May 26th

Dear Heidi,

Well, now you are almost done!
It seems a lifetime and yet no time at all since we waved you off in Kristiansand...
And how much you have grown up and learned over this year travelling around the Old World and the New. I am so looking forwards to having you home again and to hearing all the things that you have to tell us, little by little, to share in some of the times you have had.

We are all so very proud of you. You have faced so many challenges in these months, many at the same time, and you have pushed on, straightened your backbone and continued, overcome and won success. You have shown true grit, and that is something worth having. Something worth more than all the certificates and exams, that I know you have worked really hard to achieve.

I hope that you will take a little time to reflect on the days and nights, weeks and months, and, in due course, discard the bad times and sad times and let them run back into the sea, sifting out the good times and cherish these memories as you return to a more mundane and ordinary life on land! Take the best of what has been, and move on in a positive and hopeful way.

Here at home, we are slowly roasting, as the temperatures reach into the upper 20s and low 30s...it feels more like the dog days of July than Maytime! Everyone is just a little on edge with overheating and the garden and fields are desperate for rain. Pappa and D spent this evening tramping the woods around P’s Farm helping to hunt for an escaped bull calf! It had been frightened by all the general excitement of the cows as they were finally released into the field from the barn and charged straight through the electric fence into the forest! They were lucky there wasn’t a stampede for freedom! Luckily it has been found and returned to its rather grumpy mamma.

E and I had a good fossick through the loppis today. I found some drinking glasses to match our china, some few books and a little fabric. Not much really, but we enjoyed ourselves and had a nice cup of coffee and then lunch at home. Pappa is still trying to finish seeding the fields in places were the flooding has finally gone down. W is now on his half term holiday at A’s in Cornwall. It was strange not to go down to watch sports day at school.

Now it is just five days until we leave for Kristiansand and you can be sure that we will be standing waiting on the dockside to wave you all home again. Hopefully we won’t have to wait 8 hours like we did in Florida, for you all to clear customs! There seems to be a two hour window for us to get you all unloaded and changed into your graduation outfit before the ceremony begins. I’m sure it will end up being a bit of a rush, so I hope you will all be packed up ready!
Looking forwards to a wonderful reunion and graduation day!
With so much love,
Your own mamma.

18th May

Dear Heidi,

Well, we did hope to be able to talk to you yesterday and wish you “Gratulerer med dagen!” but it seems phones were not issued. From the post the Ship put out, it seems that the weather must have been quite rough. There certainly was a strong breeze here, and I felt for you, heading into it. Soon, as you get to Germany, it will be calmer. At least I hope so!

Pappa is still busy all day, everyday, drilling the fields. The “great flood” is slowly going down, so he will soon be able to finish the fields down by the river. D is in Baerum today, working, and I hope he will have the two holidays next week for Whitsun, off. That would be a great help to Pappa , just to get these final fields done with. D has applied and been accepted into a college in Sognfjord from the autumn, studying arboriculture at a higher level. It means he will have to drive across the mountains once a month, boarding at the college for a week, but returning home and to his job for the other three weeks. It will be a lot of driving, especially in the winter months...

W is not coming home for this summer half term holiday, it is just too much travelling, and he wants to go to A in Cornwall anyway. The two boys are preparing A’s hens for exhibition at the Royal Cornwall Show!

Here at home, the spring flowers are really good this year, and everything is growing madly. I have so much weeding to get done, and I will certainly appreciate some help with that soon!!😉

Meanwhile all is well with us and we wish you so much luck with all your exams and of course a safe and successful trip back to Holland for the English AP exam.

So much love to you sweetheart,

Your mamma.

May the 7th

Dear Heidi,

I have been watching the ships progress through the channel and listening to the shipping forecast on the BBC radio. You have made great time and progress and now you are so close to land, just off The Hague! I expect we will be able to talk tomorrow!! I can’t believe how close you are now, nearer than William!

So now there are just a few more days of lessons and exams and then it is plain sailing for the rest of the month. I wonder if you are going to travel through the Kiel canal to get to Copenhagen?

Here at home it had been the HH loppis :) Miss E and I had a lovely day together there yesterday, but didn’t actually buy much, and of course I went down again this morning. It was nice to chat to a few people that I knew, and to see if there were any treasures, and to be out in the sunshine! Yea! The sun is finally beginning to warm up! Pappa was out all weekend camping with his friend A, in his caravan, down in the forest in Ostfold somewhere, whilst A was judging a motorbike trials competition.

Our new hens are finally beginning to lay...there were 6 eggs this morning. The bees are busy, the weeds are growing and Pappa is finally going to begin in the fields tomorrow... My daffodils are fully out and the tulips are coming slowly. I wonder if you are going to be in Holland for 17th May? This year the parents of HH school have decided that it is too far for their children to walk to the church, and so they are leaving the parade at the bridge and coming back to school up the main road, whilst the rest of the children from the other two schools and the band continue on! It has certainly created a bit of talk, and even the student council voted against it! But the parents get their way. It must be sad for the seventh class, I think.

I am looking forwards to talking to you very soon my darling, and to seeing you again in just a few weeks more.

Love from your Mamma.

May 2nd

Dear Heidi,

Well by now I hope that you have heard that there are no History or Geography exams for you this year....whether or not you choose to continue with the AP next year is for you to consider after you have sat the English one. We will support you whatever you decide.

Here at home, Pappa is still not working on the fields, it is still too cold and wet. D, meanwhile is working day and night at the moment as everyone wants to have their thuja hedges trimmed or cut down! He is still working in Karl Johannesgate in Oslo, and in Fredrikstadt every now and again.

W has been doing well in racewalking!!! He was taking part in the county championships at Millfield school. I have just sent him a nice piece of woollen tweed to cover the cushion of a stool he has made in woodwork. I’m not sure how we will get that home on the plane!

I have started decorating the house for 17th May 🇳🇴 We have quite a collection of china for the dresser now! I don’t suppose I will put out much else, but it is the school loppemarked this weekend, so you never know! Miss E is coming to be my loppis-buddy, we shall treasure hunt together.

Well, that’s all for now, I hope that the weather is kind and the seas are calm as you approach the English Channel....it can’t be worse than when you set off last September into the teeth of a near hurricane! My darling girl, I can’t wait to have you home now. Only a few short (busy) weeks to go!

Study hard and enjoy these last two port stops before you finally sail home.

 Love Mamma.