Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

The Deanery

@brittarnhild

A post titled "Like the First Day of Creation" is sceduled for tomorrow......may be.
Here is the deanery in Namdalen, where I spent the night.

(the photo was taken at 8am this morning)

…..but why today

@brittarnhild

......okay, okay, okay......I agree it is beautiful...

 

.....but why, oh why did King Winter have to arrive just now, when I have two days with hours on the road ahead of me?????

 

 

I´ll bring my camera though......

The Water Pump

@brittarnhild

Some days I feel all dried up. Like all water has been twisted out of me. Like I have been giving and giving, completely forgetting to fill up. Without water my energy dies, my palette consist of mostly dark colours, the few remaining colours disappear into the canvas refusing to show.

 

Still an apprentice, I am on the road of learning to refill. Learning to stop. To pick up the colours. To mix them. Blend them. Dip my brush into them. Paint. Be proud of what I make. Share.

Then bend down and drink another mouthful.

Yes, still an apprentice. But I am learning an important lesson:

to find the water pump, the well

to stop there

to drink

 

and let the water of life fill me

 

 

 The first photos are from Assisi.
Then there are two from the garden of Il Rosario, a monastery where I use to stay when in Rome, and the last one is from somewhere in Rome.......

Without oars

@brittarnhild

Usually I put my hands on the oars, and inspiration is here. Two oars and a boat takes me wherever I want.

Not so today. No, not so today! I have absolutely no idea what to blog about.

 

 

Without oars I try my second best game, I look through the 20.000+ images I have stored on my Mac. I find this one, a boat stored away for the winter.
But no oars.

 

No oars.......

 

 

..............I think I´ll pick up my knitting instead.
May be it will help.......

 

And while I knit, may be you can explain this sign to me.......

 

A storm passed by

@brittarnhild

With Haiyan still fresh in our minds, we were preparing for a storm passing over our part of the world last night. As the wind started to build up, we cleaned our garden, then prepared a nice dinner. Lit candles. Opened a bottle of wine. Made a starter with meat from the market in Barcelona, foxberries from our woods. 

With the wind raging, we were warm, dry, safe inside our nest.

After dinner we sat down to watch a program on television. Two Norwegian girls, both the same age as Ingrid, flew to Tacloban to work as volunteers at Streetlight two days before Ingrid was supposed to go. They came there just in time for the typhoon, managed to help with preparations and then took some of the youngest children to a hotel and stayed there during devastating hours. They told us how they told tales to the children during the long hours. 

Our dessert consisted of the taste of tears, tears of thankfulness that all the children and all the adults at Streetlight are safe and evacuated, tears of sorrow for all the thousands of people remaining in Tacloban. And with the tears came prayers. Prayers without words. Prayers of thanks for our youngsters who leave their safe life here in Norway to go out where they are needed.

I am proud of being a Norwegian, being a world citizen, with young men like Erlend, the founder of Streetlight. Proud of being a Norwegian, being a world citizen with young women like the two we met last night, like Ingrid and her co-students, who are willing to go out, and do!

 

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Then we heard a big bang, and Terje ran to the kitchen window.

The storm Hilde had given an extra blow over The House in the Woods, and now we have two trees less.

 

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This morning, as Terje and I had breakfast with fresh bread, eggs, rose tea from Istanbul, black currant jam from the garden and Yo-Yo Ma playing Elgar, two men from the municipality came to "clean up the mess" in the garden.

The contrast to the Philippines couldn´t have been bigger.

 

 

Chess Fever

@brittarnhild

A powerful outburst of chess fever has hit Norway.
Our very own Magnus Carlsen is in India, playing for the World Champion Title.

I love chess. Well, not actully the playing. I know how to play, I know the names of all the pieces, I know the number of black and white squares, I know the rules. But I am no good at it. Challenge me for a game and I am sure you will win.

Still I love chess!

I love the chess sets. I am hooked on them. I collect them.
And I have a lovely collection.

 

And when I come to think of it, I don´t only collect chess sets, but also images from around the world of chess tables and of people playing chess.......or other games.

 

I was watching NRK (Norwegian television) last night. Chess of course. Excitements because Magnus won his match and is now in the lead, but what caught my interest was a chess set collector who showed us pieces from an old set, the style of the pieces indicated that it probably came from The Philippines.  

The chess games I have in my collection are mostly bought on travels around the world. Watching the television program last night gave me an ide. I will present the games and the countries where they were bought in special chees posts over in Caffe Avec, my travel blog which is mostly sleeping because I haven´t quite decided how to use it.......it started as a way to present the lovely coffee houses in Krakow, Poland, it continued as a kind of coffee as you go, then I got an idea to present an artist from the places I visit.....but somehow I have not managed to follow this up.

So well, now Caffe Avec might be a place for world wide collections. And may be even for my nativity sets in December.

I must think about this........

 

Our Daily Bread

@brittarnhild

 

In my Min Bibel project I have come to Matthew 6, where Jesus teaches us to pray. 

Give us this day our daily bread.
Say it again: give us this day our daily bread.

Not give me today my daily bread, but us, give US today OUR daily bread.

While working on the Bible post, I thought of a visit I had to Laos, and how we shared our bread with the munks in Luang Prabang. This was back in 2004, and my photos are on a series of cds. I have been looking through them now, and memories are running like a fresh, clean river.

As I look though the photos, I am amazed to see how many of them are about food. And not only food, but about sharing, to be given, eating together.

 

My memory continue to flow. I remember other travels. Other meals.
Many of them already recorded here in Britt Arnhild´s House in the Woods. All of them recorded in my heart.

Give us this day our daily bread.

I came home from Oslo last night. My taxidriver from the airport was from Somalia. I told him I have recently been to Ethiopia and he was very enthusiastic. "Oh, you have been to Ethiopia. That´s my neighbour country. Like Norway and Sweden. How did you find it?" and without time to wait for my answer, he continued, "What do you think of the food? Did you try this flat bread, this bread which looks like a pancake, did you try injerra?"

I told him how much I love injerra, and his proud, beaming smile, warmed the air between us.

Sharing food.

Sharing food tales.

Taking care of food traditions.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And make us share with the whole wide world.

 

 

All photos are from my travel to Laos in 2004.

 

A New Morning

@brittarnhild

"I can drive you to the train" my host said. "The traffic is crazy in the mornings, so it might take us half an hour at least, but then it should be easy to continue to Oslo by the train"

"Or wait a little" he continued. "I have a better idea. You can take the boat from here. It leaves at ten minutes past seven and you will be in Oslo before eight"

I beamed.
The possibility of a boat ride on the Oslo fjord sounded like a perfect idea.

Not only sounded like.
It was! A perfect idesa I mean!

 

Inspired to read the Bible a new way

@brittarnhild

Some time ago my friend started to read the Bible in a new way. Day by day I have followed her, and a few days ago I was inspired to start my own project. And while Solveig started with The Old Testament, I have started with the new one.

My blog is in Norwegian, but should anyway be easy to follow though images and Bible verses.

You find Min Bibel here.

Airport

@brittarnhild

 

Airport.
Reading.
Watching people.
Eating a slice of pizza
Anticipating what is to come.

 

Noisy.
Always noicy.