Nature Connections :: April

Nature Connections

is a collaborative link collection

posted at the end of each month

on Living and Learning.

Its purpose is to showcase photos of children

enjoying nature to inspire all of us to get outdoors more.

April have been a month filled with all kinds of weather. We've had snow, rain, wind and some sun. We've digged out a snowcave and built a snow bunny :) And finally we have also got some spring feeling. We have had days with temperatures up to 10 C. So the kids are happy not to have to go with 4 layers of clothes when they are outside playing in the mud :)

Yesterday Endre and I finally had our first lunch outdoors this year. Great to be able to eat out without having to wear mittens in a hurry afterwards;)

You Capture :: Pink

This week's theme was pink. Although I love pink and I have a daughter, there was not much pink to spot around the house... I found this little drawing of some cute little pink pigs on the fridge though :)

Yarn Along

It's Wednesday again and I'm joining Ginny over at Small Things for Yarn Along.
"~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? ... ~"

Knitting: I'm still knitting tiny hats and socks for charity.

Reading: I'm sure I'm not the only one reading several books at the same time... Right now I'm reading these + one more (Napoleon's pyramid).  I have just read a couple of chapters in The Land of Painted Caves, so I haven't made up my mind if I like it as much as the other Earth Children books. I'm also reading The Wayward Muse,  and I like these kind of historical novels. Hoping for a happy ending though. I took the picture earlier today so I finished reading the 7th Anita Blake novel during the day. Not the best book in the series, but I'm looking forward to the next book.

I ♥ Paperpotter

I spent some hours doing this yesterday. I bought a paperpotter a few years ago, and I love it. It's so great to make small pots to plant in. And I feel better knowing that I'm not using some kind of plastic pots that will break and get thossed in the trash.

I've planted leeks, cucumbers, Sunflowers, Nasturtium and a mix of pink flowers (Eirin's choise). I really hope we'll get some cucumbers this year. The first time we planted cucumbers we had the whole window filled with cucumber plants and picked lots of cucumbers all summer. I've tried a few times after that without any success... I haven't been able to find the same kind of seeds we planted that time, so we are trying some new kind each year ;)
Since I don't have much space to grow plants here, I dream about a little greenhouse... I also hope we can make the garden a bit like this. I'd love to have small patches where I could grow potatoes, rubarb, carrots, turnips, onions and maybe some strawberries :)
Since the warm season is rather short here, it puts a limit of what we can grow. But I'm ready to give it a try. I remember that my grandmother used to grow carrots and small turnips when I was a kid. And they tasted so sweet :)
So what are you planting this year?

You Capture :: Spring

When I saw that this week's challenge was spring, I just had to sigh, because there is not much that looks like spring around here... The rain and snow has been pouring down the last week together with lots of wind. Ofcourse the snow is melting, but it's just a slushy mash. I so long to hike to our lean-to in the forest, but the snow is so rotten... So I really hope this last meter of snow will melt fast in the weeks to come!

The kids are having a fun time in the swing though after we moved away some snow ;)

 

And with the wet, new snow yesterday we managed to biuld a Easter Bunny :) Have a great Easter everyone.

Yarn Along

Seems like the days just fly by. It's Wednesday again and I'm joining
Ginny over at Small Things for Yarn Along.
"~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? ... ~"

Knitting: I'm still knitting some small projects for the premature intensive care unit at my local hospital. Right now I'm making a pair of tiny socks to match a hat.

Reading: I've finally started on "The Land of Painted Caves" and I so hope this will be great read. Been waiting for along time to find out how things will end for Ayla and Jondalar. I had to reread the last couple of chapters in the 5th book - "The Shelters of Stone" first to "get in" the story again :)

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


What a sweet, beautiful and warm first love story this was! But also a story about growing up, doing the right thnigs and about those hard decisions in life.

I really loved it, espesially the parts when Henry was young. I would have liked to learn more about Keiko after she lost contact with Henry, Sheldon and Mrs. Beatty, she turned out to be a nice lady after all ;)

And there was some small mistakes made by the author... (Was there any internet support groups in 1986..? Did internet even exsist in 1986..?) Not that I cared so much about those detailes, as I loved the story itself.

Henry Lee is a 12-year-old Chinese boy who falls in love with Keiko Okabe, a 12-year-old Japanese girl, while they are scholarship students at a prestigious private school in World War II Seattle. Henry hides the relationship from his parents, who would disown him if they knew he had a Japanese friend. His father insists that Henry wear an "I am Chinese" button everywhere he goes because Japanese residents of Seattle have begun to be shipped off by the thousands to relocation centers.

In the opening pages Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.

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You Capture :: Smile

You Capture this week was Smile.

Being allowed to play in the bathroom sink yesterday made a hugh smile on Endre :)

And doing it alone without his sister made it even more fun.

