Category: Cloudy.

· 6 Comments ·
The sun so close but still so far away.

We did actually have some sunshine today, not much while we had our morning walk but a few minutes after we had come back home. It was a really good walk though because Alma was unusually quiet, then again she pulled the leash more than usual but I can take that. That sound she has cuts like a knife through the brain.

     

She has an evil eye towards the cattle that walks outside my garden. I have no idea why because she really doesn’t care especially much when we pass the other cattle when walking in the village 🙂 🙂 Every time we’re going outside she runs to the gate and stares towards the cows and shows her displease and they don’t even have to be close to us. Once she even jumped over the gate when a calf came way to close to the fence 🙂 🙂

     

The Yule Gnome passed my cottage today 🙂 I had let the dogs out to pee and did the same myself when I looked up the road and noticed that the gnome was very close to my garden 🙂 🙂 I can only hope the rose bush I stood behind didn’t show too much of me. I doubt that the gnome saw especially much because of the mask in front of the face, it didn’t fit well 🙂 🙂 So I said hi and the voice of the gnome was from a woman and her job today was to walk pass my neighbors cottage so the kids could see how the gnome passed by 🙂 She looked rater much like the old time Yule gnomes looked here back in the days since she was rather thin, more about that either tomorrow or on Yule eve.

     

No white Christmas here this year, on the contrary it seems like it will be a muddy ten coming days. Almost up to 10 C (50 F) some days and rain every now and again. Much like the winters I had growing up by the ocean, If it became cold it was so cold that waiting for a bus or tram would be considered torture and if we were really lucky we would have a fierce wind blowing from the ocean 🙂 🙂 🙂 It did happen that it would be so cold that the ocean froze and when it did they made roads on the ice so even lorries could drive on them, nasty for us but perfect for those living on the island outside my home town 🙂

     

I’ve just had my last cup of tea for the day and today I even made dinner for two more days so I guess I’ll put what’s left in the freezer because on Christmas I’ll have christmas food all day 🙂

     

Have a great day!

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I think Sara’s mother came from this farm. I haven’t seen her since we found Sara so I don’t think the mother is still alive.

The weather has really been boring for a couple of days now but it is well above 0 C (32 f) so I’m not complaining too much. The cottage becomes a mess though because since the dogs don’t want to be outdoors besides for walk they play indoors instead 🙂 🙂 They aren’t allowed to do it in the living room because of the aquarium so mostly they play in my bed 🙂 🙂

This was all sunshine I saw yesterday, not much but beautiful and a lot more than today 🙂

   

Today was a good day for Alma, not so much yesterday though but the periods when she is calmer seems to stay longer now. In this speed I’ll be long gone and dead by the time she’ll be able to behave like most other dogs, a year ago I’d never thought that would happen so it’s a step forward 🙂 🙂 🙂 I took a look at the trees in the cool cellar and despite that it actually has been pretty cold down there Some of them now shows new leafs! I don’t want that to happen 🙂 They are supposed to rest until at least early March Now I’ll have huge problems rearranging everything so that they’ll get light as well. I’ve also had a walk in the garden to examine how the new smaller trees are doing in the garden.

   

The Pawpaws look really healthy and have little to no frost damages and it’s the same with the Camellias I placed out there because they just too too much space in the cool cellar. I think that if winter doesn’t get colder than it has been so far they might even survive, I’m not counting on that though but they do look healthy. I have three different Mulberry trees out there too, A black called “Mulle” and it is the least hardy of them. Rather big frost injuries on that one but it will most likely survive and if it does it will become hardier next winter. I also have a white Mulberry tree and it is supposed to be the hardiest one but that too has some big frost injuries but it is far better than the black one. The one that has managed the winter best so far without any frost problems is the Red mulberry. I have two more in the cellar and it is of course those that has been growing new leafs 🙂 I have no idea how this will affect them towards next winter when they’ll be standing in the garden.

