At the charmingly ramshackle farmhouse
in northern Norway where Roddie and
Lindis Sloan live with their three children
and a dog named Stella Bente Svendsen, a
burst of unexpectedly warm weather has
given everything the slightly giddy feel
of a holiday. It’s late May, and we can sit
outside to drink our tea in the morning and
dig into grilled meats in the evening. At
certain hours of the day, the sun makes the
mountains appear to glow, and the Arctic
light lends everything a startling clarity.
It is, in many ways, the archetypal Nordic
summer scene. Which is exactly as I want
it, since I’ve come here in hopes of figuring
out whether all I’ve heard about one very
Norwegian concept, friluftsliv, is true.
110 AFAR SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019