Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

Baccalao and saltfiskball out on the island

Text and images Britt-Arnhild Wigum Lindland

 
If I had a huge bus I would fill it with blog readers. After two nights at our cabin (where we would have to squeeze in tight), I will take you all out on the island of Smøla. Terje will be the driver, I will be the guide, Jane and Lanny will do the oh-ing and ah-ing together with the rest of you.

 
Out on the western point of the island, almost out in the Atlantc Ocean, I will take you to a small restaurant. There you will have the hard choice; baccalao or saltfiskball (salt fish balls)

 

 

While driving out to the small fishing village of Veidholmen yesterday I said to Terje; "Next time Mauro and Barbara come to Norway we must take them out here. This is so different from Venice and at the same time there are so many similarities."

"While we were eating I continued: "You know Terje, I simply know that Mauro will love this restaurant and this food."

 

A little later I pick up my phone (Terje and I shared the two dishes, we both wanted both baccalao and saltfiskball), open facebook and write: Baccalao og saltfiskball på Veidholmen, Smøla er slett ikke the verste vi kan tenke oss (baccalao and salt fish balls at Veidholmen, Smøla is really not the worst place on our mind......)

 

Minutes later my facebook update gets a comment, you can guess who it came from.......: "I understand only Baccalao :-) And I think is fish......I love it...Hummmmmmmm!"

 

Our thoughts crossed Mauro. May be by the help of seagulls :-)

 

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Dear blog readers from all over the world (I would love to know where you all come from), what a pleasure to spend a day on the island with you.

 

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Today is our 31st anniversary and we have a lot of plans made.......

 

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ps, the photos of the yellow house, the orange fisherman and the seagull are shot through the restaurant window. The restaurant is called Havkroa and is also a tiny little hotel with five charming rooms.

A bird near the river

Text and image Britt-Arnhild Wigum Lindland

 
I went downtown for my weekly photo walk, or photosafari as I like to call it. The day was wet and grey. Where could I find beauty to shot?

I started down at the harbour, the fjord was so grey there was nothing to see. Continued along the canal. I love that area, love the boats there. Got some great photos.....for another day......and then continued up to my favorite spot along the river Nidelven.

 
I saw a skarv (sorry I don't know the English name) there in January last year. Got a misty photo which I love so much. And to my pleasure the skarv was there again.

 
This bird is famous up on the Lofoten islands where my brother Frode lives. Years ago there used to be an old blacksmith, quite a character, who used to make the most elegant skarvs. WE have a small collection of three of them out at our cabin.

 
The skarv stands in a tiny little island out in the river. This island can't be seen when the tide is in, the tide from the Trondheim Fjord goes up the river a little, but yesterday, when I came to search for the skarv, the island was perfect for both of us.

Can you see the iron kind of a cross out on the island? If my information is correct, this iron cross was mentioned already in the old Norse litterature written by Snorre.

The skarv, the iron cross, the tiny island, the river, the Pilegrim Center and the cathedral.

I love this photo.

You Listen Before I Pray

Text and photo: Britt Arnhild Wigum Lindland

In our home we sing a prayer before every meal (a lovely Norwegian tradition). For a long time I had problems with one of the prayers we sing:

For the gifts you give

we give you our thanks oh Lord.

You, who listen before we pray

praise be to you.

My problem was in "You, who listen before we pray"........what is the use in praying at all if God listen before we pray.......what is the use of talking to God at all?

I am learning along my path of life and today I know it to be true. God listens before I pray because He knows my needs before I do, and when I realise and startspraying it is so much easier to see that God already is there. Walking my path together with me. Some days pushing me ahead, some days carrying me, some days with my hand in his, some days just there beside me, quietly.

Today was one of these days, when he listened before I prayed. I have been at Tautra, the small island in the Trondheim Fjord with the old monastery ruins and the new Maria (St.Mary) monastery. I was there for a conference for work, but in between I had time to walk the whole island. In prayers, talking with my Creator. God surrounded me with his love and comfort.

(More photos tomorrow.....or another day)

I wonder what life might have been......

On a small island in the Adriatic Sea you might stumble upon this house, as I did. The house is abandoned now, but close your eyes and imagine what life have been here one day.

At first I found it hard to imagine. This small island is so far from the life I know, the life I sometimes dream of on small islands in the North Sea. The language, the vegetation, the heath, the surroundings.......

Then dreams started to come. People. Life. Laughter. Work. Green hands. I sat down to read my book, which happend to be Traveller's Prelude by Freya Stark.

..........og yes, it would not be difficukt at all to stay in this house during long winter night, among books, a fire and a mug of tea, dried figs.......

.....planning travels east of the moon.

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I found this house on Lopud island during our day on The Adriatic Sea.

