Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods: November 2016

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November 2016

November 30, 2016

Christmas Market in Oslo

@brittarnhild

From time to time both I and Terje go to Oslo for work. A couple of weeks ago we discovered we would go at the same time, I for one day only, he for two. "Why don´t I book a room for both of us at my hotel, and you can stay the night and take an early plane back to Norway the next day?" Terje asked. "Sure" I replied, " and we can see what´s on in Oslo, may we we can go to the theatre or something?"

So here we are. Both of us have finished our meetings, we have had coffee ansd then it was time to visit the Oslo Christmas Market before dinner and theatre.

I am not sure I am too impressed by the Christmas Market, still, walking among the stalls, hand in hand, let the feeling of the season shower over us.......well, it is quite cozy :-)

We did not buy anything, in a few days the Christmas Market in Trondheim opens, and then we will burn som money. But even without buying, there is quite a lot to see.

Do you have a Christmas Market where you live?

Posted at 04:50 PM in Advent, Christmas Markets, Oslo | Permalink | Comments (5)

November 29, 2016

Reading time, in Norway and in Syria, but.......

@brittarnhild

Advent is for me in many ways time for reading, and what I love most is to find some old classics in my shelves and reread them. It can be Charles Dickens, the Norwegian Levi Henriksen, Narnia, old folk tales, Tolkien, or as I am doing this year - rereading Harry Potter. I bought my first Harry Potter book in 1999. Soon, well, as soon as they were published, I had them all, first in English, then in Norwegian. I read them for myself and I read them aloud for the girls. The boys were too old to be read for by then, though actually you are never too old to be read too, are you.......but that´s another tale. Anyway, I know Harry Potter and his gang in an out. Well, I thought I knew them. Now when I have started to reread Harry Potter and the Philisopher´s Stone, I realize that there are so many detalis, wonderful brics and bracs that I have forgotten. I am looking forward to finish the whole series one more time.

I had some reading time after work today, before starting dinner. After some pages I took a break to check my twitter account, @ArnhildBritt Among Norwegian news, British garden updates and charming photos from YorkshireSheperdess (@AmamdaOwen8) there were updates from a Syrian account I follow: 7 years old Bana from East Aleppo, tweeting together with her mom. The last few hours, the last couple of days have been dramatic for Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) and her family. Her latest post shows a bombed house, followed by the words - This is our house. My beloved dolls died in the bombing of our house. I am very sad but happy to be alive-Bana. Some hours before that she wrote: We have no home now. I got minor injury, I didn´t sleep since yesterday, I am hungry, I want to live, I don´t want to die. A few days ago Bana wrote about her best friend who died in the bombing.......

Then, as you can see from the photo above, 4 days ago Bana and her brothers were reading Harry Potter.

Me in safe and warm Norway, with the first advent candle lit, some soft Christmas music on. She on a sofa in Aleppo, with her two younger brothers, hours before her friend was killed, their house was bombed.

What is happening to our world?
What is happening to our children?

Thank you Bana and mother Fatemah for tweeting from the war. Thank you for letting us know, for not letting us forget. I am so sorry that too often we close our eyes, light our candles, listen to our music, eat our food.......and forget. Please forgive us. Please forgive me. Keep on reminding us.

And let us together fight the evil, just like Harry Potter did.

Posted at 06:16 PM in Advent, Reading the classics | Permalink | Comments (2)

November 28, 2016

Christmas letters

@brittarnhild

I was writing a post over in my Norwegian blog Blåklokkeveien the other day, about two very special letters which I have on my desk. The letters were written in May 1958, by my mother to her father. I was one month old at that time, my parents´first child. My mother´s father had esophageal cancer and was in Oslo for treatment. He died a month later, having seen me only once. I am told that when he met me, he laid both his hands on my head and blessed me.

In the letters my mother writes about several things, but again and again she has something to tell her father about her little baby girl. I still had no name at that time. 58 years later the letters are like a blowing kiss sent me from my first month of living. Or actualy two blowing kisses. One from my mother, the letter writer. One from grandpa Benjamin, who read about this tiny little baby girl, his third grandchild, and who kept her in her heart and prayers.

Advent is a time for writing letters. I know that I will naver make it to write all the letters I want to during these short weeks before Christmas, but I have started, and I will continue. With a single advent light on the table in front of me, with a Christmas cd on the player. While writing it will be like having a chat with the friend who will receive the letter. Blessings shared.

Writing letters and cards is one of my favorite advent traditions.

Posted at 09:43 PM in Advent | Permalink | Comments (3)

November 27, 2016

First Sunday of Advent

@brittarnhild

What a great joy today to read your messages on yesterday´s post. I have almost forgotten how much the feedback from you means, today showed me yet again what the contact with you, my reader means. Terry, when a sweet, sweet story about the basket you made for your mother, and the gift she gave you back. Thanks for sharing.

