Four Days With Me

So, now I have been here for four whole days! Thought I would tell you about some things I have learned…and I learn fast.

I have continued the work started by Mille and Totti – undermining the Forsythia bushes.

I have also discovered other hidden gems here…

Like this Buddleia shelter – from where I have a good view of the whole garden!

Indoors, my favorite place is under the table – chewing up as many feet as possible…

And I must say I am happy that the family members here already adore me – all of them, except one…

But I am trying hard to make friends with him, Totti…, and you know –

sooner or later, I am sure even he will have to give in to my charms!

Milo

 

 

Thursday Thoughts – Drought

Midsummer and all the festivities surrounding it – is over.

But this Midsummer was a different one. Usually we have rather chilly Midsummers, and a bit rainy – but many beautiful wildflowers. This year I had to take the bike out for hours in order to get the midsummer flowers – the result was only one, single bouquet…

This year, the heat in Sweden has been overwhelming since May, and many elderly people and newborn babies have difficulties with it. Not to talk about Nature and wildlife. There are no worms, no snails, no grass for the cattle and no flowers for us to admire. I pour water in seven different pots in the garden – for the birds and the hedgehogs. Wild fires are frequent in the southern part of Sweden, where I live.

I keep some of my flowers alive though – My Flammentanz roses seem to cope rather well. I water them late in the evening or around midnight. Watering is forbidden in many places now, and soon we will get that message too.

In fact, the cherry tree is the only tree liking this heat – or maybe it works like the pine trees – they produce cones in several hundreds when they think they are going to die. Anyway, the cherries taste delightful, and the tree has never been this blessed before. I planted it when my daughter, Emma, was born, in 1990. My son David got a plum when he was born, in 1992, and his tree brought us many kilos of delicious fruit last year, but this year maybe – 5 plums? But that is the way trees work.

Now it is getting late – Good Night to you all. May the rain fall and the sun shine on us all.

Kites – A Marvelous Day On the Beach

From all over the world they gathered here on Fanö for a fortnight – just to enjoy…

Relaxing over a beer and a barbecue, and

…releasing their new kites for others to marvel at

Or, gliding down the beach in good winds –

In the afternoon, the sky seemed totally filled up – no more room for new kites…

 

But in this glorious weather, we kept strolling along,  getting even more favorites!

But in the end – believe it or not – our own shining sails were filled as well –

and…

We flew up, up and away…

Leaving solid ground, rolling with the colourful wheels…

Realizing that we just could not take any more kites – at least for the rest of the… week…?

Even the dogs wanted to go home for a good night’s sleep…

and the small children got tired of playing along…

So…some people took their bikes and rode to town,  while others walked the lonely beach ahead, contemplating –

It had been a marvelous day – Good Night for now, and thank you for tagging along!

 

 

 

 

Before Sunset

Just before sunset, they walk out in the open – the forest animals. This hot and dry May and beginning of June – I am glad to follow their example…

Driving to the forest I pass many fields, and all of them are being heavily irrigated… We all want new potatoes this summer of course! Soon watering will be restricted – in many parts of Sweden it already is.

Most summer flowers come and go fast. When I visited here a week ago – the flora was totally different.

Being a wild animal is never easy, not even in the summer. I do hope there will be rain soon – all brooks and puddles are dried out.

Two hours’ walk, then time to return. Birds are still singing, but I guess in a couple of weeks the forest will be more quiet as feeding the little ones now comes first.

On driving back, this gentleman was sitting in the field, just keeping an eye on me. I stopped the car to see his ears move around – they are quite lovely – his ears.

Behind me, about the first clouds seen in a month, are elegantly sailing over the fields.

And the farmers are still working – or their machines are – to give us food on the table.

Thursday’s Special – Pick a Word in June -y3

For the lovely Paula at Lost in Translation – a new word lesson! This time, I had to look up pullulating and victuals. Thank you for the useful knowledge. Interpreted my way.

Pictures from Sweden, Switzerland, New Zealand, Poland and Britain.

 

Nascent

 

 

Maternal

 

 

Pullulating

 

Victuals

 

Reflective – in the header another interpretation…

Nature First – Outing With Experts

I was fortunate enough to join an excursion with the local biologists here in town (I am a member of the organization too). By bus we went to the east coast and to the south of Skane: Haväng, Stenshuvud, Fyledalen. We had a great day, despite the heat, and the interesting finds were numerous. I did not bring my heavy camera though – 30 degrees C is too much already. No more extra weight, it was enough with the bottles of water.

So today, water and the pair of binoculars was my best equipment.

Among others, we spotted three Golden Eagles, a very rare species of lark – the tawny pipit (Anthus campestris) and Dianthus arenarius – sandnejlika – a species that can only be found here in Skane.

We were not allowed to enter the orchid fields, but could admire them from a distance.

