Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

Benches. A Studie

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A sunny Sunday, as beautiful as only March in Norway can be.
Terje went out cross country skiing of course. I did not. Instead I packed my photo bag and drove over to the botanical garden in Trondheim.

The frost is still deep, and nothing will be growing for a long time yet.

Lacking flowers, I decided benches could be a perfect target for my shooting.

There are so many of them.
And such a variety. 

In my camera bag I had brough my book......

....and in the end I sat down, enjoying the sun, reading.

Though all through my walk, I imagined sitting down on every single one.
Saying prayers for a few people especially close to my heart just now.

 

Sunday and books and blue doors and travels and planning and travel photos and travel quiz.......

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I am, we are, in the process of planning a few travels.
Easter break with family south west in Norway, and at cabin.
Iceland right after Easter.
Nepal after Iceland.

Barcelona for a week in July with Terje, Marta and cousin Mathilde (hopefully)

Istanbul in August (work) 

 

Planning travels mean stacks and stacks of books and maps and travel journals in my studio.

 

Two of the books on my desk right now is
The Waiting Land, A Spell in Nepal, by Dervla Murphy
and
Milli Trjanna by the Icelandic Gyrdir Eliasson

 

As I have already told you I am hooked in Instagram. I have started a game there which I call #brittarnhildsquiz. Every day I post a series of one, two, three  travel photos from around the world, asking where the images are from. I get a lot of likes, a few wrong guesses, and eventually a few correct ones.

While searching my photos for more travel photos for the quiz, I find new treats all the time. Like these blue doors from Durham and Lindisfarne, from May 2007.

 

I haven´t quite decided yet how to continue The Blue Studio Reading Group.
One book a week is a bit too much. An option could be a book every second week. Or may be it is best to read one every month?

I would like to hear what you think.
And I would like suggestions of books to read.

Here is the list we have so far:
 

Pondside has mentioned 
The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje

Marily has mentioned
Eight Girls Taking Pictures, by Whitney Otto

Jane has mentioned
The Shomaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani

 

And myself I want to add
The Piano Teacher by Y.K.Lee
(a novel set in Hong Kong under and after WWII) 

 

 

What the sun reveals

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The Blue Studio is facing south.
Today is a bright, sunny  day. Still cold winter, but with a promise of spring. The sun is strond enough to start melting snow on roof tops and snow banks.....

.....and even strong enough to melt my dusting resistance.

 

With the sun shining directly in through my studio windows, I can´t avaid seeing the dust, collected through a long winter.

So if you need me today, 
you know where to find me...

...dusting The Blue Studio.

 

 

Congratulations

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To all my sister's around the world:

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY! 

PAMPER YOURSELF! 

 

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And let us join in prayers for all our struggling sisters, mothers and daughters.

 

 

My organized life, or what?

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The new path I am walking, or may be its a detour, or a pleasure walk, is supposed to make my life more organized. Give me time for daily spirituality. Prayers. Silence. I started a new praying journal, I have cleaned a special corner for my silent hours moments.

The start was perfect. I found the time. I found the silence. Everything was perfectly organized.

But "hvor lenge var Adam i paradis"? (how long was Adam in paradice?)

When I was supposed to sit down tonight, I never fpound the peace. Instead I was crazily moving everyting around, searching for my Kindle charger. Of course I searched EVERYHERE. Of course it was NOWHERE to be found.

Not until I actually sat down and organized my thoughts.
Then I knew, in a blink of an eye where my secret hiding place was.

But why did I hide it THERE????????

 

 

 

And the photos:
of course thay have nothing to do with the words 
they are from India
they are filled with colours
and sweet memories
and they make me smile 

 

Wednesdays through Lent

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Wednesdays.
In the middle of the week.
In the middle of life.

Wednesday nights during Lent, we have Lent services in my deanery.  Tonight we drove the 30 minutes out of town to the old Klæbu church.

 

Prayers
Hymns 
Silence
Reading
Communion

My heart, my body, my me
is lifted

 

to something out of the ordinary 

To something in the middle of ordinary

 

To God´s heart

 

Wednesdays in Lent.

