Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

Two days "in the wild"

@brittarnhild

When I was a child we used to say that Norwegians were born with skis on their feet. Well, I can't tell if I was born with them, but as soon as I could walk, my parents took me out in the countryside, hiking in summer, cross country skiing in winter, so skiing has been part of my life for let's say 60 years. Not so much the last years though, and last winter I was out skiing one of the last days in December, but then no more during the year 2021.

But now we have 2022, and today I have been skiing. Yes!

The weather has been amazing for many days no, and when the ski tracks are like this.......well, even I wanted to be out there, with skis on my feet.

Terje is skiing almost every day for the moment, even when the two of us go for a hike in the woods, he makes sure to go skiing before or after. But for me this was this year's first. It was great and I feel so proud of myself.

Skis or no skis, we continue to hike together.
Yesterday, Sunday, we hiked up to an old farm in the woods some 5-6 kms from our house. The farm is open to public and have a café with the best pastries you can imagine.......no, the next best. When our son Torgeir, who lives in Sweden, came home for Christmas, he baked two batches of cinnamon pastries, and no other pastries in the world taste better than his :-)

Terje and I sat outdoors, outside the farm, with coffee and the next best pastries, and as always I had my knitting.

Rain is expected in a couple of days.
A lot of rain. They call it an atmospheric river.

But so far we continue to enjoy the blue sky, the low sin, the snow
and each other.

 

Last day before the snow?

@brittarnhild

Snow might come tomorrow, according to the weather forecast. I have enjoyed every snow free day so far in November, and decided to make the best out of today as well. 

Of course snow might be fine as well, what I don't like is the hard ice which covers our ground for weeks and months during winter. I do look forward to share snow pictures though, of course I do. But for the moment I love Autumn, even now when most of the Autumn colours have gone.

Anyway, today I made the most of the day, going out for a hike right after breakfast, greeting the sun rise.

A few hours outdoors, wood bathing. The best I can do.

When I came home Terje told me that in 2019 he had his first cross country skiing on exactly this date :-)

 

Hi friends, I'm back

@brittarnhild

My computer tells me I have not posted here since September 28th. September 28th!!! I can't believe it. That's more than a month ago. It must be the longest break ever since I started blogging here in spring 2005. I have been thinking of blogging a lot though. Not every day, but I tell the truth when I say it is not far from it. And I think of you, my dear blog readers. Not every day, but again.......not far from it.

Well, no excuses, just life, and here I am, with a new goal to be back on a regular basis.

Just like the rest of you, we are hit here in Norway also, by Covid 19 and all it means to our every day living. We are lucky though and not, at least for the moment, hit as hard as many other places. As you know, I retired this spring, and for the moment my life is more or less what it would have been anyway. Well, I meet less people and I stay more at home, and do not travel at all, except from some week-ends to our cabin.......

But, listen.......I do not want Britt Arnhilds House in the Woods to be a place where I complain about Covid 19, terrorism, presidential elections or whatever. I am not closing my eyes, far from it, but some corners in our lives are to be positive places, where we can rest, where we can gain energy, where we can have fun together.

So with this in mind, I am back and I hope to see you here as well.
How are you all? I do hope to hear from you and I promise to write you back on all our comments :-)

 

The images were all taken today, in the woods not far from home. I have been out hiking several days a week for months now, and will tell you more about this later.

 

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

Some words about Britt Arnhild on YouTube.
My channel is now in Norwegian, but once I month I plan to do an English only episode. The October one is here:

 

 

These lovely Christmas Days

@brittarnhild

Today is the 4th day of Christmas and we continue to enjoy the season. Øystein and Silje are with us for a couple of days and after breakfast today we walked out into the woods for a long and lovely hike.

Rain is predicted for tonight and tomorrow, but today gave us another taste of paradise. Snow in the trees, a blue sky slowly covered with clouds, a low sun and snow the colour called virgin white.

We had brought coffee and saffron pastries. Near the horse farm at Våddan we found a place to sit down and had our coffee while watching the horses.

One of the last days of 2019 turned out to be one of the most beautiful ones, reminding me that age often offers the best.

