Blackberries and dewberries..

..are ripening en masse in the woods. Or brambles as I think the blackberries are also called. In Gotland , you will also find "Salmbär" (in the local lingo) or Dewberries (Rubus sect. Eubatus) that are a group of species closely related to the blackberries. They are small brambles with berries reminiscent of the rasberry but are usually purple to black instead of red.

Salmbär jam is served with the famous Gotland saffron pancake..

So now I have a big pot on the stove and their gorgeous smell fills the house..
The saffron pancake is a fuller variation of pancake made of a porridge on rice, cinnamon, saffron, almonds. What you do is to mix the cinnamon, saffron, with sugar with whole cream , beat the eggs and then mix with the main part of the chopped almonds into the rice porridge, add the rest of the almonds on top and then bake it in the oven at 225C for about 30 minutes.
Serve with whipped cream and jam.
 
2 dl almonds

0.10 g saffron (2 packages)

3 tablespoons sugar
halv a teaspoon vanilla 

1,5 dl whole cream
3 eggs
1 liter of rice porridge

butter for the baking dish

Yummy - particularly now when the days here are getting cooler and crisper..

Getting to know thy neighbours..

 

Today I was cordially invited to the Lummelunda parish sewing circle. I have never, I mean never, attended a sewing circle in my whole life. All kinds of circles, yes, but no way near any with needles and yarn..

 

This was a great opportunity however, I figured, to get to know a bit of your community. These great ladies informed me - tongue in cheek - that the average age in the circle was about 82 years. (Made me feel so young!) I felt quite welcome in this jolly circle in spite of the fact that I hade informed them that I would never ever do any embroidery or sewing efforts whatsoever. I promised however, to do other kinds of charity work like to collect for the maintenance of our pretty church..

..and to help in raising funds for poor people in the Baltic state of Lettland. (One of our neighbouring countries in the Baltic deep in economic crises after the falling of the global financial markets..)

Pretty things they did these ladies..

 

Our parish vicar, Timo Viinikka, in a stylish golden west, paid a visit and helped himself to a piece of the yummy sandwich cake and talked about the forthcoming church auction.

"The porridge makers" ..
Well in time for Christmas - a typical Swedish theme in this piece of hanging tapestry..

A cross-stiched hedgehog - an animal quite common in Gotland. Not the cross-stiched type though.

Gunnel,  who grew up on the farm where I now live and has become a good friend of mine, is admiring a great piece of traditional embroidery on linen.

It was great to get to know these jolly ladies -  many of whom turned out to be related- with such a deep knowledge about their home district to share and I - the newcomer in the community - had a marvellous time - needles or no needles!

Autumn light..

 

 ..dramatic cloud formations on Tuesday forecasted thunder that never came..

  

 The September light changes by the day and the shadows are getting longer..

  

I am trying to collect the all the apples..

  

I pick the lovely phlox every day and put them indoors - their smell is heavy and heavenly..

And I sampled one of the pears today. They are ripening quickly now but stilla bit hard to bite..

 

The late afternoon light in the garden from my living room. It´s been a window cleaning day today - a warm summerday in mid-September in Gotland with that special light that carries the melancholic premonition of fall..

Ideas ..

I am dying to get my workshop in order so I can start painting again after all renovation work with the old house.

This morning a started to sketch some ideas for paintings on the computer. I can´t help it but I am hopelessly in love with putting texts on my paintings. This one is "Out of focus" - maybe quite symptomatic..

Stumbled upon a hilarious old clipping yesterday..

..from my time working as an journalist trainee at the Swedish daily "Svenska Dagbladet" from where I was sent to interview the tallest men in Europe who were forming "The King Size Club".

They placed me - at 167 cm - as a kind of "compare the matchbox" - in the center   surrounded by Ivar from Sundsvall who at 217 cm was Sweden´s tallest man and Erhardt from Germany at 238 cm.

Saturday at the fair..

Yesterday we spent at the Kräklingbo Country Fair in eastern Gotland.

It was a great sunny late summerday and it was crowded with island folks, animals and all kinds of Gotland goodies produced in the island. My sister fell instantly in love with this handsome bull and simply had to try to ride it ..

Old fashioned goodies spark memories of childhood..

An honest answer from the honey man who is consulted on beehiving behaviour..

Fair traders..

Sweet chicks..

Sweet kids..

The Gotland flag..

Visitors chatting..

More market goodies..

Handknitted socks..but the day was hot and commerce for wollens was not quite..

Miss Piggy puffing away..

..and the fascination of bright balloons..

Freshly printed T-shirts for sale..

Frilled nylon frocks..

..and at this point we had had enough of fair life and buzzle and headed promptly for the serenity by the neighbouring sea..

The beauty of a fishingboat at Herrvik, eastern Gotland just before the rain and the end of a day at a genuine country fair in Sweden.

Out of the framework..

These are some "little people" I put on my walls sometime ago. I glued my handmade dolls on to some canvasses I had prepared earlier. One just have to take a break from all the heavy restoration work on the house once in awhile and create a little something "falling totally outside the framework.."

Today we solemnly contemplate..

..the 8 years that have passed since the 9/11 attack on World Trade Centre in New York.
The attack and single event that more than anything in modern times for ever changed the course of history in the world. The event that eventually led to the wars in Irak and Afganistan..the Guantanamo..unbelievable scars in the minds of survivors, families, friends, firemen, hospital staff..
Perhaps the attack and its unprecedented impact also have contributed to tighten the world´s consciousness of the importance of keeping and increasing the levels of democracy. 

Today, on Swedish newscasts -all channels- people are recollecting where they were and what they were doing exactly the moment when they heard of the planes crasing into the twin towers. You will remember this very moment all your life as the older generation remembers what they did when they heard about the killing of Kennedy in Dallas, or how my great granddad probably remembered the two bullets fired on a Sarajevo
street on a sunny June morning in 1914 set in motion a series of events that shaped the world we live in today. World War One, World War Two, the Cold War and its conclusion all trace their origins to the gunshots that interrupted that summer day.

Today, 8 years after 9/11 is a day for reflections.

The beaches..

"Going back to Sweden!"  as the Gotlanders have it when the tourists leave for the mainland after the summer season. They don´t consider themselves very "Swedish", these people of Gotland. "Sweden" is way back there on the mainland..

Gotland has its own flag and most certainly - its people a great and distinct dialect sometimes hard to follow. Click to listen.
So by now, when the vacationers have left for Sweden, the beaches are recovering in their splendid prefall solitude.

The water is still warm, clear and breathtakingly beautiful.

The sea mussels are collecting on the beaches- non edible in the Baltic - unfortunately..

Small clams sheltering in the rippled sand are slowly rocked by the gentle waves..
A link on some of Gotland´s very interesting history, if you care..

Late summer..

..and the grapes of Gotland are turning deep blue. Gotland is one of the few provinces in Sweden with a climate -and soil- suitable for growing grapes. These I photographed today in my sister´s garden. The grapes in my garden are not quite so matured yet- it probably has to to something with my sisters boosting her vines with nourishing horse manure..