Bargains for the farm..

My new white sofa (containing two guest beds) arrived yesterday! It was bought here on Gotland at Farbror Fynd (Uncle Bargain) for a very fair price and delivered right into my livingroom. I invited Farbror Fynd and his assistant for a cup of coffee afterwards. The couch was gooddamn heavy! I really had to show them how very pleased I was. When they left I tried the sofa and fell instantly asleep! A good sign on its comfort, indeed! I look forward to a lot of interaction between the sofa and me for many years to come! Zzzzz..

My other bargain I picked up at the "Red Cross friendly second hand store" Kupan, in Visby - a kitchen table and four chairs. Rather ugly most people obviously thought so nobody was interested in buying it. But I did! Sturdy chairs they were and an extra bord for inserting in the table which will enable 8 people to sit around it , was also included. I payed 400 Sw crs (ca 60 dollars) for the set. And a checked table cloth (last picture below) was 30 crs (4 dollars) ..

I had some good material to give the seats a total makeover. This is easy and fun and a rewardingly quick
styling change..

Now, here is my kitchen furniture! Not so bad for a very small amount. It is quite a challenge to go flee marketing! The sky is the limit! Cheers for now -I am off for the sofa with a huge colorful book on home stying by Tricia Guild and a great cup of a lovely Gotland tea called "Kränku." (You can buy your own Gotland-tea here on the web)

If you do love Paris..

..and have not yet seen this wonderful film from 1965 - take some time and watch it! I assure you - it will make your day..I was inspired by Camilla´s blog . See links below. She too, was inspired by the Palm d´Or winning film (in Cannes 1965) and made one of her great naivistic collages on the theme.
By the way, this morning I was slightly embarrassed to find that Feedjit listed my blog "Tankar från routern" with the number 8 in their Geoblogsphere in popularity of the Stockholm blogs Must be some kind of a great mistake!
And now let´s enjoy this little poetic story with some links we can trace to our Swedish beloved author Astrid Lindgren. This little boy in the film might well be a French little Mio min Mio..

Le Ballon rouge by Albert Lamorisse 1965

Another gray day..

..and I hear myself groaning like Lurch while drawing the curtains this bleak January morning..
Enough of this now!

I want eternal sunshine on my spotless mind!

Remembering June in January..

Early Sunday morning I took a walk with my camera. There were almost no colors. Not really cold - but misty..
Almost no sounds.

..and I was counting the months to summer. February. Probably some more drifting snow and ice. March. Days are getting longer and the "light hungry" Swedes are rejoycing. April. The first signs of the early brave spring flowers show their little heads in the flowerbeds. May. Yess! Now we are talking! And June! Finally! The abundance of apple blossom and orchids! How we all long for summer in this northern part of the world! This photo is from June last year with the meadow in full bloom next to my house ..According to a sign posted right by my gate, the famous Swedish botanist Carl von Linné, the Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature, walked this very meadow to collect some of his many plants far back in the 1750s. Linné is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology.

Cameras and carrots..

Today, I unpacked some of my old cameras I bought in Zimbabwe in 1982 - an era when a number of the white inhabitants fled the country in fear of the new black regime of Mugabe´s. (Sic!) They took off in for England, South Africa and Australia in a hurry and left their farms and many belongings they were not able to bring, behind. For the few people who moved down there in the beginning of the 80´s, like I did, and who believed in the new "liberation" of Zimbabwe, it was a great opportunity to acquire a number of beautiful antiquities left behind for sale by the fleeing farmers of British decent. I bought a whole box of old cameras brought to the country during Rhodesian times. In unpacking thoose old rarities, quite some memories return of the four years I spent in Zimbabwe when there still was great hope for this beautiful, rich - now suffering country..
I sometimes wonder what kind of pictures these cameras once took..