I am slowly getting into the mood of planning my new year's resolutions. Continuing to see the beauty of life, of nature, will be one of them.

 

Hours in the light

@brittarnhild

An autumn is walking into winter here in my corner of the world. An autumn with a lot of rain, but with bright, shining days in between. Today was one of the bright, shiny ones, and as I had the day off work, I ended up doing one of my favourite hikes in the countryside which surrounds Trondheim. A couple of weeks ago the hills up here were covered in snow, but then mild weather came and melted it all. Still there can be frost during the night and the paths were slippery. I had studs under my shoes though, and would walk safely. Most of the leaves have fallen, a few stubborn ones still hanging on, eager to show their beauty as long as possible.

I had my binoculars with me, wanting to look for birds. The lake had a thin film of frost though, so all the ducks and other birds which usually swim on the lake, had gone. On my way over the little wooden bridge I frightened up a dipper, but that was the only bird I saw. 

Fresh air, exercise, fit feet, coffee, bread with brown cheese.......and I even brought my knitting. But that´s a tale for maskerade, my knitting blog :-)

 

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

In my blog world today:

 

maskerade, my knitting blog, which is my most active blog for the moment

Britt Arnhilds naturdagbok, my nature journal

 

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

On YouTube

 

 



 

 

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.

 

Busy beavers, again

@brittarnhild

I am recovering from yet another sinus infection (and a head cold). After visiting the doctor today I felt well enough for a short walk, and drove to a place not far from the doctor´s office which I knew would be perfect for a short hike.

No bevers to be seen, but easy to see that they had been there.

The wonders of a Sunday morning.

@brittarnhild

From The House in the Woods, we can walk directly into the countryside. Mile after mile of tracks and forests, small lakes, beauty and silence. In the spring I find the first flowers, in summer I listen to birds and bees, in the winter I go skiing. But just now, in the autumn, I enjoy the change of the colours, and the millions of artitic morning webs.

The hills and the countryside have several cottages and old farms where you can buy coffee and something to eat. If you are ready for a long walk, you can reach several of them from our house. No car needed.

Today we had no car. We did have a grandson and a pram though, and after breakfast we were ready for some autumn hiking. Quite common in the fall, is the morning mist. The mist was breaking while we walked, it left behind millions of tiny little webs.

 As the sun  warmed up, the moist dried up and the webs became invisible.
My camera had caught a few of them though.

 

When you are on the top

@brittarnhild

Yesterday was the most beautiful day of autumn in Trondheim. A perfect day for a hike. I was out for many hours, started with a goal to reach the top, but not at all sure if I would make it. I did though, and felt very happy, very content. I took a selfie with my cell phone, I did a snap, all smiling. And I took photos of a group of girlfriends who was there on the top at the same time as I.

Then, all the "must do"-photos done, I started to look around. The view, the beauty, the sky, the autumn colours, the fjord, the mountains. My thoughts left my nosetip and I was able to see the greatness.

Isn´t it so that we too often forget to look around. Our nose blocks the view.

My nose (read: sinuses) is part of my health issues, and as it is bothering me it  often takes too much of my energy, too much of my attention. I have to live with this health challenge, there is no other option. But I can learn to let not my nose, but the view fill my days. My mind. My heart.

 

 

I took so many great photos during my hike yesterday. Hopefully I will post some of them in Blåklokkeveien during the day.

 

A day for the body

@brittarnhild

The last week, with the St.Olav´s Festival, has been filled with a firework activities, with food for ears, mind and heart. Today I needed a rest, and the best rest I can get is a lonely hike out in the nature. Food for the body.

First a mountain top, then the path down to the small lake, Kobberdammen, one of my favorite places for enjoying coffee and bread with brown cheese.

Monday morning, a quiet time, even though this is the countryside for the city. What a blessing, to walk for a couple of hours. The silence. Let the thoughts wander......no, let them rest. Find beauty in the reflections. Listen to the splashes every time a fish jumps. Breath the fresh air.

I am ready to continue the walk. The path which is my way. My life.