Saturday, June 6, 2009

This is a Saxifraga of some kind. I love these small flowers.




June the sixth, Swedens national day. I think it was 1983 they decided that this date should be Our national day, but it didn´t become a holidat until recently. Most sweeds have no idea why they choosed this day. There are two reason for that. The first reason is that Gustav Vasa was crowned king this day 1523. The other is that we got a new Instrument of Governement that gave the political power to our parlament. Perhaps two very important things in history, but nothing we say Horay to today :-) Besides, Gustav Vasa was a cruel ruler that never hesitated to slaughter those who didn´t agree with him. Before Vasa we also elected kings here, but he stopped that and made it possible for his sons to become king after him.



Today I thought I would show You some of the wild flowers in my neighbourhood. I´ve never been to any place that has so few different wild flowers as it is here. But nowdays some of my garden flowers are slowly spreading here :-) I don´t always know the names of the flowers.



Not even half of our population will celebrate today. We really don´t know how to do it I think, perhaps because we don´t think that Gustav Vasa is worth celebrating? There´s also another problem. After WW2 there were no place to be a nationalist. We´had seen what could happen if nationalism got to strong and maniacs took power. So I think (don´t know though) that the political leaders at that time did everything to surpress anything that might be likened to nationalism. We started to celebrate the Unatid nations day in schools forinstance.


This one is for a reason I have no idea about called Dog krackers.





The only ones that celebrated history and used our swedish flag were the nazis. So after a while they sort of made our flag theirs and that has given us some problems in a way. Anyone waving the swedish flag could be seen as a nazi, so we never waved our flag exept on big sportevents or national flaging days. But thankfully our immigrants are helping us nowdays, because they usually celebrate our national day and they do wave our flag :-) I thank them for helping us getting our flag back!


Buttercup.


We call this "Old womans tooth". Klick on all the pictures to make them bigger.





Today is an important day in other ways too. We are going to meet Denmark in football (or soccer as You americans call it) in a qualification match to the World Cup. There are few things that is as important to us sweeds than to beat the danish in football :-) :-) We may not beat any other country, but the danes is a must :-) :-) Even people not very interested in football are interested in this match. The funny thing is that if Denmark makes it to the World Cup, but not we, we all get danish as long as Denmark still is in the World Cup. To be honest, we are danish as long as we don´t have to meet each other. As I can remember we were very danish when they won the European Cup and we got third too. First we celebrated us and then them :-) Despite being enemies for almost all times we sweeds have a special place in our hearts for Denmark.


A Potentilla of some kind. Relatives to it is very popular in gardens all over the world.

But it will be a cold day for national day celebraters and for those going to the football match. There will be some rain, some sun, some wind and rather low temperatures. No problems for me though, I´ll be watching the match on tv indoors :-)
Have a great day now!










23 comments:

Anonymous said...

What an interesting post. Well, I'm pulling for Sweden because I know you but will be happy if Denmark wins because for some odd reason everything you wrote is true. Such is life. And it's good the match is held on a holiday. I think we had Flag Day over here for a while then changed it to celebrate Veterans. Maybe this is your Memorial Day as I doubt there are nations that celebrate a bad king. Thanks for these wild flowers. They are especially beautiful.

Maria said...

Ja visst är det lite trist att den svenska flaggan ett tag associerades till nynazister. Fina vilda vackra blomster du bjuder på denna nationaldag.

Anonymous said...

Happy whatever day enjoy the game and may the best team win Hopefully Sweden. And enjoy all them beautyful flowers.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Z&M!
We do have an odd relationship with our neighbours, we love them but really wants to beat them in sports. There are ofcourse maniacs that probably will start a fight after the game, but they are very few.

Most people thinks that Vasa was a jolly fat old man that fought the danes, because that´s how many so called historians wants us to look upon him. But the truth is that he was a cruel king in almost any way found.

Wild flowers are often the most beautiful, probably why I never tend to se them as weeds :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hej Maria!
Ja det är så fruktansvärt trist. Men med hjälp från våra invandrare kan vi nog få tillbaka den :-)
Ha en härlig dag nu!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Woody!
As long as we win over Denmark it´s going to be a great day here :-) I don´t care about the best team though :-) :-) :-)

I enjoy them on every walk :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Anonymous said...

Hi Christer,

Another great post and a laugh for me to start my day. ;) I wish you a Happy Holiday! Go Sweden!

Abby

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Abby!
Yeah! Go Sweden :-)
Have a great day too!
Christer.

Kat said...

Christer,
Go Sweden!

These yellow wildflowers are especially beautiful and quite striking.

Have a good weekend!

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Kat!
Yes Go Sweden! :-)

They do shine like the sun those little flowers and they grow everywhere, including my garden :-)
Have a greate day now!
Christer.

Anonymous said...

Next time I feel depressed I´ll call you at once. I havn´t had this much fun in a very loooooooooooong time. Nice page you got!
Big Hug from me and thank you ;.)
LjusneLotta som bara var tvungen o kolla om du hajjar vad hon skriver, he.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Lotta!
You can call anytime :-)

Helt okey att skriva på svenska här om du känner för det, det är flera som gjör det. Tycker du klarade engelskan riktigt bra :-)
ha det gott nu!
Christer.

jaz@octoberfarm said...

hi christer....a big day here as well. it is the stanley cup playoffs in hockey. pittsburgh against detroit same as last year. detroit has 8 swedish players1 however, in my part of the states everyone cheers for pittsburgh! all the bars will be packed with people watching the playoffs. do you go away on vacation or just stay home and relax? did you ever put me on your list? i was wondering because i never get updates when you post and i am not sure why? joyce

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi joyce!
I checked once again and I´m a follower to Your blog. Strang that You never get updates then?

I don´t have the sportschannel that shows Your play offs, but our regular sportsnews gives us updates to how it goes. I hope You tem wins, even if there´s a lot of sweeds in Detroit :-)

I like to stay at home on my vacations, but this year I´ll probably take a trip north to visit old friends I havn´t been able to meet for a long time. Sometimes I take daytrips somewhere, but mostly I stay at home. Why leave paradise :-)
Have agreate day now!
Christer.

Mia said...

ja kan man skriva på svenska så kan du säkert läsa svorsken også. för mig är och förblir det svenska flaggans dag och hissar stolt min flagga här i Norge. Kanske vi utlandsvenskar är lite mer "patrioter" eller så har jag varit för länge i utlandet för att koppla den til nazi..(fysj og fysj). I myself am visiting gardens while my husband´s watching football. Nice gardenphotos. I´ll be back.

NinaH said...

I am proud to be swedish. And I also think we should be very proud to have that law- especially that we got it that early! (compared to mnany other countries).
But it´s hard to really feel for special celebration this day any way. But beacause of the way it became National Day traditions are´nt deep enough to us. Guess we care more ´bout the Midsummer celebrations?;-) Well.... Perhaps the National DAy will be more important to next generations... maybe?...
Fighting Denmark has deep traditions though!;-) More serious historically - and more for fun now a days...?.. Or?;-)Any way: Hope "we" win today!;-)
Lovely in both gardens & nature now! We "celebrated" this day with a garden meeting!;-)

NinaH said...

It shouldn´t be "But Because"- just "Beacause!;-)

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hej Mia och välkommen hit!
Naturligtvis klarar jag svorsken :-) Dessutom går det bra att skriva på de bägge norska språken och danska :-)

Tror nog att man automatiskt blir mer patriotisk om man är utlandssvensk, då minns man bara det positiva :-) :-)
Ha en härlig dag nu!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Nina!
As You say, the tradition isn´t sitting deep enough in us yeat, hopfully it will in comming yenerations.

And We lost!!!!! And it was our fault too!!! Well thank Good we can cheer for the danes in the world cup then :-) :-)

Have a greate day now!
Christer.

john said...

Thanks for the information linking the Nazis to the overuse of the flag. I knew about the everyday use of vimples but never knew why they were flown in place of the national flag. I loved seeing them everywhere when we visited. My son-in-law and I searched everywhere for a "manly-sized" one for his father and found one in a hardware store in Borgholm. We knew the pole was 6 meters tall so we got a vimple that was 4.5 meters in length. When he gave it to his father we realized we didn't take the radius around the pole into consideration and found it would tangle in the trees. So much for "bigger is better".
For my Father's Day gift two years ago my children had two vimples made from a single Irish flag. I hang one on my flagpole below the US flag. In the US flying the flag in one's front yard is commonplace. Since 9/11, even more so. But I think I've got the only Irish vimple in town.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi John!
Yes vimples are everywhere and are more neutral so to speak. But with a bit of lucj we will get our flag back so we can use them without feeling akward.

There´s much to thnk of when buying a flag :-) :-) Bet it looks nice with an Irish vimple under the flag!
have a great day now!
Christer.

Wsprsweetly Of Cottages said...

I always love the pictures of the wild flowers. One of the bloggers who had a book made of her lovely flowers..wrote me a letter this morning and asked if she could send me a copy!! I was so...pleased. How kind of her. And..when you get your book published...can you please put me on the waiting list for the FIRST copy? :) Just askin'..as they say.

I had never heard that about your flag before. I don't know what your flag looks like..have you posted a picture of it?

Great post today..

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Mona!
How nice of her!
Well, You´ve given me something to think about anyway. If I ever do something like that I promise You that You will get one from me.

Our flag is blue as the sky with a cross yellow as the sun. If I remember I publish a picture of one in tomorrows blog.
Have a great day now!
Christer.