Category: Cold.

Falling down :-)

June 3, 2023 · 1 Comment ·

My kitchen stairs are just two steps but when a slipper gets caught in a nail that has grown up from the wood it still is pretty high when falling down to the ground 🙂 🙂 🙂 Most of me hit a sack of peat and my first thought was that I had broken the lens on my camera, after that I started to check if I was ok 🙂 🙂 🙂 Nothing broken but my strained neck, because of Almas constant pulling of the leash, that was back to almost normal again is now back to being very strained.

It was even colder tonight than the previous one, -2C (28,4F) and this time I was worried that much more would have been damaged. The new walnut tree is badly frozen but I hope it will make a comeback later in summer. One of my ginkgos was touched at its top branch and so was the Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) but otherwise everything looks ok. The sun took its time to show as well this morning so we didn’t go out until well after 6am, normally we’re out at the same time the sun rise.

I went to Skara to buy soil and they were selling pitcher plants this year as well, so I bought three new ones to replace those two that didn’t make it through winter. I also went in to the super market and now I’m trying two new cookies. I’ve said it before and I say it again. They also make most of the cookies vegan so no butter or milk and nothing really tastes good because of that. I did however find hobnobs, normally not one of my favorites but these are quite ok, perhaps because the other ones I tried tastes like shit. They would most likely have been great with milk and butter in them. I’m not against veganism in any way but if food or edibles need milk and butter to taste good there really is no use in trying to make them without either of them.

I’ve planted my new Ginkgo today. I planted it close to the rose that stands above Teodors resting place. The rose seems to struggle so I thought Teodor most likely wouldn’t mind if ginkgo took its place 🙂 I also planted my Persimmon hybrid. The big problem was that the only place it really should be planted at was filled with roots of roses, sloe and false spirea. So I chose the only place where only the false spirea had grown. It really is a out of control weed that plant but it is fairly easy to remove because the roots grow just beneath the surface and can be ripped up. Except for the fact that they also grow like they are spiderwebs. So I had to rip up roots for almost half an hour before I could start digging for the tree 🙂 🙂

The Persimmon. You can see some of the roots in front of it.

Old Broccolo (a variety of broccoli) germinates much better than I thought 🙂

I cut out the bottom of a bigger pot,m placed it in the hole and planted the tree inside it. The put is deep enough so no roots will grow in to it from the false spirea. Next year when the tree is established (if it survives the winter) I’ll remove the pot bu just pulling it up from the ground and over the tree. I think it is time for a cup of tea and perhaps a couple of hobnobs. The other ones I bought would have been great as dog treats if they hadn’t contained chocolate. I hate tossing away anything edible so I guess that I’ll have to eat them but I will drink lots of milk while doing it 🙂

Photo taken while falling down the stairs 🙂

I think almost all potatoes have leafs now 🙂

Columbine. Looks like almost all mine are either pink or dark purple. I think I have one white and one blue.

Have a great day!

The wind is the same but now it’s raining.

May 1, 2023May 1, 2023 · Leave a comment ·

So if yesterdays weather looked nice from indoors todays wetaher doesn’t and isn’t either 🙂 There was at least no wind in the earky morning when we went out for our walk but it did rain consistently for the entire hour we were outside. To be honest, none of the dogs wanted to take a walk but I forced them because I wanted them to get rid of some energy. Albin and Alma can destroy an entire house when they’re going full force playing 🙂 🙂 🙂

The rain did stop and naturally during the time I did the laundry. Almost as soon as I’ve finished it the rain came back 🙂 🙂 During that time I also saw the sun for almost ten whole seconds 🙂 🙂 I wouldn’t mind that much if the wind just could stop blowing, especially since it is just as cold as it was yesterday. The birds doesn’t seem to mind the weather as much though, they sing a bit less I guess but then again lots of them are on the ground eating what ever they can find and it looks like they find a lot.

