25 Oct – Enlightened Experiences

From Norway

Now comes the time to describe the in-describable. This has always been a most curious phenomenon that has triggered more questions for me than I’ve found answers… the Northern Lights, a.k.a Aurora Borealis. Thank you to those whom sent glowing thoughts our way.

During the after dinner laps around the ship, Jamie and I observed the night sky activity. It was around 8:30pm. As the laps progressed, we noticed a couple light stripes across the sky, similar to the milky way. With each lap the stripes intensified to the point of being light gray streaks with a curvature of a rainbow. This spurred a conversation of “how intense do the Northern Lights have to be in order for these weathered captains to announce them?” The question was answered not five minutes later with the loud speaker reporting “there are some Northern Lights building ahead of us”. Sure enough the crowd of a dozen other people joined us on the deck to observe the “building”. The streaks had split and were turning a very slight greenish hue on either side of the boat. The streaks formed blobs (slower than the eye could notice) and parts of the blobs would turn a brighter green before diluting. After 15 or 20 minutes the lights dimmed, the temperature was nipping at the under layers, so we returned inside.

Around 9:30pm we bundled back up and returned outside. The rumor on the ship was that the previous nights’ performances were great from 9:30-10:30pm. Jamie and I had the lap deck to ourselves. It was the best light show of my life.

These streaks were moving so quickly across the sky. We were on one side of the boat and watching the green streaks shoot towards us, and disappear over the boat. I ran around to the other side of the boat where we watched them dance over us and drizzle down across the darkness. These lights truly do dance. There are small light bundles that drop like fingers playing a piano and it’s impossible to tell where exactly they will land next. They know they’re route, as they seem to follow a general direction across the sky, however the smaller paths form swirls and swoops.

The speeds of the light streaks vary. In the beginning they were sluggish and the eye was able to notice the light intensity changes, however unable to see any movement. For this private showing, I was literally running back and forth, head bobbing as if observing a tennis ball during an Olympic match. All the meanwhile I was screaming “OH MY GOSH” around every corner of the ship. I do not remember myself ever, EVER behaving this way. It was ridiculous and Jamie was keeping up the pace behind me. After ten minutes of this track practice, it settled down and I wanted to figure out how to capture it on film. Just taking a no-flash picture was not working. Jamie helped adjust the ISO setting and shutter speed so by the time the lights were warmed back up, my Powershot was ready. Despite the adjustments, the photos still are not as brilliant nor lively as the live show.

The cruise crowd was drizzling back out the doors for more show. The remaining lights were intense in color, but not as quick as our private performance. They did show up on film, so I’ve uploaded one of the pictures. The internet is quite slow, so additional pictures will have to wait until later. There is certainly an eerie aspect to the lights. The kids that grow up in Northern Norway grow up with the old wives’ tale that if they wave a white cloth at the lights, the lights will dive down to pick them up and take them away. Our luncheon comrades confirmed this tale and said they would do a wave out the front door and then shut the door quickly. This kept them occupied for hours.

Today we disembarked in the northernmost town in the world… Hammerfest. It is further north than Russia, Alaska and the Canadian islands. It was fairly cold with a dusting of snow on the ground. There was a great hike up the hill behind town so we conquered that bit. There were dozens upon dozens of snow fences that escorted us up this hill. They must be there to prevent a snow drift cornice from forming and dropping onto the town below. Completely unintentionally, I’ve been to the world’s southern-most city (Ushuaia) and northern-most town. The cultures may have a lot in common geographically and statistically, however have quite different towns and businesses. There was a brand new oil facility (largest technological project in Northern Norway) just on an island outside of town. Its natural gas well and dredging is completely under the sea hundreds of kilometers out. There are no barges nor platforms visible.

The terrain has changed from the low-lying barren rock, to snow capped rocky peaks that penetrate the sea with a vengeance. This land is only for hearty inhabitants that can brave the harsh conditions. We’ve met a few of the brave souls today. They take this ferry to travel to the hospital in Tromso, as well as visit family on the weekends. It’s a great experience and quite different from the normal cruise. This afternoon between deck laps and port visits, we painted through an art class. There is an art teacher on board and provided all the tools (water color tube paints and postcards). It’s a fantastic activity to do with these huge windows and scenery. We really enjoyed it. That might be atypical from the regular cruise. It’s such a small group that we can recognize everyone, let alone know some of their life stories.

