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  • Absolutely glorious weather in Longyearbyen today. Clear blue skies, little wind, and temperatures around 6°C (low 40s on the Fahrenheit scale). That counts as balmy up here so EVERYBODY is outdoors. Three families across from us have fired up their barbecues and they're sitting lined up against the wall with the sun…
  • Ooooufff! We got all the stuff we're shipping packed and picked up so it'll be ready to load onto the ship when it docks later today. Now all that remains is to pack up the stuff we're taking along on the plane a week from today. Our tickets are the expensive kind that allow us a total of eight pieces of checked luggage.…
  • Feels like winter in the UK? Here it's 9°C (just shy of 50°F) and I'm going around humming "We're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave..." If I had to deal with what some of you in the US are experiencing, I'd probably collapse within minutes. :sweat: Gosh I hope my body learns to tolerate higher temperatures once…
  • Thanks for reminding me, Machka. Up here where the sun never sets from April to August and never rises from October to February, it's easy to lose track of the solstices. I remember a BBC radio feature where the host asked a reporter stationed in Murmansk how people were celebrating "the shortest night of the year".…
  • Machka - Decorative cat you've got there :D If I were forced to choose a single season, it would probably have to be summer, for the sake of the gardening. But I'd demand to be near one of the poles. I can't tolerate anything above room temperature anymore. Fortunately, I don't have to choose a single season. ALL the…
  • Oh Katla, what a beautiful thing, to have your own son officiate at your wedding. :cry: :heart: /Penny, crying sentimental tears at the
  • Hi newbies, I'm Penny. I'm 66 and I've been bit heavier than I would like pretty much all my life. My husband and I have been married for nearly 43 years. We have two children and two grandchildren, none of whom we have seen in person since March 2020. :'( For the past 10 years we've lived in Svalbard, farther north than…
  • Completed my half-marathon with energy to spare! Husband supported me along the way with water and banana, and played with his new drone to keep himself amused while waiting. Pictures may become available. Watch this space... /Penny (not currently) at the
  • That's one gorgeous cat, Machka.
  • Hi all! Hugs and condolences to Rori :heart: You've been a model of conscientious patience and perseverance throughout Bruce's decline. Heaven forbid I'm ever put in that position, but if I am, I hope to handle it with the same calm grace. Welcome to the many newbies :smiley: and golden oldies. I'm looking at you, Janetr…
  • Katla — Holding you in my heart :heart: /Penny at the
  • Debbie – I'm sorry you've got so much drama to deal with. :heart: You really don't need that in your life. But you seem to be handling it with grace and a level head. :flowerforyou: Is that you, Rebecca, all dressed up for the sake of us non-nudists ? And are you going to kiss that frog in a moment? :kissing_heart: If so,…
  • Heather — Congratulations on finding a workaround that lets you hear the TV soundtrack in the original language. In Scandinavia only children's programs are dubbed. Everything else is subtitled. I remember a friend being stunned when she tuned in to a segment of "Dallas" while in Munich and heard Miss Ellie speaking…
  • Sadly counting down the days until we move. We're currently at a mere 47, but six of them will be spent "down south" in northern Norway so we can get this year's potatoes in the ground. Meanwhile, I go out jogging every chance I get, to enjoy the vast open space around me (no trees!) and the eminently managable…
  • Thinking of you and your husband, Machka.
  • The house I grew up in was built in 1888 and had stained glass windows in the master bedroom and the front sitting room. Here's the window in the master bedroom again, this time with its surroundings. /Penny, feeling nostalgic at the
  • Lisa my goodness gosh, I'm glad you're all safe! Trees are SCARY! Especially the dense hardwoods you've got on your side of the pond. My husband and I are worried about a spinky little four-stemmed birch behind our house on the island in northern Norway. And falling "trees" up here in Svalbard wouldn't hurt a fly.…
  • Debbie - That was a truly inspiring video about your parents' backyard farm! I'd love to achieve something similar at our island place, though I doubt it would be possible so far north. I can also see why it would be painful for you to watch it right now. (((Hugs))) :heartbreak: :heart: :heartbreak: Husband drove out to…
  • Thanks for the new month, Barbie! Rebecca - I'm sorry for all you've been through recently. :s Many of you have shared similar trials and tribulations. I've never had a colonoscopy because they're not clinical routine in Scandinavia. Cancer screening is done on fecal samples. It's only if something suspicious turns up that…
  • Terri - Tromsø is where we're moving! My guess is that you attended an evening service at the Arctic Cathedral (below), not the Lutheran or the Catholic Cathedral in the center of town. Photo by Anjana Subasinghe, Creative Commons When we first moved to Tromsø back in 2004 we lived in the house with its red roof just…
  • Lisa - Yes, the move is permanent :cry: Barbara - No, fortunately my husband is NOT retiring yet. We're moving because the director of his institute wants him at the main office as a sounding board. I still have a couple years before he's around constantly. He's a lovely man, but I've got a strong need for solitude once in…
  • I read you! My route in Stockholm was fairly flat and I took the long way around to make use of several well-developed bike paths. Lots of people cycle in Tromsø (where we'll be living from July on), but the what the town lacks in bike paths it makes up for in steep hills, all of which tend to be covered in snow and ice…
  • Yo Machka, I understand why you'd love to drop a day! Back when I lived in Stockholm and commuted 16 km to work it took me 43 minutes by bike and 40-55 by public transportation. By private car it would have taken even longer. Is there any way you could combine your love of cycling with your commute? Putting in those 32…
  • Mint chocolate chip, since peanut butter cup isn't available.
  • Thanks for all your good wishes for my grandson. :heart: Yeah, those are apartments. Nearly everyone in this "company town" lives in apartments provided by their employer. The buildings in that photo went up at record speed. The entire row of houses – about 20 family units and 20 units for singles – went up in about two…
  • I'm dipping my toes in these waters again. We'll take it as it comes and see how it goes. They're still trying to find a good medication for my grandson's epilepsy. Only moderate success so far. He has fewer loss of consciousness seizures, but still has several absence seizures every morning. He's not really aware that…
  • When I worked as managing editor at the European office of a scientific journal we went to Tucson AZ to visit the US editorial office. My counterpart there had a "world map" on the wall, but when he asked me to point to where I lived, I couldn't because the top of the map was about 800 miles south of me. I'm on page 63…
  • I'm not engaging much here now. Our grandson has had three seizures over a span of two weeks. He's being investigated for epilepsy. It's hard being so far away. /Penny at the
  • Take whatever time you need, Allie!
  • Michele - I'm in the central European timezone, one hour ahead of Kate and Heather and usually six hours ahead of you. Sometimes I'll be five or seven hours ahead of you because the US and Europe switch between standard time and daylight saving time on different days. Europe is probably going to stop switching back and…
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