Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

This is why......in Yosemite

text and images britt-arnhild

This is why you haven´t heard from me in a few days.
We are camping in Yosemite!

Be aware of the bears.
Keep ALL food and cosmetics locked away.

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More to come......... 

Planet Earth, my favorite planet

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It is impossible not to have a crush on penguins.
And when I had the chance to decide where to start our Monterey Bay Aquarium tour, I didn´t think twice. I wanted to see the feeding of the penguins!

 

They really are too cute to be missed.

 

Even photographed through a thick glass window.

Then, after the feeding of my cuties, when we went on, it was like walking into a world of magic. Huge aquariums with a variety of species I had only dreamed of.

Seahorses, small fishes, jellyfish, dolphins, sharks, sea anemones, starfish.......

We walked along huge aquariums......

and it almost felt like we were in there in the smooth water.

I have never tried scuba diving.

May be it is full time?

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Our last stop during our Aquarium morning was The Secret Lofe of the Seahorses.

Almost impossible to photograph.
But what an amazing beauty.

I am hooked!

I bought Helen Scales´Poseidon´s Steed, The Story of Seahorses, from Myth to Reality. And I know that the coming weeks I will be travelling into a different world.

The World of Secret Seahorses.

Here is a link to
Monterey Bay Aquarium 

 

Alcatraz, The Rock and its stories

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I have heard of Alcatraz. Of course I have heard of it. And when I knew we were going to San Francisco, I also knew that The Rock was a place I wanted to visit.

It wasn´t until we boardered the ferry which was to take us out on a night visit that I started to reflect. What am I doing? Do I really want to visit this island with a history of so much pain.

At first we were met by some kind of worn beauty, and with the help of our guids tales, I could hear children playing, wives doing laundry, planting the gardens.

But as soon as we eneterd the cell house, I met quite another reality.

A house haunted with dark memories.

Pains.
Despair.
Death.
Longing.
Darkness.

An audio tour guide, the best we have ever experienced in a museum,
gave us the history and the atmosphere.

No sweet romance,
but reality.

Now I want to learn more about Al Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Bumpy Johnson, Rafael Cancel Miranda.......but most of all
of Robert Franklin Stroud, The Birdman of Alcatraz 

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You can read more about Alcatraz here.

The Famous Cable Car Ride

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Of course we had to take the famous Cable Car.

If not for anything else, at least to wave to the Norwegian flag up the hill.

Long queuing.......

gave us the best seats.

Oh my. I love the steep hills of San Francisco.

 

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I am working on a post about Alcatraz.
Not an easy post to make, so this one is a kind of "in between"

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By the way, you can read more about our day in San Francisco in Robin´s blog

The Violet Hour

When you don´t know a city

text britt-arnhild
photos britt-arnhild, terje......and more

What do you do when you come to a city you have never before been to?
You have read about it.
You have painted dreams in your mind.
But......

How to find the beauty of a new city? 
Where to hunt for its secret corners?

To meet its inhabitants.

To share its tales.

 

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I have the most perfect solution.......

 

You find one of the city´s locals.
and let her take you around.

I did yesterday, and it worked out perfectly!

 

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Thank you Robin for taking us around San Francisco. You gace us the most memorable day.

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Internet is slow today at the hotel where we stay.
I will blog more about our day in San Francisco another day.

 

The grandeur of everything

text and images britt-arnhild
(Not all photos are by me though all are taken with my camera) 

Everything is grand in America.
I have always known that,
and I have experienced it on previous visits.

BNow it happens again. The grandness I mean.

Are you able to spot Marta and Terje inside the redwood tree?

  

(Marta is the master behind this photo)

We drove south yesterday. From the Sonoma area and the little town Jenner. 

Had lunch in Bolinas,  the little community north of San Francisco which is only accecible via unmarked road. Jane was in the middle of a very interesting family tale when our road forked, so we missed it, and had to drive back.

Once a sign was put along Highway 1, but it was soon taken down, and now hangs in one of the restaurant in Bolinas.

Traveling with locals makes life easy, 
and interesting.

Jane and Lanny know all there is to know, and shares generously.....

....and take us to tiny little treasures we would never in a lifetime have found ourselves.

Like a tiny little wildlife garden,
in a tinly little village,
situated next to a bakery where they make the world´s best bread and pastries. 

Unfortunately the bakery was closed when we passed.
But flowers are better than bread anyway,
and they have a lot less calories.

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Our travels continues.

Today we will meet Robin, a blog reader. She lives in San Francisco and will be our very special guide.

 

Did I really questioning going off line??????

 

Life without internet

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Oh my, all the things you can do when you don´t have an internet connection........

Like bird watching.

Harbour seal watching.

Sunset watching.

 

Or just having fun.

We have spent a few days at River´s End, on the northern coast of California.
With no cell phone connection.
No internet connection.

A  L O T  O F  F U N

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I could easily learn to live without blogging,

or.........

A woman I would like to learn more about

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Before leaving Norway, I downloaded Jack London´s complete work, and I am reading Valley of the Mood. In the guesthouse in Elk Grove, Jane has found a lot of interesting books for me which she wants me to read. Among them is "I Married Adventure" by Osa Johnsen. Osa was the wife of Martin Johnson, Martin took part in Jack London´s Shark-adventure, and Martin and Osa continued to travel.

