Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

The neglected garden

@brittarnhild

We have not been here since before Easter. The last weeks have been very dry, and the garden looked almost dead when we arrived yesterday.

Beauty has been here during our absence though, and beauty can still grow.

Looking closely, we discovered that the garden was not dying at all, only sleeping under a thick duvet of weeds. While we had breakfast, a little red robin was dancing its mary, mary, quite contrary-dance on the terrace outside our window, telling me it was time to save the garden.

After a short consultation, we decided the best thing would be to dig out all the plants, clean their roots and plant them again.

 

Hard work, with the soil hard as stone with a web of roots.

While working I got an idea, and a couple of hours later we had a new bed, a herb bed around the red currant.

Now the garden is well prepared for a colourful summer.

 

Three things I am thankful for today. What about you?

@brittarnhild

On facebook I was challenged by my creative niece Tone to share three things I am thankful for. An easy task :-) We are at the cabin, and my three "joys" are 1)the  strawberry plants are blooming 2) a blue pitcher with lily of the valley 3) Tiriltunge or Maria Gullsko (Mary´s Gold Shoes) growing on the edge of the old flower bed stone wall.

 

 

 

 

Now I am challenging you. Can you name three things you are thankful for today?

 

Collecting lemons, and a guessing game.

@brittarnhild

Jane, you are right, I am collecting my lemons, saving them for a sweet, vitamin filled lemonade which will save me through another winter :-) And with the wonderful weather we are having these days we almost live out in the garden. Garden living is good for the winter life saving lemonade you know!

Thanks for the information about the ants and the peonies. How interesting. 

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We are heading for the cabin, while Marta has to stay at home for her math exam. Poor her. Hopefully she find time to water my green house plants.

 

The photos in this post are from Ninfa, the medieval garden south of Rome which we visited in April. The last photo is a guessing game. What is the little house on the wall? A postcard for the first one with a correct answer.

 

Beauty´s Helpers

@brittarnhild

I am sitting here in The Blue Garden, watching the peonies which are ready to bloom any day now. Ants are running up and down the pregnant bulbs, busy with their business. When I first saw this I wondered what the ants were doing, if they were destroying the flowers. I tried to remove them, without luck. Later I learned that the ants are important. Somehow they are essential for the blooming. Don´t ask me how.

There have been a few ants in my life laterly. I have tried, without luck, to remove them. But now I wonder. May be they are essential for my blooming. May be they are my beauty´s helpers.

 

The Beauty of the Day

@brittarnhild

An important part of my selfimposed lessons these last months has been to learn to slow down. By doing so I have regained strength, and now I am soon ready to reduce my sick leave percentage, soon ready to work more than the 50% I have worked lately.

My slow down lessons will continue though, and I have am now at the chapter where I evaluate my blogging. Not that I will quit blogging. Not at all, but still, there might be a few changes as this new chapter in my life unfolds.

I hope to have you with me along this new path.

 

Upside down and not as planned

@brittarnhild

Do you ever have days when you start in the morning, knowing perfectly well what you will do during the day, then, when you go to bed at night and look back, you realise that the day turned out completely different. Yesterday was one of these days for me. Writing the seventh Blue Garden Letter was on top of my list....... But did I do it? Nope! I still plan to write the letter though, and I know exactly what to write about, I even know to whom I will send it ;-) When I eventually write it. I am in Oslo today on an annual meeting with the Norwegian Bible Society, and I am using a coffee break to write this post. I am writing on ny iPad, and as I have only a few photos saved on it, I found one of myself, hoping that it would do to illustrate the post........but no matter how I add the photo, it comes upside down. So let us call today an upside down day, and let us walk on our hands through the day, taking what comes, what so ever.

Blue Garden Letter #7

@brittarnhild

It is time for the 7th Blue Garden Letter. I will post the letter later today, but you can already start commenting if you want the "real" handwritten letter to be yours.

(yael, last week´s letter is waiting for you but I need your address)

 

Deep Cleaning, Dusting, Decorating and Design, our 4 Ds

@brittarnhild

Marta is in charge of the weekly cleaning in The House in the Woods. But from time to time the house needs more, and then Terje and I have a job to do. A day dedicated to house work fun. We have a perfect way of sharing the work between us. He does the first D, the deep cleaning, I do the three remaining ones, dusting, decorating, designing.

Today is such a 4D-day, and if I find time, and don´t forget, I will shot photos with my cell phone as I go, and share with you.....which means that this blog post will be updated through the day.

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The first photo shows a coffee set from Sarajevo.

 

 

A Bonsai and a collection of the letter B in our livingroom window. The Bonsai was a gift from my brother Børge after I had my nose surgery almost three years ago. The Bs are collected from travels here, there and everywhere.

 On a side table I have a collection of art made by Mauro, and a book about Murano, the glass island.

 

 

At the bus stop

Then the bus makes a stop. Still it is up to you to find the right spot to rest your eyes.

This single, beautiful dandelion grows on the bus stop where I wait for the morning bus.

Thank you so much for your comments yesterday.
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A Narrow Road or a Path of Beauty

@brittarnhild

Little did I know i January what this term, this winter and spring, would bring. It looked so easy in the beginning. Some health "stuff" meant that I needed a week´s sick leave, but after this week was finished I was back, working full time.......almost. Since than quite a lot has happened, and for the moment I am still on sick leave, 50% just now.

There have been quite a few ups and downs these months. Quite a few changes in my life. And there will be more in the future. I have always liked to plan my life, to know what is around the next corner. I still do. But everything can not be planned. Sometimes the road is so narrow, the surroundings so high, it is impossible to see ahead. 

There is a photo, you might have seen it on facebook or elsewhere, of two men sitting in a bus, on either side of the aisle. One is looking directly into the rock wall, the other has the most beautiful view. I have decided to sit next to the one with the view. Still I am able to see the rocks, but my face is turned the other way, and over the second man´s shoulder, I let my eyes rest on the beauty of the drive. I try not to see too much out the front window. I am not sure where the bus is heading. But it doesn´t matter much, as the beauty is here, now, along the path I am on.

 

The photo is from a tiny little mountain village in Italy, Sermoneta.