Saturday, April 17, 2010



It´s cold and windy outside. The clouds lay thick on the sky, but once i a while a small rip in them shows a sekond of sunshine or two. Today the wind power plants on the mountine makes a lot of electricity :-)




The sun was a bit to strong when I took this photo, but the flower closes if it belives the shadow means bad weather. If You look closly on the bottom flower You can see that it´s not clear blue. Liver worts can have colors from pure white to blue to bright red.This one is red at the centre but blue on the edges.

Yesterday the thought that maybe the airline traffic wouldbe able to start today, but the winds changed again, so now they hope on sometime early next week. We had a vulcano expert on tv this morning (born on Icelnad but working here) and he said that if they look back on this vulcanos history it could go on for over a year. Normally this rather small vulcano is the starter of the bigger one called Kattla. The worst case scenario then would be that this little vulcano continues for a year or so and when that stops Kattla starts and continues for much the same time.


My Gardenia flowers in my kitchen. Guess if it smells nice :-)

But if the winds changes directions we would be able to start flying here again rather soon. He also explained that this really isn´t ash, it´s small particles from the vulcano that is sharp as glass. People living near the vulcano and lives in the wind direction must have breathing protection, otherwise their lungs will get damaged. He also said something other experts hasn´t. Most experts denies that there is more seismic activity in the earth crust than before, they say this is normal. He however said that he thought it was much more than normal.



I bought two decoration or Regal pelargoniums (geraniums) a couple of days ago. These aren´t the easiest of geraniums to be honest. They need a cooler period if You want them to flower and the flowers gets destroyed if they get hit by water. But I think they would work great in gardens (all year) if You live in climates like California or other places it doesn´t rain much in spring and summer. They can be rather big, so cut them down after flowering so they are big and fine next spring. They can take easy frost if growing outside all the time.

So now thousands of travellers are stuck in places long awayfrom home with little or no chance of getting home until the winds change. Well I wouldn´t complain being stuck in a tropical place, but I feel sorry for those that longed for their travel to sunny places not being able to get there. Most of them will loose the money they paied too. No travellers insurance covers natural disasters.





I´m looking out the window and sees nothing but grey clouds and hears nothing but the strong winds towards my cottage. I blame Icleand for the weather :-) :-)

Have a great day now!

 
 

17 comments:

Vittran said...

Hej!
Vilket vulkanutbrott, undrar hur länge det kommet att hålla på. Naturens krafter är starka.
Här blåser det som attan nu. Var tvungen att ta in hästarna, dom gillar inte när det blåser. Även om hagen är stor så kan dom om springa genom stängslet om dom blir för oroliga.
Blåsipporna blommar här också. Visst är dom ljuvliga.
När sonen var liten sa han att Gardenian luktade paradis. Dom luktar underbart men här trivs dom inte.
Ha det gott och var rädd om dig.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hejsan Vittran!
Ändå säger de ju att detta är ett väldigt litet utbrott, men det räcker gott åt mig :-) :-)

Har blåst kraftigt hela dagen här, så promenaderna har ju inte varit direkt njutbara tyvärr. Minns att grannen alltid tog in sina hästar när det blåste kraftigt också. Jag förstår hästarna så väl.

Visst hade han rätt där. Så länge det bara blommar en blomma åt gången. Minns när jag var hos grossisten och de hade 40 blommande gardenior med kanske fem sex blommor på varje, då skulle jag inte vilja gå där hela dagen :-) :-)
Ha det gott själv!
Christer.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful photos and then the last one looks like a picture from Dracula. oooooo scary! Well it's not really the ash from Iceland but I don't like that it isn't normal. I may do some research this weekend for a post on my blog. Do you remember the scientist's name you watched on TV? Enjoy your weekend and thanks so much for the beautiful flower images.

Sharlene T. said...

