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 🙂
20C (68F) today but very little sunshine. Really doesn’t matter to me since I’ve been working all day  🙂 The dogs must have had a really nice day though 🙂 Summer arrived a month early (I’m not complaining about that 🙂 ) and so did the forest flies, that I am complaining about though. Forest flies are really harmless to be honest, no biting or drinking blood or spreading diseases, instead they swarm around the head and always tries to check out our nostrils and ears 🙂 🙂 I truly dislike them! Still I can avoid them by wearing a mosquito ha so that’s what I’ll be doing when they become too many.
If You want tulips that comes back from year to year buy bulbs from the wild species. They tend also to spread quite happily 🙂
I did wonder how it would be with the wild bees now when the we don’t have any honey bees in the village and today the sound from the flowering apple trees told me they are ok 🙂 The trees were buzzing loudly so they have not suffered by having honey bees here. I had read that it could go bad for them if there were too many honey bees in an area but how many are too many. Well there were up to ten hives for a while and by the sound from my apple trees that weren’t too many 🙂
I’ll get my first pay check soon 🙂 well checks haven’t been used here for ages even though I’ve heard they still can be used. It’s always something special with that first one, even though it only is half a month since I didn’t start working until the 14th let month. How getting paid varies here, in this place You’ll get paid the moth after so if one quits one will get paid the month after on has quit. At my previous work place they paid for the same month on had been working and any adjustments, like sick days or over time would be on the next pay check. I’ll also get paid from the unemployment agency so it will be almost like it would if I had worked a full month anyway 🙂
I’m baking a bread right now so it’ll soon be time to bring it out of the oven. The dogs are eager for me to bring it out because they always get some and some cheese too 🙂 It’s also the first semi finale in the Eurovision Song Contest. If You don’t know what that is I’m happy to explain it as good as I can. Anyway, Sweden is once again a big favourite amongst the betting sites and if we win on Saturday when the big finale is we’ll be the country that has won most times leaving Ireland behind us 🙂 🙂 I will not see any of the semi finals because it takes forever but I will watch it on Saturday.
Now many people wonder why it is called Eurovision since also countries from Asia and Australia competes but I’ve learned that since they belong to the European Broadcasting system they too can compete. I don’t mind because my favourites are quite often from those countries 🙂
We passed this roe goat on our way home from our walk. Alma didn’t notice her thankfully, Malkolm did but just stood there watching her. I took one photo and then we left because I didn’t want to stress her more than necessary.
I think this must be one of our most beautiful beetle but it wasn’t until I reduced the size of this photo that I noticed there actually were two beetles.
Yesterday after I had come home from work and the walk with the dogs I started baking a bread, I sat down in the recliner and woke up by the timer alarming that it was time to put the bread in the oven. I was so confused when the alarm started that I had no idea where I were, if it meant I was going to work and why in that case did the sun shine so bright 🙂 🙂 🙂 After that the entire evening was sort of strange 🙂 🙂 🙂 The bread was really good though 🙂 🙂 🙂
Today has been rather nice, mostly cloudy but with some sunshine every now and again and even a few drops of rain have been falling now in the afternoon. Pollen is hitting me hard now but I’ve still mostly been outside. I had to mow the lawn, well have to isn’t right because no one would care since no one can see it through my hedge anyway but the longer the grass is the more ticks will living here. I do like that wildlife likes my garden but I don’t like the ticks.
After that I dug up the last chunk of Kankakee mallows and replanted them in pots until I know where to place them. I already have three of them in the ground but now I have nine bigger or small plants in pots waiting to get a space somewhere. I know that it is endangered since it only grows on an island in the wild and it has struggled to survive for years, so if they ever need some help to save it I have plenty of plants (and perhaps seeds) to share 🙂 🙂
A few of the Kankakee mallows.
I also replanted some of the seedlings I had in the kitchen and also then last of the trees I had in the cool cellar during winter. Two of the four giant Sequoias have survived winter and is now growing again despite the fact that mice tried to eat them during winter. Now I have to find out what kind of soil they like so I can fix that and repot them as well. They will not spend next winter in the cool clear, that’s for sure so I better think about how I can have them outdoors instead. The Pawpaw trees and slowly getting new leafs but it looks like the Persimmon has lost all of the twigs and branches this winter but the stem is good so lets hope it will grow new ones.
It is time to get something to eat, first the dogs and the monster kitten and after that me. Have no idea though what I’ll make to myself but if I can’t figure out something I can always have corn flakes again 🙂
Yesterday I saw the mosnterkitten up the road having a chat with another cat but then I remembered that she never followed us outside. So this cat to the left must be a sibling to her 🙂
We were so close to having frost again last night that we almost could touch it, it must have been those very thin clouds that saved us from it.Mostly grey and dull today but suddenly the sun shone through the clouds at the same time I came home. So the dogs and I had a really nice walk down to the creek.
