…and this astounding place is already making me forget my camera! I mean, when in a place like this, there are pictures to be taken to share with the world out there. But, alas, I left the digital at home as we went to Scalloway to visit an advertised event at the NAFC Marine Center (North Atlantic Fisheries College) called “The Sea Around Us”.

With the Atlantic Ocean practically at our doorstep, we felt that it would be wise to become acquainted with this new environment. Besides, after a week on Shetland and never being more than 3 English miles from a shore, it could be handy to learn about what is under the surface of an ocean.

When we first came to the designated house at NAFC, we immediately noted the sound of many people inside. Especially children. And, as we first peeked into the doorway, there were several large tanks of water that people were hanging over. Hmmm, What could be in these?

We quickly took a look. Here was a gigantic display of…fish. All kinds of different fish life that we had only seen on Discovery Channel or someplace. Now, they were there in real life.

It wasn’t the fish life found in the Little Lule River in Jokkmokk nor anywhere near our subarctic lakes. We could get close to such things as live halibut and cod, some sort of stingray and really ugly beasts with vampire teeth, which were strong enough to crush mussels and other hard-shelled crustaceans, called “Wolf Fish”.

Besides beauties like octopus and, believe me, fish that I have no idea what they were, we strolled over to the fish tank that was most popular. It was the “Touchy-Feely” fish tank. A hands-on experience for young and old.

Have you ever stuck your hand into water to pat a sea urchin? Or felt what a live Velvet Crab feels like? In this tank everyone was allowed to pick these creatures up and get a feel for them. I always wanted to know what it was like holding a starfish. And, a Sea Cucumber was a little stiff but soft. I was a kid going to a zoo for the first time again.

It was here that I realized I had left my camera at home. Sadly…sadly…but, Brita reminded me of my new mobile phone and its camera.

Great! I whipped this out and took 26 pictures of this salty experience. All I had to do was to transfer the files from the phone to my computer….uh…uh…? It didn’t work. My computer doesn’t have the correct application for transferring.

So, rule number 1? Don’t ever forget your camera. Rule 2? Don’t underestimate Shetlands potential for interesting activities where you could need a camera. Rule 3? Don’t be afraid to touch some sea animals…but not Wolf Fish!

PS- As conciliation, allow me to give a lone kayak in a big puddle of water and Shetland’s shore. Enjoy-

…we joined up with a guided bird watching tour near the center of Shetland’s biggest town Lerwick. This week, Shetland is experiencing its very first, and hopefully not the last, Nature Festival week and has activities centered on geology, botany and wildlife all over the islands.

Photo: Birdwatching walk through the town of Lerwick

Not only was it an interesting walk through the conservation area of Lerwick (the older part of town) but the three hour walk provided us with 25 different birds to be seen. Of these, the Arctic Tern (Arktis Tärna), Common Tern (vanlig Tärna), Arctic Skua (Fjälllab), Shag (Storskav), Herring Gull (Fiskmås), House Sparrow (Gråsparv) and Hooded Crow (Kråka) were the ones we recognized from northern Sweden. Surprisingly, birders in Great Britain have noticed a decrease in the House Sparrow population as we have observed in Sweden these last years.

Photo: New membership in the RSPB meant receiving a book and other material

The tour was so fun and our warden guides, Dennis, Lewis and Ewan, were so knowledgeable that I just had to become a member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). Interestingly, membership dues were open. New members could decide themselves how much they could afford for annual fees rather than the RSPB had set membership dues! An interesting idea for Swedish organizations?

Other images from today and yesterday…

Photo: The new Shetland Museum in Lerwick

Photo: Traditional harbor house in Lerwick’s conservation area
Photo: Cruise ship The Marco Polo visits Lerwick, Shetland

PS- We’ve become dogsitters for our landlady the next two weeks. Please greet Pele and Fiffi…

Secret methods of Shetlanders letting off steam?

