Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

A new project on my mind

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Summer. Long days. Short work days. A week alone in The House in the Woods, in The Blue Garden. Time at hand. Time to relax. Time to reflect.

And with that came time to be creative.

The love to create has followed me since birth.
The love to create is part of my life.
A meal, a garden, a bouquet of flowers, a stilleben,
a letter, an early Saturday morning photo walk, a travel, a blog post,
a journal entry, a book. A marriage.
A life. 

Knitting, quilting, crochet, embroidering........

It is all part of my life.

During my week alone an idea started to play in my head.
A design formed.

I don´t knit A LOT any more, as I used to.
Still, small project are also pieces of art.

I found some left over yarn down in my basement studio and started to knit.
It was easy during The Olympics.
Not that I watched much of it.
But the Norwegian girls playing handball, winning the gold medal......

.....well, it gave me a few hours with my needles,
and prevented me from biting my nails.

The idea, the design turned out so well, I decided to buy some new yarn,
trying to ignore the fact that I have bags and bags and baskets and baskets down in the studio.

As the knitting unfolds,
as beads will be sewn on,
as creativity will unfold....

.....I´ll let you know....

 

....some day. 

Summer Tastes

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The Blue Garden is filled with them.
Black currants. Red currants, raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries,
cherries, apples, plums,
(apples and plums are not ripe yet though)

Terje is back home.
He is the king of berries, juices and jams.
I am his litle helper.

Our fingers are stained after berry cleaning.
The house smells delicious,
and the taste of summer is preserved for long winter months.

There is something complete and fulfilling about the process of
harvesting and preserving.

 

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Do you have fruits and berries in your garden?
Do you make your own jam?
What is your favorite?

It is breakfast time in The House in the Woods.
I will eat a piece of bread with raspberries. 

Life Without a Car

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My car came home late last night after a week´s vacation.
We have only one car, so when Terje and the girls took the car south in Noreway to visit grandpa, I had to do without.
There will never be an extra car in this household, no need for that.
Actually we did have an extra car for a couple f year a few years ago. Torgeir and Øystein were still both living at home, and they both had a driving licence, which you can get when you are 18 here in Norway. When my parents bought a new car, we inherited their old one for as long as it lasted.

But with only three of us at home now, there is no need for a car #2.

I took the bus to work, and when Saturday came, instead of going downtow for my regular photo tour, I headed for the countryside right behind The House in the Woods, for blueberries hickleberries.

Sunday morning I did the same. Headed for the countryside I mean.

And this time I had planned to do quite a long hike. With a backpack filled with lunch and coffee. And even a map.

After days of rain, rain, rain, the sky was washed a deep blue. The sun seeked out a mirror and was reassured. Her beauty was still intact.

 

There is something calming about a lonely hike. We live close to the part of Bymarka where there are few people, so even though it was a lovely day, I could walk alone most of the time. Well, at least the first part of the time.

A Pilgrim´s Route runs though the area, but most pilgrims come for St.Olav´s Day, so none were to be seen.

Lunch near a little lake, Sølvskakketjønna, sølv means silver....I must try to learn more about this pond and why it got its name.

In Bymarka there are several farms and cottages which are open for people to buy food. I passed by Rønningen. But did not stop. My hike was a solo one.

An open meadow,
with cows ehich did not want to be photographed.

No planted beds can be beautiful as a wild one. 

An anthill, thriving with activity.
Lanny, remember when you see an anthill it is always facing south :-) So you know your way.

Another pond.
This one with waterlilies.
Kåttåtjønne (I have no idea what the name means)

I had some coffee left.
And I had a lot of time leaft.
For waterlily watching.

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Four hours later I was back home in The Blue Garden.
Happy to know that my countryside backyard will never go away. 

While doing a search for Kåttåtjønna I found this Norwegian blog. Looks like the couple here did the same hike as I did, only the other way round.

 

A bird is a bird is a bird.....or

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I have just finished reading The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, a book written by Mark Bittner, about his years feeding a group of wild parrots in San Francisco. 

It is an amazing book, on how it is possible for a man to become friends with wild parrots, to get to understand them, to communicate with them, and still let them keep on being wild.

We didn´t visit Telegraph Hill during our day in San Franciscvo, there never was time for it, though next time I come it is on top of my list. We did see a few wild parrots though, while waiting and waiting for a bus which never came. I got no photos.

I did get a lot of other bird photos though.

Actually, our three weeks in California turned out to become quite a bird watching event.

It kind of started up in Grass Valley, where we all saw a hummingbird. Terje and Marta had never heard of hummingbirds, though after we came home and learnd that the Norwegian name is kolibri, they had of course. I have ALWAYS wanted to see one.

