Saturday, May 8, 2010



I start with my sensory problems in my left leg so You don´t have to think about that any more. It comes and goes and now I´ve understood why, because I´ve got troubles with my left arm and my spine too. For those of You that doesn´t know I have a disease called psoriatic arthritis. It´s the same as the skin disease but turns inside the body instead and then attacks the articular cartilage. The areas attacked gets inflamed and swollen and then nervs can get clamped. Pain is of course a part of it but I have pills that reduces the inflammation so now it´s quite good again. This is the reason my hips went down the drain and I now have hip implants.



The birches are getting green now. If You look on the field You see that the soil gets almost orange towards the end. That´s rust because the grounds here contains lots of iron.


Blackberry leafs.


It´s grey and cold outside this morning ( only 5C (41F) and it won´t rise especially much during the day they say) and the wind made it quite unpleasant to take a walk out on the fields. I wanted to take the walk in the forest but they are already out there with forest machines collecting the tree stumps that are spread all over the area. I had hoped thay at least wouyld stay at home during the weekend. Soon they will start the replanting of the forest and this time they will plant deciduous trees like Oak, Beech, Maple, Ashtree and Cherry trees.


One of the big piles with tree stumps.

This is a little rose I´ve sown, Rosa pulverulenta. I couldn´t fins any english name for it but if I translate the swedish name it´s "Pillow rose". It only geta around 1 foot 6 inches high and 1 foot 3 inches wide. It´s quite hardy and survived in pots on the ground this winter. It´s said to be hardy in zone 5, US zones.


If this had happened before 2005 they would only have planted Spruce and Pine but the hughe storm Gudrun changed that. It fell so many trees during that storm that they just piled them in hughe stacks on an old air field. Two days ago the last of those trees on that place were taken to be used to make paper. Especially spruces need lost of rocks and stones to stand tseady in a storm as strong as Gudrun and many places like here doesn´t have that. So nowdays more and more leaf trees are planted. The forest will change caracter and I think I´ll like it in the long run.



Cowslip, Primula veris.
The first trillium has opened up :-)



Now there´s a fire in the stove and a pot of tea is waiting downstairs in the kitchen. My cats are outside most of the days and nights, but my dogs preferes to stay indoors. At thew moment Hector is sleeping in my bed, Orvar beside me and the old lady down stairs in the living room. Today I think I´ll see Avatar that I bought last week.

Have a great day now!

20 comments:

Anjas Hill said...

Hej, hej!

Första bilden är magisk!
Hos mig har inte någon enda treblad ännu slagit ut, men blodörten är på G!/Ha't! Anja

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Tjänare Anja!
Det var nog det närmaste vi kom solen på ett par dagar är jag rädd :-) :-)
Det har kommit upp blad från Blod örten, men inga blommor. Jag måste nog flytta på dem för de verkar inte trivas alls längre.
Ha det gott!
Christer.

Anonymous said...

That explains a lot about your hip replacement. Thanks. We worry about you. I think the re-birth of the forest is a good thing. What kind of storm fell those trees? A Hurricane perhaps? We get hurricanes down here. Nasty! Great photos again today. I think you should pick the best ones and publish them in a book. Make lots of money. Enjoy your tea!

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Z&M!
When things like this happens I do get a bit confused to be honest :-) :-) I automatically thought iut had something to do with the surgery :-) :-)

Yes Gudrun and two years later Per were two hurricanes. Not especially common over here, it happens perhaps once in a decade. But still, those two were nothing compared to those You can have. I´ve never been in a worse weather in my life but was lucky that the forest took most of the wind here. My mothers fiance that lived where the hurricane was as worst lost almost all forest he owned.

I don´t know if photo books sell especially well here, but it is a fun idea woth thinking of!
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Caryn said...

Hi, Christer.
Glad to read that you figured out your problem and it's something you know how to deal with.

You keep posting pictures of flowers that I had forgotten all about, like the cowslips. Haven't seen them around here in a long while. The trilliums I've seen here have been higher up on the mountain sides. Our raspberries are already in bloom so perhaps we are a couple of weeks ahead of you.

We're having a thunder storm now so I'll be off the computer and on to breakfast. Have a great day.

Sharlene T. said...

Photo books sell well, anywhere, Christen. They're perfect for couch tables because guests can peruse without getting lost in a story and it creates great conversations. Go for it.

I'm not going to nag about calling the doc, have already done so and expect orders to be carried out! We want you healthy and as free of pain as possible.

Have a great weekend.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi caryn!
Yes this I know how to deal with, so now my sensory is back most of the time. It´s only if I sit to long it goes away again.

Cowslips love this sandy soil that we have around here, but in more clay mixed soil as they have in Gothenburg where I grew up they´re rare. Like them alot. Trilliums doesn´t grow here naturally but I think we have just the right climate for them. Like up on Your mountines a bit cooler in the summer. They like it in my garden and has started to self sowe some :-)

I´m never on the internet when it thunders since I and the computor got hit by the lightning. The computor took the worst hit but it took over an hour until I could feel my arm again :-) :-) :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Sharlene!
I´ll look in to if there would be an interest for a photo book over here, but I seldome save any photo´s to be honest. As soon as they´ve been publiced here they are deleted.

