The car thermometer said 29C (84,2F) when I was almost at home and I must say I really don’t like this heat!! As a Scandinavian I’m not used to this kind of heat but preferred our more cooler summers. I do know some people actually loves this I’m happy for them but I’m personally not especially pleased 🙂 🙂 🙂
The gooseberries are almost ripe.
No summer without Californian poppies. I only had a few this year unfortunately.
My plan was to mow the lawn after I had come home after work but since I don’t plan of dying because of heat stroke and/ or total dehydration I skipped it. The dogs tried to play in the garden but gave up pretty quickly and happily went indoors when I opened the door 🙂 They are now sleeping beside me and not even the sound of cars or barking dogs seems to get any interest.
My little meadow is filling up with flowers now. Lots of different coloured Clarkia.
Yarrow grows there too, I better keep an eye on those because they tend to take over totally.
I’m trying to bake the second loaf of bread right now and this time I’ve adjusted the machine for a big loaf. I have however added some cheese this time, a strong cheese I rarely find in the stores. How’s this will affect it all I have no idea though. It’s around an hour left before it’s ready and I guess a few more minutes until I can slice that first piece 🙂 I’ll let You know how everything turnabout tomorrow.
One of my Mock oranges surprised me with a few more flowers.
The entire weekend will be this hot and how people can survive even higher temperatures is an enigma to me. The highest temperature I’v been in was 36C (96,8F) and I didn’t do a thing as soon as the temperature rose. The plants seems to like it a lot though, especially since we had all that rain the other day. I don’t think I need to water anything the coming days 🙂 🙂 I have noticed that we have more mosquitoes now though, good for birds and bats but for me it’s just another thing to be annoyed about 🙂 🙂
Finally a bean stalk not eaten by snails.My three Pawpaw seedlings, the two closest started growing this year and the third is from last year but mice ate most of 🙂 I really need to figure out how to have them during winter this year so I can plant them next spring.
We’ll have a walk early tomorrow morning while it still is a bit cooler and perhaps I can mow some of the lawn as well, my neighbours mowed the outside parts yesterday, I had a text message from them if it was ok to mow the lawn at 9 pm, it had finally cooled down so who would In have been to say no 🙂 🙂 I won’t have any tea today, instead I bought a bottle of elderberry Ade so I’ll have that instead 🙂
We had thunder all day yesterday way in to the night and torrential rain as well and I loved it, especially since none of the dogs are afraid of thunder. Instead they insist on going out and only rain can get them to quickly go indoors again 🙂 🙂 The monsterkitten didn’t seem to mind either, she even went outside when it rained 🙂
So yesterday was hot and sticky but today was and still is way worse and we also have sunshine but that actually makes it feel less horrible, it sort of dries out the air so it doesn’t feel like living in a sea, bath 🙂 Still it’s so hot that the dogs gave up on playing after just a few minutes and now they’r sleeping on the floor beside me. It has been horrible at work just because of the heat and we’re all drinking water like we were elephants 🙂 I must say it is an odd workplace in so many ways but they do make sure that we all get as much fluid replacement as we need. It doesn’t matter what taste those pills have they all taste awful but they do help and that’s the important thing.
I have at least three different Bluebells in my garden now.
A primula has decided it’s spring again 🙂 🙂
I now have a memory foam pillow and I slept so well that My neck didn’t hurt this morning. I also got my winter duvet, a warm one according to the seller that specialises in beds and sleeping. Some time after week 32 I’ll get my new mattress pad but yesterday I got something I realised I need. I realised that when I baked bread when it was 27C (80,6F), it isn’t nice to bake bread in that temperature, so I bought a bread baking machine 🙂 I would ahem liked to tell You that the first bread was a totally success but it wasn’t 🙂 🙂
Normally strawberries gives berries in spring, I got a few but that was it. However for some reason I do get berries from now on and until the frost stops them. I have never heard about autumn strawberries but I’m not complaining 🙂
The machine has a gluten free setting so that wasn’t the problem. I need to either use the bigger loaf adjustment or less water because it hadn’t baked properly in the middle. Worked great to toast though. Unfortunately it take much longer to bake it in the machine than if I do it with the old oven, almost twice the time, so I’ll use it on Fridays and the weekend. I’ll let You know how the second loaf turns out as soon as I’ve baked it.
