Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

The joy of every minute

@brittarnhild

The joy of every minute, both before and after bedtime.

 

A month of vacation

@brittarnhild

Yesterday I closed my computer at work and knew that I had a full month of vacation ahead. When I arrived home, Ingrid, Marius and Leander were there already. Ingrid and Marius on their way to Riga in Latvia for a week, Leander to stay with his grandparents for the same week. The night before Terje and I talked about how we were looking forward to have Leander with us for almost a week, and we knew a new tradition in our life together was born - to invite grandchildren to spend a week of summer vacation with is.

Leander is the first and so far our only grandchild, so he is the first one out.

We are now at the cabin, grandma bestemor, grandpa bestefar little Leander.
Walking in the forest, listening to birds, picking pinecones, watching the changing of the blue in the ocean, laughing, eating, live life as it was meant to be lived.

 

37 years

@brittarnhild

 

Green pasta from the Blue garden

@brittarnhild

 

Out in the garden to pick herbs and vegetables for dinner.

Have you ever tried to fry chive flowers :-)

 

More greens added,

And soon dinner is ready.
With Mauro´s dried tomatoes.

 

A summer with books

@brittarnhild

I am planning a summer filled with books.
Made a tbr-stack today, but my did it grow.......

First out is Vita Sackville-West and her Sissinghurst Garden,

Then a Norwegian book about the oceans.

 

What are you reading this summer?

:::::::::::::::::::

I will write (in Norwegian) about my reading progress over in Caffe Avec.

 

 

Lagre

More midsummer celebrations

@brittarnhild

Today we finally had our midsummer celebration, or the sankthans celebration, St, Hans, which is the Norwegian name of St. John the Baptist. Kristi Jalics, here in Norway we celebrate St, John, as in Hungary, with bonfires and dances.

Terje and I were busy yestedray night and had no time for celebrations then, but today time was here. And so was Ingrid, Marius and little Leander.

A bonfire, a barbecue and a wild flower wreath.
The perfect celebration.

 

Midsummer night in Norway

@brittarnhild

Tonight, the 23rd og June is the day night to celebrate midsummer in Norway. We know that solstice was already a couple of days ago, but solstice day is not anything we make a fuss about. We tell each other a couple of times "today the sun turned" and that´s it. The real highlight of summer is tonight though. Midsummer Night´s Eve.

An old tradition is to make wildflower wreaths, so after breakfast, and after driving Ardi to the train, I took a hike in the woods behind our house. Chasing wild flowers ;-) "Make sure to put seven different types under your pillow when you go to bed tonight" a woman told me when she saw my bouquet. "I am already luckily married and don´t need to dream about a future husband. " I smiled to her. "These flowers will go into a midsummer wreath".

I am out of practice, but in the end managed to finished a crocked, colourful wreath, which is out on the blue garden table dringing blizzard water right now.

 

Happy Midsummer.

 

Finally the sun stopped in The Blue Garden

@brittarnhild

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Solstice with Ardi

@brittarnhild

Summer solstice and it is raining, raining, raining. Here in Norway we traditionally celebrate midsummer on the 23th, on St. John´s Day, but with Ardi here, we have learned a new solstice tradition.

She had told us about it for several days, that some time during today, when we were all gathered (even Marta is at home for a few days and could take part) she had something she wanted to do together with us. On the photo above we have cleaned the table after dinner and Ardi is telling Marta, and us, about weathergram, inspired by Lloyd Reynolds.

Here is from the information sheet Ardi brought:

The Weathergram was invited by Lloyd Reynolds. Lloyd is considered to be the father of calligraphy on the West Coast, especially Oregon.
Lloyd´s idea for Weathergrams originally came from the Japanese tradition of attaching prayer slips to trees. Lloyd thought it would be nice to write a short verse (similar to a haiku) in calligraphy about some sudden insight. This thought, or insight, would then be left hanging outdoors between the equinox and the solstice, and the solstice and the equinox. This exposure to the elements would weather the verse (hence, Weathergrams) making it complete. The verse is often written on a strip cut from a brown paper bag with a piece of twine attached.

On my weathergram I decided to use words on a print which was given me by my hostess in Venice in April, Alessia. There were some construction work going on in the palazzio of Alessia and her husband, and as an excuse for the noise, I was given this lovely print (an a couple of bottles of wine and a bag of local biscotties.........sure, I did not mind the noise at all :-))

"Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them"

Terje is hanging his weathergram.......which is about how he loves the singing of the birds in the morning.

Here is Marta´s.

Thank you Ardi for presenting a new tradition to The House in the Woods and the Lindland family.

 

Lagre

Lagre

Lagre

Lagre

My Sami friend

@brittarnhild

When we have visitors from abroad we want to show them the best there is, and as today was my day off, I decided to take Ardi up to Røros, the mining town up in the mountains a couple of hours south of Trondheim. I have friends among the sami people there, and sent Nils Tonny a message, asking if we could stop at his farm on the way.

"Of course you can stop" Nils Tonny replied right away, "Do you have time for lunch? I will make you something good from my reindeer meat." Nils Tonny and his family have thousands of reindeers.

When we arrived at the farm, Nils Tonny was busy tending fences, but he took us in to serve us coffee and dried reindeer meat before we drove out to pick up his 17 years old daughter. She was still out working on the fences.

"I have a surprise for you" Nils Tonny smiled as we drove,

and soon afterwards we passed the border to Sweden.

A new country for Ardi, and many reindeers along the road. Ardi and I were busy with our cameras while Nils Tonny explained about the life of the reindeers, and his daughter, Majja-Krihke translated for Ardi.

 

Back on the farm, Nils Tonny takes us around to show us how they prepare the reindeer meat by drying and smoking it. While talking he picks wild greens around the house, for the dinner.

Some time later dinner is ready, reindeer sausages, root vegetables and the wild greens.

Majja-Krihke, the daughter, shows us some traditional sami arts and crafts made by her and her mother.

 

What a day!
We forgot everything about Røros, but found time to drive through it on our way back to Trondheim.

Lagre