Funny Videos

 This will be an a-traditional post. Here are some videos we made. We think they are funny. Will you?

On the ferry going from Utne to Kvanndal, knowing I was going to get to meet the amazing fiddler, Alexander Røynstrand. 

What Sue says when things don't go as planned: 

Itsani felt a breeze...

We went on a little Swedish adventure...

That van bites! 

We practiced this one a lot, but captured on film at the Lustrefjord, crossing from Urnes back to Solvorn. 

Trotting...silly...fun! On the ferry back from Urnes. 

Murder of the fizzy water...

The restaurant Istanbul is spotted from the kids hotel room...

The very last night before flying home...

The End

Homeward Bound

Our final day of the Norway tour dawned sunny and clear.  This was a nice change from the intermittent rain clouds that had chased us the previous few days.  Today was a travel day, much like the last two days had been.  Martha had an early bus to Rauland, in Telemark, and the kids and I were headed to the airport around noon. 

Martha says goodbye
(Itsani's photo)

The kids had decided they wanted to see Martha off in the morning the wake up call was earlier than has been the norm for breakfast.  We went down to the buffet breakfast which had a decent gluten-free section and lots of other yummy food.  Breakfast finished, the kids said goodbye to Martha at the curb and I drove her to the bus station.  It was hard to part ways. We had been a team for 21 days and it was strange to have her heading off to a totally different adventure. 

I returned to the hotel expecting to be able to scoop up the kids and have a few hours of walking time around Bergen.  Well, no.  When I entered the girls' room, it looked like a bomb had exploded in each of the suitcases.  That was interesting because the night before Martha and I had seen each bag carefully packed and neatly closed…..  So, the kids got down to packing again, for the last time, and I read a book for a while.  I was not going out of the hotel until we had packed bags and were ready to just scoop them up and check out. 

Lilah in a locker.
(Itsani's photo)

In the hotel lobby were some luggage lockers. Martha had said the day before that she wondered if Lilah could fit in one. Now, with Martha gone, of course this idea had to be tested. And the verdict was...YES! Lilah fit in a luggage locker.

Pavillion
(Lilah's photo)

Eventually, the girls were ready and we left the hotel looking for interesting Bergen sights. The Scandic Torget Bergen is right on the harbor across from Bryggen, the UNESCO site.  In fact, the kids' room had a great view of the houses.  Martha and my room had a great view of a modern alley.  (How is that fair? 😂 And this wasn't the first time. It had happened in Valdres too.) Anyway, we left the hotel and went away from the harbor.  There was a park in walking distance from the hotel and we found a gazebo that the kids explored.  It was the Musikkpaviljongen, often used for concerts.  It was originally built from a kit in 1888. I stood there imagining a brass band playing from the spot at that time.  Cool! Now, it is used in about 600 weddings a year and is available for rent through the city of Bergen. Nifty.

Near the pavilion, we also located the famous fountain with the statue of Ole Bull. Who was he? He was a virtuoso violinist and composer, a native son of Bergen. He was close friends with Edvard Grieg, who made sure that Bull's talent was recognized and developed. Ole Bull toured quite extensively in the US and had a plan to stay there, but that didn't work out. He was both colorful and charismatic and was said to be an incredible performer. The Ole Bull Academy in Voss, where we had our lessons, is named after him.

The kids saw a 7-Eleven and wanted to go inside and check out the differences.  What was discovered? A frozen yogurt machine!  We got two cups, one vanilla, and the other vanilla and strawberry and continued our stroll.  This also continued our tradition of ice cream before lunch!

Manhole cover
(Sue's photo)

I found a manhole cover that had an interesting representation of Bryggen.  You can see the Hanseatic houses, and the ship representing trade perhaps?

Second hand!
(Lilah's photo)

Lilah spotted a second-hand store with a pretty incredible front window "display."

Moomin Shop.
(Maren's photo)

Maren found the Moomin shop! 

