Shabby chic necklaces

In Scandinavia the spring is slowly arriving - though you sometimes may forget it. It has been a freezing cold day here today, cloudy and a little bit of rain. Due to the bad spring weather, I thought we could need a bit of inspiration.
I have made these shabby chic / romantic looking necklaces which would look good with light summer clothes while running through the fields of grass with a bucket of blue berries (self picked of course). Oh...that was a long sentence...but you get the picture I hope...

Betty's beads

We are back in Norway again to an early spring and cold wind. There are a lot of hope around in the streets. Some are even wearing summer clothes even though the temperature is just around 9C! Crazy.

The balconies are full of flowers again though we are a bit weary. The nights are still a bit too cold so the fragile plants have to be moved inside during nighttime.

Anyway, I was not supposed to talk about springtime in Norway, but the beads I got to use at the farm while visiting. Mother-in-law had been taking care of some of her mother's old necklaces and I was lucky enough to be allowed to use the beads for new jewellery! I felt like a 6 year old with a treasure box in front of me. 

The treasure box

Sorted beads - new and old

Life on the farm

We are living on the farm at present which is normally a fairly quiet life.
That has all changed though.

Since last year, two goats have moved in. They suddenly arrived one morning, nobody missed them and they have since stayed here. They didn't have any names before we arrived (we came and stayed too!).
Now they are called Tikka and Masala (after the famous, delicious Indian dish containing goat meat...yeah...I know it is mean...). The last week, they have also been called Louis and Vuitton, but that is another story.

Tikka is also called Houdini since she very often escape the pen to eat from the delicious vine plants.
The cows seems to like the plants as well, so there must be something good in there.

Here are the goats:

Tikka in the background and Masala on the way
exploring

Tikka is sceptical. Where are my vines?

New spool knitted set

Here is my last spool knitted set of a necklace and a bracelet.
It is made of a bronze colored wire, pink and brown freshwater pearls and white Czech beads, seed beads, glass star focal point bead (looks like a Swarovski), gold toggle lock and cones.

This set is already sold, but more can be made. Let me know.

For more jewellery for sale, see here

Dum Dum Boys : Splitter Pine

Happy Friday - again! Time for some proper old Norwegian rock - this time in Norwegian! This song is close to a national anthem back home. Everyone knows it, everyone can sing the chorus and it is a proper party song.

Dum Dum Boys started up in 1985, but had been playing in another band called "Wannskrækk" since the late 70's. The band name came from an Iggy Pop album called "Idiot" (1977).

The guitar riffs in the beginning of the song are world famous in Norway! The song is about stress and nagging and a bit of funny song to sing when you just have had enough! Do not be surprised if others join in if you are starting singing the chorus!

This song was on the album "Splitter Pine" which was released in 1989. The band is still releasing new albums and having concerts around the country. The last single is called "Snø på Mars", released in 2009.



Today the band consist of : Per Øyvind "Prepple" Houmb, Kjartan Kristiansen, Aslak Dørum and Sola Jonsen.
...and here is "Snø på Mars":

Symonds Str & K-road

Autumn has definitely arrived in Auckland. No doubt about it. The first autumn day (according to the calendar) was on the 1st of March and since then the weather has gone from good to even better (it has cooled down a bit)...ha ha

I had a walk up Symonds Street yesterday morning. It is an area I really like to walk around because of the lovely buildings. I especially like some of the older University buildings and churches.

My favorite church would be St. Paul's Church. It has lovely doors and windows and was a good photo target. Have a look:

St. Paul's Church
Construction date: 1895 - Architect: William Henry Skinner.

Sivert Høyem : Moon Landing

It's time for some more music. It's Monday. We need to cheer up. On behalf of my friend Linda, I want to introduce you to Sivert Høyem, former vocalist of the band Madrugada. This is one of her favorites and that was a good enough reason to add it to the blog. The song is from the album "Moon Landing", released in 2009.
Co-producer Cato Salsa Thomassen is on the guitar. You get too see a bit from Norway as well. Do you like the cabin?



I have always thought about this guy's music as melancholic and gloomy (I guess these words have the same meaning, but together they are kind of double trouble...ha!). I have to admit that these two songs are far from gloomy so maybe his old band played that kind of music?

Below song is from the same album and is called "Belorado". Most of the video was filmed on a rooftop in downtown Oslo in November 2009. Looks cold....
Thanks Linda! See you soon! :0)



Sivert Høyem: vocals, Cato Thomassen : guitar, Rudi Nikolaisen: bass, Christer Knutsen: guitar &
Bjørge Fjordheim: drums