Written by Christer.

Still summer warm.

Summer is back and today it was even Scandinavian hot (over 25C (77F) ) but we had a weak but cool wind blowing so I really couldn’t complain. It will cool down on Friday and if they’re right we’ll have plenty of rain during the entire weekend and beyond. I will not complain 🙂

I think this is a pine grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator). I only occasionally see them during winter but there aren’t many pine or spruce cones this year so now they’re eating the seeds in the Rowanberries. You should see the red males in snow covered threes, they really shine 🙂

This is my last week working for Falköping county. I should have worked on Monday as well but took the day off and will visit a friend instead 🙂 I would have loved to continue working there but according to the boss they don’t need any more people even though they are under staffed. So I will miss that job and the ones I’ve been working with.

Then again I’ll start working as a painter in a carpenter factory that only do special orders and mostly for rich people in Stockholm (our capital). It’s also a bit closer from home so that’s a plus as well. I think there’s a garage just nearby as well and that’s good because my car really needs an oil change now 🙂 Another good thing is that I will continue to carpool with my neighbour, I really would have missed picking up or leaving his kids at school every day 🙂

I think we might have new neighbours at the empty cottage at the end of our gravel road. So far I’ve only seen cars going there and two humans when they passed me this afternoon. So not much I can say about it but it looks like they have children. For a while it looked like this village was death’s waiting place because only older people moved here and all young moved away but now there are children again all over the village 🙂 I do hope these new ones are nice and that Alma won’t scare them by being her lively self, screaming like insane every time she meets new people. A big problem is that Alma think people are new unless they’ve lived here for at least three or four years 🙂

I bought this Pleione formosana (a ground orchid) on sale and it was almost dead but it came back to life and produced a second bulb. So if I am successfully keeping them alive during winter in my cool cellar I might get two flowers next year. It’s almost hardy so I rather have them in the cellar than outside.
This is another orchid called Snow Queen. I almost killed it shortly after I bought it 🙂 But it grows and if I am really lucky it might give a flower or two next spring. It must stay around 10C (50F) during winter and light and that’s tricky 🙂
Tomatillo.
My beefsteak tomatoes, well two of them anyway, I have too many now 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day. I’ve already had an apple cobbler pie but I think there might be space for an ice cream as well 🙂

Have a great day!

4 thoughts on “Still summer warm.”

  1. I had to look up Pine Grosbeak because I thought it didn’t look right and was way out of its territory. But I was thinking of a different bird. In the course of looking the bird up I learned something new. Did you know that, as far as bird ranges are concerned, you live in Fennoscandia? I had to look that up, too. You’re on the Baltic Shield that used to be part of an ancient continent and is referred to as Fennoscandia. That’s partly why Europe is considered a separate continent that’s slammed into Asia. Aren’t internet rabbit holes fun?

    My orchids all died after many flowerings so I can’t complain. There’s one hanging on by a few leaves and air roots. It needs repotting in something better but every time I’ve done that before the plant dies.

    I hope your new neighbors are nice and friendly and that Alma is also nice and relatively quiet.

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    1. Hi Caryn!

      It was a possibility that it could be a close relative to it but that one I see even more seldom.

      I knew about something called Fennoscandia but I didn’t know what it actually was 🙂 I do however know that part of Scandinavia actually is a bit of the North American continent 🙂 The Appalachians are actually the same mountain range as the Scandinavian mountains 🙂

      I’ve never been successful with repotting a Phalaenopsis. Doesn’t ‘t matter what I do, it’ll just die and pretty soon after the repotting. Oddly enough I’ve managed to repot other orchids 🙂 🙂

      Turns out we don’t have new neighbours yet. They were just showing it for potential buyers. However the owner is still as greedy as before even if he has lowered the price some. I’m pretty sure no one will buy it at that price.
      Alma was slightly hysterical already today, so many new scents to stress her up 🙂 🙂 🙂

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  2. The flower photos are beautiful, as always, Christer, and too bad about the heat returning as I am always glad for the arrival of autumn. It has become cooler here, slightly, with some rain in the forecast for next week. When you said your job had ended, I was wondering what you would do net, and then i read the next paragraph about your starting another job. Being able to carpool is a bonus and so is a shorter drive with a garage along the way.

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    1. Hi Beatrice!

      Thank You 🙂

      It is actually raining here right now, a gentle summer rain. I hope it sinks down into the ground so that when the more heavy showers pass by that rain also will sink down. It is so dry here now that even though the ground here is almost only sand it’s now so hard that it is difficult to dig in it.

      It is good to be able to car Poland since we do there will always be a car free to use if any of the other cars break down. We’ve used each others cars quite a lot because of that 🙂 🙂 🙂

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