Sunday, June 27, 2010



We went out an hour later this morning and the weather was as fine as yesterday morníng. Around 13C (55F) and a weak breeze passed through the trees. Now a couple of hours later the sky is almost totally covered with clouds. I´ve just checked the weather forcast for this day and it doesn´t show a single cloud on our sky here. So there must be something wrong with the sky! How do I fix a broken sky? If You know please tell me, it seemes to happen more frequently nowdays than it did just a couple of years ago :-) :-)




It´s almost impossible to see the little pond now. But it is still full with water.




Now my kitchen door stays open all day long. But I do put away any leftovers from the cat food. The Magpies has once again choosen my garden to raise their young ones. Even if this garden is one of the few with lots of different bushes where they can hide (this is farm district and only usuable things like berry bushes and apple trees are allowed here. They think I´m a bit strange :-) :-) :-)  ) I do have two cats and three dogs. That would scare of most animals to be honest.








But they are smart birds. Yesterday forinstance. They had found something on the ground that they wanted, but there was the problem with my two cats resting just besdie it. The two magpie parents then landed not far from my cats, making a lot of noice to get their attention. Naturally my cats started to follow these two obviously stupid birds. Second by second they came a bit further away from what ever the magpies wanted. When the young ones, that doesn´t fly especially well yet, thought the distance was far enough they flew down and picked the thing up and the parents flew away from my cats :-) :-) :-)








I can´t find any fish in my pond any longe, I wonder if perhaps Bertil and Teodor is behind that. The water is full of algies so they might be further down, close to the bottom, but I doubt that. So this week I´ll have to buy that anti algie thingy one puts in the water and I also has to buy new fishes. I don´t want a mosquitoe farm so close to my kitchen door :-) :-)








There were surprisingly many people that doesn´t eat bananas at the birthdayparty yesterday, but the more the rest of us got :-) I was wondering if I should perhaps make half of it as a banana pudding and perhaps try strawberries in the other half next time. I think that strawberries would work and every one loves strawberries. This was indeed a delicious dessert that I will make many more times :-)




Every single flower on this delphinium is this big. Makes it fall when the winds blow from the wrong direction unfortunally.



It´s time for another cup of tea, sitting on my kitchen stairs looking at the mountine I can see from my cottage. Perhaps I´ll see some dragon flies? Their season has started and I just love them.
Have a great day now!

22 comments:

Oldfool said...

I suspect someone that doesn't like bananas.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Oldfool!
I was actually rather surprised by this! Bananas has always been the most popular fruit over here. But it was their loss, the more there were for me :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Sharlene T. said...

I'm surprised the non-banana eaters wouldn't take advantage of all the much-needed potassium in them... that's one of the reasons so many people eat and enjoy them... and easy delicious way to get what you need in your body ...but their loss, because they are so good... maybe the strawberries will do the trick... absolutely adore the pictures, today... thank you for sharing... have a great day...

Twitter: SolarChief

Anonymous said...

I would say without questions the Magpies are smart to act as decoys for the cats while the young pick over some food. So you think the cats had a feeding frezy on your fish in the pond? Good hunters for sure. I can hardly make out the pond. Why are you letting the foilage overgrow the area around it? I thought it was a nice focal point for your garden. Go enjoy that tea.

Sharon Lovejoy said...

Yes! Dragonfly season has finally arrived. We had five in our garden yesterday. I love watching them.

Thank you for the images, both pictured and written. I love thinking of you sitting outside, kitchen door open, elegant blue delphiniums in full bloom.

Enjoy every second!

Love,

Sharon Lovejoy Writes from Sunflower House and a Little Green Island

Cindi Myers said...

The only way that I've found to fix a broken sky is to wish for the opposite!
Like, Oh I wish for it to be sunny today to work outside in the garden, OR
I wish it would rain so I wouldn't feel guilty about not being outside and I could accomplish some work inside....
Always works for me...the opposite I mean!
Hope you have a nice Cloudy Day!
(is it working?) - Cindi

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Sharlene!
I think it´s diets that makes them not eating bananas. Most people that goes on a diet usually avoids bananas, stupid really :-) :-) Those people didn´t eat especially much birthdaycake either. It´s bikini season :-) :-) :-)

Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Z&M!
It´s not my pond I´m showing in that photo! It´s the natural pond on the other side of the field outside my home :-)

I did see one fish later on today. But we don´t have herons anyway near here and even though magpies are smart I´m quite sure my cats fish there at nights (and perhaps all neighbourhood cats too :-)

Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Sharon!
Nice to see You here again!
So far I´ve seen four different dragonflies here. I do hope they´ll lay eggs in my pond!

It´s my favourite place, the kitchen stairs :-) Then I can see my pond (not the one on the photo above), several of the flowerbeds and tha magpies learning their small ones how to survive in a world full of cats :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Oldblackcatboo!
Yes, that usually works rather well. But this year it sort of has worked the opposite way, no matter what I wish for we´ve had cold and rainy weather :-) :-)

I think it for once worked great today. Shortly after I´d written my blog the sun came and it hasn´t left yet :-) :-)
have a great day now!
Christer.

