Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

All these paths

@brittarnhild

 

Two days with meetings. Out in the middle of wilderness.......almost

So many tempting paths. No time to hike them.

May be tomorrow.......

 

When God plays with colours early one Sunday morning.......

@brittarnhild

.......and I run out in my pyjamas to play along.

 

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My blogworld today:
(as always updated throughout the day)

Britt Arnhilds dagboksblader, my online journal

Den blå hagen på Huseby, my garden blog

 

 

You can´t deliberately destroy what you love

@brittarnhild

The garden is changing. Slowly. Day by day.

From the bright rainbow palette of summer, God has changed his colours. Yellow, orange, red are dominant, but there are also other colours in between.

UN tells us that the climate changes are dramatical, we have only a few years now to turn.

Awareness of creation makes the turn easier. A lot easier.

You can´t deliberately destroy what you love.

 

#filltheworldwithhope

 

 

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In my blogworld today:
(as always updated as long as the day is)

Santa Maria a Ferrano, information from the retreat center in Tuscany

Britt Arnhilds dagboksblader, my online journal

 

 

Always on the lookout

@brittarnhild

As we were walking around in Rome, just as when I am walking around anywhere else, I am always curious to see what I find around the next corners, street artist, hidden corners, small gems.......you name it.

We were on our way to Trastevere, just reaching one of the bridges over the river Tiber, when we met this Peruvian woman, selling nativity sets from her homeland.

Unfortunately she spoke no English, only enough to tell me the prize of the different cribs. But that was enough for me to buy one :-)

Another day we met this man. He was making butterflies, critters and other small animals, simply by folding long, slim palm leaves.

I bought a grasshopper. Terje was sure it would not make it back to Norway, but it did, and is now hanging in my kitchen window, side by side with dried herbs from Santa Maria, my retreat center in Tuscany.

 

Near the entrance to the botanical garden in Rome we came across an open door. I could not resist peeking in, an soon we found ourselves visiting two different workshops, connected with an open door between them.

In the first room a man was doing mosaic. Putting tiny pieces of stone together to make amazing art.

The artists, a man and a woman, let is walk around, taking pictures, and I also took a video in snap. Good memories to have.

 What a patience!

In the room next door the woman was making beautiful pieces og porcelain.

We did not buy any mosaic, but in here I could not let this little while bowl go. Now it has found a new home here in the House in the Woods.

While the woman wrapped our new piece of art, there was time for more looking around, more  pictures.

 

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In my blogworld today:
(as always it will be updated throughout the day)

Britt Arnhilds dagboksblader, my online journal

Akeleiehagen, my garden journal

 

 

The Land Where Lemon Grows

@brittarnhild

By pure chance, or may be it was meant to be :-), I don´t know.......but two days before flying down to Italy I found this book in a bookstore in Oslo. The Land Where Lemon Grows, The Story of Italy and Its Citrus Fruit, by Helena Attlee. I bought it, I brought it with me of course, and started to read it on the train south to Rome. The book was awarded Food Book of the Year 2015 by The Guild of Food Writers, and I have no problems to see why, I was hooked, already for the first page.

For years and years olives has been my image of Italy. They still are, but now lemons and oranges are part of it too. And not only lemons and oranges, Helena Attlee´s book has taught me that there are so many more citrus fruits growing in Italy, from up north, to the bottom south.

As I walked my way through the pages, I couldn´t help observing citrus fruits along the way. In gardens, along streets, in markets, and the more I looked, the more I saw.

I finished the book yesterday, after we came home. I got a head cold a couple of days ago, and the first thing I did when the last page was read was to send Terje to the grocery store - please buy oranges and lemons, I crave them.

And then I started to dream about my next travel to Italy and all the citruses I will look for them. "Every lemon-scented page made me feel it´s time to pack for Italy" writes Jonathan Keates in Literary Review after reading the book. I could not agree more. 

British Helena Attlee has written several garden books and she is leading garden tours in Italy. How I wish I could take part in one of them.......

In her book she has a section called: Places to visit, with a list of Gardens with citrus collections, Citrus Nurseries, Farms, festivals, Museums, Guided Tours, Restaurants and Cafés and Marmelade.

They are now all on my list of places I want to visit :-)

 

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In my blog world today:
(soon to be updated)

Britt Arnhilds dagboksblader, my online journey where I am in the prosess of writing down the travel tale from last week.

