Weekend Serenity

Table set for red lentil soup, drizzled with feta, lime and with homemade foccaia bread.

We just had an incredible weekend. We were blessed with a couple couchsurfing OUT of the blue, visiting Europe from the States and Canada. We have had some incredible adult conversation and a well-needed dose of inspiration to cook.

I recommend this wonderful cookbook Rebekah had with her on her travels. We had an incredible linguini pasta with vegetables and a beautiful peanut/ lime sauce. Incredible. The recipe called for bok choy, which we don't have so often here in the outback, but we do have chinese cabbage- kinakål- for Norwegians, mostly used for salads from the 70's. And I never really paid any attention to it. BUT you can stir-fry it. Wonderfully crunchy, new and dirt cheap.

It is in the mail from Amazon as I type! Have been inspired to keep a list now of cookbooks we use on the side here. The Three bowls Zen Book was one we had in the old house, reordered it now. Vegetarian dishes are a good reminder to use more veggies.

Remnants of earth hours rolled beeswax candles. And spring lilies.

And being ever so intimate and loving with her lea-dolly.

my two boys in the sun.

Sunday chocolate chip cookies.

EARTH HOUR

Don't forget! Participate, light candles, talk with your loved ones!

We will be having a great dinner with some wonderful couch surfers.

All the best for today!

Blog header

I am stumbling around in the virtual world of configuring blogger headers, pixels and pastings.

Have patience with the confused formats. Have to go to bed now. early birds wake up in 6 hours.

First signs of Spring

Snowdrop down, crocus up

Head held down, and head up

Down to Mother Earth

And up to Father Sun

Winter is over, and Spring has begun.

- Candy Verney

I found a tiny snowdrop blooming in the cold.

I'll share with you a secret, the little flower told.

Though Winter still is here, he hasn't long to stay

I came across to tell you, that Spring is on it's way!

-Christina T. Owen

Winter is stil very much a fact. It is raining bitter cold. We were at a playground today, the little ones have been asking for so long to go, so I decided to try and see if we could find the swings. The snow had melted enough to barely swing above ground. It was pounding rain, and foggy. But Lea loves to swing, and we found some buried tractors and shovels where the sandbox used to be, so Noa was set for an hour. So nice to be back to that.

::Work In Progress Wednesday::

I am felting all the kids little easter eggs, for Easter Sunday next week. I had been wanting to for a long time, something organic and natural, and I found a great tutorial on Rhythm of the Home. Will post some more pictures next Wednesday. Have finished one so far. As I was working on that, Jasmin wanted to felt too, she does best at flat, dry felting.

Yellow hearts everywhere.

I am also making a dolls blanket for Cecilia, Jasmin's doll.

Funny pictures of Noa in girls clothes show up everywhere. Not so easy to understand for him WHY he is not allowed to wear a dress, so I say he can. Hoping that will not damage his masculinity...

House plans.

Spring is upon us! Thank goodness. The winter had been famously long, stabile and cold. Spring will be absolutely divine. The house plans are moving forward. Beautiful, functional.

Toy making WITH children

Jasmin needed som money for her store, Noa needed logs for the tractor. Toy making is not so complicated. Needed: saw, branch, kids.

I have been looking quite a while for a child sized REAL saw. Found it not at a hardware store, but at the only real toy store in Norway:Alveslottet. The owner had also been on the hunt for some time. They do exist. Quality is good enough.

Baskets of goods. Food, boats, money, blocks.

This is a wonderful tractor we received from Aunt Rikke, Faster Rikke, Anders' sister in Denmark.

Quick peek at the trees and one of the squirrels Anders made for Christmas. Beautiful.

Diving for scallops

Anders and Jon Kristian went out to the coast last weekend to freedive for scallops, oysters and fish. Lucky us. We even got all three to taste them raw, right from the shell. Sceptic, but brave. Most fun were the shells. We are blessed/ cursed with substantial amounts of them...

Ode to Love

These last weeks have been a little tough. They have all been taking turns laying sick on the sofa, the weather has been damp, the spring happiness has been a little clouded by tiredness and housework duties, kindergarten projects and outdoor adventures have been limited to around the house, simply doing the rhythm of the home, everyday, is a joy. Luckily we have the morning rituals, the nature table, and the songs to remind us when and what is going on outside.

We have been blessed with amazing architects for the house. They are creating an amazing house for a family of 6- organic, modest, at the same time functional, and modern and aesthetic in form. As such, the evenings have been spent working on these, and Anders is doing an amazing job with the bureaucracy and insurence company that follows a fire.

We are blessed with the status quo.We work a minimum amount of time away from the home. Our children are here, with us, happy, and we are utterly aware of it. Acknowledgment and awareness is half the happiness.

Ode to Anders for finding the driveway.

Ode to two little ones.

Lea loves daddy. No doubt.

All the love, all the love.

Note on t- shirt: If you do NOT know Banksy, DO. He did the all important "Girl with Balloons" on the illegal built wall of segregation in Israel/ Occupied Palestine. He does some amazing stencil art, which is technically graffiti. I recommend a book of collected photos. Or see "Exit through the Gift Shop"

Signs of Spring

This last week Winter has been pushed aside by rain and melting snow, blazing sunny days and melting snow. Spring is right around the corner. The seasons this year are timely and exact. Now we are preparing for Easter, birthdays and planting. The snow is still deep, so no signs of buds or tulips, but we have dug out one area for early planting, AND the sandbox has been located and we have begun to dig it out.

Mrs. Thaw ( Tante Tø) has been on the Nature Table for a week. Made by Haddy2dogs.

:::WIP Wednesday:::

The work in progress this week is crocheting a rug for jasmin's small toes when she wakes in the morning, and preparing for easter.

This one is super easy. Long ripped strands of old pieces of bedsheets and curtains at the used store, "Plant et tre" (Plant a tree) here where we live. I have a great hook made out of holly, got it at Nøstebarn a year ago. Size 10 I think.

Green grass in baskets. Ready to bloom.

White Sunday

Picture of "The White Bear: King Valemon" fairy-tale on the Nature Table

One Small Change:::March

March thundered in on us unexpectedly.

February passed in a wind of visiting grandmothers, I went to London with my brother, and all three kids have been sick for over a week. At least we are on our way out of it now. The days have passed almost without time, as the winter is stabile and cold, the snow white and the sun bright. I miss being outside.

March's inspiration is cloth, cloth, cloth. Cloth napkins, cloth diapers, and cloth pads for women. Which I highly recommend.

We always use cloths in the kitchen, for everything, and we have 30 in a drawer, so we wash a lot, but napkins are more formal, and can be used to highlight the color of the day.