Category: Flowers.

I managed the first week but I’m soo tired now :-)

May 23, 2025 · Leave a comment ·

So my first evening shift week is over and I must say it worked better than I thought it would. I did get more and more tired as the days passed and this morning I was so tired that I would have preferred to stay in bed all day long 🙂 🙂

The weather was perfect for that because it has been raining constantly since yesterday and will continue through the weekend. I don’t mind the rain though, wee need it because even the weeds started to look sad now 🙂 🙂 I do mind the temperature though, 4C (39,2F) as lowest during the day and it dropped down to 2C (35,6F) on my way home just after midnight.

No flowers in my woodland but Solomons’ seal has some buds now.

It’s a strange feeling driving home at night, even though I’ve driven that road so often during daylight it’s a totally different thing when it is pitch dark. There are almost no lights from the few houses along the road so even though I really can’t drive the wrong way I still don’t really know where I am :-)It isn’t before half way home when I pass the village Gudhem that I know where I am because there’s a petrols station that brings some light to the area and after that it’s pitch black again 🙂 🙂 If the sky is cloud free it really isn’t really dark here anyway this time of year, the sky is already becoming brighter after midnight so there aren’t any stars in the sky at all. o if one wants to look at stars here one better do it in winter when it is cold and nasty 🙂 🙂

I got my first pay check today so I drove to the grocery store in the village where I used to work, I’ve been doing most of my grocery shopping there since I moved to this area, must be 28 years now so many of them are like friends and they know more about me than most people 🙂 🙂 Also I know where everything is placed in that store so without the chats with the employees the shopping goes really fast 🙂 🙂 After that I visited my old work place, well my old work friends and told them how I really like working at this new place and how fast I just became one in the gang. It has never been like that in my old work place, if one is a bit shy it really is hard to get to know people there and that I know have work friends and bosses that actually treat people with respect., they asked me how that felt 🙂 🙂 🙂

The dogs have been behaving really good during this week. Ok Alma did one thing I wasn’t especially happy about, My kitchen door is to be honest just an old balcony door with no insulation in it, so I had put up insulation but not yet covered it. I now need to buy new insulation 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’m actually now thinking of making the insulation much thicker and covering it with a sort of box so that I can have potted plants there during winter. I will check with friends who now better than I how to do it so it just doesn’t comes loose drop off the door one day 🙂 🙂 🙂

It’s easy to see why this rose is called Red leafed rose in English.

The Kankakee mallow has adapted well to where they grow now, I think I have six more in pots though and they look fine today, I think they liked the rainy and cooler weather a lot.

It is time for a cup of tea and perhaps baking some bread but I am so tired so I might skip the bread until tomorrow since I bought hard bread today. I will not spend much time outside because of the rain but it is a bit warmer now at least.

Have a great day!

The first evening was quite ok.

May 20, 2025 · 2 Comments ·

The first day at the evening shift yesterday and I have to say it wasn’t that bad with the hours, I am however not so sure I’ll feel the same on Thursday night 🙂 🙂

Both today and yesterday have been wonderful summer days, just above 20C (68F), almost no wind and sunshine all day. This will shift tomorrow, chilly weather is on the way and tomorrow won’t be that bad but on Friday we’ll only have 5C (41F) as warmest. The temperatures will rise slowly after that but the entire weekend is supposed to be rainy. I don’t mind the rain but those temperatures after having summer is just nasty 🙂 🙂

My left hand is itching and stings a lot after I put my hand in stinging nettles. Normally I wouldn’t do that but I planted a potted sand cherry tree in the garden and there were lots of smaller nettles in I didn’t see and when I tried to remove them it only went worse. Sand cherry tree are not growing upwards like most trees but along the ground but the trick is to let it grow some before planting it so one can plant it upright. That way it is easier to not mow off the branches and it is so much easier to pick the cherries if one get the chance before the birds do it 🙂 🙂

It is time for a pot of tea and most likely something to eat. I might even have a nap with a timer on because one never knows for how long that nap might become 🙂

I’ve mowed this sand cherry tree too often now so it was time to plant it. It becomes quite high when forcing it to grow upwards 🙂

Have a great day!

May 18, 2025 · 8 Comments ·

I’ve used another lens today that came with an old camera I bought, to be honest I only wanted the lens but it would most likely have been much more expensive if I’d tried ton just buy the lens 🙂 So You’ll notice that some photos will have a sort of blurry sharpness to them.

It was so nice this morning, a bit towards the cool side but with the sun shining and a rather weak wind. That has changed now, the wind is strong once again and even though it actually is warm enough it still feels chilly even on the south side of the cottage when the sun shines through the clouds.

