Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

When everything is knitted together

@brittarnhild

My Buddleja, Butterfly Bush, is still small, but oh so beautiful this year. The butterflies love it and I love it. A couple of weeks ago, when the bush started to bloom, I did a google on buddlejas and found some very interesting information. Among the things I learned is that the name of my bush is buddleja davidii, named originally after Pére David, and French botanist and explorer who lived from 1826 - 1900. My curiosity can never resist information like this, I wanted to learn more about this Pére David. As I so often do, I went over to amazon, and not much later I had order a book about the man.

The book came today and I sat down to read almost at once.

The first thing I learn is that "Pére David will forever be linked to the giant panda, the deer named in his honor and the hankerchief tree".

 I am neither interested in the panda, nor the hendkerchieftree, at least not so far. But the deer caught my interest. In China Pére David came over a rare type of deer, and sent some of them back to Europe. And here is what I find when I continue to read:
A breeding population was established at Woburn Abbey by the 11th duke of Bedford in 1894-1895.

In 1895 the herd of deers was killed in China, due to a flood, and suddenly all the ones left of this rare species were the ones at Woburn.

 

In 1985 a small population of deer, bred at Woburn Abbey, was re-introduced to the central Yangtze by the Chinese government and in 1986 by the World Wildlife Fund. A recent count put the population at 2500 in three national reserves in China

I visited Woburn Abbey in April, together with a blogging friend, Lindsay. I took photos of some of the deers there, but had no idea of this.

 

Here is the post I wrote from Woburn Abbey in April.
While you read it, I will continue with the book about Pére David :-)

 

 

Doors and more

@brittarnhild

I had a different photo walk today. Terje and I went downtown for a few errands, and on our way home we were to stop in Øysteins appartment, helping him with some handy stuff (Terje of course, I brought a book while the men worked) Øystein lives not far from the city center, so while Terje drove there, I decided to walk, with my camera.

 

Walking along cobbled streets. Looking at doors, windows, house paint, flowers.

And bird houses :-)

The walking distance is not far,

still, it took me a long time :-)

And I could walk it again, any time.

 

When you are on the top

@brittarnhild

Yesterday was the most beautiful day of autumn in Trondheim. A perfect day for a hike. I was out for many hours, started with a goal to reach the top, but not at all sure if I would make it. I did though, and felt very happy, very content. I took a selfie with my cell phone, I did a snap, all smiling. And I took photos of a group of girlfriends who was there on the top at the same time as I.

Then, all the "must do"-photos done, I started to look around. The view, the beauty, the sky, the autumn colours, the fjord, the mountains. My thoughts left my nosetip and I was able to see the greatness.

Isn´t it so that we too often forget to look around. Our nose blocks the view.

My nose (read: sinuses) is part of my health issues, and as it is bothering me it  often takes too much of my energy, too much of my attention. I have to live with this health challenge, there is no other option. But I can learn to let not my nose, but the view fill my days. My mind. My heart.

 

 

I took so many great photos during my hike yesterday. Hopefully I will post some of them in Blåklokkeveien during the day.

 

Digging through History

@brittarnhild

Trondheim is an old city. We celebrated its millenium in 1997, but there has been people here for a long time before 997. I love my city. I work downtown and weekly I go for photo walks, discovering old and new places.

We do know a lot about Trondheim´s history, but of course there are millions of things we do not know. Millions of things we would love to know.

For a few months now the marketplace downtown is turned almost upside down, an archaeological digging is gpoing on. Archaeologists are digging their way down though history, revealing a very few of the city secrets.

 

Torgeir, our oldest son, has a special love for Japan. The other day he learned that pieces of china from Japanese soya sauce bottles from around 1750 had been found. He knew he had to learn more about this, and when the archaeologists invited the citicens to an open day on Saturday, Torgeir contacted the man in charge and arranged for a meeting.

Ian Reed and Torgeir had a very interesting discussion. I was just a fly on the wall, a photographing fly. Torgeir took a series of notes, and some day soon I know his blog will be updated.

Meanwhile you can read the other posts in his travelblog.
Here it is.

 

I will continue to pass by the diggings, and from time to time there might be photos over in my Trondheimsbilder blog where I post a Trondheim photo a day.

By the way - here is a curiosity,
several hundred years ago a cat walked over wet clay, todayher pawprint can be enjoyed.

 

Bird life in the garden

@brittarnhild

Watching the birds is one of the pure pleasures of having a garden. I feed the birds (and the squirrels) all year round, and the garden is always busy. I don´t know many English bird names, but google translate is a good help, and it tells me that this is a great tit.

The house sparrows are the most common inhabitants of the garden. Poor little one is wet in the rain today.

Here is another common one. In Norway we call them bokfink, and that´s the name google is giving me in English as well. I am not sure that´s correct though.......

 

 

Which birds do you have in your garden, or in your area? Why not comment with the Norwegian name of the bird :-)

 

 

The garden on the island

@brittarnhild

Three times have we been there now, to the garden out in a small island north of Stavanger. Every time better than the last. This time we were a little anxious, what would the weather be like in Western Norway in mid-September. Well, no need to worry. The day woke up at its best, the garden thriving in the warm September sun.

To come to the island as a visitor to the garden, you have to go by boat from Stavanger, 25 minutes. Leaving the boat it feels like coming to another world. A flower paradice far from Norway.

Different parts of the garden has different names. I didn´t pay much attention to the names though, I was too busy photographing.

Wherever I looked, one motiv was better that the other, then yet another better one, and so it went, all day.

I am sure you can see why I loved this spot :-)

I am not a fan of too much yellow, but this is beautiful.

 

 

We are back home in Trondheim now, and for the moment my mind is filled to the brim with garden ideas. Terje and I spent a couple of hours out in the garden after work today, but then it became too dark for gardening. Tomorrow is predicted sunny as well, I know what I will do in the afternoon :-)

 

You can read more about Flor&Fjære here

 

The bride and her cardigan

@brittarnhild

Can you remember the cardigan I have been knitting for my niece? The wedding was yesterday. A September wedding. Clouds filled with rain, autumn in the air. The sun shone when Tone and Daniel came out from the church, man and wife, but during the photo session the new cardigan was very convenient for the bride.

Between the seremoni in the church and the dinner the couple went away with the photographer, and my heart missed a beat, just out of happiness, when Tone wore the jacket when they came back.

Isn´t she beautiful :-)

Tone made the flowers herself...... and with a little help from Daniel, she also made the fantastic wedding cake (but that was a story for instagram and facebook)

 

 

My new stole

@brittarnhild

A mass in a small chapel in The Archbishop´s Palace.  Me and the bishop.
It gave me a very special feeling finally to serve with the new deacon stole.

 

A photo a day......

@brittarnhild

I have a new blog called Trondheimsbilder, pictures from Trondheim. As a tribute to my city I am posting a photo a day.

You find the blog here.

 

Morning walk to the cathedral

@brittarnhild

Sunday morning, and I had an appointment with an out of town friend. First mass in the cathedral, then coffee and talk. She is a childhood friend, but as she lives in Oslo it is usually months between our meetings. As it is with true friends though, gatting back on track take less than a blink of the eye.

I came early, to have time for a photo walk before the service started.

A photo walk along the river Nidelven, all the way with a view over to the cathedral.

I must have "a million" shots of the cathedral by now, still I can never look at it without feeling amazed. By its glory. By its beauty.

Her it is with the Nidaros Pilgrim Center in front.

Along my route I stopped at a very special garden, but that´s a post for another day........or may be for The Blue Garden Blog.