Early morning

A beautiful early morning. It isn’t often I manage to rise with the sun in summer, but this time I was close. On my way to the cows, the sun greeted me in such a splendour that it struck me with awe.

Treasures of the forest

The time for berries is here again. It is always with some suspense I walk the first time of the year to the old bog forest of the blueberries. With my backpack stuffed with boxes and my berry picker, I hope I will see a lot of berries, but you never know until you start picking the berries.

This year it was an abundance of berries. It is a lovely place, silence apart from the wind in the pines and small chattering of the birds. I can stay there for hours, not noticing how the time passses.

Toby settles very easily, resting among the blueberry sprigs.

But he guards att the same time, keeping an eye on the surroundings to warn me if anyone is approaching, It has almost never happened that anoyone has come when I have been there.

This year the wild raspberries are also having a lot of berries. It is a true gift to just be able to walk one or two kilometres and pick as many berries you can. Joy of the countryside

On a visit

On midsummer eve we, my parents, my sister, and the dogs, visted my older sister and her family’s place about three hours away in the area called the Kingdom of Crystal. It is an area known for its many glass factories, which had their peak in the end of the 19th century.

My sister lives close to an old water mill which has turned into a sort of museum. It is a lovely little place with adjacent old buildings dense with history and stories.

Since I take Toby with me when I go on visits, I am always excused to leave now and then on small walks. I found a beautiful path around the mill pond.

To take an evening walk on midsummer eve has its special atmosphere. This night was light and soft. Since we walked along the pond, the air had a faint fragrance of gale.

Country roads

One of the best aspects of summer is to be able to go by bike, to run or to walk to the different pastures where our cows are grazing.

I often go partly through the forest and partly by road. It is lovely to follow the road and watch the butterflies in the flowers.

On one occasion a butterfly decided to rest on my hand, a beautiful moment.

Picnic

Isn’t it one of the most loveliest things to do, to go out on a picnic in the green, under the trees, among the flowers, listening to the birds?

To just pic a basket, pack some cinnamon buns, prepare some lemonade and be on your way.

A privilege of spring and summer…

Noticing the beauty in the small things from busy ants, to tree roots covered with wood anemones, the rustle of the dead leaves, the peculiar call of the woodpecker, the trees solemnity. Individually and as a whole, they render the gift of awe.

Apple blossom

A garden must have apple trees to have the right atmosphere of Spring, I think. White with a tint of pink, apple flowers makes you completely surrounded by beauty, not only on the ground but also in the air.

I just passed the lake..

On my way to catch the horses which had found a much better field to graze in than their winter paddock, I passed the lake. Just a simple moment of beauty, the little house, the sky and the relection of the bushes and the clouds on the surface. A lack of time to contemplate, simply to receive, be grateful and to continue… Farmlife.

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.