The missing dog

This cute old lady has spent some weeks with our family, but yesterday it was the end of her Holiday for this time. It feels very empty, but now when we have started to work again there won't be enough of time to take care of a dog. She was a perfect company when I was out walking. Ithink we were a funny couple last week along the river. She stopped to sniff for something and I had to wait sometimes a bit irritated. But than I saw some red delicious raspberries I just had to get (eat) - and than she had to wait! and wonder:

- What are you doing now?

Guess what this is?

Guess what this is, before you continue to read! 

I've written before about my fascination with old barns and I love the brown and grey color they get. When we built our smaller cottage for the teenagers (they were younger when we started) and guests that are visiting us, we built it with timber. That project took some years so the timber became natural grey and we have only painted the wind panels and window frames blue.  On the porch we also have some furnitures that have transformed to grey because we have been too lazy, but I think they could need some kind of protection to live longer. 

before

Three years ago we built a new outhouse as we don't have the facilities as water closet.... But we wanted that it should blend in the other buildings even if it had panel and not timber. So we decided to use  copperas (iron sulfate) which is a way to get the wood look older. We had planed to paint it the first summer but things came between..... So the wood have started to became grey by itself.

But this summer we finally became chemists and mixed the products and finally painted the walls. Times will make the wood grayer but If you look carefully you can see a little difference already.

after

The chemistry mix on the first photo:

white- iron sulfate

blue - copper sulfate

brown - silver stain

From old fashioned to Old Fashion

Back home and enjoying my last week of vacation which means  I'm back on the morning walks along the river. But with one new thing! When I get thirsty I reach out my hand and grab some raspberries. It's been a wonderful summer wherever we have been but now it's all right to be back home. I even appreciate our dishwasher after weeks with the old fashion way.... 

Talking about Old Fashion.......Another thing I don't miss when I don't have it is the TV and DVD, but now when I'm back in civilization I finally bought the whole DVD collection with The house of Eliott 

I loved the story, the dresses, the actors the environments. I haven't been disappointed so far and I appreciate (after weeks with sun and bath) that the weather (cold and rainy!) this weekend is perfect for some indoor activities like cleaning..... and watching films.....

I wish you a wonderful weekend whatever your plans are!

Children and animals

The Holiday doesn't always means trips to other places far away to get experiences. Sometimes it just means "doing other things" where you use to be. Me and my youngest asked our friends, who are farmers,  if we could visit them during "milk time". We both fell in love in this three days calf. At first she was a little bit shy, but after my daughter had given her milk with a bottle they became real buddies. As we don't have any animals in our family, I'm glad that my children are so fond of them. They want us to have a dog but I think that we are away from home to long when we work.

But when my brother asked if we would like to borrow their dog for some summer weeks we thought that was a very good idea. So sweet little Molly is on her holiday with us now, at the lake house and she loves children and water. I don't know if I have told you that my kids also like fishes but...

 that contact hopefully ends up like this...... perches "smoked" with juniper bush,  I can tell you that it was very tasty!

Singing in Church

In church today the priest talked about places that had meant much for us, maybe the church we went to when we grew up. I looked around at the people and realized that most of them have visited this church since they were very young, included my husband and our children. I was about 25 when I first came here but I liked it so much so when we started to plan for our wedding it felt natural to do it here. We usually go here at Easter and in the summertime because it's close to our lake house. 

I have also been singing in the little "Summer Choir" some years. But that is very, very amateur, as we rehearse on Thursday evening the songs we're going to sing on Sunday so anyone who're visiting the village can join  us. Sometimes we're only three but today we had a special song worship and were so lucky to be six! We sang songs we've been singing through the years and I'm so grateful that we sang my favorite at the end. Gabriellas Song was written for a Swedish film and Helen Sjöholm did the acting and singing. Her character is a young mother with a husband who didn't treat her well. It was very touching to this song and I think that we all had many feelings when we loudly sang the last line. I can't give you our version..... But if you want to listen to a the really good singer and se this part from the film  with Helen Sjöholm singing Gabriellas Song , please do!

Summer greetings

I had no planes to have a break on this blog but there has been a lot of activities with the family. We're spending our time at the lake house and by the sea and the weather has been really good the last weeks.

I won't write so much this time, only show some photos. But I hope you are all right and I'm gonna jump over to your sites and check out what you have been up to. 

We call these berries "hjortron" but in English they have different names and I think cloudberry or bakeapple are most common.

Morning walks

I love my morning walks along the river and I want to share it with you. It takes about 50 minutes (if I don't stop and take so many photos like I did this morning...) So, put on your walking shoes and come with me!

 A bench to sit and admire the river

 The Museum 

 A gazebo beside an old public house

 The old shop and cafe

 Outdoor scene

 Back to the river delta and almost home...

and the family I meet almost every morning!