Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

Supporting the raspberries

@brittarnhild

The summer continue to act strange. Cold and wet, day after day, with a few rays of sun in between. I would not say no to a sunny day in the garden if I was offered one, but the weather as it is, is kind of perfect for garden working. Terje and I are out for hours every day. What a blessing to share this hobby. He does all the digging and the hard work of course. I do all the planning, the photographing, AND THE WEEDING.

Terje has a long list of things to do. In the garden, inside the house, at the cabin. And on top of his list today was supporting the raspberries.

Now all we need is sun and warmer weather, and we can start harvesting.

Vacation in the garden

@brittarnhild

We have come to our last week of vacation for this summer, and after two weeks in Portugal and one week at the cabin it feels good to know that we can stay in the garden. At least for most of the week.

The weather could have been better, but it is not raining, and as long as we wear some warm clothes we can stay outdoors. Even have our coffee out there.

The rhododendron was already here when we bought the house in 2001, but, though blooming late this year, it has never been as beautiful as now.

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There will probably be more garden posts the coming days.

 

A golden heart for sleep

@brittarnhild

I have a golden heart for sleeping. From the moment I put the book I am reading on the bedside table and turn off the light, I am dead for this world. All the way till next morning, with one or two visits to the loo in between. Well, at least I like to think that most nights are like this. The other night was sleepless though. I had fever, I had body pains and my sinuses troubled me. "No problem. I can listen to the birds" I told myself. The bird songs around the cabin is better than being in any concert hall around the world. I had the window open, my sinuses force me to do that every night, and suddenly there was a mosquito in the room. Now I have one question to you. "Why does every mosquito have to go for my ear first thing?"

I couldn´t stand the noise, put sleep well in my ears. And than of course I could not hear the birds singing.

I still could imagine the songs though. And when I closed my eyes I saw the night view from our cabin terrasse.

A red dot, and it is mine

@brittarnhild

Not far from the cabin is a tiny little valley, with just a couple of handfullsof inhabitants. There used to be a secondhand store there, the owner becoming a very good friend. The store is closed now, but today, in the same building, the old schoolhouse, there was an open cafe and an art exhibition.

I love this little valley. In my dreams I have a little house there, with white laced curtains and red geraniums in the windows.

Terje and I went over to the old school house. We had coffee and homemade chocolate cakes. We met new people. We heard tales about the school house, from people who were pupils there 50 years ago.

We enjoyed the funny, charming animal drawings.

And I put a red dot on this sheep profile.

Now it is mine :-)

 

Hiking again

@brittarnhild

All along our long country you find them, out in the wilderness, the cabins belonging to Den norske turistforening, The Norwegian Trekking Association.  Follow the red T´s, and after one hour, two hours, eight hours, a day.......you are there.

The cabins are open for everyone hiking to them, though most of them are unmanned. The key is "in the door" (you actcually have a standard key if you are a DNT-member) , you can buy food and leave your money, you can find a bed, or you can just pass by.

Terje and I hiked to one of the hundreds of cabins today.

To Imarbu
You can read more about Imarbu here, sorry, in Norwegian only.

We hiked with a backpack, brought our own food and enjoyed lunching down near the sea.

Out to the North Sea island

@brittarnhild

Every summer it is on our list, a visit to the North Sea island Smøla, west of our cabin. Half an hour to drive, a little waiting for the ferry, 20 minutes on sea and there we are.

Well, there we are, kind of.
Our goal is always out at the very tip of the island, the small fishing village Veidholmen.

A place with such charm, I have to pinch my arm every time I come there.Is this a dream?

Today as always,
beauty all around.

Sometimes I dream of living there.
Breathing in the fresh air from the sea, falling a sleep listening to the seagulls, let the North Sea wind blow my hair.

Growing a garden.

 

Oh, the sweet dreams :-)

 

Look! What kind of bird is that?

@brittarnhild

We have visitors at the cabin, Terje´s brother and his wife. My brother in law shares some interests with me - photographing, birds and flowers.

We have been out hiking today, with our cameras of course.

A wild orchid.

A bird almost impossible to catch with the lense.
Can it be a willow warbler?

Red clover with its beautiful colour.

 

My favorite type of landscape.

 

Lunch time

@brittarnhild

Since we came home from Portugal we have been busy in the garden. The weather has been lovely, but we knew that after noon today it would start to rain. Heavy.

We managed to finish all the must do´s
We had lunch.

And then the rain came.

 

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You can always read more from my garden over in Den blå hagen på Huseby, or just look at the photos if you don´t speak Norwegian. And you can see daily photos on instagram at @akaleiehagen.
From time to time there will also be short videos at snapchat, again @akeleiehagen (or BrittArnhild)

 

The moment

@brittarnhild

The day is slowly walking towards night. The sun makes long shadows and a fairytale light.

The garden smells of freshly cut grass and a fragrance of childhood memory lilacs while the bumblebees eat their supper.

I sit right near the peonies, how many different shades of red do they have?

It is summer night in The Blue Garden.

A wooden boat from Nazaré

@brittarnhild

Stumbling over local artists is something I love when travelling. That´s the way I met Mauro you know :-)

One of our last night we decided to have dinner up in the hills, with a great view over the Atlantic, the sun and the village Nazaré.

While walking around we suddenly passed an open door, we looked inside to find an old man making small traditional wooden boast.

We had to buy one of course, it will be perfect for our cabin.

Before leaving we asked if he could recommend a restaurant for us, and he followed us outside the workshop, around a few corners, pointing out The Place.

There we had the best dinner of the whole vacation, but that´s another tale......which I hope to tell one day.

 

By the way, I simply love the twinkle in the carpenter´s eyes :-)