Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

The woodpeckers in the garden

@brittarnhild

A little woodpecker baby in our garden, waiting to be fed by his dad.

Leander 2 1/2 is here and today he named the woodpeckers.
Woodpecker dad Marius, woodpecker mom Ingrid and woodpecker boy Leander :-)

Between rain showers

@brittarnhild

It has been raining for days.

Then, all of a sudden, it stopped for half an hour,

the sky got a tiny little patch of blue,

the sun found that patch,

and I ran out with my camera.

 

I also brought my smart phone and made a video:

 

 

 

 

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Blogs updated today:

Britt Arnhilds naturdagbok

Med bøker på menyen

Akeleiehagen

Britt Arnhilds dagboksblader

 

A little update

@brittarnhild

A little udate from Britt-Arnhild´s House in the Woods.
Vacation is about to start, in a week we head for Italy, and I hope to be back with some travel blogging here in The House in the Woods.

meanwhile, why not enjoy a few of my other blogs :-)

 

maskerade - my knitting blog (in English)

Britt-Arnhild´s Nature Journal

green ideas from the garden and beyond

See you later, now I have some knitting to enjoy!

 

Come on dad! I am hungry!

@brittarnhild

 

 

 

Not all guests are welcome

@brittarnhild

Not all guests are welcome in The Blue Garden, but I have to agree that our badger is charming.......

.......and he has given me a new tale for my nature journal.

 

The arctic-alpine garden

@brittarnhild

Can you imagine a botanical garden at latitude 69? Well, you find one in Tromsø, the Tromsø Arctic-Alpine Botanical Garden. And in many ways my favourite botanical garden.

I have been there once before, three years ago, in May 2015, and when I had a few hours between the end of a conference and my plane leaving to fly back to Trondheim, I knew where to go.

To the arctic garden of course :-)
I called for a taxi, three other people heard where I was heading and came with me, and off we went, with our suitcases and everything.

Luckily I met a young Swedish man when we arrived. He was working in the garden, and locked our suitcases into a room. Last time I was here was also a visit between a meeting and a flight back home, I met no young Swedish man and had to drag my carry on suitcase all through the garden.

 The primulas are the highlights in the garden just now. There were hundreds of them, and they were just amazing.

I had already read on facebook, and were met by a poster when we arrived, that there would be a special guided primula walk at 7pm, just when I had to be at the airport, to catch the 9.45 plane. What a pity.

Well, you can never get everything. The art of living is to be content with what you have.

 

Yes ARR, a new blog. About nature, about my love of Creation. Here it is:
Britt Arnhilds naturdagbok

The words are in Norwegian, but the pictures are international :-)

 

 

But no midnight sun.......probably

@brittarnhild

I am up in Tromsø for a couple of days, on a church conference with the Sami people. Tromsø is far north of the arctic circle, and therefore has midnight sun at this time of the year. But not tonight. It is icy cold, it rains,  actually some of the rain which falls come like snow, the clouds are low and there will probably be no sun to see at midnight.

And if the sun should happen to be out during the night, my hotel is situated so that it can´t be seen from here. I would have to climb å mountain. And as I had to be up at just after 4am this morning, to catch the plane.......well, when midnight comes, I will be fast asleep.

I did go for a walk after dinner though, and met this charming two wigeons, a male and a female.......

.......and when I came back to the hotel, I did something I have been planning to do for some time. I started a new blog :-) :-) :-) This time with a nature/creation theme,

Britt Arnhilds naturdagbok / Britt Arnhild´s Nature Journal

 

The rhododendron nursery

@brittarnhild

Not far from our cabin there is an amazing rhododendron garden. Terje and I have visited several times, and last year I wrote about the visit in my journal blog. The text is in Norwegian, but you can always enjoy the pictures. You find it here. 

Magnar Oldervik, the owner of the garden, makes all his plants himself, and to do that he has a rhododendron nursery on a small island, a bit further away.

On our way back home from the cabin we decided to go out to the island to visit the nursery.

A group of garden enthusiasts were there when we came, and Magnar was busy guiding them. So Terje and I just walked around, enjoying the place and the hundreds of plants in different sizes.

Our garden at home is not suited for rhododendrons. We do have a few, but the soil we have is not the right one, so even though I am always tempted, we are not buying any new ones.

But nothing can stop me to enjoy a rhododendron when I see one :-)

And to dream of having my own rhododendron nursery :-)

Or even better, to fill a whole island with rhododendron.

 

.......but rather worrying

@brittarnhild

I am sitting here thinking of the comment I got from Julie on yesterday´s post, where I wrote about our warm and sunny May: It's lovely but rather worrying, hottest few years ever, and our govt are doing little to address climate change. But, being unable to heal the planet on my own, I do my bit, play my part and try to remain hopeful...

Yes, they are worrying these climate changes. Quite nice also, short sighted. With these lovely summer days. But it is only a couple of weeks ago since part of Norway had very bad floodings. And we all know a lot about other parts of the world.

I live in a beautiful country, where we have free access to nature. To wild nature, where you can hike for hours without meeting other humans. In many ways a paradise, where it is easy to close your eyes for the challenges of our planet.

I love this planet.
You do not destroy what you love.

I have made it my humble mission to do my share to take care of this planet, of Mother Earth. I spend time out in nature. I look for beauty. I share.

You do not destroy what you love.

 

Or like Julie says it:
But, being unable to heal the planet on my own, I do my bit, play my part and try to remain hopeful...

 

The best May ever

@brittarnhild

A month ago I was complaining of the long and cold winter, and a spring which never seemed to come. Today I can tell you that we have had the best May ever. Officially counting!

The first day of June is almost over, and the lovely weather continues.

We are spending a few days at the cabin, making the most of every single minute.

 

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Blogs updated:

dagens lille grønne / daily green ideas

Fløy en liten blåfugl / my birding blog

Hytteliv på Rastarbo / my cabin blog

Med bøker på menyen / my reading blog

Britt-Arnhilds dagboksblader / my online journal

maskerade / my knitting blog

Den blå hagen på Huseby / my garden blog

 

Harvesting lovage: