Hiking with cows (you can take the boy outta the country...)

The guy I'm renting my room from in Oslo has a friend with a dairy farm in the mountains in Norway, and every year at the end of the summer they walk the cows from the summer farm higher up in the mountains, down to the winter farm, in a lower valley. I was invited to come along for this unique experience.

Norway has lots of tunnels, this was also me playing with the camera

Finndalen - the valley where the summer farm is located, with the farmhouse in the foreground

The summer farm

Curious cows - roughly the first 2 hours of the hike is going through this valley, with the cows straying from the road more often then you'd care for

Above the tree-line vegetation

The cows figured it out - after a certain point, the cows understand what's going on, know the routine, and just follow the path

Mountain blueberries - not sure if these were the edible type, I didn't venture a try

Mountain plateau - view from somewhere up on the mountain, enjoying the view to the other mountains and the spots of sun

If a cow can do it - it's a long hike, but the cows seemed to manage ok

First glimpses toward the valley where the winter (main) farm is

Down is the hard part - the view was spectacular, and crazy to see the farms looking so tiny so far down below, going down the mountain is particularly hard on the joints

Main farm - (winter farm)

Main farm - the view at the main farm, looking further down the valley

Skjåk - roughly the location where the farm is, and also across the river is where they make Norway's famous Brunost (brown cheese)

Old stave church - Lom

Stave church interior - apparently one of the oldest stave churches in Norway

Lom - rapids/waterfall in the town of Lom, a very picturesque and touristy location

Reindeer crossing? or beware of reindeer on the road (or is it elk/moose?)

Scenic route home - drove through a nice section of mountains for a bit of a scenic route back to Oslo

Rock strewn landscape, with mountains in the background

Small mountain waterfalls

More scenic vistas - that's actually a tiny village down by the water, so you see the water is actually a ways away here

Less mountainous scenery - it still puzzles me how people farm here

† Jules

Jules was sick, and had to be put down. This was very difficult for everyone in my family, as it seemed to come all of a sudden. We were deeply saddened by this. I'm sure it's largely in his absence you notice how much such a sweet dog as him has an affect on your life. Even with me living across the Atlantic when it happened, I had a hard time with it.
We'll miss you Jules.

Sometimes a beautiful sad song is a great thing for something like this. This is one of my favourites.

Moved.... again. This time: Oslo

Moved to Oslo on the 8th, and started my next and final internship on the 12th of August at Designit Oslo. This will be my last and final internship before returning to Umeå in January to do my thesis project and complete my Masters degree, before returning to the real world, finding myself a real job somewhere, and hopefully no longer moving around but rather settling down in one spot for a while.

Oslo is beautiful and I was glad to be able to catch the tale end of summer upon arriving here.

For anyone needing my new digits:

William van Beek

Enerhauggata 7

0651 Oslo

Norway

Evening in the 'hood - catching some perfect evening light to play with the new camera, and explore the city a bit

Park view - this park is actually right next to the apartment building I'm living in, and I look down on the park

Shadows and light - it really was the perfect lighting to take pictures

Catching a moment - just playing with the camera

Opera house at sunset

Opera house inside, city reflection outside

Oslo Central Station

Illuminated bicycle stands - half art, half public furniture, has a nice effect with stainless steel bicycle sculptures as bicycle stands, complete with red LED tail lights...

And white LED headlights

Summer 'vacation', between internships

Finished my internship with Atlas Copco mid/late June and headed to Canada for some 'vacation' between internships. July was a long, warm, busy, and stressful month at home. Love my family and glad I had the chance to visit, as well as hopefully help carry the load to make things less stressful and a bit easier on everyone on the farm. The big stress causing thing was of course the new barn construction, with all of it's issues and hick-ups to say the least. I'll be very happy for them once they are finally milking in the new barn.

One of the first days of pre-fab installation on site.

Beautiful structure, that pre-fab stuff.

It will be one very big barn, when it's done.

A multi-cultural herd - combo of Holsteins and Brown Swiss, both of which are super cute as calves

Muskoka holiday - the end of my time in Canada was spent at Lindsey's cottage up in Muskoka, and after all the stress built up through July, this was a much needed, and very great little vacation!

Who doesn't like ducks?

 

Pseudo wedding table setting

Pseudo wedding cupcakes

Grace and Dan - happily married, at the pseudo wedding party we had in Muskoka

Light writing - if my photography skills would have been better with my new camera, I may have been able to better capture them making a heart with the sparklers

IDEA 2013 Bronze!

