PREPARING FOR WINTER

It¨s the first day of fall break in Oslo, and I'm mending the knees of trousers with the background soundtrack of a dish washer in one room and the rhythmic hums of a laundry machine in another. When my tea is ready, I will take my sewing pile outside and mull over plans for our tiny flower bed. Bulbs? Bushes? Berries? Blooms? The trees surrounding the garden are shifting from green to yellow one at a time, as if they were a colouring book and someone was penciling in each leaf.

September and October are a delight with all their blazing colours. The mountains in the north are never as beautiful as in fall, with intense sunsets burning on the horizon each afternoon. Further south, forests rise mighty and inviting, filled with the sounds of birds and animals fattening up on berries, pine cones and shrubs. In our suburbs, the air smells of apples, pears and plums, cut grass and fall flowers. First graders are wiggling loose teeth, and the older kids race to school in new rain gear.

And there is still day light. The skies may be gray, but the days are not dark yet, so Scandinavians savour the lingering light.

Welcome to another season on the blog.