The birds were singing and it would have been odd if they hadn’t since this is the time of year when they really are supposed to do that. We even saw a roe deer goat, which I’ve learned the females are called, only the bigger deer have doe and the moose is called a cow for some reason. I wonder why the aren’t called the same since they all belong to the deer?
Yesterday I finally forced me to bring out all the cardboard boxes to the car, most of them were already opened up and mad flat but it still took me almost 30 minutes to get them all into the car 🙂 Mostly because I dropped so many on the ground before reaching the car, why not try to bring them all at the same time 🙂 🙂 🙂
The night temperatures will finally be well above frost again, it didn’t feel right to have to remove ice from the car when days have been so warm, it was like we had taken several steps backwards in to winter again and since I didn’t have to remove any ice from my car during winter it really didn’t feel nice at all 🙂 🙂 🙂
It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and perhaps we’ll hear who the new pope is, I’m not catholic but I’m still curious 🙂
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. Â 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 🙂
In my woodland right now.
Have a great day!
Not this one though, it grows in full sunlight and dry soil.
-6C (21,2F) here this morning. One could feel it in the air already late afternoon that it would be cold but I didn’t think it would drop down that much. The morning walk was really nice though because the sun was blasting heat towards us at the same time as the ground still was so cold that it evened itself out in a way. Alma was really bad at yesterdays walks but today she behaved really well again. For some reason she behaves like crazy when we pass our new neighbours even though we’ve met them several times and she likes both the humans and the dog, Can’t say she likes they cats though even though they run away long before we come close 🙂 🙂 🙂
This morning we didn’t walk that way so she was calm all the time, she even managed to stay reasonable calm when a deer ran away from our path and even though she saw a big goose in one of the fields she still didn’t start to scream and pull the leash, I so wish that behaviour could continue from now on but I now that’s just wishful thinking 🙂 🙂 🙂 we went down to the creek and it might have been even colder there because there were ice in some places almost all the way down to the water. The plus side with that cold mornings are no ticks waiting to attack us because they have dug down into the ground so they don’t freeze to death.
Otherwise I’ve mostly done chores today, like mowing the lawn, doing most of the laundry (I still have my working clothes to do, for some reason this company doesn’t provide a laundry service for working clothes and that’s the first time that has happened to me, so I’ll do that tomorrow. I still have to bake some bread if I want a sandwich for breakfast though. I do have hard bread at home but I’ve had that for two days now and is a bit tired of it to be honest. We’re having a short work week next week again 🙂 May first is the workers day here but I’ll need to work on Friday again but that’s ok.
I guess it is time to start baking that bread, it’ll most likely be French rolls and since it is a weekend I’ll most likely will have a cup of tea even though it might keep me up all night 🙂 🙂
Some managed the frost really well.Others not so.I’m starting to fill up the blue barrel with stinging nettle roots, I can win the battle but not the war 🙂
Today I could feel that I was a bit faster while working than yesterday even though I’m still pretty slow 🙂 I got a better flow while working. I had a short day at work though because today I had my kidney x-rayed again. I guess I’ll have the result in one or two weeks. The ones x-raying aren’t allowed to say anything about what they can see just in case they misinterpret anything. I had my appointment at 12:40 but was lucky so they let me in twenty minutes earlier. It was much the same last year when I had that first x-ray.
After that I had some grocery shopping to do since easter is a four day holiday here and I really dislike having too do any shopping during that time 🙂 So I drove to the village where I worked before and did my shopping there and wished them all a happy easter, I have after all been shopping there for 28 years now 🙂 I also bought more solid so I can fill up the big box where I have my straw berries. The weather has been amazing today so I also put down the potatoes in the ground, a bit early for me but if there’s any risk of night frost I’ll cover them so they don’t freeze.
One of my favourites because of its wonderful smell, Bog Myrtle.
The Goose berries in the forest are in bloom, mine at home isn’t even close to 🙂
It will cool down considerable already tonight, northern winds will press down cold air from the arctic, still it won’t fall down below 0C (32F) but compared to today it will feel cold. They still keep saying we’ll get rain as well but the closer awe come the less rain will fall 🙂 🙂 I don’t mind the rain because it is so dry in the grass and forest now that if it will start to burn it will escalate quickly. The ground though is still not especially dry.
Finally the Dandelions are in bloom 🙂
This White Wood Anemone will become pale blue.
It isa time for that last cup of tea and perhaps a sandwich or two 🙂
The first plum flower. There are so many buds that the tree will be completely white in a couple of days.
They said it would be more cloudy today but I haven’t notice that much difference to be honest. the big difference is the strong wind and that we had frost and morning mist when I woke up. A good thing when it is this warm during the days is that the frost is pushed upwards by the warm ground so no frost damages on those plants I just planted in my garden.
