Just a tiny bit lost.
Yes the flies are here but so far they “only” annoy the horses.
Sunny and even warmer today and I love it 🙂 The night was warmer than earlier too and I guess that’s what made it easier for the sun to warm up the air this morning. Yesterday we reached at least 20C (68F), I say at least because when the sun hits the thermometer in the afternoon it shows almost tropical temperatures 🙂 Today will be slightly warmer they say. I know this won’t last for long, after al it is just early in May yet but I will enjoy it for as long as it lasts.
We started walking towards the small lake like always on Saturday mornings. Soon that road will be cut of because it is a part of a big pasture. I could walk there alone since the cows only would be curious on me but they would most likely try to kill us all if I brought the dogs. I had just walked up the ridge when I thought Hell No! So we walked back rather quickly, jumped in to the car and off I drove.
We had almost reached my old home when I saw something by the side of the road.
- I stopped the car, thankfully this happened on a place where I could be seen from a far distance, and started to photograph him.
He was so busy looking for voles and mice that he really didn’t care about me opening the car door.
He was in no hurry when he walked away.
I really had no idea where I wanted to go, at first I was thinking of going to our biggest lake Vänern but it is rather far so instead I drove to the place where I lived before moving to this cottage. You’ve seen photos from there before but mostly in autumn and winter I think. The forest is kept like it is a nature reserve even though it isn’t. That means that no trees are cut down and when a tree falls it stays where it has landed. If one is lucky they have at least cut it where the nature trail goes 🙂 Or it can be like this morning, one is forced to walk in the more swampy areas and hope not to sink 🙂
The old tomb.
The forest is very different from here because it is mostly deciduous trees but mixed with some spruces and pines. An even bigger difference is the bird song, it is so strong there that no other sounds can be heard, heavy spruce forests don’t invite that many birds to be honest. Not far from this little forest it’s possible to hear the Nightingale. I’m not sure I would call the song beautiful but it sure is very exotic in this part of the world.Â
White Wood Anemones everywhere here.
The old fire pond isn’t used any longer, now it is filled with frogs and small fish instead 🙂
After the walk we jumped in to the car again and I thought I should drive the smaller roads back home again. When we came to the village where I work I hoped that the grocery store would be open but I had forgotten how early we were out walking 🙂 So we continued and passed my work place. There is this small road I can drive home on, at least during summer because it is a horror to meat anyone o that road during winter, there’s just no place for two cars to meet, especially if the road is slippery 🙂
I must have missed the road where I was supposed to drive on because suddenly I was totally lost 🙂 Well, that is a bit of a lie since I knew that I sooner or later would find a road I would know where it led. The only places I would end up at was the big highway, the road to work or the bog on the opposite side from where I live 🙂 The roads are very narrow and winding so even though I saw places that I wanted to photograph I just couldn’t stop.
The cherry trees are in bloom there.
Bjertorp castle.
I decided to stop at the super market if I could find any parking lot in the shadows, after all I don’t want my dogs to die og heat stroke. So I ended up parking on the lots reserved for families with children. I was thinking that not many families would be out grocery shopping that early in the morning anyway 🙂 I rushed in to the supermarket bought what I needed, except for bread which I really need 🙂 and I also bought one soft ice cream for me and two sausages for the dogs 🙂 They always look surprised when one asks for not fried or boiled sausages 🙂 some places always believes one wants them cheaper 🙂 The dogs enjoyed them and I enjoyed the ice cream 🙂
Tråvad church.
These beehives have been standing there since I lived there, eighteen years ago. I doubt there are any bees in there though.
I think I’ll have a small nap and after that we’ll take another walk and I do need to start thinking of mowing the lawn too, before it gets too warm.
I wonder if any bird is using it now? It still works to be honest and predators would have problems getting in.
On the way homewards again.
Have a great day!
Frost!
We woke up at 4:30 this morning and since the sun was on its way up I thought we just as well could take a walk. I have to admit that I got a bit surprised when I saw how cold it was outside -1C (30,2F). The world wasn’t covered in white but the frost did cover lots of plants even though the sun heated up the air rapidly.
The flowers didn’t look too happy, frost covered as they were.
Can You see the tiny ice crystals on the dandelion seeds?
We walked down the road towards the fields and later on the creek so we would be as much as possible in the sunshine. The dogs didn’t mind if it was cold but I did 🙂 I brought the camera with me so all photos You see today comes from our morning walk.  I had hoped that I would see the fox that usually walks at the end of that road every morning but I guess we were a bit too early this time.