Photo: Scalloway piano bashing contest Nr. 1

Photo: Scalloway piano bashing contest Nr. 2

Photo: Scalloway piano bashing contest Nr. 3

Photo: Scalloway piano bashing contest Nr. 4

Photo: Scalloway piano bashing contest- The End

Nearby places to walk to…

Photo: Village of Papil with our house. We start here… (Please use the enlarging tool for better details)

Photo: 500 meters westwards

Photo: 500 meters southwards

Photo: Seen along the way

Photo: “Oh Boy! We’re going to the beach!”

…to be continued

…is one way of starting a blog about our Great Adventure this coming year. So far, this last month has be intensely hectic and I haven’t had the time to update information.

If one would start listing everything that had to be carried-out and done before leaving on a sabbatical, the list would be a month or two long. These last three weeks have seen major projects started and completed in our preparation to leave for our year on the Shetland Islands; an excitingly new and different place that is easily recommended to learn more about.

This last month has seen Brita ending the school year in Jokkmokk as she steadily collected household possessions for a year’s storage or junked and diminishing our amount of “could-be-good-to-have-someday-stuff”. A job that took all her after school free time but that she did a splendid job with.

Photos. Before/After. The freedom of little possessions.

I have engaged myself with taking this “stuff” to re-cycling in up to 10 large trailer loaded trips and re-modernizing the root cellar of the house, which required major brick and mortar work, an improved water system and new wiring.

Then, two days before we planned to leave, our wonderful supporting companion Jeppe decided he wasn’t quite prepared to help us with our sabbatical and, in order to do his best, wanted a new water pump. Where does one get a new Jeep water pump in Jokkmokk a few days before Sweden belches out it’s national vacation month?

Luckily, I found one in Umeå and, luckily, everything worked with getting it to Jokkmokk. Jeppe got his new water pump the very morning we were to leave for Norway. We sincerely want to thank Nya Bilcenter I Jokkmokk, Micke and Michael, who laid everything aside to give Jeppe the help he needed. Thanks, guys!

Photo: Departure day 27-06-08. “Jeppe” gets his new water pump.

After this operation, it was home…pack the car…make sure the house was prepared for our tenants and drive to Umeå. In the coming days, we are heading from Umeå westwards to Trondheim and, later, southwards towards Bergen, Norway and the ferry that takes us to Scrabster, Scotland.

Photo: With Jeppe loaded, the Great Adventure can begin.

…to be continued

…is something that may linger in the minds of people as they feel the affects of the rat-race syndrome in their daily lives. Often connected with universities, sabbaticals are a tradition of higher educational teachers, lecturers or professors who, after a traditional period of seven years, thereby the word coming from “Sabbath”, are rewarded with a year off with pay to do something different. Often using the time for continual research or similar.

I’ve often been fascinated with people I met who were on a sabbatical. They would just pop-up at the Grand Canyon, a Massachusetts flea market, Union Station in D.C., London’s New Globe Theater or just tenting at a campsite in Acadia National Park. And, many of these weren’t newly retired nor at all connected with a university or corporate organization. They were just (extra-) ordinary people who decided to break-away and do something else to spice-up life. Everyone seemed to have that special glint in their eyes and a look of total satisfaction with themselves and with their lives.

In 1992, I met two people from Scotland who had traveled around on their very own self-inflicted sabbatical and had wound-up in Jokkmokk. They had been several months in the U.S. doing odd jobs such as erecting and dismantling party tents. Not teachers nor professors. He was a car mechanic and she had been a mother and housewife. They were two simple hard working Scots who just wanted to do something different in their lives…and did!

All this sounds exotic, doesn’t it? But, How is it done and What is there to learn?

Feeling a need for changes, my wife and I have decided on “a great adventure” in our lives. We are headed for a self-made sabbatical and, at this writing, have only 4 weeks to go before we realize this adventure. The goal with this new category is to relate to any readers of our experiences, of what we do, have seen and have learned. Hopefully, we will share what works and what doesn’t work with having a sabbatical and, hopefully, others can find advice and encouragement to do something specially different in their lives.

Photo: North Mainland coast on Shetland at Eshaness

Our sabbatical is on the Shetland Islands. Two people from the inland mountain county of Jokkmokk, in northern Sweden, to a group of islands in the North Atlantic. A totally different experience! Two totally different places!

Please feel welcomed to follow along in our adventure on Shetland in the coming months….