fall

Preparations

untitledAlina Tran12019-4

These days I’ve had little work and all this time on my hands. The first few days were blissfully relaxing, then I started panicking and now I’m back to “I couldn’t care less”, there’ll be more work than I can handle when it picks up. Meanwhile I can read my photography books, take pictures and bake bread. Today I made a fantastic pumpkin and walnut bread and I can’t wait to get hungry again to have some more of it. I’ll blog about it soon enough.

untitledAlina Tran12019.jpg

The other days my buddy Sam and I hit the woods for a morning walk and since there was nobody else there that early, I let him run free and he was ecstatic! He would dip in the river, chew on some sticks, run right past me and then come back to see what had become of me since I’m walking so slowly.

untitledAlina Tran12019-2.jpg

Nature was amazing that particular morning, the frost made the ground turn surreal and I imagined how lonely it must feel to be that bench in the middle of nowhere.

untitledAlina Tran12019-3.jpg

Here and there, broken branches fell heavy from a tree and the river raged rusty with leaves. Sam barked at it and grinned at me, showing me all his small teeth, I could read bliss on his face.

untitledAlina Tran12019-8.jpg

Back to civilization, I was saddened to see so many apples left unpicked, I know many residents are old and can’t reach them, but I would die for an apple tree and would have gladly helped had somebody asked me to. 😉

untitledAlina Tran12019-9.jpg

I’m turning mad from house hunting, today I actually decided to take a break, ’cause it’s simply not good for me. Every time I see something I like (and it’s not that often!), I keep imagining myself settled in, drinking coffee on the porch and enjoying the garden and I can’t even sleep with excitement. Unfortunately, most of the places I’ve liked have either been far away or not to my significant other’s taste and so instead of getting angry, I decided I should let him take initiative. Stay tuned…

untitledAlina Tran12019-11.jpg

The weather is cold, but sunny and since I’ve managed to regain some energy, on Saturday I was out lunching with a friend of mine at Ahaan, where they serve the most fantastic Thai street food and the best non-alcoholic drinks I’ve had so far in Norway. The experience was so uplifting, I’m still a bit high on it today. Going back there soon with my F. ❤

untitledAlina Tran12019-13.jpg

Hoping this entry finds you well, tell me how you spend this November and what have you been up to lately.

xxx, Alina

Counting down to Christmas

IMG_8422.jpg

This is pretty much what Oslo looks like these days, although the trees are no longer green, since this picture was taken sometime in May/June. 😉 But yeah, lots of rain and umbrellas and Chinese tourists. When it’s not sunny, as it was yesterday, and all you feel like is find a little spot of sunshine to enjoy your Darjeeling on.  Continue reading →

Halfway through October

IMG_8240.jpg

Sitting here and waiting for the baccalao to be ready, thinking of this and that, as you do when autumn evenings are long and rainy and you barely get out of the house to walk the dog, who also hates this weather. The weekend was slow and unadventurous. I was supposed to go to a photo exhibition with some colleagues yesterday, but it was impossible to convince myself to step outside in the rain when I’d already been out with Sam for around an hour. So I made some pumpkin soup and we watched a Norwegian series, The Heavy Water War. Not bad.

Today we woke up at 10, rain drops whipping heavy on the window pane, outside as dark as a November night.  In spite of that, I managed to drag my ass to the nearest coffee shop with Sam to meet some friends, I tied him up under a roof not to get wet, but he wanted to be able to see me and so he preferred waiting outside in the pouring rain just to get a peep inside the coffee shop. Such a stupid rule not to allow dogs in! I felt so bad for my pooch.

Otherwise, I even managed to go to the gym, where I did the usual exercises with just as much enthusiasm as ever, read none, so I could have an excuse to put my feet up for the rest of the afternoon. How are you spending dark October evenings?

PS. I asked my mother-in-law for lessons in knitting, I used to be an ok knitter, but I could never read recipes, so I’m going there when I’m done with my photo courses to learn to make a dress for Madeleine. 😉

xxx, Alina

Fall Again

I have to admit I was done with the Mediterranean heat, but did I see fall coming? Not for a second. It’s been raining on and off for days and it’s the second weekend it’s pouring like there’s no tomorrow. Depressing doesn’t even begin to cover it. I feel like going to bed never to wake up again and I’m not even kidding.

45628106_187854688763683_7835279138393948160_n Continue reading →

Grandma’s Place

As you might remember, grandma passed away last November and I’ve been missing her ever since. It’s not that I saw her that often, but I liked to know she was always there. For the past 18 years I made plans to stay with her for a week and learn how to make green walnuts jam, biscuits and cheese pie, but I never got around to do it. She lived in the countryside, she only got a toilet 5-10 years ago, the summers were too hot and the winters too cold and so on. Excuses, excuses. And now she’s no more.

_MG_2801.jpg Continue reading →

Apple galette

So I made this amazing galette last week, but it didn’t turn out as pretty as today, which is why I had to wait to share the recipe with you. I found it here and I only dropped the salt caramel, although I had more than a week to find the time to make it, but either I didn’t have enough butter, a clean pan or the disposition for it, ’cause it never materialized.

_MG_2627.jpg Continue reading →

Fall Days

I’ve started writing a bit, nothing amazing, just short stories I have trouble wrapping up, so that’s why you haven’t heard from me in a while now. Otherwise I’ve been walking Sam in the woods and taken lots of pictures of mushrooms, there’s an awful lot of them this year and they’re so pretty! I’ve been trying to go to a mushroom course for two weeks in a row now, but the planets don’t seem to be aligning in order for that to happen- either I need to work or they’re fully booked. Oh, well. Next year, then!

Skjermbilde 2017-09-29 11.25.52.png

Continue reading →

Fall

Summer is gone. Instead, the rain has come and washed over its last traces, making me cringe inside and not feel like leaving the house. Fortunately, Sam is with me and I have to walk him, otherwise, I would have invented any number of excuses not to get wet. I don’t have rubber boots any more, I threw them out when I moved, suddenly they felt ugly and dirty (they were red!) and I couldn’t be bothered to clean them up. haha! Now I need to find a pair of black ones, so the dirt won’t show.

Skjermbilde 2017-09-06 11.01.05.png

This days all I ever feel like doing is write, but it seems I have nothing to write about. It feels like stories are buried under my skin, where the thought can’t touch them, they need to be lured out and I don’t know how. Also I don’t feel like disclosing anything about anyone close to me, so all I can write about is me, but I don’t exist in a void, I’m a contextual person, so you see my dilemma.

The rain depresses me, I hate getting wet.  There’s a grey mist outside my window and the cobwebs are heavy with rain drops. Some days I could give up the whole city for the prospect of living in a house with a small garden. I miss having a cat and I miss having a garden. I grew up in a house with my grandma until I was 13. There were not many flowers to speak of in our garden, but we had the freedom to step outside and sit under the quince tree. In spring the lilac tree was in bloom and in summer we could pick sour cherries straight from the tree. And the quinces started ripening about this time of year. It’s amazing how that never leaves me, I have this recurrent memory of sitting under the quince tree in a T-shirt, dangling my legs.

I should get going. I have lots of errands to run and no energy whatsoever. I could sleep the fall away.

xxx, Alina