Today is the first Sunday of advent. This weekend has been one filled with special blessings for us. Our grandson has stayed with us since Friday. He alone, without his parents. Believe me, I really feel it deep in my bones that I am not a young, fit mother anymore. Leander has been a huge smile all weekend though, still, taking care of a one year old toddler .......well, it was easier 30 years ago. But what fun! What blessing! I would not be without one single minute.

And to top the blessings. The parents of Øystein´s girlfriend came for advent coffee today. A first meeting between the four of us. With Leander here to charm us all.

A perfect start of my favorite season.

Have a blessed advent.

Posted at 08:30 PM in Advent | Permalink | Comments (3)

November 26, 2016

Are you ready?

@brittarnhild

Are you ready for another advent calendar at Britt Arnhild´s House in the Woods? Tomorrow is the first Sunday of advent and we are busy cleaning and preparing the house today. I havn´t quite decided how to celebrate the season here in the blog yet. I might use the doors from last year, I might figure out something else, or I might simply follow advent day by day.

While I wonder, while I make up my mind, I want to ask your opinion. I have been blogging about advent and Christmas for more than 10 years now. How do you like to follow advent here? What do you like to read?

The very first advent blog post appeared on November 27th 2005, which was my first year of blogging (I started in January 2015, first on a blogspot address, then in April I moved over to typepad), and even before that, before the age of blogging, I used to write advent letters and mail out to family and friends. I still have all these saved in my yahoo mailbox, and have been looking through them today. Do you want to read the very first one? From November 29th 2003. Here is is:

I have been looking forward to this week-end for a
long time. It is the week-end to start advent
preparations, and over the years this has become more
and more important for me. It is still almost four
weeks till Christmas, and this period will be the
period for preparations; preparations to open my mind
for the wonder which happened 2000 years ago, and
happens again every year, the Creator became man and
came to this world. The advent colour is purple/lilac,
and our decorations the coming weeks will mostly have
this colour, though all through our house more and
more Christmas decorations will be seen. Tomorrow is
the first Sunday of advent, and already tonight a star
will be hung in our livingroom window, and advent
wreaths with four candles will be set all through the
house. Tomorrow the first candle will be lit, then one
more for each of the coming four Sundays.

I have the advent calendars ready for the girls, one
basket for each with 24 packets in. It was a great
pleasure last night to wrap them all, as it has been a
pleasure the last weeks to use my creativity to gather
gifts for them. It is an aim for me that the gifts
shall not be expensive "use and throw away" gifts, but
small tokens they will like and use. The huge working
table here in my studio is filled with boxes of what I
call "my very own advent calendar". A huge box with
all my Christmas books, a smaller one with the CDs, a
basket with my snowman collection, another with my
angels, several colourful baskets with small and
bigger quilts in progress, my snowglobe collection is
here, and also my home made Christmas stockings. And
not to forget my nativity scenes. I have four scenes
so far, and they are all very special to me. One is
from Haiti, bought when I visited the country in 1998.
It is a coconut with an opening for the door, and the
figurines are made out of clay and painted in bright
colours. I also want to mention our newest scene,
bought in Provence this summer, traditional Provencal
santons.

.....well, just like a child (and at Christmastime it
is important that we all behave like children) I
cannot wait till Monday and December 1st. The first
Christmas cd, Christmas in Vienna III with Placido
Domingo, Charles Aznavour and our own Sissel Kyrkjebø
is on the cd-player, my Debbie Mumm The Magic of Santa
mug is filled with spiced tea and as soon as this
letter is finished I have Mary Engelbreit's Christmas
Companion is waiting to be enjoyed.

Happy advent, and remember to take time to enjoy this
very special period of the year.

In the blog it is possible to go back and find ALL the advent posts of course, but with almost 4000 blogposts in my main blog, Britt-Arnhild´s House in the Woods, and several thousands in the other blogs as well, they might be qjuite hard to find, lol. So I have done the first search for you. Here is the very first advent blogging:

November 27, 2005

Advent is here.

Advent means coming, the coming of the world's Saviour. And advent is a time for preparations, preparations for the coming Christmas. Starting today our house will gradually be clothed for Christmas, starting today my mind will gradually be prepared to meet Christ on Christmas Day. The Christ Jesus, the God Almighty whom I walk with every day. Again I will meet him as a newborn baby, away in a manger, born into a world in many ways unprepared to welcome him. I pray that advent will prepare me to welcome him once again.

Today the Star of Bethlemen is hung in our main window, and there it will shine for some weeks. In another window shines a candelabrum with seven lights, Ingrid has an angel in her window, Marta has a heart in hers. Besides that not much has changed in our decorations yet. But small and bigger changes will come every day now, and to help me I have my advent basket.

The advent basket is something I have had for a few years now. I actually start to fill my basket the night before December 1st, and then use it's filling to decorate the next morning. But I also fill the basket for the 1st Sunday of advent.

What is an advent basket, you might ask? Well, if you follow me the coming weeks you'll get to know alot about it, my whicked basket filled with items to decorate my home and prepare my mind for Christmas.

