Category: Windy.

I have a cold again.

June 6, 2025 · 2 Comments ·

I think this is a Welsh poppy. It is said to behave like a bad weed but not here. I sow it every year and all I’ve gotten is two or three that usually dies during winter despite it being a perennial.

I always complain about not being able to remember my dreams, I think I’ve done that at 5 times as maximum. However I do remember the dream I had last night and I was so annoyed that I woke up at 4 am and couldn’t fall asleep again 🙂 I dreamed that there was a tiny black and walking all over my back and when ever I tried to get rid of it it rushed out of reach 🙂 🙂 I even tried to squash it by lying down and rub my back towards the bed 🙂 🙂 🙂

When I woke up I realised that I now have a cold and a slight fever. Lots of people have it now but it seems to be short lived so my guess is that it’s over by Monday. My entire body hurts, especially my neck and head and since I can’t even eat anti inflammatory pills for children I have to rely on coffee 🙂 🙂 I’ve had too much coffee today so all I can do is to wish that it’s over by tomorrow.

If You look carefully You can see the monster climbing in a bush. She tried to surprise a magpie youngling and all magpies just laughed out loud 🙂

I checked my lottery tickets on Wednesday evening. It is called Lotto and one has to pick to seven numbers out of 35. They’ll also draw four extra numbers that if one has six right and one of the extra numbers one win a bit more. You won’t be rich by having six right and an extra number but You would still be very happy. The big money is in seven right, then it can be millions we’re talking about. Well I got four right and then three of those extra also were my numbers. So technically I had seven right numbers but in the wrong way 🙂 🙂 🙂 So instead of millions I won what would be $ 2 US 🙂 🙂 🙂 I didn’t even get annoyed, I just laughed out loud 🙂 🙂 🙂

Rainy day today but we have actually had some sunshine as well. A bit chilly though but I’ve been outside wearing a sweater just so I could get some fresh air and feel a bit less sick 🙂 The dogs and I stayed outside for quite a while yesterday evening. My lilacs have weak branches so when ever it rains they hang down so it is impossible to walk beside them to get around the cottage. So all evening yesterday I pruned away all branches that hangs low. I also cut away those being behind the huge roses and bled quite a lot after that 🙂 🙂 plus I opened up around the Red oak so it gets more light and air. So now it’s like a tunnel behind the roses and both I and the dogs can walk there now 🙂

Now I can pass without being drenched every time it has rained.

It continues on the other side of the gate.

These are the roses from the other side 🙂 No one can see me from the garden and no one from the road because of the lilacs 🙂

I think it is time for another cup of coffee but before that I’ll have some honey. I’m so tired right now that I doubt any amount of coffee will keep me awake tonight 🙂

Have a great day!

May 25, 2025 · 4 Comments ·

Well today didn’t start like yesterday mostly was at all but it was warm enough for me not to care about it 🙂 A nice little summer rain and we spent a lot of time in the garden before we went out on our morning walk.

We walked out to the bog and unfortunately we met our new neighbour, well the new neighbours Arte really nice so that wasn’t it but they have a new puppy, Border collie by the looks of it and when Alma and Malkolm saw that they went insane. The puppy barked so that was what my two idiots did as well, scaring their white dog who normally comes rushing towards Alma and Malkolm with joy, today it turned away because of my two idiots. It didn’t help that one of their cats was present as well 🙂 🙂 🙂 I do hope we can repair this so that they won’t be scared when they meet us again 🙂 🙂 🙂

After that I’ve been a bit busy today. I’ve made dinner for the coming week at work and since all I had was potatoes, prince sausages and a packet of bacon at home that will be what I’ll have for dinner next week 🙂 I both boiled and then fried the potatoes so it took some time. I have as usual also done the laundry. It isn’t fun but has to be done.

a feeding station. Too many wild hogs around now days.

We didn’t continue since that grass now is a paradise for ticks. Had it been dry the ticks would have dug themselves down into the ground.

As You know I’m at war with the stinging nettles in my garden as well as with the Cleavers plus now days the Greater Celandine. So I have been raking a big part of the more wild areas of the garden ripping up lots go cleavers, they will grow up again but I’ll continue every week since they are annuals and if they don’t produce seeds they will slowly disappear from my home. They tend to grow well amongst the nettles as well so hopefully I’ve damaged those too 🙂 The greater Celandine is easier though, just rip them up with their roots. The problem is that those seeds can lie dormant for quite some time but I’ll be happy if I just have some control over them. They are really beautiful but they spread like crazy 🙂 🙂

After that I’ve tossed out lots of older seeds here and there in the garden, they might grow or they won’t 🙂 I’ll have a really beautiful wild garden if they do 🙂 🙂 It will be a good weather for those seeds though, its of rain tonight and tomorrow, also the temperatures will rise again and we’ll even get some sunshine in between rainy days (well we all know by now how great they are in guessing the weather here 🙂 🙂 ) It should also be time to sow beans, peas and other vegetables now so I’ll have lots to do this coming week 🙂 Carrots and beetroots are already sown and on their way growing. Also the strawberries that always gives berries in the autumn for a reason I don’t know flowers really good right now so perhaps I’ll get some berries for Midsummer, a holiday that perhaps is even more important than Christmas is here.