Many of the fellow passengers are from England. Another point to this not being a typical cruise, as I type this, I’m wearing a sweater, long johns, and socks, sprawled out on a leather booth/couch, with Jamie lying at my side and there are two other people (one in a down puffy jacket) in the entire 200-person capacity lounge. What a life for a week!

24 Oct – 1, 540 Miles to Go

Sure enough the sun broke over the Kirkenes hill shortly before 10am. It likely rose around 8:30, however took and hour and a half to breach the hill’s crest, and it is only a hill, no mountain. The sun today never got above a thumb’s distance from the horizon. At noon, I extended my arm, put my lower thumb knuckle at the horizon, and the top of my thumb blocked the sun. That was high noon (~2 inches from the horizon). It took 3 hours to get there, and took another 3 hours to dip below by 3:30pm. It made for one long happy hour, errr… sunset of a day.

Chilling is a fitting term for the temperature. After being here in the country for a month, my body can get the celcius temperature correct within 1-2 degrees. Today, it never got above freezing. It was very cold, and the morning walk around town did more than just wake us up. After an hour and a half of being exposed to the elements, our legs were stiffening up. It was time to return to our hotel for check-out and bus pick-up to the dock.

We had observed the Polarlys ship’s arrival in the bay and had done some research on-line, so we were aware it was a medium-sized cruise ship (capacity is 737 people). We also knew that this is the ship’s “off season” so we were curious to how many passengers would be on the ship. Now here is the kicker, Jamie & I are 4% of the passengers on-board… there are a whopping 44 other cabin passengers! We can really just pick any lounge/bar area and have the place to ourselves. We have done some laps around the ship’s deck (you can imagine my energy bundle explosions need attention) and we don’t pass a single person for the entire 20 minute walk. Amazing!

During summer and winter months the ship is packed. There are lines everywhere and the lounge seats are taken, not to mention passengers pay full price. The only reason we could afford this trip was for USA residents traveling this time of the year, two people cruise for the price of one. The deal was truly confirmed today when calculating the advertised lunch and dinner prices. Since the cruise doubles as a water taxi between ports, there are temporary passengers that will pay for meals. When summing up the price of lunch + dinner for the two of us for the 5-6 days we’re on the boat, that cost is more than our total trip. So, that’s the economic news.

Lunch was buffet style featuring catfish (though there were plenty of other goodies to chose from). We dined with a couple from Vardo whom had just returned from a week in Bejing. They were temporary passengers that had flown into the Kirkenes airport and were getting off at the next stop. She was head of VIP & Sponsoring for the professional snowball fights. I’m dead serious. There are rules that parallel capture the flag or paintball. They have annual tournaments against the Russians (by the way, we saw Russian land today) that involve beer and they have had games against Korea that involved Sake. It is quite a serious sport as the snowballs are machine made and seem to resemble small ice cannon balls that can provide great injury to it’s target… you. She had gotten a bloody head when a “snow ball” hit her helmet, causing her helmet to puncture her forehead. The amusing part of these injuries is that it’s so cold out and the adrenaline is pumping, that victims can’t always tell (or feel) when there’s been a hit. They hoped we could peak some interest in California, I’m not sure the Lake Tahoe residents are beefy enough though. Anyways, when we have a faster internet connection, I’ll check out her website. In the meantime, you can check it out here .

One of the most interesting facts of the day, special thanks to the luncheon couple, relate to the dozens of large fishing vessels. They proudly displayed a single Norwegian flag on the main mast, followed by a few Russian flags decorating the stern. Apparently they are impounded Russian ships. The Russians have not paid their taxes or dues, so Norway impounds the large boats. The Russians don’t have the money to right the situation, so they just live on these rusty vessels on the waterfront in Kirkenes. We did see two Russians in the morning (they were in stereotypical Russian hats… a fur bomber hat or a black beret). On the side, the Russians “own” the King Crabs in the sea. From my understanding, the Norwegians are only permitted to haul out so many. King Crab was part of the lunch and Jamie confirmed the tastiness of their long legs.

This afternoon the cruise provided a short documentary on Vardo, the next port. It was a major (although illegal at the time) trading port between Northern Norwegians and Russians. Russians needed food and Norwegians needed flour and wood (there are absolutely no trees up here… it’s barren). The black market traded salty fish for bark and flour. The trading benefited both cultures tremendously, so until the King of Denmark/Norway permitted the trading in the 1700s, it was illegal but necessary for survival.

