light – Page 15 – In the Woods

Race Point

10.10.15.0729 — Race Point Beach ~ 10.10.15 ~ Provincetown, Massachusetts

One evening on our Cape Cod trip we went to Race Point Beach in Provincetown to see the sunset. It felt so good to be outside in the salty air, walking on the sand.

10.10.15.0731 — Tim at Race Point Beach ~ 10.10.15 ~ Provincetown, Massachusetts

10.10.15.0743 — Race Point Beach ~ 10.10.15 ~ Provincetown, Massachusetts

10.10.15.0744 — Race Point Beach ~ 10.10.15 ~ Provincetown, Massachusetts

10.10.15.0761 — after sunset at Race Point Beach ~ 10.10.15 ~ Provincetown, Massachusetts

I will never forget this trip to Cape Cod with my dearly loved husband of 40+ years. Until 2008 we used to come here all the time – summer vacations and weekend getaways. Sadly, Tim’s grandparents’ house in Provincetown was sold that year and my grandparents’ house in Dennis Port was sold in 2009. Our last trip, to bury my father’s ashes in October 2013, was all too brief.

10.10.15.0789 — Race Point Beach ~ 10.10.15 ~ Provincetown, Massachusetts

We did, however, go to Provincetown in May 2009 to celebrate our anniversary and stayed at a bed and breakfast called The Black Pearl. It’s no longer there, we discovered, the house now owned by someone else. We took a long walk on Beech Forest Trail. Six long years since that visit. The town and the seashore have changed. So have we. But we still found healing there, and peace. I think it will always be a place where we will free to be ourselves in times of transition. It will always feel like home.

10.10.15.0791 — Race Point Beach ~ 10.10.15 ~ Provincetown, Massachusetts

The sea can do craziness, it can do smooth,
it can lie down like silk breathing
or toss havoc shoreward; it can give

gifts or withhold all; it can rise, ebb, froth
like an incoming frenzy of fountains, or it can
sweet-talk entirely. As I can too,

and so, no doubt, can you, and you.

~ Mary Oliver
(A Thousand Mornings)

10.10.15.0803 — Race Point Beach ~ 10.10.15 ~ Provincetown, Massachusetts

autumn dyes

sunlight backlight ~ 10.24.15 ~ Mansfield Hollow State Park, Connecticut

Autumn – overlooked my Knitting –
Dyes – said He – have I –
Could disparage a Flamingo –
Show Me them – said I –
~ Emily Dickinson
(The Poems of Emily Dickinson, #786)

slipping into the sea

10.12.15.1111 — before sunrise from our balcony ~ 10.12.15 ~ Dennis Port, Massachusetts

An incurable early bird, on the last morning of our little weekend getaway I found myself unable to sleep and so decided to get up and read and gaze out of the sliding glass doors of our room at the Sea Shell Motel in Dennis Port on Cape Cod. It was about 40 minutes before sunrise and there was an intense yellow orange glow on the horizon.

10.12.15.1116 — walking over the dune ~ 10.12.15 ~ Dennis Port, Massachusetts

As sunrise approached I decided to bundle up in my coat and my new Norwegian wool hat with ear flaps and walk down to the windy beach to take some pictures and enjoy some early morning solitude. It was the best moment of the day.

10.12.15.1119 — sunrise on the beach ~ 10.12.15 ~ Dennis Port, Massachusetts

Thoughts turned to beloved grandparents who lived in Dennis Port, just up the street. When I was little we stayed with them at their house but sometime in the late 1980s, when my own children were little, my grandmother’s health problems became such that staying in a motel nearby became necessary. There’s no way to count the times we have stayed at the Sea Shell in the past 30 years or so. Each room is unique and charming, well-worn but clean and comfortable. No frills, just a short wooden walkway over the dune to the beach, the sounds of waves breaking close by.