The day has been even warmer than yesterday and I don’t think we’ve had any wind at all either. So I only wore a t-shirt on our walk this afternoon. I brought the Hasselblad camera with me, there was still five photos to take before I will send the film rolls to get developed. I took some what I think really nice photos but to my surprise there will be no photos from this roll of film, I’ve put it in backwards 🙂 ( The film is covered by paper on the backside so no photos if it is put in the wrong way 🙂 ) I tried to roll it back again so I could start all over but I failed miserably 🙂
It is time for something to eat and to see the news on tv before I go to bed.
Have a great day!
Woud You be surprised if….
This poor little squirrel 🙂 Once again we stumbled upon him when we were out walking this afternoon 🙂
if I told You that the day has been just wonderful with lots of sunshine (shining through lots of tiny clouds) and relatively warm too? I talked with my neighbor when we came home from our walk and he sounded really surprised when he said, this is nothing at all like the predictions for today 🙂 I’m not sure why he was surprised though, after all most of us were working today and since when have they come even close to what they have predicted lately 🙂
It looks like I’ll get the chance to see all flowers on my tree peony this summer 🙂
So it was very nice to walk out to the bog with the dogs after work and I would have had the door open for much longer if I had had any mosquito nets at home, I’ve tried to kill one who has been flying around my head for a while now. I guess we’ll have plenty of them if it stays this warm from now on (around 19C (66,2F)) but I’ll take it with a calm mind, I tend to get immune to the itching after a few bites anyway 🙂
Paeonia Veitchii.
Columbines are in bloom too now.
I still have some replanting to do and lots of seedlings needs new homes in the flower beds, I was so grumpy yesterday that I took naps most of the day 🙂 several hours actually but I was still tired already around 9 pm so I went to bed and slept until 4:30 this morning. I guess I needed that because I’m not even close to as tired today as I’ve been these latest two weeks when we have been working overtime almost every morning.
Both my Sand cherries (Prunus pumila) are in bloom this summer 🙂
So there’s a big chance I’ll get to try some cherries this year 🙂 They don’t cross-pollinate with our common cherries so one need two different ones to get berries.
I will continue to boil minced meat to Orvar even if his stomach seems perfect right now. One third of his meal is minced meat, one third is his normal dog food and one third is boiled rice. He loves it and now when Hector isn’t around any more he get to eat it all himself. Hector was a wonderful dog but a bad food thief 🙂 🙂 I do miss him a lot, my special guy. I tend to look back to see where he is every time we’re out walking because he always wanted to go behind me and last of us all so he could keep an eye on his pack 🙂
It is time to make myself something to eat, all the others have already gotten their dinner now. I once read that the leader of the pack, the human that is, always should eat first, what nonsense 🙂 Sune would go insane if he had to wait until I had eaten and it would have been impossible for me to enjoy any food while he would sit next to me more or less howling until he got his food 🙂 🙂 🙂
Lemon butterfly.
Have a great day!
I’m not sure about the placement of the stairs 🙂
It’s sort of warmish!
Paris quadrifolia, a trillium relative growing in the forest. It is my favorite wild flower here.
Today has been so much nicer than yesterday or any day for over a week to be honest. It has been mostly cloudy but the wind is weaker (still strong though) and it has been warm and nice all day. When I look out my kitchen window there’s not a single cloud in the sky, I wouldn’t be surprised if that means frost during the night.
My blue house is almost invisible now, I need to trim the weeds some 🙂
I guess You’re right Caryn! It must be some kind of fungus that make that orangey color on the sap that has flown down the maple tree stump.
I must remember to buy soil tomorrow on my way home from work, I need lots for my tomato plants, and all the seedlings I need to put in pots until I know where they should be planted. To be honest, all name tags are gone so I think they need to stay in pots until I actually knows what they are 🙂 I also need to figure out where I want the Sweet flowering quince I already have in pots, I could make space close to the Japanese quince I already have or perhaps dig away lots of grass and weeds closer to the fence at the end of my garden.
It’s so boring, the side we walk on by the creek is filled with all kinds of ferns and interesting plants but the other side that has no path to walk on only has grass. It’s so hard to get good photos when standing on the same side.