     

The Persimmon tree looks really well as well. I was a bit worried about that tree because some fungi had attacked it during summer and it looked so sad before it got cold 🙂 I also had those new branches that grew up from the roots of the dead persimmon hybrid, well they are no more but not because of the cold but because unknown dogs 🙂 🙂 had trampled them down while playing in the garden. I hope I’ll get lucky, even though this year has been anything but, and that new branches will grow up because then I’ll protect them so much better.

     

It has finally stopped with shorter days and longer nights 🙂 Today the sun rose somewhere behind the clouds at 8:53 am and set at 3:16 pm here where I live in the village at the outskirts of the world.Some places further north haven’t seen the sun for ages. Then again we’ll get it back during summer where the sun won’t set at all for a long time. Even here further south it’ll be bright for a long time after the sun has set because of the angle towards the sun so when the day is at its longest we still only will have a couple of hours when it’s almost dark. Well it is time for that last cup of tea with lots of ginger in it and then I’ll most likely fall asleep in front of the tv.

   

Have a great day!

· 2 Comments ·
This was the sunrise on the 17th. I think most photos will come from that day in the blog today.

Almost as boring weather today as yesterday but with less rain, only in the early morning just before we should have went out on our morning walk. I had to go to the grocery store in Gudhem first though to pick up my “new” computer. We might get to see the sun shine tomorrow but according to the weather sites that might be the last time this year but then again we all know by now how good they are at guessing the weather here for longer than an hour or two 🙂 🙂 🙂

 

A nice scratch on the concrete ring is never wrong 🙂

I haven’t really unpacked the computer yet, I need to move the one already standing on my desk to somewhere and put it together again before I start with the new one. I don’t want to disconnect the old one before I know I actually have the new one running 🙂 🙂 I ordered a new keyboard to the mac and in my stupidity I then thought that it would be a mac keyboard, of course it isn’t. So at first I thought why even try and start it up until I have the right kind but then I found on a site that I can actually use the new on but need to go in to settings to make the computer understand that it is a “normal” keyboard and make it work as it is supposed to. Everything well described on this site and I do hope I’ll find it again 🙂

     

Thankfully keyboards aren’t that expensive so I’ll wait some time to get the right kind again and since I’ll use the new one I don’t think I can send it back later and get the money back but keyboards do get worn quickly so I might keep it and give it to someone who needs one.

     

I’ve gotten a cold again, really fast after the one that lasted for so long 🙂 🙂 We have three nasty things going around here at the moment according to the news papers and the flu seems to be the most popular at the moment. I just have a slight fever so I doubt that it’s any of the nasty ones but just a common cold which is bad enough 🙂 🙂 Natures christmas present to me this year was a cold and not the flu yay 🙂 I’m eating my vitamin D, have lots of ginger in my tea and gets lots of daylight now so I’m fighting with everything I have 🙂 🙂 May the force be with me 🙂 🙂 🙂

     

I am drinking the last cup of tea here by the computer, and it’s a couple hours left before there’s anything worth watching on tv, so i think I’ll find myself a book to read or perhaps I should start drawing to see if I have the patience to do that. I don’t have much patience to do anything for a longer time since covid hit the first time but I think of it as I need to train my brain just like an athlete needs to train what ever it is he/she does to get back to normal again.

 

Have a great day!

· 4 Comments ·
The weather is so dreary that I today show photos from the folder “For a rainy day”. Really fits today 🙂

The weather has been so gloomy that it was depressing today, strong winds, rain (quite often misty rain which is the worst kind) and everything is muddy. Misty rain is awful when it hits the wind shield while out driving, it’s sort of sticky so nothing happens when the wipers tries to wipe it off and it was of course exactly how it was when I drove to the grocery store.

     

Also the ground was still frozen so it was slippery as h..l here and there all the way. Thankfully almost no cars on the road at that time so I could have the speed I wanted without disturbing anyone else.  I had hoped that my “new computer would arrive while I still was out driving, I got a message that it would arrive today some time during the day and it did some time and unfortunately in the late afternoon, so I’ll pick it up tomorrow.

