Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

But you don't need to travel.........

Of course you don't need to travel to have fun, to explore, to surprise yourself. It might be enough to look out the window.....

....as I did yesterday afternoon before leaving work.

Oh, how I would like to dive into this pile of dead leaves........

But I couldn't dream long. work was waiting.

 One hour later I turend off my computer. Time to go home. Again my eyes searched the beautiful light outside. The low sun colouring the hill. The leaves were still there.

But, isn't there something else......

The leaves look alive......

No, you don't need to travel far to see the world with new eyes.

Look out your window. What do you see?

May be it is time to do something unexpectedly? To dive into a pile of crisp autumn leaves......

Golden days, golden moments

 
The days in Prague are over, when I write this, the bus which will take us to the airport will be here in a couple of hours - just enough time for me for a walk in the park across the street, and a cup of coffee at the famous Fantove Kavarna (the cafe at Franz Joseph Rainway Station).

The days here have been filled with interesting work and golden moments of exploring a city.

 
My "trick and treat-hat" is filled with stories. To be shared or to me saved deep in my heart.

 I am seriously considering to start a separate travel blog. The stories are so many.

But now I am off to Fantove Kavarna, to write the last pages in my travel diray.

Å, mamma da! (Oh,mama......)

WE had been to the movies Marta and I, to watch Fame. For a couple of hours I had felt like a teenager again. A lovely feeling. Now it was time to go home to make pizza.

On our way to the car we passed the cathedral and its park, and I didn't hesitate long before I found my small camera deep down in my bag, and started to shoot photos.

"Å, mamma da! Why do you always have to take photos. Why can't we just walk on like ordinary people......." Marta started to walk a little faster, and soon she was several steps in front of me. I took my photo and walked on, reflecting.

Of course I couldn't, of course I wouldn't stop capturing the beauty I see during our ordinary days, during our everydays. And what is just as important, I want to teach Marta, and all our kids, to see the beauty of each day, the beauty of creation. Stopping in the middle of the street to shoot photos is part of that. Blogging is part of thet. Being a mother is part of that.

I know that Marta was teasing me with her words. I know that she is proud that I am not an "ordinary" woman and that what she said was her way of coming to terms with that.

We walked on, the two of us. Mother and daughter. Stopping from time to time to let the mother shoot yet another photo. On our way home to make pizza. Singing - Fame! I'm gonna live forever........

Tomorro I'm going to tell you how the memory of this walked helped me, brightened my day, on a dark, drairy morning.

 

Some days are just called BUSY

I came to my office early this morning,with plans to write a blog post before I started work,  about the posh, elegant lunch I had with Marta and Mathilde on Saturday. Only to discover that internet was DOWN. Frustrating for the whole office.

We are back online now, working extra hard to gain all the time we "lost"......but I'm giving myself a short break to make you the post anyway.

There is a very elegant restaurant in TRondheim called Palmehaven, The Palm Court. I have been planning to take Marta there for years, and found the opportunity this week-end (Ingrid, it is our turn next. Deal?)

No much time for words today, but a lovely series of photos. And as a heading I can share what Marta and Mathilde said when we sat down at our table - "Oh my gosh, are there only old ladies here?????"

We had a lovely time, even sharing a piece of cake as a finish to our more healthy lunch. Three forks worked hard to get the best pieces......

 


 

 Link to Palmehaven

Some house fun first.....

High up on Marta's list of the fun the two of us will do this week-end, is sleeping long mornings. This is one thing we do not share, sleeping long I mean, so with all our shared plans ahead of us, I am spending Saturday morning doing house fun (read house work......think house fun)

I really should go out in the garden to do some much needed garden fun, but, though the sun is up now, it is still frost outside. So now I have a Sibelius/Prokofiev-cd playing, I've changed bedcloths, I've done the dishes and am ready to start dusting. In between I'll plan the dinner we'll have tonight, Marta and I.

 How nice to have a quiet week-end in The House in the Woods.

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Photos: my kitchen this morning.

A Lazy Week-end Ahead

The week-end starts in a few hours! Yeah!!

Terje has packed his suitcase and is on a plane right now, he will spend the week-end "somewhere" with our oldest son Torgeir. Marta and I will be home alone and we have made several plans for our week-end already. High up on my list is - time to walk in the crisp fallen leaves.

If I was a girl I would play in the leaves, dive into them, take an autumn leave shower, make a mess of gathered leaves........I am 51 one.....can I still play?

 
From the list Marta and I are making:

• go to the movies to watch Fame
• lunch at Palmehave (The Palm Court ) at Britannia Hotel
• filled sweet peppers tonight
• shopping
• .....
• ...