From cameras to carrots. (Sounds like a title of a novel or a film.. Cameras, carrots and cappucchino?) Today I bought this heavy bag of carrots for some 5 dollars (30 Sw crs). It will last for ayear! I happened to accompany my brother-in-law to a farm to buy 8 carrot bags for his and my sister´s many horses. And I was happy to "bag" one for myself and hurried home to my fruit juicer and mixed a healthy Friday drink! If you spot me around in a few weeks time sporting a slightly orange complexion - here you have the naked answer!

Obama och den stakande eden..

Fick detta mail från Washington idag från Malcolm på plats vid presidentinstallationen på the Mall appropås Obamas stakande när han svor eden inför nästan hela världen. Det berodde inte på hans nervositet som många först trodde:

Skriver Malcolm:
'"Apropå eden: Det var Judge Roberts som stakade sig, och Obama pausade en stund och spekulationen här är att han övervägde att rätta Roberts, eller att repetera hans felaktiga ordföljd (Eden börjar med att HDs ordförande säger "Repeat after me", vilket man ju då kanske bör göra även om det står annorlunda ordföljd i författningen.) Roberts bad senare på eftermiddan tydligen Obama om ursäkt--det var även Roberts första presidentvalsceremoni, så han var säkert störtnervös.."

A mobile library..

At Gotland, we are priviledged to have a good library. A library that moves right up to your doorstep - the "bokbuss" which beats a tattoo worthy "From here to eternity" upon its arrival at the farms. Here you can order anything on earth and wait - with somewhat of an island patience - for a month and have whatever you wanted some weeks ago, delivered.

So today, I am loaded with literature on painting, gardening, interior decoration ideas, restoring old furniture and alike.. Sis´ -in white here in the back - young Dalmatian dog Polly was eagerly lookin for books on "How to bury a bone correctly" and "How to sniff out the island´s exquisite truffles" and "The best way to keep your dots sparklingly shiny and pretty" and alike..

So I´ll bury my nose in books for a while and leave the restoration of the house for some days.
One can always enjoy a break and recharge the batteries for a bit, can´t one?
(Nena and the helpful librarian above)

It took two full weeks..

..for me to renovate my future little cosy bedroom on the loft of the house. This time I did most of the work myself (and was hit with some neck pain I can tell you!) The worst part was to get the tarnished celing in order! (See last pic below). I found two high class beds on sale. Everything here is on sale for the moment - people have no money left and if you are lucky to still have some pennies in your pocket, you can make bargains! I did, with these comfy beds! The night tables I bought on the internet, secondhand. The wallpapers are faded sand as is the celing paintwork.

Curtains, bedspread, chair and table etc are from my former home and fitted in quite well in this little cosy parlour!

This is what the room looked like before I bought the house! Please note the celing! I am never ever going through this again! My head and neck are still aching after full three days turned in an angel not meant for anyone! But I am happy and quite satisfied at the result and am presently purring like a cat!

"Dålig dag" säljes på The Best of Blocket. :-)

Flower time..

Yesterday it was high time for adding some flowers to my new living room..
In spite of the fact that Gotland now had turned quite green again after the snow melted and went away to leave the fields quite greenish again one longs for signs of spring..I went with my sister to Linds´ greenhouse outside Visby to look for geraniums - trying to find the loveley "Mårbacka pelargoner" - which we did - and bought all of them! This is a beloved kind of geraniums which the Swedish authour of "Nils Holgersson" , Selma Lagerlöf, made famous through using an abundance of these pale pink flowers in her mansion at Mårbacka.
I found an old rusty chandelier in one of my moving crates and attached it to the celing above the dining table.
I lit the candles and sat back for a moment and enjoyed the light of the new living room at dusk taking in the subtle smells of the flowers.
Then, switching on my computer, I found this old photo of Rune, the former owner of my house, sitting in the very same living room as you see above. Another time, another person, and a different room ecoing the 70´s. I walk around in his former house taking in heaps of his "heritage" everyday. Small and big things of his that he added to the house. Handcrafted and still very useful to me.( Apart from the row of hooks in the cellar on which he used to hang the rabbits or deer he used to shoot - I am not going to use them for sure!) I sincerely hope that he approves of my alterations - made with a "loving hand" - up there in heaven where he now is. I feel his gentle presence everyday in this house that is now gradually turning into mine..
"And so it goes" as Kurt Vonnegut used to write. On and on, generations after generations. And the old house will probably still be there for a long, long time to come, with all of its history buried deeply into its walls..