So since I must change my hours to stay awake in the evening now I watched the entire Eurovision final. It really takes too long but I had very little else to do. We didn’t win but came fourth and that’s not bad at all. My sister and I usually text each other during this show and suddenly no texts came from her, she had fallen asleep 🙂 and texted me this at 4:56 this morning (we are both morning people) since I had forgotten to tell her that I’ll work in the evenings this week 🙂 Luckily I did manage to fall asleep as son as my head hit the pillow 🙂

I’ve been emptying my aquarium since the dogs mainly will be in the cottage while I work the coming weeks and since there now longer is any fish in it I decided to empty it instead of buying new fish. One never knows how wild the dogs play will be and if they bring down the aquarium I want the damage to be as small as possible 🙂 I’ll also unplug the radiators because they have actually once managed to trip over one of my sofas and it broke the radiator when it hit it 🙂 🙂 🙂 I always prepare for the worst 🙂

It is time for a cup of tea and then outing the garden for a while. I’ll tray to stay out of the wind and it isn’t often I have to say that because the wind can only hit my garden if it comes from north to north east.

Have a great day!

May 16, 2025 · 10 Comments ·

Still very windy with northern winds but today they were almost lukewarm. We only work to 2:30 pm on Fridays so I had the chance to experience it for a while 🙂 We walked down to the creek and thankfully the winds were so strong that the forest flies never came to us.

I had forgotten to buy toothpaste and a toothbrush yesterday when I was at the store so I had to make a stop at the smaller grocery store in Gudhem. They only had toothbrushes for kids 🙂 but any toothbrush is better than none 🙂 I’ll get a bigger one next time I’ll go to the supermarket. I was supposed to work overtime tomorrow but they had missed that lots of people at work are going out to have fun tonight so they had to cancel it. I must admit that I’m quite happy that they did, it’s one thing to say ok on Monday because one never knows how tired one will be on Friday evening 🙂 🙂

I’ll work the evening shift next week and it’s a long time since I did that. It usually messes up the sleep for a while but since this only will happen every three weeks I’ll take it without complaining, at first they said it would be every second week. It would have worked for a while but I’m pretty sure it would have been too much in the long run. When one need a job one has to take what one gets 🙂 I have had another call from a staffing agency but I really like this place so I didn’t answer the call.

I often get the question if it isn’t scary to work with coffins all over the factory but it’s just like working with boxes to be honest. I guess there’s just too much of them. The only time it gets a bit sad is when one need to pass the coffins for children. Especially the tiny ones but thankfully they work with them in a part of the factory we seldom pass.

It is time to have that last cup of tea, today I need to start wit being up late so it won’t be a shock for the body on Monday 🙂 Also later breakfast tomorrow and dinner tomorrow as well.

Have a great day!

May 15, 2025 · 10 Comments ·

We have winds blowing from the arctic and yesterday it was so cold in the wind that it felt like winter again, out of reach for the wind it was quite ok since the sun shone:-) Today the winds are a bit less cold but strong so it only felt pleasant on the south side of the cottage.

I really hope I’ll get plenty with Sand Cherries this year, they’re so delicious but the birds have noticed that too I’m afraid 🙂

The allergy pills I’m taking are rather good, still sneezing isn’t something it seems to care about 🙂 🙂 also the closer to the evening the more I can feel the magic slowly vanishing. Still much better than without the pills and I’ve only used them for a very short period of time. I’m pretty sure it will feel even better after a week or so.

Nothing has happened here so I have very little to write about. Tonight’s the second semi final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Our song made it to the final on Saturday so that’s fun. I won’t watch tonight either because this thing takes quite some time but as I’ve said I’ll watch the big final on Saturday.

The least hardy fruit tree I planted last summer seems to be the one managing this winter the best, the Pawpaws 🙂

I have a Red oak I sowed ten? years ago. It’s still so small but it hasn’t had any problems with our winters.

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and I guess it would be nice to have some Digestives with that cup. For those of You who don’t know what Digestives is it is a really tasty biscuit nd goes well together with any kind of cheese or jam or both but is really nice just by itself as well. I won’t have anything on mine because they are already covered on one side with chocolate 🙂

Have a great day!

No sunshine but so nice.