It was a really nice walk early in the morning despite it being chilly. Birds sand and geese flew just a few meters (much the same in yards) above our heads. Alma behaved really well but Malkolm decided that he wouldn’t stop pulling the leash even if I got angry at him 🙂 🙂 Still he doesn’t pull that hard so I could live with it. I’ve been busy today, I’ve baked bread, dinner in the slow cooker, the ham in the oven and also boiled potatoes and done the last of the laundry.
So this is the last day of my seven month long “vacation” 🙂 I’m really glad to have a new job but I must admit that I have enjoyed every day of this involuntary vacation. I haven’t had to worry about the money and that makes the difference. For those having nothing saved this must be horrible, constantly thinking of how to pay bills and food.
It is time for a last cup of coffee since I don’t have any tea at home and refuses to drive to the store for just one thing 🙂 I could have coffee later but since I really need to fall asleep tonight so that I’m not too tried tomorrow morning when I’ll drive to my new work place I better stay on the safe side 🙂 🙂 I think I’ll also have a couple of sandwiches with some of that ham.
I used to have a really nice woodland in my garden but then dogs used that area to play so lots of plants died. Today I found Trillium leafs so I’ve put up sticks around them so the dogs won’t kill them when they run around there 🙂
We woke up really early today, at 4:10 am. It was already quite bright outside even if the sun wouldn’t rise for another two hours. We went out for our morning walk as soon as the sun started to rise above the horizon and as soon as we stepped outside the clouds arrived and no more sunshine until we came back home when the clouds suddenly vanished 🙂 🙂 🙂
I planted three more Primulas in there as well.Scilla sibirica is usually blue but every now and again they can give other colours like white but I’ve seen pink as well.
After that the sun has been shining almost all day with a few exceptions when clouds passed by. Still 17C (62,6F) and almost no wind made a perfect day. I sat on the kitchen stairs and had a cup of coffee and Malkolm sat beside me and it was so hot that we had to go indoors for a while 🙂 🙂 So while we were cooling down a bit I did a round of laundry. I’m still a bit behind on that but I’m starting to come closer to just have to do it once a week now. I could of course have done a couple of rounds but I’m in no hurry 🙂
I have actually been quite busy today, beside the laundry I also mowed the lawn!! Not a too tough job since the grass had grown quite unevenly 🙂 I also ripped up more stinging nettle roots, cleaned away more plastic pots and actually also planted one apricot tree and the peach tree. They have been standing in the porch for several day and since they say we won’t have any frost the coming days I just thought I better start planting those trees now or it will not be done. To be honest it is a bit much to call them trees because they are after all only one year old yet and kind of tiny 🙂
Soon all I will have left in the cool cellar will be the citrus trees and if it looks like frost will stay away I’ll bring those out to the patio as well. To my very big surprise I also found one of the petunias I thought I had killed during winter show a tiny green shoot. The soil was bone dry but still it started to grow again so when I found two more that looks totally dead I watered them too and hopes for the best 🙂
I do have some tea left so I think I’ll make that last cup of tea for the day and also go down in the cellar again to see if there’s more to bring outside.
The apricot I planted yesterday, that black lid You can see behind is the grey water filter. I need to cover iy every winter because I use too little water and then it tends to freeze in there 🙂The lawn newly mowed.The peach.My Grape elder always produce leafs too early so the next frost will kill all this green and then it takes quite some time before new leafs come and it looks miserable until autumn 🙂
No wind this morning and sunshine. Really pleasant to walk around in the forest listening to all birds and some deer running away when we came close. Still it was below 0C (32F) and the water had frozen during the night. These mornings really are the best because it feels warm and nice but no flies are terrorising us 🙂 They’ll arrive some time in the middle of June. The forest flies are just annoying though and not biting. The biting ones tends to show up a couple of weeks later.
I’m slowly getting the dogs used to me being away a couple of hours every day now so today I went to my old work place for a visit, it might be the last time I do that since I now will work rather far away and after that I went to the grocery store I’ve been doing my shopping for the last 28 years now. I will go there again but not that often, I will have at least four big supermarkets and several other big stores just beside where I’ll be working.
Back in the days when one would sign a contract of employment one sat at the employers desk and signed it with a pen, that’s not how it’s working now days. I got a mail with a link and after reading the contract I signed it with my Bank ID and did it at home. It is amazing how fast things change now days. It is practical though since I now have it stored in my computer. Also I could really take my time reading it, one never did that in the office with the new employer to be honest. One just signed and smiled 🙂 🙂 🙂
I’m slowly picking up the plants I have in the cool cellar. Lots have died, either too much or too little water during the winter but most is still alive. The dead plants get tossed in places where the dogs have been digging so the ground evens out again 🙂 🙂 We’ll have fairly warm nights for the coming ten days they say so I planted one of my apricot seedlings where I used to have the Amure grapevine. It will take a couple of years but it will be a good place for the birds to sit while waiting for their chance of eating from the feeder I have outside the kitchen window. I also started to fill the big wooden box I have my , for some reason, autumn flowering strawberry plants . Turns out the packages with soil are small now days (and more expensive) so I need to buy two more.