Happy week-end

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Photos: the small park between the cathedral and Trondheim Kunstmuseum (art museum)

Inspiration on a sunny day

I have made it a habit to bing my small camera with me. Always. Yesterday turned out to be one of those glorious days. After weeks of rain and drairy weather, Terje and I drove to his work early in the morning, watching a dark deep blue sky, slowly painted orange by the rising sun (my two favorite colours!). I left Terje outside his work, with his soft goodbye kiss still on my lips, walking the 25 minutes I need to my work, rejoicing in the beautiful day.

When I walked back to Terje and the car in the afternoon, the day was still light, the low sun bright in my eyes. So bright that I almost missed this corner. With the rose with flowers creating light.

For a long time I fogot Terje, even forgot the "nice to see you again, i've missed you"-kiss he always greets me with.

This rose. The late flowers. The warmth and beauty strong enough to enlighten its surroundings. Oh, to be a rose like this.......

A long time later I walked on, and my camera captured these photos.

  

Autumn flowers at the market

After a night in the tiny room in Oslo, where breakfast came in a paperbag delivered on the door (!), it was time to take the tram up to where my meeting was. I could have been out even earlier, to find a coffee shop for my morning coffee, but instead I spent the time taking a long shower, washing my hear, do some work e-mails......and suddenly it was full time to run to the tram.

The outdoor flower market in Oslo was close to the tram stop. I would have loved to have an hour walking around, watching the "flower people" preparing the day. But the tram came, I was in a hurry and only got about half a minute to take my shoots.

 Half a minute was enough to fill me up with coulours though. What the breakfast lacked in delicacy, taste and style, I got here. Fully!

I am allergic to too many flowers and can't have them indoors. But nothing prevents me from enjoying this blooming ocean.

Unfortunately the outdoor flower market in TRondheim is now closed for the season.

Magical Morning

Early in the morning I pass the river, then the cathedral park and graveyard. Autumn and dark mornings are here and while walking from the car behind the Pilgrim Center, to the office in the Archbishop's Palace, I take a detour. The morning is magical and I am picking flowers for my memory chest.

Postcard? No, it is just my morning........

I wonder what it would be like to be a girl in a painting like this. I would play with the crisp fallen leaves, play hide and seek among the tombstones, climb the trees, run the paths, sleep close to the stonewall.

I have arrived in my office now. My workday starts in a few minutes. I watch the daylight coming, soon it will fill the park. From my window I can see the little girl in the painting. She is playing with the crisp, falling leaves, she plays hide and seek among the tombstones, she climbs the trees, she runs the paths......

......and there I watch her go to sleep......  

A link to the park in blue daylight

Tyrkrisveita, a blue door, Bella Bulldog and a nice kind of date.......

I am not sure which story to share first.....I have so much to tell today. Well, let me take you 10 years back in time. I was in Eritrea in Eastern Africa for the first time, and one Sunday morning I was out walking alone in Asmara. There were not many Europeans around, and my white skin felt very visible. During my walk a young man came up to me; "Hey mam, do you want a cup of coffee. I know a nice place".

For 10 years I've regretted my negative answer to the young man. A series of thoughts floated through my mind after his invitation was said, the main one.......stay away from male strangers!

For 10 years I have carried with me a lost opportunity. A stranger is a friend you don't yet know. I wonder if I missed the opportunity to be given a new friend that day.

Since then I've learned to meet strangers with an open mind and I now have dear friends from around the world. And I know there are friends to be, still waiting..........some day we'll meet and friendships will start to bloom.

Do you remember this door? I posted it a few weeks ago, and at the end of the post I had a challenge in Norwegian: if anyone could tell me the name of the small street where I found this door, I would take him or her to Bella Bulldog for a cup of coffee.

No suggestions came and I almost forgot about it. Then one day one of our pastors and a reader of my blog came to our office. "Have you got any street names yet?" she asked. "No, not yet. Do you want a cup of coffee? Well, then tell me the name" I replied, and once again I linked my blogpost to facebook and twitter.

Then a comment came, from an unknown man, with the right street name!

So what could I do? I was so sure that the commenter would be someone I knew. This was a total stranger. A word is a word though, isn't it? We emailed a little back and forth, and decided a time to meet on Bella Bulldog. Terje looked at me, just shaking his head in disbelief, I could read his thoughts painted on his face "what is my crazy wife up to now.....".....well, he should know me by now. At work my colleagues laughed, Britt-Arnhild still going strong!

Yesterday I met my "commenter" at Bella Bulldog. We ordered coffee, well, I ordered, we had pastries, and we talked. What a nice afternoon.

Have you ever tried doing something unexpected? Are you ready to change your palette?

I will not keep on regretting my "no" in Asmara 10 years ago. Without the no I would not have learned the important lesson - a stranger is a friend you don't yet know.

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Thank you Steinar for a nice afternoon.