Crosswalk button.
(Sue's photo)

As we walked we struggled with traffic signals and activating the crosswalk.  We had not seen any traffic signals in days.  Most of Norway outside of the big cities does not have any traffic signals. Voss only had them in one intersection. There were none in Fagernes or Gol. Røros had just one set that I can recall.

But in Bergen, the crosswalk button was part of a large blue and yellow box, and the button had raised graphics that indicated what type of intersection you were crossing. 

But, the button was not obvious in any way to our American eyes.

Finally it was time to go back to the hotel and head to the airport.  I was a bit stressed about this as we had flown into Oslo and we were leaving from Bergen.  I needed to gas the car on the way and return the rental car.  I asked the kids to look up the phrase “rental car return” so that we could look for the signs.  The gas station was a surprise.  It was under a building, but not underground. It had vacuums for cars, which we could have used to clean the back seat, but the entry was tiny and I was not willing to try to squish our large van in there. 

Bergen airport doesn’t have a car rental return area.  I have never encountered this before.  You park the car in a numbered space for your car rental company and then take the keys upstairs to the terminal where the offices are.  The kids did a great job asking questions of the Hertz guy in the parking garage because none of this was obvious at all. Rental car off our hands, we then tackled the self-check-in kiosks. 

These kiosks were for bag tags and boarding passes. It printed baggage tags for everyone, but it only printed 3 boarding passes.  I was confused.  There were 4 people traveling.  I tried again and it gave me an error message, something about needing to go to the counter.  We got our luggage on its way with some help from the amazing people in fluorescent vests and asked them about the boarding pass issue. They pointed us to counter 3 (we were at 21) where Icelandair had its sole person (!) working on issues.  We got in line and thankfully it was short and we were moving quickly forward. 

When we got to the front, the representative asked to see paperwork that proved I was allowed to take Itsani out of the country.  Only Itsani, mind you.  I was traveling with 3 minors, but only Itsani was flagged.  I have no idea why.  I pulled out my notarized forms that listed me and the flights and we had our final boarding pass.  I asked about my wheelchair assistance to the gate and was told to go to the meeting point. (Huge white column in the middle of this space) and to wait.  We waited about 20 minutes and then I was fed up with waiting.  We had only 1.5 hours till boarding and we wanted time to explore the airport.  I needed to find the tax-free kiosk and the kids needed a bathroom. 

We entered the security area, where we needed to take off our bracelets, necklaces, and belts.  This was annoying, and then my crutches were whisked away for a more in-depth check in a different room.  (Highly suspicious, those walking aids...) We followed the signs for international gates and were dumped straight into the duty-free store.  You couldn’t avoid it.  The kids and I laughed at the huge size candy and perfume and made our escape. 

By this time we were hungry.  We had packed sandwiches for the flight but had not eaten lunch yet.  We found some yogurt for the girls and I had a burger.  It was not the best burger I have ever had but it was tasty.  The kids scouted out the bathrooms, water refill station, and our gate and found us decent seating. Bonus! It was near an outlet.  Out came Duolingo so that our streaks would continue.  Before we knew it, it was time to board.

Our instrument luck continued to hold as no one blinked an eye at the kids' fiddle cases.  We successfully got them into one overhead bin and closed the hatch.  Next stop Iceland! We arrived in Iceland and miracle of miracles, there was wheelchair assistance at the plane door.  (You'll understand this comment if you've read the tale of our outbound journey.) Our helpful guide navigated us through the airport.  Passport control asked about the paperwork that allowed me to travel with 3 minors and I had to pull it out and show them the notarized forms again.  We arrived at our gate with about 10 minutes to spare before boarding. 