My Chinese Catalpa have buds now. Unfortunately the flowers will be at the top of the tree and they are rather small and yellowish.
Oregano in bloom. If You once plant or sow Oregano You will never be without it 🙂
No tea today, it’s just too hot but thankfully I have water or lots of milk so I’ll have that instead 🙂 🙂
I’ll get lots of peas this year, this is only one of places where they grow 🙂
Windy and partly cloudy or is it partly sunny? I’ve never know which one to use 🙂 🙂 I did three rounds of laundry this morning and it all dried up really quickly. Just enough warm though so I can’t but enjoy the day 🙂
I have several Honeyberry bushes beside the root zone and they needed to be trimmed because they were growing out over the root zone (my grey water filtration system). I also have a Hardy Kiwi vine growing there and it grew all over the place so I think I removed around 80% of the vegetation 🙂the other side.The last of the Mock orange flowers.Troll grapes, not to eat because they are poisonous.
The weather sites are still rather divided on if we’ll get rain or not but they all agree that it’ll be really hot from Thursday and though the weekend. I do wish really nice weather for those having vacation right now but want cool weather since I’ll be working 🙂 🙂 These weather guesses will of course change multiple times before it’s time and not even then they might be right 🙂 🙂
My neighbours, well at least one in the family 🙂 has decided they’re going to have chickens, the new neighbours have too many. I wouldn’t mind having some myself but have decided that I’ll wait until I’m retired. Yews they are cute and it is nice to have ones own eggs but there’s lots of work, they need food and they tend to draw mice and rats who wants that food as well 🙂 🙂 All I hope though is that both Alma and Malkolm won’t try to catch them when they are outside the chicken yard 🙂 🙂 🙂
Most of the Bellflowers are invasive or weeds as we tend to call it and this and the next one is no exception 🙂
The Wood Pigeon now have at least two chicks in the nest 🙂 I really like that such a shy bird nests in my garden, for the second year in a row 🙂
It’s time for a pot of tea and after that I’ll continue to re-pot my citrus trees. I also have a few melon plants that grows by the livxingroom window that I need to do something about. Most years snails and slugs tend to eat the plants so I was wondering if I should just leave them where they are and if there would be melons growing on them try and grow them there. They do need bigger pots though and perhaps one or two must be moved to the kitchen window where they will get lots of sunshine. The problem with the kitchen window is that there’s where I have most of my cacti 🙂 🙂 🙂 Could be painful to move them 🙂 🙂
My little meadow look so much better than last year. The photo doesn’t do it justice but You can see different dots with blue and other colours 🙂
We woke up quite early today and it was very and gloomy outside. Rather warm but still not especially nice, I can’t say why though because it was one of those things one just feel but can’t put a finger on to understand why. So we didn’t do much in the morning but took a nap and when we woke up the sun started to shine. So our morning walk was quite late 🙂
The first of the wild raspberries to ripen 🙂 They are delicious and so much tastier than the garden varieties. Used to pick loads back in the days but biting flies tends to stay away from them now days.
The wind had also gained strength so that helped with the flies on our walk but then I noticed that those flies we had around us were the biting kinds but I managed to chase away those landing on the dogs and I wore a thick hoodie so they couldn’t do much to me either thankfully. I hope we won’t have especially many around the cottage this year because they prefer more wet areas and we don’t have any cattle around us at the moment and by the looks of it not for the rest of the summer either, the grass is high in the field surrounding most of the cottage so they’ll most likely use it to make silage.
