18 years!

It was our wedding anniversary on Sunday- 18 years! And our oldest went into the garden and made this flower boquet for us as she has done before. Isn't it gorgeous. Have to mention that she is also the one who took the picture!
We have already done our little "something" to celebrate: this year we went to Storefjell hotel resort at Gol, we also went out on Friday night in town..











And this is how far I've gotten on the knitting project.. It's not like me to stick to only one knitting project at a time, but I'm really trying to stick with it....

I have also worked on my Ravelry notebook today trying to get some finished projects uploaded. It's time consuming since I haven't done it sucessively..
But I gotta say- wow what a great site Ravelry is!

finished the bottom pattern on the jacket last night, have now started on the rest of the sweater that has a repeating, simple pattern. Go, me, go!!

Antikk og samlermesse i Stavern

Yesterday I drove to Stavern to attend the Antique and Collectors' fair. My youngest came with me which was nice! It takes three hours to get there from where we live but it was nice driving weather, some sun, some clouds, and we had a light breakfast while driving.
I had my eye on some cool zink items for the garden, some enamel jugs and some old wooden boxes that would have been perfect by the entrance- but I thought it unnecessary, really.Can you believe it! I can't. But when there is enamel mugs that would be pefect for wild flowers on the table - but they cost 450,00 NOK (80 USD)the thought "do I HAVE to have this" strike your mind...........
(I'm more in a wool mood these days, fighting the urge to buy yarn and stash it!)
A couple of booths were run by ladies specializing in the shabby chic style, too. Lovely all of it.


My daughter however, found three pairs of sunglasses, 30 NOK each and threw herself over them right away.










On our walk from the parking to the fair we passed to really beautiful old houses and I couldn't resist taking some shots. I love MY house, but these were gorgeous too!!



Here is the one; the flowers are so beautiful.





















Here is the other, don't you love these windows!?


















we had a hot dog for lunch at the fair but didn't stop for supper until almost 6PM on our way back.. we were really hungry by then! Here C is waiting for her meal.









But once we had eaten everything was good in the world and we felt refreshed after having had a glimpse of the sea (shot taken by C on our way out of Stavern at the end of the day)

A really slow day here in the family. It's raining outside and my only goal is to do some laundry and knit/read/do whatever pleases me.
I've been down at Mom's for a little visit, brought her some samples from last nights' baking.
The morning was really nice since Hubby came home last night- after we all had gone to bed.

He is still on Asia time so he got up before me and made coffee. We had coffee and muffins together- and then he brought me a present: another digital camera!

He had been annoyed about the quality of the one he bought for my birthday- so he bought a much better one this time. I'm thrilled! We spent some time getting to know the functions. Now I just need to practice a lot!




First "lesson": This is how far I've gotten!

I spent the morning on the porch knitting while the sun was out.
Then there was a bit of tidying up to do before we went shopping for some baking ingredients. The youngest suggested baking muffins today and before we knew it there was two more things added to the list.. Pizza rolls and cinnamon buns.
Before we started I tool my mother to the hairdresser.
Now we are done- at nine in the evening- and finally I could open the window and get some air. Had to keep it shut since we had yeast dough rising.
Here is the results:
Bleuberry muffins, pizza rolls and cinnamon buns.

Now the knitting ladies have left. We were only five, but I had a nice time and three of them had new projects in their hands- which of course triggered the "oohhs" and "aahhs" from the rest of us.
We all had several cups of coffee so now I bet I'm ready for a late evening wihtout getting sleepy until past midnight!

Tonight is the last knitting cafe before we take a break for the summer. But the facilities we have used is the local volunteer centre and they are now moving.So I offered to have it here at my house.
I'm looking forward to be a part of a knitting group after some nights knitting by myself now.

Intense knitting for a couple of hours brings me A FEW rounds farther. Man- good thing I'm on holiday...
When I got home the girls wanted to rent a "Chick-flick" and came back from the movie rental place with a friend. I went upstairs to the other TV set and watched Barnaby- and knitted.
It's almost midnight. I better go to bed soon. Got up early this morning...

