Valfart II

During the after-performance conversation, someone mentioned having driven past the "Her trefte Per Gynt Bøygen" (Per Gynt met the Bøyg here) memorial stone on their drive up to Venabu from the north east. I had read about the stone in Mørkhagen's book, and have been dying to see it, so I made a spontaneous decision to try to find it myself, despite not having a map of the area with me. In the morning I checked out the maps in the hotel reception to get a rough idea, but could find no concrete indication of where the stone lies.

I took off in a northeasterly direction across the Rondane mountains any way, and was richly rewarded with spectacular views and almost no other vehicles on the roads. It was so beautiful and desolate crossing the plateau, and then the drive down into what becomes Østerdalen was steep and windy and beautiful in its own way. I drove to Enden and then into Atanbrua, where I stopped at a store to get directions. Unfortunately none of the staff there had ever heard of the stone, and the woman I spoke with the most seemed a little offended that I would be asking about Peer Gynt, since he "belongs" over in Gudbrandsdalen. Apparently Knut Hamsun did some writing in Atnabru, and of course it's also where the painter Harald Sohlberg did his famous painting, Vinternatt i fjellene.

With no more guidance than that I decided to make my way northward toward Folldal, figuring that the stone had to be somewhere along that stretch of road. Again, it was a beautiful drive along Atnasjøen, a long, riverlike lake with a marsh area at the northern end. The first thing I came upon was the Sohlberg viewpoint, which was apparently where he did the painting. It was, predictably, spectacular:

 What I hadn't expected, though, was how cool the viewpoint structure itself was. It's a very modern but organic and sinewy design in concrete that snakes around the trees:

The architect is Karl-Viggo Hølmebakk. There's an article about it in Norwegian with more pictures here.

Encouraged by how cool this spot was, I forged on, still not knowing whethere the memorial stone was going to show up. After a few kilometers I pulled off into a roadside stop with a sign and map, but again there wasn't any information. About to give up and in need of a bathroom break, I thought I'd just go a couple more kilometers and see. Much to my delight, I came upon another supermodern rest stop with a very elegant set of bathrooms and big maps and information posters on the local trails:

I went to the bathroom, looked around but didn't find any info on the memorial stone. The area along the river looked really pretty though, so I decided to take a little walk along the river up to the bridge across to the trailhead. It was so much like parts of western Washington, along the Nooksack river of my childhood. The river bank combined sand and round stones, and the colors of the forest, water and sky all felt just right. When I got to the bridge I noticed a standing stone, but it didn't have an inscription, so I turned onto the bridge and walked across. It was pretty muddy on the other side (duh, it's a marsh), so I didn't do much more than turn around and walk back across. As I was walking across I noticed a really cool looking farm on the hill on the other side, so I walked past the standing stone to get a better angle for a picture:

I snapped this picture then turned back around to head back to the car, and what do you know, this cultural wonder appeared right in front of me:

 I can't explain  how elated I was to have finally located it, or how hilarious I find it. Think about it; it's a memorial sign erected to commemorate the (fictional) meeting between the (fictional) "historical" Per Gynt (the legendary figure upon whom Henrik Ibsen based his fictional Peer Gynt) and the (equally fictional) supernatural figure of the Bøyg. It's even funnier that the marker had apparently been moved here from another site that was presumed to be less authentic. Oh brother!

Unfortunately, the stone has taken some pretty bad damage, and is no longer totally legible. Bummer, as it really is one of the quirkiest and coolest things I've ever seen.

Valfart I

For years I have been meaning to attend an outdoor performance of Ibsen's Peer Gynt at Gålåvatnet. It's an annual event that has been going on for decades. This year I finally managed to get my act together; I went this week and it was such a fun trip. KE refused to go, since for him it would just be something related to my work (?!), so I decided to make a quick and dirty and super efficient trip out of it by myself. I found a package deal from Venabu "mountain hotel" that included a ticket, a room, meals, and a guided bus ride to and from the performance. What's more, for this particular performance the guide was going to be a guy called Sverre Mørkhagen, who has written a book about the "historical" person upon whom Ibsen based his character. I have quite a few bones to pick with Mørkhagen's book, so I was really curious to meet him.

