Growth and flair

Postat den 13 juli, 2014 av tinajo

Today is the first cool day in a long time and it is somewhat of a relief – making it OK to be inside. Living in a country with long winters makes it almost impossible to waste sunny days with trivial things like cleaning and such.

The warm and generous days have made my tomatoes, cucumber and chili plants happy; lots and lots of flowers and tiny little fruits on all of them:

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I realize that I must have been a little slow with it all from the start though, since friends of mine already have big – almost ready to enjoy – tomatoes, but it´s OK. It will come in time.

I´m relaxing as much as I can, this summer has without a doubt been one with different priorities. For the first time in, I think 7 years, we don´t have any travelling abroad planned. I needed to take it easy, just that. Smaller trips here and there, but nothing big. It was a good choice for now, I bet the travel itch will return for next year.

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So right now I´m sitting in my sofa with Elsa at my feet, eating melon and ooohing and aaahing at clothes in ELLE.

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I think I have to go shopping one of these days, there´s so many nice clothes available right now – and I´m pretty sure I´ll cut my hair as well. Like in very much shorter.

What are you up to?

Publicerat i clothes, dog, garden, summer | 15 kommentarer

The first raspberries!

Postat den 7 juli, 2014 av tinajo

I was so surprised this morning when I passed the rasberry bush and saw three eatable little berries there:

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These should be ready later as I´ve understood it, since they are fall raspberries – but who am I to complain? I just felt happy that summer is treating us with gifts like this, and then I gave them to the rascals who said they tasted wonderful.

Still love the unusual color of them as well, lovely and golden.

The heat is on here in my parts of Sweden – we´ve had little energy but to just be lazy, swim a little and enjoy the warm breeze in between. Nothing else is needed really, the other day we were to Gröna Lund (an amusement park in Stockholm) and that gave exitement enough for several weeks.

Now I´ll lay myself down for a while and watch some nice documentary on Youtube – take care!

Publicerat i garden, summer | 13 kommentarer

Visiting Ekenäs castle

Postat den 2 juli, 2014 av tinajo

Loooong time no see sweeties!

The very lovely Melody from Australia emailed me and asked if I was OK since I haven´t been posting in a long time. The answer is pretty much no – I´ve been very exhausted the last month. Working at a school means lots of stress at the end of the term, and combined with my MS that just drained me.

Now however, I´ve had vacation for two days so hopefully I´ll get into balance again soon. And I have some photos from Ekenäs castle for you, as we visited a couple of days ago.

It´s one of the best preserved renaissance castles in Sweden and it was really interesting to walk around inside. You can read more about it here: Ekenäs castle.

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Some  of the rooms had very beautiful wallpapers – and they were all treated with arsenic to make the color last longer. I wonder what that did to people who spent hours and hours within those walls..!

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Of course there were ghosts as well, no less than three. My rascals are now very keen to go back there when fall comes, to participate in a ghost walk during the night… We´ll see..!

I hope you all are well, I´ll visit you as soon as I can. Now you know that I am alive at least!

(linking up with Communal Global)

Little by Little
Publicerat i castles, summer | 23 kommentarer

No words.

Postat den 6 juni, 2014 av tinajo

lila_blomma

Publicerat i flowers, No words | 17 kommentarer

A little fishing trip

Postat den 30 maj, 2014 av tinajo

Yesterday we took a little fishing trip since we were off work due to a holiday here in Sweden. We did not get one, single fish but who cared – the weather was perfect and the picnic basket full of goodies.

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The only bad part was when Elsa almost got beat up by two stray dogs – made it a little too exciting, thank you very much. Luckily it ended well and the owner apologized sincerely, so no hard feelings.

A lovely day it was – and made me long even more for my summer vacation!

Take care sweeties!

Publicerat i rascals, summer | 15 kommentarer

Garden sadness

Postat den 25 maj, 2014 av tinajo

Oh, I had plans this year for once – I actually gave my garden some thought before I started planting stuff.

I imagined a lush, beautiful and slightly wild corner behind my new cherry tree

and if you squint your eyes you could see something in that direction:

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I already had my rhododendron which is a couple of years old, and then I added prettiness like this:

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All fine and dandy, right?

But no matter how hard I squint my eyes, I can´t help but to see this:

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Oh yes, my innocent, newborn cherry tree has been viciously attacked by catepillars – hundreds of them. The same catepillars have been drilling holes in my rhododendron buds as well, so there would be a true miracle if some of them actually bloomed.

To say that I´m sad is an understatement – but I´m not giving up. I´ve been killing catepillars several times a day for the last days, so maybe they won´t feast on my whole garden in the end.

Cross your fingers please.

Publicerat i flowers, garden, summer | 15 kommentarer

Horses here and horses there..!

Postat den 20 maj, 2014 av tinajo

Tonight I rode bareback for the first time ever in my life and I´m still in an euphoric state even though two hours have passed since I returned home.

The thing is, that when you have no clue of what to expect (besides that you expect to fall off since that seem pretty likely) and instead get rewarded with the most joyful ride… Well – it transforms into this combined birthday/Christmas/anniversary gift at once.

It was truly fantastic to feel the horse beneath me, without the saddle in the way. To follow his movements and feel his muscles – and vice versa.

I lack of words here, I can see it myself – I´m really not sure how to describe it in the best way.

As a tribute though, I´m posting some of the horse pics I´ve taken during the last year (on Instagram). These are all of the Icelandic horse as you might see, so gentle and friendly  - I highly recommend them. The gait tölt is so comfortable you can´t help but grinning during the whole ride – I promise.

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Oh well, please excuse me for this mania – but I´m just so very happy and content right now.

Take care sweet people!

(linking up with Communal global)

Publicerat i horses | 20 kommentarer

No words.

Postat den 18 maj, 2014 av tinajo

maskros_3

(wishing you a lovely Sunday)

Publicerat i flowers, garden, No words, summer | 15 kommentarer

The garden is happy

Postat den 11 maj, 2014 av tinajo

Hello there – I have to say that it has been very easy to neglect the blog lately.

I don´t know why, but the thought of taking photos and writing has kind of been overwhelming – a sign I´d guess of how busy I am otherwise. There´s lots to do at work, at home, with the rascals, in the garden and so on. I´m not ignoring you; it´s just that real life has to go first.

The garden is happy though, flowers are beginning to bloom:

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And my beloved cherry tree seem to have rooted itself as well – I´ve watched it and guarded it like mother hen just because I love it so much:

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Maybe, maybe I´ll get to see some cherry flowers soon – I´d be so delighted!

There´s been lots of digging in the garden since I´m trying (well, trying is the right word) to create a better garden than it´s been. I have a corner behind the cherry tree that I want to be lush and quite wild, but I´m taking it step by step so I have the time to think. I wish I had someone to talk to about it though, second opinions are always good. Hubby just agrees with me when I ask him, so he´s not the one to trust – haha!

Otherwise I´m amazed that the weeks are passing so fast; not that long now until my summer vacation in the end of June.

Are you all well?

Publicerat i flowers, garden | 15 kommentarer

Birthdays and in-laws..!

Postat den 30 april, 2014 av tinajo

Goodness – sorry for being absent, but my in-laws arrived last Friday so I´ve been otherwise occupied so to speak. My hubby turned 40 April 28th you see, so it was a big day.

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I think hubby look a lot like his mother, don´t you agree?

Anyway; I´ll get back to you as soon as I get back into my ordinary way of life again – we have a little holiday here in Sweden now, so I have four days off work which means I should be able to take photos.

Until then; do take care!

Publicerat i this and that | 13 kommentarer