I did my taxes today and even before I made the car deduction for driving to and from work because I really can’t use public transportation (it would take 150 minutes one way and it takes 30 minutes with a car) I would get a few dollars back 🙂 Can’t remember when that happened the last time With the deduction I’ll get a few more back but since our inflation is insane here that money won’t last for long 🙂 🙂 🙂 Well it’s better than to have to pay back 🙂 🙂 🙂

A15398_002 — Four from the Agfa Ambiflex. A bit too wintery but they make today look nice and cosy in comparison 🙂 🙂 🙂

A15398_005

Around five? years ago I sowed some Gardenia seeds, I’ve tried before but have always failed. This time however I got five little plants and I still have five living even though one really look more dead than alive 🙂 🙂 🙂 Today I found flower buds on the two of them that I looked at!! I also noticed that they were attacked by something, can’t really say what I only saw the larvae or what it was. So now I’ve sprayed them with soapy water. Soapy water suffocates everything insect-wise and I do hope I didn’t destroy the coming flowers by doing so.

A15265_020A — Four from the Agfa Ambi Silette. These photos on the other hand make today look like a nasty november day 🙂 🙂 🙂

A15265_023A

Tomorrow’s a working day again so back to work it is. I actually almost won back all the money I spent on the lottery, not quite but very close 🙂 🙂 🙂 not enough to stop working but I’ll at least not have to pay more than less of a $ US next week 🙂 🙂 🙂

A15266_004 — Why not ad a wintery photo from the Flexaret VI too.

Have a great day!

I do hope the time of snowstorms are over!

April 1, 2023 · 2 Comments ·

Another snowstorm passed by yesterday, must have been the third in four days, so ow the world is covered in white garbage again. I do have to say though that the days has been rather wonderful with sunshine and above freezing temperatures. The photo shows the morning mist we got and it was better than nothing 🙂 🙂 🙂 They’re guessing that we’ll continue to have this weather until at least Thursday, with cold nights but sunny and warm days, after that the cold nights most likely will give up and most likely the sunshine as well but to be honest they aren’t that great in guessing the weather over here so a new ice age might start before the week is over 🙂

We now have a pack of wolves that made my county their territory. Their sort of home area isn’t that far south of the town Falköping so I guess we’ll have many more visits from them in the future unless hunters do what they usually do and poach them. Hunters can be nice people but they really don’t like competition about the wild life they themselves wants to kill. I do know however that the hunters in my village wouldn’t shoot them, they are usually the first ones to see the wolves and then spread the news to us in the village so we all can keep our eyes open and see them ourselves. No such luck for me yet but I know that at least one followed us, out of sight, at at least one of our walks because the dogs clearly showed me that something was close to us for quite some distance and they really didn’t like it.

a (15)

More and more cranes arrive now and so does the crane tourists. long time since I saw that many caravans and mobile homes down by the lake. Lots of other birds arrive here too of course and I do hope that I one day will see at least one of the very few Black Storks that comes here every year. I know that they one year actually nested here but that’s very rare. They are usually more at home on the other side of the Baltic sea.

A15265_015A — These were taken with my Agfa Ambi Silette.

A15265_017A

Last year I bought a pair of shoes that were nasty expensive but they were the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever walked in. Unfortunately the price didn’t show that they were a high quality shoes, I guess they lasted a month or so and the reviews of the company showed that there was no use in trying to send them back or get a new pair. Turns out that the soles just were glued on and with a low quality glue as well. So I’ve been looking at the shoes with some kind of disgust 🙂 until I realized that if I tore the soles off they would work very well as slippers instead 🙂 So now I instead have really comfortable slippers 🙂 🙂 Still to be honest they weren’t worth the price but now I can at least use them again.

a (3) — Sixteen and a half years old, with a bad knee and still has no intentions on walking at the same pace as the rest of us 🙂 🙂 🙂

It’s time to make dinner for the dogs so see You tomorrow again.

Have a great day!

We almost had spring for a while.

March 26, 2023 · 4 Comments ·

a (7)

It really was spring like here for a while so I thought I might start here again, then the rain came and now it snows. They tend to change the weather forecasts faster than a spinning wind power plants but at the moment it looks like we’ll get nasty cold nights and barely survivable warm days. That will of course change next second but that’s what I’ve read so far.

