On a visit to Hilleshögs dalar

It is a special feeling to walk to the shore while the sun is rising. September can contain both days of Autumn and of Summer, much depending on from where the wind is blowing. This week a southerner started blowing and brought with it warmth from the south of Europe. The haze, which comes of the warm days and cold nights, creates a mysterious light and warm colours in the hills and valleys.

My sister lives in a convent close to a nature reserve called Hilleshögs dalar, the Valleys of Hilleshög. The nature reserve includes a big part of the coastline. A century ago it was used as a harbour, since nature has formed a natural harbour there. Now it is a protected area and home for sand martins and sea gulls. The beach is often abandoned and you can see the island Ven not far from the shore.

My sister lives in a cloistered convent, which means that the nuns have taken the decision to not let people inside the convent and they do not leave the convent. To be able to see my sister then, we must visit her. We live in a house by the convent owned by the convent.

So to get some feeling of nature my sister and I walk in Hilleshögs dalar just 5 minutes by car from the convent, not only to walk the dogs but also to get some fresh air and be by the sea. The scenery is beautiful and I never tire of going there.

One morning was especially beautiful, because we arrived at the time when the fog was slowly lifting, but did still lingered over the sea. A flock of Canadian geese were resting on the water. Peace and beauty mingled together as the sea and sky were not possible to tell apart.

These moments are true gifts. Turning back I carry something with me, the beauty has touched my heart and mind. It witnesses of something and someone beyond and outside of myself that touches and opens the heart, for gratefulness.

Toby loves the sea and to see him play with enthusiasm in the water makes me happy. It is also special to see how his presence doesn’t disturb the peace, or frightens the sea birds, but just makes the hour lovelier.

Thank you God

A beautiful morning

To be a farmer means that nature sets the working hours, for good and bad. For the second harvest the days were very hot which made it impossible to fetch the bales in the fields during daytime. Early mornings were then switched from sleeping to working. I am a morningbird, and will remain one. So to have the reason to wake up and begin work earlier brings with it a sort of excitement.

Early mornings during high pressure weather have often mysterious and beautiful sunrises. Since it is late in the season the trees and the fields are shrouded in fog. This morning I could not resist stopping the tractor and for a moment just admire the splendour of the sunrise together with the wild animals, the cranes with their melancholic cries, the roedeer, the buzzard and the red kite and the hares attentively listening as they ate their morning herbs.

A little friend along the way

Sometimes you encounter with someone that changes your life and how you see your life, and you think you have a long time in front of you. Then suddenly everything changes and she is gone, never to return. You are left with an imprint on your heart and the hope of seeing her in heaven.

Fourth of May a little weak lamb was born just 20% the normal size of a lamb. I found her beside a stone, calling very faintly for her mother, not able to stand and in cramps. I brought her inside the house and when I passed our Lourdes Madonna I said to it and Virgin Mary, “she is yours”. A night followed of a fight for her life, feeding her with drops of raw milk, then feeding bottle, warming her while holding her in my lap. Slowly her cramps ended, she became stable and I could see that fighting spirit in her eyes I so loved. She got the name Petite Marie, or Little Mary, Lilla Marie in Swedish.

Few persons have so capture my heart as she did. She was like a little puppy and followed me everywhere when she was not in the paddock with the other sheep. She knew her name and came when I called her.

One day when she was very little she escaped from her box and came looking for me, but entered into the cow pen until my father found her scared and bewildered calling for me.

She had a weak foreleg which our kind veterinary fixed with a bandage. He was charmed by this little lamb and never took any charge for her treatments.

One day she got very ill in clostridium, but our vet came and gave penicillin, again without charge. Slowly she recovered and was her self again.

Lilla Marie was a mild little lamb and she loved to be scratched. We always had our daily moments of scratching, petting and talking. I began planning that she perhaps could get a lamb in the future, because she had gained so much weight and was very healthy.

Suddenly she was gone. I had been away for two days and when I came home I went out to her to greet her and feed her. We had a little longer time together. She seemed a little more thirsty than usual, when I went back she called after me as she used to do.

The next day I went out and called for her. She didn’t answer. I kept looking for her. At last I found her. She was lying there in the stonhedge, dead, ma Petite Marie. Death is never beautiful and the sudden shock of seeing her lying there brought me to tears, while I still petted her little white head. The same bacteria that made her ill had caused an other illness that was incurable and very fast. She had died in just a couple of hours. Such a sorrow I felt and so many tears I shed.

My father came and helped me to bury her. I still go there and say an Ave Maria or the French Je vous salue Marie. I still cannot believe that she is gone. She died on the day she would have become three months old. So sudden. It surprises me so how little I know about the time I have got with the ones I love. This little lamb I only got three beautiful months with, I gave her to Virgin Mary and now she wanted her back. I don’t regret that I saved her, but see that as a gift, a true gift from heaven…

I miss her so very much.

Rest in Peace my little princess