One fine sunny day

I’ve finally bought Alexander Rybak’s CD for the kids earlier this week. For days now, Rybak has been working over time with us, belting his songs that are coloured by his Norwegian/Russian background. EJ would sing along and Missy would be the Frikaren (the dancer) spinning around on the floor until she’s dizzy. Even Spike, who is currently into Disturbed, likes the music too. My kids listen to him in the house, in the car and if Rybak is allowed to take a *rest*, they would hum his songs instead. EJ and Missy have decided to take up violin lessons after the summer holidays. Oh well! we’ll see…

My BIL turned 50 and we had a small family gathering at the family’s base camp here. There was a lot of goodies. As usual, it was nice to gather and exchange stories old and new while pretending not to realise that we were downing gazzilion tons of calories. I always tell myself that it’s not everyday :D  My SIL made her heavenly Iced Cheesecake (I’ll put the recipe here soon). My MIL made the Cinnamon rolls, Bløtkake (Strawberry and Cream---kabooosh!) and her all time favourite, Chocolate cake. Little Missy had a tough time taking her eyes away from the strawberry and cream cake but because of the nice, *princessy* gown, she had to control herself and sit nicely. Torture!

After the nth slice of cake and the nth cup of coffee, we decided to take the kids down to the boat house. Spike was already there, working on his boat. As DH supervised and helped Spike with his work, I took care of the local version of Do Re Mi. Mi @ G, is my SIL’s youngest son and he’s a year younger than EJ. Whenever they play together, they always have a phase that I like to term *getting-to-know-you*, during which they will quarrel and whine about one another. Half an hour later, they will be ok and the visiting one will not want to go home. The kids pretty much know the drill of being at sea. Even fishing from the pier would entail donning the life jacket. Falling into the water would be a cold affair but at least we know that they won’t be in any other serious trouble. Once they have the jackets on, they are hassle-free kids. They dig for baits and would stand there contentedly fishing for quite some time.

Little Missy was just happy to play with the fishes that DH caught. Those were too small to be eaten. So we let them off after awhile. I used to be quite surprised to part with what I thought was good candidates for a *makan besar*. Realising that the law actually prohibits capture of fish below a certain size, my mouth stopped quivering. I was not about to get on the wrong side of the Norwegian law.Mackerel is quite common at this time of the year. One of our employees from Malaysia was here a few years ago. He got carried away catching more than 50 mackerel on rod and line. My MIL’s response was *Herregud! What are we going to do with all these fish!* He did not know that mackerel can be caught literally by the hundreds, but that the locals consider it bad form to catch more than you plan to eat. So for the next few days, we ate Mackerel, we talked Mackerel and we even dreamt Mackerel.

EJ managed to catch a sizeable mackerel that was fried for dinner the next day. It was truly his moment and he savoured every second of the glory that came along with it. With each bite, we were bombarded with his questions. He wanted to know how the fish tasted, whether we liked it, whether it was good and whether we wanted some more. As soon as we said, *Yes, could you please fish more today?!*, he said *OK! but that last piece is mine!* :D

We came home to Måløy quite late that day and took our nightly inspection round in our garden.The rose bushes along the fence and those outside the kids’ room bloomed almost over night. Roses often remind me of my Mak. She loves Roses and she always makes me laugh with her 101 ideas on how I could smuggle my rose plants into Malaysia.

*Aren’t you scared of me being caught?* I asked, smilingly.

*Oh! YOU’ll be fine…* she said.

*But what if I get caught smuggling it and then they put me in jail? All because of some plants for you?!!*

*Ah! listen to me…you WON’T get caught! Just take some home. You’ll see that I’m right!*

Yes, that’s my wonderful, loving Mak :D

And this is a picture of her equally cheeky, enthusiastic and persuasive grandchildren, taken at the end of that fine sunny day.