May 11, 2025 · 2 Comments ·

The first strawberry flower. For some reason these strawberries give very little berries now but will produce lots in autumn, it shouldn’t be like that but I have no idea why they behave like that 🙂

Today was really nice despite no sunshine but it was warm, no wind and a few times we had some rain. Showers of drizzle is perhaps a better name for it though 🙂 Alma woke me up at 5 am , was outside for a minute, came straight back in and went to sleep on the sofa 🙂 I wouldn’t have mind sleeping an hour or so too but I had a cup of coffee and a bowl of corn flakes instead 🙂

We walked down to the creek and it’s so nice to do that this time of year when there are no flies annoying us and what’s even better is that no mosquitoes did either. Unfortunately I can’t say the same about ticks, I picked six of them from the dogs by the time we had come home and I also found two already drinking the blood from Malkolm.

I tried three of a work friends allergy pills this week, the kind one can buy over the counter. First day nothing special happened beside the fact that I didn’t have any nose bleed any more, second day nothing happened at all but after the third pill I suddenly wasn’t that tired any more and now my nose isn’t that stuffed either, so I went online and bought a packet together with eye drops. It’s not a nice feeling when it feels like having sand paper under the eyelids 🙂 🙂 🙂

I also did what I always do on Sundays, the laundry and the dinner for next week ate work. I’ve promised to work overtime on Saturday and I’m already regretting it 🙂 🙂 🙂 Then again I’ll have to start saving money again so I can sacrifice one Saturday and still survive it 🙂 I have also sown melon seeds, I always fail with melons but always try it again 🙂 I have actually sown a lot of seeds both yesterday and today but can’t for my life remember what 🙂 🙂 I’ve also replanted tomatoes and some other things and brought out the last plants from the patio, the risk of frost the coming week is minimal.

I have a Fuchsia in my garden, Hardy Fuchsia (F. Magellanic), and it has survived outside this mild winter. All parts above ground will freeze but new shoots comes from the roots.

The fight with the nettles and cleavers is also going on and even if I’m successful at the moment I know both will win over me in the long run 🙂 🙂 I still have lots of vegetable seeds to sow, like beans and peas but I’ll with with those until the ground is a bit warmer. It is time for that last cup of tea and perhaps a sandwich too and after that some snoozing in front of the tv 🙂

Three of my worst garden enemies at the same place. Stinging nettles, cleavers and white bryony. The last one can cover an entire tree during one summer. I have no idea where it came from but it always grows so it’s hard to remove it. Smells bad and is also poisonous 🙂

Have a great day!

Biting cold today.

May 4, 2025 · 4 Comments ·

The cat refused to move but both Alma and Malkolm behaved really well when we passed it 🙂

It could have been a nice day if it wasn’t for the cold winds from north. They are biting their way in to the core of the body no matter how well dressed we are. We’ve had some sunshine but the wind destroyed that nice feeling as well. We’ll have frost during the night and I can only hope it won’t be too bad but I’ll probably have to scrape ice from the car before going to work tomorrow.

A second crabapple tree is in bloom now so perhaps the one in the forest will have a chance to give fruit anyway but then again we’ll have frost tonight.

Strawberries flower in the forest but as You can see the flower is black in the middle, that means it’s destroyed by frost and won’t give any berry.

It wasn’t that bad in the morning though so we had a nice morning walk in the forest and out to the bog. Both Alma and Malkolm behaved really well when the new neighbours cat refused to move from the road when we came 🙂 I am however very glad they didn’t see the hare in the forest because that would have made Alma go nuts 🙂 🙂 🙂

I’ve done very little today, after the morning walk I did the laundry and the slow cooker took care of the dinner next week and that’s it. WE even had a nap in the sofa but I still feel rather tired to be honest, despite lots of coffee 🙂 Its pollen season and no amount of coffee can remove that tiredness 🙂 🙂 I also had to turn on the radiators because even though we did get rain last night it wasn’t much but it did make the humidity go sky high and the cold arctic winds just made it more cold. Thankfully it will turn towards warmer days again from tomorrow, night might be chilly though.

I think I’ll have that last cup of tea for the day after this and perhaps a sandwich too or I’ll skip the tea and have hot chocolate instead, it’s that kind of day today.

Have a great day!

Surprisingly pleasant day.

May 3, 2025 · 5 Comments ·

We’ve actually had a really nice day here as long as one wasn’t too long in shadow 🙂 Ok , it wasn’t that bad there either but I preferred to sit in the sunshine and drink tea 🙂 I have moved a perennial that comes from Illinois, the Kankakee mallow (Iliamna remota). It has actually thrived in my garden beneath the Juneberry tree but it was time to move it because the ground is just too dry there during summer.