The box is quite empty when the big gooseberry bush was removed. Just weeds and strawberry plants left.I removed it all and filled up with soil and there’s still lots of space to fill up. I planted the young strawberries again. I’ll have to redo this when I have more soil (or compost when I can empty any of my composts).Lots of old ones left but I didn’t want to toss them away.So I planted them in a spot where I have removed as much of the stinging nettle roots I could. Now the strawberries can spread as they please 🙂
I have that last cup of tea for the day beside me and soon I’ll go outside with the dogs bringing more dead plants from the cellar 🙂
We’ve had sunshine all day but also a strong and chilly northern wind blowing all day and that did take away the joy of being outdoors. It even reached parts of the garden so I mostly stayed there. Except from when I tried to rip up stinging nettle roots. Stinging nettles are to be honest good to have in many ways, especially now when the world has gone mad and food is expensive. The leafs are nutritious and one can pick them while they are small, boil them lightly, freeze them and have as a sort of spinach all year round. Still I must admit they are not a favourite of mine. Also the stems fibres can be used to make clothes and the process to get there is rather much like how one does with flax.
I went to my coming work place to get working clothes. It was a different procedure than in other places I’ve worked at. Normally one just gives the size one needs and then they arrive some time. One never knows when but they will arrive 🙂 🙂 🙂 This time I got a requisition and was sent to a huge store to get the clothes and shoes directly. So much better. The only problem was that the store had a special store day which means there were loads of people there so I couldn’t get all things I needed today, instead they’ll ship it to the factory on Monday! They also gave everyone there a free mini pizza but of course I couldn’t have one since I can’t eat gluten 🙂 🙂 🙂
I also went to a supermarket just beside and had a list with me and naturally I missed to buy cat food, luckily for the little monster I’ll visit my former work place tomorrow as well as the store I’ve been doing most of my grocery shopping since I moved here 27 years ago. After all this is the last week I’ll be able to go there again without having to take time off from work. Well I’ll go to the store anyway on weekends when I can 🙂
Star of Bethlehem.Stinging nettle, can grow up to 150cm (60 inches) high.Nuns wort, Corydalis something.
Buds on the Yellow wood anemone.
I also forgot to buy tea so I’ll have the last cup of coffee for the day and after that I’ll most likely fall asleep in front of the tv 🙂
Most photos are from yesterday when the sun arrived a bit earlier than today. There was still ice on the creeks.
The sun is shining outside my window. It should have showed earlier but I guess one should be happy for what one get. Still 10C (50F) during the day isn’t that bad but the dogs wanted to go indoors pretty quickly after we had gone outside.
A male Starling sitting on the ghost tree.The doves are here again and lots of them, this is just a small part of the flock.
My new neighbours have two roosters and I think three hen. They said that once of the roosters keep on crowing all the time and they were are right 🙂 🙂 🙂 I do like that sound so I enjoy it a lot, plus that they have them on the other side of a building so even if I’m outside it isn’t especially loud and I can’t hear them at all if I’m indoors. I do however think that the second rooster might take over if the first one quiets down 🙂 🙂 🙂 Alma was absolutely stunned when seeing them 🙂 🙂 🙂 She just stood there watching them, she didn’t even whine like she always do 🙂 🙂 🙂
I got a call from the coffin factory today and he told me I got the job 🙂 I’ll start working there next week 🙂 So now I’ll see these last days of unemployment as the end of a vacation and I’ll most likely have “the end of vacation anxiety” on Sunday evening 🙂 🙂 🙂 I must say that I’ve have enjoyed this time I’ve been unemployed but only because I’ve had money enough myself so that I never have had to worry about expenses, otherwise this would most likely have been a long stressful period. Now instead I’ve enjoyed every day and especially those mornings when my neighbours have been outside scraping ice and brushing snow from their cars 🙂 🙂 🙂
It is time for a cup of instant coffee because I don’t have enough tea at home 🙂 By the way, now when we all hate the orange one all over the world there’s actually one thing that upsets us Swedes even more and it has nothing to do with the blob at all, the coffee price is now so high that many struggle to be able to buy it and as the second most coffee drinking country in the world this is serious to us 🙂 🙂 🙂
I gathered all the pots and placed them by the big compost before deciding where to put them, they became very interesting for a certain monster kitten 🙂
When that became boring she started to play with Malkolm instead 🙂
The Cottage by the crane lake. 