Nydia said...

It always amazes me that there are people who don't like bananas. It's my favorite fruit, and obviously very popular here in Brazil!

Your corner of the world is absurdly beautiful! Love your Nature photos, they feed my soul.

Have a great Sunday!

Kisses from Nydia.

jaz@octoberfarm said...

hi christer....today's pictures are gorgeous! i am not a fan of dragonflies. i am scared to death of butterflies and dragonflies are similar. it is still a raging inferno over here. we are supposed to get a bit cooler later this week. i am watching all of the world cup games so i am staying out of the heat! too bad we lost. i just watched germany kill england. the reffing is horrible. enjoy your sunny skies! joyce

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Nydia!
It´s the same here, how can´t they like bananas :-) :-) :-) But You have ofcourse so many more sorts to choose from than we have.

I think the same about Your country! Brazil is one of the countries I have to visit before I die! The rainforest up north and the cooler areas down south. I just have to win the lottery first :-) :-) :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Joyce!
That heat over at Yours has stayed a long time now! Since winter it feels :-)

I love them both, dragonflies and butterflies. But don´t You have dragonflies? I mean with Your ponds it must be heaven for them.

I´m sorry about Your team! They and Denmark were my favourites and now both are gone. I also saw Germany slaughter England. I can´t understand how they could miss that goal??? It would have been a totally different game if they hadn´t done that misstake.
Take care in the heat now!
Christer.

Nydia said...

Hi again, Christen!

Thanks for your sweet words on my son's dreamboard. It's the following: every Full Moon (for us pagans, a very special and powerful Moon) we create, with collage, drawing, poem, or any other form of expression, a representation of what we wish for the upcoming month, our desires, our dreams, and we "show" it to the Universe. It's a way of focusing our intentions and learning to visualize them for a better achievement, let's say.
It's ben a long time since we last participated this, and this month, Lucas decided to join it again, which was delightful to me. I leave him free to choose what he wants without influencing him.
If you're still curious about it, there's a link to click on the word "Full Moon Dreamboard" that leads you to the main page.

Kisses!

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi nydia!
Interesting!
But I think we all can agree, what ever faith we have, that full moons are powerful. Many of us has problems sleeping because of it forinstance.

I think anyone could benefit by doing a dreambord. Doesn´t matter what faith we have. We just show it to our god.

Aren´t we all påagans in the eyes of people with other religions :-) May I ask what beliefs You have? I´m christian, but I never look down on people with other believes. I think we all can learn from each other and I think we must do so if we are going to survive on this little planet of ours!

Thanks for the info!
Christer.

Anonymous said...

WOW... so many questions to answer. To fix the sky you first need a 'Sky Hook' so you can hold it still. after that i'm not sure ;-]
Pond algae is needed if you have fish. THey eat it. Most likely you had too much algae (more than they can eat) and the algae used up all the oxygen and they sufficated (yes they can). Try an aerating pump. Make it look like you have a fountain, and gets oxygen back in the water. Also it will clear up some of the algae. If you know someone with a 'disolved O2 meter' (not your normal household item i admit) have them check the O2 level before you put in any fish.
I like your thought that everyone is a paegan if you don't believe as they do. I like some of the natural Druid ways of my ancesters, but consider myself a 'non-denominational Christian'. I have a problem with organized religions that pay more attention to the material stuff than the spiritual stuff.
OK, off to BBQ a chicken!!!!

Nydia said...

Darn, I guess I id something wrong and my reply didn't show up!...

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Christer, no need to try and "fix" the sky as it looked just beautiful in the posted photos. Cloudy and overcast days always show more beauty it seems than ones with just clear blue skies. Enjoyed the morning walk and photos. Imagine people NOT liking banannas. We put them in our breakfast smoothies at least 3 times a week!

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Grenville!
Darn it, I can´t find my sky hook :-) :-) :-)

There´s to much nutrition in my little pond I´m afraid. I planted most things in it late last year and early this and there´s also nutrition put into the soil. So there is absolutly to much algia in the pond. I´ll lift the hose that the water comes in from the filter, so it will fall into the pond like a small water fall.

I think many people actually thinks that all other religioins are paganism, what ever religion they may have themselves. I like tha way most "pagans" care for nature for instance, something christians tends to forget. I think we all can learn from each other.
I hope th BBQ turned out great!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Nydia!
I think Blogger has some problems, because that happens quite often nowdays. I´m a bit tired of that now.
But better luck next time :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Beatrice!
The sky was really beautiful when I took those photo´s, then it became completely grey. But after that the sun broke through and the day became really wonderful :-)

I just can´t understand not liking bananas? I think they might be broken :-) :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.