Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

Sunny spring, though the nights are chilly

Red cheeked from long days out in the sun we meet the chilly nights. "Don't forget Mom, you have promised to play cards tonight"

"I remember, and anyway, you will never let me forget, will you?" I meet Marta's smiling face.

"You are the best Mom. Just finish you letter or whatever you are writing. I will make the cabin cosy for us"

Terje finishes his nap, I write a couple of letters, and when the grayness of a Nordic spring night starts to creep into the cabin, we light a few candles and make the big table ready for the nights activity - cards or boardgames.

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Photos: Marta at cabin.

Information: The cabin is not near a lake, but situated along the North Sea. Salt water makes our viking skin glow :-)

Outdoor food preparations.

The Slow Life - The Green Life

The slow life - the green life. When we arrive at the cabin there is always one bag we never unpack; the bag filled with our busy everyday life. I never plan to pack this bag, but somehow it still tend to follow us. I try to forget it in the car when we carry our stuff up to the cabin, but often it makes itself invisible for periods, and find its way somehow.

But I never, never unpack this bag.

What I do bring with me, and always unpack, is long, slow days, sunshine and rain, silence, time for talking, time for games, preparing meals, eating, open ears for the birdsong, open eyes for nature's beauty.

At Easter our kids wondered why we didn't sell the cabin to buy a flat in Italy instead. With our love for Italy that would be the perfect thing to do.......

But our cabin is my sanctuary, the place to go to enjoy.........this place can never be changed with anywhere else in the world........

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Photos: the tulips which started to open last week-end offered us full bloom this time.

Through a glass window

I came to Oslo early, with the night train. And before my meeting I had some extra time. I walked down to the new opera house, and to get the best of the sun I sat with my back to the fjord, facing the glass wall.

Oslo houses at the harbour played "guess who we are" with me. My mind wandered between my book and my dreams.

I am back from Oslo, and we are on our way to the cabin for Whitsun. The blog will have a few day's break.

Treasure Hunting

"Sense of beauty is the gift of God, for which those who have received it in good measure can never be thankful enough" Gertrude Jekyll

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Photo: from my garden

_________________NEW BLOG OF THE WEEK____________

Somepinkflowers. It is well worth a visit.......

Breakfast in Garden

Spring in Norway, when the weather is sunny and mild such as this year, can't be described. It has to be lived.

I live it fully this year with all sense opened to creation and Creator.

This morning I was able to take a couple of hours off work, I moved a table and a chair to a spot filled with morning sun and enjoyed life.

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Gone Fishing

During the summer months we spend alot of time at our cabin, two hours from Trondheim, near the coast. Last week-end we opened the cabin for the season, and with May 1st as a red calendar day and an opportunity for us all to take Friday off, we had a long week-end there.

Cabin life is quite another way of living, far from our busy and hectic everyday life. Here we can sit for hours enjoying the singing of birds, the colours of flowers, we can work in the forest and the flower beds, we can hike the mountains..........and we love fishing.
Saturday night was fishing night. Not the best luck, but my husband got three coalfishes which we fried for breakfast Sunday morning. My husband is a fish frying master. I know his recipe, but somehow not his secret (I wounder if it is the amount of pepper he is using), so my fish is never as good as when he fries them.........Well, may be the secret is the pleasure of eating homemade food without having to do the cooking myself :-)

A pair of socks

When my eyes enjoy the beauty of the tulips and the view of fjord and mountains, my ears find delight in the singing of thousands of birds, and my mind wanders its own way of longing - my fingers often love to get busy.

While busy fingers dance their own dance, the first sock is growing, and growing.......

.......and growing. And soon it is longing for a partner.

I have started the twin, so it will not be lonely too long :-)

Tulip Fever (from our cabin)

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A cabin guest

I sat out on the cabin porch after breakfast this morning, reading Tasha Tudor's Garden book. Then a visitor came flying. he had a few garden stories to share.

Nature is my cabin kitchen

We have a few days off and our cabin is the perfect place to enjoy these lovely spring days. Our cabin is a lovely and primitive place. We have to walk to the dwell with two buckets to get water, we have no electricity. But we have God's most beautiful nature surrounding is everywhere.

There is an indoor kitchen of course, but as often as possible I cook and prepare the food outdoors. No paintings or photos on the walls, nature up and down and to all sides.

I will think of my world wide group of blogging friends these days. With no computer at the cabin I can't visit your blogs and I can't comment on your nice words to me. But I can keep you in my heart, I can dream of having you here with me enjoying a local blue cheese, some fresh bread and a glass of wine. Eating with you while we share keys to our hearts.

And we don't need to stay just around the cabin. We can hikle mountains and we can go fishing...........and there are alot of other things to do...........

..........which I will show you when we are there.

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Photos: from our cabin at Aure, on the western coast of Norway.