Pic!spam: Spring in my part of Norway, with bonus cat

[misscam]

So it's a wonderful Sunday in April in Norway, and I went for a bit of a biking. With my camera.


Pretty flowers!


More pretty flowers. These are called 'hestehov', literally 'horse hooves', and are usually the first you'll see in Norway as winter starts caving in.


Yet more pretty flowers.


A little snow still left...


... and quite a bit more snow left.


If you want to be a tree in Norway, you have to like climbing.


As I said.


This tree has sprouted what we call 'gåseegg' - goose eggs - and will be pretty and green soon.


Drammen in the distance, and a bit of the fjord.


More fjord.


Forest. 30% of Norway is still forested. So yeah, we have a fair bit.


The area I live in is semi-rural - used to be all rural due to excellent growing conditions - and here you can see that.


Pretty farm houses.


These are strawberry fields. Mmm, strawberries.


The snow has turned this outhouse (for people who work in the fields during summer) a bit crooked during the winter.


A bit of a peculiar house.


Burning leaves and such from last summer.


My cat says hello.


And chills out next to my foot.


And then he went in to sleep some more. As you do.

After all that and a lot of garden work, I had the first ice cream of the spring and it was delicious. I love you, spring in Norway. You're so extra lovely because of the winter in front.

Comments

[lotus79.livejournal.com]

Aww, yay Norway.

Strawberry Fields Forever. ;) Though they kinda looked like a big carpark to me. LOL.

*waves to Ishmael*

[misscam.livejournal.com]

:P It's a bit early for the strawbrries to pop up yet, you know. Two weeks ago, that area was still covered totally in snow.

Cat is still snoozing, lazy git.

[lotus79.livejournal.com]

perhaps. I was just commenting that it was weird, beause it kinda looks like lines laid out for parking spaces. Or does snow fall in neat straight lines? :P

[misscam.livejournal.com]

It's lines for planting rows of strawberry plants. Covered in plastic, so it was protected from the snow.

[harmonyfb.livejournal.com]

Huh. The land (with the fijord exception) looks an awful lot like Middle Tennessee, where I'm from. Your pictures are actually making me homesick for somewhere halfway around the world from you. ::chuckle::

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Lol. Well, where I live is a bit rural - a lot of the country is mountains, wilderness and fjords, but not as much around my place exactly. So I suspect the rest of the country wouldn't remind you much.

[yavannie77.livejournal.com]

It's interesting to learn how different flowers etc. are referred to in other languages. What you call horse hooves, we call "widow's leaves". (Don't ask, I wouldn't know how that happened.) And what you call goose eggs are "willow's cats" (or kittens) for us. :)

It looks like the spring has sprung a little further in Norway than it has here in Southwestern Finland. But your spring looks definitely like our spring, yay for Nordic countries! :)

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Heh, yeah. I have no idea what the horse hooves thing is about, but I'm sure there is some reason.

Well, I live a little further south than you and have the lovely Gulf Stream ;) But yeah, Noridc countries have a lot of the same look. Go us!

[sinneahtes.livejournal.com]

I think I've read the hestehov can be used as food and medicine--maybe the "widow's leaves" name has something to do with that?

It's called "coltsfoot" here in Connecticut, because a cross section of the leaves resemble's a colt's hoof. (And yeah, it is interesting to learn the names of common plants and animals in other languages! :))

Nice pics, Miss Cam!

[bibliodragon.livejournal.com]

Aww, kitty!

Those pictures of Norway look quite similar to the central belt/highlands border area of Scotland where I was yesterday, same hills and evergreens, though I think we are a bit further into spring than where you are. And of course no fjords ;).

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Fjords is totally a Norwegian speciality ;)

I really like the highlands area of Scotland, so maybe it's that familiarity I'm relating to.

[bibliodragon.livejournal.com]

Here I have to admit to being a bad Scot and admit that I've never been deep into the highlands. I'm an east coast city girl, but hopefully I'll get up north for a holiday sometime.

[cheesygirl.livejournal.com]

Kitty!

::pets::

Yay for Spring! No fjords or mountains here in Mississippi, but I have to agree with harmonyfb that the landscape in your pics do look a bit like Tennessee, or parts of North Carolina. Very pretty!

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Kitty, yes. He is loving spring too.