Lots of butterflies here now though and many different species as well, they won’t sit still for long though so they’re hard to get photos of but I managed to get a few anyway. I started to re-pot my citrus plants and other plants that has needed to be re-potted for a long time now 🙂 Almost all citrus plants and my tea bush were badly hit by the last frost we had soothed have mostly only had branches so far but now new growth shows. One is even giving me flowers 🙂
The weather guessing weather sites have now changed what they think we’ll have for weather next week but the different sites can’t agree on much, some say lots of rain and even warmer than before, yay we’ll be living in a steam bath and some says no rain at all but really Scandinavian hot, I’m not sure I like that either 🙂 🙂 🙂 So now I must remember to water all the re-potted plants before I go to work in the morning. Newly re-potted plants need a lot more water than before to survive. I’ve also picked those berries that have ripened in the garden, not much so far, one strawberry, a few red gooseberries, the red currants and five! (out of five bushes) honeyberries. I’m glad I even had some because I need two different varieties to get berries and it only took me ten years until I finally figured that out 🙂 🙂 🙂 they do taste like blueberries now of my favourite berries.
It is time for that last cup of tea and then wash and freeze the berries and then wait for the rest of the berries to ripen so I can make some jam.
This citrus tree, a Kalamodin ( I think it might be spelled Calamodine in English) never fails to flower, no matter how bad it has been treated. New flowers despite it almost died in the last frost. It gives small bittersweet fruits perfect for jam and I guess it could be good to make kalamodin ade as well.
View from my kitchen window. Some species of Aarons’ rod.
Today was one of those days when it had been so nice to have stayed at home. It started with a morning with mist followed by a rather nice and just enough warm day but now in the evening it started to become warmer again, a bit too warm but that’ll change over the weekend.
The Kankakee mallow has grown quite big this year. I’m planting them all over the garden now 🙂Oxalis (the red leafed one) is really invasive. I had one pot of them a few years ago and now it grows everywhere in the garden and soon in my neighbours garden as well.
It felt so nice to see that I don’t have to think about mowing the lawn this weekend 🙂 I went home two hours nearly yesterday just because I could, it was a really nice day as well. So I thought since it should rain during the weekend why not mow the lawn? Didn’t take long despite that fact that it had rained quite a lot since I did it last time. I guess that was when I got the two mosquito bites I now have on my right foot. Well as long as it isn’t ticks I’m happy but they do itch a bit too much 🙂 🙂 🙂
My little flower meadow looks a bit better than last year so I’ll give it one more year before I decide to give it up and start something else there.
My remote to the tv died last Tuesday. I thought it was the batteries that needed to be changed because I can’t remember when I put in new batteries the last time but it turns out it died. I only have the free channels and they are all close together so it’s not a big problem except for it is impossible to see where the controls are on the tv, I need a strong light to see it at all 🙂 🙂 🙂 So I think I won’t buy a new one because I survived as a child not to have a remote so I think that I now as an adult will manage to survive this until I buy another tv, if I ever do that.
I’ll get strawberries hanging outside the box 🙂
Time to start picking red currants 🙂 I won’t get many but I’ll mix them with the red gooseberries when they are ripe.Chicory. I didn’t think they survived winter and though the nettles looked odd this year 🙂
It is time for that last cup of tea and then see if there’s anything on tv, well at least on that channel I have on at the moment 🙂 Plus I’ll have a slice or two of the bread I have in the oven right now 🙂
According to the weather sites we’re having sunshine right now, we don’t 🙂 🙂 🙂 but it is at least not raining. It rained so much last night that I had little lakes in my garden even though it’s just sand and no soil. I do hope that there won’t be any long living puddles anywhere because that would most likely become a mosquito explosion because that’s what they like, small long living puddles where the eggs can hatch.