It actually started last weekend and removed a part of it just to see how well it would adapt to the move and it adapted really well. It sort of divided itself to smaller parts so there’s still one growing where it has been that easily can be four new plants and I’ve already have it in6 other places now 🙂 It has been a favourite of mine since I sowed it well over twenty years ago so I do hope it will thrive at the new places they can call their homes 🙂 Mine spreads via its roots but I’ve read that a fire will start the seeds but I didn’t have a fire when I bought the seeds back then so I think it will work again without it if I try again 🙂

The clouds covered the sun when we went out on our morning walk but as soon as we were almost at home the clouds opened up. We’ve had lots of smaller clouds in the sky all day but now it looks like bigger clouds are coming in again, they say we’ll get rain but they said we would last night as well and as far as I could see the only reason the grass was wet was because of dew. A day or two with cloudy weather and some rain will only be good for my Kankakee willows now when they have moved all over the garden.

We won’t get much rain though, mostly just enough to keep the soil surface slightly damp 🙂 I’ve also heard the Cuckoo bird for the first time this year. According to folklore it means different things from what direction one hear it for the first time. From north and summer will be dry, from east one will be comforted because if it comes from south it means death in the family but it is from the west we want to hear it because that’s the best 🙂 The coming year will be great. We here will have a dry summer this year 🙂

I think this could be a Red Kite or a brown. I’m not that good when it comes to birds 🙂

Besides that I’ve done very little. Mostly I’ve been sitting in the sunshine drinking tea or coffee. Last year when the warm weather came the entire garden was buzzing because of the beekeepers bees, it is considerable more quiet this year. Yes we do have pollinators like bumblebees flying around but all those hives did make a big difference, so it’ll be interesting to see how it will be next year, to many honey bees can actually make life really tough for the wild bees by being too many for an area. Also everything started so early this year that there wasn’t much for the bumblebees to eat and that could have killed a lot of them. I think we’ll know better when summer starts and all workers starts to fly around.

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and today I’m so tired that I most likely will fall asleep in the sofa 🙂

Have a great day!

Not this one though, it grows in full sunlight and dry soil.

I didn’t rest on the workers’ day :-)

May 2, 2025 · Leave a comment ·

Yesterday was supposed to be the last nice day before wind and rain would arrive. We would get some light rain here in the morning and the rest of the day would be rather dull. So I’m not the least surprised that no rain arrived and we’ve even had a lot of sunshine 🙂 So I don’t trust what they say about the rest of the weekend, we’ll know when it happens 🙂

The cherry trees have started to flower on the mountain. There’s a mountain on the way to a town called Skövde and when one takes the train to go there there’s an entire mountain side that it pure white this time of year, so beautiful.

So instead of taking it easy and enjoying the day I instead started to mow the lawn early in the morning. Mowing the lawn when the grass is wet and one have an electric mower (with a cord) is stupid and also wet grass clogs up the entire mower and I’ll have to stop mowing every five meters dig out that green mess that sticks to the mower, The fun thing is that when one person starts to mow the lawn the rest of the neighbours starts too 🙂

We saw two pairs of geese walking in the field beside the creek, they had this field totally for themselves and still they really disliked each other 🙂

I continued my war against the nettles and the cleavers as well, I dislike those plants even more that the actual work it takes to keep them away 🙂 One thing though is that they are indicator plants, they show that the ground is rich in nutrients and I’m not surprised having dogs and cats in the garden for well over 24, soon 25, years by now 🙂 If the dogs hadn’t been here it would be quite the opposite since all I have is sand in the ground.

I don’t think this crab apple tree will get any apples this year because it’s the only one in bloom.

I found to my very big surprise this Shadbush in bloom in the forest 🙂

I also realised that I hadn’t prepared any food to bring to work. Instead of making something I instead baked a loaf of bread and had a few sandwiches to work instead. After that I was so tried that I fell asleep in the recliner 🙂 🙂 🙂 Now I’ll have to work full work weeks until June sixth when we have our national day and thankfully it’s on a Friday 🙂 It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and after that I think I’ll doze off again 🙂

Have a great day!

Holiday tomorrow.

April 30, 2025 · 10 Comments ·

Wonderful weather today, which is quite unusual on Walpurgis eve. Lots of people are out having fun tonight and quite often we have huge bonfires as well but at least here it will be too windy and to dry in the grass to have any. No one knows why we celebrate this day but who cares as long as we have fun 🙂

If I’ve learned it all right Walpurgis (or Aalborg as we swedes say) was an English princes who became a nun in Germany and was quite successful in turning witches to the right way which most likely meant that she was rather unpleasant for those she turned since no matter how much those poor women (mostly anyway because there were a few men as well)turned towards christianity they still had n´been witches and therefore burned by the stake.