Only two more days until we should be safe from frost at nights so the first thing I’ll do on Sunday morning is to bring out all the pots I have here indoors and I’ll place them on the patio so they can get used to the light outside and harden themselves towards the sunlight, I’ve killed many a plant by not protecting them properly towards the first sunlight in their lives. I’ll have six squash plants this year and four pumpkin plants 🙂 I got one pumpkin last year, I just didn’t see it until the first frost in the autumn destroyed the leafs 🙂 It was sort of pinkish instead of orange as it should have been 🙂
I had to walk over to the other side, on the wooden bridge, to get this photo.
But the grass look nice when the sun shine on it.
It is time to make something to eat and after that I’ll relax in front of the tv. If they don’t show anything interesting on the Knowledge channel I might watch channel four, it is so bad and boring I’ll most likely will fall asleep directly 🙂
Have a great day!
It feels like autumn.
I’m glad I have a few photos saved from earlier days.
The weather is so bad that we won’t take any walk today, none of us wants to. The rain is pouring down and the wind blows most if it sideways out by the open fields. It isn’t that bad around the cottage though, the wind that is but the dogs won’t go outside anyway.Â
Nothing much to say today, nothing much has happened. Time passed fairly quickly at work though and I guess that’s something to be happy about 🙂 I’ve been working overtime a few days last week and two days so far this week and will tomorrow as well. I start one hour earlier instead of staying later. I hate going home later than I need to and since I am a morning person that fits me better. Still, I don’t like to work overtime anyway 🙂
Not too many weeks until vacation comes and I so long for it now, well I wouldn’t mind winning the lottery so I could stop working at all instead but I guess vacation will come first 🙂 🙂
It is time to make something to eat and I’ll have cocoa today, it’s like autumn outside so it’s the natural thing to choose I’m afraid 🙂
Have a great day!
Not the nicest of weathers.
Dandelions are really beautiful and if they hadn’t spread so enormously they would most likely have been popular in the flower beds. It looks a lot like a Gerbera to be honest.
I told my neighbor yesterday that it is so nice now when summer has arrived because now we don’t need to wear a sweater under the winter jacket, it’s enough with a t-shirt 🙂 I guess that sums up what kind of weather we’re having here and will continue to have for the rest of the week it seems. But on June sixth the last night with risk of frost will come and after that I don’t care, all plants indoors will be tossed out no matter what 🙂
But it was actually warmer than they had predicted this morning, 11C (51,8F) and that is what we’ll have as warmest tomorrow the entire day. I knew we would have to pay for having another warm and nice winter 🙂 There are some good things with this cold weather though, the mosquitoes are still rather calm and all the rest of the insects stays in the trees and bushes most of the time which makes it easier for the birds to catch them. But the most important thing is that there’s no risk of over heating while mowing the lawn 🙂 I still need at least a thick sweater while mowing and it still feels rather cold 🙂
Home sweet home.
I went down into the cow pasture yesterday to see if I could find the badger set, or at least the entrance too it. No problems at all actually. It’s placed perfect for the badgers but not as perfect for me when I’ll go down some late evening to get some photos if possible. The two holes are easy to find but just beneath them is a ditch or perhaps it is an old creek that they have dug out. The ground water pours out of the ground further up the cow pasture and this is its natural way to flow. Anyhow, the badgers must take a turn as soon as they go outside the set and walk up on the field on the other side of the creek, making it impossible for me to see them from where I’ll stand in front of the entrance.
My neighbor had been walking in that field a few days ago when suddenly a badger baby came crawling up on his foot 🙂 The parents to it didn’t seem to mind at all so he said hello to the little one and walked away 🙂 The dogs and I met one yesterday afternoon too but an older one and it didn’t seem especially happy to meet us at all, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a badger run away so fast. It was even quicker than the one Sune jumped up on two years ago 🙂 That poor badger did everything it could just to get away while I tried to keep Nova away because she thought Sune was being attacked when it actually was the other way round. Well Sune was only 10 weeks old by the time and had no idea what a badger was 🙂
There’s two entrance holes to entrance holes to the badger’ set, this is the big one.
The smaller one and just below goes the creek.
I did wonder what kind of bird the Great tits were angry at.
It was the male Shrike. I wonder if it robs other nests?
It is time to make something to eat and then perhaps watch the news or what ever they might show on the Knowledge channel.
Have a great day!
If it isn’t the rain it is the wind.