In Grass Valley it was impossible to get a humming birds photo, except for the ones shown is in books.....

  

... but later during our stay we saw them again and again, and even manages to get photos. Marta is the main photographer of the humming birds.

And also the photographer of many of the other birds we saw.

Birds are fascinating.

There are so many different types. Many of those we saw in California are familiar to us here in Norway, many are not.

Babies and adults.
We saw them all.

I know too little about birds.
I would love to learn more.

In The Blue Garden I feed the birds all year long. And am rewarded with a wonderful variety of birds.
I have started to photograph them, and write a bird diary of sorts. 

Hopefully this will heklp me to learn how many different ones we get in our garden during a years.

I have, from amazon, orderes several books on hummingbirds....

And slowly, slowly I am learning.

And that´s part of what life is about, isn´t it :-)

To learn, to explore.
to find your place it the amazing Creation!

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And while some of us are busy photographing birds, one is speaking with them :-)
And Marta captures it of course.

 

Photos: the first one is from Maderia, the others from California, some taken by me, some by Marta

 

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I always post links to my blog posts on facebook and on twitter.
Phototaker sent me this beautiful photo on twitter this morning.
Isn´t this San Francisco parrot a gem :-) 

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Here is a link to "The Parrot Man"´s homepage

 

In the time of the blueberries

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August. Saturday. Perfect weather for hiking.
Coffee on the thermos.
Ripe blueberries.

And a forrest where solitude grows,
even though birds are flying over your head,
horses can be heard,
so can a family with children happily playing.

Wings flapping,
horses neighing
children laughing.

All of it music to my ears.

Feet dancing a blueberry tango.

 

Struggling to get a self portrait
of the blueberry picker,

and the coffee drinker.

Now it is time to clean (is that the word you use) the blueberries, 

and then I know I will make blueberry pancakes for lunch!

 

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Marta and her friend, Ingrid and Terje were out catching crabs last night, together with my brother in law. 

The photo below is five yours old,
from another crab catching adventure.
You find the post here 

 Hm, somehow typepad won´t let me post the photo.....so you´ll have to go to the old post to find it.

Left Over Books and a Love Declaration

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We are three best friends.
For years and years we have met from time to time. Not often, just a few times during the year, to share
food, life, laughter, tears and books.
Most of all books.

Last night we had another book night.
A long summer , perfect for a lot of reading.
We had so much to share.

And my list of books I want to read gets longer, and longer, and longer.....

What a pleasure to tidy away the left overs after my friends had left.
Left over books.
Left over food.

Left over thoughts.
Yes, the left over thoughts were the best.
Now I know I have to read Longfellow, a poet I had hardly heard of before last night. And I know I must reread Umberto Eco´s The Pargue Cemetery and Mikhail Bulgakov´s The Master and Margarita.

Just to mention a few......

On my iPad I have a list which I have called Books. I opened it while my friends were here to write down a few "not to forget" books....

.......and found a love declaration:

Glad i deg, mamma <3 - marta
(love you mamma)

While we were in California, Marta often borrowed my iPad. And back in the car, or on the plane, who knows, she must have written this secret message to me :-)

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Glad i deg og Marta <3 - mamma
I love you too Marta 

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Let us follow Marta´s example today:

give a secret love message to someone you love

Who has the most creative one? 

Dinner for one

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Home alone does not mean only leftovers for dinner (though I must confess I do a great job trying to clean out the fridge.....which simply is NOT EASY when you are only one person)

But yesterday was NOT a day for fridge cleaning.

After work I walked down to the fishmarket to buy mussels.
I also stopped to buy some Californian white wine, which turned out to be almost impossible to get in Trondheim, "there is no demand for it" I was told. 
After visiting wine country and taking part in a wine tasting tour (stuff for another blog post), I really can´t understand why!

But back to my dinner.

Cook the spaghetti-
Fry garlic, leek and a shallot in a little olive oil. Add white wine. Steam the mussels, till they open. Just then, not before, not after, the spaghetti is perfectly al dente.
And even though it has rained all day, and will rain most of the night,
the sun fights away  the clouds, and give you a perfect hour on the terracce.

 
As there is a corner at the fish market where they sell cheese, I bought a French brie, and with strawberries and red currants from the garden,
I had the perfect dessert.

 

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How do you treat yourself to solo dinners?
Do you usually cook for one, or for a whole bunch?
Do you love mussels?

I haven´t decided yet what to have for dinner today, but as I will have my reading group here tonight I might simply skip dinner after work (which is when we eat dinner in Norway), and make a salad or something for the group.

 

The Goal I have set Myself

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I have set myself several goeal for this home alone week. Only problem right now is that the week passes so fast...........but then I know that these goals can be worked on, achieved next week, and the next one after.......