Our 10 days´roadtrip started yesterday, and one of our first destinations was Valley of the Moon, og Jack London State Park.

 

 We had a walk in Jack London´s cabin, where he lived while waiting for The Wolf House to be built. Oh my, how I would have loved to live there for a day, a week, a months........books and writing desks everywhere. This is how I hope paradice will be......(God, can you hear me.....;-))

We walked over the the museum, which is in the huge house Jack London´s wife built after he died. I went around in the gift shop looking at Jack London´s book, bought a biography about Osa and Martin Johnsen........and then met one of the volunteers who opened a closed rope and took us"behind the scenes", into the pantry and the kitchen of Charmian London, Jack London´s wife. 

 

Charmian continued to live on the land, and in the huge house she built, for 40 years after Jack died. The house had a dininroom with the most wonderful view, an amazingly small kitchen from where she made food for a long line of guests. And a first floor with a huge room containing collections from all over the world.

I wonder what it must have been to live here. Alone. Far from neighbours, widowed too early, with more memories than most people collects in a lifetime.

I am curious.
I want to learn more about this woman.
Why didn´t she travel alone?
How was her life after Jack died.

The volunteer we met said that she must have been a remarcable woman, in her mind actually more interetsing than Jack himself.
Why didn´t the bookstore have any books about her?

My curiosity is awakened :-)

 

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Lanny, you should take gopod care of Jane, or else you will lose her to the voluteers at Jack London´s State Park :-) 

The Party..........and so many new friends

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The party is over.
We´ve had a good night´s sleep,
and now we are packing for a roadtrip.

The grades hit over a hundred, but friendship is supposed to be warm,
so we were fine.
And the good thing about this part of California
is that you get a lovely delta breeze at night.

 

The first, and most beautiful thing that happened was that my dear blogging friend Marily, and her husband, my facebook friend Jim arrived. They drove all the way down from Portland, Oregon, to meet us, and to take part in the BBQ.

I showed them around Jane and Lanny´s land,
and can tell you they loved it just as much as we do :-)

 

Marily has a lovely blog called Delights of the Heart

Lisa, Jane and Lanny´s niece, came with several boxes of cupcakes,
almost melted in the car drive up from where theu live.
With a taste of heaven.

 

 

The last one is the one I ate,
and loved.

Thank you Lisa.

 

Food.

Both Lanny´s meat, which turned out absolutely perfect,
side dishes brough by everyone,
and.......

And salmon grilled by Dennis,

Music and dancing.

 

New friendships starts.

 

To Jane and Lanny
From BrittArnhild, Marta and Terje

THANK YOU! 

The Day of the Big American BBQ

text and images britt-arnhild

You´re invited to an American BBQ to welcome our
Norwegian friends to Elk Grove.

Please come!
Celebrate with us
and meet
TERJE
and his girls!

 

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This invitation has been sent out to A LOT of Jane and Lanny´s family and friends, and all of them has accepted. As far as we know now, a few hours before the party, we will be 86!

Sunday July 8th. Starting at 5:30PM

We will provide:
BBQ Pork and BEEF, slowly roasted in a pit.
Kegs of Beer, Water, Juice, Sodas and lots of ICE

You will bring:
Yourselves!!!
Anything else you want to drink.
Folding chairs or a blanket.
And one of the following.....
salad, pasta, vegetable dish or dessert

We all can:
Eat, drink and be merry!
Play Horse Shoes and Croquet.
And dance to the music of the band "Crazy Chester"!!

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The day of the party is here,
and I am planning to take you all along...

......in a blog as you go!

 

Are you ready?

Do you want to come?

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7:45 PM, and time to start the fire.
Lanny has been planning and working on this pit for a long time.

 

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 8:30PM, and I am watching the preparations from
the porch outside Jane´s Art Studio

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 09:00 PM

Neighbour coming over with a huge table and a party tent

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10 PM

Jane mowing the lawn where we will dance tonight

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10:30 PM

Jane picking peaches....

....while Terje is cleaning Black Widows (spiders) from the garbage cans......(no photos of that!!!!!) 

 

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 11:00 PM

Every 30 minutes Terje and Lanny needs to feed the grill pit.

 

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11:30 PM

 

Air condition in the Art Studio is turned on.
It might be a perfect retreat when the heath gets too bad tonight.

Remind me that some day I must make a spesific blog post only from Jane´s art studio! 

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Noon!

Time to start the meat.

And a delicious smell soon spreads all over the place.

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2:00 AM

We´ve had a light lunch with lettuces and harbs from the garden.

We´ve had a nap.

 

And we are watching the temperatures rise.......

Will it reach 100F?

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2:30 AM

Still some preparations to do.......

.......like putting up a few signs.

 

 

 

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3:30 AM

Very last preparations.
Terje and Marta are setting up the croquet.

Soon a blogging friend from Oregon will arrive.

Then the party begins,
and I will be too busy for any more updates.

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See you tomorrow!

 

By the way......do you like this way of blogging?
I get hundrens of more hits on my page,
but almost none comments,
so I am wondering.......