10.12.15.1123 — the sun keeps rising ~ 10.12.15 ~ Dennis Port, Massachusetts

I wanted to come here for old times’ sake. So often on this recent trip nature would vividly illustrate the simple truth that nothing is solid in the boundless flow of time and place, there is nothing to grasp. It was here that my grandparents embraced me with abiding wisdom and persisting love. But now they are long gone, even though I feel their presence still. The waves break on the sand and disappear and yet are still there, like the voices of my small curious children. Cape Cod is slipping into the sea.

scattering abroad

9.15.13.9164a — corn maze ~ 9.15.13
Buttonwood Farm, Griswold, Connecticut

For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together. For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad.
~ Edwin Way Teale
(Autumn Across America)

A light wind swept over the corn, and all nature laughed in the sunshine.
~ Anne Brontë
(The Tenant of Wildfell Hall)

Hardangerfjord

On this day we woke up in Bergen, rented a car, and made our way out of the city to Hardangerfjord. We spent most of this day driving the length of the fjord (179 km or 111 miles) and enjoying the scenery, making a couple of stops. The first thing we spotted was this tiny island with a little building sitting on it. It was so picturesque we looked for a spot to pull over so we could take pictures of it. As we were waiting to cross the highway we heard shrieks of delight and turned to see two girls coming down the side road on a bicycle. I got this picture (above) as they were turning around and getting ready to head back up the hill. They were gone as quickly as they appeared!

So then we walked across the highway and took lots of pictures of the little island, wishing we could somehow see the other side of it! It might be a boathouse?

Dawn-awakening coves, hammer-blows
of light against the sky and out there
in the fjord mouth, birdsong, clamorous, crescendo
as from a works yard,
the strident assembly of a brand new day,
a sun will soon be ready for launching!
~ Stein Mehren
(Early)

This pretty scene (below) was also to be appreciated – I love how the mountains were reflected in the fjord.

Next stop: Steindalsfossen Waterfall

Flåm

Morning light in Flåm, Norway, looking off the balcony of our hotel room. (above) Morning is my favorite time of day and this particular morning we did not have to rush off to catch a train or a ferry or a bus so we could enjoy a a few leisurely hours in the village before our next adventure.

5.24.15.7755 — good morning! ~ friendly little curious female house sparrow

5.24.15.7767 — later on we would cross this bridge on a bus
to get to a long tunnel to Gudvangen

5.24.15.7772 — it didn’t take me long to find a few gulls

5.24.15.7796 — entrance to Ægir Brewery & Pub,
where we had dinner the night before

5.24.15.7800 — wood carvings in a dead tree near our hotel

5.24.15.7808 — so many lovely birch trees

5.24.15.7810 — Ægir Brewery & Pub ~ it’s only open for dinner

5.24.15.7812 — Flåmsbrygga Hotel, the warmth of knotty pine floors and doors

5.24.15.7813 — Ægir Brewery, sign above entrance

5.24.15.7815 — Tim on a little stone seat sticking out of the wall
of the Flåmstova Restaurant

5.24.15.7819 — wall in the Flåmstova Restaurant, where we had breakfast

5.24.15.7821 — ceiling in the Flåmstova Restaurant

While we were eating breakfast by a picture window, enjoying the view of garden, fjord and mountain, a cruise ship very slowly pulled into port! Then we could barely see the mountain over the top of it! Cruise ships are amazingly large – Flåm was such a tiny port I am sure it couldn’t possibly accommodate more than one of them at a time.

5.24.15.7838 — I still can’t get over how it was spring on the fjord
and winter in the mountains

5.24.15.7853 — there was a hiking path up through the farms
hugging the side of the mountain

5.24.15.7859 — wish we had time to hike up there,
but the zoom lens came in handy to capture this scene

We boarded a small bus to take us through the mountains to Gudvangen. This is the entrance to Flenja Tunnel (above) which is 5,053m long. (16,578′). We came out of it for only 500m (1,640′) before entering Gudvanga Tunnel, which is 11,428m (7.1 mi) long, Norway’s second longest road tunnel.

Next stop: Ferry ride on Nærøyfjord from Gudvangen back to Flåm.

Flåm Railway

After we got off the train at Myrdal, we got onto the Flåm Railway (Flåmsbana), “a steep railway taking you past spectacular waterfalls, in and out of snow-capped mountains and ending up by the Aurlandsfjord.” The little village of Flåm is 2838′ (865m) below Myrdal and the train ride took about an hour.

There was a stop along the ride where we were allowed to get off the train and take pictures of the Kjosfossen Waterfall. Both ends of the train were still part way in the tunnels. Norway seems to be the land of tunnels and waterfalls, and presumably, trolls.

The total fall is 738′ (225m). In the picture below there is a woman in a red dress who came out of nowhere to sing and dance for the passengers. She gives a little perspective about the size of this magnificent waterfall.

5.23.15.7542 — Huldra, an elusive forest spirit from Norse mythology

5.23.15.7555 — back on the train and more scenic glimpses

5.23.15.7595 — yours truly (cold, but having the time of my life!)

