Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

She draws every colour from her harp.......and Advent is soon to be here :-)

@brittarnhild

Ever since I discovered the church St. Martin in the Fields, many London trips ago, I have made sure to give it a visit. Down in the crypt for tea, home made cakes and a stroll in the book store, up in the church for peace and quiet, and for music.

Yesterday I was lucky, I arrived in the church half past twelve, which gave me just enough time for tea and cake down in the crypt, before the lunch concert at 1pm. A concert with Gabriella Jones playing harp. The church was slowly filling up while I sat there, clearing my mind for all the noice, hustling and bustling from the busy London streets.

Gabriella Jones came in, and her long, dark hair, shining eyes and bright smile filled the church. I closed my eyes, focused on the music, not on the coughing harking of the man behind me while Scarlatti´s Sonata in A started to flow. My whole body relaxed, and behind my eyelids colours appeared. Blue at first. The dark blue of the sky just after the sun has set. Then a little red, some orange, glimpses of pink. I not often see colours when I hear music, but when it happens it feels like a special blessing. 

The sonata and the following applause ended and Gabriella started to talk about the next piece she was to play, and its composer, Canadian Caroline Lizotte. I wanted to stay in my colour land, but opened my eyes when I heard Gabriella say: "Caroline Lizotte draws every colour she can from her harp......."

 

I continued to stay in heaven for the rest of the concert. Gabriella Jones´lovely music (angels play harps, don´t they), the colours drawn by Caroline Lizotte, and also the knowledge that Lizotte writes all her music by hand, not on the computer.

 

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You know what? Advent is soon here :-)
I had my morning tea at Fortnum&Mason yesterday, and while enjoying their special Christmas blend tea, I started to plan my advent blogging.

I do have some surprises coming up this year.......like, doing something in my vlog (on YouTube).......hopefully. So do not hesitate, come over to my YouTube chanel and subscribe, to be sure not to miss anything :-)

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 Do not forget to watch my latest knitting vlog (pssst, in the advent vlogs I hope to speak a mixture of Norwegian and English)

 

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Do not forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel: Britt-Arnhild on YouTube

And also follow me on instagram: @brittarnhildsstrikkedagbok 

@brittarnhild

@akeleiehagen

@trondheimtales

Or you can visit me in one of my other active blogs:

Britt-Arnhild´s House in the Woods

Britt Arnhilds naturdagbok

Akeleiehagen

dagens lille grønne

Fløy en liten blåfugl

Britt Arnhilds dagboksblader

Hyttelivet på Rastarbo

Blåklokkeveien

Med bøker på menyen

 

Selfriges today

@brittarnhild

This autumn I have been watching all the seasons of Mr Selfridges on Netflix. The fascinating tale of a man and his dream. When coming here I had one thing very high up on my list - to visit Selfridges.

I know that Selfrides has new owners now, have had several since Mr. Selfridges created the work of his life. I also understand that the Netflix series only tell parts of the truth. But still!

Coming there on the Saturday after Black Friday was of course crazy. It felt like the rest of the world was there together with us.

I had no plans to buy anything, I did not buy anything, instead I enjoyed walking around, and I even more enjoyed listening to my friend Fran when she talked about her coming up to London as a child, with her parents and her two sister, so see the Christmas decorations. A visit to Selfridges was always on their list, before finishing the visit to see the lights on the Norwegian Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square.

 

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I am knitting in the hotel room in the early mornings and at nights. And I have made another YouTube video, having a hard time with the uploading through the hotel´s wifi. But I made it!

 

 

 

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Do not forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel: Britt-Arnhild on YouTube

And also follow me on instagram: @brittarnhildsstrikkedagbok 

@brittarnhild

@akeleiehagen

@trondheimtales

Or you can visit me in one of my other active blogs:

Britt-Arnhild´s House in the Woods

Britt Arnhilds naturdagbok

Akeleiehagen

dagens lille grønne

Fløy en liten blåfugl

Britt Arnhilds dagboksblader

Hyttelivet på Rastarbo

Blåklokkeveien

Med bøker på menyen

 

Giving colour to Black Friday

@brittarnhild

After two flights and long delays due to the weather, I arrived in London late this afternoon.

I checked in at the hotel and went out to get some food. I am not staying in my cozy, family run hotel this time, but in a big, busy one, a stone´s throw from Charing Cross. Right in the middle of chaos.

What a shock to come from my peaceful and quiet house in the woods.

Most of all I wanted to run back to the hotel, grab my suitcase and take the Heathrow Express back to the airport to fly home.......which was not an option of course.

So instead I started to look around,

to see if I could paint some colours into the black day.

To my delight,

colours, light, warmth, love were not at all hard to find.

I am in London for a week. Partly pleasure, partly work.......which can also be pleasure.

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I met an American couple in the hotel elevator. "Why, tell me why have you you adapted our crazy Black Friday tradition in Europe?" I had no answer to give.

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Do not forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel: Britt-Arnhild on YouTube

And also follow me on instagram: @brittarnhildsstrikkedagbok 

@brittarnhild

@akeleiehagen

@trondheimtales

Or you can visit me in one of my other active blogs:

Britt-Arnhild´s House in the Woods

Britt Arnhilds naturdagbok

Akeleiehagen

dagens lille grønne

Fløy en liten blåfugl

Britt Arnhilds dagboksblader

Hyttelivet på Rastarbo

Blåklokkeveien

Med bøker på menyen

 

 

 

Sorting photos

@brittarnhild

I am back home and sorting through my photos. Yesterday was a lovely day in Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens. Packed with people because of some Half Marathon, but it is always possible to find quiet places.