Tonight we are crossing our fingers to see the light show. The ship has seen the Northern Lights for the past two evenings, so is a decent chance. The Northern lights were my main site-seeing goal for coming up to Northern Norway. We have no other plans for the evening, but do have our books and the on-board library to tire our eyes.

On a side note, even cooler than the ship’s actual location website (on the previous entry), is the Polarlys ship’s webcam Ahoy mates!

23 Oct - 69.725 Degrees Latitude

Jamie & I made it to Kirkenes. We're a few miles from the Russian border, above the article circle, and the hotel room window is still opened a crack. That didn't stop Jamie from checking in early. He's a bit tuckered out from the traveling of the past 36 hours.

After I finished up work today, we did some exploring of the local swiss cheese hills (swiss cheesed from the silver mine shafts). For lunch we stopped at a cheese farm where they served us a 4-cheese and cracker plate with tea. While eating, we looked down into the cow barn where cows were socially eating, automatic scrapers cleaned the floors, the cows browsed the colder outdoor pen, and the cows voluntarily walking into the milking machine to get milked. Truely happy cows (as opposed to CA CAFOs) and great cheese!

With the spare time we had, we parked in Oslo and took a walk around Oslo hitting the main attractions (marina, palace, stroget, train station, and opera house). Great to stretch the legs, though it turned out with Oslo traffic, the "spare" time was much less than originally thought. We made it to the airport 45 minutes before the flight and were able to return the car, check us in and our 2 checked bags, through security and to the gate with 20 minutes to wait before we boarded. Phew!

Kirkenes is a tiny, one-terminal airport. I had little knowledge of the transportation other than taxis were super expensive, there is a bus in the daytime, and town 15-20 minutes away. Fortunatley, there was a bus idle so I asked the bus driver what time he left (wanted to make sure we didn't miss it!). His response was "until the terminal is empty". Great. It was below freezing with flurries in the air, though barely a dusting on the ground. Looking forward to seeing this place with the sun up... although that might not happen until 10am. We shall see.

Jamie has already started dreaming of our adventure to come in the coming days. If you'd like to follow our ship, click here . Not sure what the internet access will be like on the boat, so that websit may be the only updates you get for a little while. Sails away MS POLARLYS!

19 Oct - Ugly Man

From Norway

The week started escaping me before it even begun! Between work, preparing for Jamie’s visit, packing up, and shopping for dinner (including pumpkin pie) ingredients for another cook-in-someone else’s-kitchen evening, it’s been quite busy. This will be a short entry to catch up on the rest of the weekend.

Sunday’s breakfast at the hotel on Smögen was just as good as the Marstrand hotel breakfast. This one provided an assortment of berries, to put over the sour milk (similar to unsweetened yogurt). In addition to blackberries, I believe some of them were Lingon berries and the rest remain unknowns. They were yummy… the first berries I’ve had in over a month.

By 8am I was on the road returning to Kongsberg. My coworker and I had plans to hike Styggemann (stig-e-man: ugly man), a popular trail in the greater Kongsberg area. This is the same coworker whom’s house I cooked at a couple weeks ago. The day was clear, but cold. The terrain was icy, muddy, and even a dusting of snow at times. On hikes over the past few weekends, I was always drooling over warm snacks that other hikers were enjoying… whether it was cooked over an open fire or kept warm by thermos. All I was equipped with was crackers, honey, apple, pear, peanut butter, and cold water.

Today’s hike was different; today I was going to have a hot meal! Before we reached the top, we put our bags down next to a lake and my coworker unpacked her kit. She had brought her stove, soup mix, home-picked and dried mushrooms, cream, lingon berries, and herbs from her garden. I scooped water from the pond… well the pond was iced over, however there was running water not too far away and everything was boiled together while we snacked on the crackers and apple. Once it was ready, it was delicious and I savored every hot sip. This is one lesson learned that can be incorporated into the winter snowshoe trips at the cabin!

The view from ugly man’s bald head was better than expected. The Oslofjorden (including a ferry) could be seen, as well as Gaustatoppen (the peak climbed a few weeks ago), the village of Kongsberg, and the swiss cheese mountain (swiss cheese because the silver mines make so many holes in it). It was clear and beautiful. After some Norwegian milk chocolate (it’s good!), we skipped down the mountain. When I write “skipped,” perhaps a better word would be “stumbled” or “tripped”. It was tough keeping up with my coworker. At some points I was just sitting on my butt and sliding down the icy rock. It was all in good fun. I’m trying to convince her and her boyfriend to come vacation in CA. I think she’d really enjoy all the outdoorsy activities.

