Beginning of fall

Week 36: Monday morning I had my appointment with the doctor.  It was very short – about 30 minutes.  He asked some questions, took my blood pressure and authorized a few blood tests.  It’s not the complete physical you would get in the U.S.  The point of this was to get into the system.  Now that I’m registered it should be fairly easy to get medical help should I need it.

On Friday I flew to Oslo for the weekend.  I saw my friend Harry on Friday evening and Saturday and Marilyn on Sunday.  Then I took the train a short distance north to stay with my relatives Turid and Gunnar for the evening.  I even helped mow their lawn on Monday.  (I also got a couple inquiries from others to help them mow their lawns!)  Late Monday afternoon/evening I flew back to Sandnessjøen.

Week 37: The big news this week is the plane accident at the airport.  Early Wednesday morning (6 am) a commercial propeller plane was landing when a sudden wind gust blew down just as the plane was landing, causing the right-side landing gear to collapse.   The weather was clear but windy.  Fortunately there were no injuries among the 3 passengers and 4 crew members.  The airport was closed all day on Wednesday.  It was very strange to drive by and see the plane in the middle of the runway, tipped on its side with one wing touching the ground.  By Thursday morning it had been moved and normal departure/arrival operations resumed.  (If you want to see a picture of it go to my Facebook page and click on “Links”, then click on the picture.  The text is in Norwegian, from the local newspaper.)

Wednesday evening I saw a theatrical production of “On Overgrown Paths”, Humsun’s explanation/apologia of his pro-Nazi activities during WWII.  I was good theatre, especially with a small orchestra playing modern music, but it is difficult to make a successful production from a documentary.

It’s hard to believe that the weather has been so good for the past few weeks.  Rain in predicted for Sunday.  So far no frost.

Saturday I took the bus to Mosjøen to see “Little Shop of Horrors”.  Many new friends in Sandnessjøen were playing in the orchestra, and singing in the chorus.  It was performed last weekend in Sandnessjøen but I was in Oslo then.  The performance was first-rate.   The bus ride was relaxing and beautiful.  It really is beginning to look like fall.

For the first time my church choir sang for the 11 am service in Sandnessjøen.  Everything went well.  The anthem was “Sammen for Guds ansikt” – Gathered in God’s presence by Egil Hovland.  According to those in the congregation they understood everything.  In Norway dialects are encouraged, resulting in a great variation of vowel pronunciation.  (Something I call vowel trouble).  In a chorus everyone must have the same pronunciation.  Anyway, there were no complaints.

Sunrise today (19 Sept) is at 6:40 am, sunset at 7:24 pm.  The autumnal equinox is on Wednesday.  Being this far north the actual equinox is on Saturday, the 25^th.