My favorite days

Happy birthday, mamma

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Or the first image might be Mauro´s, I can´t remember........)

83 years young.
Celebrations all through the day.

Terje and I went there right after work. Together with mamma´s three siblings and a few others.

Uncle John is 86.
Aunt Solbjørg Serine 85
Mamma 83
Aunt Oddrun 79.

They are all alive, all living in Trondheim.

 

During our meal together pappa challenged the four siblings, John, Solbjørg, Marta/mamma and Oddrun to share tales from their childhood.
What a gang! 
I know I would have LOVED to know them during the 30ies, and the 40ies, continuing through the 50ies.........and from 1958 I am part of their shared history.

 

Family life.
What a blessing!

For her 83rd birthday my mother had rehearsed a new piano piece.
A waltz she used to play more than 60 years ago.
Her fingers danced over the keys.

My heart watzed with the music. 

Changing focus

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Suddenly something happens,
or more often, slowly your focus is changing.

I am in this process right now.
Nothing dramatic. Probably no big changes.
I hope I am not stopping blogging,

but today´s planned

New Paths on Mondays. My Extended Blog Family

refused to be written. 

I am not surprised.

I did pray, didn´t I 

No, I am not surprised.
I think anticipation is the correct word.

 

Where is this path taking me?

 

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Photos: Kjerringøy, up north in Norway, Nov 2004 

A Month in the Country. Blue Studio Reading Group. Updated

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Finished.
Five seconds ago. 

A month in the Country by J.L.Carr.

 

What a cute little tale. Thanks for suggesting it Kay.
Cute? Or is it not?

Kay has sent me some questions she has found online:

 

What is the symbolism of the painting in the novel?

Why is the story set in the country rather than a busy city?

What is Birkin like when he arrives, and how does he change?  What causes these changes?

How are Birkin and the original painter alike?

And with this the discussion is opened :-)

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The first thing I loved about this book was the referral to other writers/artists.
Thomas Hardy

Joseph Conrad
Edward Elgar

....where there more I missed?

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I´ll be back with more thoughs as the discussions continue..... 

 

 

 

While reading A Month in the Country, I was, in my mind, looking for images to show here during our discussions. I got several ideas, from walking in Miss Garnet´s Angel´s footstep in Venice, to a climb I did in a narrow belltower in an old Norwegian church last year (and blogged aboout). Lindisfarne was most in my mind though. The first three photos in the post are from Turvay, where I spent a week last year with the sisters at Turvey Abbey. But now I have moved to Lindisfarne, The Holy Island, where I have been three times. 

Kay´s first question, the symbolism of the painting. Tom Birkin caled it The Judgement, didn´t he? And we learn to know that the old body found in the coffin is probably the painter. Was he judged? I wonder if the painting and its symbolism is what stops Birkin from declaring his love for Alice Keach.

I have mixed feelings about this relationship. They are both married, and as this was in 1920 (this is what Birkin says himself when looking back from a much later point in his life), an afair could not develop between them. This made me sad, at the same time it is the way I live my life. I am married (and in love with my husband). This doesn´t prevent me from looking at other men, even "falling in love" from time to time. But I could, and would, never take a wrong step.

 

How are Birkin and the original painter alike?

I have no clue to this question. Do you?

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Instagram

text britt-arnhild
image marta, edited by britt-arnhild 

I have been on Instagram since April last year.
Instagram, a place to share images,
a place to play.

I love being there. Sharing my own photos, getting ideas from other photographers around the world.

 

Yesterday I started a new game on my instagram profile,
#brittarnhildsquiz 

I post a picture and a question: where is this from?
Then later in the day the answer comes.

Clues given.
Not supposed to be difficult.

#justforfun

 

Are you on Instagram?

You find me here 

 

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By the way,

today I am busy reading 

 

which will be discussed in The Blue Studio reading Group tomorrow.

Thank you Kay for introducing this book to the group,
and for your questions.
I´ll post them tomorrow.