Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

The everyday life is the best life.......of course it is

@brittarnhild

Thank you for your comments to my previous posts. For a blogger it is of great inspiration to hear from the readers, and even more so when you, like me, know that so many of your readers are your dear friends :-)

I have read your comments, I have done more thinking, I love to wear my thinking cap, and I am back to where I began, and where I've always been - blogging about everyday life.

Every day life, the best life. yes, of course it is. Holidays, travels, extraordinary days.......we need them, we are lucky to be given them, but their main purpose is to give background to the everydays, the days which come and go like beads on a string, the days which make up our lives. Our holy lives.

Our winter so far has been dark and wet. But the night before yesterday it started to snow. Just a little dusting, but as it went on and on and on, still only dust, but dust that did not bow away, my world looked like a winter fairytale this morning. It is my day off, I had nothing planned, so the choice was easy.......

Out, out, out to shower myself in this blessed white. Out for a long walk, a hike, in my woods.

 

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Coming back home I did the first knitting podcast of 2019. Only in Norwegian, but there might be some knitting to look at anyway ;-)

 

 

 

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Active blogs these days:

 

Blåklokkeveien

Britt Arnhilds dagboksblader

Britt Arnhilds naturdagbok

Med bøker på menyen

Britt Arnhild´s House in the Woods

Fløy en liten blåfugl

Britt Arnhilds Blå Café

maskerade

Akeleiehagen

 

And then we walked the paths

@brittarnhild

Today we had more time. Still long work hours, but for lunch we had a two hours break.......everybody out.

I did not know it yesterday, but the paths I photographed took us right into paradise.

The lunch break was all planned, with activities we were doing together, kind of teambuilding. A lot of laughter, a lot of challenges, kind of out of the comfort zone stuff.

Like when we were blindfolded and had to be lead by the person next to us. I could smell creation then, I could feel it, with my fingers, my hands, my feet inside the hiking boots, branches against my head, my ears listening to whatever they could hear. A woodpecker not far away.

Two eyes to see. What a wonderful blessing. No, three eyes. My blue pair, and the lense of my Nikon.

 

Lunch in my woods

@brittarnhild

Tomorrow is back to work, but today is all mine, to do whatever I want.
Well, some housework, but to be honest, I really don´t mine, yes, I actually want to do it.....with a clean and tidy house as the reward :-)

Around noon I packed a backpack though. My journal, something to sit on, a thermos of hot chocolate and two lussekatter, safran buns from the freezer. 

The woods starts almost just behind our house, so I did not have far to go. It took me some time to reach the place where I wanted to eat though. There were so many birds to spot along the way, so many trees to enjoy and to photograph. And also, there was the silence to listen to.

We had a few snow showers this morning,
and deep into the forest I met this fairy tale world.

 

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In my blog world today:

Britt-Arnhild´s  Blue Garden

Britt-Arnhilds samlede - my collections

Blåklokkeveien - where 2018 har trees as its theme

Britt-Arnhilds dagboksblader - my online journal

Fløy en liten blåfugl - about birds

maskerade - my knitting blog, with a new, exiting my own design project :-)

Vandring gjennom året - my nativities

 

 

 

 

A new chapter every morning

@brittarnhild

Up with the sun.
Out into the woods behind our house. Terje cross country skiing. Me hiking.

Life is a storybook. True all through.

Every morning comes with a new chapter.
It is for you to turn the pages.

 

A Glade in the Woods

text and images britt-arnhild

All of a sudden the rain stopped, and we found ourselves in a glade in the woods. Stones gathered on the ground, remnants of a small 300 years old farm.

Generations has lived here, loved here.
Hard labour to feed families, to keep warm during long winters.

"Skogen stend, men han skiftar sine tre" 
Olav H Hauge
 (The forest stands though the trees change)

 The only living creature we found was this charming prince to be.

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Nearby the old stones we found deep red  tyttebær, cranberries/foxberries/lingonberries. Most of them not quite ripe, but still we got enough for our dinner.

 

Cranberries for dinner, you ask.
Yes, they are perfect.

Broccoli, carrots, potatoes, pork meat,
olive oil, salt and pepper.
Bake in the oven for an hour.
Eat with lingonberries stirred with sugar. 

All kinds of weather

text and images britt-arnhild

Rain showers were playing a kind of game over the city and the countryside. Teasing the sun. I had the day off and had planned a hike. But in this weather? A comfortable armchair with a stack of books, a cup of tea, my Mac toy were tempting me.

But then, didn´t I just respond to one of yours comment the other day......I will try to be out every day this winter, no matter the weather.....

I looked out the window again. More rain then sun, autumn leaves blowing like snowflakes.

Reluctant I walked down the stairs to the basement to get my backpack, reluctantly I made coffee, cut a couple of slices of homemade bread, added butter and brown cheese. Found a chocolate and put it into the backpack with the coffee and the bread. Changed clothes. Put my cellphone and my small camera in the pockets of my coat. And out I went.

As I opened the front door the rain stopped. When I returned home a couple of hours later I was greeted by a hailstorm.

