Her very first birthday as a mother. We all wish her a wonderful birthday and new year with her little baby, Isabella! Hip, hip hurray!
.. who is the master of this lavish mansion?
No, no. It is not the Versailles!
No European Royal palace. At all.
Or an oil baron´s palace in Dubai.
No. Wrong again. Not a Hollywood set for a soap show on "From Rags to Riches"..
The Vinter Palace in St Petersburg? It definitely has a Tzarescan tuch!
The bath of the Maharadja of Jaipur?
The cosy TV-room of the King of Brunei?
No. No. Another continent. Quite unexpectedly.
Neighbours in the same city. Africa. Now you might guess--
I just wonder at what stage megalomania struck Mr. Mugabe, adress: Harare, Zimbabwe?
..is this little apple (pear-potatoes-beetroot-etc) peeler, slicer and core remover that I just had to buy in view of the thousands of apples which are presently covering the garden grounds!
It was invented by a clever Swedish housewife many years ago..
It is called "Auntie Hulda´s Appleslicer" and is a genious of a gadget!
So simple in its construction and so very effective!
The apple core is removed. Easy as apple pie.
Here she is "Auntie Hulda!"
Apple mousse in the making. En masse! I found the more varieties of apples you add to the mash - the tastier it becomes. I often add a bit of lemon juice as well.
Sunny and beautiful autum days are upon us right now.
This was the kitchen in my house in Gotland when I moved in 1,5 years ago.
And tonight I can start cooking in my new kitchen! This part of the kitchen is almost done and made on a shoe string budget with some help from friends! I just love it! And I have a dishwasher! Haven´t had that for ages! So I soil and soil and just waste for the pure pleasure of listening to its´ cosy sounds.. Rinse..clean..dry..yes
Today, I harvested my first walnuts!
I opened my very first one -and it tasted rather bitter, alas! I of course have nil experince of growing walnuts but a wild guess is they need a bit more time. However, fall is upon us and the nigts are getting frightfully cold so I wonder.. Anyway, I will bring a few nuts indoors to see if they will ripen. Feels a bit exotic though the very thought of picking walnuts up here in the far north.
What I didn´t know was that when picking walnuts: the husks should be handled wearing rubber gloves, to avoid dyeing one's fingers, as the dye does not require a mordant! The palms of my hands are now stained darkbrown and will be for along time! I learnt this too late from Wikipedia from where I got the picture above. Thus, walnut husks are often used to create a rich yellow-brown to dark brown dye that is used for dyeing fabric and for other purposes.
I have come to a point I don´t really know what to do with all the plums this year. Today I picked my 10th basket of these lovely purple fruits. It is difficult to see them rot away there on the ground. So, tonight, Friday night, I´ll divide my time between making plum marmelade and watching Swedish Idol and to browse the internet for any recipe on how to handle those voluptous goodies in alternative ways! Any great hints or ideas anyone?
..from Washington needs to be shared on this grey and windy day in Sweden when the trees are shedding their leaves in heaps! My son and granddaughter - she is getting quite and amount of teeth now I can see...
Rute Stenungs Bakery in northern Gotland, exterior installation.
Risung,s one of the largest sheep farms in Gotland. They also run truffle safaries and a Romagnolo Lagotto Kennel. This Sunday a well attended Lagotto Dog Show was held on the farm.
This one came to visit me -before the show -in my garden frolicking with all my apples.
And here is one of the show participants resting in the garden before going off to Risung´s and the show. The Lagottos are famous for their ability of snuffing up truffles - and Gotland has plenty of those. It is called the Black Gold of Gotland!
Some of the pretty Lagotto winners and their British judge.
Eager owners in the huge barn which had been stripped of sheep for the two days of the Dog Show. Here they were also selling truffle related products - likeTruffle Soap, for example !
The country bakery of Rute was closing down for the season this Sunday so we stacked up with their delicious stone baked bread and had a coffee there on our way home.
At Tingstäde träsk I discovered this old boat house on our drive home. In this lake there are a lot of crayfish they say. But they are said to be quite muddy and not very well tasting..
At Risung´s I bought some black truffles..Oh the smell..heavenly!
Fresh corn fromthe fields and the bread and melted butter with ground truffles became Sunday supper!
While this little pretty fellow below was looking on(lured by the strong truffle smell?) from my kitchen wall. He was later carefully brought back into the garden.
These days I feel a bit like Little Red Riding Hood walking about in the garden with a basked to fill with goodies..
Reflections in a window:
Mmm mm...(Photo and recipe from Mimmi´s mat)
However, the days are now focused on plums. Last years crop was scarce but this year! The branches are almost cracking under the burden! I have two kinds - the green ons and some lovely ones with pink cheeks..
This is a plum water color I just love made by Sara Midda.
The Complete book of Self-Sufficiency by John Seymour (ill. above) follows me where ever I go in this world. 
The Swedish version and the English below.
It was given to me when I lived in Zimbabwe by a dear friend. And have I been using it as a garden bible ever since! Seymour has a number of tips on plums among a million of other useful information for the keen gardener: on how to prune, to make marmelade, plum jam, about pollination, and so on..
The guru of self sufficiency.
A great illustration from Seymour´s book on what to do in the garden this time of year.
un
