Gingerbread house or town"ship"

Christmas is nearing and the discussions have started in our home on what this years little construction is going to be. Things are getting very advanced and heated. But here is a gorgeous little town and reminder of how many on our little planet will be living. Nothing like a reminder of what the focus in Christmas should be,....helping others.

found on the following site: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pepperkakeby-med-mening-Shitty-Cities/190358697709713

Time with lights

I actually love the darkest time of year. My husband just told me that the sun is going to "turn" in 20 days, ie. the days will start getting longer. I kinda thought it sad as it is just beautiful to see little lights shinning everywhere.

Magic mushrooms, Christmas decorations.

While it is obviously quite possible to fall off the band wagon, time just flies. But we are in the lovely process of preparing for Christmas, really just the best time ever. Here are little mushrooms that Uma and I have been making for the tree.

Lemon Curd Cake

Happy Birthday Uma!

Uma my 13 year old just had her birthday. As is tradition in our house she gets waken up on her birthday with cake. We usually have carrot cake as a birthday cake  but Uma wanted something different. When asked to choose what cake she wanted she said something lemony. So I checked out my favorite site www.detsoteliv.no and found a cake. Everything I have baked from this site has been such a success. I think the owner of this site has baked every cake she posts. The cake I chose happened to be her moms favorite. (I think she is a very spoilt Mom ;)) Solskinnrull (sunshineroll) seemed simple enough with a roulade recipe and lemon curd. But it was delicious and a huge success for the Uma Puma, who found it much easier to digest compared to rich cream cheese icing of the carrot cake.

cutest little cupcake candles :)

Turi-design, Victoria

Last weekend I did my rounds at a few fleamarkets which are usually held at schools as a fundraiser in Norway. They are great and you can get some really good deals. I found the most wonderful cofffee pot. Made in the seventies in a Norwegian factory called Figgjo, they have become very popular for their bright and flowery design by a particular designer called Turid Gramstad Oliver. I am surprised at their popularity as collector items and this one I figured is quite unusual :)

They are just so sweet and girly :)

Banana cake

Giggle, banana bread as I am more used to saying is old news in SA, there everyone makes their banana bread as soon as there are any bananas that have been hanging round a day or two to long. But here in Norway it is a little unusual, I guess many have heard of it but not many make them. I for one have never. So I decided better now than never. What a breeze no wonder they made it so often, it is so easy. I followed a great recipe on www.detsoteliv.no Had to just share how yummy it was and as always the older the banana the better the cake so don`t be shy!

Banana cake with chocolate and chopped pecan nuts and almonds.

Harvesting turnips!

Hope these are turnips, at least I think they are, we call them nepe in Norway. I happen to think they are delicious. But I hear that they are not very nutritious, sad cause they are a great fill in salads. Most surprising of all is they seem to grow very easily. I just planted the seeds straight into my vegie patch and thinned them out when the leaves started to crowd. I have since learned their are some flies one would want to keep at bay, so one usually puts a cloth over the leaves, but they didn`t seem to discover mine!

Dandelion field

Guess what work I am still doing in my garden?.... I am still pulling up dandelions, groan can you believe it. I even stooped so low as to use a chemical, which we now later realised killed off a lot of the stinging nettle (Yay!) but alas the dandelion is huger and stronger than ever. ie it will take me over a year to get them under control.

I do not believe in the total instinction of the flower, they are rather nice too and have many health values, although I must admit I am not wild about the taste. They are tiring things to pull up as one musyt always endeavour to get as much of the tap root up as possible. I do have one of the long weed puller upper things it helps. At this stage (in photo) the kids were told they would earn a hundred bucks filling a bucket with just the flowers, but that didn`t work totally I think they felt very rich at the beginning of their holidays! So now I almost long for the snow to come early to hide these tiring things that keep me so busy, like I have nothing else to do!

Nature is beautiful, just ask my son

Here is one of those funny photo´s that pop out of the "crowd" of holiday pictures. I have a little giggle every time I look at it and decided to share.

