Sweet corn harvested on Gotland. Yummy!
The pretty apple trees of my garden in the late afternoon sun, Saturday.
The grapes are still pretty sour.. :-(
Are there any apples called "Blushing cheeks?" (In case not: I thy hereby christen you, my favourite apples anonymously hidden in the woods in the back of the garden to...)
She turns 3 years today, my grandchild Thalia! Have a great party in DC ,in your new day care school and at home! Hip hip hurray!
Shrimps so temptingly presented, boiled on one side of the wooden serving box and smoked on the other.
Starting off at Katthammarsvik with shrimps at their Smokehouse was an excellent launching point for the day.
Beautiful Gotland glass and with a view of the Baltic.
Gotland designs and the famous sheepskins of the island in the back.
Great designs!
The only real manor house in Gotland is to be found here in Katthammarsvik.
Annexes for rent.
Time for a walk in the woods and a peak at the various birds at Storsund.
The bird watching tower.
A visit to Ilses toy store in Kräklingbo is a must.
Ilse to the right. She stocks a lot a quality toys from Germany - mainly made of wood. Not much plastic here! She made a lovely package for me to send to Washington where someone is turning 3 years tomorrow!
Yesterday, on the hottest day of this summer - with a cloudless sky and some 25 degrees C - I set out in a small ferry onto the heaving sea to visit an island I had never been to before.
This little limestone island that rises from the sea like a rock in a storybook, is situated 30 minutes boat ride some 6 km west of Gotland. 
The island where I was going is a nature reserve, after Yellowstone National Park the oldest established protected nature area in the world.
Gotland, Sweden with the two islands: Stora and Lilla Karlsö
This fossil rich limestone island rising majestetically out of the sea is mostly known for its rich birdlife and flora.
En route, we had to pass the smaller sister island, Lilla (Minor) Karlsö, which can be spotted here through the spray made by the speeding the ferry.
Little Karlsö with its steep rocky slopes.
Norderhamn (The Northern harbor) of Stora (Major) Karlsö with its small museum and a resturant and café, is a fairly sheltered port with a jetty.
The pink marble of Karlsö.
Deep caves were used for storage in the old ages. Needless to say, many interesting findings..
..has been dug up here by archeologists through the years.
A cave with a view
..and the smells of a Greek island in summertime..
The island is mostly known for its rich birdlife, however. It has large colonies of Common Guillemot - the penguines of the North - (about 7500 breeding pairs).
(Above:Wikipedia photo)
Here at the small museum you can get an idea of the mighty performance every year when the Guillemot chicks after hatching are beaconed by their fathers at sea to jump off the steep cliffs and land on the rocks 100´s of meters below (they bounce on their fat bellies and are presumably not hurt)
An impressive King´s eagle hanging from the museum ceiling with a nameplate between his claws: "May I introduce myself..!"
The Stora Karlsö lighthouse. The rooms here can be rented per night and is supposed to be a great stay - if its lady-teacher ghost lets you rest quietly, that is!
The smells, the humid spray from the sea, the wild thyme, well it all reminded me so
Limestone pebbles and fossils form a long beach. I couldn´t resist a dip in the clear water after a couple of hot hours guided walk across the island. Nice!
The farewell committee acting up like an Hindu godess (Shiva?) waiving!
The 9.00am-3pm trip is about 300 Swedish crowns. (48 US dollars) The guided tour included.
Today I made an extensive excursion to the eastern coast of Gotland (Östergarnslandet) and en route made a brief stop at the pretty parish church at Bäl. Luckily the church was open and I got a chance to view its many fresks recently unveiled, renovated and conserved. During the Enlightment era however, it was commonplace to try to cover and white wash the many old 1300-century fresks in churches to emphasize the theological purity of the places of worship.
Well, it is not difficult to realize why!
Tuttivillius is sitting by the church entrance forever taking stock of people gossiping in church!
Here, some devilish gossiper has his tongue painfully pulled to the degree that he is involuntarily relieving himself! This poor fellow must really have been quite some blabbermouth!
( Painting by Johan Bartsch 1664.)
A tuttivillius function was to collect in his sack any words omitted or stumbled over by a careless clerk, as well as to record the words of any who joked or gossiped in church.)
..the earthquake yesterday - 5.8 o in the Richter scale. People leaving buildings on Pennsylvania avenue - shaken but not stirred.
The spires of Washington National Cathedral snapped and broke in the quake. Thanks God no one was hurt or injured yesterday - according to preliminary reports..
