sneek peek

 I wrote another little piece for a local newspaper...

here is a little sneek peek of to of the pictures I sent along:

front porch

A simple wreath with moss...

a wooden box I've had for years... 

two tree stumps...

that's our front porch this autumn.  

fall mantle

autum for me:

crisp air

tea

nature

fireplace

books

apples

candles

I tried to capture the essence of autumn in my fall mantle this year. :)

tea time

With the colder weather arriving, I find myself drinking tea again.

I cook my water, using an old water kettle.

And I put the tea tray together again...

Cups, small spoons, brown sugar and a good variety of teas.

African rooibos tea is my favourite right now.

Come over, let's have some tea.

the story of a small fireplace

Two years ago I made a simple fireplace out of stuff we had lying around (see here). 

2010

I took it down when I moved the bed and had set it up in my husbands office for a time.

2011

I had to take it down there, because Mr Viking has too many books... and he rather wanted to have another bookcase than a faux fireplace! (Can you imagine!?!)

So it spent some time ... ahhhm below our bed. 

In summer I had an idea.

I bought an small electric fireplace.

( it reminded my of visiting England as a teenanger...)

As there is a closet on the other side of  the wall I wanted the fireplace to go, it was just to make an opening as big as the fireplace and insert it into the wall/closet behind.

I added some board and batten around and I am now the happy owner of a REAL faux fireplace.

Mr Viking likes it, too.

This is the true account of the story how a little fireplace reached it's final destination.

Happy fall, ye all!

New pillows to me must be like new shoes to other women. ☺

I like the velvet lamp shades I found at the local good will.

The safari chairs, whom my sister in law found at a flee market in Germany add a touch of quirkiness.

They are surprisingly good to sit in!

We have stocked up on fire wood, I have plenty of my beloved rooibos tea... I feel prepared for winter.

a glimpse

I love this glimpse from the hallway into our bedroom.

hiking

There was one Saturday in September where the sun was shining from a blue sky.

We decided to let all other projects be and take a family hike.

The goal was a kind of fortress / military defence ruins from WW2.

(When Norway was under German occupation the Nazis build a lot of stuff like this along the coast, because they thought the alleys might try to defeat Nazi Germany from the north.)

We did not find any trail, but we knew it was somewhere behind these rocks.

Rocky it was...

and there where bushes and heather ...

but the kids loved it. The youngest wanted originally go to the playground. So I told the kids: 

Hey, this is God's playground and much more fun then all man-made ones!

And fun they had.

As a mother of four boys I'm learning that sometimes I just have to look away and pray they wont get injured...

Yes, two of the boys climbed all the way over these rocks!

The view was magnificent!

And then we saw the fortress.

The only problem was there was a kind of valley between there and us, and it looked very sumpy.

But we made it to the other side ... not everybody had still dry feet, but most of us had!

Going up there... oh the view!!!

Towards the south, the area of Stavanger.

Boys climbing again.

Food break.

Exploring.

Resting.

But never for long.

Finding the balance.

On the way back we took the trail. We were amazed how less time it took us to get back to the car.

But much less fun.

Hoping for more nice weather Saturdays this year!