After the cleanout.

Yesterday's afternoon work resulted in an empty house and a full container.
It's such a strange feeling emptying a house like that. All the little things you find, imagining this person's life, all the movements in it. And there I am, a complete stranger, going through his stuff and throwing it in a container. Mind you, I am keeping a bit of it, and with much love and gratefulness. It really feels like an honour to have found a place like this.

For the fetishists.

Yes, I too love retro (even though that word is suffering from a great deal of tear and wear).
Today's find in the garage:

Mrs. Payne loves...

...her lamps!

Romance & technology.

There are so many love stories. Ask any of your friends, and they will all have different stories about how they met their beloved one. Some are wonderfully weird serendipities, some are friendships turning hot, and undoubtedly some are results of arranged dates - maybe even through dating sites on the net. After a look through The House today, I discovered that these online date services aren't as new and modern as we may think:


Apparently, this dating service had so many women in their database that you could meet with a new one every day for the next ten years. Wow!
The ways to find love are different, and all are romantic in their own ways. I know my love story is - what about yours?

Guest blogger!

Hello music loooovers!
This is it. This is now. Maria, Maria vino tinto. Thank you for being you. This is us. Now.

Love from Henriette*

Today:

Rainy Friday. It feels kind of nice every now and then (note my words, weathergods!), to stay inside, light the fire, drink coffee and read book, and do just that, while babymonkey is sleeping. No hoovering, no planting, no laundry, no tidying, no work. Just that. And after, when she wakes up, we will walk up into the forest; maybe.

Our house.

...or hopefully, something like what it will turn out to be. (Wow, what a sentence.) So yes, these are some of the drawings! It's going to look great in real life, and we're so happy with the solutions we've worked out with the architect.
(I am supposedly the person lingering on the porch there, I've probably lost my keys or something, waiting for someone to come home and save me. How typical.)

Ronja concentrating + summer flowers.

Infatuated.

The lamp: One of the treasures found in the house. Love it!

Today:

Suddenly decided to do something about the setup of our dining- and living room, had a huge drive of energy, did it and now so pleased! Also, starting the day with a walk in the woods, and on top of it all discovering that our garden-to-be has a huge white lilac tree, well it made my day. I'm not very hard to please, you might say, but I choose to believe it's the small joys that count in the big picture of life, yup!
Happy Sunday to big and small!

Look who's walking!

The time has come. A huge step for mankind!

Freja.

Mrs. Payne loves...

...Stein Torleif Bjella, Razika and Susanna - three very different (but all wonderful) Norwegian musicians/ bands.

Hope everyone is having a good Friday evening. I am. First day of SUMMER BREAK.

The Big Day!

Ronja has been counting down for aaaages. "Is it the 17th of May soon?" - "How many days now?" - "What date is it today?" (- at which point I will answer: "It's the 1st of June! Oh NO! We forgot about the National Day!". She never falls for it.) This morning, even though she very well knew what day it was, she had to ask, just to be sure. And finally. THE DAY OF THE PARADE HAD ARRIVED. Phew!
I remember this so well from my childhood, how wonderful the celebration of our National Day was. Basically, there were three important days during a year: My birthday, Christmas Eve - and the 17th of May. So even though the pressure leading up to the day is intense, I can so easily identify with her. And this year was special, as it is her first year at school, and thus got to be a part of the parade with the marching band and the whole school and everything.
It all answered to her expectations, as she said: "It was even more fun than I thought!".

The rest of the day was spent eating ice cream, cake, cookies, more ice cream and more cake, and hanging out with family.
Very nice, but it's also ok that it's a year 'till next time. In between, there's my birthday and Christmas Eve, so still loads to look forward to!

Photos above: Two happy and one sceptical Payne + Freja and grandad on the way to check out the gravel.

The canvas!

This is The Spot - where it's all going to happen in the next few months (well, apart from here, that is...).
Ready, set - PLANT!

Yours truly, The Field Workers.

Spring term comedown.

After hugging sweet students goodbye yesterday, seeing them off to new challenges and adventures, I went home and sat. Time for reflecting upon the term that passed so quickly, to plan the year ahead, with new students and new ambitions. Time for letting it go, and time for a glass of wine with my love, accompanied by our chickens jumping up on the table, a warm drizzle from the sky, and the birds having a party in our forest.

From dusk till dawn.

Finally, some rain! I had my students over for a goodbye-barbeque yesterday evening, they are leaving on Friday, off to the rest of their lives... It's always a bit sad to see them go. We sat in the garden, ate and talked, and the evening was perfectly rounded off by drip-drop rain on our noses. It's so refreshing after such a dry period!

...and when we got up this morning, the fog was beautiful on our hillside, and the sun broke through bit by bit. Magic!
Wishing everyone a lovely day! I'm going out to further prepare the vegetable garden - we've got loads of seedlings in the window, aching to get out there!

The wedding planner.

For some reason, Ronja is really into weddings and brides these days. She asks loads of questions, makes plans, dresses are being sown (for dolls!), and she has created a whole wedding procession in her room, with ponies and a cart and everything. It puzzles me why this has so suddenly occured. It could be because of the recent English royal wedding, but I choose to believe she has just misunderstood, and mixed up wedding with weeding, which we will do a lot of in the near future. Haha!

Final resting place.

Ronja found a dead finch the other day, and with much devotion and thoughtfulness, she created a mausoleum for it in the sand. It has a very comfortable bed, flowers and plants in there, and of course a beautiful gravestone. It reads: "Here rests Lille Pip. Dearly loved."
Lille Pip must feel very privileged, looking down from his cloud.

Milestone.

Yesterday, we received the keys to our new/old house. It's the main house on the farm, but was given to two of the brothers in the family who built the farm. They lived there as bachelors throughout their lives. Now that they have both passed away, the house is released from the contract. When we bought the farm last year, everything but the house was a part of the deal, but it can now be transferred to us. We've got loads of work to do, and we are sure it won't be glamourous all the time, but we know we'll see it through and end up with a beautiful home for our family. So beware: some blogposts in the future might be about The House Project. And any hints, good advice or general warnings are welcome and appreciated!

A few of the treasures I have found in the house. (Note the picture - of Beethoven's gravestone!)