Mothering Sunday

Temp +4, hail, sun, showers, strong cold wind

We celebrated British Mothering Sunday today. It can be a bit confusing, as the Norwegians, Americans and British have different dates for Mothers day- so we are never too sure which to celebrate. Our mothers got phone calls, and I took the family to Tungenes Fyr (lighthouse in Randaberg, north of Stavanger) to the little Søndags Kafe they run. It is open each week and a different group (eg local guides or scouts) serve cakes, waffles and coffee- its a great location and its really cheap... Today the wind was bitterly cold and the waves were crashing hard on the rocks, it was very very beautiful and we were glad to have some shelter for the kids. We took another family with us and Naomi and Lily (their daughter) danced round and round the room.

The Railway sent us a packet in the post and it has caused quite a stir among our little row of houses! It appears that the 'solution' for each house it quite different, despite the houses basically being the same age, same position and roughly same layout... one house will have all windows replaced, one only in the kitchen and so on. So it looks like our neighbours make be calling for a re-measurement. As my mum said, we may end up with no new windows! I am sure this is only the start. We do get a nice new wooden fence to shield us from the line, which I am pleased about..

It is the 100 year anniversary of the composer Edvard Grieg's death this year, and I keep catching mention of it on the Norwegian Classical music radio station. Nice little pieces, interviews with people for whom Grieg impacts their life. Like a 7 year old boy who loves to play the piano and loves Grieg. We passed an old printing press outside the Stavanger Library on Saturday, it said on it 'Trykket ord er Kultur' (the printed word is culture). The same must be said for music. So I am going to do a bit of research into Grieg.