Outside of Norway for the first time since October 2019!

The songbird chorus is singing in a new day. I'm sitting on the roof outside my second floor bedroom at 5:15 am. The house is my sister- and brother-in-law's beautifully restored 1890s mansion in Prescott, Arizona. The roof has Astroturf, folding chairs and a nice fence. The sky is clear. The pink in it is fading to blue. There's a "fingernail moon". The apple tree is absolutely covered. The pear tree too.

The birds, having succeeded in driving the pink out of the sky, are quieting. Lights from hillside homes are washed out from the sky.

It is my first trip outside Norway since the COVID pandemic began. I am loving seeing relatives! The adventure getting to the US was very stressful, with all the proofs required that I was virus-free. Yes, I am vaccinated. Yes, I was COVID free within 72 hours of first flight. Yes, I have a doctor's note and an official government certificate about those. It took ages to get past the baggage claim and then security at Bergen. The poor agent was frowning, using his phone, his computer and his walky-talky, to figure out if all the i's were dotted and t's crossed. Patience is a virtue - and make sure you get to the airport with three hours to spare! Bergen to Frankfurt, first.

Passengers were almost 100% very good about wearing their masks. Frankfurt airport was next, for 18 hours without setting foot outside of security into the EU. They have a teeny-tiny hotel inside there. My room was 10 square meters: a bed, a toilet, a shower, sink, and a small desk. It rents by the hour, which doesn't have quite the same cachet as it does outside of an airport!

 After finishing my first book - "How to Fake an Irish Wake" - in the airport, I started "Metatropolis" for the long 11 hour flight to LA. It was very good, but I finished with 2 hours to go in the flight. Gasp! I had to play games on the airplane system.

There was another Disneyland-style winding line to get into the US. I was on a pretty full 747, and there was some other large plane coming in from Mexico at the same time. They didn't even ask for the paperwork I had printed for them in duplicate.

Last flight was from LA to Prescott, where my lovely in-laws were waiting for me. It felt so good to see them! It had been storming in Prescott. Check out these clouds!

 

Here are Russ, Lynne and little Buster in their beautiful yard. Lynne, Buster and I would lounge out there every morning with our coffees.

After getting going, Buster and I would walk Aker Park - in the morning before it got super hot. He would've become a "hot dog". I was a big hit with Buster. 

These good times had to finally come to an end. I drove a rental car to Phoenix. On the way, I made a stop for a "Saguaro selfie" for my friends back in Bergen.

Phoenix has family, alive and dead, to visit, and high school friends. It also has air conditioning, since it is 45 C = 113 F in the afternoon! First, cousin Carla. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory. Yummmmy. Second is the high school friends, who are not "old friends", of course. Third is step-family Lori and Bob. The dead relatives are at Greenwood Cemetery, and include Ed, my mother-in-law, and brother-in-law. Also, in a different section, my mother.