For me it’s enough with the forest flies 🙂 🙂 So many now and even though they are quite harmless I still can’t stand them. I went to the bank yesterday to see if they could help me to renew my bank id because when reading their info about it I would need either an international id card costing around $ 45 US or a new passport and both would take several weeks to get and we use our bank id for everything here. Turns out that somewhere in the text it tells about another way, I should just open my banks app, press the button to renew my bank id and then ok it by using the bank id I have now 🙂 🙂 🙂
Why don’t write that first of all??? I wonder how many have gotten a new id card they don’t need just to fix the bank id and for money they might not have? Anyway it made my day so much better so I really didn’t complain 🙂 🙂 After that I made a visit to my old work friends and then stopped by at the grocery store to shop and also pay them a visit since I’ve been shopping there since I moved to this region, 28 years ago, I still shop there every now and again even though I really have no reason to go there since it’s further away from my cottage than most other stores but they sort of are my friends too 🙂
I’ve ordered a new bed mattress online (well it’s actually a thinner mattress that one put over the mattress for the sheets to be folded over but I have no idea what that can be called). I know one really shouldn’t but instead go to the store and try them out but to be honest I wouldn’t know anything more after trying several since it takes a few days or more to actually know if it is a good mattress or not anyway. I was close to buy a Hastens (for You who don’t know about Hastens bedd, it is a luxury brand that mostly rich people buy, like sheiks 🙂 ) but they didn’t have the size I need. They had bigger and they had smaller but not the size to my bed. No I’m not rich but they had a sale with very reduced prices.
Today I got a message that it will be delivered week 32 directly from the factory even though it said they had them in stock. Also on sale by the way but still rather expensive but when one need a new mattress one must buy it, night sleep is so important so if one can afford it one better buy it.The monsterkitten did horrible things to my old duvet last winter so I need a new one when winter arrives but I better order one since I’m getting a mattress and perhaps buy new pillows as well. I want firm pillows but still to be able to shape them as I want 🙂 🙂 I do that when I sleep I’ve noticed 🙂 🙂
Also my remote to the tv has died, not a huge problem except for that it’s really hard to see what one is doing when trying to do it on the tv itself. It’s made to look invisible and they’ve been quite successful in doing that so I need a flashlight to be able to see even where I can do it 🙂 🙂
We have thunder in the area, not especially close at the moment but one can clearly hear it. The day started sunny and cool though so we were out on our morning walk around 7 am. It was unfortunately not cool enough to keep the flies calm so we had a black cloud flying around us. I wore a hoodie though so they never got the chance to visit inside my ears and for some reason wearing a hoodie also prevents them from trying to go inside my nostrils as well 🙂 🙂
It didn’t take long before the rain arrived again so we have mostly stayed indoors and went outside when the rain had a temporary stop. So I did the laundry and baked a bread in between 🙂 I also took a long nap in the sofa and this time both dogs decided they should sleep beside me in the sofa 🙂 🙂 🙂 Alma by my feet and Malkolm by my side with half his body over my stomach. I’m surprised that I managed to fall asleep but it could have been the lack of oxygen since it was a bit hard to breathe that was the cause 🙂 🙂 🙂
We did have sunshine for a while but now we’re back to rain and thunder is not far away. It is much warmer than they guessed it would be so I hope the thunder passes by and cool things down a bit. It’s rather quiet in the village, some birds sing and one dog is yapping a lot. Normally that starts most other dogs as well but I guess they don’t have the energy now when it is so warm 🙂 I think someone on my gravel road is trying to repair an old moped because I could hear how they were trying to start it up the road but then just slid down the slope quietly. It has happened several times this week so I guess they aren’t especially successful 🙂
I have the day off tomorrow because I need to go to the bank to see if they can help me renew my digital bank id without me having to get something called an international id card or get a new passport. A new drivers license doesn’t help at all for some reason. So I’ll also buy a couple of big bags with soil and on the way home make a visit to my old workplace and the grocery store in the same village. it will most likely rain anyway so it’ll be a nice little trip to do.
It is time for a pot of tea and perhaps something to eat as well.
Lots of the photos will be bait fuzzy today because the lens I used doesn’t have that anti-shaking thing.
It started to drizzle some while I mowed the lawn, I started as soon as I had come home and thought we could have our walk after I was done. But as soon as I stopped mowing heavy showers arrived So we stayed at home instead. The dogs did try to go outside during the rain but turned around and came back in instead 🙂
They say we’ll get plenty of rain the coming four days as well and we need it but it would be nice if it rained while I was working and the sun then shone for the rest of the day 🙂 So far we haven’t had lots of mosquitoes or other biting flies but I think this rain will change that. These last days I’ve had two mosquito bites and one from a horse fly I think. The horse fly bite is worst because the itching after stays for so long.
