FINALLY. Spring is here, and I can go out there and just be. I have been longing for this so much this winter, stronger than ever I think. (Yes yes, I know I can sleep outside in winter too - I'm just not that robust yet, I think.)

The last week I have slept outdoors twice, in a place that Nik recently found on a trek. It is so beautiful. First, my friend Henriette and I went on our own - she is about to release an EP and I am taking photos for the cover plus more, so we intertwined that with hours of talking and laughing and being goofy like we do. Slept like babies and woke up to a lovely spring morning, cooked a solid breakfast, had coffee and both agreed that this is all we need to be truly happy.

Last night: Packed things and kids in the car and headed to the same spot. Wolf came camping with me and the rest of the kids last summer, but then in a tent; this would be his first nighht under open sky. We brought hammocks, sleeping bags, food and mattresses. 

That feeling: Of your skin having soaked the weather in for a full day, sun and wind and dirt. Of kids running wild, exploring the woods around the camp, coming back with elk dung and a stick that a beaver has chewed on, tellling me they saw a dead mink and an adder on the track. Of food cooking on a bonfire, eggs from our chickens, bacon from our pigs, kids eating every last crumble of food. Of going to sleep under the trees, with the moonlight kissing my face, and the sound of an owl singing me to sleep. Of knowing there is no better way to live, like I could live like this for real, without all my stuff, with nature and the simplicity of what it offers. The gratitude.

Freja: The feeling of being almost seven, of brushing your teeth outside while you're taking in a panoramic view, of going to bed in your hammock after your little brothers are asleep, but you can't, you keep poking your head out, whispering to your parents that you can't sleep, because all you want to do is get back up and sit with them, in the spring evening. The feeling when you snuggle into them, and you feel so contented, so happy, because you know, life is supposed to be like this, this vivid and simple and happy.