Author: Magdalena Cavallin

I have lived my entire life in the countryside and have always been filled with wonder over nature, the life and the beauty. I live on a farm in Sweden in the middle of nowhere and since 2015 I have together with my sister taken over my parents farm. Here I try to combine all the things I love best: Be and work in nature together with my dogs, to sing and study and photograph, my catholic faith, and last but not least to contemplate and recognise "the extraordinary in the ordinary".

An early morning run

It had rained a lot the day before. Toby and I went for a run in the morning. The sun was already up, bringing colour and warmth to trees and plants. The dew sparkled in silver on the grass in the field we passed.

Running through the forest we just stopped amazed by the sunlight shining through the trees.

Still in the shadow, we could see the floodlit trees before us. A blessed moment of beauty.

Spring was here, went and returned…hopefully to stay

Spring is here and with it the birds, the starlings skillfully mimicking their fellow birds, while enthusiastically flapping their wings, the larks’ joyous exclamation as they rise in the air, the cranes’ melancholic calling echoing from the moor, the frogs singing in the lakes and ponds. Not forgetting the fragrance, first damp forest air, then coltsfoot, followed by the rising sap of the trees and bushes. Euphoria, as life returns to these parts of the world.

The spring  flowers have started to bloom too, daffodils, snowdrops, crocuses and early tulips.

It is strange to think that for just one and a half month ago the landscape was covered with a thick layer of snow on top of the deep frozen ground.

But a week ago a so called ‘setback’ arrived with 30 cm of snow and strong wind. We did our best to feed the birds that had arrived. I have never seen so many birds at our bird feeders. We tried to figure out what different kinds of food could satisfy all the species. Thankfully we have barns with cattle and sheep. This showed itself to be safe havens for many birds among them song thrushes.

Some of the birds feeding.

Thankfully it only lasted two days. Then it melted and the spring returned. This is so typical for April here; one day spring, then winter returns for a day, telling that we live close to the Arctic. This setback was tougher than most though, the coldest in 68 years.

A sunny day between the snowy days. Is it so late in the year now, the sun quickly melts the snow. Toby is sunbathing for a while.

An old variety of daffodils, which was already growing here when my parents arrived here.

I’m happy now for the birds and plants, thriving in the damp warm spring. There are few things that fill me with such joy than to see life returning here. I’m always amazed by the transformation.. I hope both plants and animals will get a good year in all respects.

Squill, one of my favourite spring flowers.

A Sunday walk in the snow.

A clear sky, the setting sun, long shadows.

Just the two of us this afternoon. He is always ahead of me.

A shift between cold weather and thaw. The trees are still frozen which makes the trunks shine in silver.

The “dagsmeja” has returned.

A walk in silence, thoughts and awe. We passed the lonely farm, a place of such beauty and peace.

Beauty… I try to capture her with my camera, but she skillfully evades my attempts. I try to describe her, but I’m lost for words. I cannot keep her; she visits me on her own terms. I’m grateful, I can clearly see, I’m not the master but she.

Thaw

The weather shifts quickly from thaw to full winter. However, I could not resist capturing a beautiful moment when I walked across the ploughed fields of our neighbour a while ago. There is a beauty in the contrast between the dark brown ridges and the last snow still in the furrows.