Snowy Stavanger

So quiet here. The snow falls softly and covers the hilly grass and the black ice on the lake.
We sit in the house and watch the deer walking softly across the lawn outside, to disappear between the trees; or the peacock, tail folded and sweeping the ground, followed by his modest brown partner.

We have a full schedule during the week: up early and leaving the house just before eight. Already considerable traffic on the roads leading into Stavanger. Packed days: shopping (food and things for the house, and the kids!), Norwegian lessons (great fun, a group of six young people from all around the world: Korea, Croatia, Portugal, Poland and Judy and me). I as Granny do not quite fit age-wise, but no probs! Norwegian is so closely related to Germanic languages I know that it is most diverting working out brother-words in Dutch, English and German!

As ever, I find there are not enough hours per day to achieve all I would like, and so far I have not written a poem... but last week I did some high-speed editing for a friend's PhD, on Chinese women writers of the (Asian) diaspora. Most satisfying. Nice to feel professional again!

And I combatted a trauma and walked onto an ice-covered pond where local Norwegians were skating, preceded by Judy, Christiaan and small Rachel (so I reckoned, if they could walk on that ice, so could I!)
Here I am on the frozen lake:

There are many small lakes in and around Stavanger and all frozen last week. But now the temperatures are rising and it's snowing again.

In Amsterdam and elsewhere in the Netherlands it is also deeply freezing.
But I suspect by the time I get back on Thursday afternoon it will be thawing there.

And soon I'll be flying south to Porto. Which is in the grip of incessant rain. But considerably warmer.

Still time to make a poem ...