I just got the news about the tutor I have on one of my kidneys and it is good news 🙂 It has almost not grown at all since six months back (and therefore too small to take a test from) so now we’ll wait another year before a new x-ray. So perhaps I’m one of the very few that has a benign tumour and not caner? In any way it isn’t an aggressive one 🙂

Tomorrow is May first and in many places on this little globe of ours it’s the workers’ day and a holiday. I will have to work on Friday though since I’m so new that I don’t have any saved hours. I’ll survive one day of work though 🙂 I think it is time for a last cup of tea for the day and then I’ll most likely doze off in front of the tv. Pine pollen is in the air and it makes me so tired 🙂 🙂

The cherry trees are in bloom here so no more frost so we can pick some when walking around in the forest 🙂

The June berry in full bloom, too bad that it gets mildew every year so the berries get destroyed, I really like to eat them.

Have a great day!

It has been pouring down.

April 23, 2025 · 6 Comments ·

The Christmas cactus liked to be placed outside again 🙂

Well the rain that didn’t fall during easter did fall yesterday evening, all night and well in to this day 🙂 We need it so I will for once not complain about it. I did forget to check how much it filled up the water barrels though, I want them full before summer starts properly.

I write properly because the meteorological summer has actually arrived here already, that means that the temperature never falls below 0C (32F) five days in a row. They showed a map on tv and it is slowly getting closer to this village. Won’t happen this week though because there’s a risk for night frost during the weekend the weather apps say. Days will be warm though.

I still like to go to work so I think I like this place I’m working at 🙂 It’s hard to think but even though Falköping is a rather small town the traffic is horrible 🙂 🙂 🙂 It goes faster to take a detour when driving home than to go the most logical way. Also there don’t like it when one follows the traffic rules 🙂 🙂 They all want to go home so don’t You dare to follow those because that takes so much longer 🙂 🙂 🙂

We still have a few Elm trees in the forest but one is now dying so I guess the other will follow soon.

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and then watch some tv, I’ll take the sofa instead of the recliner because then the dogs can join me 🙂 This change from being at home all day to now go to work is worse for them than it is for me so they need that extra time staying close 🙂

I have a Korean spruce where the top once died and it has taken lots of years for the tree to chose another branch as a new top. Now it looks like a n odd chair 🙂 🙂

Lungwort spreads happily here and they don’t seem to care about me mowing them down all summer long 🙂

Have a great day!

She darted in when I opened the door :-)

April 21, 2025 · 2 Comments ·

No rain and slightly warmer today so we’ve spent a lot of time in the garden the dogs and I. The monster kitten has mostly stayed indoors or went out when we’ve gone inside again :-)Yesterday evening she refused to go indoors when the rest of us were on our way to bed, first time alone during night is a big step for a cat. However I had been drinking way too much tea so I had to go up at minding and she darted indoors as soon as I opened the door for the dogs 🙂 🙂 🙂

I have mostly continued the war against the stinging nettles and cleavers and today I realised that there’s too much to rip up without having anywhere to place all roots. They need to dry up properly before one really can. place them in a compost, a tiny bit survives and new plants will start to grow. I then remembered that I have a an old big water barrel with just a tiny hole at the bottom so why not let all roots die away inside it? If it rains the water will fill up slightly but then drop away from the little hole, either the nettles root or with no rain they’ll dry up. In the end I’ll have good soil to use at the end of summer.

Nothing much else has happened here today, the slow cooker made my dinner and I did the little laundry I had yesterday. I did go to the supermarket early in the morning though because I didn’t have much wet Catford left. The monster doesn’t like the other food I bought so now at least she’s having something to eat for a couple of days 🙂 I also brought up the last two plants I had in the cool cellar, the Christmas cactus and the easter cactus. They are now hanging outside my entrance door until I can hang them in my big apple tree, nights are still chilly so the closeness to the cottage will keep them warm enough.

There were quite some drama in the cow pasture outside my cottage when we arrived back home today. Two pair of geese were arguing about the same grass 🙂

By the way! Do You remember that I wrote that I would bring in apple twigs before Christmas so that they would start flowering at Christmas? I did bring some in and absolutely nothing happened 🙂 🙂 They did drink water but nothing happened and after a while I forgot about them down in the cellar 🙂 🙂 Thankfully there still was some water but I filled it up and now I finally see some green and even flower buds 🙂 🙂 🙂 To bad they didn’t start growing last week because then they would have worked for easter instead 🙂 🙂

All citrus trees, big and small, are now standing outside. Even though it is a bit chilly they still feel better outside.

After I trimmed some trees Primroses are now popping up here and there again 🙂

The Himalayan Cedar looks a bit sad to be honest but

I’ll skip that last cup of tea for the day so I know I’ll fall asleep tonight, I’m still getting used to get up in time to get to work 🙂

Have a great day!