Our helpful guide got on the radio and asked for an “ambo”.  It turns out our plane was at a bus gate.  This is not unusual in Iceland. Tourism has grown exponentially and airport construction cannot keep up. That said, a bus gate and crutches are not a good mix! Our support was calling for a special vehicle that would take us to the plane instead.  This vehicle is kind of like a box on wheels. The whole seating area lifts up with a scissor lift. Two other passengers with wheelchairs appeared and asked for help and we all were escorted to the ambo when it arrived.  I was getting a bit stressed as the first bus had arrived and they were starting to load passengers into it.  It turned out fine, as we drove away while it was still loading. But how did they get us in the plane? We were scissored up.  Maren wasn’t looking out the windows and was very surprised when she realized we had gone from ground level to plane door level with no warning.  There was a moment of laughter when our driver knocked on the plane door and... no one answered. It took a few minutes for the crew to open the door and then suddenly we were on the plane!  The buses (it turns out that it took 3 buses to bring all the passengers to the plane) had not arrived yet. It was easy to get our fiddles tucked away, and my crutches compacted and in a bin before other passengers started to arrive.  The loading was so slow, that I had time to go to the bathroom with no one in the aisles.  The flight was uneventful.

Home in Seattle!  Due to the time change, it was only two hours after we had left Bergen.  Of course, that's not really true, but that is what the clock said.  Lo and behold, our second miracle happened - wheelchair assistance was at the door of the plane again.  Our support person was wonderful, stopping at a bathroom for everyone, and waiting while our luggage took forever (almost an hour) to arrive on the baggage carousel.  Passport / Customs was quick.  We were questioned about gifts, but after I said what the spending allowance was we got waved through. Hello parents! Most of the parents were waiting at the international arrivals area. The kids got connected to family and our tour was over. It was a little anti-climatic.

In the end, this was a great experience, and I'm really glad that I got to go. Keep in mind that there is one more post coming, and really, you don't want to miss that. 😜

- Sue

PS from Martha:

Tours are always hard work, and in my experience, all three have been worth the effort. Of course, there are always difficulties, but they get sorted, and you move on. I owe a huge thank you to Sue, who handled many tasks that are outside of my wheelhouse and was an extraordinary travel companion, sounding board, problem solver, and friend. I also owe a huge thanks to the kids, who were flexible, hilarious, tired, helpful, considerate, curious, and a solid team. Then there is a thank you to all the people who contributed to our being able to go, from Anne at Viking Travel in Petersburg, Alaska to donors who gave financial support, friends who listened to me in the harder times, to the Sons of Norway Foundation who gave a grant. The list of thank yous in Norway is long, but especially huge thanks to Arne Anderdal in Voss, and to Mari Eggen in Røros. Both went far and beyond to organize and to help when there were issues.

Last, but certainly not least, a huge thank you to the Lilla families for believing the dream, watching it grow, picking up loose ends, raising money, giving time, supporting practicing and all the other small things you contributed for the whole. Your kids are a joy! 

Last Day in the Van

By now getting all of our junk loaded in the van was easy - we knew how it all fit and just did it. Suitcases are now fatter, though, it seems...must be the shopping we've done. But I can't give any of that away - surprises from Norway are coming home to Seattle, for sure. Today's agenda -- to see the famous stave church at Urnes, then to cross the Sognfjord by ferry, cross the mountains, and drop into Voss. From there we go to Bergen to the hotel. 

We were concerned about the ferry that would take us to Urnes. It's very small! So, we busted chops to be there early, and had breakfast in the van. Now, Sue had been collecting license plates, trying to get as many as possible. She had gotten more than half of the EU countries as a matter of fact, plus several non EUs. As we pulled in, there was a motorcyclist in front of us. He had Swiss plates! Huzzah!

Now remember, that ferry is really small. I know from the last time I did the ferry crossing that they cram vehicles in. It's a little like car Tetris. So, we're sitting there minding our own business, when a tour bus, like a FULL SIZE BUS backs into the lane next to us (you have to back onto the boat). Uh oh. We didn't think it would fit on the boat. Sue skillfully backed us on, with Martha quickly pulilng in a side mirror so that it didn't get taken off, and a little motorhome from Finland backed in next to us, with their Sharpei popping up in the passenger seat every so often. And what do you think happened next? !!! Check this video, taken by Sue: 

DANG! Can you see how close he is to the wall? Mere inches!!

It's a short but scenic ride across the fjord to Urnes then you offload. You drive up a very skinny road uphill that is filled with silly pedestrians who don't pay any attention to the fact that they are walking on a one-lane road with two-way vehicle traffic including gigantic tour buses!! 

