2010

A new decade soon..

..and I hope we will have plenty of reasons to keep on smiling!
 
And "My Man" a great tune by Billie Holiday for a bit of balance..

Getting a bit weary of Christmas grub..

..we decided to head for Visby last night and the Bolaget Restaurant on the main square of the medival town.

 The Bolaget is as close to a Paris bistro you can get in this part of th world, and it opened three years ago (after a careful renovation) in the old location of a former govermental liquor store on the town´s main square. 

They play French chansons and particularly Piaf! (In the lavatory a soft voice is reading french stories on a loudspeaker!)

 

 Local Gotland specialities are served á la saison..

 

The menu is excellent and prices are fair..

 The atmosphere is cosy and the wine list elaborate..

 

Outside the windows the Santa Carin´s ruin is illuminated at night, emphasizing the medieval ambiance.

 

 The main square at night still retains its Christmas atmosphere..

 

The Bolaget trattoria. 

 
In comparison: Another side of Visby in its wildest summer mood..

Christmas Carol Earsore ..now we crave a Boogie!

A lovely Christmas eve! Swedish style..

I hope your Christmas was a great one too!

The Tomten..And Merry Christmas to you all!

December days encore..

 ..leading up to Christmas Swedish style..(Monday 1 PM)

                         

The birds are taken care of..

Dendrócopos major , the Great Spotted Woodpecker.
(Click for sound)

 

 Old traditional Swedish decorations are brought out and arranged..

 

 These people have all now come down from the attic where they have been patiently waiting for so long.Sweating in their russet outfits and long beards during the hot July and August. Dusted and polished they are now where they should be = in the rustic kitchen of a old Gotland farmhouse. (The farm - my sister´s - now includes 6 horses, two sheep, geese, peacocks, hens and chickens, ducks, cats and two dogs.)

 

One can almost smell the saffron..they are still hot and a bit sticky.. They are made by Mats - my brother-in-law who is an expert baker! (I can almost smell the buns all the way to my home - and quickly I manufacture an "important errand" and off I am to my baking neighbour! I am good at that!) Recipe here.
 
Mats here!
Click for sound


 

White Christmas..

 Yes, we had a lot of snow the last few days in Gotland. The sun came up for a while and created a marvellous scenery..

 

 It is time to hit the forest in search of the prettiest Christmas tree!

 

The snow is almost half a meter deep around the house and the night was the coldest so far this winter - 9.3  C below!

Gotland in December..

 Rain and shine produced a glorious rainbow close to my house the other day..

 

 I went around with the camera to see if there were any flowers left mid-December. There was!

 December patterns and colors.
The forest is damp and muddy and looks like drowned in a  sepia palette.

 

  We light up candles..one for each Advent Sunday leading up to Christmas.

 

  The Church next door is now illuminated. It is appreciated. It is now VERY dark.

 The sunsets are sometimes splendid..

Last night, the snow started to fall..

   Christmas chores are gaining momentum..

 And the little church takes on an air.. of a Christmas picture postcard..

Photo from the same spot six months ago!

Guess who came for dinner? And strange bedfellows..

 

Sunday dinner at Lugnet, my sister and  brother-in-law´s welcoming farm.

Guess who she invited for dinner? Haven´t seen him for almost a year!

The thing was - he was drinking a bit too much where he was sitting at the end of the kitchen table and was not very talkative.

 After dinner, when I was driving the 800 meters to my neighbouring home, the first snow blew in from the west. It was almost a blizzard and at home, I put the car in the sheltering barn.

In going to bed, I was harassed by rats in the attic. They were having a party: "Grand Attic Seasonal (bring a friend) Opening", fixing up a warm shelter for the winter! Sounds just like they are about to make their way into the bedroom! I don´t  dislike rats - smart people they are, closely related to elephants, I have heard - (had a Japanese dancing mouse named Fifi as a child that I was quite fond of ) but maybe not in my house. Be they rats or elephants.

I banged the celing in a dopey "old-lady fashion" and asked them to shut-up! In fact tried to scare/silence them by making some akward: "Meows..meeeoooow" (Mjau, in Swedish) Did not help. I could just figure them laughing behind their paws.. (Rats have paws?? Clawpaws?)

Hmm. At least,I am happy no one saw or heard me!
(..and the tap dancing finally stopped around 2 am!)

(Rat: "Click on me!")
Well, night, night for now. 

Tomorrow I will wake up in the snow.
Ho,ho, ho.

Happy birthday my sweet daughter-in-law!

It is raining cats and dogs..

This one is from The New Yorker!

 

Grey, muddy, rainy and three degrees C above. December weather in Gotland has not exactly given us any reason to purr.
 The little pregnant stray cat we found, however, who is now comfortably..

..settled in my sister´s stable chamber, really has. Warm, and cosy and with nurishing food, Spinett has now gradually learned how to purr again. And she is now getting acquainted with all the big horses in the stable. Soon, I hope, I will be able to publish some pictures of her litter..

Here are Korre and Polly snuggled up in front of the fireplace in my sister´s library. Outside, it is raining cats and dogs! Is there any chance of a White Christmas I wonder?

Today is a day for writing Christmas cards. Here is a hilarious one I recieved the other day. I love these old greeting cards..

..like I used to love the oldfashioned bookmarkers I collected as a child. I still have a few albums full of angels, flower bouquets, noble aristocrats in rococo silk outfits, pretty cats with glitter and flower-studded wagons and absurdly ornated lily white hands, left.

These folksy memorabilia tells us a lot about the colour, attitudes, and dreams of eras long gone !