That about sums it up! I’m off to start a day a work and continue the “Jamie gets here” countdown. Skol! (sckole: “Cheers” in Norwegian).

18 Oct - Swedish Island Hopping

From Sweden

Marstrand Sweden brought back memories of my childhood weekends on the boat anchored at Block Island, Nantucket, Essex, Martha’s Vineyard, or Cuttyhunk. This small island was heavily focused around serious sailing (it’s where the Swedish Match Cup is held), just as the New England marinas. The buildings had detailed trim and railings, almost to the extent of Martha’s Vineyards Victorian homes. Most of the buildings were white with red roofs, similar to some found on Block Island. The landscape was the tell-tale sign that this was no New England port.

Saturday morning was the laziest morning yet. The complimentary breakfast had oranges and a juice press offered. Wow! The oranges’ flavor was a bit flat, not as fresh/tangy as SoCal, but I was still very thankful to have any fresh juice at all! The only other difference from the standard Norwegian buffet was the sour milk. There were bowls of various hearty cereals and two bowls of white stuff. One bowl was labeled as “fruit yogurt” and the other as “sour milk”. I went for it thinking it’ll be like the Norge’s sour yogurt. It was sourer and had less structure than the other yogurts, and just as good. The yogurts of Scandinavia are sights better than the US yogurts. I wish the US dairy farmers processed it the same and disregarded the added sugars!

My new friend Karen joined me at breakfast just as I was ready to depart. Instead, I grabbed a cup of tea. After some conversation, she informed me that the teen sailors had taken a morning run around the island, and were jumping on the boats at 10am. She wanted to watch the herd depart. I wasn’t far behind. The front desk provided me an island map, which showed a surprising amount of greenery. The cobblestone boardwalk guided me along the island’s edge for a bit. At the North end the 60 teens were zig-zagging their sails back and forth in a tight pack… without collisions nor capsizing. A whistle blew from one of the inflatable dinghies with a “1 minute warning” in English. There were Finland kids participating, so the coaches used English for everyone. Towards the end of the minute, the boats all started facing the same direction and sure enough a second whistle marked the start of the race. Other than a few confused sails still hovering in the back, all sails were pointed seaward. What fun!

It was an absolute beautiful day... bright sun, light wind, and not a cloud in the sky. The walk around the island was great. It’s perfect for kids to run and hike around on the trails through the woods and on the rocks. The walk ended at the houses and stores. There were only two stores open (it’s the off-season), so I browsed them both. One of the stores was an art compilation from various folks (glass maker, knitter, pottery, paint, nautical lights, etc.). Each artist took turns running the store for a day. Today it was the glass artist and she once again proved that it’s a small world. In conversation it came up that I was from California. She had just sent a glass bowl to a couple in California whom was in the store a couple weeks ago. I asked if she remembered what town. She said, “Oh yes, I had to google earth the address to see where they lived. The town was Man-hat-tan Beach.” Enough said.

By noon my Marstrand visit had expired. I took the return ferry ride with the hotel receptionist. She asked if I’d figured out where I was going next. The meal comrade (Karen) had suggested another quaint Swedish seaside resort that sounded like “Smorfgen”. I tried that pronunciation in this conversation, and she immediately knew what I was talking about. She agreed that it would be a fine destination. That sealed the deal. I packed myself up in the car (no parking ticket!), took a check of the map, and I was on the road again… this time the back roads.

Once in a while the back roads had a peek view of the water, although it was fjord water and not open sea. There was usually a sailboat or motorboat chugging along these waterways. Jobiska would’ve fit right in (Jamie’s old made-in-Sweden sail boat w/ a 3ft keel). When I use the word “fjord” in the same topic of the Sweden coast, it’s overkill. These waterways are lined with evergreen hills or smooth rock. Most comparable to the pacific northwest, and nothing like Norway’s west coast.

After a few hours, I pulled up and over the bridge to the island of Smögen . This island certainly had the potential to meet the quaint requirement. It didn’t full-fill it until after I checked into the only hotel (yes, there was room!) and began exploring. My walk was along the edge of the island. This one had no trees (other than in people’s small yards) and was all rock. The island would be ideal for swimming in the summer (it had various natural pools with ladders onto the rock) and was built around the fishing industry. There was a lovely boardwalk along the fisherman huts. Some were snoozing in the setting sun’s light and some were conversing, still wearing the rubber gear from the day’s work.