Urnes Stave Church
(Maren's photo)

We got our tickets, it started to rain, and then we had to wait outside the church for our guide. OK, that was funny too. Our guide was probably a native French speaker. He (seriously!) sounded just like Inspector Clouseau. I had to stifle a giggle. But, starting with the panels on the outside of the church, he gave a lot of interesting details. 

The church is not very large, and is really not used much anymore, though the burial ground is. However, it's not allowed to have a funeral there, so you do that on the other side of the fjord, and then the body is brought over for burial. Only locals are allowed to be buried here. 

These panels on the side of the church are very, very old, from the Viking Age. The symbols in them are from that time period as well, and they show how the Vikings adapted and absorbed from other places. The two panels closest in the photo are a portal, a door that used to be in actual use. It was moved here at some point when the church was having a reconstruction phase, historically speaking. 

On the door panels, check the left one carefully. You may be able to see a creature near the bottom that is biting a giant serpent. This is sometimes interpreted as a reference to good over evil, or the triumph of Christianity over heathens if you will. 

Church door
(Itsani's photo)

The location of the church is not the same as the oldest ruins found. Those are up the hill just a little on a knoll.  It's unclear why the church was moved, but it was also done with more modern construction this time - a stone foundation helped to keep the wood dry which is a large part of why we can see the church today!  

You might have noticed that the door looks like it has been painted, and some come off. That is correct! It's painted with a kind of tar which is excellent in creating water resistance. But, it is highly flammable, so you can image what the problem is there. They still use this method today, and it is repainted about every five years. The church is due for a new coat next year.  You can smell it too! It has a kind of smoky smell. 

The front door to the church has beautiful ironwork. It's a little difficult to see the detail, but it's pretty amazing. The bottom of the door has a beam across it, worn smooth by time and travelers, no doubt. These small details are really incredible. 

Staves and carvings.
(Itsani's photo)

Inside are more details. Here you see the tops of several of the staves (those are the posts that hold the thing up).  Each one is carved differently but with symbols that were appropriate at the time. Above them do you see the three small squares? These were holes to let in light. You can imagine it must have been pretty dark in there! 

Everywhere you look there is something to see.  

The pulpit is rather ornate, and is colorful too. If you look closely at the pews, you can see some in front that appear to be boxed in. That is correct. These were purchased by wealthy families, so they had a sort of "private pew." 

Also in this photo you can just see a couple of boards adjoining the left most stave. The church was not structurally sound, and these are braces to keep it from falling in. I think at at 1000 a little help is ok, don't you? 

I'll finish this part of the day with a little more history. In the heyday of stave churches, there were more than 1300 in Norway. Only 28 remain, some number of these are in the Valdres and Hallingdal valleys. We saw them out windows as we drove. The stave churches disappeared for many reasons. Top thoughts on the matter are that communities grew, and needed bigger spaces as more and more people became Christian. In addition, once they spent all the money building bigger churches, there was no money to maintain the old stave churches. So, they were either burned down or left to fall into disrepair and disappear. 

Here's a comparison - this is the much larger Hoppersand stave church, which we saw a couple of hours later after our third ferry crossing of the day. This one is huge, but it's largely a reconstruction; the original dates from 1130. 

We took the ferry back across Lustrefjord to Solvorn, where we had seen the motorcyclist, and then drove along the Sognfjord's northern edge to get to Hella, where we got on the big ferry. This took us over to Vangsnes, and then we drove over yet another mountain pass. It was lovely, but by and large, the kids were asleep. 

Coming down the other side though...that's a different story. The road is a set of hairpin turns. Now imagine, you come over the crest of a ridge, just about where the blue letter "e" is on route 13. Then, as you come around that first hairpin, there is a HUGE waterfall blasting down. The bummer is there is no viewpoint there! 

Sendefossen
(Lilah's photo)

This is Sendefossen, and it plunges about 90m down, that's about 300 feet. I might add that not many people get the view we got - this road is closed most of the year, and open in the summer months only. But, that is true of a lot of the places we drove! (oh those tenacious fiddlers in a van!)

