Join me for Christmas coffee at the Old Shop

Last year I started a Christmas Cyber tradition and I've been looking forward to this day so much! It's so wonderful to meet you all, both old and new blog friends. When we get inside it's a already people there who are talking English and other languages. We understand that it's refugees from Somalia who are visiting the shop with their Swedish language teacher. It's very exciting to be in the there with so many people from different countries. 

We're watching all the things around us while we're moving slowly so we don't hustle anything. There is so much to admire and some of us also find Christmas presents to family and friends.

My husband is also with us this time and he stops at these old toys. 

It's a long time ago since friends used this for their correspondence.  I guess it took weeks for a letter from Sweden to America than and now just a second for mail ....

It isn't easy to find a place where we all can sit so we have to wait a while. But we have so much to talk about while we're standing there together and finally we can sit down in a cozy corner with a sofa. Some of us prefer coffee and others tea together with a sweet cake. 

           
           

As last year the atmosphere is easygoing and hilarious with so many wonderful and interesting peoples. Suddenly I'm sitting there quietly and just listening to all the chat. I look at you and get a very warm feeling inside because I realize that you all means so much to me.

                                            

Back outside I thank you all for joining me, but it's time to say good bye. We hug and wish each other
   Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Christmas tree from the past, or...

The preparations for Christmas in our house are going quite well. We have already decorated our two trees. The little Christmas tree in our basement has only got some special ornaments this year. Nothing with electric, plastic or glittering.  I just had to play and get the photo an older look. 

                                    

                                             

Mr Snowman and the rain

It's been raining today so I guess that the snowman doesn't feel so well as yesterday when my daughter made him. A rainy day when it's summer can be really cozy and nice but NOT when it's winter and the snow melts and everything gets gray and dirty.  But I'm optimistic, I think it will be colder and there will be a tomorrow for Mr Snowman.

The snow wasn't far away

Just a day after I made my last post the snow came, only a thin layer on the ground. But I felt that I had to show you the transformed landscape we suddenly got. My wish about the snow came true! I wonder if I also can make a wish about winning some money..... 

Close or far away

This could be a photo taken in springtime, a late night far out in the woods. But everything isn't always what it seems to be. It isn't spring - it's December. It isn't late night - it's lunchtime. Finally the place isn't far out - it's just one part of the schoolyard where I work. I know that you can't see them but I both saw and heard my pupils far away building a hut of sticks.

I think I was a bit mesmerized of the low light on the trees, the shadows and the children activities. I felt so grateful for the job I have and that it's possible to spend breaks between maths and english lessons out in the nature.

Still no snow here but the house has got some more decorations this weekend so I'll guess there will be Christmas some day, and a visit to the Old shop for Christmas coffee. I really hope that there will be snow that day, but the most important thing is that someone will join.

Have a great week!

The first Advent

It's the first advent today and we lighted the first candle when we had breakfast.  We were visiting my parents and my mother has chosen this kind of candle arrangement this year. If you're not familiar to this tradition I can tell you that we only light the first candle this week and next Sunday we light two of them.  I found an english page on Wikipedia that explains more. I had decided to have a lichen in my  advent candlestick as I wrote before. But there's only a special kind of lichen that will do. I've told you before about my passion for mosses and lichen so I know where I could find it. But usually we have to get it in October or November, before the snow covers it all, which is a problem for a person like me who don't plan everything so well all the time.....  But this year isn't like the others! Now you think that I have transformed to a mature and well planed person. 

But no, I haven't! It's just that we don't have any snow yet, so my oldest daughter and my two nieces climbed this mountain today and found what we were looking for. We also had a wonderful time out in the nature taking many photos....

but it isn't always easy to hold the camera at the same time as you take the shot when you're five. Back  home tonight I went down in our basement and looked for the boxes with all Christmas decorations. Finally I found the red pot and the small fly agarics! We call this lichen "window lichen".  

Have a great week!

The bridge is almost ready

The bridge is almost ready after months of renovation and it has been opened this weekend for walkers, not cars. It was very nice to be able to get to the other side and walk along our "old" round. It was very cold this morning and we saw a family who were skating on the pond close to our house and the river. We also did that when our children were younger but now they do all their skating on artificial ice instead. 

Yes, I was very happy when I walked on the bridge with my hubby today, it was wonderful to get out after a lot of cleaning and fixing in the house this weekend. I would love to have some more hours on Sundays.... But I'll guess that there will soon be Friday again and I will be wondering, where did this week disappear.

I think the pigeons had a freezing chock after weeks with warm temperatures in November. We got just a little snow tonight but I think it will disappear because the temperature has increased. 

Magical 2011-11-11 11.11

2011-11-11

Congrats to all new borns today 

and 

to all couples who walked up the

aisle to get married 

at the time of 

11.11.11

I spent that magical moment with

my wonderful students

at work watching

the clock

and 

shouted

- Ohhhh!

What did you do?

