Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

We make it handmade this year.

 

Do you listen to advices? I try to, but it is not always easy. Two important politicians here in Norway have given their advice this week. One says "shop till you drop" or something almost like that, to rescue the world from the financial crisis. The other says "be careful" pointing out that too much shopping is what has created the crise to begin with. Not easy to be little me, deciding which advice to listen to.....

 

To be honest, I don't have much problems with these two advices. I am no shopper anyway! Exept from books. Christmas presents will be useful things, and many of them will be handmade.

 

Marta and I are busy these days with our common writing project, the Advent Blog for Norwegian children. An introduction is already published, and from tomorrow on there will be one blog post every day till Christmas. Made up as a kind of Advent calendar. Tomorrow the theme will actually be Advent calendars and their history. We will give ideas for different calendars, and one of them is an orange with 24 whole cloves (Am I correct in my translation here? Or is the right work clove tacks?) 24 cloves in an orange, take out one every day and when Christmas Eve comes there are none left. I used to have an advent calendar like this when I was a girl.

 

We are lucky. We have safe jobs, we have our house, we have our finances under control. Alot of people are not so lucky, and can see very little hope for the future.How can we help?

What about another type of Advent Calendar - one advice a day for how we can better save our world! Do you want to take part? Let our creativity floorish!

_________________________________________________

Follow this link and you will be able to visit the Lys Våken Advent Blog.

One of my favorite days

 

I have a long list of favorite days through the year. Today is one of them. The day I decorate for advent. Bach's Christmas Oratorio is already on the cd player and the dining table is filled with stacks of books, magazines, chess games and alot of other stuff which will be stored away now for a month to give room through the house for advent decorations, and in a few weeks, Christmas decorations.

My suitcases are ready. Not for another travel, oh no, December is the month I do NOT travel. They are filled with traditions, memories from December pasts, moments to be shared in the coming weeks with family and friends. I will open them and unwrap one sacred memory after the other. Advent starts tomorrow. The first candle in the wreath will be lit, purple will decorate my world.

Today I make my home ready. Today is one of my favorite days.

___________________________

I welcome you to unwrap the coming moments, days and weeks with me. The House in the Woods will be filled with advent, with anticipation of a Saviour.

__________________________

Photo: a traveller outside Hotel Opera in Oslo

Pot luck

 

This year I made a dream come true. It is easy to get addicted, and I play with new ideas, new dreams for next year.

 

I will let you know when the time is right. Now I am filling my pots with "crazy ideas for the future".

Do you have any dreams for the future? Let us share our dreams. Tell in a comment or in your blog and let us know the link.

___________________________

Photos: clay pots in Thai restaurant

Four Seasons in Padova Orto Botanico

 

 

 

 

I live in a country, a city, a house, where we have four definite seasons. All we can do is to live with  the seasons, never fighting them.

My brother plays with Anne Sophie Mutter and her Four Seasones. How cool is that :-)

Photos: Orto Botanico in Padova. The Four Seasons.

amuse-bouche

 

I ate dinner in town the other night. A restaurant where the chefs are known for winning prizes. Worldwide.

We came from a long day with meetings and were starving. We wanted to dive right into the main courses, instead we were offered one amuse-bouche after another. Tongue teasing. A taste of heaven.

I was dreaming about food last night.

 Amuse-Bouche: Little Bites of Delight Before the Meal Begins in my lap.

 

For a starter, after the amuse-bouches,I had foie gras. For the first time in my life! A taste strange to me, but I will eat it again.

For the main course I ate lutefisk! You must be born Norwegian to like it. When you first like it you easily become addicted.

____________________________________

I love to try new, rare food. Take a look here.

What is the weirdest food you have eaten?

How to make the snow a little warmer?

 

What a change to come back to the cold Nordic winter after three weeks in India. There I sat out on the terrace in the sun every morning, untill the sun was too hot and I moved into the shadows. Here I wrap myself in a quilt or a knitted shawl and drink mug after mug with spicy, burning hot chocolate.

 

There it was too hot for crafting, here I knit warm, woollen fingered mittens, I crochet thich shawls and I pin my fingers while struggling to get back my old, smooth and even quilting stich.

 

Last Christmas I got some beautiful multicoloured wool in shades of blue and grey for Christmas. I added some black from my stach, and suddenly it was perfect for a shawl. Grandmother's squares, a pattern I learned from my two grandmothers when I was a little girl.

_______________________________________________

Time for some hot limonade? My husband has some ready for you.

The last rose

 

A popular theme in the blog world is the last rose. Here is my Mozart rose, photographed Saturday morning.

Creative hands at the Christmas sale.

 

We had our annual Christmas sale in church today. I was in charge of the arts and crafts table for a couple of hours, and I brought with me Marta and two of her friends. They made macramé necklaces for sale.

 

The church was open all morning, and alot of people found their way there to buy Christmas gifts, to drink coffee or eat the their Saturday porridge, to take part in activities, to find treats at the antique market or to meet friends.

 

I love Marta's art.

After the sale Marta invited her friends home, for baking cup cakes. I am home, I am among my family. I have time to cherish it all.

Breakfast salmon from my food blog

 

More in The Blue Café

In Norway we call these birds "sidensvans"

 

The whole week has been too dark for snow photos. I leave The House in the Woods while it is still dark, and when I come home from work, darkness has again wrapped my world. But today is Saturday and I can enjoy a snowcovered Blue Garden. When I came out to fill the bird feeders, I was met by a huge group of "sidensvanser" feasting on rowan berries.

 

I can see the bird feeders from my desk in The Blue Room, and all the "tables" are occupied. The small birds have a busy time to fill their stomacks during the few hours with day light, and all the time they have to fight with squirrels and magpies. From my kitchen window I see deer tracks in the back garden, the sanctuary.

 

God has changes his palette for the season. Blue is a dominant colour. I enjoy life. I enjoy winter. I enjoy the Saturday morning with a long week-end ahead.

I enjoy reading Walden (Collector's library) . Thanks Juliefor sending the book my way.

By the way, what is a sidensvans in English?

_____________________________________________________

Blog of the week: Nature Trail.