Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

Let me go with you.....

It is travel time again.

How I love it.

This time I hope to leave the rain behind........

My blue world filled with water

When I left work yesterday I could tell my colleauges a happy summer. Two weeks of summer vacation have started for me (three more weeks will come in August). We are invited to a summer party tonight and then first thing tomorrow morning, we are heading south.......in Norway. South to my 87 years old father in law. 12 hours on the road. Hopefully south to some sun and warmth.

When I came home from work yesterday I wrapped myself in my blue raincoat and walked out in the blue garden.

Water everywhere.

Summer has fogotten us so far this year. The weather is almost all we talk about. I have tried to convince myself that it doesn't matter, but when I woke yesterday morning to 6degrees Celsius, rain pouring down in buckets and a wind making the trees fihting hard not to fall, then I felt "værsjuk" (sick of this weather)

I do see the beauty, I do......still, is it too much to ask for some warmth? I want to have my breakfast outdoors. I want to enjoy my garden.

Today it is not pouring down in buckets, it is raining tigers and elephants. Terje needs a break in the rain to be able to cut the grass before we go. Helene, the house sitter is coming. Right now it doesn't look like she will have a busy time watering our plants.......

Rain or shine. It is a new, lovely day. I am packing, I am enjoying life, I will party tonight :-)

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How is your Saturday? 

Hey, what's going on????? Noah preparations, or what????

Hi, what are these two guys doing? Preparing for the flood of the century or what. They look like Noah and one of his sons, don't they.......

The idea of a"live close to the cathedral - blog" will not leave me. One day I will start it, but not today. Two weeks of summer vacation started an hour ago. I left a tidy desk at work with a handwritten work list where all the important tasks were crossed out as done. Sunday morning we are hitting the road to travel south and great plans are made for the celebrations of our upcoming 30th wedding anniversary.

It is raining tigers and elephants right now, but I am dry and comfortable inside the House in the Woods, I have a huge stack of "new" female travel litterature, and I am about to start the Friday night pizzas.

Rain or shine.......life is good.

And the weather is perfect for Mauro's penguins.

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I am glad Noah saved the penguins, and in the end he found the sun as well......

A cathedral blog? Not a bad idea, may be.......

A blog about life close to the cathedral?

Ideas are flowing. Yes, I could do it, but I have so many blogs already. Too many to manage.....

A blog about life close to the cathedral....

Then I could tell you about the small things, like when spring is changing into summer and the tulips are done with their duty to share beauty for this time.

 

There is always things happening close to the cathedral. Life is living. Seekers, tourists, citicens, pilgrims, workers.

I never forget the summer, it was a few years ago, when the flower beds leading up to the cathedral were filled with pelargoniums. Hundreds of deep red ones. One single pink. The sparkling, the shine of the pink grew through the summer. I stopped in front of the pink one every time I passed. Recieving strength. Beauty.

Different. Like my grey hair among kin sisters with such beautiful coloured, fresh looking hair. My prime is history but grey hair.....woops, I mean silver hair of course (thanks for the reminder Lisa) is a second bloom. I am determined to bloom with style.

A blog about life close to the cathedral.

I would love to do that.......

.......

some day!

Three women in the city

I passed the cathedral in the morning, stunned by the ocean of red tulips sharing their last days with tourists and visitors, a bouquet of kids in front of the entrance.

I believe I could make a blog with a photo a day from the cathedral. I would love that blog :-)

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Later in the day I took a walk downtown. This time without my camera. I knew I was in for a challenge when I decided to leave my third eye. No photo of the little African girl sitting on her father's shoulders, all dressed in white, with colourful ribbons in her neatly made hair, no photo of the young woman on a bench outside Vår Frue (Our Lady's) church, she sits there every day, often with a bootle of beer in her hands, today she looked beautiful, from another world, in her offwhite laced sweather, flowers covering her dark hair, no photo of the old lady selling bouquets of lily of the valley.......

I saw images perfect for shooting everywhere.

I am glad I did not bring my camera. My heart shot the photos instead. Today my mind is filled.... with a baby girl, a young woman, an old lady. Wordless prayers. God, thank you for these three stunning women. Thank you for your love, for being with them, with me, through this day of yours.

Walking The Pilgrim Way

Behind the cathedral, close to the river, you find Nidaros PIlgrim Center (the grey building. The red one is where the bishop lives). For two days now the center is filled with a group of deacons + me from the diocese administration :-)

When the sun finally beat the rain yesterday afternoon, our group did a short pilgrim walk in the area. The St.Olav Spring, the Prayer Cross and finally The Archbishop's Chapel.