The sunset light was beautiful on the rocks and houses. Similar to Denmark, the sunsets are very long here so the lighting is favorable for photographers and artists. I’m neither, so be patient with my snapshots.

The dinner was probably the most disappointing of the trip. It was a beautiful restaurant with an expertly written menu. The chef just didn’t deliver complimentary flavors on the plate nor do justice to the menu’s writer. Oh well, can’t like ‘em all.

Returning to the room, I posted a blog entry before the ritual phone call with Jamie. He would’ve really enjoyed these sea side towns and would’ve been tugging at my jacket to remind me of a phrase I’ve repeated “you can get a boat after we get a house”…. Hmmm ….

16 Oct – Josbiska’s Birthplace, a.k.a. Volvo land

From Sweden

Despite having 6 weeks remaining in Norway, my weekend plans have required advanced planning. My second priority being here is to ascertain my “wanna-see” checklist is complete prior to departure. For those hung up on my first priority, it’s to do a great job at work! Taking into consideration the future visits by Jamie, coworkers, and hopefully a girlfriend, this left my weekend plans with two options. I took the option that was more curious and unknown.

If I got paid a dime every time I saw a Volvo, my credit card might as well have been left behind… and that’s not to say the hotel rooms are cheap. That is Sweden for you. Friday afternoon I tagged along the Volvo trail over bridges, through tunnels, and eventually onto a fairly normal highway next to farmland and forests. Due to road construction, and an earlier sunset the find-a-hotel-before-sunset rule was broken. The upside to breaking this rule is when the sun breaks through your curtains the next morning, there’s brand new surroundings to explore. Opening the curtains is like tearing the wrapping paper on xmas morning… except curtains will be charged to your room.

To my surprise, the road ended. Well, technically it was a circle, however for all intensive purposes, it ended at a ferry ramp. Just as I was adjusting to “reading” Norwegian signs, now the signs are in Swedish. Here’s a quick break down of the Scandanavian languages. Danish words spell the same as Norwegian words though are pronounced completely differently. Norwegian and Swedish have similar sounds, however are spelled completely differently. Somehow, they are all extreme dialects. The Eastern Norwegians and Western Swedes understand each other fairly well due to a sharing of television programs on the networks. If either party is from the other half of the country, there is little to no understanding and both parties will converse in English. Oh, and Finland… don’t even bother… just use English.

Back to being dumbfounded in the driver’s seat and illegally parked on the circle, I tried the only English resource, a kid in a glass-roomed waiting area. He understood the question, but was clueless to the answer. A screen advertised a ferry within 10 minutes (I could see it across the very, very small channel) and the street sign at the car line-up area indicated an event that ended at 18:05. I bought a ticket from the automatic machine (for 1 Adult and 1 Child … due to too-late-to-read-carefully-syndrome) and waited in the car area for the ferry. Nobody was around.

The ferry arrived. At the green light I pulled down the ramp, but not before the Skipper held up his hand and babbled away in Swedish. I requested English and he stated that there are no vehicles allowed on the island after 6:05pm. Ah-hah! That explains all the signs and notices. Next, I asked if there was a hotel open on the island (Marstrand is a very, very small summer resort island). He confirmed the existence of Grand Hotel and offered to call the front desk to determine if there is room. How friendly and considerate! At this point, there was only one other choice and it was a “Konfrence Hotel” that was passed 10km ago… and I was not ready to turn around for a Conference Hotel. Who could give a hotel such an unappealing title?

The Skipper returned to give me good news from the Hotel’s receptionist and I turned up the road to find parking. From the looks of it, there was another confused visitor (she was blocking the road receiving directions from a pedestrian) and I followed her into a parking lot. The signs in this lot were no less confusing than the ferry signs… to pay or not to pay? The lady visitor (Karen) was similarly confused. I found one trash-bag covered pay station and wasn’t satisfied with all the “Privat Parkering” signs, so I re-parked across the street in what seemed to be a public parking area. She followed me, and upon finding another trash-bag-covered pay station, it was confirmed free parking. We lumbered down the sidewalk with our weekend luggage towards the ferry terminal. She was from an island near Moss, South of Oslo. She’s a general practioner with 3 kids, the youngest was part of the exclusive weekend sailing exhibition for the top 13-15yr olds of the Scandinavian countries happening this weekend on the island.