Sendefossen at the bottom
(Itsani's photo)

We continued down, and here is another photo of the falls, where you can see the whole thing. 

From here we drove back into Voss, completing a very large circle around Norway. We stopped at the Akademiet so that I could drop off my instruments and some things that Arne would keep for me until I returned from Sweden in August. (SAS is notoriously stinky about instruments, and I didn't want to risk not being able to fly...) And then we were back in Bergen, checking into our hotel on the Fisherman's Wharf, just across from the Hanseatic Houses. 

We did a little organizing, and then went to a delicious Indian restaurant for dinner. It was just down the street from the hotel, and oh boy, the food was delicious! The beetroot pakoras were extraordinary and were something I had never seen before. Yummy chutneys, delicious curries, and papadoms. OH YES! 

There was a gathering in the kids' room to have our last circle, play cards, and just hang out together. Then it was bedtime. I would be leaving first, on an 8:55AM bus bound for Telemark. Sue and the kids would fly home to Seattle later in the day. It was time. 

Now, there are to be two more blog posts. There will be one for the last day, but then there will be a rather special one if Blogger cooperates. You'll want to check it out - it's the Funny Videos page. 

- Martha

Lom and Sognfjellet

 Our plan was to take the long way back to Bergen. It was planned that way so that we could not only drive the highest road in Northern Europe, but also so that we could take in the Urnes Stave Church, but that would wait until the following day. 

Lilah in her happy place. 
(Martha's photo)

If you have faithfully followed the blog, then you might be surprised to know that it was kind of sunny leaving Røros. And so we left, kids shortly asleep in the van, luggage, fiddles, backpacks and lunch crammed in every spare space. Before going to sleep, Lilah was in her happy place. We had decided that the kids could sleep most of the day if they wanted, and that we would only wake them if something terrifically cool was outside. 

This proved to be a pretty good strategy, and they all slept most of the way to Lom, about 4 hours from Røros. They woke in fits and starts, but this photo is pretty typical. 

Nothing like a nap. 
(Martha's photo)

There were some things we didn't wake them for, like these ski jumps which I think are in Folldal. They're actually kind of famous. 

Ski jumps, probably Folldal.
(Martha's photo)

Rolls Royce from Estonia.
(Martha's photo)

It took some time, but we finally got to Lom. Here came a change. We had been used to using toilets in grocery stores or gas stations, and they were free. But, in Lom you had to pay to use the toilet. It cost about $2. What a bummer! Maren and I were coming back from the potty run when we spotted this in the parking lot of the Lom stave church, where we were meeting everyone else. Yes, friends, it is a bright blue Rolls Royce, with an Estonian license plate. While it was a beautiful car, it was also huge, and I could not imagine it on the curvy and narrow Norwegian roads. Eeesh! 

Lom Stave Church
(Sue's photo)

The kids and Sue went in the church. I had seen it before, so I did not go again. I used the time to do planning for on down the road. But, there were of course pictures! As the gang went in, they realized that the folks selling tickets had been at Strunkeveko! 

Look closely at this one. Can you find Hugh, Sue's travel companion? She took pictures of him in many places, but he was especially excited to see the church, I think. 

This church is quite old. Testing on the wood has shown that it was cut around 1158, but it is suspected that the church was built slightly later. But, there was an earlier church on this site as well. This church has been renovated multiple times, and more parts added. But, the structure from the 1100s still is part of the church. 

The inside is highly decorated, with a beautiful pulpit, and painting on the ceiling as well. You can also see the staves in the photo below. This church is not large, its capacity is right around 300, but it is lovely. 

Interior of Lom Stave Church
(Sue's photo)

Back in the van, we headed for the scenic route known as Sognfjellet. It is the highest road in northern Europe, and it progesses through a pass that has been used for centuries. This is evident because of special cairns near the road. These are very tall, and typically have a log sticking out of the top. These cairns marked the way for centuries, long before there were automobiles crossing the pass. This was a trade route, from Lom to the Sognfjord. 

