Colors by the lake

It was a little windy so the most safety place for barbecue was on the shore.

The weather has been filled with both rain and sun but this was the first time that I saw the rainbow this summer. Maybe someone would like to dive for some gold here....

A late walk to get my daughter back home from her friend, the had planed to take a bath at the sauna by the lake but I think they changed their mind as the temperature outside only was about 53°F.

Blog holiday

I can't say that I'm too busy on my holiday so I won't be able to do something on the blog, I guess it's more like my blogging is also taken a holiday...

But yesterday night when I made a visit to our outhouse at the shore there was a beautiful light between the clouds. I just had to go back to the cottage for my camera and catch it. As you see we're still having our light summer nights but as August comes closer there will be darker and darker.

Have been spending more time than ever in our house in the city this summer and taken care of the house and the garden, but it's always wonderful to come to the little village where we have our lake house.

Traveling Part Two - Carl Larsson

Be welcome dear, to Carl Larson and his wife! (in Swedish there's a rhyme...)

The welcoming entrance 

On our trip we passed the house of the Swedish very famous artist, Carl Larsson. This is a very special place to me as my first contact with him was when I participated in a musical about him when I was about 15. Three years later when I moved for my education I realized that I lived quite close Carl Larsson’s home in Sundborn. I remember the day when a friend and I took our bikes and went through the forest on small pathways a beautiful day of September and finally got to his beautiful house. 

That was in the end of the tourist season so we got the guided tour almost by ourselves. I was very touched off the visit and I imagined that one of his children suddenly could open a door and run into the room. I recognised the interior from the scenes in the musical but also from all of his paintings, as he is known from all the paintings he did with his family members in and outside the house. He wanted the paintings to look like reality; if a room was to clean he could throw a toy on the floor so it looked more natural.

 I'm sorry that I can't show you anything from the inside but we weren't allowed to take any photos there, but the room inside these windows is very famous for the paintings Carl made here like "Blomsterfönstret" (The flower window)

The house was a gift to the Larssson family from Karin's father but through the years they let house grow and refurbished it a lot and the house became a result of their passion for design, art but also  impressions they had got when they were abroad.

Later in my life I have read books about him, but also about his wife Karin. (I made a short reflection about her on my Swedish blog Jaknell two years ago). They met in France where they both study arts but when they became a family and they got their first child she stepped back with her paintings but she continued her artistic talent through her handicraft. She wowed art fabrics, very beautiful and expressive in my eyes but they were not always appreciated in her time, as they were very stylistic and original. But nowadays she has got redress and her artwork is showed much more.

The Webpage 

When I prepared for this post I wanted to give you a link to the webpage for his house in Sundborn and then I discovered a film that I hadn’t seen before. It’s from 1916 (almost 100 years ago!) and shows Carl Larsson when he has some guests on a visit, probably some of his children and grandchildren. The webpage also has an English version but I found it better to see the film on the Swedish one. You will recognize some things from the film on my photos like the bridge my daughter’s standing on. I guess Karin and Carls children and grandchildren have been standing on it like her many times.

I can't make a watercolor painting off my children but I can catch them with my camera and I think that Carl Larsson's children wished that their father had done that when they had to stand or sit in front of him for hours when he was working with a painting.

There’s so many interesting things to know about this man who started a life in a very poor family in Stockholm but was born with a very special talent that his teacher Jacobsen discovered when he was 13, so he urged him to apply to The Royal Swedish Academy of Arts. But I’m also convinced that he wouldn’t have become who he was if he hadn’t met his wife Karin. (That’s my personal opinion, but this is my blog so I decide that I can have it…) 

Traveling Part One - Stockholm

We've been on a trip for a week and experienced a lot of things in Stockholm and some other places. Back home I'm so glad for the photos I got so I can "understand" all impressions better. I want to share some of it on the blog but I will do it in sections and I start with my spots from Stockholm and the Museum of the Swedish Ship Vasa  that sank on it's maiden voyage (after only 2km!) The photo above is of a model that shows how she looked before she sank with all sculptures and colors. The king wanted the ship to look powerful as it was a warship. The problem was that he wanted a construction that wasn't water safe.....

We've seen Vasa before but the children wanted to see it again as they were so young than and there is so much to see about the ship but also much about the people that lived when the ship was built. It's a very unique and it was crowded with tourists from Sweden, Japan, Germany and other countries. 

After Vasa and some lunch we passed through The Old Town of Stockholm. I love to walk along these small alleys. There are many shops but I mostly like to watch through the windows and see all the people.

Some of them a bit different from the others....

The Royal Palace is also placed in the Old Town, but we just saw it outside this time. The Royalties only have their work here, they have other castles in the Stockholm where they live and the youngest princess have an apartment  in New York.

Outside the parliament building we met this proud duck really enjoying the photo exposing.

The house where our politicians spend some of their working time, but now they are on summer holiday, like me! 

Violence in the garden

I love them......but I have to kill them, my sweet little suns on the ground! The grass has got so much of water lately so it's growing too fast and I'm glad that we had a sunny Saturday morning so I could go out with the "killingmachine" and cut the grass. During my work with the noisy, gasoline consumer my daughter walked around and "saved" some of the Dandelions. She made a long wreath that her childish mother just had to play with later and take a selfie and jest with herself. Yes, the one on the header.

By the way, when I was in this destroying and violent mood I also killed some rhubarbs so we could eat them for lunch....

Looking forward to a peaceful Sunday!

Come rain or come shine

It became a "Friday Entertainment" when the potatoes were going down in the land. It was a beautiful night even if it was a bit cold and we were pleased that we hadn't planed to do this on Saturday because of all the rain we got than.

Took this photo just before midnight when the mist swept across the lake. We have now started the time of the year when it's light both day and night.

The rain filled the lake but also the boat and our cape almost became an island again like it was two weeks ago when the spring flood was worst.

I didn't plan this but all writing about sun and rain reminds me of an old song that many jazz-singers have done but my favorite is with Monica Zetterlund and Bill Evans, Come rain or come shine.

Victories

Spent Mothers Day at my parents sea house this weekend and it was like a visit in July as we usually come here later on the summer holiday. The weather was much warmer than it's now, so it was really like a taste of summer for three days.

I'm in that "Lack of time period" right now so the blog life will perhaps be a little sporadically some weeks until our summer holiday will start.

Maybe someone remember my post about Loreen, the singer who won the Swedish part of Eurovision song contest. She went to Baku in Azerbaijan - AND BEAT THE WHOLE EUROPE, like ABBA did with Waterloo many years ago!
So here she comes again with her song Euphoria, live from the Grand Final.