The 3 minute ferry ride was fairly uneventful. The Skipper never checked the tickets, nor for my invisible child. By the time I disembarked, he did confirm that the Grand Hotel was awaiting my arrival. Thanks mate! Turns out Karen is staying at the same hotel (it was the only one open on the island) so we headed down the cobblestone boardwalk together and checked in at the hotel. She invited me to dine with her, so we shared a great meal with good conversation. It was late by the time we were finished, but ever addicted to an after-dinner walk on a full belly, I strolled the darkened cobblestone paths. It was a very spooky walk. The tree shadows transformed the white Victorian homes into a screenplay of goblins and ghouls. The sailboat masts clanked like a chain, the wind howled, and the white picket fence gates moaned. Eerie was an understatement. Needless to say, the walk lasted 15 minutes. Oh, but that was because it was cold.

After a hot scented salt bath, I nestled into bed and had a good night’s rest.

15 Oct – Vocal Trip to Missississippi

This afternoon my coworker (who’s kitchen was invaded the other night), reminded me of a female blues concert that was tonight. It had completely slipped my mind, however my evening was available. We made plans to meet up at 8pm for the event.

After work, I managed to fit in my weekly run on the 5.5 mile loop through the woods and some residential areas. It’s a great challenge as there are fairly steep hills. It was enough running to make room in my belly for a meal at my favorite restaurant… the one where I’m treated like a princess. They were quite happy to see me and this time I sat in the vacant wine-bar/lounge room. The host lit a fire in the nearby wood stove, which made for a perfect ambiance while I finished the final knits and purls on my hat project. The host offered some veggie options not on the menu (stuffed aubergine or mushroom risotto), which was very kind of him. The aubergine dish lived up to the delicious expectations. A couple ladies (one with a big blond afro) sat at a neighboring table and devoured the words on some papers, in addition to their chicken plates. They had to be in some artsy business (who does hair like that?!) and thought maybe they were attending the concert tonight. All I knew I was looking forward to the “chocolate fondant” dessert which was being prepared by “Chef” (as called by the Host). The chocolate plate was a fresh-out-of-the-oven chocolate lava cake with a scoop of strawberry ice cream (homemade I think), drizzled with strawberry syrup and a vanilla sauce (both homemade too). Perfection!

My happy belly checked in for the night and I paid the check to get on with the next activity. My coworker and I met up at the hotel lobby and strolled (it was cold!) to the venue down the street. It took a long 10 minutes to wait through the line outside. My coworker met a friend in the army years back and they’ve kept in touch. She told me “she looks like a boy and she’s a lesbian”. Sure enough, this friend, her partner and an old large lady joined us in line. The old lady was the friend’s neighbor whom really appreciates the blues music and local blues festival. They invited my coworker and I to join them at their reserved table… at the feet of the musicians on stage. We were front and center. The old lady made for good chatting while waiting for the show to begin. She disappeared at one point, and the friend mentioned she’s back-stage warming up the performers. She returned to the table for a few minutes and then went up on stage and spoke (in Norwegian) to the audience before introducing the singers. She thanked the audience for coming from Notodden, Kongsberg, and even California. Ha!

The two lady artists were up on stage with their guitars and the lead was telling a story. She, too, managed a California shout-out, however it was more along the lines of “and California we’ll be speaking Norwegian, so you may not understand”. Doh! Yes, I missed the jokes and the small stories, however understood most of what was going on. The show was the history of women in blues. Many of the women they were featuring were from Mississippi. On the screen behind the singers was a slide show of each of the historical blues artists. They included, Memphis Minnie, Big Mama Thornton, Jessie Mae Hemphill and Janis Joplin among others. One of the ladies had even spent time in Mississippi and visited with Jessie Mae. They showed some home footage of the ladies singing one of her songs together. Every song was American and they sounded American when singing them. I was startled when they began speaking Norwegian after the songs as you expect them to speak English after such great lyric pronunciation. When singing in English, there was zero accent. When speaking in English, there was a heavy accent. It’s amazing what melodies and repetitiveness can do for language pronounciation.

Fairly early in the performance, a Norwegian fiddler joined the duo. She had a big blond afro. This fiddler and one of the guitarists were the restaurant table neighbors! Apparently, she’s a well-known and respected fiddler in Norway. She’s close to my age. After the show we were introduced by the old lady and she had remembered me from the restaurant. She had some interesting musician and band experiences (from what I could tell of a Norwegian conversation which is not much).

Since I didn’t take any pictures, here’s a few (found on-line) of the musicians:
Rita Egnedalen and Margit Bakken Blues duo
Tuva Livsdatter Folk music fiddler

They were really talented musicians and it was a fun evening, full of small surprises.