Well, spring has definitely arrived at the lake! Thanks for the beautiful florals. Will be looking forward to many more. Take care and enjoy your day!

jaz@octoberfarm said...

ps...the winds brought in a cold front and we had a bit of snow this morning!

jaz@octoberfarm said...

hi christer.....we had an unbelievable wind storm yesterday. the winds were so strong they blew over heavy urns that i can't even move. they blew over my big heavy cement planters. a lot of stuff was broken. i feel so sorry for the stranded travelers. many have run out of money and have small children and now where to stay. i was listening to a geologist and he said that for this eruption elements came together like the perfect storm and they expect it to keep erupting on and off for quite some time. i hope i am wrong but i am expecting a big earthquake in the western united states. i really hope i am wrong! joyce

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Z&M!
Well, one can at least see what the photo´s shows :-) I can almost imagine how a big bat will fly in to the photo :-) :-)

His name is Reynir Bödvarsson (I´m so happy that I found his name in the newspaper too, I could never have spelled it otherwise :-) :-) ).
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Sharlene!
The final proof that spring has arrived is that I picked the first tick from one of my dogs. That sign of spring I could have been without though :-) :-)

By the way, my grape wine is living :-) I scraped quite deep into the bark and it was green and fine :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Joyce!
I´m sorry that things got broken! Winds can be so strong that it´s hard to imagine.

Most of those stranded in warm and sunny places seemes to take it quite well, but as You say some may not have any money left to spend. But all got help with hotels during the wait to come home thankfully (at least the swedish travellers).

I have the same feeling about something happening in the western US. They say that all quakes has no connection around the paciffic, but it sort of have worked its way towards the US. But as You I do hope I´m wrong.

Huh! Snow! I know it doesn´t stay now, but it´s awful anyway!
Have a great day now!
Christer.

HelenJ said...

Tänk att ha en gardenia i köket... Jag hade nog flyttat dit sängen då så jag kunde få sniffa på den hela tiden! =)

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Tjänare Helen!
Har haft en gardenia i sovrummet en gång i tiden, det misstaget gör jag aldrig om :-) :-) Jisses vilken huvudvärk man får om man sover i den doften :-)
Ha det gott!
Christer.

Lotta 8`) said...

Ja, fy attan vad det blåst idag! När jag kom hem från västkusten i kväll så fick jag gå runt i trädgården och plocka grejor överallt :) och alla löv var tillbaks på sina ställen, som de hade förra helgen - ja, det är väl bara att greppa krattan igen :)

Söta blåsippor! Jag var så glad, för när jag röjde kring mammas växthus så hittade jag en massa blåsippor under allt ris och sly, var ju tvungen att ta bort lite så jag kunde se dem.

Hoppas innerligt på en mindre blåsig dag i morgon. ha en skön söndag :)

DianeLynn said...

WOW it is something to watch a volcano. When I lived in Oregon I could see Mt St Helens from the house. I was not there when the first eruption in 1980 but witness the second shortly thereafter. That day the wind was blowing towards our area and watch & felt the ash reign upon me. In fact I scooped up ash from the deck to save. It was something to see and feel.

Kat said...

Christer,
It was a raw cold all day today. My sky looked much the same as the one in your last picture. It rained every now and then, and I think more is coming. That's more like spring on Cape Cod.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Tjänare Lotta!
Jag bryr mig inte om löven här, de kör jag över med gräsklipparen när den säsongen startar :-) Vanligtvis brukar jag kratta upp en del i rabatterna, men det finns inte så mycket löv i år.

Javisst är blåsipporna fina :-) Fick dem från norrland för ett par år sedan. Jag brukar alltid gå omkring och leta efter de som ser lite annorlunda ut, kanske har en annan färg men har aldrig hittat någon. Så när denna faktiskt är röd mot mitten tog jag det som en sensation :-) :-) :-)

Ja låt oss hoppas på en mindre blåsig dag idag!
Ha det gott!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Diane!
I´ve never seen any vulcano live so to speak, but it looks fantastic when seeing it on tv.

To have seen Mt St Helen must have been fantastic! I would also have saved some of that ashes if I had been there.
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Kat!
This is typical spring weather over here. One day warm, still and sunny. The next day rain or snow and very windy! In the northern pats of Sweden it still snows heavily from time to time. I´m glad I live this south :-) :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.