Sailing summer in Sweden (Sandhamn) 1955

I found this little gem in the archives of Sveriges Radio today about the sailing summer in Sweden in1955. Including the start of Gotland Runt (the Baltic Race) from Visby ending up in Sandhamn. If you like a bit of sailing- and Sandhamn nostalgica along with the beautifully shaped sailing boats of those days, this film is surely worth a minute or two! (Speaker in Swedish only) And yes! I was there, in Sandhamn too. Too young to sail anything though..

Preparations for winter..

 A new air/water pump is installed that will keep me warm..

(Top) Pears in dark rum and chantarells.

My basement some days ago: The installation of the pump by jolly craftsmen..

 The joy of a hot radiator!

Time to read feel-good-books like Sara Midda´s "In and out of the garden"..

..or get into the cosy slippers.. 

(Watercolors from her "Sketchbookfrom Southern France")

Or to sneak up on a cosy warm windowsill an look at the clear autumn night sky..
(Ilon Wikland painting)

Happy birthday Lina!

 My daughter Lina is celebrating her first birthday as a married woman today and I and everybody around her is wishing her all the best and many happy returns of a wonderful 18th of October!

Now one year old..

Thalia is growing up..

 

Today I (the proud grandmother) received these updated photos of darling Thalia from Washington! No one can blame me for immediately starting looking at the travel agency ads on how to get there as soon as possible!
I miss her so!

Time for Privet planting..

With Swedish as my mother tongue I wonder about the English word "Privet" for the hedge plant we call "liguster"  (Ligustrum Vulgare) over here. Does it have to do with Privacy??

Anyway, a few days ago it was high time to plant this  Privet hedge as a first step in trying to create a room within my rather exposed garden. I am a complete novice at this (having only had a garden at Sandhamn before - the island known for all its fine sand and pine trees!!) so my long time friend Paivi came over from the mainland to help me out.

 

Here she is working and digging
and it all looks very professional!

This is the view from my bedroom during the planting process. From here you can clearly see the need to create a secluded room within my garden!! This is a great first step!

In the process, I tried to get as much information as possible from the Privet knowledge bank on the internet and found -Inspirera - a great gardening blog  (unfortunately in Swedish only) but with a number of inspirational photos on how to make all kinds of developments in your garden! The picture above is from that blog. These are planted by a professional gardener, the blog says. Mine is not far off, however!
Happiness is a good friend with a number of skills!

The first frost..

..tumbled quite unceremonially upon us last night..

..and it is nice to sneek into a varm bistro like we did on Friday, by the roaring sea for a warming fish soup and a creme brulee..

This  bistro with its spectacular view is situated close to Visby at Snäckgärdsbaden  and open Friday-Sundays during off season..

Interior decorations to enjoy ..

A neighbour of mine! And the father of my sisters sheep, Signe and Hildur.
A handsome guy he is and a real Gutelamm! Not Gotlandslamm! The Gute breed is the original stock on the island and has a great personality they say..

The lady up front is a Gotlandlamm. (Lamm on Swedish/Gotlandish is of course "sheep")

Following a lovely lunch with friends in Ireviken today, I was driving back home though a landscape of mist and watched the coulors of  Nature changing by the hour. The trees are taking on the sparkling colors of a Scandinavian autumn.. Will we have another frosty night tonight?

Sardinia in October..

 My long time friend Helmut keeps sending me great pictures from his island, Sardinia, where he has been living for many years. I have never been to Sardinia, so it is with great enjoyment I find his beautiful photos from his island in the Mediterrainean. We keep a island photo swapping relationship!
(Not island hopping, so far..)

 

Helmut and I met in 1960 in Landshut, Bavaria, Germany, where I was studying German for the summer. I got to know his warm, big family and subsequently returned for X-mas to celebrate a real Bavarian X-mas with his family travelling through the snowy, pineclad Black Forest.

 

 Helmut and friends from Landshut later came to visit me at Sandhamn the following summer..and then we lost track for so many years..

 

Until we found each other on the web again!
These are some of the photos he sent recently from his Sardinia.

And this is a photo he took of me in Germany in those days and recently mailed to Sweden..

And this is Helmut in the Landshut days when we used to listen to his great records in his cosy crash pad..It is truly great to be in touch again thanks to the i-net! And please Helmut, keep you great pics from Sardinia coming! One day I might even do some island hopping and go to see you and your great island in the great, green Med!

 

 Photos: Helmut Binder, Sardinia

The last bouquet?

The beginning of fall with stormy winds had been upon us the last couple of days.

 On Gotland those winds sweeping over the flat island are especially nasty. Just before it started, I collected probably the last flowers of the garden -or "My Park" as I cheerfully like to call it - tongue-in-cheek.
It is amazing that there are still so many varieties of beautiful flowers around in October! So here I give to you a little bouquet of a Gotland summer still hanging on..

Visby on a sunny afternoon..

 ..in the end of September. The tourist season is over. There is still a feeling of the sun drenched warmth of summer in the cobblestoned, peaceful streets.
The Yellow House Café is a favourite place with a small walled garden with lavendel plants and fig trees, home baked bread and pastries and a warm and cheerful staff.

The garden of the Yellow Café. Madeleine, Heléne och Nena can be spotted at the table in the back munching Gotland pastries.

The sign on this pretty door´mail box reads in Swedish:
"No ads or scrap mail - preferably loveletters only!"

 

 

The famous roses of  Visby are everywhere..

 

  The roses of Visby´s Botanical Gardens are magnificient this time of year.

Young love on a "Monet" bridge in the Botanical gardens

Below: The marvellous "Falu Rödfärg" traditional paint..

Afternoon light and an old house painted in the most common type of exterior paint in Sweden. It is inexpensive, easy to apply, organic and has a great preservative effect! And it is pretty and even smells good of the linseed oil and soft soap mixture..

Decorating with silk flowers..

Today, I was happy to find a basket full of candle-rings of various silk flowers in all shapes and sizes at a flea market in Visby, and paid an astonishing four dollars for the lot!

And I had no idea what to do with them at that point..just had to have them! When I got back home I spread them on the floor pondering upon how to make the best use of them.

  Half an hour later this is where most of them ended up!

 

  How easy wasn´t it to thread them on to an old curtain wire I found at home..
And I assembled them rather tightly as you can se from this close-up.
I know this pretty flowery festoon will please me immensely, especially when the winter storms start whipping the windows in a few months.

 

The remainder of the candle-rings ended up here along the edge of a wrought iron lamp in the kitchen.

Those had of course to be cut open before attachment..
This is an idea I bluntly stole from my sister who has a great arrangement ..

 

..like this in her big country kitchen.