Monday, June 14, 2010

I had just finished mowing my lawn when this thundercloud came by and started to act with a bad attitiude :-)



It is one of those days when nothing seemes to be fun. Not even walking around in my cottage killing flies speaking with a german accent :-) :-) I think it is the weather that affects us now, becuase many of us at work felt the same way today. It´s dark and cold here for almost seven months every year, so when summer doesn´t arrive as it should it gets to us. I can´t even imaging how it will be when winter comes if we´re going to have a summer like this. The sun now goes up 4am and down 11:11 pm in Falköping.


The clouds today looks much the same I´m afraid. This one isn´t a thundercloud, yet.









I ordered three mini kiwi plants yesterday via the net. The "real" kiwi fruit can´t survive for long here where I live, but these relatives can. The only problem is I have no place to put them :-) :-) :-) They are vines and will become rather large with age. The only place I can have vines at is occupied by a rose, a honeysuckle and my grape vine. I´m going to cut down the honeysuckle (but don´t worry, I´ll take cuttings and place by a deat tree I think) and the rose, so the grape vine gets more sun and a better chance to get ripe grapes. So I´m thinking of buying rebars and have them stnading by them selves somewhere in the garden.









But how to get them home? My car is very small (even if I can get three dogs over 90 pounds each in the back). Perhaps rent a wagon? or look sad in front of friends that has two smaller lorries that bthey use when they are out selling spices on markets  :-) :-) :-) Mini kiwi´s tastes somewhat like gooseberries. Could be a nice marmelade or jam fruit I think. The vines in them selves are rather nice too.





A wasp queen feeding on the tree peony´s pollen. She and her doughters will eat more flies than I can ever kill during a summer. Do You know that almost all wasps are female and sisters? The males, drones, lives just a short while to keep the species alive.


The flower on the arctic bramble. I might actually get a berry or two already this year :-)


I think I´ll watch some football(soccer) this evening, or perhaps I should look at the film 2012. It´s about the and of the world and would fit my mood very well I think :-) :-) :-) Now the tea is ready and it´s time for me to visit You all out in the cyber space!
Have a great day now!


This colorful little beetle is nothing You want near Your lillies. Both the adult ones and the younglings eats lilies. This one is no more.





14 comments:

jaz@octoberfarm said...

hi christer....i saw the neatest idea for an arbor the other day. they used mesh wire, i think the kind used in pouring foundations for sidewalks. they had it cut in a sheet about 18 inches wide. then they just stuck it in the ground on one side and arched it and stuck it in the ground on the other side. i guess they might have used those "U" shaped pins to hold the two sided in the ground. the thing about it which i really liked was that though it was not completely covered with foliage yet, it still looked very nice. and it would be more solid than rebar. my rebar arch is always leaning depending on how the apple tree grows on it. joyce

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Joyce!
It sounds a bit easier to use mesh wires than rebar! I´ll ask friends where it´s avalible!I would guess thay had to use those u-shaped thingies too :-)

Thanks for the tip!
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Sharlene T. said...

I think it's great that your flies buzz in a German accent 8-) 8-)...such beautiful pictures, today...and omigod, those are some serious thunderclouds...I could feel them from here...thanks for sharing...enjoy your tea

Larry said...

Thanks for another enjoyable post... wow... those are long days, I'd be sleep deprived in no time! Larry

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Sharon!
Growing up with old american and english war movies it´s natural to speak english with a german accent when killing lots of flies :-) :-) :-)

I could feel that thunder in my cottage. It shakes a lot when thunder goes nearby :-) :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Larry!

Even further north they have no night at all now. The sun is up all 24 hours and will do so for yet a couple of weeks. It´s the opposite in winter so I think we all sleep then instead :-) :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Susie på Stjärnarve... said...

Ja du, du låter precis som oss andra "sommarväntande trädgårdsfreaks". Nu vill vi faktisakt väldigt gärna att den kommer!

Anjas Hill said...

Hej, hej!
Instämmer helt ang vädrets påverkan på humöret.
Efter den den lååååånga vintern, den svinkalla våren vill även jag ha ett par månader riktig sommar (hör-ni-ni-ni-där-uppe!), vilket inte betyder olidlig hetta utan en riktigt gammaldags nordisk sommar: 23grader i skugga, mild regn ett par gånger i veckan, svala smekande vindar på 3-5 sek meter.
Död åt liljebaggar och slemmiga sniglar. Skall det behöva vara så himla svårt att fixa det - Du Allsmäktiga ;))))?!
Ett fint inramat armeringsjärn med klättrande kiwi måste bli jättesnyggt! (Du få'la hyra släp eller en annan bil under några timmar!)/Anja

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Hi Christer, we were in the midst of a night thunder storm when I looked at your post - how fitting! It was a brief storn with some lightnight, but didn;t shake the house and ended within 15 minutes with only a little rain so the veggies will need watering this week. Good luck with the mini kiwi plants you ordered - how are they delivered? Hope your friends can lend the lorry...love the regular-size kiwi, but never had any jam.
Hope your week gets better!

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Tjänare Susie!
Ja nu har jag börjat tröttna på kallt väder. Några tomater vill jag trots allt ha :-) Fast idag har solen skinit hela dagen, men värmen har hållit sig borta.
Ha det gott!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hejsan Anja!
Visst är det så att vi måste ha sol och värme. Men precis som du tycker jag att 23C räcker gott. Om sedan regnet kunde komma nattetid också skulle det vara toppen :-) :-)

Vi har väldigt ont om slemmiga snigkar här över huvud taget, men snäckor har vi mängder av. Men jag tar ju aldrig bort de gamla växtmaterialet och de gillar halvmultnat :-)

Tror nog jag kan få låna både lastbil och förare. De vet att jag kör som en kratta :-) :-) :-)
Ha det gott!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Beatrice!
Funny how things can turn out :-) :-)

We have absolutly no shortage of water over here :-) There are new ponds on the fields on my way home.

They are delivered by the ordinary mail to the grocery store in Gudhem, around fifteen minutes from my home. They then send an sms to me as soon as the pakage has arrived. The plants doesn´t spend more that one day in that pakage.

I too love the ordinare kiwi, but these aren´t that bad either :-) The only problem with them is that one has to have both a male and a female plant, otherwise no berries.

Have a great day now!
Christer.

NinaH said...

Yes- it must be the weather.... I feel like you right now beacause of all raining! (And thunder & lightning! Don´t like that eather!) No rose and almost no pheonies in bloom! Grr. Let it be sunshine now!! Please!.... ;-)
We have Kiwi bushes like those you have ordered. But we never reach to jam! The birds catch them before us most of the time!;-)

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Nina!
I like thunder quite a lot to be honest, if I´m indoors reading a good book :-)

One peony flowers but no roses. But my wild roses has buds, so a couple of days with sunshine and I think they´ll open up :-)


Birds are a problem, but I think I´ll have to protect them with nets or someting like that. Perhaps i could borrow the dead bird my neighbours has hung up in their trees. Not a bird in sight there :-) :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.