Saturday, July 4, 2009

I wasn´t surprised when I saw the thunderclouds, but it took long time for them to move at all. It just stood there and thundered all the time.



It´s a bit cooler today, but not much. Wouldn´t be surprised if we got thunder today too. There were some spectacular flashes og lightning yesterday. The clouds didn´t move much so I had a clear vieuw of all flashes hitting Mount Mösseberg. I´m glad I wasn´t anywhere near them :-)


Suddenly they started to move west and some other thunderclouds from the east came closer instead.

Magnificent don´t You think?



My dogs and cats don´t seeme to be bothered by thunder at all. I had a neighbour here once that had a hunting dog that was so afraid of thunder that he shouted the whole time. Unfortunally the owner thought he would get used to thunder if he forced him to stay out in the dogyard during thunderstorms. He stopped when we realised that he actully was at home but never let the dog in. Doing so is cruel to the poor dog. When he understood that we wouldn´t exept that behaviour from him he stopped.


The thunder kept on all night and we did get some long wanted rain.


This flower is called Student carnation or Burning love in swedish. With that red color I think the last name is best :-)








I feel a bit lucky today. I came to work as usual and painted everything I could find and when my workingday was over there were nothing left to paint. So I took the day of tomorrow :-) :-) So now I only have three more workingdays and then four weeks of vacation :-)



Trollius chinensis, Globeflower, about to open up.


Almost totally open now.



Buddleia alternifolia a less known realtive to B. davidii, the Butterfly bush. This is hardier than the Butterfly bush so even I can have it. Butterflies love this one too even if it smells like hay :-)



My bush is rather young yet, so it´s not especially impressive. It flowers on the stems that growed last year. So if winter is hard there might not be any flowers the year after.








I´m mostly staing at home during my vacation, but I´ll take a trip way up north to friends that live half way up the country. I promise to take pictures on my little road trip so You get a chans to see how it looks over here. Well I´m a Harry Potter fan too, so I´ll probably go to see the new film , I´ll tell You what I think about it here too :-)
Have a great day now and to all my American friends I wish a happy 4th of July!




8 comments:

Richard said...

Christer, one of the things I like most about the photos you post is the intense saturated colors ... are you using a film or a digital camera? This saturation is something I used to see all the time when I used Agfa film - we called it 'European color' (or 'Europaischen farben') ... your images have a nice 'VerMeer' feel to them - quite painterly sometimes ...

jaz@octoberfarm said...

your flowers are beautiful!! my last chow was very scared of rain and thunder. as soon as the barometric pressure changed she would get nervous and start walking from room to room. we could never get her to calm down. back in 1993 we had a tornado. a very rare event. we all had to hide in the basement. after that every time it started to rain she would hide in the basement. this chow isn't afraid of anything. she is a toughy! i can't wait to see your pics from your trip. i decided i am contacting peta on monday to find out why those people could be selling wild animals!!! it really bothers me.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Richard!
I´m using a digital camera. The colors are more or less the samr as in reality. I usually tell if it´s not otherwise.

Yes Agfa had great film, but it was many yearse since I last saw one of their films in any store, wonder what happened to Agfa?

VerMeer was a great painter so I take that as a hughe complement!

Have a great 4th of July!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Joyce!
I´m glad that Your chow doesn´t get bothered by thunder!

We´ve actully had one tornado (or as we call them 'Tromb') just some miles from here. It was a warm summers day a couple of years ago. I thought I saw it but we don´t get those over here so I didn´t look any more. A roof fly away and a caravane too if I remember correctly, but nothing worse than that.

We have a law in Sweden that forbids us to have wild animals as pets. All animals but badgers. People who hunts badgers has a strong lobby group and if they can´t train their dogs with live badgers they can´t hunt them. The badger don´t get physically hurt but I think it´s wrong anyway.

Unfortunally this law forbids us to help wounded animals too. So if we find a wounded animal we either has to call a certified wildlife animal caretaker or just leave it to die. How many of us leaves an animal to die? and where in the phone book do one find this certified animal care taker? I never leave an animal to die if I can save it :-) :-) So once I had a Jackdaw that couldn´t fly. One of the most funny birds I´ve ever met :-)

Have a great 4th of July!
Christer.

Anonymous said...

Our cat Maggy who you see on my blog from time to time is deathly afraid of thunder and lightening. The former owner said she was left out in the screened pool area accidentally and a storm came through and since then she's frigid at the sound of thunder. She panicks, the fight or flight variety and once indoors scoots under a bed. I never saw anything like it but she has us trained as first sign of thunder we all run to find where Maggy is. Great photos today as usual Christer! We will be on the river watching the fireworks tonight.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

I feel so sorry for those animals that are afraid of the thunder, one can´t just sit down and reson with them. But on the other hand that´s something You can´t do with a person who´s afraid of thunder either :-)

I had a friend who´s mother were terrified of the thunder. She had twice been chased by a flash that came down her chimney and she knew how dangerous thunder was. Even when they lived in an appartement building she was so afraid that she went down and hid in the basement.

I hope You had a great time watching the fireworks!
Have a great continuing of 4th of July!
Christer.

Wsprsweetly Of Cottages said...

Hi Christer...the booming is still going on outside..but the shows that are put on at the different place around town, our city college, a place called Mt. Rubidoux, Canyon Crest Country Club, all of those are over at 10pm I think...but I can still hear lots of noise. I walked out front and looked but I can't see anything.
My little dog doesn't seem afraid of thunder..or the loud firecrackers..but she is under my chair and she is following me around so...I am sure she is a bit apprehensive.
I cannot believe someone could be so cruel as not to offer comfort during a time of thunder and lightening to a dog. They don't understand it. It's upsetting to know there are people out there that are so cruel!
I, I am ashamed to say, am very afraid of thunder and lightening. I try not to let it scare me but it does. Every year in Florida people are killed by lightening and this year a couple were killed right here in California.

Your flowers are gorgeous! The just keep getting more and more beautiful!! The pinks in this last photo are wonderful. Watching them open is neat.
The reason I am home is that I began having a stomach ache a few days ago and I am still suffering with it...so..stayed here. My husband went as I saw no reason for him to miss the party. Not a party actually, just fireworks and then dessert. The evening wasn't boring though as I spent an hour chatting with my girlfriend who was also alone. My daughter called and husbands granddaughter called...so the time has flown by.
I also bought some great films (English) at garage sales today do I have been watching them.
Glad you liked the pictures of the bakery goodies!
:) Mona

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Mona!
I can understand why people are afraid of thunder, I know several that are. One perosn died a day ago by being hit by the lightning and one got unkoncious. When I lived in the city I was a bit foolish being outside walking in thunder. But I´ve learned outherwise when I moved here :-)


I think it´s better to stay at home if one doesn´t feel okey. There will be more fireworks to see anyway :-) I hope You´re feeling better now though!

Well, You always show such delicious bakery goodies at Your blog :-) of course I like them :-)
Have a great comming day now!
Christer.