Twigs in the Noonday Sky
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Pics
A midday memory from the darkness.
Posted 23.12.2008 2 Comments
Entries for December, 2008
Darkest Day
The darkest day of the year is known as winter solstice. It is when the northpole is tilting the furthest away from the sun. It usually occurs between the 21st-23rd of December – this year it happened on the 21st at 1:04PM. The above picture was taken as close to this time as humanly possible! [...]
Posted 23.12.2008 3 Comments
Moonlit Jetty
At full-moon the blue light almost looks electric. Our favourite jetty really knows how to surprise us for Christmas – especially with this ‘elfs-eye-view’.
Posted 22.12.2008 5 Comments
Norwegian Elf: Nisse
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Art & Culture, History
The Barn Elf (Fjøsnissen) is a creature from Scandinavian folklore. He was often described as a short man, “no bigger than a horse’s head”, wearing grey clothes, knickerbockers and a red hat similar to what Norwegian farmers would wear. As the name suggests, the Fjøsnisse lived in the barn. Of course, he was so shy [...]
Posted 21.12.2008 3 Comments
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Towards the water in a beautiful pocket of leafy oak trees is the Byneset Church.
Many English words actually come from old Norse language – brought by Vikings to England in medieval times. Here are some words you have probably uttered without realising you are speaking Norwegian!
The further ‘out of the way’ you go the more common it is to see folk cottages standing by the side of roads, along fjords or in a thicket of trees, minding their own business. 
Even though the males are called bulls and the females cows, the muskoxen are more closely related to sheep than cattle. Make no mistake, though – this is not your average cuddly ba-ba-blacksheep! A grown animal can be 2,5 m long and weigh up to 400 kgs, and their long curved horns mean business.
Today herding reindeer is synonymous with the Sami culture. It is recently thought that the Vikings were the first people to herd reindeer.