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Writer's pictureirisjonsthovel

From City Girl to Cottage Life - 2 years in


A visual of a woman with a a fancy dress and high heels with socks. Her face is made of flowers and flowers sprout out of her socks as well.

We’ve been lucky to enjoy a full week of golden sunbeams, which has catapulted us into gardening season. And I must say, I don’t mind growing a sun-kissed face while ripping weeds out of the ground at all!  

 

From city to cottage life - 2 years in

Around this time 2 years ago we moved from the Netherlands to the Norwegian countryside and it’s been really fun looking back at another year of living here this past week. It always amazes me that when you take a moment to look back, you suddenly see how all those snippets of your life together show some kind of pattern or shape. This soothes me in a way because sometimes it feels like days have no shape (and feel ‘wasted’), but when you put them all together you see the design they form. This reminds me of the following quote by one of my favourite authors, who puts this so eloquently:


"It seemed to give the journey a design, and everything in the world must have design or the human mind rejects it." - John Steinbeck (Travels with Charley)

Iris standing on a ledge with a beautiful view of a Spring green valley below.
On top of our local mountain
Two people standing next to a mountain top pole with a view of the valley, writing their names in the log book.
Writing our names in the log book
Iris sitting on a rock enjoying the valley view below.
Rest stop just before getting to the top

So long decision fatigue

After spending a few hours in our garden the other day, my partner and I sat at our terrace and chatted about how much we enjoyed experiencing four distinct seasons while living here. It’s interesting to see the great influence the changing landscape has on our activities. When the seasons determine the things we can undertake we just follow their lead, naturally. That is why we probably enjoy it so much, the seasons decide what to do with our time. So long decision fatigue!


Two people sitting at a table on a Cottage terrace drinking coffee
Our cottage terrace
Iris standing behind a wheelbarrow looking at the garden beds after winter and ready to clean them up
Kicking off the gardening season

A look outside from the cottage interior, with Iris standing on the terrace.
Enjoying the first sun-rays of Spring

Questions about cottage life

Since I’m feeling a little poetic (;-) and inspired by looking back at another year of life in the Norwegian countryside, I have made a video of my experience so far. I share my thoughts and answers on some questions I regularly get like ‘What’s most challenging?’ and ‘Will you stay indefinitely?’ and show what life and our surroundings look like right now. I really enjoyed filming it so I hope you find it entertaining!


7-minute movie called City Girl, Cottage Life - 2 years in


That’s it for my little note this week, sharing about my transition from city to cottage life now 2 years later. I hope you've enjoyed it and when you have questions, leave me a note below so I can get back to you. Have a lovely week,


Iris

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