Winter comforts...

With winter here, it's nice to start looking for things which make us feel comfortable and warm.
I suppose first thing to mind is a candle burning before the door. But, as this picture shows, the new rose which has sneaked into the frame leaves me completely confused. Don't know when this bush is going to stop blooming.

In search of other things warm, we went to the opening of a new shop in Vestnes yesterday (looking for thermal underwear).
Congratulations to Sport1 for creating such a great retail outlet. Let's hope they can keep the opening day prices available all year round,,, wishful thinking,,, but all the best to them.

But, when it comes to winter warmth in Norway, there is really only one way to go. Food !!!
And there is nothing better than what we had for dinner tonight.
Pinnekjøtt... Served with potatoes, mashed swede, and a weird Norwegian sausage...

For the benefit of Shetlanders reading this, it's a bit like Reestit Mutton, although a little lacking in salt.
For Norwegians reading this, yes I've been converted to this brilliant meal.
And for folk from other places reading this.... You just don't know what you're missing,,, It's heaven on Earth.

The only thing about this traditional Norwegian meal which I've failed to take on board is the idea that it should be accompanied by a glass of Aquavit (a bloody awful spirit drink). I've settled on a small glass of Scotch, as the perfect accompaniment,,, or even a big glass. HIC!!

Yun's aa fir enoo.
Have a good weekend everybody, and remember to set your clocks back and enjoy the extra hour in bed tonight.

Cowboys - Willie Nelson Style

Having posted a couple of comments about cowboy builders. I thought it was only fair to post something about Willie Nelson's thoughts on cowboys.
Damnit, Willie gets it right yet again.
**Please note this video contains some strong language which may offend, and some references to cowboys which aren't actually in the construction industry, so apologies for any offense to any queer cowboys out there**.

Yun's aa fir enoo.

Extreme Norwegian Road Surfaces - Vestnes style.

It's not often I find anything negative to say about Norway, so this is a bit of an unusual rant.
But, I've had enough.
In April the road I drive on every day to work was dug up by a bunch of cowboys. Six months later it still hasn't been reinstated, and here's the evidence:

It's strange that this is the second time in a couple of weeks that I've used the term 'cowboy' in reference to the local construction industry, but until they change their ways I'll continue to call a spade an effin' shovel.

But, looking on the bright side. I made sure I took the picture when a lot of the workers were watching, (note the fact that they were watching and not working), which is half the problem with this particular brand of cowboy, so perhaps they'll get the message and do something about it before somebody damages their car, or some poor old lady trips and falls because of their negligence.
Although perhaps a rant about the workers is maybe a little unfair, without mentioning the governing body who should be doing something about it:
The Vestnes Kommune road and traffic department.

And, just in case it's not fixed soon, I'll keep highlighting this problem until it is fixed...

Rant over fir enoo.

Cold and hot pictures...

It's been so damned cold today that there has been a queue of brass monkeys waiting for welding services...
That's a UK joke, so if you're not from the UK, ignore it.
But, the cold weather has made for some beautiful scenery. Here's the view, looking southeast, from my work this afternoon.

And just a little later I snapped this nice 'moon scene'.

But since everything was looking so cold I thought I'd warm things up a bit with a little melting metal.

Now that has to be categorised as 'adventurous photography'. I was nearly 6 metres off the floor, standing on very little, getting hot sparks in areas which I'd rather not mention, and I still managed to take a picture.

Onywye, yun's aa fir enoo.

Snowing....

The cold spell we were expecting has arrived. Had to scrape the car windows this morning, and listen to the wife telling me to be careful driving without winter tyres on... What she just doesn't understand is that big boys like me like to have a little bit of fun with the snow before we conform to the rules about snow tyres on 1st November, after which time snow gets damned boring.
But, enough about the wife's concern for my safety, or perhaps my stupidity, here's a few images from this afternoon.
11cm of snow on the table before the door.

And the bushes had a good load on them as well.

But the first snow of any winter is nice.
Until you switch on the TV....

Ahhhh! Cleared the path but forgot about the important things. Check the satellite dish... Yup, the LNB wasn't receiving very much through this lot.

Anyway, hope those pictures make you feel that you're warmer, wherever you are. It certainly can't be as cold as it is here.
;)

PS.
Lighting a candle definitely helps make things look a bit warmer, so here's a picture of our 'before the door candle' tonight.

PPS.
Or to make things feel colder. I have just stuffed the first snow of this winter down the wife's back... She's still shivering.... LOL  No doubt there will be payback for that.
Yun's aa fir enoo.

Holiday memories - Aerial pictures.

Eventually got round to having a look at some of the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pictures which I took during the holidays this year that haven't seen the light of day yet.
I found these lurking in a quiet corner of my hard drive, so decided to dust them of and post them here.
These were all taken during take-off from Sumburgh Airport, in Shetland, on our way home to Norway.
The first one is the village of Toab, in Shetland.

Next is a lovely view of the Bay of Quendale and the Quendale Sand which is about 1.6km long.

On the west side of the bay is a headland called Garths Ness. It was just to the left of this image that the Braer oil tanker grounded in 1993.

And the last one, just a little further west, at the south end of Fitful Head, is one of the most evil looking rocky headlands in Shetland. Siggars Ness.

Anyway, hope you enjoy those pictures, and if you dig through the links I've added from Shetlopedia, you'll find a bit more info about the area.

Yun's aa fir enoo.

Just had to have a Willie Nelson moment

This is just classic Willie.
He likes having fun with his friends.

Wonderful & Weird Pictures

Cameras can capture many wonderful images, such as this beautiful sunrise a few days ago.

