Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

2012 in review. Part 1

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It is the last day of 2012, and as always, I am looking back on the year. My blog is a perfect journal in words and images, and now I walk though the months and their entries, starting with January. As always it was a cold month, and a month when I started to crave longer days.
With my camera I did long walks downtown along the river. 

February is always time for winter break in Norway. We spent a few days at our cabin, and then I took the girls to London. The girls spent the days shopping, I visited book stores and museums. And together we walked in the parks and sat down at small cafes and restaurants.

Marcg gave us the first signs of spring in Ther Blue Garden,
and the opening of the green house.

And April came as always,
with my birthday party.

Marta helped me to make food for a party.

 

May was busy month of travels for me,
and I am having a hard time deciding on a photo.

But as I am rereading Martin Palmer´s book Sacred Land, this Christmas,
I ended on Martin Palmer giving me a sacrad walk in old Bath.

 

June, a month of cabin building.
Torgeir spent a couple of weekends helping Terje,
and the new addition grew....

.....but there is still more work to be done.

 

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this post is to be continued...... 

A word for 2013

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It is the end of the year. Time for reflections and time for opening the gate to a new year.
I know many of you find a word which follows you into and through the coming year. As I had a mug of tea with a spoon of honey this morning, I told myself; "If I am to frame my next year with a word, it will have to be the word health"

I have had the flu now since before the holidays. Some days are better, some are worse. My voice is still lost, and my breathing is heavy. I have said no to a parties, I am so much better of on the sofa,  wrapped in a blanket, surrounded by my books. Yes, health is an essential word.

I am lucky though. This is "just a cold". I know I will be better in a few days, even though this cold has been a hard one and lasted longer than expected. I sit here, looking out the window, missing my early morning weekend photo walk, but the blue sky, the few white clouds, the sun, the birds at the feeder, it all gives me joy and pleasure.

Even the extra hours, the extra days I am giving because of the flu, it feels like blessings. No need to rush, actually no possibility to rush as my breath won´t allow it. I write a letter and it feels like having a chat with a dear friend, I listen to some music and let my mind wander, I find my paintbox and decorate small envelopes for my columbine seeds, I have coffee and Christmas cookies with Terje,  I flip though Tessa Kiros´latest cookbook, I watch the squirrels and the birds out in the garden, I write a blog post looking through old photos to illustrate the words.

If I were to pick a word for 2013, it might have been the word health.

I am not going to pick a word though.
But, I am going to focus.

Like I always do the last days of December, when the new year is still unborn, I give myself a list on things to focus on the coming 12 months. This list is not the list of all the good deeds I will do, all the money I will give away, all the chocolate I will stop eating, and the exercise I will do every day from now on......

....no, this is a completely egoistic list. A list of when I will do to paint my mind with the rainbow. 

 

The list is being born today, and is about gardens,
and gardeners,
and flowers,
and growth,
and colours,
and columbines, and roses, and peonies and camelias,
and botanical gardens around the world,
and Gertrude Jekyll,
and.....

 

May be I have a word for 2013 anyway!
Or rather two words:

 

Gardens and gardeners. 

 

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Whay about you? Do you have a word to focus on for the coming year?

 

A Pile of Books

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The best gift you can give me for Christmas is a book.
Never sure that I get enough, to be on the safe side, I always buy a few for myself, wrap them and write on the gift tag: To BrittArnhild from the Book Santa.

I did this again this year, but curiosity got the best of me, and even before Christmas I opened one of the Book Santa books.

"better than fiction" True Travel Tales from Great Fiction Writers, published by Lonely Planet.

 

So while the rest of the world was superbusy making everything ready for Christmas, I sat with my flu and my blanket, armchair traveling the world with Isabel Alende, Alexander McCall Smith, Jan Morris and........

.....the list is long, but the main reason I bought this book Book Santa bought this book, was that Frances Mayes was one of the contributors.