On a clear day, the views are absolutely breathtaking. But, as seemed the norm for this trip, we were in the mountains and it was rainy and low clouds. Unfortunately, that meant no views of Gauldhøpiggen, Norway's tallest mountain at 8,100 feet. But, other views were still astonishing, and we got out of the van for short walks multiple times. 

This picture is on the upslope, coming from Lom. I like it because you can see the road going off into the distance. At this stop there were also waterfalls. 

(By gum the video loaded! Huzzah!)

Here is a huge glacier you can see from the road. Look closely. The clouds look fluffy, and then below them the texture changes. That is glacier. 

At this point it was, in fact, raining, windy, and I'd guess the outside temperature to be in the mid 40s, but the windchill to be a bit cooler. 

This is the same lake, and it's near the summit. There is a hotel there that I really wanted to stay in with the kids, it's lovely, and not too pricey. But, the timing didn't work with getting us back to Bergen. I guess that is left for another trip!  We did, however, go out for a quick walk along the rocks and by the lake near the hotel. There is a footbridge that connects the little rock patches with each other, and here we are coming back. Listen to the wind. 

Well, it must be a good day for loading video. (Picture author shaking head. It's all very mysterious about why sometimes it loads and sometimes it doesn't...)

We drove down the other side to the fjord, and drove along it for some time. We were headed for Haflso, where we had rented an AirBnB for the night. It turned out to be a great spot for us, huge living spaces, lots of bedrooms. And, it had a view of the fjord, which I could enjoy from bed. Now that's amazing! 

We had pizza for dinner, and then we worked on recordings for NRK. We finally got those done, and now they have been given to John Ole Morken. We await information about when we will be on the radio. But, for those of you, Readers, who are Sons of Norway members, watch for the autumn magazine from the national organization. There should be an article and photos in there featuring us and the tour. 

Tomorrow is our last day before the kids and Sue go back to Seattle. It should be a fun day...many ferries, a stave church, incredible waterfalls, and a nice hotel with a hot shower at the end. Did I mention a planned last dinner at an Indian restaurant? 

- Martha

A Deep Mine and a Tall Barn

 It has come to our last day in Røros, a day for seeing some sights and performing twice! After this, it's on the road for two days, sightseeing along the way, to Bergen. From there, it will be homeward bound! 

The first thing on the agenda was a last lesson with Mari Eggen. The kids worked on the two tunes we had learned earlier, plus styling for a springleik, then one more new pols got taught. By the end of the lesson, everyone was excited for the evening's performance, where we would play together with local kids, and with the Glåmos Spelemannslag. Woo hoo! 

After lunch, we headed to Olav's Gruve, a mine that is open for visiting. It has been preserved as it was when mining operations ceased in 1972. Mary B had arranged a tour and for us to play there. We had some GPS trouble on the way, it kept trying to send us up a driveway, and I knew that wasn't right as I had been to the mine before. So, when we arrived, late, we got hustled through ahead of two regular groups. We got our hard hats and down we went. 

There are actually two parts to this mine, the older section began operations in the 17th century, that one is closer to the surface. The older part was worked in the 20th century and is deeper. It's a good walk down into the mine, several staircases and a downhill tramp on muddy, wet paths. An interesting factoid -- although the mine is not currently running, the Røros Mining Company, which owns the mine, is actively mining in other places. They left all of their equipment in Olav's Gruve so that it could potentially be reopened. 

A cart has arrived at the dumping shaft.
(Lilah's Photo)

 

On the way to the Miners' Hall we saw the dumping shaft. Rock would be hauled here, then put doen a 60 foot shaft. From there it was smashed several times more, then removed for the smelting process. 

We also saw the miners' break room. Of course, they took their lunches to work with them, and in this room, they could eat and nap. The chairs are very clever. The seats fold down in two ways. First, you can fold it so that you have a little table on which to have your lunch. Second, you can recline the seat so that you can catch a nap. However, you wouldn't want to nap too long because the foreman's station was right outside the door. The mine is cold - about 40 degrees - but this little room was heated. 