So what has happened since christmas? Well I’ve learned, after 58 years why I’ve always had a wobbly stomach. Turns out I can’t eat gluten. I was at the companies health care service and talked with a nurse there. She asked if I had tried to stop eating products with gluten and I said I had bought one of those rather expensive home tests and it didn’t show anything at all. So she said try and stop eat anything with gluten and see what happens. Well I can tell You that I really don’t use much toilet paper now days 🙂 🙂 🙂

Now days it isn’t that hard to avoid gluten since it has become fashionable to not eating it. however the bread one can buy is an abomination to anything living so I’ve tried different ways to bake bread with other kinds of cereal and now I have bread that is just like any other except I really can’t make a good French roll but I’ll keep on trying till I get close enough.

A15266_001 — I had a few rolls of film developed and these two photos were taken with the Flexaret II

A15266_002

The dogs are all fine and I must say that Alma has calmed down considerable. She would still be considered awful compared to other dogs but she has really tried to listen to what I tell her. Last time we saw a deer she only screamed for five minutes after she last saw it and that’s a huge improvement. More and more cranes are around now and now I can hear them trumpeting from the lake in the mornings. Well I can hear them for the cow pasture on the other side of the road as well but so far they’ve stayed behind a tiny mound so I haven’t been able to see them yet.

A15265_006A — These three were taken with the Agfa Ambi Silette.

A15265_010A

Well since the wetaher will be more wintery than what I prefer I’ll come back next weekend again.

Have a great day!

Have a good continuing of the Yule.

December 25, 2022 · 4 Comments ·

Last Sunday when we took a walk out on the bog I found some tracks in the snow when we walked on my favorite island out there. beneath the canopy there was just a thin layer of powdered snow so I really couldn’t see what animals they came from but it was clear that they weren’t from pigs or any kind of deer or moose. Fairly big and my dogs were really unhappy about them. From what I could figure out there must have been at least three of these animals passing by. It looked like the animals had done their best to walk in each others foot steps though. Since the dogs were so unhappy about them I guessed that we must have wolves here again. Today I thought we should walk the same way again but it didn’t take long until suddenly the dogs refused to go on, they all sniffed in the air and just wouldn’t walk. So we turned back and I think that must have been the first time all dogs had the same goal, just to leave the area as fast as possible. So I guess those wolves are still out there and who knows perhaps they were watching us while we left in a hurry.

I don’t mind wolves myself but I really don’t want to risk meeting several of them while walking in an area where we not easily can get away from them. A dog is just another wolf in their eyes and will kill and eat them if they can. I’m not sure if they would have come even close to use while me, a human, is with the dogs but I’m not willing to try and test it 🙂 🙂 🙂 There weren’t any tracks from any other animal but hares and a fox out there either and that’s usually a sign that something has changed, like wolves staying in the area. So instead we walked down to the creek and back home again. I talked with my neighbor and he had seen some paw prints behind one of his cars so we took a look at them. The prints were much bigger than Almas but perhaps not as big as the only real paw print I’ve seen in snow that actually came from a wolf, so either a really big dogs or a rather young wolf I guess. Kind of cool that they’ve passed just outside my garden but at the same time I better follow my dogs outside in to the garden now when it’s dark outside. Just in case it will return. Anyway I did send a text message to the hunters that will be out hunting tomorrow, they’ll be using dogs and I really don’t want any dog to risk getting killed by a wolf. To be honest, if I hadn’t had the dogs with me today and thought there might be wolves around I would have continued out on the bog just to see if I could see any 🙂 🙂 🙂

This is where we stopped and walked back when the dogs refused to continue.