During the months when I was unemployed I never had any leg cramps but lots before when I had a job. Now they are back. I drink lots of water at work and at home so I don’t think I can drink any more than I do so I wonder why I get them? I guess one thing could be that I stand up all day at work but then again shouldn’t every one who do get those leg cramps as well? It is ok if it happens during the day but I really hate when it happens when I’m deep asleep and quite often while I try to stretch the cramps away I get it in the other leg as well and that’s horrible because when I try to remove it from one leg it makes the other leg hurt even more 🙂 🙂 🙂
The survivor and the two seedlings from this years Pawpaw seed sowings.
I have a soft spot for Fuchsias but now days I only have this one and the Hardy Fuchsia.
I’m sort of glad it will rain a lot tomorrow because then I can’t do anything outside, so I’m already planning on having a long nap 🙂 🙂 🙂 well I might bake a bread but there still would be lots of time to take naps while it rises and when it is in the oven 🙂 It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and after that I’ll see if there’s anything to watch on tv but I doubt that 🙂
It’s a Scandinavian hot day today, 27C (80,6F) and I’m not too happy about it. Too warm for a walk, the dogs just ran in to the garden and laid down on the grass when I came home. They tried to play some but gave up 🙂 I covered all windows before I left this morning with the result that it was only 24C (75,2F) indoors. Still pretty warm upstairs so I might spend the night in a sofa in the livxingroom instead.
Tomorrow will be even warmer, possibly 30C (86F) but Thursday it will fall down to just below 20C (68F) and it will also rain quite a lot if they’re guessing it right. This is still nothing compared to how hot it is down in Spain and Portugal, temperatures there reach well over 45C (113F) so I really don’t have a lot to complain about to be honest 🙂 🙂 🙂
I should have mowed the lawn yesterday but it was already warm so I skipped it, so I really should have mowed the lawn today but it was even warmer so no. Tomorrow will be nasty so I won’t even think about it 🙂 🙂 🙂 The good thing is that the dog house is placed on the north side of the wood shed so it was actually quite nice in there, so the dogs were naturally not there but in the garage instead. To be honest even though the old garage is made with tin walls and roof it still is quite cool there during hot days, can’t explain it really because it, by logic, should be hot as h..l in there, plus the dog yard is shadowed most of the afternoon by big trees just outside the fence so it wasn’t too bad there either, it will be tomorrow though.
This Pawpaw is most likely four years od and sown from a seed (bought it so it isn’t any of my seedlings) and it grows much better than the name variety, just as old and bought at the same time. The name variety is said to have earlier ripening fruits so it should be ahead of the other one. The White mulberry tree I bought sort of died but now a new shoot comes from the roots. I haven’t seen any place It’s grafted so if I’m lucky it will still give good tasting berries.
It is time for something cool or cold to drink and then maybe some ice cream 🙂 By the way, I couldn’t get any sound coming out of this computer I bought last autumn. I’ve really tried to because it has a camera so why should it not have sound. Turns out on had to go deep in to the settings to start the speakers and now I have it 🙂 🙂 🙂
We’re having a really nice afternoon/ evening. Just below 20C (68F), a weak wind blowing (therefore a lots of flies flying around), birds singing and I’ve had my two first strawberries 🙂 To be honest it would have been better to wait a day or so because they were pretty sour 🙂 🙂 🙂
The cattle are now walking in the fields again so we can’t walk everywhere we want to at the moment, like following the creek down-stream. Also there are so manytickso now that high grass is a no no to walk in. Last time we did I picked eight from Malkolm as soon as we came home and six from Alma. I once had two dogs that had a bad reaction on those drops one drop in the neck so I try to avoid using that on my dogs, especially a stressed dog like Alma. Thankfully I do pick off most of them after our walks.