Had a very long travel home though. When I came to Gardermoen in Oslo, from Heathrow, London, I learned that the airport outside Trondheim was closed because og mist. Had to take a night bus home.....7 hours. It was worth it though. The past 10 days has been a dream.

The oldest botanical garden in London

@brittarnhild

1673, that´s a long time ago, a very long time, isn´t it. 1673, the year the apothecaries in London started a garden to grow their medicine plants. The garden got the name Chelsea Physic Garden. I don´t remember when I first heard of this garden, but when I did I knew it was a place I wanted to visit. And yesterday that happened.

Over the centuries the garden has had its ups and downs, but today it is a walled oasis in the middle of London, where gardeners, teachers, guides, collectors and researchers are busy taking care of the plants. Taking care of life.

I have bought a book about the garden and look forward to learn more, and also to came back for other visits, may be at other times of the year.

I can imagine frost in the leaves in winter, may be a little snow. I can imagine the first spring flowers, and the full summer with its wide range of colours.

But more than that I imagine living in the garden. Walking. Painting. Drawing. Writing. Gardening. Dreaming.

Living the changes.

With a goal to show beauty.

By the way, the clematis shown in the picture below is called Traveler´s Joy. Isn´t that a most wonderful name :-)

Here is a link to the garden´s website.

 

Along the river Thames

@brittarnhild

Rivers fascinates me. I am staying close to Thames these days, she must be the queen of rivers. At least the queen of rivers running through main cities......though I guess most rivers do, as building a city on a riverside was the wisest thing to do.

 

Yesterday, as the sun set, I walked along the Thames in Richmond. I have wanted to visit this village of London for many years, and now was the time. Out of the busy summer season it was so peaceful. Hard to believe that London is just a stone´s throw away.

Weeping willows, they must be among my favorite trees.

 

Today my walk along the Thames continued. I started the morning with a v isit to The Garden Museum, on the other side of the river from Westminster. Chelsea Physic Garden was next on my list, and I decided to walk up there, along the bank.

 What I did not calculate was that after walking for may be 45 minutes, the pathway along the river was closed, due to building constriction. It gave me a 40 minutes detour, so when I finally reached the garden, my feet were quite sore.

Walking along Thames is never boring though.
Here I pass the remians of an underwater exhibition from last month. Workers were removing it while I watched.

These sculpures are made by Jason Decayres Taylor (according to what I read along the shore)

 

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Thanks for your comment on my travel blogging. The internet connection in my hotel room is terrible slow, so blogging take ages!

 

Sharing a fish meal

@brittarnhild

Back home again. Left London after breakfast and a short walk in Kensington Gardens. Heathrow Express. Flight from London to Stavanger. Another flight from Stavanger, via Bergen to Trondheim. Bus from the airport into town. Met by Marta. Home to a late dinner, Terje´s spacial fried salmon!

How good it was to be together again, the three of us, sharing a meal, sharing time. Marta is travelling to Riga in Latvia tomorrow, with a class from school, and will be away all week. But tonight we were together.

I have had many single meals this week. In the monastery I ate alone most of the time, lovely food prepared in the abbey kitchen, in London I had solo meals after Terje left.

I don´t mind eating alone. In fact I quite like it. Probably because I do it so seldom, it kind of feals like a treat.

Like it or not. I am happy to be home again. And I am deeply thankful for my family and our shared meals.

 

Photos: I took the photos in Kensington Garden this morning. Two ducks busy sharing a dead fish.

 

The Gardener

@brittarnhild

As many of you know, I am working on a book. A book which might never been published, it might even never been finished. But the writing gives me a lot of fun. At one time the main character in the books goes to London to work as a gardener in The Royal Parks, or may be she does........as the book is in progress, everything might change of course.

 

 Terje and I spent yesterday morning in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. Having coffee at The Lido Cafe, lunch at The Kensington Palace Orangery, and when I saw this female gardener working in The Sunken Garden, I couldn´t stop myself taking a series of photos.

Looks like Terje was more interested in photographing me though...........

 

Stylized life

@brittarnhild

Walking in The Royal Parks means smelling flowers, watching birds, photographing, teatime and reading time, sore feet and a lot of time for reflections. Outside Kensington Palace I met this "hair dresser", busy stylizing the shrubs.

Branches growing wild, in all directions, were efficently cut down. The criteria was style, beauty. The result perfect.

 

Or........

 

As I stood there watching, my thoughts wandered from the gardener and his work to my own life. How often do I cut my own branches, stylize my leaves to make the most perfect impression? How often do I display my perfect side, only my perfect side?

The gardener outside created beauty, a pleasure for the eyes.

 

But..........I do think I prepare life,
seen from all sides.

 

"You are Britt, the blogger"

@brittarnhild

I am not a shopper actually (books don´t count). During my days in London I didn´t even go anywhere near Oxford Street. But when one of the sisters at Turvey Abbey told me that her sister was the manager of a wonderful shop in Chelsea, "a place I am sure you will love", I knew I had to give it a try. "Take the tube to Sloane Square and walk down King´s Road, after a long while you´ll find Anthropology. You will not miss it"

Sr. Miriam was right. I couldn´t miss it. And I was drawn inside.

Well inside I asked for Christina, she came, saw me and exclaimed: "Oh, you are Britt, the blogger" and she continued, "please, feel free to take any photo you want"

 

I did. Took photos I mean. And even though I am no shopper, at least I want to believe that I am not, in this place I couldn´t restrict myself.

There were too many temptations.

I ended up with a new journal, I collect journals. A new sketchbook, I collect sketchbooks. And a new umbrella. Have you ever heard of anyone collecting umbrellas.......

And if I have room in my suitcase next time I come to London.......

....I might probably be heading for King´s Road

 

 

Here is a link to Anthropology´s website