Getting there..

Yesterday, Palle finished my livingroom. He painted the celing and skillfully mounted my favourite wallpaper from Duro - the same kind I have in the Sandhamn house. Now it really starts to feel like my house with my personal imprint. I found some old linen curtains in my moving crates and got the curtain rods up this morning. The room grow lighter and larger and the stripes of the wallpaper actually rendered the living room some hight..
(In the back is a painting I made called: "On top of things.." - Yes,that´s a good illustration on how I feel in this surroundings!)

I moved in some temporary furniture for the moment and realised quickly that I have to be careful not to overdo and cram the relatively small room with too many or too large pieces of furniture..But now I have to settle for which sofas to buy..hmmm, difficult..

The international press..

..is kept away from Gaza. (Except from the so called "embedded" journalists who are allowed to travel with the Israeli troups and will thus deliver subejective reporting). However, there are still the blogs - the internet bloggers inside the Gaza strip who are making their angry and desparing voices heard to the outside world.

Eye witness - Oxfam Advocate blogs from inside Gaza:
"At least if I die, I will die with a little hope..This morning I heard people chanting outside, I wondered what it was, and then, the lights came on – the electricity had come back on, hurrah! I immediately turned on the television, charged my phone, checked emails. For a moment, I felt somewhat liberated. These things that we often take for granted have become so precious of late.. " More..

Thalia goes shopping..

..and the guys can´t take their eyes off her..In a few weeks I will be able to hold her too. My little grandchild is now 4,5 months old. Time runs quickly.. I am soon off for Washington once more. Just can´t stay away..
Would you?

Smile..

A grey a rainy January Tuesday in Sweden. Brr. BRRRRR! Moods are low all around and we long for spring. My daughter Lina sent me this smiling cat. I put on a great cup of coffee brought all the way from Nicaragua by my friend Eva and mused at this kitten and felt a lot better! I can´t share the coffee with you all but I can share this lovely smile to compensate for the lack of sunshine and decent daylight in the Swedish winter! Thank you Lina! And have a great day!

Embarking on the restoration..

..of the old house I am now too busy to even open my computer. Or to blog, for that matter.. I fall asleep in front of the telly by the 8 o´clock news, totally exausted. What have I done? Buying this loveley but quite rundown house?
This (photo above ) is what the future upstairs bedroom looked like before I bought this house ( which was built in various stages starting 1880..) I plan to make this room my future upstairs bedroom..
(My sister is critically observing above..)

It took three days - and a severe neck pain - to restore the run down celing and to paint it in mild sand color. Meanwhile the entire oldfashioned eletricity system of the house got an enitre makeover. Not by me though..

Here, however, I am putting up the wallpapers myself with a little help from my friends. And me, who have sworn never to expose me to this wallpaper glueing hassle to myself ever again! The wallpaper - also in mild sand color - twist and stick and bubble..And I hate it!
So for tomorrow I have booked a professional painter to do my livingroom - celing AND walls. Phuii.. Relief. But at a cost however..I will show results as we go along..

This is the livingroom with its old medallion green/brownish wallpapers (from the -70´ies?) as it looks today. Tomorrow we will see some changes here! I am so exited! Good night for now!

Six Gotland pictures in the New Year

The first snow - and my new house with some of the barns to the left..

The New Year´s moon

The small fishing port of Nyhamn on the 1:st of January

And the first snow fell - view from the kitchen window

The boats in Nyhamn on a windy day..

The snow clad garden looks quite beautiful from the living room window..