Category: Flexaret VI.

Christmas isn’t that far away.

November 25, 2024 · 10 Comments ·

Less than one month to christmas or Jul (Yule) as we call it and it is even less left until it stops getting darker and turns toward longer days again. Even though December is just as grey and dreary as any winter month it still feels better just because Christmas really starts at December first. People put up the electric Advent stars and electric Advent candlestick in the windows, some decorate with lights in their gardens, most just a few light chains but at some go all american as we say and decorate with so much strains and figures that most of us say: Yeah their electrical bill will cost a fortune 🙂 🙂 🙂

Mixed photos today because the weather has been nasty with strong winds and rain. Warm though with over 10 C (50 F) temperature. This is from a film camera called Agfa Ambi Silette.

Most outside decorations are pure white but some do get multi colored ones and I really like that. Back in the days people who used colored lights in any christmas decorations were seen as a bit odd, perhaps even tasteless 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’m so glad we aren’t that hysterical now days 🙂 🙂 🙂 A lot of people have already started with the decorations of course and it seems as the younger they are the earlier they start which of course more conservative people think destroys the joy and believe that people will get tired of it too early, too bad that those making christmas tv commercials are more conservative because those adds are already tiresome I think since they started in late October 🙂 🙂 🙂

These photos were taken with a camera called Agfa Ambiflex.

However the advent candlestick with live candles must be prepared before Sunday. I usually have one but I never light the candles, I have this phobia when it comes to live candles and living in a wood cottage built 1911 🙂 🙂 🙂 I would have to blow out the candles and then place the whole thing outdoors, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to sleep before I had put it outside 🙂 🙂 🙂 It doesn’t help having a kitten, now also named the monster, walking around burning candles 🙂 🙂

These were taken with a camera called Nikon F75. If You ever want to start with film photography this is the camera I would recommend.

The tradition on when to bring the Yule spruce as the christmas tree is called here and when to dress it varies a lot. Some bring it in already around Advent,dress it as soon as possible and happily throws it out as soon as they can after christmas (usually around the 27th) Others wait to bring it in until the day before christmas which is at the 23d here since our big day is christmas eve and will dress it either late the 23d or more unusual at christmas eve morning. My family brought it in the 13th, the day we celebrate Saint Lucia, for some reason we celebrate a catholic saint in this once strictly Lutheran country 🙂 . WE dressed the tree as soon as it had settled and since we never were able to make it survive for more than a few days and then the needles started to drop we too tossed it outside around the 27th 🙂 🙂 🙂

These were taken with a Voightländer Bessamatic.

The old traditions about celebrating christmas were of course very different than they are now, for some reason we now have a big, fat and jolly Santa (we call him the Yule Gnome) giving out presents, yes the kids meet the Yule Gnome on the 24th here. Also he arrives in a sled pulled by reindeers. Back in the days he came to rich people who could afford presents. Usually a small Yule gnome dressed in green and perhaps a red cap came to the homes followed by either a horse pulling a sled or the same small gnome followed by a goat pulling a smaller sled, I guess he came to those with a good economy but never especially rich people 🙂 🙂 🙂 But to be honest he wasn’t the first one to deliver presents, we had the Yule goat before him. One believes that he either was one of Thor’s goat from the old Norse gods but I’ve also heard from one of the old people when I was a kid, back in the stone age that is 🙂 that he was the devil forced to do good one day every year 🙂 🙂

I’ll tell You all about this the closer we get to Christmas 🙂 It will be rose hip soup again today and not too late because I wake up in the middle of night if I have too much 🙂 🙂

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 🙂 🙂 🙂

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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 🙂 🙂 🙂

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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!

April 16, 2023 · 4 Comments ·

I really can’t complain about the sunrise this morning. Minutes after and the sky went bland grey.

We’ve had quite a lovely day here today. It started a bit cloudy but was warm enough for me to only have a sweater when walking with the dogs. That would have been enough even when it was as coldest here as well since it at least was impossible not to boil while walking with Alma 🙂 🙂 She has however calmed down considerable even though she still pulls the leash quite a lot.