Last year (2012) I was a finalist in the IDEA awards with my Dispatch Mining Utility Vehicle concept, and this year I won an IDEA Bronze with my Hydrologic water recycling laundry system concept.

Hydrologic - IDEA 2013 Bronze

Hydrologic - a bit of an idea behind how the closed loop water filtration system is intended to work.

In case you missed it earlier, this video is a quick little teaser/introduction to the concept:



Hydrologic is a closed loop laundry system that is not connected to the home’s water infrastructure. The water inside runs through a series of filters and bio filters to be recycled in a continuous loop, thus preventing any harmful chemicals from entering the water system.

Life in Örebro (Swedish Experiences)

Random Swedish happenings and shenanigans while I lived in Örebro that add to the whole Swedish experience.

Örebro Slott - not a super exciting winters day in Örebro, but the castle still is nice.

Walpurgisnacht (Walpugis Night) - Big night in Sweden, and in this shot, a choir singing in front of Örebro Slott, with the bonfire on the water.

Fireworks Walpurgisnacht Finale



Free kanelbullar (cinnamon buns) at Maskin Expo - mmm Swedish



Swedish Countryside - on the way back from Maskin Expo near Arlanda.

As Swedish as it gets - On the Swedish National Holiday (June 6th), I helped my friend and co-worker Nirvana get some new furniture and move into her new place. Björn, another friend and co-worker let us borrow his Volvo 740. Took about 45 minutes to pack the car seen here - it was kinda like Tetris. Nirvana was a bit sceptical it would all fit, but my sunny optimism won her over.

Bland Sallad - Sure it makes sense in Swedish, but when you read it as an English speaker, well, it does seem bland (aptly named?)

Last day of work - my final day of Internship at Atlas Copco, and we (me and some of the summer interns and new employees) got to go down to the test mine to check out some drill rigs in action.

Rocheforte 10 - Ok, so not so Swedish, but this is one of my all-time favourite beers, and to find it only a week or so before leaving Örebro had me asking myself how I hadn't found this pub earlier.

Svenske Midsommar (Swedish Midsummer) - kinda the biggest event of the year in Sweden, time to enjoy the longest day of the year, the endless (if it's a sunny day) sunlight, as well as great Swedish food and drink. This garden party was at Björn's.

Midsommar på Örebro slott - my final days in Örebro before taking my Canadian summer vacation, and moving on to the next place and adventure in August. I think this was as dark as it got that evening.



Örebro C - departing Örebro

Örebro - Umeå Train Trip

Took the train from Örebro all the way up to Umeå, chasing the sun north, for UID Design Talks '13. It was a great trip. This time of year, taking the train through the day is a great way to see Sweden. I arrived in Umeå a little after 23:00, and this was only about a half hour past sunset! So obviously it was also still bright.
Even better then that, starting the day in Örebro it was grey, rainy, and about 16C. By the time I was almost in Umeå, it was bright, sunny, and one of the warmest spots in all of Europe. It was crazy - people were walking around in shorts and tank-tops, as if it were the south of Europe, and were nicely bronzed from having had 4 weeks of sunshine and beautiful weather! (shown fairly nicely here in pictures)
I could only wish for the same next year.

Örebro / Hallsberg - starting point, first leg of 3 on the SJ X40 double decker

Hallsberg Station - a 1 hour wait for the next train

Hallsberg / Stockholm - aboard the SJ 2000 for leg 2 of the journey, and the weather was still grey, rainy, and not especially warm

Stockholm / Umeå - leaving Stockholm aboard the SJ3000 at the start of leg 3 of the journey (the longest part), and the weather still looks crappy, albeit better then when I left Örebro

SJ3000 Luxury - the super new, high speed trains in Sweden with lots of space in a roomy very nice, very Swedish interior (here you might notice the shelves between the seats and the windows that are about ample enough for a handbag)

Gävle C - weather is clearing up, and looking a bit better

Approximately an hour till sunset - weather is starting to look real nice

Höga Kusten (Swedish High Coast) - weather is really nice

This is the point at which I concluded Sweden is actually composed of 90% forests, 8% trees they just cut down, and 2% is everything else

Örnsköldsvik - right about sunset, and just a bit to go until reaching Umeå, with really beautiful weather

Umeå Östra - arrival in Umeå at last, and it seems surreal, with weather this beautiful, and the endless daylight (if you look real close you can see the clock on the platform says it's almost 23:00, and the sun looks to not have set yet)

Designer Breakfast - after a night of helping fellow Umeå APD's on their models before the exhibition, and returning to the hotel very late, Carlos, Natalie and I headed to a patio on the way to school (where free food was to be served anyways)

UID'13 Design Talks