Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

Venetian Dreaming!

In my kitchen I have had a book on display the past weeks, Venice and Food by Sally Spector. Every morning when I make my breakfast this book is there with it's beautiful watercolours to greet me, every afternoon when I prepare dinner my mind flies to Venice, it's fish market, the pizza baker who made the very best pizza, the small restaurant on the fondamenta in Morano where we ate risotto alla fruiti del mare with a taste I am unable to find words to describe.....

Yesterday when I came home from work and started to prepare dinner the sight of this book made me smile extra broad - I have booked new tickets to take mw to my beloved city :-)

And my travel this time is special exciting. I will fly down to Salzburg in Austria in February. There I will meet my good friend Dagmar and I am invited to stay on her farm to work on a book I am writing. During the stay we'll take the train down to Venice, and I have booked Nati House; http://www.archirent.it/Nati's_House/Nati's_House_n/Sito_ENG/Index_n.html for a week. During the carneval!

So right now I am dreaming about Venice, both day and night. I am collecting books about Venice and read of this enchanting city before going to sleep every night. while I eat my breakfast, on the bus on my way to work, in the afternoons, whenever there are a spare minute :-) And I have discovered that there are a neverending amount of books about this "one in the world" city.

Inspired by Tasha Tudor.

At our cabin I have three books by and about Tasha Tudor. I love reading them, looking through them, getting inspiration from them. Last time we were at the cabin Tasha inspired me to make a few decorations, Still Lebens, using the autumn nature around me. And when you are inspired nothing is difficult :-)

It was too late for the summer flowers, but nature was still filled with colours, and I loved bringing a few of them indoors.

The fox berries didn't last long on the table though. The girls ate them right from the plate, and I saved the last ones to eat with my dinner.

The roe berries lasted longer :-) They are too bitter to eat.

Nights are always very cosy at the cabin. We don't have electricity, only use candles and oillamps. Well, the last few years we've also had sun cell, so we have reading light all night now. I still love to enlighted the cabin with candles though.

I love the view through the livingroom windows. The table and chairs are placed to get the best view of the fjord and the mountains. The windows are huge and the curtains are almost always open. We want to enjoy the nature and the sjy as much as possible.

And what is better then, after a dark and sory night to enjoy berakfast in the rising sun on the terrace:-)

Frosty forest.

Yesterday we worked in the garden for several hours, doing the last winter preparations. And it was just in time. We have had a few nights already with a light frost, but during last night real frost came, and when we woke up this morning everything outside was covered in freezing white frost. After breakfast I put a huge pot on the stove to start boiling moose meat for todays soup for lunch. The meat need some time boiling, so I uded the opportunity while waiting to take a short hike in our forest.  We live on the northern side of the hill, an therefor get the sun late during the winter. And when I had hiked a little further up the hill I could enjoy the sun rising. I always proclaim that spring is my favorite season, but this morning I was tempted to call this frosted autumn morning a favorite also :-) The tracks were hard and crisp and I could here the frosen earth responding to my paths, a couple of squirrels were out, and many birds, and also the half moon could be seen on the autumn blue sky.

Instead of taking my ususal path today I decided to explore a little. I do that from time to time. Finding small and sometimes almost hidden paths taking me to places I have never been before. Most people who are out early Sunday mornings follow the main tracks and paths, so most of the time I felt alone out there.

We live on the edge of the forest, and also on the edge of the city, so from time to time I got great views of the town. I love living so close both to nature and urban life, and make the most out of both.

But all walks must have an end. I knew that the meat was waiting for me on the stove, and soon I had to turn my paths homewards. Refreshed and hot after a good walk.

Open house.....

I have been busy doing homefun today, so now the house is clean and tidy, and any visitors are welcome :-) Well, I know a few of you have a long way to come here, so I have taken a few photos for you to enjoy.

This first photo shows the sofa section of our livingroom. I changes the decorations today from a light summer style to more fall colours. The pillows are from my trip to Laos last year, and so is one of the chess games - which can be better seen on the second photo. The other chess on the table was bought it Venice / Murano in September, the game  near the hearth was bought in Budapest a few years ago. I love chess games and always look for new ones when I travel.

Chess games are not the only things I buy from travels though. Over the years my collection has grown and I display many of my travel memories in this part of the living room.

After finishing cleaning today I sat down enjoying my tidy house. The sun was shining outdoors, though it was cold and smelling like winter, and the squirrels and birds were busy at the feeder in the huge pines outside the windows.

After lunch I had some coffee and a small piece of cake, and spent some time reading about one of my favorite female travellers, Margaret Fountaine.

Well, my house in the woods is big enough for friends. Why don't you come over? We can chat, listen to music, read, knit, or may be enjoy my orchids.