 
 I walked in silence and prayers, seeing the world with my heart.....and with my camera. For every step I was able to see the cathedral from a new angle, and here I also saw my office, a place so very, very close to my heart.

 
The cathedral has followed me all my life. I had my confirmation here in 1973, I was married here 30 years ago. Now I pass it every morning, every afternoon on my way to work, on my way back home.

 
We stopped to read from the Book of Psalms. Here at the St.Olav's Spring.

 
The cathedral is there. Always. Pointing to the father of Glory. Built over a period of almost 1000 years.

 
  Changing, like the season. But slowly, slowly. My times in your hand God. An eternity. A blink of the eye. You are there. Always.

The cross. Your symbol. Nothing can take it away from me!

Another psalm shared. With the group, with a few tourists stopping by.

Blessings are given to be payed forward.

Close to the goal. God's church.

Life grows, lives it's own life. The church, the cathedral, is still there. Built in stones. Living stones.

 

The Psalms we read: ##67, 98 and 100

Have a blessed walk.

 

Enjoy this Laguna Crab

I am going to spend two days at Nidaros Pilgrim Center.

Enjoy this lovely crab while I am away:

(thank you Mauro)

 

Roses and apple blossoms

A new cafe has opened in the small village close to our cabin. So far open only on Saturdays, which was perfect for us yesterday, in the rain.

5 old tables, a sofa, chairs, all gathered from thrift stores and garage sales. White delicate china, from grandma's time, again all different though all were decorated in pink roses. I could have taken all their china collection home....there and then. My basket was big enough, would anybody have notoced.....

Can you see my basket on the chair. It is a favorite one. Bought at an outdoor market in Mexico City, brought home via a week in Roma with friends. At the cabin it holds my knitting, Cotton skeins which are made into towels and wash clothes in all different shades of blue and green. Sea and sky.

The cakes were all handmade. Huge pieces for the small plates."Please help yourself with more coffee". A side table was filled with coffee table books, food their theme - bread baking around the world, apple - myth, history, use.......

Apple blossoms everywhere. It is apple blossom time in Norway. Late this year!

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Sunday morning. The rain has stopped. The sun might beat the clouds today. The birds are awake, thousands of them, all singing. I will make myself a mug of tea and two pieces of bread with brown goat cheese.

Life is good.

In spite of all their roses and apple blossoms, the cafe did not serve apple pie, nor did they have rose jam.

Do you have a favorite apple recipe to share?

Rain or shine........

I have been praying for sun, the cherry tree we planted last year and the plum tree we planted a few weeks ago have been praying for rain. 2 vs 1. Guess who won!

Cabin mornings are favorite mornings. Rain or shine. I went to bed last night while Terje, Marta and her friend Karoline were still playing boardgames, and slept like a stone through the whole night.

Now I have spent a quiet morning reading. During the visitation at Vikna last week someone recommended a local writer, Magnhild Haalke, who wrote novels from the area around 1940/50. After work yesterday I decided to visit an antiquarian downtown to ask for her books, and to my surprise they had a whole lot. I bought one and is now reading about Dagny, the city girl from Trondheim who visited the countryside at Vikna during her summer vacations. The book colours the time period of the 40ties in a palette filled with grey from work and poverty, but also a rainbow of playful colours following the city girl Dagny on her visits to the area.

Litterature, old and new, all different genres. Dream yourself into the words and sentences. Live the stories.

I have started to make a list of all my books. I am curious to see how many I actually have. Several thousands.........

I Took the One Less Traveled By, and Maria Magdalena......

Yes, Nicole, I was thinking of Robert Frost's poem when I wrote yesterday's post :-) The Road Not Taken........two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.

I had the poem in my mind yesterday when I spent my lunch break alone down near the lake. With a book unopened in my lap I let my thoughts wander..........the road not taken. Am I able to walk this remote road. How do I know the signposts? Who will walk with me? Where is the road leading?

Fences occures along my road not taken. To climb over, to walk around, or sometimes to guide you to walk another way. Or to stop?

Blue, always blue............. A woman I know sees people in colours. Guess which colour she sees me in :-)

The lake a mirror for heaven, like we are here to mirror God's love.

Later in the day I learned more about Mariakirken, the Mary Church, which I wrote about yesterday. It is not a St.Mary, Mother of Jesus church as I believed, but a church for Maria Magdalene, the woman so close to Jesus. This information made to church the more interesting.

Maria Magdalena. How was your life? How was your road less traveled?