2022-12-25 11.48.42 kartor.eniro.se cda34b451a76 — Up at the left corner is where we were so we walked back and down to the creek instead.

a (8) — Fortunately I took some photos last Sunday while we were out walking there 🙂

These are the times to also keep an eye open fro trolls and other beings while out walking according to our folklore. Trolls, who actually origins from the Norse faith can be out and about any time of day since they look much like us humans. Well not the mountain trolls up in the north of course, they are really big and human like even though they quite often are rather ugly, shrewd as few but not especially smart and they really dislike us humans. The other trolls however are much more like us but with the difference that they have a long tail. Sort of downy all they way to the tip where they have a big fluffy “ball” of hair. If one leave them alone they’ll leave us along but they will be forever grateful of one help them when they are in need. They occasionally tends to swap their children with ours but it is easy to make them swap back again, just threaten to hit the child and the troll mother will be there in no time to get their child back. A troll would never ever hurt their own child no matter what. Most of the rest of the beings will mostly come out when it gets dark and this time of year it’s dark almost all the time, especially if it is cloudy as it has been today. Never interact with them unless it is to help them (happens extremely rare), they will reward anyone who will give them a hand when they need it. Also it is a good thing to have some pieces of silver in the pockets, they love silver and will help if one give them some of it.

a (24)

The gnome is, from what I’ve read, never seen during daytime. The house gnome or perhaps more correct the farm gnome is said to be the spirit of the first owner of the farm, the one who once built the place. He stays just because he wants to make sure the place is well taken care of. He helps with the animals on the farmers do their best as well. However if the farmer is lazy the gnome will punish him one way or the other and if the farmers are really bad it happens that the gnomes simply burns the place down. The gnome is always a male and he usually wears grey or green, rather worn woolen clothes. One shouldn’t however bring him new clothes as a thank you because if he feels he is too well dressed he most likely will leave for good, he will of course not wear good clothes while working in the barn 🙂 The gnome can live in the barn but he can also live in the care tree that should be growing in every home. A care tree (or vårdträd as we call it in swedish) is a tree that is planted just for eventual sprits and beings to live in. Normally it would be an Elm tree, Ash tree or perhaps a Linden but it could also be, like in my garden a Rowan tree or perhaps an Oak or a Chestnut tree. What ever one does ever never hurt a care tree, not even by mistake, because the spirits and beings living there will punish You, perhaps even with death, if one does. On the other hand if one takes good care of it they will instead make sure one will have a good life.

a (28)

It is time to give the dogs their dinner and I might even have something myself. I’ll be back tomorrow but after that I won’t write anything until new years eve I think.

Have a good continuing of the Yule!

I wish You all Good Yule.

December 24, 2022 · 8 Comments ·

We got a white christmas, or Jul as we call it, after all. Just a few days ago we had lots of snow and it was bitterly cold when suddenly a warm front arrived with some rain and melted it all away. Ok it also gave us freezing rain which made it rather exciting to drive home from work one day and to work the next 🙂 But with the warm weather the feeling that life most likely would go on arrived and it felt rather nice. The cold weather however hadn’t given up it seems, so suddenly the temperature dropped again and we also got a thin cover of snow. I must admit that it was beautiful this morning, when first the sun rose and then fog rolled in over the village. The fog didn’t last more than a few minutes before the cold light from the sun pushed it away again.

Christmas eve, or Julafton as it’s called in Swedish, is the big day here in Sweden. Today is trhe day when children will meet the Yule Gnome, or jultomten as we say. He usually arrives around noon and even though there will be lots of packages under the branches of the Yule spruce he still has a sack filled with presents. Well perhaps this year with the running inflation and high power prices it’ll be slightly less filled to be honest. Personally I hated to have to go to the yule gnome to get a present, he scared the c..p of me 🙂 🙂 and I for one never felt sad when I heard he wasn’t real 🙂 🙂 🙂 Most families then let the kids play with their new toys until three pm when they show Donald Ducks christmas on tv. This is a tradition that has been going on since 1960 here in Sweden. Every year they think less people will watch it because they rarely change any of the films during the years, still it is one of the most watched tv programs we have in this country 🙂

