Early Fall Report

 We started Autumn with a birthday celebration. Shanna turned #& years young on the Autumnal Equinox. The young adult group gave her a little party. Pilar, from Peru, is giving the gifts.

There was also time for a hot game of Jenga.

This place is a mass of islands. One of the suburb-islands of Bergen is Sotra. We have visited a couple of families out there. It is a wonderful rural island made up of dozens of little communities. Each one seems to have its own docking area. The new Norway features a population of about 4 million of which over 25% own a pleasure boat of some kind. There are boats everywhere.



Little rustic boat houses dot the shoreline.

The roads are narrow, sometimes steep, and always take you right down to the sea.



I have never before seen a road sign like this. It must mean: "Keep you eye on the road buster or you'll be in the drink!" - good advice.



 On to technology - We have two drying racks to go with out little washing machine. Two full loads will fill up this rack. Drying time is very fast because of the amazing spin cycle. It sounds like a 747 is starting up when the spin cycle begins. We wash several times each week to keep up with the laundry.

However, we wash drying towels from the church kitchen about three times a week.

 We didn't figure out what this thing was so our neighbor had to tell us when I asked him where the garbage dumpster was. This is where deposit wet trash (no in-sink garbage grinders here) and small paper, plastic and aluminum - all neatly tied in their trash bags. Our front door key opens this gizmo up. Look at the right corner of the picture. The little green topped thingy is the rest of the system.

Once a week the trash bag sucker comes and vacuums all of the bags from our building out of the pipe and into the back of his garbage truck. Flat cardboad and other larger flattened paper, newspaper and big pieces of plastic go in the dumpsters that are locked in the garage. Plastic containers have a deposit charge of 45 cents American. You redeem them at the grocery store. Bottles, little plastic containers and cans must be dropped off at little roadside stations all over town.

I know that may be too much information just to show two pictures but you've gotta love the trash sucker!