Last night I filled the basket with our old, red Christmas curtains with Maria, Joseph, the shepherds, stars and Betlehem in the background in silver and pink. The curtains are now hung in the sittingroom window. I also filled the basket with a cd with "Christmas with Dickens" and Dickens' book "A Christmas Carol". The book has 5 chapters, one for each Sunday in advent, the last one for Christmas Eve. The first snowman from my growing collection was in the basket, a small quilt of purple and gold angels made in pure silk (my own design), a Christmas book, "Christmas with Rosamunde Pilcher", a Victoria Christmas magazine from 2001, and a Provence nativity set which I bought in Avignon a few years ago, "Chrèches et Santons". Terje was in Avignon again this autumn, and I hope to get a few more santons for Christmas.

Most of the things in my advent basket are from my Christmas collections. And there will be one item from every collection in the basket every day. But for that I have to wait untill December 1st. And while waiting I'll sit down with a mug of spicy advent tea. Yes, of course I use my Spode china, which have now found their place in the glass cupboard.

Posted at 02:22 PM in Advent | Permalink | Comments (9)

November 22, 2016

Snow in my garden

@brittarnhild

It has been snowing all day, and the world is beautiful.

Posted at 04:12 PM in Winter | Permalink | Comments (5)

November 20, 2016

Preparing for the cold days

@brittarnhild

Cold winter outdoors. Snug and cosy indoors.

The time of the year when I love to sit down with my knitting, my book, my cup of tea. Burning candles. Eat a little snack. Invite family and friends over.

The tree, the sembra pine, Terje cut down two weeks ago is now made into logs.
And I have started to write about my walks through the year.......so far in Norwegian only, Vandring gjennom året.

Posted at 07:54 AM in Winter | Permalink | Comments (7)

November 19, 2016

November in the garden

@brittarnhild

The snow we got a couple of weeks ago has gone, but after a period with temperatures over the freezing point, frost is abck, making the garden look lovely.

An onion I forgot to harvest is now a sculpture in the herb garden.

Not all colours are gone. A sweet gentiana blew me a gentle kiss.

Posted at 10:19 AM in My garden, Winter | Permalink | Comments (4)

November 16, 2016

The super moon gives high water in the river

@brittarnhild

The super moon of the last nights means a high tide. The river Nidelven is influences by the tides, and when I walked over the Old City Bridge today, it looked like the old warehouses were floating in the water.

The houses have been standing for ages, and will probably stand for ages to come, though today it almost looked like one of the would tip into the water.

Woops.......too much water. Action needed.

Hm, I kind of miss Venezia.......

Posted at 05:55 PM in Trondheim | Permalink | Comments (2)

November 15, 2016

Hot springs and the legend of Gunna

@brittarnhild

The surface is thin in Iceland, and many places boiling water is reaching the surface from deep inside the earth. This gives life to many a folktale and legend. Like the one about Gunnhver, or Gunna.

Gunna, or Gudrun Önundardottir is mentioned in a cencus from 1703, so we know for sure that she has lived. Her legend is an oral one though. Gunna was a cofter near Kirkjuból in Sandgerdi (not far from where you find Keflavik International Airport today). The owner of the land was the lawyer Vilhjálmur Jónsson. One day Gunna was unable to pay her rent, and Vilhjálmur came to collect the only thing she owned, a cooking pot. Gunna became mad with fury. The tale tells that she refused to drink holy water and fell dead. On the way to her funeral, the men carrying her coffin felt the coffin getting lighter and lighter, and they heard a voice calling: "No need deep to dig. No plans long to lie." The next day Vilhjálmur´s body was found, Gunna had got her revenge. And it didn´t take long till the whole penninsula was haunted. Pastor Eirikur was sent for. He was a well known sorcerer, and to help put Gunna down into her grave, he took a ball of yarn, telling them that the plan was that Gunna should take the loose end and follow the ball down to a place where she could do no harm. It happend like sira Eirik said, Gunna fell down the pit and got the name Gunnuhver.
If you have to right eyes to see with, you can still see Gunnuhver run along the edge of the burning water, and you can hear the noise she makes when she falls.

Iceland has a great many geirirs and hot spring. Over the years we have been luck to bath in a few of the hot springs where the temperature is perfectly hot. Finding a natural one is of course the best, like we did here (click on the link to get to my post about it), but if you don´t, second best, and believe me, this is a very good second best, is to swim in:

The Blue Lagoon

We hadn´t planned to visit The Blue Lagoon this time. It has become very expensive, and quite crowdy. Not at all like the place we visited with all four kids back in 1998, and we had to make sure not to swim out where the water was too hot. marta was only 18 months then, and we soon discovered that the water was too hot for her all over the place.

But as we were driving back to Reykjavik in the afternoon, we passed the place, we had swimsuits in the car, just in case, and we just had to look at each other to know that we couldn´t miss it.