Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

Life at the piazza

@brittarnhild

Very long time readers of Britt Arnhild´s House in the Woods know about this piazza, in the old part of Terracina, a town south of Roma, (Rome= north of Napoli (Naples). Friends of us have an apartment in the palazzo to the right of the cathedral, we are lucky to be able to come and stay.

Life at this old piazza can be so many things. It can be a silver haired Norwegian woman sitting there with her morning coffee and her crocheting,

It can be a young bride struggling the steep stairs up to the cathedral on her high heels,

or it can be a little boy, eight months old just today, crawling around on bare feet. Feet too dirty for a grandmother's kiss, or.......no, they can never be too dirty for that. You see, a bestemors love makes tiny toes clean :-)

 

Orienteering, bilberries and bevers

@brittarnhild

Lucky, lucky us. Leander is staying for the weekend. Today we went out hiking, or rather orienteering, following a map made especially for children. Leander has got the  little berrypicking tool seen in the picture above, from his grandmother in Lofoten, a kind of an animal with a mouth and teeth shaped to eat bilberries. By the way, bilberries, vaccinium murtillus in Latin, is what is known as blåbær/blueberries in Norway. They grow in the forest, are filled with health and antioxidants, taste childhood days with sun and laughter and make your teeth, tongue and mouth blue when you eat them. The season is a little late for blåbær, but we found enough to bring home and have with our pancakes.......well, not exactly enough, we also had a jar og frozen blåbær from the freezer :-)

It did not take Leander long to learn to use the berry tool.

Close to where we had our lunch some bevers had been busy. Very strange, Leander thought. "Can we fix the trees tomorrow?" "Fix them? How will you do that? "We can glue them together again!"

A grandfather is a blessing when small feet get tired.

 

It is coming along

@brittarnhild

I am in Oslo for three day. Or rather, I am in a hotel near the airport. Far from everything. After long days of meeting, it is heaven to sit alone in my hotel room. Some music from the iPad, a book, and a lot of knitting.

The sweather for Leander is coming along so nicely. Now I am really looking forward to finish it.

You can read more about the sweather and its patters by following this link.

 

A different day

@brittarnhild

I am the oldest of four siblings, ,my youngest brother 12 years younger than me.  I have four kids of my own, 14 years between the oldest and the youngest. Most of my life there has been small kids around. Though from Marta was a baby till Leander was born, it took almost 20 years. A huge gap.

But a year ago our grandson was born, and all of a sudden there are signs all around the house that there is a toddler visiting from time to time.

I love being a grandma, or a bestemor (best mother) as we say in Norwegian.

Leander is with us this weekend, and today he and I have been home alone. Toys on the floor are the best interior designs imaginable.

Sitting down to read books together is the best of time.
And the patchwork elephant Elmer is a favorite of both of us.

 

 

The Blue Sky Sunday, or #bestemorlykke

@brittarnhild

It was little Leander who challenged us, through his mother who called a couple of days ago asking if we wanted to go for a Sunday hike with them, to Rønningen, a farm in the countryside outside Trondheim. From our house it is about 90 minutes  to Rønningen, by hiking, a little faster by skiing.

Marta and I hiked the whole way, while Terje drove to pick up Ingrid, Marius and Leander. We met them at the parking area on the outskirts of the countryside, and walked together up to the farm.

Leander in his pram, his first time out in the countryside. I stop for some photos and look around. All this beauty so close to our home. All this beauty ready for us to use, all year. I remember the great times we have had with our four kids out here. All my solitary walks all year round. Now I dream of all the hikes we will have with Leander.

Ingrid and Marius are active, they love nature and have a lot of plans for places to take Leander.

Blessed little boy :-)

Blessed us.

#bestemorlykke

 

The tales that make a journal

@brittarnhild

Back in January I told you that I had put my thinking cap on, working on some ideas on where to lead my blogging. Since then I have been very quiet here, though still blogging on several of my other blogs,  mostly Blåklokkeveien, Akeleiehagen and Fløy en liten blåfugl, one post in Edens Hage,  reading my way around the world in Books on the Menu, and also the newly created Hytteliv på Rastarbo. All Norwegian blogs.

But it is here, in Britt-Arnhild´s House in the Woods, I have my main blog, and I am missing blogging on a daily basis here.

The thinking cap is telling me that what I want to do is to use the blog as a kind of journal. A place where I tell the small and some days bigger details and events of being a middle aged woman, wife, mother, grandmother, reader, gardener, Christian, daughter, sister, aunt, knitter, traveller, apprentice of life, living in a red house with a garden, in a small city up north in the world.

So this is what I hope to do. Tell you a little this, a little that, about life in my corner of the world. And what is better than to start with a few photos from two days ago, Sunday, when Terje and I were out in the snow with our little grandson Leander in his pram.

In deep snow :-)

The two first photos shows our house from the backside, and angle you have never seen before I think.

 

As I walk this path with you, I hope to hear from your life, from your everydays. Share in the comment section, and who knows, may be we can create a few conversations across the borders.

 

 

Perfection in Five Fingers

@brittarnhild

I was looking after my grandson for a couple of hours while my daughter and son in law had some errands to do. The baby was sleeping and I had brought a book, eager to get some reading done for my Visiting The World Through Books-project. The book ended up laying untouched on the table.

Five fingers. Five fingers of perfection. Not long ago they let go of God´s index finger, sent out in the world in search for new hands to be held by. New fingers to hold. God´s hands are still there, cradling the baby´s body, but the finger grip has loosened and the new little person is sent out by the holy breath into a world where it will have to find its own space.

It happens every day. All the time.
To watch it closely is a miracle.

 

 Five fingers.
Shaped to hold God´s index finger.