Or this absolutely weird image from last night. I was trying to take a zoom shot of some 'camping' activity in the mountains south of here, but I ended up with an image which could get UFO enthusiasts excited enough to hug a thousand trees.

I think I'll file that image under 'digital art'.
lol

Yun's aa fir enoo.

Internet reconnected...

Thankfully our internet service has been brought back to normal due to a speedy response from Telenor.
It suffered from a common failure yesterday, known as builderitis.
This syndrome is brought on when local builders employ rejects from the cast of Bonanza and other cowboy series, and let them loose at the controls of excavating machines, with little or no consideration for what may be buried where they are digging.

I think it was the town of Tombstone that had a graveyard called "Boot Hill". Well Vestnes has a bloody big hole in the ground called "Cable Hell".

I was kinda hoping that if they dug long enough they might find an old Viking warrior. Not because it would be of archaeological importance, but in the hope that the warrior might rise against the cowboys and kick their butts.

Hopefully the area will return to normal soon. The building work is for a new shop which will open in 4 weeks time, after which Roy Rodgers, and all the other cowboy builders will have moved on to cause nuisance to some other unsuspecting folk.

Yun's yun rant ower we.
:)

The next unique visitor to this blog......

Will be the 1000th person to be totally confused by the crap I write. LOL
I nearly felt sorry that 1000 people, from 51 countries, have wasted their valuable browsing time by looking at my blog, then I remembered that part of the reason I started the blog was, in my own small way, to promote the beauty of West Norway.
Somewhere through my posts, amongst all the other silly things which define Auld Rasmie (Gamle Rasmus in Norwegian language), there are some great little insights into this area of Norway. And even though I say so myself, I've managed to snap a few good pictures.
So if you're reading this, as the 1000th visitor, or keeping up with me as the first visitor (Hi Sis), I can assure you of one thing.
In future the posts will be no more sensible, but since it's Norway the scenery will always be more beautiful.

And, if the weather forecast is right there could be some snow scenes very soon...

Yun's aa fir enoo.

Changing Seasons?

Autumn is here, but for some reason Summer is still trying to hang on by it's fingernails.
The week before last was cold, then last week our temperature went into the 20s again. The trees aren't confused, they've happily started to turn to their Autumn colours.

Although I don't know what the roses in our garden are thinking. They're still managing to give us the impression that it's Summer.

And of course the Gladioli are still coming with stunning displays, like this one.

With these flowers still hanging on to life so well, there are still a few bugs hanging around them for a feed.

I don't know if this one could be classified as a Bee or a Wasp. We kinda figured out that it looked like a crossbreed. Something resulting from the confused mating of a Bee, a Wasp, and a Bluebottle. Anyway, with the lower temperature now it was very sedate, and since it didn't make any buzzing sound, it didn't scare me. 

Speaking about confused mating, the Sparrows are acting a bit stupid, for the time of year. Maybe it's just this year's fledglings practicing for next year, but we've seen them mating (vigorously), and carrying nesting material into the space under the roofing tiles...  And then there's the Great Tits who have taken a sudden interest in the cigarette ends in the ashtray before the door. I was too late to catch one sitting with a butt in it's beak the other day, but evidence of their interest in their new food source is spread around the ashtray most days..

Stupid birds... but they are very entertaining, and give great pleasure with their antics.

Something which is never confusing here, is the beauty of the scenery. When we were at the local garden centre yesterday, buying bulbs to plant for spring, I got these lovely views over Tresfjorden. The first is looking north towards Molde.

And this one is looking east over the fjord towards Daugstad, and Daugstadsetra, an area which I featured in a previous blog.

Anyway, that's all I can think about for now.

Best wishes to all readers for a happy week ahead.

Yun's aa, a'm geeng

Just a little thought....

After a very hard week at work, when sometimes I thought that my old body was going to let me down, and fail in it's requirement to do what I asked of it.
I realised that there are four very important things which keep me going:
1) My Children
2) My Peerie Trowie (The wife)
3) Norway. The best country on this Earth.
4) My job.

All 4 are special to me, and I guess I sorted them in the way I think about them in terms of importance. But this made me wonder:

"How often do we silly humans sort things into an 'order of importance', when in fact all these things are equally important, since they are the things which define our life."

Onywye, yun's me tocht fir da day.
A'm geeng

West Norway weather is confusing...

I don't think I'll ever understand the climate in this area of Norway.
Last week there was frost on the ground every morning and the temperature stuggled to climb any higher than 10C during the day.

But last night it got warmer and warmer, and by 6am this morning some weather stations in the area were reporting 21C. I even heard a report of 24C in Tresfjord.
This phenomenon is caused by the 'føhn' wind, but whatever it's called, it's damned confusing for an old Shetlander who expects to wear long underwear from September to May.
So, T-shirts out again, but the survival suit is on standby just in case.

Yun's aa fir enoo.

Changes are coming in Tresfjorden

The bridge across Tresfjorden is another step nearer this week.
A barge arrived today to start driving some test piles/pylons/(or whatever they're called). I guess we're in for a period of noise pollution as the pile driver hammers the damned things into place.  Although today 'media pollution' was perhaps a more notable problem. Guess the papers will be worth a look tomorrow.

I have to admit that I still can't see the sense behind this bridge. It eliminates less than 20km of road around the fjord, and it will likely bugger up a perfectly beautiful scene. But maybe I'm just being grumpy, it could be an architectural wonder,,,,, although if it is, I'll eat my hat.

Since I work right next to the crossing point for the bridge I'll no doubt give the construction some blog time when it gets under way properly next year.

Onywye, yun's aa fir enoo.