 No one to argue with and no mess for me to clean up ;)

Yarn Along

Joining Ginny over at Small Things for Yarn Along.
"~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? ... ~"

Reading: I finished Eat, Pray, Love the other day and liked it. I have been holding back a bit on books that are popular. It's not always the book is so good as "everyone" thinks it is...and I end up dissapointed. But I just had to borrow Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet at the library last time I was there. Even though it's one of those populare books ;) But I'm glad I did. Because it such a wonderful book. The kind of book you have to read and enjoy slowly :)

Crocheting: Yes, I'm working on my blanket again. I've bought more black yarn, so I hope I'll manage to finish this soon. The tiny jacket I knitted on last time is finished together with a tiny hat too :)

Eat, Pray, Love

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It got a bit to much praying and meditation in the 2nd part for me, so I almost gave up the book. Glad I didn't though because the last part was the best I think. But I'm not going to see the film... Anyone of you seen it?

"In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want--husband, country home, successful career--but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she felt consumed by panic and confusion. This wise and rapturous book is the story of how she left behind all these outward marks of success, and of what she found in their place. Following a divorce and a crushing depression, Gilbert set out to examine three different aspects of her nature, set against the backdrop of three different cultures: pleasure in Italy, devotion in India, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence." (from goodreads)

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Sewing a little teddy

Eirin is without a doubt the creative one of my kids. Leave some cardboard and you'll be sure she will get her hands on it and start cutting it with a pair scissors ;) Yesterday she just had to sew a teddy. And up to my room she went and came down stairs with some yellow felt (I didn't even now I had...) and demanded me to draw a teddy.

Deeply concentrated.

And the little teddy came out very cute, don't you think. She even made him/her a pair of mittens and a scarf all by herself when I was cooking dinner :)

Here is her teddy next to the teddy her dad made at school. It's a pirate and he even has a ear-ring in one of his ears :)

Tiny jacket and hat

The jacket and the hat is finished. It's so small, but even so I think it might be a bit big for the tiny little babies on the premature intensive care unit at my local hospital.
I love the pink and the grey  together :) I made the cords by crochet about 65 chain st and then crochet slipped st the way back.
Har du lyst til å bidra med strikka klær, luer, sokker ol til ditt lokale sykehus, så kan du finne mer info her.

Pattern: brassière by isaquare. I can't understand French, so I used Strikkeliv's English translation.
Yarn: Pink Viking Baby Ull and Grey Baby Ull from Gjestal. I used 50 g of each together for the jacket and the hat.
Needles: 2,5 mm.

Pattern: Lunt og godt - Hat by Lene Holme Samsøe.
Yarn: Same as for the jacket.
Needles: 2,5 mm

The Invisible Mountain

The Invisible Mountain by Carolina De Robertis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"In a small town in a Uruguay, the first day of the year 1900 opens auspiciously with the reappearance of a missing infant. That young girl, Pajarita, becomes the first in a lineage of three gifted, stubborn, spiritual women. With each new generation, these women search for personal fulfillment, in love, political activism, or poetry. Stretching over 90 years and several South American countries, this family narrative is imbued with both an autobiographical feel and a keen sense of place." (from goodreads)

I love books with this kind of warmth. Beautiful names. Pajarita, Montevideo, Salome and many more. And the end was so right for this book too.
It's difficult to find the right words when you are trying to capture the essence of this story.
But as someone else said in another review:

"Magical language–a fantastic tale. A gorgeous story, full of color and light, a great human story, told beautifully. Told as if with the turn of every page there will always be some new wonderful story of person and place."


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You Capture :: Fun

This time we should capture fun. The kids had fun playing in this snow cave hubby digged out before the weekend. And yes, we do have a lot of snow yet! We've had some rain a few days ago and temperatures around 8 C today, so the snow is slowly melting away. Can't wait for spring to come!!

Yarn Along

Joining Ginny over at Small Things for Yarn Along.
"~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? ... ~"

Reading: I'm still reading The Invisible Mountain by Carolina De Robertis and I love this book. It's a pageturner, but I try to read slow just to hold on to the good feeling the book gives me. Do't you just love books like that? I've also started Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I think it's a good book so far. I know there is a film based on the book. Have anyone seen it? I really don't like to watch a film based on a book when I have read the book - I end up dissapointed most of the times.

Knitting: I'm still knitting tiny stuff for the premature intensive care units for my local hospital. This is a tiny hat. I riped the tiny jacket I had started last week because i found out I probably would not have enough pink. So the jacket and the hat is pink and grey stripy instead :)

Day Six :: Something to aspire to

"Is there a pattern or skill that you don’t yet feel ready to tackle but which you hope to (or think you can only dream of) tackling in the future, near or distant? Is there a skill or project that makes your mind boggle at the sheer time, dedication and mastery of the craft? Maybe the skill or pattern is one that you don’t even personally want to make but can stand back and admire those that do. Maybe it is something you think you will never be bothered to actually make but can admire the result of those that have."

I missed out on yesterday - to much going on in RL..
Skills - Well, besides learning to knit entrelac I really want to learn how to spin and weave. I know I had the same plans last year, but the day seems to not have enough hours and the year not enough days. But one have to have something to dream about ;)
Projects I admire - I'm not a typical shawl person. I have made some shawls and I use my Ishbel a lot. I queue a lot of shawls and add beautiful ones to my favorites, but I guess shawls are the kind of projects I just admire.