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in the days since my stumble upon this old house, a tale about the life there is making itself come alive. I am daydreaming.

And then I found a small island.....

When you are 17, or 18 or 19 people living together for a week or part of a week (Torgeir left for Oslo yesterday morning, Øystein flew home yesterday night so we are 17 of us left in Dubrovnik right now) you don't need to walk in the paths of each other all day. Yesterday Terje and I decided to do our own excursion, and our goal was Lokrum, the small Unesco-protected island and national part right outside Dubrovnik.

Lokrum is a unique island, mentioned for the first time as a Benedictine estate in 1023, containing the remnants of the monastery complex, a botanical garden, a Fort Royal, and a long list of other interesting stuff. What about The Nudist Beach, the "Dead Sea", Charlotte's Well, The Path of Paradise.......and I could go on and on.

In spite of temperatures high as a Norwegian mountain peak and a humidity which made you not want to hold hands while walking around, we enjoyed every minute of our day. May be regretting that we didn't bring our swimsuits, but then we knew there was not time enough for a swim anyway as we wanted to be back in Villa Katarina in time to wave goodbye to Øystein.

We bought a pamflet with information when we came to the island and today I am reading:

Dubrovnik and the island of Lokrum have a moderate warm humid climate (the olive climate).....oh, how I LOVE the name the olive climate.......with the domination of the three winds, the southern wind scirocco, the north-eastern wind bora and the landward breeze......the daily motion of humidity is unique, in the morning hours it increases rapididly, instead of diminishing, so noon is more humid that mornings, which is due to the daily exchange of the winds from the sea and from the land.....

Walking, though not hand in hand, memories gathered, memories shared.

My initials engraved in the bark of an old tree. Have I been here before?

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I am having my quiet morning. Our gang of 17 (minus myself) is still sleeping. We occupy four of the five flats in Villa Katarina. The fifth flat had a Norwegian family untill yesterday, then a Britiash family with two young girls came, and apparently those girls love the small swimmingpool right outside my balcony. It is not quiet any more. Not at all. May be reading will block the noise out.......

At Lokrum: smoking strictly prohibitet

The creation of a dream. Flor&Fjære near Stavanger

In 1965 Åsmund Bryn bought part of a small island in the fjord not far from Stavanger. He was a  gardener in the city and wanted a place where he could escape the busy life. People told him that nothing could grow on this small, windy island,  but  Bryn's green fingers couldn't rest. Slowly, slowly he started to plant and soon he had done the impossible, creatde a palm island in Norway!

15 years ago the garden and its restaurant Flor&Fjære was open to the public, still the garden is growing, year by year.

Ever since I heard about Flor&Fjære for the first time I wanted to go there, and when we started to talk baout what to do on the night of our 30th wedding anniversary, I knew - the two of us could go out to the island for a garden walk and a dinner. The road from there to booking our night was a short one :-)

As you all know by now,on the night of our anniversary the tour out to Flor&Fjære was cancelled. It took us some time to change our plans and bookings but lucily we made it and the next day, Tuesday, we went out to the paradise island for lunch and a long garden walk.

  In the rain (the night before, our wedding night, was a beautiful, sunny one........). But who cares. I did tell you that Norwegians are water proof, didn't I?

We spent a few hours on the island, in the garden. First a guided tour by the owner, the son of Åsmund Bryn, then a fabulous lunch, starting with fish soup, then a buffet, then the dessert, the magical one for me and Terje. And afterwards we had a couple of hours to walk around by our selves. I was in heaven :-)

  The island will live in my dreams for years and years to come. I could go on to show you photos, I took hundreds, but must stop some time.

I hope you have enjoyed walking with us. And check out Europe a la Carte, there will be more photos there in a post I will write next Thursday.

"I eventyret", let me take you into the fairy tale

 
In my mind I had planned a post today about a visitation week with the bishop. What is a visitation. What we do, and why.

Then yesterday happened. A boat trip out in the north sea with a small fishing boat, and everything changed. The boat Valøytind and its owners Arne and Marit took us out on a trip to Nordøyan (The North Islands), west of Rørvik, out in the open Atlantic.

 
I am sitting here in my small hotel room where I have stayed this week, trying to blog about our day. It is not easy. The impressions are so many and so strong, I am not able to share them all with you. The boat trip. The small island we visited. Somehow I must have been born for the sea and island life, during days like yesterday I am back into something which is so right, so complete, so satisfying........it is not for words but for living.

 
But let me try anyway. May be not so much for you as for myself.

All from the start where we saw the map of the area.....

 
 ...to hot coffee and warm clothes in the icy cold North Sea air.....

...to the wildlife, like this eagle.....

