Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

Happy Halloween from Praha

After a short night home in the House in the Woods, I left Trondheim airport at 7am. 2 1/2 hours later I landed in Praha, early enough to get a full day here.

It is Halloween, and I have been walking around with my hat all day to gather tricks and treats for upcoming blog posts, upcoming writing. I am glad I have a huge tricks and treats hat, the stories are plentiful.

I am in desperate need of a nap though, I slept only 3 or 4 hours last night. So please be patient. The stories will come. Meanwhile, why don't you enjoy a cup of hot chocolate with me in this small coffee shop. The chocolate was so full, so thick, that the spoon could stand by herself.......Mmmmmm, delicious.

A short visit, the cold came and luckily left again

I was down with a cold yesterday, and for a while sure that I had to cancel my trip tp Praha/Prague.

Your prayers and good vibes have helped though. I am fully recovered (well, at least almost fully). Went down to work this morning for the tasks which just HAD to be done before leaving, had lunch with Terje at Bella&Bulldog, came home and slept on the sofa for a couple of hours.....

....and now I am ready to start packing, and ready to start preparing a family dinner tonight. Full table. Two chairs will be filled by brother Børge who lives on Iceland, and his daughter Embla.

Life is never dull in The House in the Woods.

*********************''

Update on Terje and Marta: Terje is back to work. Marta is still home from school and will stay home from dancing lessons this afternoon, but is almost totally recovered. 

Photo: my secret creativity chest, somewhere in town

Autumn still life

 
.........my time to take a few days off..........

What the bright memories did

It was two days after the bright walk Marta and I had in the park. Early, dark morning. I had left Terje and Marta at home, Terje with a sore troat, Marta with fever and with the word swine flu flowing in my head. I drove downtown in darkness, parked my car and started walking towards my office. Dark weather, dark thoughts.

 On my way I passed the Pilegrim Center. Most windows were dark, but a little light came shining out thought the chapel window. In my mind I walked in and said a prayer, for Marta, for Terje, for a few others close to me.

I walked on.......dark, wet leaves.

Then suddenly I stopped. These same leaves had looked so playful, jubilant, happy two days earlier. Why had they suddenly lost their magic?

 
The memory of a lovely week-end with Marta, my warm red boots, a day ahead at work.......

A smile spread on my face.

Thank you God for every day. Thank you God for everydays.

Then the office building was there, with a single light shining, a colleague working early.

My day felt right. 

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

Caffe Avec.... Part4! Cafe Camelot in Krakow

It wasn't untill our last day in Krakow that we discovered this small cafe which we completely fell in love with. I had found the address somewhere online, and had to trust Terje's map reading to find it (he is a map reader expert though....). It wasn't hard to find though, just around a couple of corners from the Market Square. Once inside. we found a small table in a corner, sat down, looked around, looked at each other, big smiles on our faces. This place looked like cafe heaven.

 If......if I ever end up writing my coffee house book, this is the place I want to sit when I write. Drinking coffee, sipping a glass of wine, eating a pastry, ordering a light lunch when I get hungry. Look at the people, try to understand, or at least figure out the conversations, breath the atmosphere and the romantic pink, enjoy the handcarved wooden dolls.

I could follow the world reading one or more of the many international newspapers offered in the cafe, or I could not........

  
From our corner, it was nice to sit and chat about our days in Krakow. The city we knew almost nothing about when we came, the city we knew we would wrap up and keep in our hearts.... unwrap again and again......as memories and  hopefully as more visits in the future.

I hope you have enjoyed my Caffe Avec posts from Krakow. The next post in this series will be from Prague/Praha. Another city with great coffee houses.

 
 A directory of Krakow's coffee houses

Cafe Camelot's website

Which one of the four coffee houses in Krakow I've written about would you like to visit?

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.

********************''

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

 *********

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.