The eating starts after Donald Duck and the menu is much the same every year, a christmassy smorgasbord. Pickled herring in more variations You would ever guess there is. Salmon in one way or the other. The christmas ham of course and lots of sausages and meatballs. It varies depending on where one lives of course, some must have smoked eel. some baked brown beans, and perhaps oven made omelette covered in a chanterelle stew. Red cabbage or brown cabbage are big in some parts of the country and we always have beetroot salad which goes perfect with the sausages, meatballs and the ham. Preferable there will be lots of different cheese there as well. At least one made from cream which is impossible to get slices from but very rarely any kind of blue cheese or camembert. When everyone is so full that they want to puke the rice porridge is served and lots of it. Many make way too much so there will be quite a lot of the porridge left until christmas day when we make Risalamande from it. Just mix the rice with lots and lots of whipped cream and then use what kind of fresh fruit of berry You want to have with it. Some let the fruit and berries lay on the surface while others, like me, whisk it down into the rice and cream mix. Of course lots of sugar should be added as well, preferable vanilla sugar.

Back in the days our Yule Gnome looked slightly different than today, today he looks very much like Santa Claus to be honest. If one look at old christmas cards he usually was rather thin and most likely dressed in green (and of course on cards he usually was quite small but I doubt that was especially important). He also brought the presents in a small sled pulled by a goat or if it was a wealthy family a sled pulled by a horse. We’ve never had reindeers here and our gnome lives in Lappland, a huge and sparsely populated area in northern Sweden (where they funnily enough have lots of reindeers 🙂 🙂 ) Our Yule Gnome is of course based somewhat on our folk lore gnomes, some from Sinterklaas and also some from Santa Claus and I’ll come back either tomorrow or the day after to tell You a bit about our gnomes and perhaps a little about our other beings and folk lore.

I now am on a two week christmas vacation. I started yesterday by going home a bit early (most people had already taken the day off and we who still came went home a bit earlier than usual. As soon as I had come home and the dogs had gotten their food we all took a long nap. It looked like we all were just as tired after we woke up so we had an early night 🙂 Today I’ve had my rice porridge for breakfast, so easy now when I once again have a slow cooker 🙂 Befor that however we went out on our morning walk. The sun rose and fog rolled in over our little village. It didn’t last for long though because the sun, even though it didn’t give away and noticeable heat still burned the fog away. Today I used my “new” camera that I bought as a christmas present (julklapp in Swedish) to myself. A Nikon D7100. I bought it from our ebay called Tradera fairly cheap and they hade only taken around 8000 photos with it, in digital camera world that means it’s almost unused since a digital camera should be able to take 150000 photos before it starts to break down. We are still getting used to each other but I have figured out the basics.

I couldn’t understand why several photos were so blurry since I do have stabilization in the lens. Turns out that one can chose shutter priority or focus priority in this camera?! So either the shutter close no matter if one is focused or not or it tries to focus no matter what until the photo can be taken. I’ve now changed it to focus priority and I’ll see what happens tomorrow 🙂 The camera itself will of course not make my photos better (except for perhaps a bit sharper) because that’s all up to me I’m afraid 🙂 We’ll have below 32F temperatures until the night towards Monday and I can’t pretend I like that but knowing how horribly cold it has been and perhaps still are in big parts of the US I really shouldn’t complain. I also must admit that my home, especially the floors, are much cleaner when the ground is frozen. Still I really prefer above 32F nex week since that’s when they decide what my electricity will cost per kilowatt hour in January. A warm and windy last week in December will lower the price pretty much so hold Your thumbs for nicer weather for all of us 🙂

I wish You all a God Jul!

Slow days stuns the brain.

October 21, 2022 · 2 Comments ·

A13797_003 — All photos comes from the folder “For a rainy day”, today was too grey and dull to take any photos. This photo comes from my old Flexaret III camera.