Creative skiers

We have a time right now when we're waiting for the first snow to come. But the last week have been quite warm with temperatures about 10° C which is a relief for some while others long for snow instead of rain.  This pile of snow is very local....  but I have seen kids playing around in it and throwing snowballs. If you have been visiting a hockey arena, maybe you understand that the snow is made when the ice vehicle prepare the ice. The most interesting and impressive things I've seen when I'm here is youngsters with shovels and oversized clothes. They are building ramps and go with their skis and doing different kind of jumps.

It was grey and a little bit rainy when I took this photo and the snow was very dirty. But  when my daughter  was on ice with her team I had a chance to leave the civilization for a moment and get out in the forest and enjoy the green colors. I took some more photos of mosses and lichen and when I saw this tree I thought that it was like graffiti made of the nature itself. 

Moss and lichen

Cladonia stellaris

We call it Window lichen and pick it to decorate flower pots outside or the the candlestick during Christmas. I like the chubby look of it and when it's wet it's quite soft. But I know others who love it even more as the lichen is an important feed for reindeers. It happens that this lichen is called White moss here but that is a mistake because ....

this is the real White moss, and as everybody can see it looks quite green. But I think the explanation is that when you squeeze it and let it dry from water it looks more white.

When it's dry it's both antiseptic and has a very good capability to absorb fluids. So it has a been used as diapers and sanitary napkins long before anyone went to the supermarket to buy these kind of products. 

A Love-ly evening 20 years ago

Twenty years ago, I spent a very special evening in this restaurant and theatre together with the man I had decided to share my life with. We had a wonderful dinner and after that we enjoyed the musical Les Miserable (click and listen to an American version) with the best Swedish singers and actors at that time. Maybe the story isn't the most happy one for an engagement evening but I appreciated very much that my becoming husband wanted to celebrate this evening like this, which was my greatest wish.

No parking problem

I wanted to stop and take a photo of a little dog with a cute dog coat a chilly day. But... I passed the man with the dog and couldn't bring myself to ask if I could take a photo of his little pet. I was so disappointed at myself. What was I afraid of?  Would it be so hard if I got a no for answer.

Suddenly when I got closer to the church I saw that the helicopter that I had heard some minutes earlier above me was standing on the lawn in front of the Manor. I thought it was an unusual kind of parking, and now something miraculously happened!  I felt that my legs went towards the helicopter man, and my mouth beguine to open up. My ears heard my voice talking to the man about what he was doing there and finally:
- Can I take a photo of the helicopter?
I felt like a winner when I left the man who was waiting for the local airport to open, which is 12 on Saturdays. He had landed because he thought he could drop some equipment at the hotel reception of the Manor. But that was also closed at this time.....

This photo was taken some weeks earlier when we visited the Manor which has a fine restaurant. The red house in the background is the hotel part. During our dinner my youngest went around in the house and took so many photos of everything she thought was beautiful and interesting. As I have them in my computer I want show you some of them.

The photos were taken some days after Bart Boehlert wrote on his blog how he had bought gladiolas and remembered the time when he was a kid and his mother used to buy them at farmers market. But I didn't know that my daughter had taken these photos when I wrote a comment that I like them so much and Bart answered that we should bring them back.

I like this photo so much because of the perspective my daughter had when she watched and adored this painting. We haven't got any snow yet but yesterday we talked about how much she longed for winter and snow.

A tough princess on ice

Have been watching a princess on ice the whole weekend as her team has been participating in a cup. She's the only girl in the team, but she gets along with the boys very well. (When they're training they are together with children who are one year older and than there are two more girls.) Six matches on three days is tough for them, but also for all the parents. Both those who are engaged as the coaches but also all the others who are supporting their children as a great fan club. My daughters team always participate with all players but during this cup they met teams who only came with the best players (children!), which means that the result sometimes became 1-12. Not so funny, but I think that they felt more sad when they lost a match with 3-4.

After all the hours inside the arena it was great to go for a walk together with my husband when we got home. We passed the old bridge which is still closed. They have replaced almost every timber because the condition was so much worse than they thought at the start of the whole renovation.

After that we took care of the ordinary weekend chores as refill the fridge at the supermarket but also return all the recycling packaging and newspapers. It doesn't feel right with all this plastic products but I hope that it is better for the environment that we don't put them with garbages to be burned. 

I know this is a odd question, but I would like to know how you (your state want you to....) deal with recycling packaging and garbages? 

Hooked for the fall

This post is like a continuation of what I wrote yesterday. I usually don't write so often but I can't wait to share this. I went out and there were still some shady places where the sun hadn't melted the frost from the leaves.

The air felt so fresh and I wasn't alone along the river. Many others had their Sunday walk and enjoyed the wonderful weather.

First I thought it was a flower looking almost like the yellow hawkweed that we call höstfibbla (Leontodon autumnalis) but it was a late flowering Dandelion.

The hot coffee made the mug warm which was pleasant for my cold fingers. 

In the evening I started this crochet project and it was running quite fast as the zpagetti yarn was thick and the needle was big. But that also made it a bit heavy.