I love orchids, and wild orchids in Sweden are very beautiful too. However, when the Pasque Flowers are over…their beauty is perhaps even more enhanced. I could not resist a minor collage…

or the serene beauty of the black-veined moth (Siona lineata).

A lovely day out with precious friends!

Thursday Thoughts – Summer in May

Strange – Summer in May – 30 degrees C today

Late evening biking by the sea – not a cloud in four weeks

Swimmers everywhere, enjoying the coolness of it

Past the old Blekinge cottages – just have to stop for a photo. Love these…

Picking buttercups

Back at our own beach – 23 degrees C, still 10 degrees more than normal temperature

Completely calm sunset and not a mosquito – yet

Bathing – water 18 degrees. Lovely of course, but

– I do not know if I like it – or not. This month of May was the hottest and driest ever in Sweden. And we are not alone. In July this could have been possible though…

On the news they said our newborn storks will starve to death, and I guess that applies to many birds and other animals who only eat living things. There are no frogs, and the worms are digging deep to survive. The birds cannot reach them.

Please let there be rain. And, what about Africa.

 

WPC: All-Time Favorites

I want to thank you again, for inspiring us all to keep blogging – share our experiences and learn from each other. It has been good, so good. And tonight I truly feel sorry about losing this opportunity.

Many of us got to know each other through WPC, now some of us maybe will not have the strength, discipline or imagination to blog that frequently again. But, even in the desert there is beauty…So, I hope we will! – You have been a great help to make blogging fun and addictive in a positive way.

It will not be easy to choose an all-time favorite…I don’t believe it is easier to choose  three or four either. I will think about it for an hour or two…meanwhile, I send my love to you all, and especially to: Krista, Jeff, Michelle, Erica, Ben, Sheri, Donncha, Jen, Sara and Cheri.

I cannot choose a favorite of mine among you either…and why should I? I just felt that Cheri, your words added to your picture – those words touched the heart of my blogging.

My choices… there is much feeling connected to the pictures chosen, memories and heart…While some of them were favorites of yours, some of them maybe are only favorites of mine. But they all are some years old – otherwise they could not be All-Time Favorites, could they? (More of my criteria at the end of the post. )

In the header, a lonely beach on the east coast of New Zealand. My family traveled together for a whole month, and we walked alone on this beach, each one of us…contemplating the beauty of Earth, and the end of our journey. Here is my son listening to the ocean.

Then – a hot night in Barcelona, my family and I was out walking and ended up in the middle of a gigantic motor bike gathering. Foreign feeling – but magical.

This is also a family hiking memory – very dear to me. My daughter resting on a giant pine branch in the Spanish mountains, somewhere between Spain and France.

Spain again – Segovia and its famous aqueduct. I had never seen anything like it – it goes through the city center and is still standing after centuries and centuries. No concrete, no nails – only the stones themselves. I walked, sat, stood in the steps contemplating – for hours. Enigmatic shadows as well.

This photo was taken at our summer house, when I still had both dogs, Mille and Totti. No other photo of them shows so on the spot their special temperaments. Now, who is the wild boy and who is the law abiding one? Fond memories.

My dear blogging friend Maria (Mariayarri), in Jämtland, took me to the Tännforsen waterfall in winter. I had never seen a gigantic waterfall frozen before. It took my breath away – and I remember, many of yours’ as well.

An early spring day some years ago, it started snowing on my way back home from the forest walk. This deer shed was still standing. (Now gone) The photo became a favorite with both my readers and me.

My Princess of the Night in flower for the first time. We waited for hours – and then everything was over within 20-30 minutes. A Wonder. This flower is about 20 centimeters and the scent fills the whole room. A photo is not enough to grasp the event…you need all your senses!

Meeting another dear blogging friend, Seonaid (Greenmackenzie) – from Scotland. She does not blog anymore, but I got the opportunity to visit her two times when she lived just outside Edinburgh. She and her lovely family had three Bearded Collies, and two of them looked just like my Amanda ( – before Mille and Totti). Those few, magical days with them will never leave me. Also a photo with feeling, showing well the character of the dog.

This photo was taken on a rainy trip to China. It rained every day – and the wedding couple here had a speedy walk on the Bond in Shanghai, waiting for their photographer. In Sweden there is a saying that rain in your crown on your wedding day – will give you a happy marriage. I hope this one was/is! This shot was a favorite with Sylvain Landry when he had his weekly prompts.

 

Catedrales beach, Spain. We just happened to find it – a World Heritage – it was not in the guide book…Kilometers of rock formations of enigmatic size and shapes. We spent several hours walking in the sunset. Incredible feeling that such a marvelous place was not marked out in any book. It made the experience even more magical.

The last photo, of Lhasa and the Pothala Palace, also marks what I see as my criteria for All-Time Favorites: Deep feeling, being in awe, magical surroundings, beauty, dream fulfilled or come true.