Lilah and Itsani in the miners' likely repose.
(Martha's Photo)

We finally reached the Miners' Hall where we woul dperform. We spent several minutes setting up. This meant the usual moving of stuff like chairs, but also opening our cases so that our fiddles could adjust to the wet, cold space. When we finally went to tune up it was  a mess. I was glad we were not playing any hardingfele! We also removed rocks from the stage so that there could be dancers. Then two tour groups came through. We played several tunes, and here's a polka. 

Hooray! Today the video loaded... Sometimes I don't understand my tech. 

On the way out we had a chance to get some cool pictures. Here are a couple of artsy samples! 

Flouride on walls. 
(Lilah's Photo) 

Refecting pool. 
(Itsani's photo)

We went home for dinner. For some reason the chef divided us by age. The kids had nachos. Sue and I had reindeer stew. Somehow that doesn't quite seem fair... Our stew was, in fact, delicious! And then we put on our polo shirts, and our black slacks, and headed out to Glåmos for our last show of the tour. It would be at the Fjøs Akademiet (the Academy in the Barn) in Glåmos.

The Lilla Onstage.
(Photo by Lindsay Winfield-Chislett)

The Lilla with Mari Eggen and her students.
(Photo by Tom Sears)

The Fjøs Akademiet is the brainchild of Lindsay Winfield-Chislett, a British flutist, choir director, and all-around interesting person. When I saw the Fjøs Akademiet last year, with Mari Eggen, I knew it was the right place for the Lilla. It's the top half of a huge barn, with superior acoustics, and perfect light. Yes! The evening had been well advertised, and it was a free event. Lindsay was selling some of her delicious baked goods - she runs a little cafe there on Wednesdays. (Her GF treats are HEAVEN). I made a mid-evening head count at got over 50 people! 

The Lilla and Glåmos Spelemannslag.
(Photo by Tom Sears)

The program order was Lilla first, and we played one tune alone and then played a couple of tunes we learned from Mari, then one more on our own. Next came Mari and her kids, and then came the Glåmos Spelemannslag. 

We got to play along with them and it was incredible! I could feel the rhythm/styling of my tunes changing, and I could finally understand how the swing really goes for this dance. So very cool!! And there were a lot of different instruments, citra, guitar, bass, accordion...so fabulous! 

(Once again your intrepid blogger is confuzled...the first video loaded fine, but this one would not. Giant sigh.) Here's a link to Dropbox so you can hear the fabulous music provided by the Lilla and the Glåmos Spelemannsag. 

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/qvsw91tk4mqgtav6tv404/Ferags-with-Glamos-Short.mov?rlkey=xf9vycb7z2osmkzcdx2ju4rlq&dl=0

Finally, the Mari Eggen Quintet took the stage, and they were so fine! It really couldn't have been much better!

Three Seattle girls dancing together. 
(Sue's Photo)

When we were done, the most amazing thing happened. The kids all started hanging out together. This was my dream life, and I was incredibly happy. They danced, played Farkle, and just were kids. It was the BEST. In the photo at the right you get a rare look at Maren, Itsani and Lilah dancing together. How cool is that? 

Lilah, Itsani, Lindsay, her helper, Maren.
(Martha's Photo)

At the end of the evening, we presented Lindsay with a Lilla T-shirt. She became an official member of a very special group. The young lady on Lindsay's right is a helper, hanging out just for fun. 

And then it was time to load the van with our tired selves, the fiddles, and miscellaneous bits and pieces, and head home to pack. 

But it didn't quite go like that...

Our magical friends. 
(Martha's photo)

We were driving down the road when what to our wondering eyes did appear, but a trio of bucks, so very near. Their antlers were magnificent, they were all mature bucks, and they came very, very close to the van. I just stopped in the middle of the road, we put the windows down, and just watched and took pictures for several minutes. It was magical, and it felt as if the reindeer had come to wish us well as we turned our eyes homeward. 

- Martha