 

Frances never disappoints.
Her story Quetzal gave me wings to fly, dreams to dream, music to dance to, words to wrap up,
and a deep, satisfying knowledge that one day I am to become a travel writer.......
......at least in my own little Blue Room World. 

 

 

I discovered, I mean really discovered, travel litterature during a two weeks stay in New York in 2002, when I was attending the UN General Assembly as an NGO for The Church of Norway. Every morning, before the meetings in the huge UN building, I went to a Borders, it must have been on 5th Street. (How sad that Borders are no more!). There I had my breakfast, scrambled eggs, bread, juice, tew and a huge pile of books. The travel litterature secttion soon became my favorite, and when I flew home i needed an extra suitcase just for books.

Since then I have become an avid travel litterature collector,
with hundreds of travel books in my glass travel litterature glass cabinets.

Oh, these books have taken be around the world, again, and again, and again, and again.

 

By the way, do you know Frances Mayes´blog?
Here is a link to a most charming post she wrote about books at Bramasole.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

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......and don´t forget. I am still waiting to see if any of you wants to do a "my studio" guest post. 

 

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Did Book Santa bring you anything for Christmas?

Welcome to my studio, to The Blue Room

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Up on the first floor we have three rooms, and a landing. The landing is perfect for part of my book collection, the biggest of the three rooms is my much loved studio.

The studio contains all colours of the rainbow, but because it has a bright blue door and a huge old bluepainted wooden desk, it has got its very suitable name; The Blue Room. When we moved here in October 2001, it started out as Torgeir´s bedroom, for a short time it was  Terje´s studio, but most of the years it has been mine. The one with the most collections wins and all that.......

I am not sure if I have ever invited you into The Blue Room, I mean, properly invited you in. For chatting, for tea, for showing you my books and my collections?

I know I have shown you the view through my studio window from time to time.
But never really taken you through all my bric a brac, have I?

 

Ha, it will take ages to show you everything,
and you might not be very interested in all of it anyway.......

......but a little peek might be okay :-)

This is where I blog,

this is where I dream my travels,

and this is where I collect a few of my souvenirs.

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Do you have your own studio?
A place for dreams and creations?

May be you would like to do a "this is my studio"-guest post for The House in the Woods? 

Some Christmas traditions

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I am sitting here writing a list for grocery shopping. We will have friends over for dinner tomorrow, and I will make bacalao. Not at all a traditional Christmas dinner, at least not in our family. So I am reading recipes, trying to decide which one to use. Hopefully the clipfish will not be too salty, I have it in water now, for 24+ hours.

Food traditions are important over the Christmas holidays.
For our family it starts on lillejulaften, the night before Christmas Eve. Then we fill the diningroom with friends, and serve lutefisk. Though most of the guests have been from Norway, over the years we´ve had guests from the US, New Zealand, Australia and Italy. All of them have tried the special dish, and even a few of them liked it :-) I love lutefisk, and when my family gathered for halibut and I had to stay behind, I ate the lutefisk leftovers.

On Christmas Eve we have rice porridge for lunch. In it there is a hidden almond, and the one who gets it, win a huge marzipan pig.

The Christmas Eve dinner is the main meal.
Different parts of the country used to have different traditions. In our family we eat pinnekjøtt. 
The meal is cooked for hours during the day, letting the fragrance of Christmas fill every nook of the house.

My flu/cold this year has taken away all the smells and fragrances of Christmas. I couldn´t even smell the pinnekjøtt.

 

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Here is a link to Visit Norway´s site about traditional Christmas food. 

 

 

 

Now I would like to hear about your Christmas food traditions :-)

A Different Christmas Carol

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While the rest of the family gathered around my parents´old dinner table, to eat the traditional Christmas Day halibut, to be together, to share tales from Christmases long ago, to sing the old carols, to have coffee and a taste of the Christmas cookies.....

.....

.....I was home alone,
singing a different Christmas Carol.

 

The flu is a Christmas gift I could be without,

but Christmas Day home alone gave me a good chance to sing a different Christmas Carol, to decorate a tree with ornaments from memories of thankfulness.