     

Now my neighbors care is fixed so from now i can use it when ever I want. I won’t want to use it more than I’ve done so far anyway but the possibility is there 🙂 🙂 🙂 Today I used their Peugeot, a slightly newer one than the one I had. Nice car but if it came with a warning, like icy roads and such things the display only shows it in French 🙂 🙂 I still have some french left in my brain but since the text only shows for a couple of seconds I really didn’t manage to read it anyway 🙂 🙂 🙂 My old Peugeot always beeped a lot but almost never showed a text. I had no idea what was going on but that was actually much less stressing 🙂 🙂 🙂

     

The wind will keep on blowing pretty hard until late morning tomorrow and stay rather calm until the evening when it will return again. I really can’t complain because this is the weather we’ll get instead of cold and wintery that I dislike so much. One advantage though, the electrical bill will stay very low as long as the winds continue to blow 🙂

     

Time for a last cup of tea for the day and I’ll have a sandwich or two with Christmas ham (made in the store I used to work close to, it is delicious and I didn’t expect anything else, I’ll also have beetroot salad (our kind with lots of mayo in it and I’ll also most likely have a slice or two of a really strong hard cheese 🙂

     

Have a great day!

· 9 Comments ·
I think most of the photos I use today were taken yesterday when the world still looked frozen and frosty white. Well Sara as well of course.

The cold and wind free days are over and now we have windy but warmer days instead. The only thing I’m not happy about is how much dirtier the floor becomes 🙂 🙂 Still I prefer warmer weather. I have been born in the wrong part of the world, I should have been born in a  warmer climate where it stayed around 20 C (68 F) all year round 🙂

I would like to say this was taken in the early morning but it was already 9:25 am.
I never picked that last squash in the vegetable garden 🙂

 

Today we must have had some rain during the night and the rest of the day, except for a few minutes, the sky has been evenly grey. Now the sky is clear, the full? moon is bright in the sky and therefor it’ll be cold during the night. Tomorrow the day will be cloudy again and I wonder why it always happen that way and not cloudy nights and sunny days? 🙂

     

I’ve done some laundry today and right now I’m waiting for my french rolls to cool down so I can have one or two before falling asleep in front of the tv 🙂 I’ve had some fun with clay for a couple of days now and have had really fun. I’ll show You when it is done. It isn’t beautiful in any way 🙂 🙂 🙂 but I’ve had lots of fun doing it. The problem is that I really have no good place to work with it, I’ve been standing at the kitchen counter and the stove 🙂 🙂 Back pain as a result but it’ll pass 🙂 I do have a lot more time now when I don’t have a job so I thought I would see what kind of hobby I would like besides photography.

     

I doubt I’ll continue with clay though even though this was a kind that hardens without having to stand in a kiln lots of hours. I have lots more things I can do and also sit down while doing it so if You’re unlucky You might have to look at several more failures until I know if I have another hobby or being happy about having my cameras 🙂 🙂 🙂

     

I think it is time to try one of those rolls, this time they at least look good, and of course that last cup of tea for the day 🙂

     

Have a great day!

· 2 Comments ·
Jackdaws build their nests in chimneys so we always need to have netting over the opening.

Fog again today but it varied in thickness, not so thick in the morning but better later in the day. Still it was good enough to have walks in 🙂 The horse guy was cutting down trees somewhere along the creek, mostly thinning out smaller ones by the sound of it, so I was a bit worried that Alma would go insane with all that noise but she stayed far more calm than I ever thought I could hope for.

     

So to stay away as much as possible from the noise we walked along the creek up streams. WE didn’t pass the creek where we usually do but continued towards the bog. If we would have continued to the little lake in the bog it would have been better to walk on the other side of the creek but I had the wrong boots on, one can continue on the side we were walking on too but it’s a bit more tricky with swampy areas and small spruces.