I haven’t been lazy today though. I’ve done the laundry, like I do every Sunday. I’m baking a bread right now actually and I’ve started to clean my cottage. Well I have at least started to carry out all cardboard boxes out to my car, I’ve also tossed away loads of things that I for a reason I don’t remember had saved. I did also start to saw down a corner of my garden mostly containing old thorny wild roses, thorny blackthorn bushes and false spiraea (Sorbaria sorbifolia). The last one is fairly easy to remove because the roots lay just beneath the surface but it spreads like crazy. I do like it though because pollinating insects love it.

I can’t say that I overdid anything but I did work with a bent back, so now I have huge problems unbending it. It’s the rheumatism that argues with me but I’ll have my sack of rice in the micro later on and put it between my back and the recliner. I would have loved to be able to do the entire place but the batteries needed to be charged and I could for my life not find the charger. Not especially strange to be honest because there’s no charger, just an electric cord put straight in to the battery 🙂 🙂 🙂

When I’m done cutting down it all I’ll push the the lawnmower over it so that no shoots will get a chance of growing up there again. I would have loved to be able to plant there immediately but most of what I cut down now (except for a birch that unfortunately grew up where it shouldn’t) spread via roots and I’m really tired of not being able to walk barefoot in my garden during summers. Well to be honest I’m hesitant to do that anyway because of the dogs using it as a toilet 🙂 🙂 🙂

It is time to go downstairs and check the bread. I still haven’t come up with anything that even remotely could work as french rolls and the scones I make tend to be very brittle. They usually falls to pieces as soon as I come close with a knife to cut them in half 🙂 🙂 🙂

A15265_009A — From the Agfa Ambi Silette.

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Have a great day!

A15266_008 — From the Flexaret VI around a year ago.

Not as uneventful as I wish it had been :-)

April 14, 2023 · 6 Comments ·

WordPress have lowered the amount of gigabyte I can use for free, from 3 GB to 1Gb and that would mean I would have to start a new blog so often that I finally caved in and bought more space. Now I have 6GB per year but I’ll have to pay for it. So from now on this is the place I’ll stay at.

A15265_001A — From the Agfa Ambi Silette.

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We’ve had a cloudy week but rather nice temperatures but since it has been so cloudy I’ve taken very few photos so all photos today are older ones. I would have liked to say that the week has been totally uneventful but that would be to lie a bit 🙂 Twice this week I’ve had calls from neighbors telling me that Alma had escaped from the dog yard 🙂 🙂

A15264_005A — From the Voigtländer Bessamatic.

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I have no idea why she does it because she’s miserable when she can’t get back in again 🙂 🙂 I do hope I now have secured the fence enough to make it too difficult for her to get out again until I can fix the dogyard properly again. It is a good thing my neighbors like her a lot 🙂 🙂 but we are all a bit worried that she might get hit by a car, not many comes here to be honest but if anyone who doesn’t know about her habit of escaping comes here I really don’t want her to be hit by them. A good thing though is that she doesn’t approach strangers.

20220827_060429 — From my phone, a Samsung something.

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They are now guessing that it will be really warm towards the end of next week so now people are planning to fill up their outdoor bathtubs and all kinds of things one can do in warm weather. They really shouldn’t since it’s over a week and at best our weather forecasts are slightly worse than bad 🙂 🙂 I’ll be happy if the sun shines, if nothing else it at least makes it feel warmer 🙂

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Have a great day!

Easter continues.

April 8, 2023 · 2 Comments ·

DSC_0004 (4) — Not the first butterfly for the year, I saw some in February when it was a bit warmer than now but it was the first one I managed to photograph. Lots of other ones were flying around but they refused to stand still so I could take a photo of them 🙂

So easter continues and today most families gather for easter dinner (well could be lunch as well, the thing is that relatives who can’t stand each other normally now do and after this they usually don’t meet until midsummer again 🙂 🙂 ) Like always we swedes eats loads of pickled herring, personally I can’t stand it but I belong to the very few who just refuse to eat it. They will also of course eat pickled salmon or cold smoked salmon. We who don’t like food that isn’t cooked eat meatballs, sausages, oven omelette with a stew made of chanterelles, lots of eggs and now days also easter ham. Easter ham is the exact same thing as christmas ham but they’ve changed the name so it fits the season 🙂 🙂

DSC_0014 (3) — I manage to distract Alma and Albin so they nere saw the deer 🙂

DSC_0016 (2) — Wild hogs at work during winter. Doesn’t look that bad but they can dig down to half a yard deep but it can’t be seen in this photo.

