Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

To use a birthday gift

@brittarnhild

For my 60th birthday in April I got so many wonderful, creative, exotic birthday gifts, I can hardly count them.

To make use of the most adventurous gift, I have to travel. First by plane, then another plane, then a train ride, then another train ride. And that is what we have done today.

plane from Trondheim to Oslo, another one from Oslo to Milan. Train from Milan airport into the city, then train from Milan to Tirano. The gift is for two, and I chose Terje to travel with me <3 None of us have been to Milan before. We had just about four hours there today, so didn´t see much, but enough love the old railways station.

Dragging our suitcases a couple of blocks from Milan Centrale, we found a nice restaurant with local food. Both of us had saffron risotto.......sorry, no photo, the food was too good, I never had time. When we asked for the dessert menu, this is what we got :-) We both had creme brulee.

Walking around in a new city is exciting, though two heavy suitcases made the walk quite short.

Now we are in Tirano, 429 meter above sea level, and tomorrow our birthday adventure starts.

 

Eating the garden

@brittarnhild

Tomorrow morning Terje and I fly out of Trondheim for a week with new adventures. Today we have been preparing the garden for winter. And I picked these colours to eat as a Saturday night treat :-)

 

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In my blog world today:

Britt Arnhilds dagboksblader, my online journal

Med bøker på menyen, my reading journal

dagens lille grønne, green living

Britt Arnhilds Blue Garden

 

 

Autumn flowers in Oslo

@brittarnhild

Early flight down. Late flight back home again. A day meeting in Oslo, and time for a walk in the city to enjoy the beautiful autumn flowers.

I left the Trondheim rain, I came back to the Trondheim rain, but in between I could enjoy the autumn sun and the blue sky in Oslo.

And parks and statues and flowers,

most of all flowers.

 

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My blogworld today:

Britt Arnhilds dagboksblader, my online journal

Med bøker på menyen, my reading journal

 

 

 

Autumn of a year, of a life

@brittarnhild

I had lunch with Marta downtown today. Good food, best company.

And afterwards a long walk where we continued to talk, to share.

 

How I love to be a mother. The mother of two boys, two girls. 
The mother in law of one boy, one girl.
Grandmother of one, soon two.
Wife of the best.

autumn
of a year

autumn of a life

 

time for harvest
time to enjoy the fruits of what we have planted
and the fruits of what Creation offers.

 

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My blog world today:

Med bøker på menyen - what I read

Britt Arnhilds naturdagbok, my nature notes.

Fløy en liten blåfugl, my birding journal

Britt Arnhilds dagboksblader, my online journal

The Blue garden, the garden´s grand finale before going to sleep

 

 

 

 

Back to dad´s birthplace

@brittarnhild

Before heading back home, it was time for another visit to dad´s birthplace. The little farm where he was born, the fifth og seven siblings, the place where he lived for 14 years. Then grandpa Johannes and grandma Ragna Josefine sold the place and moved to Trondheim. To be closer to where their kids could get an education. A rather unusual decision at that time, considering that their four oldest, which were in the age ready for studies, were all girls.

A part og dad´s heart has missed Elva, the farm, ever since he moved in 1947.

Lucky for our family though, the new owners have become life long friends, for generation.

The woman who lives in Elva now, Bente, is an artist. Well, she works for a living as a teacher, but every nook and corner in her home show the touch of the hands of a real artist.

From the food she serves,

to stones covered in crochet.

Every time I go home from Elva, I am filled with inspiration,

and just like dad´s heart, mine has a special Elva corner as well.

 

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In my blog world:

Britt Arnhilds dagboksblader, my online journal

maskerade, with sweaters my mother knitted for the 1956 Winter Olympics

 

 

The concert was another goal

@brittarnhild

I wrote in my last post that our main goal for the weekend was to visit the small island where my father was born and lived till he was 14. I will write more about this in my next post, but today I must correct myself. You see, our weekend had two main goals. Visiting the island and the small farm where my father was born, and going to a concert where my brother Torodd Wigum was the conductor.

Luck for us, the concert was held at Knudtzonlunden, an amazing place only a few stone´s throws from dad´s birthplace.

Knudtzonlunden was built about 150 years ago, as a summer residence by Nicolas Knudtzon, a man who earned good money through selling dried and salted cod, baccalao, the gold of the oceans along the north western coast.

My father has strong memories from his childhood during WWII, which I wrote a little about in the last post, and after Kristiansund was bombed by the Germans in April 1940, many of the inhabitants of the town fled to the island Frei and were accommodated with the locals. At Knudtzonlunden there were boys my father´s age, and he came here to play with them. Also the local school, where my grandfather was the teacher, my father a pupil, was just close to the villa.

We were walking around before the concert, and I smiled when I heard my father call for my mother: "Marta, come and see this, these two lions, they were here when I was a boy!!!"

A lovely concert with French music by the Kristiansund Opera Sinfonietta, 

and my brother conduction.

Thank you mum, dad and Torodd for a wonderful evening.
And Terje of course, I can´t see why I have NO pictures of him!

Bridge along the memory road

@brittarnhild

We are on the road this weekend with my parents. Our goal is the small island where my father was born and lived till he became a teenager. The closer we come, the more my father´s memory lane opens. I love to listen to his stories. he was born at Frei, an island close to the town Kristiansund, on the western coast of Norway. As WWII started in Norway, in April 1940, Kristiansund was bombed and a fatal fire destroyed most of the town. My father had just turned 7, and still remembers the smokes from the fires, which could be seen out to where he lived. As we came to this bridge today, the bridge between Frei and Kristiansund, he started to tell, about the day of the bombing, people fleeing over the old bridge, which can be seen in the middle of the picture. Hundreds of people, old, young, families, children walking over the bridge. Carrying boxes with their stuff, prams, carriages, even wheelbarrows.

My three brothers and I have decided it is time to start writing down our family tales. I´ll start as soon as we are back home from this trip.......or, actually, I have already stated, have I not :-)

 

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My blog world today, with more tales from our road trip:

maskerade

my online journal

 

 

 

 

When the palette is changing

@brittarnhild

Though the temperatures are still quite mild for the area, autumn is letting us know that he is on the way, and the palette in the garden is changing.

A rowan tree with white berries.......I love the little red star on the tip.

Maple leaves changing colours.

A million funghis.

And best of all, still colours in bloom, here, there and everywhere.

 

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In my blog world today:
(to be updated)

maskerade, my knitting blog, day 2 of the secret crochet project

Britt Arnhilds dagboksblader, my online journal

Britt Arnhilds naturdagbok, my nature journal

 

 

 

Day. Night. What do you prefer?

@brittarnhild

First downtown for work.

Then downtown for pleasure.

 

Morning or night.......

I love my city.

 

In my blog world today:

 Britt Arnhilds dagboksblader, my daily journal

maskerade, my knitting blog, a secret crochet game :-)

 

 

In "maskerade" today

@brittarnhild

I was so sure that I have taken you along every step of the Leander sweater, but now when I scroll down to see the latest posts here, I see that I have not showed you any progress in a long time. Shame on my! I have had quite a few updates on instagram though, on @brittarnhildsstrikkedagbok.

I finished the knitting a few days ago,

yesterday I bought pewter buttons,

And.......drumroll.......here it is!