Finally a New Post!

It has been a long time since I've posted on my blog. This is despite those who have been nagging me, wanting to see what has been going on during my summer. (Yes, BM - I've been listening to you. You too TW.)


It has been a long summer with lots of work. And I've come back from my holidays and jumped right back into my full time job. So my evenings have been dedicated to washing huge garbage bags of clothes, towels and weeks of bedclothing... as well as the clothes we are using in our every day life back in the city.


But I've finally got around to finding the pictures I want to use, and getting my head around what I it is I want to say.


First of all - here is the most important of our projects: the porch on the third side of our cabin. This is what we (and especially my husband) has been dreaming of for 10 years.



We have already been out here eating breakfasts, watching the sun rise.


(Well, okay, that's a bit of a lie - have day light almost 24 hours a day means that we would have to wake up at 3 am to see the sunrise. Maybe we'll try that in October. But we have eaten lots of breakfasts out here).


We've also eaten lunches out here and myself and my husband have enjoyed a glass of wine or two (or more...) in the evenings.


And I also have to say that since we've been using this side of the cabin we've seen more animals this summer than we ever have in the 12 years we've been living out here in the summer. We've seen: porpoises, a family of mink, sea eagles, weasles and lots of fish jumping out of the water. It is quite amazing.


In the autumn, when the grass begins to die, I will (yes, that is *me* I said) be starting to dig out the dirt down the forth side of the cabin.


We'll be starting to build the forth balcony next spring.

I am a bit hesitant about it though. It is a steep incline, going straight down to the sea.

But, great things do not come without great risk. I will just check my life insurance before starting.

We're also using the porch as a storage place. Until now we've had piles of nicely stacked building materials covered with tarps. They've been green tarps of course, so they blend into the landscape. But they've still been there and have bothered us. Now we've got it all tucked away...

And they're protected from the rain....

The second major project that we've completed was to re-routed our water supply around 20 acres of property. Here is where we used to get our water....

Which was way at the far end of the first porch we built 8 years ago. And completely on the opposite side of the cabin to where the kitchen is.

But with hard work done by my kick ass brother in-law and my cool nephew...

And a little bit more tinkering here...

(If the truth be said, it was my brother in-law who did all of the important work on this project)

And paying my 7 year old son an advance in his allowance to crawl under the second porch (build 3 years ago) which is muddy and wet, to pull and push the hose and tap to where it is supposed to be....

We can now simply go out our kichen door to get our water. We will be building a stand for the sink pictured here.

The third project: I spent 3 days (with the help of one of my younger nephews and my son (7 years) and daugher (5 years) to paint this wall. It would no doubt have taken me a lot less time without the help, but it isn't always the point to get something done in the least amount of time.

And most of the paint actually ended up on the wall.

We are really happy with the color on the wall - although you can certainly see the difference with the wall beside it:

Here's a better view of the painting that needs to be done next summer....

But at least we'll have a great view to comfort us while getting the work done.

Finally there was a bit of fun building. My daughter has been after her father to make a proper bed for her pet lion. You could see that she totally fell in love with her father when he got the job done:

It's a perfect fit.

And inbetween all of this work, and the fishing, swimming, water tubing, and day trips we took, I was still able to get a lot of crafting done.

It has been a very good summer this year.

Adding Surface Area to our Holidays....

So for those that have been have been following my blog, you'll know that my husband and I have been working on improving our sea side cabin for years. This year we're adding porches, replacing two windows and painting walls. For the work that we did last Easter, see this post:


http://plaskdesign.blogspot.com/2009/04/working-together-as-team.html


But now we're doing the fun stuff. The stuff that's easier to do, quicker to build. And looks impressive.


Everything started out well from the beginning. My husband purchased his materials when there was a sale at the lumber yard. I myself was stunned. I never even knew that lumber yards and building material stores had sales. The result was that we were able to get everything we needed instead of just half of it. And here it is:



You'll see that one piece of clear fiberglass/plastic on the top of the pile. We need that because last Easter my son did this:




While swinging way too high on this:

We haven't actually gotten to that part yet.... but we're working on it.

And so in addition to all the materials we bought we still have our previously purchased materials that will also be used:

Here's a reminder of where we last left you at Easter, having dug holes and made huge cement blocks, on which the vertical supporting beams will be placed.

And this is how far we came yesterday, just after lunch:

I was trying to get my husband to wave to me. His response was to become very irritated and told me to come down and help him (as opposed to vaccuuming the crumbs that kids had left all over the living room floor because they decided to take their breakfast down from the table so that they could play with all their little Bankugan toys).

I spent 45 minutes helping him put up the last vertical supporting post, as well as securing it to the cabin itself. I also got three big horsefly bites that I am still treating with aloe vera.

But all this was good - it would have taken him at least twice as long to complete the job himself. And soon after that he was able to complete the days work:

I am so looking forward eating dinner out here in a couple of days.

One Cozy Morning.....

The women in my family wake up early. It's always been this way, as far as I can remember. Even when attending parties and being up to the early hours of the night, I still don't sleep to later than 8.30 am.


This has continued into my holiday this year. Less than a week into my holiday and I have not managed to sleep later than 6.30 yet. But I'm working on it.


In the meantime, I had a very nice surprise yesterday morning. I was up and water was boiling to make coffee. And I thought I would take a picture or two of the water outside of where we are.





The water was perfectly peaceful, only interrupted by small circles made by feeding fish. It was so quiet...... with the exception of a little bit of insect activity. It didn't even appear that the birds were awake yet.


And then I heard a little giggle. I turned around and saw a flash of pink disappear around the corner and back into the kitchen.


I wish I could have reacted fast enough to get a picture of that. But as said, it was early and there was no caffine in my bloodstream yet.


So I too snuck back in the kitchen and found my favorite girl waiting for me with a big smile on her face. I made the two of us breakfast.

She was hungry! But while eating we had, for the first time since maybe Easter, a really good conversation - just her and I.

We spoke about Canada, about fishing, and swimming and sinking to the bottom of the ocean. She mentioned a dream she had a week or so ago, and I told her of a nightmare I had when I was little, that seems silly now. Even she thought so.

We spoke about the cartoons that we might be watching if we were home, and how neither of us really missed them.

And then she says: Take a picture of us together, Mom.

Well, my hair was not washed, and neither was my face. But this was here and I, right? So here is the picture, which she at least really liked:

And then it's time for posing.....

And Voguing.....

(with chocolate not yet washed off....)

And time to hang on the swing......

And prove that she can climb up all by herself.

Back.......

And forth.......

And then suddenly she's forgotten all about her mother and life opens up with all its possibilities....

Spring In Norway

Spring started showing arriving at my sea-side cabin. Here's what we're all dreaming off while we work our day jobs during the week.


Daffodils that are sprouting.

The blueberry bushes starting to grow and prepare...

Green leaves that are regrowing on the plants we've been trying to get rid of.

The rose bushes that will soon be blooming.

Rogue Easter Lilies popping up in the strangest of places.

Wild strawberry plants peeping up by gravel road...

Buttercups sneaking up in the grass.

Other yellow flowery-tree like plants that I don't know the name of blossoming.

The cherry trees blooming.

And my daughter wants to get back to her wilderness training.

A Little Piece of Paradise

There have been a number of people asking me my cabin by the seaside. While I of course won't go into great detail, I do think I can share a bit that will satisfy most. Our cabin lies between 1 and 2 hours north of Bergen, which covers an awful lot of ground. While the cabin itself dates back to World War II (due to short supplies building materials, another house was purchased, taken apart and transported by boat here), the stone foundations of the cabin, which can be seen in the photo below are dated to the 1600's.



The above picture is taken from the sea itself. To be very honest, it was taken my husband as he was bobbing gently in the water, lying in a yellow rubber dingy. Originally the cabin was only as wide as the top two windows. We have expanded it to the right (extended the kitchen, added a toilet [there was only a bucket when I first moved her 10 years ago] and a second upper bedroom). The windows we want are extremely expensive, so we will probably have enough money saved up to purchase our next window next year.

We do a lot of fishing at the cabin - here is a boat that the entire family owns together - all 18 of us. The one rule that no one is allowed to break is that any gas used by someone must be refilled IMMEDIATELY. No exceptions.

So far there has been no problems.

I for one prefer fish from the land. I'm quite good at it as well. It always gives me such pleasure to have my brother-in-laws tease me about what it takes to be a 'real fisherman/woman'. Then within an hour I've caught the above, and they come home as the sun is setting with nothing to show for their efforts.

Yes, life out in the country side can be pretty good.