Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

Winter hiking

@brittarnhild

As a girl I loved skiing, from morning till night.

Now, aged 62, fast on my way to 63, I have stored away my skis. We are at the cabin, and while Terje is out cross country skiing, I simply hike on my two feet.

Not exactly from morning till night, but still, for long hours, which you can see from my bright, red cheeks.

It is pretty cold here for the moment, but we dress well, with layers of wool and good mood. Here I am with my  binoculars, searching for some special birds which I think I say yesterday.

I did not fine the birds, and since I had brought my big camera, I started to photograph lichen instead. Two years ago I had birds on top of my "I want to learn more of this - list", last year it was flowers. This year I think it might be lichens.

Life is too short and too precious not to find new interests, learn new things.

 

Are you ready for a swim?

@brittarnhild

We can't have guests for the moment, not even our own children or grandchildren. We miss them all of course, but luckily we can still meet outdoors. Yesterday we met the two oldest grandchildren out in the woods, cross country skiing, barbecuing sausages and having fun, fun, fun. Icy cold, but my gosh how it warmed a grandmother's heart.

Today Terje and I have been out walking little Vida in her pram for one of her naps. Still cold, but walking fast made us warm nevertheless :-) We walked up to a little lake which is a popular place for ice skating. It is Monday and we were there early, so we were the only people around, but you should have seen the place yesterday.

Can you see what I see? Right out there a hole is made in the ice, a hole for bathing, for swimming. Well, I am Norwegian and I guess I have viking blood running through my veins, but.......swimming in this cold! No way.
Today it was minus 9 degrees Celsius, which should be minus 15.8 °Fahrenheit

By the way, here in Norway we still let babies sleep their naps outdoors during winter, all the way down to minus 14°Fahrenheit.

On our way back to Vidas home, I simply had to stop to photograph this house for you. Can you see, even our houses are freezing during winter :-)

 

The botanical gardens here in Trondheim

@brittarnhild

Some years ago I did a monthly post through the whole year here in the blog from our botanical gardens here in Trondheim. Terje and I drove over to the gardens this afternoon for a hike, and I decided to see if I can do a monthly post this year as well.

We have had a period with little snow, a lot of cold and deep frost, so everything was dead, colourless and the paths and the lawns hard as stones.

Still, if you look for it, there is always beauty to be found.
And to know that the soil you work on is filled with roots, send and bulbs which will overwhelm you with beauty and life in a few months. That's magic!

 

In the Bleak Midwinter

@brittarnhild

The new, still young, year is cold. So very, very cold. 
I put on a lot of warm clothes, and go out for walks. One day along the river, the next up the hills or into the woods.

Very little snow so far, and the very cold temperatures means that walking is not as slippery as walking in winter often is.

Cold, yes. Beautiful, yes!

 

Two facts:

In the Bleak Midwinter was written back in 1872 by the British poet Christina Rosetti.

The stone house you see in the first image is the old building of a power station not far from our house. When the Canadian_American comic strip artist saw an illustration of this house, either in an old book or on a postcard, he was inspired to draw Prince Valiant´s castle. Do you know the comic strip Prince Valiant? Wikipedia tells me that......The Duke of Windsor called Prince Valiant the "greatest contribution to English literature in the past hundred years"

 

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A new English episode on Britt Arnhilds verden (World) is up. Welcome over :-) I share with you some pretty wonderful footage there, from a hike terje and I on the first day of the year, accompanied by my mother playing Grieg.

 

 

Let us all share HOPE

@brittarnhild

I know that many of you find a special word at the start of every year, a word with a meaning which you want to paint the year with. I have never done that, but as I was out hiking with Terje this morning, I knew that I have a word for this year, a word I share with the rest of our world I think. The word HOPE.

The Norwegian pastor and writer Eyvind Skeie has written a beautiful advent hymn. One of the lines in the song goes something like this:

let us all share the hope so that good things can happen
let earth and heaven meet, a candle is lit for that

Hope is easy to find on beautiful days like today. We all know that life is not always like this, but let us do what we can to make 2021 the year of HOPE, for ourselves, our family, our neighbours, for the world.

 

 

Good start of a good year.......hopefully

@brittarnhild

When you wake up in paradise you know that the newborn year has potential to be a good year. Let us hope, let us pray, let us act for that.

Terje and I spent part of the few daylight hours hiking in the woods behind our forrest. I could not have had a better start of 2021.

I know there are challenges ahead, waiting, but I also know there are good days, blessings, joy, love and happiness out there. And that's what I will search for.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you from all of me!

 

The last lunch of 2020

@brittarnhild

After a week of Christmas with my parents, our children and grandchildren, it was time for us to say goodbye to 2020 and welcome to 2021 just the two of us, so after breakfast this morning we headed for our beloved cabin where we will have a few quiet days.

Books, music, knitting, hiking.......and of course good food. 

We arrived just in time for lunch today, and I made rømmegrøt (sour cream porridge), and old tradition in my family, which I learned to make from my grandma Olga. The old traditional way.

 

Only one hour and fifteen minutes left of old 2020 here in Norway when I write this. It will be good to lay the steep year behind and walk into a fresh, and hopefully better 2021.

 

Daily Advent Episodes

@brittarnhild

I am sorry I have not been able to keep you updated here lately, but I am pleased to let you know that during December I have managed to post daily YouTube-videos both in Norwegian and English. You find me on YouTube as Britt Arnhilds verden.

Here is the video I posted this morning: