Most accidents happen at home

Well, it just had to happen. I have always been afraid of mowing the side bit, on the outside of the hedge. It leans a bit - into a ditch.  However, a few days ago I felt brave. I was in the zone. I had done loads of stuff that I had been putting off for ages and now it was time to tackle the side of the hedge. But it was not to be, after only a few metres the mower started gliding down, and before I could hop off I was laying in the ditch with the mower over me. I wasn't hurt so after having rooted around a bit in the bushes behind me I found that I could slide out from underneath the mower and get up. But I couldn't get it back up on the road. So it sat there all day, until much later when a farmer came by and lifted it up!!! No help, no dragging with another vehicle, just pure muscle of which I have none, it seems.

Over to something else. When I drove back from my visit to my friends in Hälsingland I decided to go via Uppsala where we had lived. In fact it is where hubby and I met. By the time I got there I had already had two power naps and seen the sun go up.


I started the trip before six and I saw some beautiful areas and I also made a new friend.

I never got his name but he told me
his story and how it came about that
he now has thousands of hubcaps.
Somehow I don't think he is married!!

When I came to Uppsala it was "fika" time so I went to Ofvandahl's coffee shop and it had not changed much. The same delicious baked goods and the same oldie worldie interiour.

After that little sugar overload I went to see the Cathedral and the University building. It brought back memories.

So I have been waiting and waiting for the deck builders to turn up and it just hasn't happened. Luckily, our neighbour, who is temporarily out of work, proposed to build the deck. So tomorrow he is going to start, yeah!

And the last photo is from the Botanical Gardens in Gothenburg where I went with my mother the other day. They had a Japanese theme which was very nice and soothing, but I just love the place anyway. Don't miss out on a visit there, if you ever come to Gothenburg.

Thanks for reading and come back soon!

On the road again

Yes, I have been out on a little road trip. I went up to see our old friends who now live up in Hälsingland. For the non-Swedes reading, here is a snippet of information from good ol' Wikipedia. If you have a look at the map you can see that our cottage is down on the west coast in the part called Bohuslän and our friends live in Hälsingland, on the other side of Sweden, and MUCH HIGHER UP. The trip took about eight hours, excluding power naps.

On my way up to Hälsingland I stopped at Husaby church. They have found a bit of oak from year 1000 but the present church is from 1120. It is where, for the first time, a Swedish king was baptized as a Christian.

It is not just that Hälsingland is far away, but it is also very different. They have beautiful, big farm houses in this region and our friends themselves live in one of them. Many of these farms have been classified World Heritage and we went and saw some of them on one of our outings.

The flower of Hälsingland is flax (every 'landscape' of Sweden has a regional flower) and you make linen from it. We went for a study visit to Växbo; it was very interesting. I love clothes made from linen; it is a shame they are so darn expensive. However, my friend bought me a dish rag (!) made from linen and swore that it is the best ever. Apparently, I would never want anything else after using one of them. We shall see.

There were many looms in Växbo,
but in metal, and very noisy when
they were all running.

One of the highlights of the trip (since I missed out on the Jimmy Reeves museum and the hubcap museum on the way up) was a visit to the Lill-Babs café and museum. Lill-Babs was a very popular singer when I was young and she has had a long and active carreer. She comes from a place called Järvsö and we went there for a coffee on my second day.

I have lots more to tell, especially about the trip back, but it has to be for another time. It's now time for some gardening. Just wanted to show you what I came back to:

Nothing!

And this is what I left in Hälsingland, yum!

Crop circles and blue grass

I have always been a little intrigued when reading about crop circles and now I have created one of my very own.

I got the lawn mower back from the repair shop. I was almost sleepless the night before, worrying about driving in the van on our narrow little road ...

... and then tipping the wagon and driving  the mower off. I have not trained for this sort of stuff, I worry about tipping backwards or going sideways into a ditch. It is not as easy as it might sound. Anyway, in the end my neighbour came to the rescue. He did it while smoking a cigarette and finishing his coffee!! So clearly not as dangerous as I had imagined.

So now I have done the mowing and to make it more fun, I have created crop circles. If one of them guys up there in the sky looks down on this island they might get a bit confused and ask themselves questions just like people do about other crop circles.

As far as the blue grass, I am not referring to the color of the grass I was cutting but to the style of music that the band played that I went to see yesterday in the Henån library. The band was called the The Goodbye Girls and consisted of four girls. One was Swedish, two were Americans, and one was Canadian. It was a good romp! In fact much livelier music than on this Youtube clip that I am attaching but I can't find anything else.

We are continuing with the mild weather here in Sweden and unfortunately we are also having forest fires raging in several places probably due to the dry summer we have been having. However, nothing down this way so far.

Here is a new weird little activity if you have a boat. When I saw this person the first time it looked like he was walking on water but I think it must be some little air cushions.

I am off now to take the car to the repair shop, keeping my fingers crossed that nothing is wrong.

Just a little thank you to my favorite "hacker" who helped me get photos off my telephone.

Bye for now!