They say our weather will be on and off when it comes to rain, we do need it but I do hope that the temperature doesn’t drop down to arctic temperatures again, after all it is summer now 🙂 🙂 Last week, the night before midsummers eve the night was clear and it wasn’t dark at all. The sky was deep red closer to the ground, then a thin layer with orange slowly turning to a pale light blue colour. Not a star could be seen and we had so much light that I didn’t need to use the high beam on the lights. Unfortunately that changes quickly now but it was nice to drive home at night without it bring pitch black.
I’ve just pad my bills and I always feel a bit sad doing it but then it changes to happy since I know I won’t have any more bills until next month 🙂 🙂 It is time for that last cup of tea for the day, I wish I had some cookies but I ate the last one on Sunday. I don’t have the energy to bake any new ones and most of the gluten free ones one can by is an abomination to any living thing 🙂 I wonder if they actually do taste what they bake or that they really don’t care because it’s not their fault we can’t eat normal cookies 🙂 🙂 🙂
Scandinavian hot today, 25C (77F), thankfully a wind is blowing to cool it down. Then again warm air dries out the ground even more so it’s sort of a damned if I do damned if I don’t situation for nature. They say we’ll get some more rain tomorrow evening though and the temperatures will drop some as well. The good thing though is that the laundry dried up in less than ten minutes 🙂 🙂
I will be surprised if the peach tree survives next winter, It is hit by leaf curl disease and this time it’s the entire tree. I’ve heard peaches usually can handle it when the tree is older but I’ve had so many peach trees dying because of it so I doubt it.
I’ve tried to remove this rose so many times that even I am beginning to give up now, it’s a garden variety of the Cinnamon rose and happily spreads via its roots.
Soon I’ll have my first strawberry 🙂
I know that for many of You 25C (77F) is like a cool summer morning but up here in the north that used to be as high the temperature rose in summer with, of course, the occasional heatwave passing by a day or two before we had more rain 🙂 🙂 🙂 I can’t remember if it is two or three years ago the temperature never rose above 20C (68F) during the month of July and we had at least some rain every day that month. To be honest I didn’t complain even though I did get bored by it before the vacation was over 🙂 🙂 🙂
The potato sprouts I planted has now grown so high that it was time to fill up the entire bucket with soil. It will now produce potatoes along the stem that was just buried in soil. I doubt there will be many per stalk but they usually grow a bit bigger instead.
Three pots with sown rhubarbs. They are so easy to sow that it would have been surprising if even one seed didn’t germinate. Can’t eat any next year because the plant will need all leafs to grow bigger, but the year after that I can start harvesting 🙂
I’m still rather tired today but I guess it’s the combination of one week with high fever followed by a week with evening shift that sort of takes its toll, plus of course the warm weather itself. I’ve tried to not sit still too much, so I’ve done the laundry, started dinner for next week in the slow cooker and now I’m waiting for a bread to be ready to be taken out of the oven. This time I skipped the cheese but have plenty of rosemary in it. Also today I’m trying Teff flour, a cereal growing mostly in Ethiopia but I’ve heard they now grow it in a lot of places. I have used it once a long time ago but can’t remember how it tasted.
I have lots of the creeping bellflower in my garden, over here seen as one of the worst weeds there is 🙂 They are beautiful though and if too many just eat the roots, works great in a salad like radishes would.
I couldn’t for my life figure out what it was I had sown (name tags of course gone 🙂 ) Then I suddenly remembered it, garden varieties of the purple coneflower 🙂
This is truly surprising! Do You remember me telling You about mice chopping off both Giant sequoia seedlings and my Pawpaw seedlings? All looked dead to me but I saved them just in case it would produce new branches. I’ve mostly neglected this one but watered it every now and again. To my very big surprise this morning I noticed that it actually is alive and is producing new branches again 🙂 🙂 🙂 I will take very good care of it from now on 🙂
Not even the dogs are especially active today, they’ve played some but mostly they’ve been napping. I’ve always wondered how thick furred dogs can survive in a warmer climate than what it is here, most of them are knocked out already in our temperatures. We now have loads of insects here but surprisingly few biting ones, that may change quickly now if we actually get the rain that se we’ll get. Not many butterflies though but plenty of different bees and at the moment they are all visiting my wild roses 🙂
Magpies, beautiful, smart, funny and probably one of the most annoying birds there is 🙂 🙂 🙂
Sand cherries, so tasty but it’s hard to get any because of the birds 🙂
So yesterday was midsummers eve and that’s a big day here, treated like a holiday even though it’s midsummers day that is the holiday. Still very few work on midsummers eve and most of us is payed as if it was a holiday. Also the last holiday here until Christmas.