It was a long drive up to Ringebu in Gudbrandsdalen, made longer by massive construction along the E6 and pouring rain all the way until about Lillehammer. I tried to take it easy and stop a few times, most notably in Espa, where they claim to sell the world's best buns:

Boller are of course a mainstay of the Norwegian diet, and probably one of the main reasons obesity is on the rise here.

I got to Ringebu well before check-in time so I decided to drive a little further to a town called Vinstra, which is the main center for the Per (not Peer) Gynt Festival. That was a disappointment, as there really wasn't anything going on other than the tourist office, which sells t-shirts, books, and gives out lots of brochures. This is apparently a very geographically diverse event, and you have to be at the right place at the right time to catch something; you can't just roll into town and dive into a festival atmosphere.

So naturally I figured it was time to head up to the hotel and maybe get in a little walk before the day's events started in earnest. Here's the hotel from the back. Notice the slate roof. Love those so much, and they're all over in Gudbrandsdalen.

The hotel is at about 930 meters above sea level, so it's right at the tree line, and in the middle of a spectacular high mountain plateau. There are dozens of cabins scattered around in a huge basin surrounded by peaks:

This is a pretty open area with a bunch of dirt roads and a lot of privately owned cabins, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that even here the characteristic trail markers maintained by the Norwegian Tourist Association were all over:

I've always loved these cheerful red T's smeared in thick paint on rocks along the way. They're pretty frequent, as bad weather can completely disorient a hiker in no time.

I walked for just an hour, then did some writing and knitting and took a little nap before dinner. I showed up at the dining hall five minutes before the doors were to open and was shocked to find fifty people standing outside waiting, including two women a mere 2 inches from the doors. They all appeared to be over 60, so I stuck out like a sore thumb in my youthfulness (!) and non-couple-ness.

The guided bus tour was an enormous disappointment. The guide did nothing but summarize the plot of Peer Gynt, as if all 55 people on that bus had never read the text before. He was late, said next to nothing about the stuff that's in his book that he's supposedly an expert on, and he droned on about the plot, forgetting the names of the characters, messing up quotations when he tried to produce them (from memory?), and in general gave a really unprofessional lecture. Not recommended!

Thankfully, the performance itself lived up to all the hype. My only criticism is that the sound system was almost unbearable at times --they had the sound cranked up and their was weird feedback between the actors' voices (which I could hear in the 8th row) and the speakers (which were at times deafening). Oh, and the fact that the actors playing Peer and Mor Aase screamed the entire first scene of act I, but then they all seem to do that. I would so love to see a Peer Gynt where the director attempted to do something innovative with the aggression in that scene. Could it, for example, be played quietly, with clenched teeth? Or anything, really, other than the screaming.

But all in all, I was totally won over by the charm of the peformance. The trolls and especially Den Grønnkledde were fantastic, and Solvejg's voice seemed to fill the entire mountains. So beautiful. I didn't take many pictures, but here are two:

This is, of course, the arrival of the trolls. And then here is Peer in an exchange with Anitra in act four:

 

The palm tree and cadillac and ukulele were hilariously incongruous in the beautiful mountain landscape.

Thankfully the tour guide stayed quiet for most of the ride back to the hotel. There was an hour-long conversation over a late night meal. By then I mostly just ignored what he said.

I'll post tomorrow about the return trip, which is some ways was even more exciting (to me) and fun (to me) than the trip up and the performance.