The laundry is done and is now hanging to dry on the patio, the lawn is mowed (at least the parts in my garden, the rest outside I can take another day) so now I’ve done everything I felt I had to do before the work week starts again. We won’t get any rain today, according to predictions but instead we have a slightly insane wind so it was actually quite perfect to mow the lawn today. Most grass had dried up after all the rain that fell yesterday and the wind made it just enough cool so it still felt rather nice mowing.
This is one way to connect farming equipment 🙂
Greater Celandine.
We even have some sunshine today, the sun manages to peek through the gaps between the clouds every now and again and since the wind blows from the right direction I can have the kitchen door open if it isn’t cloudy for too long, because if it is it gets a bit too cold indoors. I really should vacuum and scrub the floors too today but the dust won’t go away by itself so I feel I don’t have to stress to get rid of it before it eventually would have walked away by itself 🙂
I sowed squash and pumpkin seeds a few days ago and now it looks as if all seeds have germinated. I would like to take them out already now but the coming week is the last one we usually get frost at night. So I keep them indoors until June seventh and hope that the frost stays away as it should but this year has been odd weather-wise. The warmest winter in ages and the coldest May in years. So who knows what will happen for the rest of the year 🙂
It’s a good thing I took some photos when we were out walking yesterday afternoon, because I only took the ones above this morning.
We had sunshine for around half an hour yesterday, just as we went out for a walk.
The first Buttercups this year.
I made some ice cream yesterday, I used pre made custard 🙂 Yes I know, custard is the easiest thing to do but i haven’t been i the mood to cook anything this last week. The ice cream turned out perfect! so I’ll do that today too, I still have half of it left in the package 🙂 Perhaps I should put some Aronia berries in the mixer and turn them down into the custard too? After all they worked great in the pie so why not in the custard ice cream. I better heat them up some first though, I think the heating of them actually make them edible which they aren’t as uncooked 🙂 🙂 Tart is a kind word to describe them as to be honest 🙂
But I’ll have something to eat first, then a short nap and after that we’ll take a walk before I make the dinner I’ll have at work next week.
Have a great day!
Life goes on.
Yes it does even if it’s hard sometimes. I realised something was very wrong with Hector on Wednesday afternoon when I came home from work, he was always the first one to run out the door of the dog house when I opened it. He wasn’t there at all so I was just about to go out into the dog yard when he slowly came in from the dog yard and followed me out to the garden. He laid down in front of the entrance and wanted to stay there when we were about to go out on our walk.
He finally rose up and followed us after I had been talking to him for a long while. We walked very slowly and stopped many times so he could rest in the shadows. The other ones were far ahead of us but Bertil and I stayed close to Hector all the time. He stayed by himself all evening and didn’t want to eat when it was time, he did though just because he knew I wanted him to. That didn’t help the next morning though, he refused to get up at all and I could see that life just wasn’t fun any longer, so I had to take that hard decision, the one we never want to take. Now I worry that it won’t take that long time till I have to take that decision again but Orvar is fine at the moment and I hope he will be for a long time more.
This doe walked out just in front of us on the gravel  road by the fields (two meters away from us). All dogs were unleashed, they looked at her for a few seconds and then they went on doing their own thing. It’s nice to know they  don’t care about the wild life.
It will be an indoors day today, the temperature will rise to 9C (48,2F) if we’re lucky. They keep promising that the warm weather is on its way but I think we all have lost the hope that it actually will 🙂 If it isn’t rain that’s falling it’s hail. Thunder however has stayed away from this area but we might get some tonight. We actually had warmer and nice days during winter this year 🙂 The only thing that grows as it should in the garden is the grass and it grows fast. I can’t mow it though since it is so wet that it would clog my lawn mower and it’s never nice to drag around an electric cable on wet ground either 🙂
I think I’ll read a book and then tak a nap before thinking of even taking another walk today. My neighbor told me he found a badger’s burrow in the cow pasture outside my cottage. He knows I want to photograph them so I think I’ll go out by myself later on to see if I can find it. They might not show today due to the bad weather but it would be nice to know where it is when the new ones comes out to see what the world’s like. I want to thank You for Your comments in the previous post.
Wolf willow, Elaeagnus commutata. We call it Silver bush.
Aronia melanocarpa, Black chokeberry
Rosa glauca.
Have a great day!
The first tomato! The plant grows in a tiny pot by my kitchen window. This tomato is called Vilma and You can also see the sticky fly paper I have on the glass 🙂
It’s only Tuesday!
