Graphic

I got up in the morning, and after initially having so much time (as in lighting a couple of candles because it is DARK outside until eight o'clock now, having some porridge with apple jam and cinnamon, a good cup of tea - in the absence of newly grinded coffee beans), suddenly had to rush to make the bus to a two day meeting for work that was to take place 6 hours north of here (a tiny stretch on the map, but far because of ferries and mountains). Getting on the bus just as it left the station I took out my Ipod, chose some Nouvelle Vague and leant back. Wow. We entered such a graphically stunning world that it felt like being in a computer game. All white, patches of all shades of gray and details of black. The mountain tops were so sparkingly white it would have hurt had the sun been out, every tree was covered in frost, giving the mid parts gradient, creative patterns, and then rocks down by the rivers and lakes so black underneath that it looked like made of coal, still covered in white snow on top, like bakery goods. I was mesmerized. As the kilometers went by there was color too, although subtle, as a maple with yellow leaves, covered in snow, but some of the yellow working its way through. A red wooden barn, frozen, but still red when your eye worked on it a little. an old blue tractor halfburied and forgotten. Honestly, I had felt that I didn't have time to put 12 hours on traveling for this meeting, there was too much to get done here in Voss, but my... it was so lovely a ride. Stopping in a few small towns, driving along a dark blue fjord fighting against being covered by ice, past sheep with fur double their size - it was worth every second spent away from the office, every hour I would have to make up. The wonders of the harsh part of the year here.