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".

Garden time

Spring is here and with it gardening. My favourite time. Toby enjoys it in his manner, eating a bone. I enjoy my time with the first sowing in the cold frame. Sallad and celery are the first crops. Next in time are carrots, parsnip, and dill. But that will be in the field.

A misty morning

I took a morning walk together with Toby. The mist has always attracted me in its fairytale atmosphere, always a little mysterious.

Arriving to the old barn, gray and sombre, we took a pause enveloped by the saturated air, and looked at the beauty.

Then back again, the mist almost vanished by the sun.

Roráte caéli désuper,et núbes plúant jústum.

Mass in honour of Virgin Mary, Mother of our Saviour, during Advent. It is celebrated during sunrise. When the mass ends the sun has risen, symbolising the dawn of salvation, the birth of Jesus Christ.

“Drop down, ye heavens, from above,and let the skies pour down righteousness.”

Ne irascáris Dómine,
ne ultra memíneris iniquitátis:
ecce cívitas Sáncti fácta est desérta:
Síon desérta fácta est, Jerúsalem desoláta est:
dómus sanctificatiónis túæ et glóriæ túæ,
ubi laudavérunt te pátres nóstri.

Peccávimus, et fácti súmus tamquam immúndus nos,
et cecídimus quasi fólium univérsi:
et iniquitátes nóstræ quasi véntus abstulérunt nos:
abscondísti faciem túam a nóbis,
et allisísti nos in mánu iniquitátis nóstræ.

Víde Dómine afflictiónem pópuli túi,
et mítte quem missúrus es:
emítte Agnum dominatórem térræ,
de Pétra desérti ad móntem fíliæ Síon:
ut áuferat ípse júgum captivitátis nóstræ.

Vos testes mei, dicit Dóminus,
et servus meus quem elégi;
ut sciátis, et credátis mihi:
ego sum, ego sum Dóminus, et non est absque me salvátor:
et non est qui de manu mea éruat.

Consolámini, consolámini, pópule méus:
cito véniet sálus túa:
quare mæróre consúmeris,
quia innovávit te dólor?
Salvábo te, nóli timére,
égo enim sum Dóminus Déus túus,
Sánctus Israël, Redémptor túus.

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people;
my salvation shall not tarry:
why wilt thou waste away in sadness?
why hath sorrow seized thee?
Fear not, for I will save thee:
For I am the Lord thy God,
the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer.

Alma Redemptoris Mater, quae pervia caeli porta manes, et stella maris, succurre cadenti,surgere qui curat, populo: tu quae genuisti, natura mirante, tuum sanctum Genitorem,Virgo prius ac posterius, Gabrielis ab ore sumens illud Ave, peccatorum miserere.

Something in the air

We took a rest, the two of us. Suddenly Toby sensed something in the air. I just wonder what it was that he caught with his sensistive nose and what he thought. In these instances I realise that we are almost in two worlds, the world of the eye and the world of the nose. But even so,we share the joy of being there together.

To the Mountains

Wonder and silence are both I think dependent on each other. Autumn up here is devoid of many of the sounds which are typical in the area which I live. Only birds low twittering is heard and your own steps in the sprigs and bush weed. The slow pace enables you to slowly take in the beauty and to let it settle in your mind along with a sort of euphoria of the beauty.

Into the silence

There is something special about leaving a slient life for a while and enter into a greater silence as a vacation. Perhaps it tells that the life you have chosen, or det place you have chosen, is the right one. The destination this year was Funäsfjällen, some 8 hours farther up north. Nature offered us Autumn beauty in the mountains as it is at its peak.

Heading towards the mountains

To see the mountains in front of you, while still walking among the mountain birches, is hard to describe, breathing very fresh air for soul and mind.

Morning gold

There is a proverb in Swedish that goes “morgon stund har guld i mund”. In English it means, the morning carries gold in its hand. I love this expression using the old Swedish word for hand, mundr.

And it is true, especially in summer, the mornings are golden, the air is fresh, the soft silence gives room for the sounds of the forest. There we are Toby and I in midst of it all.

In the sun

It is always lovely to take a long evening walk after rain. The damp air made the sun beams visible. Toby found himself in the light, apparently very interested in something, but all of a sudden he was off again down in the ditch. I love these short moments of beauty which leaves a mark in my soul for a long time.

A walk across the pasture

I walked across the pasture and found the young animals on the hill where a young boy once had a dream of building his own house. A dream unfulfilled. A field still with grass and flowers, witnessing of solitude.

Forest violet

I love the colour of this violet. It is so small that it’s easy to just pass it. But it makes such a beautiful contrast to the white flowers in the forest, so when I encounter with this violet, I stop for a moment to look at it in all its freshness.