I bought a tree peony last spring and the variety I bought seems to have died but a new branch is growing up from the roots. Usually these varieties are grafted on herbaceous peonies but it does look like tree peony leafs coming up so who knows what it once will look like.

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day, tomorrow I’ll have dayshift again 🙂 The bread I baked yesterday turned out so much better than I thought since I forgot to start the timer 🙂 🙂 So I might have a sandwich with the tea 🙂

Have a great day!

I don’t complain about the weather sites got it wrong :-)

May 24, 2025 · 4 Comments ·

We were supposed to have rain and strong winds today so I’m not surprised that we had a lot off sunshine and sort of half strong winds 🙂 Couldn’t notice much in the garden though since the winds came from south.

I wonder what they use this for? I thought it looked like a piece of art but I’m sure they have a more practical use for it 🙂

So the dogs, cat and I spent a lot of time in the garden today, the dogs playing like crazy and the cat running up to them so they would chase her 🙂 I spent a lot of time cutting of dead branches from bushes and trees and also got attacked by small black ants, it never hurts when those black ants attacks (the small red ones though is a totally different thing, that hurts like h..l 🙂 🙂 🙂 Still it took hours to get rid of all of them since they were crawling all over my body 🙂 They lives in a pot whee I tossed away the dead plant and since I had no idea they lived there they managed to run over to me in rather big numbers before I noticed them 🙂 🙂

It was a bit warmer today because of the sunshine, sort of perfect this time of year, not too warm so one could do some gardening but not so cold that one wanted to go inside to have a pot of tea. I’ve also pulled up a lot of weeds from places where I didn’t want them to grow, normally they’re quite welcome here if they flower a lot so that the bees get lots of nectar from them but if they grow where I don’t want them they’ll have to go, if not for any other reason than that snails and slugs love to live there.

I’m baking a bread right now and everything would be good if I just had remembered to start the timer 🙂 🙂 It looks nice in colour but I put a tooth pick in it and it felt a bit too damp, then again it might have been a prefect bread since I did put a lot of cheese in it and therefore it should feel like that sort of 🙂 🙂 I put a lot of rosemary in it and the small is filling the entire cottage. Talking about rosemary, the extra hardy one I planted in the garden has actually survived winter and is now producing new shoots 🙂 Still tiny but I can see them now. This is an American variety and I’ve forgotten the name 🙂 🙂 I have also forgotten from whom I bought it so I can’t get the name from the seller either 🙂 🙂

I just went down to the oven and checked, I’ve shut it off and will let the bread stand there for five more minutes, the cooler of it says it should be ready by then. Even though I did enjoy working the evening shift I still don’t think it is worth it. I was really tired all Friday long even though I did lots of things during the day and I’m still tired today. I’ll probably be back to normal tomorrow so I’ll be fit for fight for work on Monday. I’m an extreme morning person, goes to bed at nine pm and up around 4:30 am the day after, changing sleeping hours even though just four hours later does cost me a lot but thankfully this will only happen every fourth week.

It is time to go downstairs again to pick out the bread so wish me luck that it is ready 🙂 🙂

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!

I can hear a gentle rain hitting my windows.

May 17, 2025 · 7 Comments ·

The day has been really nice despite the sun quite early hid behind clouds. Still strong winds but fairly warm. It’ll get chilly on Wednesday and a few days more but it’s too early to say anything about the weather so long ahead. I mean sometimes they can’t even say what weather we’re having without getting it wrong 🙂 🙂 🙂 At the moment though I can hear a gentle rain hitting my windows.

Some trees, like the oaks, just doesn’t care if summer starts at new year, they start when they normally do every year.

We saw another deer today and Alma actually behaved pretty well, normally she’s all over the place when she see deer but this time she just stayed excited but nothing more. I had brought an older camera with me and after a while I realised that I didn’t have any film in it 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’m pretty sure all those photos I took while walking in the forest would have been masterpieces 🙂 🙂 🙂

I’ve also mowed the lawn. At first I was going to start hilling the potatoes but since all my composts now are full I instead decided that I would cover the potatoes with the grass cuttings. It makes the plant grow potatoes along the stems but also fertilises the soil when the grass slowly decompose. I’ll keep on doing that every time I’ll cut the grass. Plus it is time to start spreading all that compost as well, No meaning having composts if I don’t use it 🙂

I’ve also baked a bread so now I can have a fresh sandwich while watching the Eurovision final. I did have a nap while sitting in the recliner but I feel that I most likely should have had an even longer nap, right now it feels like I’m not going to make it through the show that ends around midnight. I really need to though since I’ll be working until midnight next week. I better start checking what’s moving around in the garden at night, yesterday Alma chased away a poor animal, most likely a cat but it did sound heavier so it might have been a fox.

It is time for a cup of tea, perhaps that will help me to stay awake tonight 🙂 :-)it does when I don’t want it too though 🙂 🙂

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!

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!

The last day of my seven month long vacation :-)

April 13, 2025 · Leave a comment ·

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.

Have a great day!

April 9, 2025 · Leave a comment ·

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 🙂

Stinging nettle, can grow up to 150cm (60 inches) high.

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 🙂

Have a great day!