Christmas Day alone.
A new experience.
And I had my family close by, in my heart (and on the phone).

 

How many people are there around the world, close and far away, who are alone and lonely this season.
Without a loving family,
without ornaments to decorate a memory tree.

Without a home.
Without a family.
Without peace.

 

We waved goodbye to the Christmas tree today, after only three days. Hopefully me breathing gets better now when the tree is not here anymore.

It felt sad though to store away all the beautiful ornaments, gathered over years.

 

But my memory tree got more lights burning.
For all those celebrating Christmas without a home.

 

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Photos: my mother playing Christmas carol on Christmas Eve 

The Christmas Gift

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Among the gifts under our tree was a very special one.
"En morgen ny"
My father´s book of poems. 

My father has written poems all his life.
Mostly in secret.
Some time ago he decided to open up his world of words, and one day he came to me with a stack of papers.
"Britt-Arnhild, here are my poems. Do you think you can illustrate them with your photos, and may be we can make it into a book?"

 

Now, a year later, much work and many blessings later,
the book is a reality.

The most precious gift under our Christmas tree.

Thank you dear dad for sharing your poems with us.

Thank you Erik at Drømsmia for your important help.

December 24. Merry Christmas

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Merry Christmas.
God jul.

 

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 With this, my favorite julekrybbe, I want to thank you all for following my travel trough advent.

This holy family was made some years ago by the daughter of a good friend. What I love most about it, is the way Josef carries the child and show his love and care for Maria

 

December 23rd. Lille julaften

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When I come into the hallway of The House in the Woods, I am met by two julekrybber, the one from Nidaros cathedral, and this one from Syria.

The first one means roots, belonging, safety, traditions, I believe therefore I am

The second one means adventure, travels, uprooting, and a strong reminder of our unsafe world.

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Today is lillejulaften, Little Christmas Eve. Traditionally an important day in Norway. The day we bring Christmas into the house. The last years we have cheated, and drcorated our tree the night before, and I know that more and more people follow the American tradirion, decorating the tree, bringing Christmas into their house in early December.

I read in a Norwegian newspaper yesterday that 1 out of 3 are already tired of Christmas. How can they be? Christmas has not yet started! Up to now we have only walked through the preparations.

Tonight we will host our traditional lutefisk party. This year we will be 11 around the table, all of us Norwegians.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. With rice porridge for lunch, mass in our church, Christmas dinner and the opening of gifts.

Then, on Christmas Day we continue.
Mass in the cathedral. Dinner for the Big Family at my parent´s house. Family. Joy. Laughter.

My shining, silvery moments, in between all the golden ones, will be with my books, a fire running, gløgg, and Christmas music.

 

 

Let the holidays start! 

"God bless us, every one." Little Tim in A Christmas Carol

 

December 22nd. Does my heart beat the correct rhythm?

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Joseph and Mary came to Bethlehem. At first there was no room for them, though in the end they found shelter among the animals. 

In Norway, as in all places, there are people in need of shelter.
Today.
Just now! 

Marta, Terje and I are busy making The House in the Woods ready for the season. We are creating such a cozy nest for ourselves, for friends, for family. In between cleaning, baking, cooking, tidying, wrapping present and shopping, the doorbell rings and a family with small children are coming to see my julekrybbe collection, to have coffee and a pre-taste of the cookies, the doorbell rings again and a friend is arriving with Christmas gifts, then another one with greetings. The phone is busy. Christmas greetings. Invitations for dinners and parties.

We have room among us.
Room for love and hospitality.

Heart is one of the Christmas symbols, and my heart is beating warm and strong.

Yet I can´t stop this question to filling my mind today.

Does my heart beat the correct rhythm?

 

God, let your leading star shine bright and clear.
Make my feet willing to walk Your way.
Adjust my heart beats to Your rhythm.
The rhythm of love and eternal life. 

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This julekrybbe is from Bethlehem, carved in olive wood.
I have never been there, but the dean in our cathedral bought it for me last December.
Thank you Ragnhild.