Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

These dinners when we travel the world

 

@brittarnhild

To invite, to plan the menu, to set the table, to cook, to sit around the table, friends from different countries, to share a meal, to travel the world through food........... oh, how I love it.

Today the guests were from Italy, Iran and Greece. All of them now living in Norway. Federico and Nazanin for many years, Ioanna for just a few months.

Nazanin has lived in Norway for 7 years, and got her Norwegian citizenship just two days ago. Worth a celebration.......napkins with the Norwegian flag :-)

The main course was Italian. Spaghetti carbonara with chard from the garden.
For dessert Nazanin brought sweets from her mother in Tehran, Ioanna had made some traditional Christmas cookies from Athens, Terje served red currants from the garden with vanilla sauce.
Federico told us about his Italian lasagna, made completely from scratch.......Federico, I want to tast it :-)

This was the first time we met Ioanna. Daugher of the friends of a cousin of mine........
Ioanna, I do hope  we will see you again, for another meal.

 

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To travel the world through food and friends.
A perfect way to travel!

 

Deep Cleaning, Dusting, Decorating and Design, our 4 Ds

@brittarnhild

Marta is in charge of the weekly cleaning in The House in the Woods. But from time to time the house needs more, and then Terje and I have a job to do. A day dedicated to house work fun. We have a perfect way of sharing the work between us. He does the first D, the deep cleaning, I do the three remaining ones, dusting, decorating, designing.

Today is such a 4D-day, and if I find time, and don´t forget, I will shot photos with my cell phone as I go, and share with you.....which means that this blog post will be updated through the day.

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The first photo shows a coffee set from Sarajevo.

 

 

A Bonsai and a collection of the letter B in our livingroom window. The Bonsai was a gift from my brother Børge after I had my nose surgery almost three years ago. The Bs are collected from travels here, there and everywhere.

 On a side table I have a collection of art made by Mauro, and a book about Murano, the glass island.

 

 

Decorating House in the Woods style

text and images britt-arnhild

With Christmas stored away (read: all the 50+ nativity scenes safely and snug in boxes down in a basement cabinet) The Houdse in the Woods suddenly has space for other things.
My home will never make it to the interior magazines, my home is MY interior paradise, with room to play with my collections.

Like the old grandma Olga´s dresser in the inner hallway, which now has got a travelling theme.
A small collection of globes,
a few dolls collected around the world,
a travel book

A teacup (also a travel memory), with three red roses.

Three roses for the holy trinity.

In the name of the Father, the Son & the Holy Spirit.

God, show me the way,
and make me willing to walk it 

Welcome to my studio, to The Blue Room

text and images britt-arnhild

Up on the first floor we have three rooms, and a landing. The landing is perfect for part of my book collection, the biggest of the three rooms is my much loved studio.

The studio contains all colours of the rainbow, but because it has a bright blue door and a huge old bluepainted wooden desk, it has got its very suitable name; The Blue Room. When we moved here in October 2001, it started out as Torgeir´s bedroom, for a short time it was  Terje´s studio, but most of the years it has been mine. The one with the most collections wins and all that.......

I am not sure if I have ever invited you into The Blue Room, I mean, properly invited you in. For chatting, for tea, for showing you my books and my collections?

I know I have shown you the view through my studio window from time to time.
But never really taken you through all my bric a brac, have I?

 

Ha, it will take ages to show you everything,
and you might not be very interested in all of it anyway.......

......but a little peek might be okay :-)

This is where I blog,

this is where I dream my travels,

and this is where I collect a few of my souvenirs.

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Do you have your own studio?
A place for dreams and creations?

May be you would like to do a "this is my studio"-guest post for The House in the Woods? 

Spring cleaning in The House in the Woods

text and images britt-arnhild

Spring cleaning time in The House in the Woods.

Marta is away, somewhere near Oslo at the Norwegian Championship in Cheerleading with her team.

Terje, I, Ingrid and Marius are performing a spring cleaning championship in The House in the Woods.

I started the day setting a dough for pastries for lunch.

It is always much more fun to clean a house wich smells of fresh baking.

The House in the Woods is a broad smile today.

It loves being cleaned.

I smile with the house.

I love to watch the house being dusted, vacuumed, tidied, cleaned.

There are some MUST breaks though. Ski jumping on television can´t be skipped.

And now the pastries horn are finished.

Lunch time.

 

See you later.

The books and where I keep them.

text and images britt-arnhild

If you walk up the stairs from our hallway to the first floor landing, you will be met by a new bookcase, two new bookcases actually, put together. Filled with my collection of artbooks and my old paperback classics.

The bookcases were made especially for me by my 88 years old father in law this summer. Put up on the landing by Terje last week.

Terje and I decided to change rooms, dens, the ones where we have our desks, our computers, where we do our paperwork. He got the small one, the one I have been using for a couple of years, I got the big one, which is actually an extra livingroom, the one we used together for many years when the house was still filled with kids living at home.

In this moving process I decided to go through all my books, there are thousands of them. Dusting, sorting, giving away, filling new space, rediscovering old treasures.

Children´s books from my parents childhood, from my own, books collected, read and cherished for and by our gang of four.

 

In the guestroom, which is also a room where I display many of the children´s toys, I have set up a bookcase for the children´s books.

A heaven for any book loving child.