So yesterday while I was working I suddenly got a phone cal from my neighbor and I thought that can’t be a good thing. Either my cottage is burning down or Alma has escaped from the dog yard again. Thankfully it was the latter one 🙂 🙂 🙂 So I had to drive home to fix the place where she had escaped from. The weather was really nice, sunshine, no wind and therefore rather warm.

a (794)

I’m so glad that Albin actually is a really obedient dog that knows he isn’t allowed to leave the dog yard when I’m not at home because it would have been much harder to find him if he had seen anything moving because he had run after it 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’m never worried about Nova 🙂 Alma spent most of the time with my neighbors and I’m so glad they really love her. Alma is now really good friends with their three year old daughter. They even filmed Almas visit to them 🙂 🙂 🙂 I did go back to work for almost an hour before it was time to go back home again and everyone at work found it hilarious 🙂 🙂

a (803)

It was a bit slow at work today (no phone calls from my neighbors thankfully). I had plenty to do but time passed so slowly. Days like that sort of stuns the brain so when I went to the grocery store after work I wanted to renew my lottery tickets. Nothing strange but today I really couldn’t get it right. Here when we’re playing the lottery or any other thing like that we must get our identity card or drivers license registred in the machine. I really wanted to give her my license but instead tried with my bank card 🙂 When I finally got it right I thought I just as well renew it for two more times but forgot to say that, so when I was about to pay I thought that it was way too cheap. So we had to re do it again and behind me the queue grew large.

a (785)

I had a written note with me so I knew exactly what I wanted to buy today and it wasn’t until I had paid that I realized that I had forgotten to buy anything for dinner at work next week, so back in to the store and find something. I was lucky though because some kids were stopping most people to get to the till so I could sort of go around them all and get first in line again 🙂 🙂

a (725)

It was really nice to come home and to see that all the dogs were where they were supposed to be 🙂 I let the dogs run around in the garden but thought I saw how Alma jumped over the fence to the neighbors again. So I shouted out her name and it turns out that she was at the opposite side of the garden. I thought it must have been a cat or a big bird going that way instead so I said to her that she was a good bird 🙂 🙂 It took a couple of time before I managed to say good girl 🙂 🙂

a (693)

We have an Englishman working at the factory now days, he works the evening shift but we do meet for a couple of hours every day. He has lived in Sweden for around 18 years but he has a little problem, when ever someone understands he’s from England they automatically starts to talk English to him 🙂 🙂 He thinks he’s bad in swedish though so we (are of course no better) all talk english with him 🙂 He sked me where I got my accent from because it does sound as if I’ve lived in England. He knows that I’ve just passed by as best, so I told him that when I lived in Gothenburg we had cable tv and the only channel I watched back then was a channel called BBC Prime. I must have worked all evenings or nights then because I watched Good Morning Britain every day.

A13795_003 — Three from the Hasselblad. I managed to get the film damp but some photos turned out rather good anyway. I had forgotten about these photos from older cameras.

A13795_008

I realized that I didn’t speak english as they did on tv so I started to repeat more or less every word they said until I came close enough to how they sounded. I call it BBC english 🙂 🙂 So I can only than the two who hosted good morning britain, Ms Anne Diamond and Nick Owen for how I speak english 🙂 🙂 🙂 He laughed out loud and says it sounds posh and I think that is the only thing posh about me 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

Concrete ice.

October 19, 2022 · Leave a comment ·

DSC_0006 (13)

Yesterday night I didn’t get much sleep. Nova got some kind of stomach flu and had to go outside every now and again, usually just as I started to fall asleep again. Also at 1:30 am I needed to go to the bathroom myself and after that it was even harder to fall asleep.

DSC_0010 (14)

So I was so tired at work that I went home a couple of hours early. I wanted to leave earlier than I could but suddenly some job came in (that we’ve been waiting for a long time) so I had to finish that before I could leave. So I thought it would be too late to take a nap because I didn’t want to have trouble falling asleep in the evening again. I made fish and rice for Nova (well the other two got some too of course) and after that I sat down in my recliner.

