Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

Fields of daffodils

@brittarnhild

Last summer we visited the small island Gossen/Aukra, four hours by car and ferry south west of Trondheim. It was then I heard about the fields of daffodils for the first time. "You should come back in spring" my friend told me when we drove past the church, "then these fields are painted yellow with thousands and thousands of daffodils. There and then I promised myself that I would go back in spring.

But when is spring in Norway, when exactly will the daffodils be in bloom?
The past weeks I have sent quite a few messages to my friend on the island, "how are the daffodils doing? do you still have snow? when will they bloom this year? And a couple of weeks ago I wrote again "we will be at our cabin fort the Easter holidays (our cabin is halfway between our home and the island) do you think the daffodils will be blooming then? 
My friend was sceptical, probably Easter time would be too early, and I told myself to wait for better luck next year. Our opportunity to see the flowers this year had to be Easter.

Then, some time last week, my friend wrote again, the snow has melted and with the warm, sunny weather we have now the daffodils will probably be in bloom next week.

All I had to do then was to convince Terje that six hours of driving home from the cabin was about the same as two hours driving, since we then got to see the daffodil fields, and also had an invitation from our friends to come and eat lunch with them. Terje is rarely hard to convince and yesterday we found ourselves on the island.

The story says that the very first daffodil bulbs were taken home from The Holy Island around 1720 by Alexander Borck who was a priest on the island then. Back home he planted the bulbs but was for a long time haunted by guilt. He had not been given the bulbs but had taken them, from Calvary, and now he doubted that God could forgive him. He struggled with his guilt for a long time until he finally prayed for forgiveness through one whole night. Finally dawn came, he looked out his studio window and was greeted by a field of yellow flowers.

He was forgiven, and for 300 years now people have been blessed by the yellow daffodil fields in spring.

 

If I had a flower shop

@brittarnhild

If I had a flower shop I would cover the pavement outside my shop with rose petals.

Red, yellow, white, purple. Like smiles to greet the passerby.

If I had a flower shop.......

 

.............

I don't have a flower shop and I guess you don't have one either.
But we can always cover our paths with rose petalsRed, yellow, white, purple.
Like smiles to greet the passerby.......

 

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

I took these images in Molde today. Molde is Norway´s  City of Roses
And quite a lot of other flowers.

 

Sightseeing with the American

@brittarnhild

Ardi loves clotheslines, so we take her to see clothelines :-)

 

Of course we also take her to see a lot of other things.

Like white houses with blue doors,

red houses with green doors,

and all ships decorations,

red peonies and more blue doors,

fishing boats,

and red fields of poppies.

I had my camera and Ardi had hers......

Lagre

A Room With a View

@brittarnhild

Three hours south west of Trondheim, forty minutes and a ferry ride south of our cabin, you find the charming coastal town Kristiansund. In February every year there is an opera festival here, and tonight Terje and I have tickets for Die Zauberflöte, The Magic Flute. When we came to check in at the hotel the man in the reseption smiled and said - I am going to give you a room with a view, and soon The Costal Line will arrive.

So here we are, looking very much forward to a night at the opera and then a late dinner in a fabulous fish restaurant here in Kristiansund, Sjøstjerna, The Starfish.

 

See you after the opera.......some time :-)

Visiting Kristiansund

Kristiansund is a small town on the western coast of Norway. From our cabin it is a little less than a one hour drive + two ferries. We spent a lovely day there last Friday.

One of the things which makes Kristiansund famous is the fish, and well known recipes are baccalao and fishballs, or "blandaball" as they are called localy. We ate a late lunch at the restaurant Sjøstjerna, on of course we had to try the local favorites. It tasted heavenly (or shall I perhaps say "oceanly")

The city is built on four islands. The photo is taken from the main harbour with a view over to one of the other islands.