Yesterday´s summer photos in golden frames..

Homo Insulani, indeed!

Summer footage!
Barbeque and wine - an evening at Lökholmen..

- an island with a sheltered harbour some 5 minutes from Sandhamn, with all facilities for every sailor. And of course, nice, cosy resturant,too.

Sailor´s footage!
Now, being a full time island dweller (Gotland and Sandhamn), I have now been categorized a true Homo Insulensis! Isn´t that just great!!!

Every year, I have a wonderful accumulation of black birds in my archipelago garden!
The nest is always built on the same secure spot by one of the guest houses. I feed the busy mother fruit occationally and there is always fresh water for her so she does not have to fly very far from her sleepy brood! This year, I found five chicks in her nest. Their older brothers and sisters from passed clutches are serenading me through the summer days. The black bird seems to be quite stationary I am happy to discover..

And so it goes..

A happy Grandad Dag bonding with little" princess-of-no-name yet".
She looks quite like a little doll and she is soon due here on the island to see her Grandma and to enjoy the healthy air and environment of the Stockholm archipelago.
She will now be the 5th generation of the family on this island!
Maybe, in a year or so, she will take her first steps on Sandhamn -just like her Grandma did many years ago!
"And so it goes," as Kurt Vonnegut states in his beloved novel "Slaughterhouse-Five".
So it goes -on and on- generation after generation..

"Sommar" is Summer in Swedish!

Days are hot - a heat wave is hitting Sweden for the moment and temperatures soar to above 30 C! Quite unusual for this northern country. Needless to say, the beaches on the island are now over crowded! However, a stony beach near my house ( from where I have been plunging into the sea ever since I was a child) does not attract the day tourists and are often void of all the fuzz and buzz of the white, silky white-sand beaches ( of which the island is famous !) not far from here.
So there is where we spend the hot days of summer bobbing and frolicking around in the waves. The stones are soft and warm and I found a pretty one and brought home.
One one side I texted with my permanent marker: " Oh, please, turn me over.."
On the other side: "Phjew, that was nice!" :-)
This photo was taken by my friend and neighbour Anita Strömberg with her mobile camera.
I think her picture has it all..

A few days have passed..

..and she is growing..
(Photo: Dag Ehrenpreis)

Welcome, little Princess of Saba!

Yesterday she arrived, the little princess of Saba! (Here 4 hours old) After 36 hours of hard labour she entered the world on the 7/7 - a beautiful summer´s day!
Happy parents Lina - my daughter - and her Pontus are all well. Pontus and Lina met when they were babies in Tanzania long time ago (when their parents lived and worked in Africa) - and bonded! In Kiswahili, the 7/7 is called the Saba-Saba day. (Saba is seven in Swahilii) That´s why she is now given this "working" name. For the time being!
We all wish her welcome to this world and are dying to meet her! I am heading for Stockholm now - you bet!

Beautiful days in the archipelago

Midsummer Day at Brandskär far out in the archipelago..

Midsummer- Sandhamn..

The boat that took us from the mainland to the island if Sandhamn the evening before Midsummer! The following morning, we found it had sunk and couldn´t believe what we saw!
There is no explanation on what has been going wrong! I am so glad nothing happened on the way here, at sea!
Midsummer everning at the house of good, old friends at Sandhamn was a great comfort! The house has a wonderful view of the sea and the weather was great! And so was the food - heering, shrimps, eel, smoked whitefish with beer and snaps! And strawberry cake for dessert - or pudding as the English would say!

Summer! The first swim!

Ok. I live in Paradise. And today summer came to Gotland!

Time to climb into the cab and head for the beach!

This is Svarthäll Beach in northern Gotland. Kilometers of white sand and..no people.

My niece Stella is the first one in the COLD water! She frolics and splashes around for quite sometime! Brrrr..

Then my sister joins her..

As for me?OH no -over my dead body! Too cold! I pretend cowardly be very busy watching the beautiful scenery of this lovely island!
Tomorrow I am off heading for Midsummer celebrations on the smaller island of Sandhamn in the Stockholm archipelago..Maybe there, I will dip a toe in or so. Anyway the rumors are that the turbot is on in the Baltic. I will for sure go fishing instead. At least some encounter with this element!

After all, it was not sooo long ago the Baltic looked like this!! Ha!