It’s only Tuesday but it feels like I’ve been working a year without any weekend at all. I shall never stay up that late again unless I take a big nap the day after 🙂 It doesn’t matter what I need to do, I’ll take that nap anyway 🙂
Oak.
It’s really green now!
Nothing much has happened today, I worked in the neighbor factory for a few hours and time flew by when I was there, because I can’t see any clock and it is just too much problem reaching my phone to see what time it is since I have protecting clothes on so I know nothing about how fast time pass by or not while working. Unfortunately I see the clock  ver well at my ordinary job and just couldn’t keep my eyes from it 🙂
Look how cute I am 🙂
Thunder did pass by here at home during the day, I saw that on the net but the sun shone most of the time. Now the rain is pouring down and the wind is hard so I guess we either get thunder again or hail. I don’t want hail now, it is so depressing to watch the ice on the ground 🙂 I guess I should be happy about the rain helping me watering al the seeds I sowed yesterday but to be honest, rain is nothing we need at all at the moment. The ground is still so wet after the previous rain showers we’ve had so I get soaking wet if I go down on my knees to take a photo.
The rain comes from west so the east side of my cottage is dry, so now I have bumblebees resting by my window during the shower. I wonder if it is one of those that has a nest inside my southern wall, they build a nest there every year and since bumblebees don’t destroy anything when building a nest or living there I always let them be. They do so much good in the garden by pollinating my fruit and berry plants.
Whitebeam.
It is time for something to eat and perhaps a cup of cocoa.
Have a great day!Â
In my garden right now. This is Sorbus domestica, we call it apple rowan or pear rowan.
My hand fan-shaped apple tree, here hidden behind the Aronia bush. I sowed it several years ago and it gets the most delicious apples there is!
Sorbus koehneana. I sowed that one around eight years ago. The climate is too tough for it here so it freeze down some every winter.
The apricot tree survived but even this mild winter was tough on it 🙂
Primula auricula.
Pre-summer doesn’t want to start.
I didn’t take many photographs today, so most of them was taken yesterday. I did however photograph this male Shrike today.
Another nice day here, fairly warm and weak winds but the pre-summer (as we say when spring is over but summer not really has started) warmth hasn’t arrived and won’t for at least a week or so. tomorrow will stop at just above 10C (50F) if predictions are right. I guess we expect more now when the winter was so nice and mild. The only thing we got from that was lots of ticks and possibly a nasty fly and mosquito year 🙂
Lots of pollen from the pines but still less than last year.
Yesterday was so nice that I decided to sow some seeds in my big box outside my kitchen. I decided to sow three rows, one with carrots (several colors on them so I hope I got a good mix with orange, red and white ones), One row with red onions because it’s smart to sow both onions and carrots together because the onion smell will confuse the carrot fly and the carrot smell will confuse the onion fly 🙂 Well that is what we all hope every year anyway. I also sowed one row with broccoli.
The Cuckoo is hard to see and even harder to photograph, they are usually very shy. It looks like a small falcon when it flies around.
I’ll sow more broccoli later on in my vegetable garden but I’m afraid the ground still is too cold for those seeds, the box keep a much higher temperature and that’s what’s soo good with raised gardens. Later on I’ll sow broad beans in the vegetable garden. I also sowed some pumpkin seeds and squash seeds but those will have to stay in my kitchen until after June sixth which usually is the last night with frost here.
Now You might wonder what happened to that ice cream I was going to do? Well it happened 🙂 The thing I bought isn’t really an ice cream machine to be honest, I still have to mix everything together and the bowls must be kept in the freezer at -18C (0,5F) so what I really bought is a slow going electric whisk 🙂 the cold bowl freeze the ice cream batter and the whisk turns around the batter so everything gets frozen. The first one I made was with gooseberry jam and some cardamom and it was rather nice but I used too much jam so the taste got too strong.
Rosa glauca in my garden.
The second one was a big success though, rowanberry jam and cinnamon! It turned out just perfect! But I don’t like whipped cream and I’m not sure if I did something wrong (I should perhaps heated up the batter a day before I was going to make the ice cream? but this recipe didn’t say anything bout heating it up) but the cream sort of stuck in my mouth as a thin layer, I almost had to use the toothbrush to get rid of it. I need to find a recipe that doesn’t have especially much cream in it or even better none at all. So despite that it was a really nice thing to do!
The cottage by the Crane Lake, life goes on. 
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