Thursday Thoughts

Thursday Thoughts – Going Vestmannaeyar

/ Leya / 11 kommentarer

Vestmannaeyjar came to international attention in 1973 with the eruption of Eldfell volcano, which destroyed many buildings and forced a months-long evacuation of the entire population to mainland Iceland.

Approximately one fifth of the town was destroyed before the lava flow was halted by application of 6.8 billion litres of cold sea water.

About 1500 people decided not to come back to the islands.

In 1979 We visited Heimaey, in the archipelago south of Iceland mainland, which is the only inhabited island here, and home to Eldfell. You could still boil an egg in the lava ashes, and putting down a finger would make your skin peeling off.

Our plan was to revisit now, 40 years later, to see in what ways the island had changed.

The photos show the views from the ferry takeoff and in the header, you can spot the whole range of the archipelago islands in the distance.

Thursday Thoughts – Birthday

/ Leya / 24 kommentarer

This June, my mother turned 84, and was celebrated at a renowned restaurant – a wonderful old farm by the name of Humlalyckan. In English that would translate into something like… Bumble Bee Happiness.

And yes – there might be two of them!

Thursday Thoughts – Revival

/ Leya / 17 kommentarer

The weather is very warm and inviting for bicycle rides these last days of June. So my daughter and I decided to spend some time with the old Flora in hand. When the children were younger, we always did every summer, so today meant sweet memories.

We brought water as well, and biked for some hours, just enjoying each others’ company in the lovely summer fields. And wow, how much one forgets about flower names…

I used to be very good at their names… We also fell in love with this little, quite lovely, mushroom – looking like it was planted right there by someone, on the road.

And, to our greatest joy, we met some Highland Cattle. My absolute favorites.

Somehow they always look so relaxed, and I love their colours. I am not really comfortable having to cross a meadow where they are grazing though – they are said to be rather grumpy.

A lovely day –

 

Thursday Thoughts – Midsummer

/ Leya / 29 kommentarer

The most beautiful time in my country, Sweden,  is now – around Midsummer. The flowers and colours are abundant and it is a busy time for everything growing and for the animals raising their young.

Tomorrow is Midsummer’s Eve – in olden days a magical night. But also the night after which the bright light will start fading and we are heading towards winter.

If you celebrate or not – I wish you all a wonderful weekend –

And may you have a good night…

…should you be in Sweden, you will stay up to watch the sunset – and the sunrise. There is no real darkness in between.

Thursday Thoughts – Garden News

/ Leya / 30 kommentarer

So far this Spring and start of Summer has given the ideal weather for the garden: Raining during the nights and sunshine during the days. Such wonderful difference from last year’s extreme heat. Come along for a short walk!

 

These are only some of my flowers – but I am so glad they survived last summer’s heat! I adore the little rain gauge my son bought for mother’s day.

My wild roses were planted maybe 20 years ago – I got them from a friend who in his turn had got them from a little old lady in a forest cottage.

I love those little ones – a sea of pink! If you study the bumble bees below, you will understand how small these roses are.

This year, the Painted Lady, being a long-distance migrant, caused the most spectacular butterfly migration observed in Sweden.

Each year, it spreads northwards from the desert fringes of North Africa, the Middle East, and central Asia, recolonizing mainland Europe and reaching Sweden and even Svalbard. In some years it is an abundant butterfly, but never as early as this year. I usually see them in my Buddleijas in late summer.

This year they migrated in millions, and Gotland, our biggest island, received more than 6000 of them in some hours. In my garden now, I have hundreds of them. Some battered and torn – but who wouldn’t be after such a flight!

 

Thursday Thoughts – A Life’s Work

/ Leya / 42 kommentarer

Söderto is a tiny place in the southern part of Skåne, Sweden, where Karl-Göran Persson built a fortress for himself, his family and friends – in case of an attack from Russia. Karl-Göran died in 1975, and he had spent his whole life building and reinforcing this fortress.

One day we decided to try and find it, all of us intrigued by the story. So this spring we went, the three of us. And it became a strange adventure, a day to remember. You can come along if you want to…

It is not a very big place, Söderto, and the remains of his own home nearby were gone.

Karl-Göran was a simple man, a single farmer, and well known in the neighborhood for his warm heart, for his building and for his transporting all material on his bicycle.

He even mastered setting rails and railroad ties into the fortress – all by himself. The thought was to build a balcony.

He used what he could find to reinforce his fortress, be it iron beds, chamber pots, baskets or bicycle parts. Look closely at the pictures, and maybe you will find them…

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After so many years of withering down, it is not advised to go inside anymore. But…

there is a friendly silence, a loving atmosphere when you walk here… you can feel his spirit still being there – in his life’s work.

A soft whisper in the fields, and the beauty of the landscape touches your soul.

Thinking of him, Karl-Göran, I believe he would have loved it that we came all that way to visit. And how much we enjoyed it too.

Just see how beautifully the villagers keep his memory.

 

 

Thursday Thoughts – Early Mornings

/ Leya / 31 kommentarer

Spring is my favorite season, and early Spring mornings are my favorite hours of the day.

Everything is calm, but – nature is so very alive, vibrating with life.

The meadows bloom, the waters flow merrily in the streams.

I rejoice in the birds’ song, and feel the joy in every living thing…

I wish we could all feel that joy and contentment. Harmony. At least some moments every week. I know I am lucky to live in the middle of nature, but I also know that nature is the best healer for most things troubling our human life.

Go seek it – Harmony. If you have an open mind, you will find it. In Nature.

 

Thursday Thoughts – Marken

/ Leya / 28 kommentarer

Welcome to Marken, a village in North Holland, the Netherlands. This 2000 – inhabitant – village makes up a peninsula that attracts thousands of tourists every year. Because of its originality as a former small fishing town, it was considered a relic of the traditional native culture that would disappear as the modernization of the Netherlands gained pace.

In fact, the town’s history has allowed it to form an identity that’s unique in all the Netherlands.

Until 1957, Marken was an island in the Zuiderzee. In isolation from the rest of the Netherlands, it developed an independent culture – its own architecture, dialect, dress and more – that it still maintains, despite the closure of the dike that once separated it from the mainland Netherlands. When passing these characteristic wooden houses, you will reach the harbour, but similar houses can be found everywhere in the village.

Walking out on the pier, I feel summers might get hectic with all the tourists… but, let us not think about that now…

Let’s keep strolling along in the sleepy, rural tranquility. Life seems to have a pace of its own here – and somehow, I know why there were so many Dutch master painters centuries back… Had I been a painter, I would have spent weeks out here – immersed in all the colours and the rural beauty with canals, birds and farm animals.