Rips

It's red current season here in Norway! It is always a joy to see these cheery, sour little berries hiding coyly under the leaves:

To celebrate, I made a batch of scones using the recipe from a blog called Kitchen Sketches, which is maintained by another American expat living in Europe. The scones turned out great, and I really recommend the recipe. I had a hard time getting a picture since they kept getting gobbled up:

I had to be quite firm with my family so as to be able to take this snapshot! I wasn't sure they'd work, as I didn't use fresh berries. Instead, I took a cup of the leftovers from making a small batch of red current jelly. But even with all the juice drained out of them, these eviscerated berries still tasted juicy and flavorful in the scones.

The jelly itself is so pretty that I had to put it in a cut glass jelly bowl:

Not sure that it turned out as well as last year, as I think I may have over cooked it. Can you over cook jelly? The drips off the spoon didn't look at all like the picture in my cookbook, but eventually, after about 45 minutes I just decided that it simply had to be done, no matter how it dripped, and indeed it seems to be setting up nicely. With such a small amount (4 cups of berries makes 2 cups of juice which ends up being about a cup and a half of jelly), we're just going to use it fresh and not bother with canning. Since I didn't have a jelly strainer, I decided to make one yesterday. Neither KE nor my Mom thought it was going to work, but both grudgingly admitted that my improvised frame and strainer ended up doing the trick. I felt totally vindicated about my simple design:

It's something that I'll probably only use one day a year, but even so it's nice to have a piece of equipment that does the job right.

With my Mom visiting this week there's been lots of opportunity to sit and chat and knit, so I've made a lot of progress on the Bulgarian Pleated Skirt. There are only about 2 centimeters to go before binding off, but I can't resist putting up a photo to show the progress:

Such a clever pattern. It's been a gas to knit, and I think it will be great to wear this fall with wool tights, a wool sweater, and tall boots. I just wish I could capture the color, since the green is so much richer than this.

Terror

I'm very shaken and disturbed by the terrorist acts perpetrated here in Norway yesterday, still trying to digest what has happened: The center of government was bombed, and over 80 teenagers and young adults at a Labor party summer camp were hunted down and killed by a man dressed in a police uniform while they tried to run, hide, or swim to safety. The alleged perpetrator--a 32 year old white male--has been arrested and charged. He appears to have been acting alone. Based on Internet forum posts at www.document.no he appears to have resented the new, "multicultural" Norway, though there's no way to know his exact motivations for these crimes.

We heard the bomb go off at around 3:25pm. KE and I were sitting together at the kitchen table and felt the house shake. We thought at first that someone in the neighborhood was using dynamite to blast a foundation in the bedrock, but there was no warning beeping, and the explosion lasted too long. I had been only a couple blocks from the site at 2:00pm, shopping with a friend.

Impulsiv

Usually I'm pretty monogamous when it comes to knitting. I don't like to start new projects when I have one going, and I've really been enjoying working on the Still Light tunic. So why is it, then, that I rather sheepishly have to report that I cast on for a totally new project today?

I've been thinking a lot about both dresses and skirts, and there are many fun patterns on Ravelry. While browsing around I came across something called "Bulgarian knitted skirt"; it's a free Japanese pattern blogged here, though thankfully someone on Ravelry was generous enough to translate it to English. Not quite sure why this is considered Bulgarian? At any rate, it's a fabulously simple A-line pleated skirt knitted in fingering weight yarn--perfect for some of that yarn I bought in Denmark last summer. Somehow I can't feel guilty about wantonly casting on something new when it's yarn that I have on hand. Much better than ordering new yarn, which I confess I've been a little tempted to do recently.

Here's what the start looks like:

(The color should be greener than this. Couldn't adjust it to save my life.)  There's a hem (about 3/4 inch) at the top for an elastic waistband. Then you start in on 1x1 rib for 12 cm, followed by an increase row, followed by 2x2 ribbing, then another increase row followed by 3x3 ribbing, then finally another increase row followed by a section of 4x4 ribbing. No counting, no thinking, just acres and acres of ribbing.  So addicting.

