Happy days of May

Last Sunday I and the dog were babysitting these two guys, Oliver (left) and Tobias, two of my cousin's sons. The boys spent pretty much the whole day with us, and the weather was fabulous, so we decided to go for a long forest walk. Both the boys, the dog and I had a great time. We took a few stops here and there to let the boys rest and play a little, and they did a lot of exploring. And, of course, lots of photos...

When arriving at the water tower we sat down in the little birch forest there is and had a picnic break. I had baked a chocolate cake the day before (for another purpose) and we had taken the leftovers with us. Very popular, though the dog was a bit miffed that he didn't get any of it...

17 May is Norway's Constitution Day. It's a national/public holiday and everyone get the day off. There are children's parades all over the country, and in my little town they paraded in front of our house, pretty much. It was, and is always, a great sight, though this year I did not join the parade as is custom. Instead I took the dog out for a loooong forest walk. He seemed content with that.

I've taken up a new hobby: recreational orienteering. It means having a map (and, if need be, a compass) and walking different routes and paths in the forest to find posts that I then mark off on a score card. There are some 40 posts in the forests around where I live, and I've taken six of them so far. Each post gives a number of points on the score cards, and the score accumulated through the season (until September some time) and provide the foundation for the allocation of rewards of some sort. It is a great incitement to finding new paths and chosing unknown routes when out walking, and of course the dog loves accompanying me.

There are times when I wonder why I ever lived anywhere else!