic...

Now for something completely off topic..
While trying to find the above pictures in my computer tonight, I stumbled across the following image, and as far as I can see I haven't posted it here yet, so here goes,,,, explanation will follow......

But, I'm a tad sleepy tonight. So the Guinnness in the oven explanation will just have to wait for another night.

;) ;)

Yun's aa fir enoo

Reflections...

Reflections is a good title for this post.
Mainly because, reflecting on the amount of beer and wine I consumed last night, my bladder made a very definite decision that I should get out of bed at 6am this morning. I'm glad that I had to get up early since it was a stunning morning. Here's a few pictures which explain without words why I love this place.

I actually took 2 shots of the last picture. One with the camera upside down. And flicking between the two images on the computer was fun to see how little difference there was. It's not often that water is seen so calm. And from the point of view of a Shetlander it is a total rarity.
The second last image above is one of a series I took. I stitched them together with a program called Panorama Maker 3, and here's the result.

That image is from 4 pictures which the program spliced together. It still amazes me how good that bit of software is,,, and it's a free download, so google it now. ;)

Not much else happening just now. The wife has become interested in the garden again,,, (grumble, curse, damn),, which meant a visit to the local plantie crub (I can't remember what the English word is,,, but it's where you buy plants) yesterday. I was just driving, since I'm too scared of Bees to venture into one of those places again. I damned near had a heart attack when we visited one last year.
Anyway, a car load of seedlings are sitting ready for planting. And at this moment they are being copiously watered by nature.

We're having a long weekend just now, since Tuesday 17th, is Norway's National Day. I'd rather be working tomorrow, but I have to admit that I'm really impressed with the national spirit that exists in Norway around this time. So I'll just go with the flow, enjoy the break, let my aching old bones heal a bit, and be very proud on Tuesday to be staying in this fantastic country.
Maybe a few pictures then, if this damned rain stops..

Onywye,
yun's aa fir enoo

Ants,,,, It's that time of year again :(

These little buggers appear about this time every year.. Sometimes in small numbers, and sometimes by the thousands, if not millions.. They're harmless, and fun to watch.
Apart from a few hundred which have been sucked into the dust-buster (to feed the odd wasp that suffers the same fate), we've not had too much trouble with them this year.
It's always amusing to see what they're up to, and tonight I caught them in an extremely busy state on one of our small trees. Every emerging blossom on the tree had ants busy eating/harvesting.

 
They were running along every twig.

There seemed to be a basic traffic control system in operation, with the up traffic staying well clear of the down traffic.

I just hope that these ones which were coming down the tree,

were heading for the wife's underwear drawer....

That would give me a chance for a real 'wild' life post ;).

Nothing much else going on here.. Had a lovely walk along the voe yesterday, temperature about 23C. Today the thermometer hit 27C, not the best for working with hot metal, wearing heavy overalls.

Onywye,

yun's aa fir enoo.