The last day of September.

Afternoon sun, dirty windows & wooden blocks.

Time flies, and other clichés.

Only a week more at work before autumn break, what happened?
Wishing you all a good one!

Halfway!

Yikes!

Freja, 2 1/2.

Autumn:

Treasures from the garden + knitting projects lined up. Love it!

Playing is serious business.

The bestest mum!

I am so lucky!
Look at the sweater I'm wearing. It's big and beautiful and wooly and just perfect - and it's made with love from my mum! I attempted to knit it myself, but had to give up when realism set in: I'd never finish in time for winter (if ever!), so gloriously, my mum took over. This winter I'm going to grow quite a bit, so having a wonderful and big and warm sweater throughout this period will be gold. My mum is truly an artist with her knitting needles! She's already made two gorgeous outfits for the littlest Payne brewing there in the belly, and the collection of clothes she has made for the girls is just admirable. Thank you, mum!!
Ah, and it's Friday. What could be better? Here, PJ Harvey fills the room, candles are lit, chocolate is being consumed and feet are on the table. Yes!

I wish I was a cat.

Today:

Beloved Saturday! It all started very right; I was indulged a lie-in, which was much needed. Of the most charming aspects of pregnancy aren't the interrupted sleep, the state of not-being-able-to-sleep-on-my-belly-anymore, the constant lethargy and frequent yawns coming from me. So yes, getting to sleep a couple of hours more than normal is wonderful.
Ronja has friends over, we've all had rice porridge (as is the custom on Saturdays), the girls have picked flowers from our garden and then gone into the forest to play, Freja does her normal monkeying around, Daddy works on the house, I knit and yawn while thinking about dinner.
Now, more procrastinating before dinner actually has to be made. Apple crumble, perhaps?

Snuggle-up-day.

This little wonder and her messy-haired mum are having one of those days. How lucky are we?

The last touches of summer...

...are fleeting past, the wind has a cool and fresh draught, some leaves have already caved in and coloured themselves yellow. Thank you summer, it was lovely.
But now for my favourite time of year: Autumn, I am ready!

In the zone.

As a child, I loved sitting in a big chair we used to have by the bookshelf. My parents had lots of books, and I could spend hours sitting there, headphones on with one of my dad's albums playing (usually Bruce Springsteen or Dire Straits, or some obscure Norwegian singer/songwriter), looking through books, reading a few passages here, flipping through the photos there, suddenly becoming absorbed in something (usually something to do with the universe or the animal kingdom) and just losing myself there. It was entering a world of its own. I can still do it, get into that zone, and it makes my heart blossom when I see Ronja doing the same. Exploring, peacefully, feeding her inner world.

A walk in the garden.

...or the jungle, whichever way you want to see it.

Lately:

First, thank you so much for all the sweet comments on the previous post! They made me very happy!
It's been quiet here for a while, all due to what I suspect was a technical demon hovering over me. So many things have crashed here lately! First, both cars collapsed. One wouldn't start, and one was going nuts with the steering, as if it wanted to take us out of the road. And - because we live out in the country, and work at different hours, that was challenging. Luckily my wonderful mum lent us her car, so it looks like we'll see it through. And then, of course, the internet disappeared. Where it went, noone knows. Oh, and then there were all those littler thing that stopped working; dishwasher, several computer programs, phones.
Have the stars been aligned in a special way lately? Am I supposed to turn my focus into other matters? Are we too dependent on our modern facilities? Who knows.
The internet is back again, one car is fixed, the other will be next week, I fixed the dishwasher myself, the sun is shining and other aspects of our family life seems to work fine.
So what's there to complain about, really? Happy Saturday to all!

Freja wanted to see what happened if she dove from a rock onto the gravel. Evidence above.