The doctor won´t do anything about this exept for telling me to take my pills. As soon as the inflamation goes down it will all be gone again, but I have to admit that I got a bit surprised when this happened :-) :-) It still dissaperes now anf again, but I´m positive it will be gone by tonight.
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Sharon Lovejoy said...

Christer dear,

I am writing this not from California, but from Wisconsin where I am touring for the new book and to teach children about planting seeds, and how to write nature poetry.

I am so sorry about the pain, but if you have a drug that reduces the inflammation, well, that gets at the heart of the problem. Inflammation is disastrous for our bodies and our minds.

Love the trilliums, (we call them Wake Robin), and love the primulas, they are so sweet.

Cuddle with your doggies,

Love,

Sharon Lovejoy

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Sharon!
It´s so fun working with children, one never knows what happens :-) I hope Your book sells really well!


Normally I don´t think of the pain unless it changes in strength, either way. I´ve gotten so used to it now that it is the normal for me. But I got a bit confused yesterday when I lost sensory in my left leg :-) :-)

I´m so glad that trilliums like it here, one never knows since they don´t grow in the wild here. But they have started to self sow so they must feel at home :-) Some primulas behaves much as weeds here and that makes me happy! Can never have to many of them :-)

Have a great time promoting Your book and working with all the children!
Christer.

jaz@octoberfarm said...

hi christer....that trillium is beautiful! i have some the same color. i hope your leg feels better soon. we are having a very cool windy day. it feels like fall. i wish we would have more days like this. i baked bread and made potato salad and the ribs have been cooking for over 5 hours on the grill and should soon be done. then i will settle in and wait for the hockey game to start!

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Joyce!
I really like trilliums and have some more that just has shown their buds :-) This one is very low and almost tiny, but I have red very high and with big flowers and white much the same. I also sowed some two winters ago so with a bit of luck those will germinate this spring.

It was really cold, windy and rauny here most of the day, but now it´s only cold and rainy :-) :-) So now I have a new fire in the stove.

I´ve become rather lazy at the moment. I haven´t baked any bread in a month. But I thought I would try to bake that muffin mix I got from You next weekend. It´s a long weekend since there´s a holiday on thursday and I´ve talen one day vacation on friday :-)

It sounds so nice with those ribs :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Kat said...

Christer,
My sister has had arthritis since she was young and is in constant pain as well. Without her anti-inflammatory pills, she'd be unable to get through many days so I understand what you are going through. I always wish I could take her pain away-I'll add you to my wish!!

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Kat!
I´m lucky in that way that I can work without to big troubles and that my kind of arthritis can be dormant for longer periods. So I only needs those pills now and again. But in another way it seemes I have a rather agressive variation since it only took thre years to break down my hip. The strange thing is that I seldom thinks of the pain unless it changes in strength :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Wsprsweetly Of Cottages said...

It sounds like your leg is better...that's good news. :)
I wish I knew more about plants...it's the names I fight with..I only know what I like and that if I love them they love me back and grow and make everything around me beautiful. I actually would love an English garden with things growing wild and thick but my husband won't hear of it and does not like the look. It is his yard too...so if that happens it will be done very slowly.. :)
Enjoy your day!
Mona

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Mona!
Yes my leg is better. It still losses the sensory now and again, but my little white pills are helping real good.

I had to know the names on all plants ( both the different swedish names they can have and the scientiffic names)I sold and many more since customers could have all sorts of questions :-) But I think You do it right! Love Your plants and they will love You back :-)

English gardens are so beautiful, but there is so much work with them. I´m to lazy for that :-)
Take care now!
Christer.

Telesia said...

Hello Christer,

I just looked back through some of your postings and I came across the photo of the "pillow rose"..I live in Australia and love roses, of course as you would know Australia is very different climate to Sweden, but if this rose can grow in the USA, do you think it could survive in Australia?

Regards, Gail

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Telesia!
I would like to say that if You live in Tasmania then You most certanly can have it. But also if You live in southern Australia where it gets below zero degrees centigrade once in a while.

They usually needs a cooler period so they can rest. But even if You live where it is a bit warmer, try it if You can get it.

Sowing roses is easy if You can put the sown seeds cold during Your winter, like in a refridgerator. Should be around 0-4 C for a month or two. Sometimes roses takes two years to germinate, but usually some germinate already after the first winter.
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Telesia said...

Hello Christer,

I will try firstly to obtain the seeds, (funny I always purchase the roses when it is established never thought of seeds before) and see how it works out. Thank you for your advice.

Regards to you,
Gail

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Telesia!
As long as the rise You sow is a species You´ll be sure that it´s what You sow that is what You get :-) Sowing a gardenrose You´ll never know what to get and that´s the fun part most of the time. One never knows what genoms that will show in those roses :-)

Try to buy some of those rose seeds from Gotheburg botanical garden. They sell seeds from their collection every autumn/winter, that will be Your spring/summer.
Good luck!
Christer.