silence and peace of mind

stillheit er eit totalt eller relativt fråvær av lyd... begrepet skildrar det motsette av bråk..



silence is a total or relative absence of sound... the concept portray the opposite of noise...


the deep dark fjord and the sound of waves.. a view of the green mountains with their snowy hats.. the quietness.. so intense, and still nothing is more relaxing.
the cabin at berkneset is one of my favourite get-aways in the whole world...
no pictures or words can justify the magic about this place. however I feel these pictures express the feelings and moods that this place brings out in me..

peace... quiet... calmness... beauty...

take a few seconds to look at each picture. really look at it. and see what feelings it brings out in you..



a late extremely good breakfast "i det grønne" with my mom, lasse & oskar



silence... and peace of mind...

and a little bit of noise!

"Vi skal ikkje sova bort sumarnatta, ho er for ljos til det. Då skal vi vandra i saman ute, under dei lauvtunge tre.

Så skal vi vandra i saman ute, der blomar i graset står. Vi skal ikkje sove bort sumarnatta, som kruser med dogg vått hår.

Og kjenna at vi er slekt med jorda, med vinden og kvite sky. Og vita at vi skal væra saman, like til morgengry.

Vi skal ikkje sova fra høysåtesangen, og grashoppspelet i eng. Men vandra i lag under bleikblå himlen, til fuglane lyfter veng..."

summer of '07

ah. gorgeous. its absolutely gorgeous. I just love my country to bits these days. volda is such a charming little place. and its so quiet here. I am not looking forward to move to a big city again in august - I really am quite a farmerish girl!!(I assume everyone else knew that like 15 years ago, I just realised it, haha).


this is janko, the horse that belongs to my wonderful second-cousin ragnhild. from time to time I get the honour of looking after him when she is away. it makes me feel completely spoiled cause he is such a fab&fun horse! we had long rides in the forests, climbing paths and walking over rivers and galopping whilst laughing (yes, he does laugh too!). he is also wonderful in dressage - its a long time since I rode an educated horse like him, and it really gave me a kick! one day I will get my own horse again, a grand dark dark brown one, with three white socks and a "bliss"..... oh yes!

here we walked to dinglavatnet and then to the vardehornet. beautiful! I did walk - janko didnt carry me this time ;)




this mountain, lidaveten, I also climbed myself... and some chocolate was very well deserved!


view over ørsta from the little mountain of lidaveten... and under, the view to the west, towards the big sea



and with all this exercise, we need lekker foods! yummy! I brought lovely things from spain, so we had a tapas night at my dads, honouring españa. wine, serrano, manchego, cheese-stuffed olives.. we also had meat balls, salads, couscous salad, and of course the fab spanish tortilla that I made(to the left) - the recipe belongs to the grandmother of a spanish friend of mine! gracias cariño luisito!


ah... I have come to a conclusion! summer should last 7 months a year (we are talking real summer, yeah). then 1 month of fall, 1 month of spring and 3 months of real winter (yes, still talking real winter, ne!) what you all think?

some more chilling under the gorgeous sunnmørske mountains... I have a feeling I will have many "biffbaguetta" (steak baguetts) here this summer! sant, per?




then! something big happend! on 9th of july my crazy beautiful little sister ingvild (the oldest of my sisters) turned 18 years old!!! GRATULERER MED DAGEN!
even tho I am old as a skunk I was invited to the party and dedicated to be the driver. we had a fab evening!!! and its so much fun that I can ask my sister when we at the bar "sista, do you want a drink?" ahhahaa! and most importantly - since I have been in the game for quite a while - I chase trashfaced slimy men away! ;)



for now, continue enjoying the light of summer.
the light that never disappears... the light of happiness and long summernights.

and remember... du skal ikkje sova bort sumarnatta!

altea!

oh my word! i have finally discovered kardemomme by (cardamom town) on earth! the fantastic little town of ALTEA, on costa blanca in spain, is the closest I will ever come to my childhood dream...

so. this is what I left (norway of course):


this is how much fun I had on the plane:
(very good book, tomm you are amazing!)


and this is what I arrived to!!:


a spanish lad came to pick me up with a minibus (- JUST me! ahahah I felt like a queen!). we drove in the heat listening to spanish music heading north from alicante - past benidorm, to albir, with altea as the destination... my mother met me with kisses on both cheeks, semi-spanish as she has become!! ;)


it was so good to see her again! and as we walked through the portal into the core of the old city, it was like walking into a fairytale!


when I was a child I loved the story about "folk og røvere i kardemomme by" (peeps and robbers in cardamom town - definately my translation there, yes) by thorbjørn egner. I still remember most of the songs, the three robbers, little kamomilla, old tobias with the beard, politimester bastian and all the others - and to this day I sometimes take the book out to have a look at it..

altea's old town consists of whitewashed houses, narrow streets, artist shops, portals from the middle ages, red flowers, old people with walking sticks and lots of nice small restaurants and shops. we have a little apartamento by calle major, with a gorgeous terrace overlooking the mediterranean on one side, and the view to the small streets and the mountains on the other. in the late afternoon the empty streets turns into restaurants as the waiters carry out their tables with white cloths and delicious foods.. and the energy is totally kardemomme by! :)

the two little windows you can spot (on the picture above) on the top floor to the left of the artistic pole is where our little apartamento is! its magical to walk through these narrow quiet streets in the day, unlock the brown door, climb up the stairs made of stone and then...

....having the best mom in the world welcoming me with cava (the spanish version of "champagne" or sparkling)!!

POPP!!! ... and of course its essential with some jamon serrano, queso manchego, melon, bread&allioli!


.. and also signing out of the outer world with rosèwine and olives on the terrace overlooking the mediterranean!! sjelefred!


stunningly beautiful altea, with its narrow streets and fantastic energy:

the first day I noticed this little chilled fellow (above) living in the street below. every time I saw him he slept. and he slept. and he slept. every day when it was siesta, from about 1pm till 5-6ish pm he was sleeping in the grand flowerpots outside on the plaza, I could see him from the window. however one day when some construction lads occupied his "bed" he found out that this was just as convenient:
and I named him "mister sovehode"! (sovehode is justins own translation of the english word sleepyhead, hahah)
here (under) he was actually awake enough to even speak to me! ;) sweetass! (you talkin' to me??)

hola turista!



altea means "health to all" or some people says "the one that heals". when you walk to the highest point of the old city you get to plaza del convento - kirkeplassen! here lies the church of 'Virgen del Consulo', the virgin of solace. its such a gorgeous church with its blue-tiled domes!! (parish, russian catholic..?)

... and on the seaside there is a gorgeous pebbled beach!:



essential spain: tapas, vino rosado, cava, agua de valencia..!
we went to a fab tapas bar (biggest I have ever seen!) in benidorm, quite an experience! (notice the jamon serrano hanging from the roof behind my mamma!)

... and more tapas on the streets of altea...


and this is the way a proper spanish cortado looks! yummyeeeeeey!



me in front of the tacky however fascinating manhattan skyline of benidorm!


artigkar!



so for now, barberer sørensen (nice job on the clarinet!), tante sofie (didnt see you this time), kasper, jesper og jonathan and waitor luis! I will be back in a flash!

by the way - I am considering to start my own travelling program - the hungry traveller!! ;) eat my way through the world (with more style than the thirsty one.... ) whatcha think?