5.23.15.7649 — the little farm is in the late afternoon shadow of a nearby mountain

Apparently Norway is home to nine of the world’s 20 highest waterfalls. High or low, we found them cascading out of the mountains everywhere. No matter how many we saw they continued to dazzle us with their allure.

When we arrived in Flåm, we checked in at the Flåmsbrygga Hotel and then had a scrumptious Viking-style dinner at the Ægir Brewery & Pub. It was very late when we headed for bed, yet it was still light out. The picture above was taken from our hotel balcony and was the last breathtaking scene I savored before falling asleep.

In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer, quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.
~ Robert Louis Stevenson
(A Child’s Garden of Verses)

Bergen Railway

5.23.15.7283 — 5.23.15 ~ Hardangervidda, Norway

On May 23rd we took the Bergen Railway (Bergensbanen) from Oslo (altitude 75′, 23m) to Myrdal (2,844′, 867m). The line crosses the Hardanger Plateau of Norway (Hardangervidda) at 4,058′ (1,237m) above sea level.

5.23.15.7288 — 5.23.15 ~ Hardangervidda, Norway

All these pictures were taken through the window glass from the train. Some by me and some by Tim. The scenery was so utterly breathtaking we took turns trying to capture it on camera and then sitting back to enjoy the panorama for a spell.

5.23.15.7291 — 5.23.15 ~ Hardangervidda, Norway

I was starting to get the feeling I was unprepared for the weather on this trip. Many passengers were bundled up in winter clothing and some got off at various stops carrying their skis. Apparently Norway was also having a late and cold spring.

5.23.15.7296 — 5.23.15 ~ Hardangervidda, Norway

Little did we know that there had been an avalanche the night before which was blocking the track between Myrdal and Bergen. No one was hurt. It didn’t affect us, though, because we were getting off in Myrdal. But I think everyone going to Bergen got off in Myrdal, too, and made the next train ride down to Flåm more crowded than it otherwise might have been.

5.23.15.7302 — wondered if this person lives here year-round or if this is a vacation home
5.23.15 ~ Hardangervidda, Norway

5.23.15.7314 — 5.23.15 ~ Hardangervidda, Norway

5.23.15.7317 — 5.23.15 ~ Hardangervidda, Norway

5.23.15.7327 — 5.23.15 ~ Hardangervidda, Norway

5.23.15.7328 — 5.23.15 ~ Hardangervidda, Norway

5.23.14.7338 — 5.23.15 ~ Hardangervidda, Norway

5.23.15.7347 — 5.23.15 ~ Hardangervidda, Norway

5.23.15.7349 — 5.23.15 ~ Hardangervidda, Norway

5.23.15.7352 — 5.23.15 ~ Hardangervidda, Norway

5.23.15.7374 — 5.23.15 ~ Hardangervidda, Norway

5.23.15.7378 — 5.23.15 ~ Hardangervidda, Norway

5.23.15.7393 — one of my favorite shots ~ 5.23.15 ~ Hardangervidda, Norway

5.23.15.7416 — trying to imagine living here ~ 5.23.15 ~ Hardangervidda, Norway

5.23.15.7418 — turf roofs ~ 5.23.15 ~ Hardangervidda, Norway

5.23.15.7420 — 5.23.15 ~ Hardangervidda, Norway

5.23.15.7430 — 5.23.15 ~ Hardangervidda, Norway

5.23.15.7440 — look how deep the snow is on the sides of the plowed road

5.23.15.7449 — there was some amazing snowlight

5.23.15.7453 — snowed in? ~ 5.23.15 ~ Hardangervidda, Norway

5.23.15.7474 — 5.23.15 ~ Hardangervidda, Norway

As dreamy as the scenery was, when we got off the train at Myrdal Station it was startlingly COLD!!! Fortunately we didn’t have to wait too long for the next train.

Next stop: Flåm Railway from Myrdal to Flåm.

summer solstice

"Ukrainian Landscape" by Efim Volkov — “Ukrainian Landscape” by Efim Volkov

There came a Day – at Summer’s full –
Entirely for me –
I thought that such – were for the Saints –
Where Resurrections – be –

The Sun – as common – went abroad –
The Flowers – accustomed – blew –
As if no Soul the Solstice passed –
That maketh all things new.

~ Emily Dickinson
(The Poems of Emily Dickinson, #325)