When I and my oldest brother were young readers, there was an elderly couple without children living in our neighbourhood. In their basement they had a special room where all four walls were filled with children´s litterarure. Once a week my brother and I were invited there, to look at the books, to feel them, to read, and to borrow. I was in paradise.

 One of the old books in this case is a bedtime storybook by Enid Blyton. Bestefar (grandpa) Johannes always read a story from this one when he took me and brother Frode to bed.

There are books in every room in our house.

Terje despair........shake his head.......and then helps me with the measures when I need a new bookcase carpented by father in law.

On top of mormor (grandma) Olga´s old sewing machine books, there are books waiting to be read, or like Jomfru Lide, which is the book Terje and I have been reading aloud the past months. Only one chapter left now.

 

In the hallway I have my collection of travel litterature. The crown of my book collection. The books mostly read.

Travel memories. Travel dreams.

Travel plans to be made.

 

There are still books to sort, to organise. But most of my dear books are in shelves now (most bookcases are in the basement........I forgot to take photos down there) Some are also in a couple of baskets, searching for new owners. If you lived closer I would invite you over and you couple see if you found something you like.

I love my books. You can see that, can´t you :-)

Last night I started to read..........well, that´s a tale for another day.

What is your favorite book?

Who is your favorite writer?

Complete, with good help

Text and images Britt-Arnhild Wigum Lindland

 

The entrance and the hallway are now both finished. Terje has done a marvellous job with the handwork, the walls, the floor, all the small details.

The 100 years old dresser has been standing in the garage for years, exposed to heath, cold, dryness and humidity, and it took Terje days to work on the drawers to make them glide smothly in and out. The old mirror was broken, but we have had a new one made in the old artful way. One of the handles was broken as well.

 
At first we didn't quite know what to do with the broken handle, but then I remembered - down at Bakklandet, the old part of Trondheim, there is a small basement shop selling bric-a-bracs, nothing and everything. "You know Den gamle krambod" I told Terje, "I've never been in there, but I often pass the charming entrance and widows on my photo walks. If we shall be able to find a "new" old handle at all, it must be there"

 

The first time I came there, Den gamle krambod was closed, a sign on the door announcing its opening hours to be on Wednesdays from 16 till 19.

 
The coming Wednesday I was on the road somewhere. Terje went down to order a handle, and came home with charming stories to tell about this amazing basement. He had ordered two handles, to have one extra. They would be ready in a week, for me to pick up.

 

The next week I was there at the correct time, and could hardly get out again. Too much to see, too many stories to read, too many dreams to dream :-)

 

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At last, at long, long last, I came home with the handle.......and the memories of histories told in a small bric-a-brac basement shop.

 
And now the hallway is complete.........

 

......and my handyman is busy with other projects.

 
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Writing this post took me down Memory Lane, to Prague in November 2009:

"Hey, what is she up to now?" I guess you are asking. "This can't be Britt-Arnhild's Prague?????"

No, it is not. It really isn't. It is Prague though, but not the Prague I know.

It was during the rainy day. I was starting to get wet, I felt cold. I had spent time among Alphons Mucha's art, I had sat for a long time in an oldfashined coffee house. It was time to do something new. Something different.

"Why don't you surprise yourself" I thought. I looked around to see if I could get any ideas.....

And there it was. A huge, glittering shopping mall. Thousands of sparkling lightbulbs. I had never rested my eyes on them before, as this is not what I watch for when I travel. But now I wanted to do something new. I walked in. It felt like walking into an alien world. Out in space. Glamour, lights, windows and mirrors everywhere. I walked around, up and down escalators, afraid to get lost.......No map to help me if I did.

Believe me, this is really not where I go if I have time at hand. But travelling is about exploring new territory, isn't it. As I walked on I knew that the other ladies in my group would have been thrilled to visit this shopping heaven. But I was alone and I felt lost. Though I did enjoyed the expedition.

I didn't go into one single store though, well, at least not untill I found:

L'Occitane.....this wonderful chain which sells cosmetics from Provence. Cosmetics which even I can use without any allergic reactions. Suddenly I remembered that I needed a handcream.

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For me the visit to the mall turned out like a surprise, like a treat. I loved it, though I am not sure if I'll feel the need to visit again if I ever go back to Prague. If I do it must be to show Ingrid and Marta :-)

Have you surprised yourself lately?

Done something unexpected?

Open house.....

I have been busy doing homefun today, so now the house is clean and tidy, and any visitors are welcome :-) Well, I know a few of you have a long way to come here, so I have taken a few photos for you to enjoy.

This first photo shows the sofa section of our livingroom. I changes the decorations today from a light summer style to more fall colours. The pillows are from my trip to Laos last year, and so is one of the chess games - which can be better seen on the second photo. The other chess on the table was bought it Venice / Murano in September, the game  near the hearth was bought in Budapest a few years ago. I love chess games and always look for new ones when I travel.

Chess games are not the only things I buy from travels though. Over the years my collection has grown and I display many of my travel memories in this part of the living room.

After finishing cleaning today I sat down enjoying my tidy house. The sun was shining outdoors, though it was cold and smelling like winter, and the squirrels and birds were busy at the feeder in the huge pines outside the windows.

After lunch I had some coffee and a small piece of cake, and spent some time reading about one of my favorite female travellers, Margaret Fountaine.

Well, my house in the woods is big enough for friends. Why don't you come over? We can chat, listen to music, read, knit, or may be enjoy my orchids.