I've been down at the place where I go weaving today. We met for the last time this summer- we won't meet till the end of August now.. We vacuumed, dusted and cleaned the floors. It sure gets dusty from rags and wool flying in and out of the looms every Tuesday night!

It's sunny today but cool wind so the indoor life is more tempting than the outdoors. At least for spending time in a chair knitting. I have struggled with two rounds on this jacket yesterday and this morning but now I got it right and can keep going...
I got up early this morning and had almost two hours to myself before the youngest got up. Two cups of good coffee, knitting and "Reiseradioen" on the radio.... holiday life is good!

Yesterday the girls and I went to the library and got books about Rome, both for sightseeing planning and about Roman history. We are going for four days in October and are going to plan carefully to get the most out of it.
We are also planning to buy sketch books for visual journaling while we are there.

MIDSUMMER celebration

It's Midsummer celebration/St. Johns day in Norway.A day where many people go to a beach and have a bonfire, or settle in on the porch to spend the evening wiht friends, family, good food- maybe barbequed- and that sort of thing.
Hardly ever is it a day of good weather so some suffering is required- and lots of wool must be worn.
And here you see some of the clouds we've been offered this evening.

BUT: the girls and I prepared a great BBQ meal and started out with low music in the background and candles on the table.















Then there was coffee and cookies and some blankets around the butts!


Now the girls have gone inside to watch a show on TV and i've been out with the dog- and all we want to do is stay inside....
PLUS I've made a mistake in my knitting two rounds ago!!! GRRRRR....














But I discovered something: I have been permanently scarred from this knitting hobby: Look closely at my fingertip on this (somewhat blurry)photo. See the little white mark of hard skin where I push the needle for every stich I make?

OH???? you don't think I have gotten any further than last time I showed this piece of knitting?
Just to let you know, I am pointing at where I was last time. Just to prove to you that I'm working away at it. It's just that it's such damned long rounds on this thing!

Sometimes the morning coffee tastes more than good- today it's exceptional! I woke up with a regular headache- have to call it that since I am "The Proud Owner" of a rare one too.. But after a walk with the dog around the block and this out-of-the-body-experience- of a-coffee I'm almost as good as new.
Since I gave you a little
"tour" around my town last night I'll follow up with this:Starting in the back street behind my house...



But first I should mention in passing:
I was born in this town, I lived here until I finished high school,

then I moved to Hamar and lived there for 4 years until I had finished my education.

Then I moved back and worked for two years.

Then I was gone again for 3 years- 2 of them I spent in South America

Then I was back and worked for 4 years



- but I had met a Canadian while on holiday in Spain- and so I moved to Canada, North America, got married an had two girls, three step children and a dog. We lived there for eight years.
("These boots are made for walking..? By the way- what the heck am I wearing in this phto.. looks like nothing else I've seen)











Then we moved to my home town thinking this would be the starting point until we found a place in Norway where we both could find work. Turned out we both got jobs here. So here I am.
Why am I telling this tale now??
Because as I walk the dog in the mornings this is what I pass:



And this is where I lived the first six years of my life, in an apartment on the second floor. the whole block is buildings like this and they named it Sing- Sing after it was built. I had happy six years there though! (notice the mountain behind it? This is a very unique town nature wise- and in other ways too..)





I have lived three other places in this town in my life, but now i live here- in a house that is nicely upgraded but is soon to be 100 years old. And we love it! We might be rooted now. Althoug who knows???

I have indeed cleaned the house today! Dusted and sneezed, vacuumed, swung the floor rag into every corner of the main floor, got the upstairs bathroom looking decent and smelling good. After all that and some putting away (not ot forget) I just stopped dead and had a shower. The upstairs vacuuming and downstairs toilet and shower just have to wait until another rainy day- most likely that'll be Monday!
Mom came over around 3:00 PM and we had a great salmon dinner and coffee and some knittin'time after.
I have taken Emma out for a walk in pouring rain- and of all days we walked for about an hour! She needed two big towels to get dried off when we came home!
The commune has made a new walkway along the river from the old church (built in the 1914!) Here you can see the tower of it through the trees.