 

I was not the only one who could not stop taking photos. I took several hundreds, and so did the others I guess.

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After an hour on the sea we arrived at Nordøyan. When I was a student at Teacher's College I spent a week at a camp on a group of islands in this same area. Since then I've always wanted to go back, and suddenly, here I was.

 
There are always windows to look through. Either way. These belong to the old shop on the island. I might blog more about this shop later.

 
Can you see what this is?

 
On top of the island is a memorial from a dramatic ship wreckage in 1962 where 41 people lost their lives. Thank you Knut for taking and emailing me this photo.

Angel feathers again. Yes, the angels were there.

I am in lack of words. I should have written a long travel tale about my day "i eventyret" (in the fairy tale). But right now I can't. The words are there, but only in my heart. One day I will write it all down. For the moment I will linger on the hours I spent on deck of the boat looking out on the sea. The hours I spent on this small, small island with all the dreams it created in me.

I hope you enjoy the photos. I am sorry I am not able to tell the tale in more words for you.
   

....and then there was a small island.

 
If you have followed my blog for some time, you know about my deep, deep love of small islands. There are several of them living in my heart where I can fold them out from time to time, dream myself into them. Smell the sea, feel the wind, walk along the beaches, listen to the seabirds.....

Last night was a lucky night. As part of the visitation program we were invited to visit Sømliøya where the Norwegian YMCA (KFUK/KFUM) has a camp site. Dressed in warm sweathers, raincoats and good shoes we were taken over to the island in a small open boat, with the salt sea washing our backs and even our faces when the wind blew the right, or was it the wrong, way. Licking my lips now I still get this salty taste  (I wrote this blog post last night)

As so many of these camp sites, Sømliøya has her challenges - old houses, expensive the run the place, too much renovation needed. Our mission was to discuss her future.

This is of course done best over a cup of coffee and plates of "vafler", homemade jam and brunost (brown cheese)

 
The old iron stove gave the room a nice warmth, it had been a long day and I almost fell asleep. If I had slept I am sure my dream would have been of long romantic summer nights on the island, a low sun, an outdoor fire where we were grilling the fish we had just caught, walking under the stars.......

....but there were no time to sleep. Instead we wrapped ourselves in our warm clothes and walked over the island.

 
Islands. Why this fasination?

I could easily live here. One week, two weeks, five....... To search for words. For stories.

In silence.

   

Day trip to Tautra

In the Trondheim fjord there is an island with the name Tautra. I have been there several times by car, there is a molo out to the island built some years ago. Today was the first time I went there by boat. Went there with my colleagues at work, 16 all in all. We went with the ship MS Willie Wilhelmsen from 1939.

As summer is fading here in Trondheim, and autumn is coming fast, we were all quite anxious about the weather. A boat trip can be two different things in rain and wind or in a sunny summer's day. We woke up to the latter though. Very good temperatues for the season, and a beautiful, sunny day.

The trip to Tautra took about two hours, two hours spent together with good friends, drinking coffee, eating a light breakfast, singing and talking. Everything out on deck. And soon enough Tautra was in sight.

On the island we first walked to a  Cictersiencer monastery situated there. The monastery have 8 nuns for the moment, and they have been at Tautra since 1999. They now live in a few old farm houses, but this spring they started the process of building a new monastery which will be finished next summer - with the help of God.

The photo, which I took from the boat shows the farm where the monastery is today, the new church and other buildings will be built to the right of this - with a wonderful view of the sea. The nun who showed us around told us that all nuns living there love the sea so much, the new refectorium will be built in such a way that they all can be seated on the same side of a long table with a view of their beloved sea :-)

The nuns at Tautra make herb soap for their living, and this soap is so popular here in Trondheim they have problems producing enough. I have used it for some time, and now  can think of no other soap I want to use instead.

We took part in one of the prayers at the monastery, and also had time to walk around enjoying the beautiful autumn nature.

After our time with the nuns it was time for lunch and we walked over to the other part of the island and Klostergården. The lunch was indoors, herb marinated salmon and local vegetables, and after the meal I had coffee and dessert out in the courtyard with one of my colleagus.

On our way home we had an adventurous experience, the ship was borded, both by some nuns we had never seen before don't tell anybody but I think they were a bit crazy! And by pirates - ha, even the Trondheim fjord is never safe :-)

Midnight Sun

I have finished my exams for this year, and we have been up to Lofoten Island for a family event - confirmation. Not much time for blogging right now, but at least I can give you a few photos of the midnight sun. And then come back sson with a more updated version of my last weeks. The two first photos are from Eggum in Vestvågøy in Lofoten.

I am standing near a statue called The Face.  

The third photo is taken from my brother's house the last night we were there, at around 00.30am.