DSC_0022 (12)

I did wake up every now and again to let the dogs go outside in to the garden but mostly they wouldn’t since the rain was pouring down the entire day and well into the night. So when it was time to actually go to bed I just went upstairs and fell to sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow 🙂 🙂 🙂 Novas stomach had calmed down so I didn’t have to get up because of her either. I still was nasty tired when I woke up but that feeling just vanished when I had my big cup of tea 🙂

DSC_0029 (6)

The world outside was pretty cold when I let the dogs out. Didn’t feel that bad because there was no wind but I realized how cold it was when I was about to scrape off the ice from the car. Concrete ice I call it. I managed to scrape off enough so I could drive till the end of the village road, there I stopped and scraped off the rest 🙂 🙂 Tomorrow morning will be much the same they say and I’m not looking forward to it.

DSC_0038 (2)

Have a great day!

The cold air hit me like a ton of bricks.

September 30, 2022 · 2 Comments ·

DSC_0023 (7)

Some morning it feels like it’s just impossible to wake up, this morning was one of those. Then I opened the door to let the dogs out and I woke up in a second, it was -4C (24,8F) and that cold air hit me like a ton of bricks 🙂 🙂 🙂

DSC_0015 (8)

The rest of the day has been pleasant though. Lots of sunshine and I opened the big door to where I paint as often as I could, it was still rather chilly until the afternoon so the door wasn’t open for longer periods of time though 🙂

DSC_0028 (5)

But like always clouds started to arrive when I stopped working and even though we did have some sunshine while we were out walking clouds soon covered the entire sky. That will at least keep the night temperatures on a much nicer level and well above freezing point and who could ask for more 🙂

DSC_0043 (2)

I’m out of energy now so either it’ll be an early night and I’ll go to bed or I will fall asleep in my recliner, I’m pretty sure nothing will be able to keep me awake no matter what I’ll do 🙂 🙂 I might have some red seedless grapes first though, they were on sale when I was in the grocery store today. I do like grapes no matter what color they have and to be honest I can’t say that they taste much different depending on the color, I’ve tasted bigger difference just by eating different green ones 🙂

DSC_0049 (1) — It’s either me or my neighbors who once threw an apple from our own gardens just beside the gravel road and now it gives the most delicious red apples 🙂 I do hope the forest owner leaves it alone.

DSC_0033 (2)

Have a great day!

New lenses.

September 22, 2022 · 2 Comments ·

DSC_0028 (3)

Once again I had to scrape ice from my car before leaving for work, I really don’t like it 🙂 Still it doesn’t seem to have been that cold in the garden because nothing looks frozen at all. I guess that my high hedge and the fact that my cottage and my neighbors cottage stays warm enough during the night to keep the frost away until the morning comes.

DSC_0003 (5)

I left work a couple hours early today. I went to get my new contact lenses and wanted to try them for a couple of hours today so I would know what they were like. I don’t think it would have been a good idea to put them on tomorrow morning and then drive to work 🙂 🙂 These are test contacts, just to make sure they’ve made them right and I’ll have them until Monday two weeks when I’ll go to the optician again so we can see what I think of them.

DSC_0013 (7)

They aren’t perfect, I can see clearly from about 60cm (15 inches) to around 3 meters (much the same in yards). Then there’s a long distance where everything is slightly blurry but I could see the trees on the mountain very clear 🙂 (a mile or so away). It can depend on the light because the lenses are most sharp for shorter distances like reading in the middle because when one reed there’s brighter light and the pupil will become much smaller. The sun shone really bright today so I guess my pupils were quite small all the time. It’ll be exciting to drive to work tomorrow morning when it still is quite dark 🙂

e (8)

The lenses work really well together with the camera though, everything is sharp no matter what distance it is from me and the camera. I have no problems putting in lenses in my eye, old habits die hard or what they say but I did have huge problems getting them out 🙂 🙂 🙂 No matter what I did those lenses sat on the eye as if they were glued, no risk of them falling out by accident though 🙂 🙂 🙂 Then I remembered that one should always look up when picking them out. Didn’t take more than a second when I remembered that 🙂 🙂 But I think I need to buy eye drops because the air in the factory tends to be rather dry, except beside and inside the big washing machine and I’ll be working inside it tomorrow afternoon 🙂

DSC_0024 (5)

I think it is time for a big cup with hot cocoa and perhaps a couple of digestives. I’m really tired today, don’t know why, so it’s a good thing I took out those lenses because the odds of me falling asleep in front of the tv are pretty low 🙂 🙂

e (21)

Have a great day!