This is the church from the other side:

Then we turned onto the walkway from the main road.

















This girl was happy to get out, despite the rain!

















Along the way they have made little places for sitting down - on sunnier days that is....













Then we approached the old suspension bridge that has been there since before I was born. I used to go there with my grandmother bringing stale bread to give to the ducks. I have taken my girls there too for the same reason when they were little.



















Someone has put up a little bird house there...

It must have been a good trip for my dog- she has now jumped up on the couch and fallen asleep after a dry piece of bread and some petting...
And me: I'm ready for some KNITTING!

I knitted through most of the DVD of Narnia last night, my daughter and I watched it again knowing no 2 is coming to the movie theatres soon.. Felt like it took forever doing a round.Shiny cotton thread is not the easiest to knit with- I have already unravelled two sleeve- attempts. This morning I sat down to do a little more and discovered that my last round was wrong, so I have to unravel it..
Have promised myself to clean house today- so I better get to it. My mother is coming for dinner today, and I'd like to present a fairly decent house..Things have been a bit hapazardly attended to these last two weeks of school.

It's windy today and I usually dislike wind, but when I took the dog for a walk an hour ago I decided to change my attitude and enjoy the wind and the sun. It worked- my attitude changed. I picked my favourite weed in the ditch and you must admit they're beautiful, eh?
I'm looking forward to an evening with knitting!

Right outside my one living room window at this moment:

A little cool and windy this morning, partly cloudy. WHO CARES! I'm on holiday!! Had a lazy morning, seen the good report cards my daughters brought home last night, had two big cups of coffee, put some school bags away for the summer, put on some laundry and will soon head out for my usual Saturday grocery shopping and a visit to my Mom's.
But first a photo of something cool my youngest made at school recently:



And this is how far the knitting has come:

Last weekend hubby and I went away for the weekend, we went to this hotel: Storefjell hotell in Hallingdal
we brought the dog, the girls stayed at home by themselves the first night, the second night they stayed at my Mom's.
We enjoyed good meals, good wine, good company (went with two other couples) and a swim in the pool and a glass of wine in the outdoor jacuzzi (with hail in our hair!!!!)There was absolutely every kind of weather many times a day while we were there and on our way home it was wet practically the whole time




But going off together like that is always nice no matter what weather.. Our anniversary is at the end of June and we usually do something special around that time.
Hubby is now in Vietnam and Chorea, talked to him on the phone tonight- he had eaten some bad shellfish and was travelling by plane with an upset stomach! Not good, but during the weekend he has no business meetings so he can lounge in his hotel room all day.Close to a wash room...

The last few days at school was filled with setting up displays of art products, rehearsing little plays we were to show parents, cleaning up in the classrooms and carrying books from here to there... We have however had an entrepeneurship task during this school year; a cafeteria we have run every Thursday where a lot of senior citizens have showed up for coffee, sandwiches, cake and a chat. This has given the school an income. We gave away a third of it to charities, some of them local ones, a third is in the bank and the last third took the kids and us teachers to Bø Sommarland, Scandinavia's biggest waterpark for a day


We didn't have the best weather but the kids got in the water- and stayed there most of the day!
On Wednesday the school personell went for an outing -only one of us knew where She planned it and the rest of us didn't know anything.
We got picked up at school in the early evening by a mini bus (there were ten of us)that drove us up to an area of a neary valley where I've never been before. Halfway we were met by her husband who waited with rose wine and tapas at a place with the most amazing view.



Afterwards the bus took us to a place higher up in th mountains where they keep the cows and sheep grazing for the summer in order to get good milk, cheese and sour creme, a so- called "seter" where we were served a great meal of traditional food, beer and aquavit. I was home at midnight; it was a great evening!