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Since it isn’t especially dry in the grass or the ground there will be lots of bonfires burning, to scare away the witches who now flies home after the party on Blåkulla. This tradition is strongest here in the southwest and out on the islands outside of Gothenburg, the town I was born and raised in, the tradition has gone a bit out of hand.They are, since at least 100 years back, competing in what island has the biggest bonfire. I’ve heard stories about how they go over to other islands and steal what ever they can to make their own bonfire bigger, including old tires and christmas trees. It will burn but they are also polluting both the area around the bonfire as well as the ocean surrounding the island. Now days it’s so bad that they call in extra polices to keep it reasonable calm.

p (16) — The Honeysuckle is always early with new leafs.

I went and visit my friend with the garden center. No I didn’t bring any camera, I’ll do that when the spring season has started. Easter eve was pretty calm back when I had my garden center, most people had already bought the flowers they were about to give away, so I was happy to see they she had lots to do today. So I had some time to walk around and I always like to see what they have hidden away. I found a Calamodin, a citrus relative that gives small orange looking fruits. They taste bitter sweet with emphasizing on bitter. It works great for marmalade though. All leafs were gone but it looked really healthy but she was going to toss it away, so now it stands in my cottage 🙂 My guess is that it was hit by cold air and didn’t like it so it dropped all the leafs. Takes too much time to come back for a garden center but I have all the time in the world 🙂

A15264_002A — These three photographs were taken with a Minolta X700 but it broke down after that so I moved the film to the Bessamatic instead.

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The day started boring and grey but it was at least above 0C (32F) but later on teh sky cleared and we’ve had sunshine all day long after that. Tonight will be a bit chilly, well almost warm after previous week but days will now be at least around 10C (50F) so I’m planning on bringing out some of what I have in my cool cellar to slowly get it used to be outside until the frost comes back in autumn again.

A15266_010 — And one from the Flexaret VI.

Have a good continuing of easter!

Happy Easter!

April 7, 2023April 7, 2023 · 2 Comments ·

DSC_0002 (2) — I stopped by the lake Wednesday morning. The sky looked amazing so I took a few photos. Later that evening a new sow storm passed by but all of that latest snow melted away already on Thursday 🙂

So easter has begun, well at least the holidays because I guess one really should say that easter started on Monday. Weather has been so nice the week that no big amounts of cranes has gathered by the lake. twelve thousand as most but there’s still a wall of sound from the lake while they all trumpet like crazy. Instead they have now started to fly to the fields and meadows around the village. For some reason I think it’s more fun to see them here than standing by a fence down at the lake looking at them walking a couple of meters away and loads of them as well.

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This week another neighbor than the usual gave me a call at work telling me that Alma had escaped the dogyard again 🙂 🙂 🙂 I really don’t understand why she keeps on doing that since she’s miserable when she can’t get back in again. She is however very happy to see me coming back home again though 🙂 🙂 I stayed at home a bit longer this time, the weather was so nice so I made myself a pot of tea before I drove back to work. Alma has been pretty impossible on our walks this week, that is until this morning when she suddenly remembered how to behave. Well at least until we came close to some cranes and she started screaming like obcessed for a while.

a (3) — I looked up in the sky yesterday to see if I saw any witches up there but all I could see was more cranes on their way to the lake.

Today I saw what we call song swans and in America is called Trumpet swans.

Yesterday evening all witches flew to Blåkulla to have a party with the devil. There are a few places that is supposed to be Blåkulla and I think all of them are remote islands out in the ocean. More close to the ground however yesterday is the day when kids dress up as witches (and now days warlocks) and walks from home to home begging for candy. It is sort of our Halloween. This custom almost died out but has become popular again. But since yesterday was a work day for most of us they might do it on easter eve instead. I don’t think anyone will come here since I have Albin here but perhaps I should buy some candy just in case, it won’t last for long if no one should come anyway 🙂

We came pretty close, they didn’t care about us at all. That is until Alma started screaming as if she was possessed.