Fjord is half the fun in a landscape :P

[tilly-stratford.livejournal.com]

That's it, I think I'll have to make a project based on the various local names of "gåseegg" as you call them. In Eidsvoll we call them "gåsunger", and I know on Lillehammer people called them "pusunger". I'm sure there are more variations.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Heh, might be a fun one. I think I've heard them called something to do with påske as well, but I forget what. They're small and fluffy, it seems to inspire lots of names.

[spaced-oddity.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous! :O

[falena]

All the pretty houses! And flowers! And the very green greenery that you get only in spring!

[denara.livejournal.com]

What a beautiful area! I've got to make it back someday and actually see the country... Is it normal to still have some snow sitting around this late? But I guess you guys have a lot you need to melt off! =) But still, spring seems a bit... fitful this year.

In my area, we've been getting a few warm days, then wintery and then back. Rinse, repeat over and over. After some chillier weather, we're up for a warm spell for the next three days (30C+) and I'm so thrilled... Time to lay out and get a little sun! I'd do some biking if I didn't have to climb such a big hill.

BTW, I'm impressed you know the names of so many wildflowers! I'd just be "those bluish ones" or "the yellow thingies". =)

[misscam.livejournal.com]

It's not uncommon to have a bit of snow still. Up north especially, where you can have piles of it far into May. But the snowfall was a bit more heavy than usual this year, and it even snowed in April.

How long and how much you have can vary - how much you got during winter, if you get a lot of sun to melt it, if it rains... Blah blah.

30C? I hate you. We're so happy it's over 10 here. And I live on a hill and still bike, so there.

(We have songs to learn wildflower names, hehehe.)

[denara.livejournal.com]

Well, we've got about a 500ft elevation change in a mile and a quarter's length of road. My dad bikes the thirty miles to work every day but has to park his car at the bottom of the hill to start, so it's not a lazy thing, it's a "I'm not a professional cyclist" thing. =)

We do see super hardcore types come up every couple weeks though.

[wintergreen126.livejournal.com]

hello cam's cat!

that looks like such a lovely bike ride- and it made for some beautiful pictures :o) you'll have to post some more once spring is in full bloom.

have a great sunday and a great week!

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'll do a May post, with the national day and everything.

Sadly, week has started with normal NSB shenanigans. Sigh.

[lily-winterwood.livejournal.com]

Ooh, pretty flowers! :]

[space-oddity-75.livejournal.com]

Awww, Norway looks so clean and tidy, even when not covered in snow. :)Nice pics. Keep 'em coming!

*pets Cam's big cat while he sleeps*

[misscam.livejournal.com]

We generally try to take care of our wee country, nature and all. We can afford to, so.

Carefully, he likes to suddenly grab hold. With his claws.

[padawanpooh.livejournal.com]

YAYS for wonderful picspam! Your part of the world looks soooooooooo beautiful *is jealous*

And your moggy looks adorable :-)

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Oh, this isn't even the really pretty part of Norway ;)

[laurandbillever.livejournal.com]

ahhhhh...

FANTASTIC PICS!!!

I soo love those white flowers!! we have something similar here and I just adore them when they show up...

and such a cute cat!!

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I love all spring flowers just because they're the first ones to show, you know? Norwegian winters can be so bloody long, so when spring finally comes, everything is doubly lovely.

Yeah, he's my darling cat. Shedding a bit of fur at the moment so there are hairs everywhere, but what the hell.

[laurandbillever.livejournal.com]

oh, I totally know what you mean- our latest winters are nasty, too.... it is always sweet to see life under the tones of ice...

heh- mine sheds fur all the time... ( he is inside the apartment) my mom is getting mad at me- how fair is that? :P

[theyellow-daisy.livejournal.com]

Very pretty! I hope we'll get to see more pictures from you now that it's Spring-y outside. And bonus cat is lovely.

[snarkyart.livejournal.com]

Awww... your cat is adorable. He looks a lot like my cat, actually. Hee!

[elvenpiratelady.livejournal.com]

Right, I'll be adding Norway to my 'places to live' list.

Eeeeee, pretty kitty! One of mine is about the same colour, with more white.

[hannah-henchman.livejournal.com]

Your commentary and photos keep putting Norway higher and higher on my list of places that I HAVE to visit at some point--And that's REALLY saying something considering how much I hate the cold. ;)
Thanks for sharing such beautiful pics!

[rivrea.livejournal.com]

The tiny blue flowers are especially lovely. Do you happen to know what they are called?

Also, I'd very much like to be a cat in my next life.