Fall in Troms og Finnmark, Norway

Fall on the fjord was a short period of 2–3 weeks. The leaves were 20% changed one day and the next week 50% had already dropped. My eyes barely had time to adjust. I found myself chasing the light on my evening runs soon to be afternoon runs in the receding sunlight.

The arctic circle experiences a drastic change in September from the growing night, to northern lights, changing leaves, and temperature dropping. It was my favorite time during my 4 month stay because of the new color, weather, and we lost 8 minutes of daylight a day. In the never ending day of the summer months, I had missed sunsets. With the growing night, the sunsets traveled south east along the fjord creating a new show of lilac, rose, orange, and strawberry red on the Norwegian sea each evening. My paint brush could hardly keep up and my hands grew numb painting en plein air when the days got really cold and short.

Oct. 8, 2022

What the Norwegian arctic woods smell like in Autumn

Wet Wool

sharp peppery chanterelles

birch bark

decaying leaves

spruce

There is one part of the wood where the brook bubbles and the path evens out again (thick with ferns, heather and moss covered rocks and fallen trees).

that smells so pungent I wish I could bottle it up

it hits me like a wall and then disappears again

In this video, I was nearing the crest of the plateau, moss softening trudging footsteps, thighs straining to gain ground, neck craning at the ocean view. Straggling blue, pig, and linden berries cling like sprinkles amongst the still green heather. Nearby I see piles of fresh moose and reindeer scat. Like the local fauna, I was accustomed to drinking, tasting, feeling the tundra landscape. Alone yet surrounded by the company of a working ecosystem.

I eagerly awaited snow not fully appreciating the simple gift of sunshine on my face. In a matter of a week, those sun rays disappeared behind the wall of mountains surrounding our farm in the valley. The gales and rain came more often when temperatures fluxed (I had one night when a wind and hail storm buffeted my room so badly, the ice got through a vent and hit my cheeks repeatedly throughout the night. That’s coastal weather, for ya!). When we were graced with a clear day, it no longer mattered if I was hiking in the soggy heather, wearing 4 layers. I would be grateful if I had time at all to experience the natural beauty if the daylight still allowed.