Autumn is definitely here now.

September 10, 2022 · 4 Comments ·

DSC_0001 (1) — Flowers on Venus Flytrap.

It’s not the nicest of days here. It rained quite a lot last night so the humidity is high but the temperature is low. There’s a rawness in the air that tells me that autumn definitely has arrived.

DSC_0019 (1)

There was actually some sunshine when we were out walking this morning but I can’t say it warmed up the air especially much. No wind though and very few flies around to annoy us. I really think they flies should have given up by now considering we’ve had two nights with below 0C (32F). It should be a sign telling them that it is time to hibernate till next year.

DSC_0028 (1)

The election for our parliament is tomorrow and I’m so tired of it now. The party leaders in each party behaves like spoiled kids as soon as they show up on tv. The worst thing is that the outcome is so uncertain that it most likely will take just as long (I think it was 175 days) to make a government as the last time. There are eight parties in the parliament and since many don’t talk to each other it will be very complicated to form any kind of government.

No matter what we’ll all know that the rich will get more rich and the poor will be even poorer and that almost all parties will be blaming the poor for being more poor even though the politicians are the ones to blame, some things will never change I’m afraid.

Have a great day!

Frost again.

September 2, 2022 · 2 Comments ·

a (1) — The photos are from both today and yesterday but actually covers the walk I had this afternoon.

We had a second morning with frost here today, two in one week is at least one too many and it’s still four more days until it usually arrives. I do hope this isn’t a sign about how winter will be, early and long.

The day has been pretty nice though, lots of clouds but still lots of sunshine. It never reached 20C (68F) but still felt pretty warm when the sun shone. It is a bit chilly now in the evening though so I have turned on one radiator, the one in the living room. The little heat it gives will dry up the chilly air and then travel up to my bedroom and make it just enough warm there for it to be comfortable.

Alma has behaved as good as she can the two latest walks, not shouting too much when we’re walking towards the forest and only pulled the leash in one direction. For being Alma that is more or less amazing 🙂 🙂 🙂 We were just about to pass the beekeepers when Salmiak the cat suddenly ran out in front of us and down towards my cottage (I’m starting to believe he does like that on purpose, he might get a kick out of being close to death 🙂 🙂 🙂 ) and that was just too much for both Albin and Alma 🙂 🙂 🙂 We did manage to come back home without me having a stroke because those two are just too much sometimes 🙂 🙂 🙂

a (3)

I was supposed to leave work a couple of hours early today because I wanted to finally buy that document shredder I’ve been thinking of buying for a couple of years now and I wanted to go when there was as few other costumers as possible. I really didn’t want to wait just because people buying new phones never can decide on what model they want to have 🙂 🙂 🙂 Everything was ok but then they suddenly gave my work friend the day off (without actually telling me, I got to know about it by accident since I heard other people talk about it), the one that is, together with me, responsible for the big washing machine. Fridays are now the day we go through it properly after they’ve finished to wash for the day.

a (8)

So I had to stay and had a long chat with the one responsible about it. I had said that me going a couple of hours early wasn’t that important but I really wanted to buy that thing now. I said I will stop working with the washing machine if I can’t know if I actually can leave early or take the day off if it all depends on him taking the day off even if he does so after I got the ok for taking time off. For reasons I’m not writing here he has to take days off with short notice now and then. I’m not annoyed about that but I really need to know that this doesn’t happen again. So I’m not really angry about it but I want to make sure it doesn’t happen again, one day it might be something important I have to do.

It’s Friday and it is a bit chilly outside so I’ll make either hot chocolate and have some digestives with brie on or some rose-hip soup. Autumn is here and both a really great choices when the days get shorter and cooler.

Have a great day!