For six hours a continuous stream of rivers, lakes, and rocky woods passed the window of the Sørland train on the trip from Oslo to Kristiansand. Wooded hills spanned the horizon in every direction trapping water into countless ponds and lakes. A few farms with sheep, grass, and unplanted fields   Nestled in the valleys.

The land seems as rocky here as up north. When I see piles of logs which have been harvested it’s surprising how small they are compared to the Douglas Fir in Washington and Oregon. These logs look from a distance to be less than a foot in diameter, except for a very small percentage which might be 12 or 14 inches. Or, perhaps they are larger than they appear from the train. Regardless, I wonder whether it’s the rocky soil that prevents them from growing larger.

The most beautiful scenes are the lakes. Tiny islands, simply the peaks of rocky mounds, jut above the water, some with a single tree rooted in the shallow soil. I hope I capture a picture of one of those islands while we are in southern Norway.