Tha main goal is to find photos for all my father´s poems and have them mailed, together with the poems, to the publisher. And while he will be working on printing a first draft for us, I will write the next for the book.

Not at all an easy task, but how I love doing it.

Reading and rereading my father´s poems, written over so many years. Looking through my ten thousands of photos, trying to find The One for each poem.

Last night I finally found the last photo.
Tonight I will look though all the poems and the photos once again,
and then mail it off.

I am looking forward to do the writing.
And I am looking forward to finish it.......as I have new challenges  dreams waiting.

 

If you deny your dreams, you deny yourself
Cecilia Samartin 

 

 

Ok Roz, I garden, so I am a gardener :-)

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This is what greeted me when I came home from work yesterday. Not Marta´s sweet hei mamma, not Terje´s welcome home kiss.
But not bad this either, is it :-)

A short nap, dinner out in the blue garden,
and then it was time to change.
Into some old pants, a pink garden blouse,
a pair of garden gloves.

Weeding.
Watering.
Breathing colours.
Smelling roses.

Dirt under my nails.

Working.
Planning.

Telling myself:

Du er en gartner
You are a gardener.

Roz of Autumn Cottage says so, so therefore you are.

I tasted the words.

Jeg er en gartner.

  

I am not a professional,
and never will be.

We will always have too little time to garden,
and our garden will always have weeds.
Weeds are part of life.
I am completely sure even The Garden of Eden had weeds.

How boring life would be without.

My weeding, or rather deadheading, is done for the day.
I start watering.

And know deep in my heart:

Jeg er en gartner.
I am making life grow. I create.
I walk the path The Gardener has prepared for me to walk.

 

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Thank you Roz for your inspiration, for believeing in my.

And than you Jane for your comment on "Home alone".....after reading it I walked right over to my cd-rack,found the shelves where I keep my favorite music......opera of course, and took out Delibes Lakmé

 

And gave myself a Blue Garden treat

Seeds for Columbines

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I am reading a very intereting book these days, Gardening Women, Their Stories from 1600 to the Present, by Catherine Horwood.

In it I find a long, strong chain of female gardeners. Some being able to use their inheritance or their husbands´money on huge estates, hiring more than a hundred gardeners to help making their dreams come true. Other gardening alone for pure pleasure, or to earn money for their family after the death or the failure of their husbands. Or spinsters turning to gardening as a way to survive.

Women travelling the world to learn more about their obsessive pasttime, women with an excessive correspondence, to share idea, to share seeds, to share their consuming interest.

I learn about how flowers got their names, how gardens were planned and built, how ideas were shared, how beauty were grown. I read this book, as I do with most books, not only with my eyes and my heart, but also with a pen. And while drinking a mug of rosemary tea, I flip through the book, to read the underlines.

 When I get into stories of plants I know not how to get out (Mary, Duchess of Beaufort)

To improve her horticultural knowledge Queen Charlotte studied the works of the great botanists and nurserymen of her time, and her interest was recognised when The Bird of Paradise flower from South Africa was names Strelizia Regina.

Ldy Henrietta was exploring the area around Mysore, discovering new species.......(yes, I am going to Mysode in November......)

Queen Caroline immediately began to develop the gardens of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.

The delicate, porcelain-like flowers, with their velvety greens, greys, reds and purples, along with so many other rich colours seemed like paintings come to life.

And so it goes, on and on and on......

One of the things that fascinates me most when reading about these female garden pioneers, is how many of them fall in love with one specific plant, and then spend their lives loving that plant. Collecting seeds, seeking new varieties, growing the most beautiful one.

 

I can´t call myself a gardener. Our garden is a very modest one, and we don´t have much time to garden.
But I love the hours I get in The Blue Garden. I love the garden dreams it gives me. I love the growth, the colours, the fragrances. The pleasure.

And I love to fall in love with special plants. To collect seeds. To plant. To watch growth. 

 

This summer I am in love with the Columbines, or akeleie as we say in Norwegian.
I have had a small plant for many years. This summer it had such beautiful flowers, I couldn´t help falling in love.

Over the summer I have bought different varieties of Columbines, and some weeks ago I asked if any of you had seeds for me.

And the other day  stuffed envelop came in the mail.
From Brigitte in Vienna/Austria.
Columbine seeds, a hand made and hand written letter, and a photo of Brigitte´s Columbine, in front of a peony.....just the way most of my akeleies are planted, in front , or rather in between, peonies.

I am also collevcting seeds from my own columbines.
And in February/March I will plant them.

Hopefully they will grow.

 

And if they don´t, I always have the dream.