Not every creature has beauty, but it´s own special kind of charm maybe ;)

This is wolffish, very delicious fish. It is able to crush large shellfish with it`s jaw so it can eat the delicacies inside

My harvest, sweet garden peas

Yippi, what fun to pick away at ones own garden peas, Pisum Sativa. Being such a novice this is our first vegetable that we have grown and it was dead easy ie we did nothing to deserve such a sweet snap! It has rained a lot this summer obviously being our saving grace. Garden peas don´t seem to have many enemies either!

Reaching for the sky, to such a degree it shaded out a whole lot of sun for my paprika (which was not such a success but will teach me to plan better in future!)

Growing vegies in a box like this was such a success no hassles and no weeds! Just a whole lot of cow manure! (French Estragon next to it with yellow flowers was amazing too.)

Well, we never even got to cook them, they were just soooo good to go pick and nibble on that they never got further, little bowls like this just dissappeared? ;)

Hopefully next year the excitement of it all will have cooled and I actually can use them in my cooking or even freeze? Will have to see if it is a good idea though.

Swimming pool?

I just have to admit I am spoilt! I grew up with a concrete pool on the edge of a cliff, what fun! and later just a normal suburban pool. So when my husband came home with a round plastic pool and a wire fence, I took to ridiculing the pool with all sorts of ugly names. Who would wade in 1m and call it a swimming pool?! haha. 

But what a joy it brought the kids they were in it every single day, if the temp was over 20 (take after their parents in regard to swimming in cold water). Even I had a few dips after a few humid days at work. So after all it saved us a lot of trips to the lake, babysitting by the waters edge and entertained them for hours :)

Old love

I have just been in a 120 year birthday party, hold your hat on it was two people each celebrating 60! They are an old couple who we have known for a while, the kind of lovely people that you just consider yourself lucky to know. I thought about how many years work those two have put down together. Then since we know them from church I thought about some of the invisible stuff like how much love they have shown others! How much encouragement and comfort they have spread around to others. And how much they have loved each other.

Couples who have fallen in love and manage to stay in love, what a gift, and how rare. I am probably in this corner as I have just celebrated my 21st year married!

Hage forkle / Gardening apron

Dette har jeg ønsket å lage såååå lenge, ihvertfal i hele sommer ;) men jeg fikk det ikke til før nå, i ferien. Jeg synes den er så fin å ha på seg! Ikke noe svett som jeg var redd for siden jeg brukte voks stoff! Så praktisk å bare kunne tørke den av! Det er plass til mobilen ( jeg får alltid kjeft for å ikke ha den i nærheten) og lommen er dyp, så mobin ramler ikke ut. Og ikke minst plass til løvtannstikkeren, det er et av mine mest brukte redskaper! Vel man kan jo igrunn lage den akkurat så det passer deg, eller kjøpe en hos meg på Epla ;) Jeg kan selvfølgelig ta bestillinger og!

Oh dear and I said it all in Norgwegian, that was definitely tonights mindset, will translate in comments sometime,....for now good night :)

A little garden whimsey

This wonderful little buxus was seen in a garden I walked through and instantly I ( a 43year old woman) became Alice. It just opened up such a sense of adventure for me! ;)

Cool caravaning!

Well not quite yet, but probably according to my eldest I should keep the caravan just as it is. She would just love it´s originality :) But funny how generations all have their view. I remember how my mom would be so proud of how she decorated and I would think it really wasn`t that cool at all. Anyway, I don´t think I will keep the van in any particular "age" group, it`ll be a mix I think I just want a cleaner fresher look. The caravan though is exactly how I remember them to be in my childhood and I always thought they were very brown ;)

Here she arrives ol` Edelweis 505 and she is 11 years my junior :)

.....some moisture damage around the roof top window (or what ever they call them). The ceiling around that area is now stripped and a new ceiling will be put in. it`ll be white,....so the excitement remains as to what we do with cupboards and walls, wood or colour?! ...or non colour; white.

Fabulous original wallpaper all with green sink and shelf. ;D

You may not understand but I see such potential in my little home, I am struggling with some choices as there is so many styles to choose from. One thing is for sure, since I got the van for free, the whole point will be to keep it on a minimum budget. It`ll be great to see how much it all amounts to in the end. 

