Pottery

I have taken up a new hobby, something I have wanted to do for a long time: I have started doing pottery, and am renting a studio with a lot of other girls (women?) in Gruneløkka. At the moment I am pretty much trying out anything I can think of, and I recon it will take years of practice before I get any good, not to mention developing my own 'signature' style. So, I am definitely a pretty rubbish potter at this point, but it makes me positively giddy with joy!

This studio has a brilliant set-up, where by paying a monthly rent we have access to all the pottery equipment we need, such as clay, throwing wheels, ovens etc. Someone even loads the ovens for us. So all we have to do is turn up and make stuff, and then pick it up when it is fired.

Helsinki School of photography

For some reason I have come across exhibitions by Finnish photographers in a lot of places around the world in the last couple of years. I have liked them all a lot, and have come to realize that there is a ‘Helsinki School’ within photography which links a lot of them together. The photographs have all been too expensive for me to buy and own, but I found this web page that lets me look at some of them and dream on... Check out the Portfolio for each individual artist.

This one is called 'Wind I' by Riitta Päiväläinen

Prague

I saw this on a wall in Prague. The small writing reads:

'To the fountain by the spring

To the sheets to which I cling -

I am summer , I am spring, I am only

what you bring'

O sweet melancholy!

House of Literature

Today I am off to Litteraturhuset, where the Norwegian author Johan Harstad is interviewing the Icelandic author Hallgrimur Helgason who amongst other things wrote ‘101 Reykjavik’. Two writers with an often quirky and darkly funny take on the world's underdogs. Helgason has lately also been quite involved in the peoples uprising to throw the Icelandic government after the financial collapse on Iceland. So this could be both fun and interesting.

Litteraturhuset - House of Literature – is a house dedicated to literature and related activities. It was opened in 2007, and has rapidly become a popular institution. It contains amongst other things a popular café, restaurant and bar, a bookshop and six different stages. They host frequent presentations, debates, workshops etc. One floor is dedicated to children and adolescents, another to writers and authors. It also contains an author’s apartment, which is offered rent-free to foreign authors. A lot of what goes on here is in Norwegian, but certainly not all of it. It is a great place to just hang out, especially in summer when the cafè extends to the patio outside, but also to get your head recharged with new knowledge or inspiration without it costing the earth. Check it out here.

Kolonihagen

I generally do not like subscruibing to too many things, but this week I did sign up for something: A subscription to get organic food delivered to my door every week. It is organized by a small Oslo-based company called Kolonihagen. Unfortunately they do not have an English web page.

This is what I got in my first box: 1 bread, 12 potatoes, 6 eggs, 8 carrots, 1 salad, 1 broccoli, 5 red onions, 1 yellow pepper, 5 tomatoes, 5 apples, 3 oranges, 6 bananas, 2 btls of some sort of fizzy drink :-D

Ghost Photo II

I was playing with my phone camera today, and got this picture of my kitchen window. Not sure how it happened exactly, something obviously went wrong somewhere, and I wasn't able to repeat it......but i kind of like it. And yes, I admit, kind of inspired by the previous post..

Nicoletta Brunklaus

I am so in love with the latest collection by Dutch designer Nicoletta Brunklaus. Both very modern and with great patina. It is called 'House of Anne' and I think I have read that all the photos are taken at the school she attended as a young girl.

Lampshade with cot-outs in some of the windows

Autumn

We are definitely getting close to winter. This morning as I walked to work I spotted these autumn leaves, now covered in frost. 

I like this time of year. This is when you can't help but knit, make soup, write letters, watch slow movies, fill your pantry, chop wood, calm things down and stay warm and cosy....

Ghost photo

I got a new mobile phone today, after my old one was stolen in London. I discovered that it already had pictures in its gallery. They look to be taken here in Oslo, and I thought they were quite good.

My brand new phone has a past, and came with luggage.