     

Lots of animals must have been there just until the horse guy started because both Alma and Malkolm were very excited following tracks everywhere. Well mostly Malkolm followed them and Alma joined him when he stopped to examine some tracks some extra 🙂 🙂 She really can’t concentrate on anything for longer than 15 seconds, I’ve actually timed her 🙂 🙂 🙂

     

The horse guy and the horses had a break when we passed that place again so I could get a nice photo of them. I think it is time for that last cup of tea for the day and then fall asleep in front of the tv 🙂

     

Have a great day!

       

· 6 Comments ·

We had sunshine most parts of the day yesterday and were supposed to have some today as well so of course we hadn’t 🙂 🙂 🙂 Instead we had my second favorite weather today, fog and at times really thick fog. Tomorrow we’re supposed to have fog all day so perhaps the sun will show itself then instead 🙂

     

But we didn’t just have fog, tiny, tiny snow flakes fell all day as well but since they were so small and few it isn’t noticeable anywhere on the ground, I can accept snowfall like that 🙂 🙂 It was a nice morning walk despite it being below 0C (32 F) because there was no wind what so ever blowing. Also both Malkolm and Alma behaved pretty well after the first couple of hundred meters (much the same in yards) of the walk.

     

I still, to my own surprise, have christmas feeling. I normally have them late October to some time in the middle of November and then they die out 🙂 🙂 🙂 I guess it can be because I don’t have to go out to scrape the windows of the car, feel well rested and actually just because the snow is falling even though it can’t be seen 🙂 I haven’t felt this well rested in years to be honest but I still can’t promote unemployment unless one is rather wealthy 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’m not so I better keep on looking for a job or win the lottery 🙂 🙂

They have removed the blockage in the creek so now the water level is much lower again.

 

It is time for a cup of tea but nothing more, the dogs and I have just eaten some pancakes and that’s enough for me but they and the cat will have their dinners just after this, even though they all had pancakes as well 🙂

     

Have a great day!

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It has been a boring day, hunters were out in the forest all day so no walks, I don’t want to walk there with Alma yet since she finally seems to calm down a lot when walking in the forest. I think we’ll walk there when most people have their Christmas vacations, very little that can stress her moving around then.

     

It looks like the cattle has moved to their winter pastures as well so we’ll have walks there too during christmas vacation, almost no cars will drive on the big road besides that area. Most likely lots of wild hogs if we go out just before the sun starts to rise but with that much open space they’ll not care about us at all.

     

The weather has been grey and dark with misty rain all day as well so none of the dogs were especially happy to be in the garden either. So instead we’ve been napping a lot 🙂 I should have done the laundry but never came around to do it. I won’t get a job next week either I’m afraid so I’ll have plenty of time to do it, at least until I’ve run out of clean clothes 🙂 🙂 🙂

     

We might get some sunshine both tomorrow and on Tuesday so I hope I’ll catch some of that but it will stay warmer here, especially at nights just because of the clouds so I’m not complaining too much 🙂 It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and I think I’ll also have an egg sandwich with blue cheese and some normal hard cheese or perhaps cheese and apricot jam 🙂

I only brought in one of the Camellias and the ones outside look really healthy despite -13 C (8,6 F).

   

Have a great day!

· 4 Comments ·
I went to the mail box and checked if I had gotten any mail, we only get it every second day and I never remember what days they are 🙂 Anyway I took this photo on my way back. The left one is my neighbors and the right one is mine.