 Fløy en liten blåfugl, my birding journal

Med bøker på menyen, my reading journal

 Den blå hagen på Huseby, my garden blog

 

The Rosary Garden

@brittarnhild

In the heart of Rome, a couple of blocks away from Colosseum is a garden. A beautiful, quiet little garden, filled with lemon trees, roses, palms and other plants.

Virgin Mary, Maria is her name both in Italian and in Norwegian, greets you in to this sanctuary.

A well in the wall waters the late blooming red roses, helping them to cover the garden in their fragrance.

The garden belongs to Il Rosario, The Rosary, a dominican convent in Rome. A convent and a guesthouse.

Il Rosario is my favourite place to stay in Rome.

Here is the address to Il Rosario´s webpage

By the way, Il Rosario also has a roof terrace, with an amazing view :-)

 

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Ny posts in my blog world today:
(will be updated)

Fløy en liten blåfugl, my birding blog

Britt Arnhlds naturdagbok, my nature notes

 

 

La Traviata

@brittarnhild

I love opera. Simply love it! And when I discovered that La Traviata was to be performed on our last night in Rome, in All Saints Anglican Church, not far from Piazza del Popolo, well, I had to buy two tickets, didn´t I?

La Traviata one of the first operas I saw. The tale based on Alexandre Dumas´The Lady of Camellies. Romance, extravagance, love and of course, in the end, death. Everything you need to make the night complete.

Opera in a church is quite different from opera in an opera house. A handful musicians, the interior of the church part of the setting, close to the conducter, the musicians and the singers.

You don´t get the grand feeling of a huge concert house, but you get something else, you get to be part of the plot.......almost. And Verdi´s music is perfect to feel part of.

 

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My blog world today:

Britt-Arnhilds dagboksblader, where I now finally write out the complete travel tale of our travel. Day one is up.

Britt-Arnhild´s samlede, a new post in my collections blog

Med bøker på menyen, my reading journal

 

A video of the Bernina Express train ride

@brittarnhild

One day, some day, I hope to make better films. For the moment this is what I manage. Here is a film from our tour with the Bernina Express.

 

 

 

What to bring home? Food of course

@brittarnhild

The perfect souvenirs to bring home, food of course. We are in the food market not far from Termini, Nuovo Mercato Esquilino. A paradise for lovers of Italian food.

We have a lot of space in our suitcases this time, and can bring homer more or less all what we want. Not fresh meat, fish or seafood of course, but so much else.

I buy a bag of these garlics. I plan to plant a few of them and see if I can make them grow in our garden. 

I buy pepper and other spices,

I buy cheese and salami and parma ham,

and when Terje pays, I photograph citrus fruits.......everywhere.

 

A long tale of love

@brittarnhild

In 1995 I had my name and address listed in a "I want a pen-friend´s list" in QNM, Quilters Newsletters Magazine. I got many letters, mostly from the US, many from Europe and one from India. From Carolyn. A woman in Mysore in India who was a quilter and wanted to correspond with a Norwegian quilter. Yes, at that time I was an avid quilter, it was long before arthroses put a huge forbidden-sign on my fabric collection, my threads and my needles.

Carolyn is the same age as my mother.

From the start Carolyn invited me to come visit her in India. At that time, a mother of three, then four kids, it was impossible for me.

In 2002 I got a phone call at work from a colleague further south in Norway. "I am arranging a bus trip to Rome with a group of deacons and have one seat available. Do you want it?" That same day I came home from work to find a postcards from Rome in my mailbox. "Dear Britt, I am in Rome visiting my daughter for a few months. Since we now are in the same continent, why don´t you come down to see me?"

 

Fate?

Meant to be?

 

I went to Rome. I met Carolyn, har daughter and her grandson.

Later I travelled to India twice, to visit Carolyn and her husband Hossy, first in 2008, my 50th birthday gift to myself. Then in 2012, the year before Hossy died.

Two months ago Carolyn moved to her daughter in Rome. Two months ago Terje and I knew where we would go for our autumn break.

 

The moment we arrived at Termini, the railway station here in Rome, Carolyn had a bad fall, and has to stay in bed.

Today I have been sitting on her bedside for many hours, and Terje met Carolyn for the first time.

 

 

Follow this link and you will find all my India tales.