Of penguins and pancakes

Facts can sometimes appear more prosaic than fiction, and by extension, books of non-fiction less appealing or entertaining than their more fanciful counterparts. And sometimes this is true. Say you've had a bit too much by way of 'real life' as portrayed by the news and/or social media and would really like nothing better than spending a bit of time away from the 'givens' of the world around us. A work of science fiction might be just the thing. Or not.

Sometimes the best thing is to read a story very much of this world, anchored in reality and all the more fascinating for it. I've read one such very recently, The Penguin Lessons. I suppose you could just click on the link there and find a much better/succinct overview of the story than I might be able to cook up at this moment. So I'd rather just stick to my impression of it :).

For one thing, I managed to finish reading it in just one afternoon. Practically. It was charmingly anachronistic almost, set a few decades ago in Argentina (and briefly in Uruguay). A part of the world of which I have hardly any first or even second hand knowledge or familiarity. But it's also so much more than just a story. More than a mere recounting of happenings.

The fact that the author effortlessly meanders between happenings and the feelings and emotions elicited by said happenings is what really drew me in I think. It reminded me somewhat of Gerald Durrell, although not quite. In the end I guess the point is just that stories are stories, real or otherwise, and sometimes, the more tangible reality there is woven into it, the easier it is to relate to.

So the other thing I had been up to these last couple of months was going to some Norwegian classes! Twice a week was quite enough to keep some sort of a pattern to the weeks, but then there was homework! I mean, I can't even remember when I had homework last :). It's been fun though! I feel less and less like a deer caught in headlights when required to converse in Norwegian :).

There was also the trip to The Netherlands at the beginning of the month. And at that point Norway was still well and truly in the grip of winter (more on that later). But Holland was incredible! Warm enough for shorts and a t-shirt and almost unfailingly sunny for most of the week that we were there! It had been a bit cold over the winter there too though, no tulips and the daffodils and magnolias only really started blossoming after the first couple of days of proper sunshine. 

The other entertaining thing was the electric bikes! Given an uneven mathematical situation between the number of people and the available seats in a car, we ended up borrowing a couple of bikes to get around during our week there. But these were no ordinary bikes! Electric bikes imported from France over a decade ago :).

But then after we got back from that trip, things started changing rather rapidly here in Norway too! Temperatures in the mid teens and suddenly the snow that had seemed like an inescapable shroud over the whole world for the last five months started disappearing fast! And at long last the crocus bulbs we had planted in the garden last November finally came out and gave us some lovely flowers :D. 

The last of the snow can now only be found in the deepest woods where it is really well protected from the sun :). But I think it is about time for spring. And unlike last summer, this shall hopefully bring about much cycling! We shall see.