I have a feeling that autumn will come early to Oslo this
year. This past week we had a lot of rain, and what I would have termed a
mini-hurricane on Wednesday, with strong winds and stormy weather. The clouds
looked threatening, so all in all, it signaled the end of summer, at least to
me. Temperatures have become cooler; we’re down to around sixty degrees
Fahrenheit during the afternoons, the warmest time of day. We had friends from
Illinois visiting us for a few days at the end of August; luckily they flew out
of Oslo about half a day before the weather turned from nice to stormy. While
they were here, the weather was lovely, and that always helps to give a nice
impression of Oslo. We enjoyed our visit together, and I spent some time
showing them my Oslo—the small little
places that tourists would not really know about. One of those places is Hønsa
Lovisas house, a small little red house on the Akerselva River, not far from
where we live, which used to be a residence and is now a cozy little café that
serves very good waffles with jam and sour cream. It is also an art gallery for
different kinds of modern art exhibitions. You can read more about it here, but
for my non-Norwegian readers, the website is in Norwegian, so you’ll have to
translate it using Google Translate (http://www.honselovisashus.no/html_sider/10_HJEM.html).
It’s a nice place to spend an hour or so relaxing on a Sunday afternoon.
I realized today that I am a ‘four-seasons’ person. I look
forward to the change of seasons and what each season brings. I would not want
to live all-year round in a hot climate. My sister has discovered the same; the
hot southern states are not for her. She prefers upstate NY. Autumn is always a
reminder of the promise of a new school year; while I am no longer a student, I
still like the feeling of a ‘new start’—projects around the house, new recipes
to try, new photography projects. I look forward to the leaves changing color,
to Halloween, to Thanksgiving, to walking outdoors in the cooler weather.
Christmas arrives with winter, and that is always something to look forward to—buying
gifts, making food, celebrating the holiday with loved ones. Plus the evenings
are darker and longer, so it makes viewing the skies much easier with my
telescope. I’ll be looking for Jupiter, Mars and Venus this winter. Spring
signals rebirth; next spring, we may finally get our city parcel garden (we’ve
been on the waiting list for six years), which will enable us to plant
vegetables and flowers and tend to them. We’re looking forward to that and to
seeing what kind of harvest we’ll get. Our discussions now revolve around what
kind of vegetables and flowers we want to plant; we may plant an apple tree and
a raspberry bush. And then of course there is summer to look forward to—my
annual trip to NY to visit my friends and family, as well as vacation here in
Norway or in another European country. I soak in the warmth of summer, to
prepare me for the cold of winter. I could not face winter without having had
the warmth of summer. I am glad to be able to experience all the seasons; as my
mother used to say, each season has its charm.