I don't think I ever posted a picture of the needle holder ("nålhus") that I bought a few months ago for my darning needles. It has to be one of my all-time favorite purchases:

If you are a knitter with a bunch of darning needles stashed away in various places, but you can never find one, you really, really need one of these. I got mine at Husfliden in Oslo for about 65 kroner. Well worth it!

We worked inside this morning for a couple of reasons. E woke up vomiting again (poor guy!!! We're really stumped as to why he's had such stomach trouble this summer), and it was pouring rain. I started out by putting up shelving in our storage room ("bod"), and then later in the day KE took apart more of the kitchen in our bedroom (!) in preparation for installing closets (yes, we have no closets). Here's a shot of the "bod" (though I warn you, it's not much to look at):

The shelves to the right and the drawer unit are part of the former kitchen. Now we just have to organize all the stuff that will be going back in!

My Mom arrives at the end of the week for a short visit and we're all really excited to see her. It would be great if we can get some of these indoor projects taken care of by the time she gets here, though that may be overly ambitious.

Rolig

We've continued to have lovely weather, and are into a really nice family "staycation" groove now. E has really mellowed out and has been such a delight to be with for weeks and weeks now. He's so much more able to get absorbed in playing on his own than ever before--he's acting more like the classic only child who is able to entertain himself, and when we're interacting with him there are far fewer tantrums and power battles. He's such a neat kid!

Today we took a break from painting and staining projects. While the boys went to the beach, I stayed in the shade (3-day headache...) and re-read Sherman Alexie's Indian Killer, which I liked even better the second time through. I really recommend it. I picked it up again because over the past few days I've been fixating on, of all things, serial killers in the Pacific Northwest. It kind of hit me the other day that my entire childhood was affected by a low level background of the violent torture, rape, abuse, and murder of young women at the hands of men like Ted Bundy, Randy Woodfield, and Gary Rigdway. I started compiling dates of activity and names (mostly from this old article from the Seattle PI), and counting Oregon and British Columbia, there were almost forty serial killers (depending on how you define the term) operative in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s in the Northwest. It's so weird, especially since otherwise the murder rate in the region is noticably lower than other places, apparently. This article attempts to determine whether there really are more serial killers in the Northwest per capita, and if so why. Nothing conclusive, of course. This is actually something I think I want to write about in some capacity...

On a more wholesome (or at least domestic) note, I made vegetable soup earlier today, and right now I have a basic yellow cake in the oven. I went with a recipe from Bakerella's website (I think she and her "cake pops" are something of an internet phenom, but it was the first time I've actually looked at the site).


I have some before and after shots of our front door, which has changed fairly dramatically through the magic of paint. Before:

(Sanded, so even shabbier than it usually looked, and taped). Most of the royal blue door and ochre trim is overexposed, so you only get the true look of the color combination at the top of the door.  And then after:

Same house color (it just looks really different with different lighting), but now with a periwinkle or cornflower blue door, and white trim. At first KE hated the lighter blue, but I think it's growing on him. 

Still knitting away on Still Light. It's a great mindless summer project. I also ordered a color card of Istex Létt-Lopi and the pattern for Kedja from a Norwegian supplier called Birgirsdottir. Very happy with the quick service, and enamored with the fabulous color selection. It will be hard to decide on the colors for my tunic!

Tunika

Little bit of progress to report on the Still Light Tunic:

I finally made it past the yoke raglan increases last night! It is such a relief now to have 5 full centemeters of knitting with no increases. Surely I can't mess that up?

The tunic thing really has me hooked! I am contemplating knitting two more sweater dresses this summer and fall. One is a dress called Kedja (that "d" should be an "eth") made out of Istex Léttlopi. I've seen a really fantastic version of this on Ravelry done in a really soft brown (a sand or dun color) with natural for the contrast color. It looks great when the contrast is less stark. The other is so heavily modified in my mind that there's really no point in posting a link.