By the Elements

Earth

There were a couple of confused looks when we reported to others that back home we had to drive at least five hours in order to get to mountains, that it was terribly flat where we lived.  For further perspective, SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) and Swiss have special allotments for skis and ski boots as part of their baggage rules.  Fjords, mountains, actual variance in topography.  We stepped on stone, clay, brick, gritty shoreline, gravel paths.  I recognized shale and granite and was too caught in staring to pull out much more.  I touched a wall from the 16th century with another from the 11th century just on the other side of the barrier.

Fire

There is a concept in Norway called koselig.  This roughly translates to cozy, but there is more weight to it than that.  Hospitality, kindness, warmth, welcome.  This picture was inside of a Sami structure called a Lavvu, with a central stove of bright fire leaking out the gaps and candles.  We had more candlelit dinners in Norway than we've had in the rest of lives together because every cafe and restaurant had at least tea lights at every table.  Shops had standing furnaces or candles outside of their shops to indicate that they were open or a sale was going on.  Fire was everywhere and symbol of welcome, to make people feel at home.  Fire was also a large part of every city's history, in that each was old enough to have seen some great fire or another (or many times), coming together in community to rebuild again. 

Water

We took two trips by boat, once in a ferry from Flåm to Gudvangen and then a larger boat from Bergen to Trondheim.  However, no matter where we were, we were still close to water in some capacity--water flowing down the mountain, an inlet in the fjords, the coast, snow snow snow.  I remember clearly the rumbling beneath my feet and the crunching sounds from the bow of the ferry as we plowed casually through the frozen water on our trip to Gudvangen.  These fjords were carved by glaciers. 

Air

It almost looked like clouds at first, a greyer spot against a dark, clear sky.  And yet here we see evidence of something much, much more.  Hints of color were visible to the naked eye, but the camera was set to see something like what we see in this image here, glorious greens, reds, and a hint of purple.  We drove a couple hours out of Tromsø to find clear skies, actually crossing into Finland for a bit of time in our search.  We found a place with less clouds, but the activity remained minimal--all the more reason to go back one day.  Particles from the sun striking Earth's magnetic field, making invisible components of the air visible and brilliant against the field of stars.