I’ve a bread in the owen and the smell has spread in the entire cottage. The kitchen door is open because the sun shines and it gets so warm towards the south heading wall that the radiator in the kitchen is turned off. We’ll have another walks as soon as the bread is out of the oven because they’re guessing we’ll have a cloudy afternoon. From tomorrow we’ll have 10C or over (50F) during the days and a day after or so we will also have above 0C (32F) temperatures during nights 🙂 It does feel like spring has sprung after all 🙂

A15266_007 — Two taken with the Flexaret VI.

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Have a great day!

April 2, 2023 · 4 Comments ·

DSC_0002 (1) — I had the wrong lens with me so it’s hard to see what I have photographed. It’s a Jay (or Nut screamer as the direct translation would be from it swedish name). They are really shy so one must hide and have patience if one want a good photo of them.

Another rather wonderful day here. The night was pretty cold but after the sun rose the temperature also rose fairly quickly. Yesterday we had around 20 cm (8 inches) of snow on the gravel roads and today big parts of the roads were snow free 🙂 They still haven’t changed the wetaher forecasts so we’ll have this weather until Good Friday (or as we call it Long Friday) with temperatures just below 10C (50F) during the sunny days. Friday will be cloudy but from then on nights will be less cold and sunny days will gives us temperatures above 10C (50F).

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I’ll have to change Novas and Almas food again. Nova doesn’t like it any more 🙂 I did buy the same food but with chicken in it and she loves that one but one day I ordered the wrong food, it has rein deer instead. She gulped it down in the beginning but now she just sniffs at it and only eat it when she gets really hungry. She has however no problems what so ever to eat my food or treats 🙂 🙂 Alma eats anything that is put in front of her and also things I thought I had placed so high that she wouldn’t be able to reach it. I’ve now learned that Alma can reach anything she want to reach 🙂

Sometimes when I have had film rolls developed and scanned some photos are quite grainy. I used to have Adobe Photoshop organizer 11 (I think it was)and it fixed the graininess if I just brightened the photo one step. I don’t have that any more any the one I currently uses for down sizing my photos are quite helpless towards graininess. So I downloaded a program called Gimp and it is so advanced that I can’t understand it at all 🙂 🙂 The only things I do are down sizing photos and tries to fix graininess. It did fix the graininess but when I tried toi save the photo it either didn’t do it or placed it somewhere where I can’t find it 🙂 🙂 🙂 I still haven’t figured out how to down size the photos though 🙂 🙂 🙂

A15264_006A — These are from the Voigtländer Bessamatic.

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I still have problems after daylight saving time started and will most likely have problems for another couple of weeks. i’m always tired now and it doesn’t help that I had a really nasty cold two weeks ago. So I’ll go downstairs after this and make myself a nice cup of tea, I doubt that any ammount of tea can keep me awake tonight 🙂 🙂 I’ve just made dinner for work next week and it’s time to portion it out in my lunch boxes. Have a great day and see You next Friday perhaps otherwise next Saturday.

A15266_003 — This is from the Flexaret VI.

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

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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.

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

Have a great day!

Now he has to pay :-)

October 27, 2022 · Leave a comment ·

DSC_0002 (4) — All photos are older since it now gets dark early in the evening.

Nova is lying on her back beside my chair and demands belly rubbings. It’s a bit tricky to do that while typing and she also lets out the most horrible farts so I refuse to do any belly rubbing on her right now 🙂 🙂 🙂 She is very picky when it comes to where she wants them, if I miss if so the slightest she gets annoyed and walks away 🙂 🙂

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It hasn’t rained in two days and the first thing I do when I come home is to check if Alma has tried to escape again. Yesterday they got their new chewing bones and toys so she hadn’t bothered to do anything. Today those toys and bones were yesterdays news so of course she had tried her best to get out again. So the first thing I had to do was to undo the damage she had done 🙂 🙂 🙂

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I guess that Albin getting older and not having just as much energy any longer plays a big part in her tries to get out. Back in the days he was the annoying one with loads of energy and now he has to pay the price 🙂 🙂 🙂 He behaves just as Sune did when I come home from work. Alma is the first one out, then Nova, who after all is the queen of the universe so Alma doesn’t dare doing anything towards her. After that it’s is me going outside and Albin close after.