Been to the supermarket in the early morning and followed the note I’d written and instead of buying more things I don’t need I actually removed some since I really don’t need them and probably want to have other things next time I’ll go to the grocery store 🙂

     

We were supposed to have rain today but I don’t think we’ve had any, we did get some sunshine instead and that was a good swap I think 🙂 Above 0 C (32 F) temperatures today so the snow and frost is slowly melting away, very slowly it still stays in places where the sun can’t reach. I don’t think Alma has behaved so well ever before as she did today!! I only wish I knew what was different this time 🙂 🙂

     

Every time my or my neighbors cars aren’t working as they should we borrow each others cars. Last year just before Christmas my old Peugeot broke down totally I could borrow their VW, this time they have their Volvo at the garage so now they borrow my Renault 🙂 I might have a rather shit life in some ways this autumn/ winter but I do have the best neighbors one can have 🙂 Also they like when my dogs jump over the fence and plays with their children and that’s a huge relief 🙂 🙂 🙂 So at the moment it’s a good thing I’m at home most of the time 🙂 🙂

     

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day. I baked some french rolls today and they sort of sank and are a bit flat but texture wise they actually are really close to the “real” ones but they taste absolutely nothing at all 🙂 🙂 🙂 So I’ve been sitting here wondering how all taste just have vanished when I remember that I forgot to put in salt 🙂 🙂 🙂 I tend to bake on a hip as we say here but I think I can remember how much of each product I used so I can do them again and put salt in too 🙂 🙂 🙂

Well if Alma is cleaning her up she of course does the same to her 🙂

I wonder what the Yule Gnome is trying to defend himself from? People who’d rather have Julmust? the biggest of all sodas during this time of year 🙂

Have a great day!

So dark outside.

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Time just flew away yesterday and I blame that on the only sport I watch on tv, Biathlon. For those of You who don’t know what that is it is cross country skiing combined with shooting with a rifle on targets. To be honest it is strange that I am so fascinated in this sport because I’m a Conscientious objector and really dislikes cross country skiing 🙂 🙂 🙂 I never sleep as well as I do in front of cross country ski competition 🙂 🙂 🙂

     

They normally have these competitions in the mornings but for some reason they had them in in the afternoon this time, so I forgot to check the clock and when I finally did it was too late to start writing anything. Well nothing much had happened anyway and it was much the same today. The weather isn’t anything but fun. So dark and gloomy today that I had to use ISO 5000 to be able to take any descent photos. If You don’t know what ISO one usually use it’s normally around 200 on a bright day.

   

My hardy Rosemary. So far it has managed to survive down to almost -13 C (8,6 F).

It took some time before we could have our morning walk today, it rained around the time the sun is supposed to show itself and the clouds were so thick that very little light managed to reach us here on the ground. They did thin out some thankfully, otherwise I would have stayed at home 🙂

     

I saw a picture of a Werewolf earlier today and came to think of how our folklore describes them. I can’t find anything that if someone was bitten by a werewolf they too became one. There were some other ways that I’ll describe later on but mostly it was because someone had cursed a person to become one or if one knew ones way with magic one could transform to one by oneself. Usually they did that if they by looking like an animal would kill an enemy but it wasn’t only a wolf they could transform too, a bear was also something they could become. When someone had become a werewolf or (were) bear they usually had a lighter color than normal bears or wolves.

We walked in on one of all the small side roads to the gravel road down to the creek and found this small piece of bog.     

There were a few different ways to get free from this and the easiest one would be if someone saw You and thought they knew this wolf they just screamed out his name three times. One could also be killed by a silver bullet or the worst one they had to kill a pregnant woman and eat the child, must have been a nasty way for someone who had been cursed to become a werewolf. Life wasn’t easier back in the days 🙂 🙂 🙂

     

I hope Your First of Advent was a good day and now we’re looking forward to the second 🙂

     

Have a great day!

· 5 Comments ·
It’s a mix of photos taken both today and yesterday. This was the only time we could see some sun yesterday 🙂

So my car didn’t pass the annual vehicle inspection a month ago, the lamda emission was a tiny, tiny bit too high most likely due to the exhaust pipe wasn’t put together properly so it leaked slightly. I thought I would just go to the garage and order an appointment but forgot it, so on Monday I suddenly remembered it and as always they have so many customers that I really couldn’t have an appointment this wee but the car would have to been fixed at latest on Friday, otherwise I wouldn’t been allowed top drive it.