Mock orange.
The potatoes grow well now.
Eastern redbud. Doesn’t like it here at all.
Back in the days everyone danced around the midsummer pole and many still do but mostly because of the children. We dance around it while singing almost the same songs we do when dancing around the Christmas tree, like the little frogs, the priests little crow and Anders Persons house is on fire (he has actually existed and is said to have been a truly nasty person and no one was sad seeing his house burning down). The history of the midsummer pole is and has been under debate a very long time but I think it used to be a German tradition.
If You want something that spreads happily, smells rather strange and will flower until frost comes the Nepeta sibirica should be You choice 🙂 🙂
After dancing around people went home to have the traditional lunch/dinner. We swedes aren’t that uneventful when it comes to the food so it is more or less the same as what we eat all other holidays 🙂 🙂 You can’t celebrate midsummer without freshly boiled new potatoes and they should be boiled together with lots and lots of dill. Five gazillions of different pickled herring and either pickled or smoked salmon. For us that can’t stand the herring (and we are really few people) there’s always meatballs, a couple of different sausages, oven omelet with mushroom stew and perhaps some chicken as well. Naturally we also have different kinds of hard bread and normal bread plus different kinds of cheese, both the regular one and blue cheese and brie/ camembert. What never is missing is the cream-layer cake with Swedish strawberries. If You would happen to have strawberries from another country (mostly because the Swedish ones are nasty expensive) You will be seen as a person with little or no value to mankind 🙂 🙂 🙂
When the evening comes the old folklore comes to live. So if You are young and not married yet You can actually learn to whom You one day will be married to. This must be done while being totally quiet of course. You’ll have to take a walk in nature and, depending on from where You come, either climb over seven or nine walls/ fences and at each fence You need to pick a flower and of course it needs to be different flowers all the time. When the walk is done You’ll have to go to bed, putting the flowers under Your pillow and go to sleep so it is best to be one of those that actually remember Your dreams 🙂 🙂
My citrus trees was damaged pretty bad during the last frost but now they show new growth again.
The beings are also very active that night so never go close to a flowing water if You hear someone play the violin because that could be Näcken. They say he’s longing for company but ig he catch You he will drown You so I’m not so sure about the company part 🙂 🙂 He can also show up as a horse (Näckahästen), usually pure white, and trick mostly children to climb up on him. Once they are he’ll run strait out into the river and drown the poor kids. They do say that no one can play the violin like he so I’ve learned that one actually can ask him if he want to teach how to do it, there’s always a price to pay though.
Can’t be seen much but this basket is starting to fill up with nasturtium and peas.
The English walnut is growing slowly but steadily.
This is also the time to think of the coming winter and ones health. It is important to collect as much morning dew as possible this night because that can help You survive the long and hard winter. I’ve come to understand that dragging a sheet over the wet vegetation is the best way to collect as much as possible. When that is done one must save the dew in sealed glass jars and when winter comes and one feel a bit poorly just either add some dew to the bath water or perhaps mix it with lemonade/ tea/ coffee and that will make You better. I’ve never tried that but perhaps I should considering everything 🙂 🙂 🙂
One of the few Greater sea-kale that germinated and now I better protect it so the bugs don’t eat it.
This year the Rapunzel looks great. A bellflower where there once were several varieties for food. I think they taste like radishes.
The first potatoes are ready to be picked 🙂
It is time for that last cup of tea for the day, I feel I’m slowly coming back to normal after a week with evening work. Tired as h… but I think by tomorrow I’ll feel fine.
The Cottage by the crane lake. 