The family (without the eldest) made a very clear choice today with which swatch they liked the best, it was unanimous so the colours will be white and red with a bit of turquoise, pink. It just lit up the place so. That will give it more of a modern look with a retro twist. 

Making friends

Slowly but surely relationships grow. It is very difficult for Liam age 6 to understand that our new dog Gucci (one year old) finds him mostly scary. His toys fly through the air like missiles his actions sporadic and voice loud. Yet Gucci grows to trust him, and to understand that he is a little like her and that he too loves a cuddle.

My kids serve strawberries

A serving of wild strawberries!

I just love the way children do things their simplicity is beyond beautiful :)

Freestyle gardening

After living in both the Southern and Northern hemispheres I found that all the natural surroundings are both beautiful, but people have become better at incorporating a natural style in their gardens in the South. Maybe the arid areas and tropics are easier to copy. As I walk through Northern woods with old fallen trees overgrown with moss I wonder where one can find that kind of freedom in garden plantings. We have sooo many lovely plants in our garden centers and yet we just stuff them into a pot, give them copious amounts of feed and the enjoyment seems to end there.

Here is a gorgeous little plant we have had in the garden center all summer and I think it has not sold well because it may look unruly. It is called Rhodochiton (bloodbeger in Norwegian), its a summer flower and grows meters within the season, like so many annuals do.

Then there is lobelia which is better known and planted in a very limited fashion. Here is my hanging basket, with only blue lobelia which I faithfully hung up like everyone else.

Here is how a garden is supposed to look I think and I have most certainly not managed it. I am working towards learning some new tricks

Fabulous is it not, lobelia and rhodochiton, looking natural like they have grown there for a hundred years. What I am I missing, firstly I guess it is better structure and props....these are the things I will be looking for at garden center sales and flea markets. Then it is the ease with which flowers are planted in established green foliaged areas and not propped up on a balcony or terrace. And with that I am prone to placing my garden furniture in the actual garden again and smelling the wet earth.

<3

She sell sea shells on the sea shore

I am back to my reoccuring theme of: looking at holiday pics and finding inspiration. I just love shells no matter how much they go in and out of fashion.

How gorgeous are these! Wish I had taken a handful and spread them out just like they look here. Shells can be used as mulch and lovely decoration like they have done here:

http://www.hgtv.com/landscaping/transform-junk-into-jewels-for-the-garden/index.html

Fabulous suggestion this, so one can visit the local fish restaurant and get a heap of shells!

Retro camping!

Retro camping has become quite a popular term and I think it is so charming, one cannot help but fall in love with the idea. So I have just found a hobby to keep me busy till next summer. My parents have a mobile van which we have occasionally lent/borrowed ;) Everytime I sit in their van I dream of fixing it up. Well today I got hold of a 1971 caravan which I now am going to fix up,....alas we only get to fetch her tomorrow but I cannot withhold the excitement! The great problem is choosing a style as the inspiration is huge!

Isnt this tear drop trailer just too cute, found her at 

http://lemonlizard.blogspot.com/2010/06/retro-camping.html

This interior is just wonderfully relaxing! Stolen from:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/inspiration-no-chinz-vintage-caravan-melbourne-089339

...and the best for last, this is such an amazing interior, one seldom sees such assuredness in style!

found at: http://homeshoppingspy.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/caravan-cool/

These pictures are from a fabulous book called "my cool caravan" I have ordered it!

So I hope you spend you summer afternoons dreaming like I do and if any of dreams come true you will be sure to see them as I will proudly post them as they get done ;)

New fence

Since the new family member we had to stress to get up the last of our fence. I found a "natural" looking fence which I don`t think all my neighbours like but I LOVE :) today my hubby turned it into a gate too! Good to have a handyman man :)

This was bought at Solfang here is there link:

http://www.solfang.no/produkt/kastanjegjerde-120-m-hoyt-75-cm/

....and here is our gate!

Homemade lemonade

Nothing is more delicious on a hot summers day (of which we are having some :)) I have made a few varieties of lemonade but I have fallen for the simple and faithful, and it always delivers in taste.

Here is the recipe:

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

boil till all sugar is dissolved, then add

1 cup lemon juice.

