Putte i Blåbärsskogen: January 2011

Well, another year has gone by and we find ourselves much farther north than we were at this time last year. I guess we like extremes. The temperature difference is about 40 degrees Celsius. This year we celebrated Christmas with Karen's parents in our new home, Norway. We are renting a lovely historically-built house near Birkeland, which is about 20 kilometers north of Kristiansand which lies near the southernmost point of the country.

View Nesset in a larger map

In October we began settling in and even though there are still many boxes to unpack and a few more rooms to organize, we are really starting to feel at home. The temperatures have been pretty frigid (down to -26C/-15F with about 40cm of snow on the ground), so sometimes it's a full-time job to keep up with the heating which we do mostly by wood because the electricity prices are pretty atrocious.

House from the front with landlord's car.

We love our house. It's larger than we need, but the price is right, the setting is gorgeous and it's a once-in-a-lifetime chance to live like this. Nothing short of the lottery would ever allow us to afford something this nice when it comes down to buying a home for ourselves. And of course, we'd have to play the lottery in the first place...

Our entry-way is lorded over by Henry, our personal welcome committee. In any other house, he wouldn't necessarily be welcomed by me, but considering the setting, he fits right in.

Henry

We love our kitchen. It's enormous with a table for 10, a 100-year-old wood stove, a large island and hand-painted cabinets.

Kitchen

Antique stove

The living room is spacious and full of atmosphere. There's also a newer wood stove in one corner which heats the place up quite nicely.

Living room

The house is full of great details from the window/door frames on the outside to each door in the interior. There's a whole wing upstairs which we call the "Moose Wing" based on the animal depicted on the door. That's where we keep our guests. They have a large bedroom and their own "stue", but it's a bit cold to use that room in the winter.

Door to the "Bunny Room" in the "Moose Wing"

Outside detail around window frame

The views are pretty unbeatable. To the west we have a lake, the Flakksvann, which we see from our kitchen window. On the other side, and just a 3-minute drive, is the town of Birkeland which has basic facilities. To the south is the valley of a river (Topdalselva) which flows all the way, direction Kristiansand, to the ocean.

View of Flakksvann

Topdalselva valley

We've had a very relaxed time of it for the past 10 days. Even my parents are sleeping late, we've taken some gorgeous drives and eaten great food and have even unpacked the skis. More tales with pictures to come of those adventures (and I promise to sit down soon and tell the story of our "flight" from Qatar). But for now, a few more seasonal pics...