Not many christmas decoration in Falköping but then again I didn’t walk close to the town square where most decorations are.

 

For me this looks like an old Cinema entrance but it’s actually the entrance to the sports center.

They were really kind at the garage so if I left it there today they would try and fix it before Friday. If I’m lucky it’s just to fix the exhaust pipe but when is one really lucky when it comes to cars and repairs? 🙂 🙂 🙂 So when I had left it there I walked down to the bus station and took the bus home. Well it’s a 45 minute long walk before I’m home from the bus stop 🙂 I had brought a camera with me but it was way too dark to get especially many photos in Falköping but the walk home from the bus stop was better when it came to light.

The church and old school in Bjurum.
Walking towards Bjurum Castle.

 

I had around 3 km (around 1,9 mile) left to walk when a car suddenly stopped by my side, it was my neighbor so she picked me up and guess if I was happy 🙂 🙂 🙂 If the car is done late in the day tomorrow I’ll follow her fiance when he drives to work on Friday, if it is ready tomorrow morning I’ll have to walk to the bus stop. The bus comes once every hour so if I miss it I’ll have to wait and I do hope it isn’t raining or a hard wind blowing or both 🙂 🙂 🙂

   

Just as I arrived here my neighbor picked me up 🙂

There’s something out there that disturbs the dogs, They do go out into the garden but just for a short while but a bit longer if I’m with them. Today Malkolm even growled just after we had come back in again. Could be a wolf or two but usually when they are around they refuse to leave the entrance at all, we do have loads of wild hogs hanging around now though so it could be the reason. They do have pigs in the farm just up the slope and they might attract wild hogs, Alma tends to stare over the pasture in to the forest every day now and doesn’t look happy at all.

     

I think it is time for that last cup of tea for the day and after that fall asleep in front of the tv 🙂

Have a great day!

Much hardier than I thought.

· 6 Comments ·

It’s finally warmer again but not especially close to what they guessed, instead of 10 C (50 F) it reached 4.5 C (40,1 F). They did guess it right when it came to the rain though and it it also quite windy so the photos You see today are from yesterday when it still was cold and sunny, so much nicer to look at 🙂

     

Nothing much has happened here and that’s just how I like it 🙂 I had decided to let one of my seed grown Gardenias stay outdoors because I have very little space indoors now 🙂 So I ignored that the cold period would come and it fell down to -12 C (10.4 F) and I thought that was it, after all it comes from warmer areas. So I brought it in anyway and now it has a slightly too dark place in the cool cellar. So I just checked the hardiness for it and to my very big surprise it is hardy down to -12 C(10.4 F) 🙂 🙂 🙂 Well I hope any pests it could have gotten from when living indoors, like whitefly have died 🙂 🙂

     

I have also gone tired of my Camellias since they only flower while down in the cool cellar, I know they can take this cold and some more so I’m not surprised that they still look really healthy out there.  I want around in the garden to see how my small trees had managed this first cold period. The Persimmons has frozen some, the tips of their branches but looks good otherwise. To my very big surprise the Pawpaws looks totally untouched by this first cold and those were the ones I was most worried about 🙂 The English walnut is also untouched by the cold and the Red mulberry, White mulberry and the one called M. accidosa or Mulle as its name is as well 🙂

     

Well this was the first cold weather for most of them and winter is young, Last winter really didn’t start until early February and ended in the middle of March just to come back to easter again for a week, just as I brought home Malkolm 🙂 🙂 We had 40 cm (20 inches) of snow and it took a week for it to melt away 🙂 🙂 🙂 I wouldn’t mind if this was the last snow for this winter but my neighbor wants snow on her birthday on December 3 and on Christmas, after that she doesn’t care either 🙂 🙂 🙂

     

I think I’ll skip that last cup of tea for the day and Instead I’ll make some rose-hip soup, fits so well on a windy and rainy day like today. I’ll also have a slice or two from the loaf I baked today 🙂

     

Have a great day!