Leave on counter to cool and refridgerate, lasts indefinetly, but never in my house so I make a few bottles at a time ;)

bottles from Ikea.

Beech Topairy?

Going through some holiday photos I see some I had almost forgotten why I had taken in the rush to somewhere else. These gorgeous trees had been trained and trimmed. I thought they actually were lovely (although I still love a true tree shape) Could one call it bonsai or a topairy I don`t know but a great idea for some tight and boring spaces!

Opposite the music concert hall i Århus
....and here I have found another picture, this time they are done with red beech, fabulous isn`t it!

This picture is taken at Rammegaarden, Hvitsten, Norway

Blueberries

The fruit of our labour today, all picked in my own little forest !

Help!

I have managed to open different sections on my blog but may have not done it correctly as I cannot save different articles under the different sections, it asks me but it wont move into the sections. I wouldn`t mind everything on my home post and the only botanical info on my "herbarium" section? Any bofs on blogspot?

New family member!

We are sooo excited about having gotten ourselves a charming bulldog. As many of you know we really have missed our old bulldog Cupcake very much! The bulldog Sasha as she is called is one years old and we have her here, but her owners need her back to have 2 rounds of pups with her. After that she is fully ours. We are getting to know each other and she has turned out to be quite playful tonight! Surprise as she has been rather docile till now. She has definitely been used to lying about in the couch so we have been having a fight about it, she barks at me when I push her off!!! Partly my fault as the first evening I let her up to make her feel comfortable.

....ain`t she cute!

Phlox

Phlox paniculata
Commonly known as garden phlox. Ironically it says that it likes loamy or sandy soil on the site I read from BUT it survives very well in clay. My soil is dark blue it is so clayey! Even more interresting news is that after digging up around the house to drain the soil around the phlox roots got thrown under a rhododendron bush and low and behold today I found it had shoots! I am amazed as we had an exceptionally cold winter measuring -27 degrees as our coldest. Well they have now been placed in a flower bed with very nutritious soil so I am wondering if it will like it there, it may be a little dry. This is the colour I seem to remember it as being, if I am wrong it is then bluer. ;)

A new thing!

Well spring is so exciting and I have definitely been shopping plants, bushes, flowers and trees. Not everything on my list is unusual but I have decide to catagorise them anyway, in what I call my Herbarium. Like a plant diary. I live in a relatively cold place European H4/H5 ( at least last winter places me in H5) and have clay for soil.  So here you will get to know what the plant is where I have placed it and how it is doing. Hope it will be of use to some of you. :) ...Oh and I almost forget, I´m starting a new little production of wares so a little internet shop will be opening too. All very simple to start with :)

Rammegaarden

This weekend has just had the best weather ever! My garden is still full of challenges but little areas are slooooowly coming together. ( As in the ground is level and I can start digging out to plant). I decided to take Saturday off and get some plants and inspiration. That so paid off!

I was so rewarded, what an absolute pleasure. First we were at a "plante loppemarked" (plant market) in our area run by the local garden club. It is arranged out at a farm and there are some interresting plants to find at these arrangements. It is wonderful to walk out with trays of flowers for just a few hundred kroners. But I knew I was on my way to another plant sale a little further south. An organic farm called "Rammegaarden" what a stunning place! I cannot describe how wonderful our day was. First there was a fantastic collection of unusual plants, they were having "garden days" so they were selling some interresting things. Here I spent as little money as I could ;) 

Uma and I then decided to go to the main attraction "havlyst" a huge italian/french baroque garden. It costs kr 80 ea. which I though was a lot but what a surprise, we were astounded it was so worth it. The garden runs down a slope towards the ocean. And there are little surprises the whole way down. If you ever have the chance don`t think about it, you will not be disappointed!

This is the first place you come to and here we had a delishes organic lunch which kept me filled for ages!

This is the first surprise you will see once you have entered the park it sort of just pops up as you are making your way through quite wild bush. And I have now decided not to put out all the photos as it will spoil your journey throught this garden, it is rather like spoiling a film or book for someone I think. So the last picture is taken from their site.

This photo is taken from their site (www.rammegaarden.no) as I am not a particularly good photographer. But this is exactly how we experienced it!