Misty morning, Harry Potter night.

I couldn't resist shooting this photo of the cathedral this morning. I pass the cathedral every day on my way to job. Love to walk through the park and to feel the air of times long gone. The huge trees are fantastic. In my old office I used to see the park through my windows and could enjoy the view every single day. Now I have a new office without a view, but still enjoy my morning walk in this beautiful surroundings. This morning it felt like walking in an impressionistic painting, or in a fairy tale.

The fairy tale mood laft me during a busy working day, but was there again tonight when Marta and I sat down for our daily Harry Potter chapter. It is hard to tell whom of us look most forward to this daily routine. Or almost daily.....Last night I was away at the theatre, so there was no time for reading. The better tonight though to follow Harry, Ron and Hermione and their fight for Hagrid after Rita Skeeter's Scoop.

Scrapbooking.

I had a quiet Sunday and enjoyed some scrapbooking. Most of the pages I made are travel pages, I have just finished the scrapbook from our week in Malta/Gozo in July. But I also made a bookmark page in my diary, and a page about the Pre-Raphaelites in my Armchairtravelling book. We are studying the Pre-Raphaelites in my yahoo group Armchairtravelling:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Armchairtravelling/

Here are photos of three of the pages I made, the Bookmark page, another bookmark page with only one bookmark crafted in school many years ago by one of my kids, and the Pre-Raphaelite page.

Garden Saturday

We really doen't have much time for the garden these days. I always have so many dreams for our garden, but never enough time to make the dreams come true. But today Terje and I spend a couple of hours out there in the cold autumn sun, making some of the last preparations before winter comes. Snow can actually come any day here now, and we have been lucky not to have any freezing nights yet. All the bulbs are in the earth now, and the grass is rakes. And Marta has bought a huge pumpkin and is counting days till Halloween.

We also bought a new bird feeder. Still have our old one hanging in one of the huge pine trees, but the last days wind, and super busy squirrels preparing for a long winter, have been hard on it. The feeder is right outside the livingroom window, and we love to sit inside during cold winter days watching the busy bird life.

I put alot of bulbs in the lawn this year, doing it the Tasha Tudor way, digging a hole where I put a wjhole group of bulbs. Snowdrops around one of the young fruit trees, scillas around another. I remember my grandmother had alot of blue scillas in her garden, and since then they have been among my favorites.

Marta also bought an Halloween outfit today, and have been wandering around all night dressed as a red witch. It will be long days for her to wait still two more weeks.

Cold and wet weather coming.

Seems like the wonderful Indian summer is over for this time. Today it started to rain and also cold weather came, and it is predicted even colder for tomorrow. So what I do now is enjoying my photos from last week-end at the cabin. And some of them are here for you to enjoy as well.

Marta's poncho

Marta's poncho is finished and we took a few photos out in the garden this afternoon. It was starting to get dark when I shot the photos, and I almost never use flash (don't like the fake colours flash often make) so they all became a little out of fokus. But they will have to do for this time.

The poncho was so fast and easy to make, and I feel very content having finished it. I used the knit ALWAYS years ago, but I now work on only small items and usually spend a long time in finishing anything.

Well, I am home alone. Planning to watch football (soccer) tonight, Norway vs Bellaruss, and will knit on the necklace I am working on. And if I finish that I will start a pair of socks for Ingrid Elise's friend - issn't it great that today's teenagers actually want something handknitted.........

Indian summer at cabin.

I spent three days at our cabin last week together with Marta and her cousin Mathilde. They both had their fall break at school, and I was able to take some time off from work. Had a lovely time. Did mountain hiking as always, hiked our favorite mountain Høvik mountain.

Marta and I have reached the top three times this year. There is a small note book hidden under some stones on the top, where we can write our names and date of visits, so it is easy to track our hikes. The day we hiked the weather was gorgeous. But it has been a wet fall this year so the track up  was quite slippy and hard to hike. The better it was to finally reach the top :-).

And one can of course always have breaks during the climb and also look forward to some nice food when on top.  Bread with salted sausage, coffee for me, water for the girls. Nothing taste better when you are out in the wilds!

The thing we love most about Høvik mountain is the view. I know nothing to compare it with. Over the last years it has become my favorite view, with sea, islands and mountains in all directions. I feel free as a bird, and I am given new enery for busy days and weeks to come.

Back at the cabin I am tired in a very good way, and love to sit down with a book or my knitting. While the girls, bless them, still are filled with energy and play indians, colouring their faces with blueberries. When you are 9 and 8 you never need to rest, the positive  energy IS there for you, and for your surroundings to enjoy:-) And a mother and aunt feel heavenly blessed to spend time away from everyday life with two wonderful girls.