Scotland

The beautiful village of Falkland

Wonderful cafe Pillars of Hercules, just outside Falkland..

Lovely Arbroath, a little fishing village by the North Sea.

Downton Abbey love

Love, love, love the new ITV series 'Downton Abbey', set in England at the beginning of the 20th century. Created and written by Julian Fellowes, who is very good, and has a great cast that includes the always wonderful Maggie Smith. And the costumes! Sigh!

Old Shoes (& Picture Postcards)

Scotland is crisp, cold and stunningly beautiful!

Adventures

It was early Saturday morning, when Husband and I packed Pug, our car, and set out on our journey to Scotland. England was beautiful in yellow, red and orange, and Scotland welcomed us with ominous black skies that made the yellow trees look even brighter than before. We packed our lunches before we left and stopped in a little village just over the Scottish border to eat and drink our coffee.

Scotland is beautiful as ever, the sky high and wide, the sea black with white wave tops, and the sunsets magnificent and sparkling. We will stay here for two long, wonderful weeks, and eat, live, laugh and love, before we again pack our lunches and coffee and start the journey back south again. Oh life, oh joy.

Things I like about living in Britain, pt 2

BBC Radio 4. According to Stephen Fry the greatest achievement of British culture, and I have to say I agree with him. There is nothing like it in Norway, and it's full of so many treasures... Excess Baggage, Saturday Live, The News Quiz, Women's hour, Book of the week, Desert Island disks, PM, Poetry Please....

Farmer's Markets. They're everywhere, every weekend. Great places to buy home made food, cheese, breads, organic food and vegetables, meat, cakes, you name it. And they always, always have free tasters!

Pubs. There just isn't another country that takes its pubs so seriously. You find them on almost every corner, and although a lot of them are shabby and not so nice, quite a few have great atmosphere, good beer and lovely traditional pub food like burgers, pie, bangers and mash... And some of them are extraordinary, like Anglesea Arms and The Dove in Hammersmith. Outstandingly good food and the best beer! And this takes us to the next point.....

Beer. Although not as good as the Belgians, the British know how to make a good beer. Preferably served in a nice pub, by a nice fireplace, in good company. Fuller's, Wychwood, Brakspeare; Honeydew, Brakspeare Oxford Gold, Hobgoblin, Wychcraft, Discovery..

Roast Sunday lunch. I really like this tradition, and even if it's not that different from what we in Norway call 'Sunday dinner', there's something special about everyone having a roast on Sundays. Families getting together, the roast cooking in the oven for hours, creating a lovely smell all day long. Roast chicken, roast lamb, roast gammon, roast pork, roast beef. Mmmmmm....

Marmite. You either love it or hate it. I love it. Perfect with cheese on toast. Yum.

Take a walk in the park...

And my tights matched the trees...

We met a little friend who was stocking up on food for the winter.

And the trees were very pretty..

And we picked some conkers, too..

Things I like about living in Britain, pt 1

Alan Bennett. Wonderful writer, wonderful man. You just want to put him in your pocket or give him a big, big hug.

Tea. One of the first things you learn as a citizen in the UK, is that it's always time for a nice cuppa. The first thing they think about when they wake up, come home, get to work, have a break, go out, get together, watch tv.. etc etc

Afternoon tea. Does not only include tea, but also scones, cakes, champagne and sandwiches: egg, cucumber and ham and cheese. Yum.

English rose. I love the expression 'English Rose', and there are lots of them around, but the Brits do rose gardens pretty damn well. Little oases of calm, peace and lovely smells.

Brogues. A representative object for the perfect gentleman, I'd say, but who says we girls can't wear it too? Certainly an important part of the British way of dressing.

Tweed. Another important part in the British wardrobe, both for ladies and gentlemen.

Picnic. Usually involves Pimm's or champagne (preferably the latter in my case) in Britain, apart from the standard finger sandwiches and scones. These could, of course, be replaced by proper home made bread with brown cheese and cinnamon swirls if you are Norwegian.

Sunday project

When it is still raining outside, and you're feeling a little rough because of the cold that's brewing in your body, you can for instance sit down by the sewing machine and think of new things to make..

Finally Friday!

The weather is properly horrible today, and I secretly like it, possibly because I have the day off and have the option of not going out at all. On a day like this it might be nice to:

- sit inside, with Edith Piaf, a lovely cup coffee and some magazines

- look through cook books to figure out what to cook for our friends who are coming over tomorrow..

- watch an episode of Gilmore Girls
- put on a lovely spotty rain coat and go for a walk in the pouring rain.

- walk through all the lovely leaves on the ground
- look at the beautiful colours of the trees

Hope you all have lovely plans for the weekend!

Work hard, play hard

So this is where I work 3 days a week. A Jane Austen dream.. It's situated in the country side, in a very big park. These kids have no idea how lucky they are....
This is the view from the music room. Pretty cool, huh?

Pretty Purple

Pretty purple polkadots.

Pearly pears on pavement.

Pepper pot full of popping popcorn.