In between had been dry, a fresh wind, even some sun.

 

I love to be out in all kinds of weather. Especially when the sun shines :-)

Papertales from the papertale pond

text and images britt-arnhild

Up in the hills behind The House in the Woods, there is a small, secret pond. I pass it on my walk, and stop to listen to its tales.

The tales are many. The old frog seeking for his crown. The lost deer. The curios rabbit who got stuck in the old boot. Ten little mice. The powder which.

Yes, the Powder Which, a little scary, charming figure from a series of Norwegian children´s books. On my walk I meet a group of kindergarten children. One of them has a røyksopp (a smoking fungus?), he come running towards me, telling me that he will use the fungus to scare away the powder which. "Oh, but why do you have to scare her away? I like the powder which." "No, no, I don´t like her, she is scary, but I am stronger, more scary. I know she will be afraid of me"

Fairytales, folk tales, children´s litterature, rhymes and riddles. A huge forest to play in. To be strong in. To chase away evil.

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I am back to my little secret, hidden pond. Naming it. The Papertale Pond.

There is a dragon in my life I need to chase away. Up comes my notebook and a paper tale finds its words.

Papertale.

I don´t know if there already is a known word. I am inventing the word and I am challenging you to make a papertale. To seek out a dragon, a monster in your life. Or may be a powder which. Make a papertale, a røyksopp and use it as a weapon to strengthen yourself.

My papertale today is about the little girl who struggles to get her kite out of the pond. It is stuck among the waterlilies and will not fly anymore. Nettles growing along the pond become her weapons. But will the kite fly?

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What is your papertale about?

A Forest with Chanterelles

text and images britt-arnhild

I stopped at the marketplace on my way home from work yesterday. All summer you find vendors selling fruits, vegetables and berries there. Yesterday there were also small baskets of fungis among the berries, I was tempted and bought one with chanterelles.....to make a starter for our late Friday night cabin dinner.

I was dreaming about our dinner while we drove out here, and wondered if I was still dreaming when we were met by a carpet of chanterelles along the steep path from where we park our car up to the cabin.

We had our chanterelle starter last night, and we've had a chanterelle lunch today. Still the forest is full. I plan to bring a full basket home tomorrow, fry the chanterelles in butter and olive oil, add salt and pepper.........and fill the freezer.

Long winter meals, get yourself ready!

Being a duck or a human........shared meals are the best.

and then I had to kiss the troll......

text and images Britt-Arnhild Wigum Lindland

 
We have been searching for them for days. On the highest mountains, into the deepest forest, along the wildest waterfalls. In wain.

Untill today. Terje and I took a cable tram up the mountain of Fløyen in Bergen, and hiked down again. Which turned out to be quite an experience.

 

The hike started out safely enough. Hand in hand we enjoyed the day, the nature, each other......when all of a sudden we were surrounded.....by trolls!

Oh my. Oh my. Oh my.

We tried to stay cool. We tried to keep on holding hands. To no use.

 

Terje was caught.

And there was no way I could get hime back unless I......

 

......kissed the troll.

 

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By the way, on our way we discovered that trolls eat not only blueberries and TWBH. They also eat rock fish!

 

 

TWBH! Seriously, you don't know what TWBH means?????

That's simple.

The World's Best Husband!

Of course

 

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One more story before I stop. "Stolen" from a friend's facebook page:

A wife asked her husband to describe her. He said, " You're A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J & K." She asked, "What does that mean?" He answered, " Adorable, Beautiful, Cute, Delightful, Elegant, Fantastic, Gorgeous, Hot."She said, " Oh, that's so lovely darling, but what about I, J & K?" He smiled, "I'm Just Kidding!!!"

 
Last photo: Bergen by Night

Let's go skiing

 
"Let's go skiing together tomorrow" I said. Words which made Terje happy, and sent him right down in the basement to prepare my cross country skis. Next morning I was up early, I wanted to do it all properly, and started the day with malking boller (sweet pastries), and hot chocolate to bring in our backpack.

The days are so short now, but during the few hours we have with the sun, the light from the low, low sun is remarkable.

As the name tells, the House in the Woods is situated right at the edge of the forest. We walk up the road about 200 meters, and then the ski tracks start. Mile after mile of lovely nature, free to use whenever we want

Norwegians are born with skis on their feet. So was I, and I started to use them almost before I could walk. The last years I have used them too seldom though, and yesterday I realised I am not anymore as tuff, as brave as I used to be. A 50+ body is getting stiff, and I felt unsure, almost afraid when we met the steep hills. "Well, I can always take my skis off and carry them down" I told Terje. But I never did, and felt so proud of myself. Practice makes the master.

Terje is out skiing "all the time". He followed me and my speed though, but as soon as I said it was time for me to go home, I only saw his back, full speed further into the tracks. Well, he stopped long enough to give me the backpack to take home first :-)

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By the way; the new Blue Café has opened, you can find my fresh boller there.    

Britt-Arnhild's Blue Café