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Alm,a tends to jump towards him and then start chewing on Albins neck. She isn’t gentle either so once I tossed all the water thatw as left over her when Albin loudly complained about her behaviour. Now days I always show her the water bowl and she leaves him alone 🙂 🙂 After that they tend to play a long time in the garden. I once saw a picture that showed a T-rex, beneath the picture it said German Shepherd up to 24 months of age 🙂 🙂 I do hope she will calm down (hopefully earlier) when she’s 24 months old too 🙂 🙂

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The people of Sweden were stupid enough to vote for a right wing government supported by a fascist party. Mostly because they promised that we would get instant compensation for the high electrical bills we’ll get this winter. So today they showed us what they’ll give us. For one thing it will be a compensation for what we payed too much last winter, when the prices were rather low compared to what they’ll be this winter and as best we’ll get those pennies some time next year. Some electricity companies have told their customers to talk to their banks so that they have those extra $ 5000 they might need to pay for the electricity this winter. The compensation we’ll get will stay closer to maximum $ 400 US for a normal house hold. I never can understand how anyone ever can believe a right wing government supported by a fascist party!!

A13795_010 — Two from the Hasselblad camera.

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Have a great day!

Well I’m still alive :-)

June 14, 2022 · 2 Comments ·

DSC_0003 (8) — A photo of light yellow flowers towards green-yellow background never comes out well 🙂 It looks much more beautiful in the real.

These last days have been a bit tough. Sneezing during days and coughing during nights. The throat has sometimes been really nasty but it is amazing how much better it feels after having half a teaspoon with honey slowly melting down the throat. The pain almost goes away totally after just ten minutes. It’s important that it is unpasteurized honey though, so that all good bacteria in it still lives.

DSC_0005 (7) — The wild roses are finally opening up 🙂

DSC_0011 (7) — This one will be so beautiful with pink roses towards those leafs.

We’ve had really nice weather but I’ve mostly been indoors sleeping. It has felt like the fever has come and gone but today it feels like it is at one level all the time, it’s the small things one can enjoy 🙂 🙂 🙂 My voice was so hoarse yesterday when I called my work place that they just laughed when they heard me 🙂 🙂 🙂

DSC_0004 (8) — More potato leafs are showing 🙂

DSC_0016 (5) — Did You know that if some potato sprouts fall off when You put potatoes in the ground actually can be planted and give more potatoes themselves without being attached to the potato?

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I had to go to the store today, I had no food at home. It does feel a bit bad going to a store with a nasty cold, people all around me can get it then but I do need food even if I’m sick and I live a bit far from the rest of the world to get food delivered to my cottage, at least to a reasonable cost. I went there early though so it was almost only me and the people working there and I was never close to any of them.

DSC_0027 (2) — Sometimes the light falls just right.

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It was on my way home I realized I had forgotten to buy lots of ice cream, in fact I hadn’t bought any at all but I was too tired to go back and buy some. I did however buy some carnivorous plants. Normally they are hard to get here but today I was lucky. This is a paradise for flies and other insects so they’ll have plenty to eat this summer 🙂 🙂 🙂 I bought three Venus fly traps and four Sarracenias. None tough enough to survive a real winter here but I can have them in my cool cellar during winter. I would have bought a pitcher plant as well if they had had any.

A13796_004 — Two photos taken with my Moskva II.

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They are all now standing on the north side of my cottage protected from the sun by an old cardboard box. As soon as a plant has been standing indoors for a while they must stand in the shadows for a week or so when they are moved outside. The sun otherwise will burn them to death even though they actually love standing in full sunshine. I’ll later on replant them in peat and in deeper boxes without any drainage holes because they need acidic water and lots of it too.

A13797_008 — Two taken with my Flexaret VI.

A13795_001 — Two taken with my Hasselblad. Something has happened here, either some moisture have reached the film or perhaps just the lens but they still look rather good.

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It is time for some more honey and after that some tea I think.

Have a great day!