Friday, August 13, 2010



I´ve been very busy this morning. I have bought new trousers, fire logs, found out the price on region tickets to go by train to Gothenburg and pulled out a tick out of my left buttock. Not a bad start of a day :-)



We have a small area where there grows lots of thistles, nettles and other plants we call weeds and this is a small paradise for butterflies. I went out there yesterday and some of the butterflies were kind enough to stay still while I photographed them :-) This is a Thistle butterfly.

I´m going to Gothenburg tomorrow to have dinner with one of my aunts and some other relatives. I realised that I didn´t have any decent trousers, so I drove to Skara to buy some. Since I was there I bought a couple of bags with different teas as well. I looked after a tea pot too since my old one is no longer. But they only had small ones for one cup and when I make tea I make a lot. I had the idea to go to Kvänum and the secondhand store today, but I was so early that they wouldn´t open for yet a couple of hours. I pass it every day when going home from work so I´ll go there next week instead.


I´ve never seen this one before, but I suspect it belongs amongst the Goldenwing butterflies.

The Thistle butterfly. It´s one of the migrating butterflires in the world and comes to us during early summer from the mediterranian. They lay eggs here on thistles and nettles and a new generation is born. Unfortunally they can´t survive through our winters. 

So I drove to Falköping instead to find out how much a region card for traveling to Gothenburg would cost and if I could buy it today. It´s valid for 24 hours and then I can travel how much I want those 24 hours on almost any kind of public transportation. It shows I have to buy it the same day I´m going to travel so I´ll go there before leaving tomorrow.


A False Chanterelle. It looks very much as the delicious chenterelle but has almost no taste at all. Lovly color though.

The Puffball is quite delicious when it is as white as here. We have a lot of them around.

But since I was in Falköping I went to the store that sells fire logs during winter and asked if they might have any stored somewhere and they had. So now I have six pakages in my woodshed (in winter that would last five days since I only use them for support heat). If it wasn´t for the fact that it´s rather hot today I would start using them now, because the humidity outside is terrible and it sort of gets inside too.


This is another kind of Puffball that gets atleast twice as big as those above. All Puffballs in Sweden are edible and quite tasty as long as they are white.
This is one of my absolute favourites! In swedish it has the name "Lemon yellow slime mushroom" :-) It describes it rather well actually. It has a layer of slime but it´s easy to remove and if You cut the stem it´s actually lemon yellow inside. Fry it in butter and it´s soooo delicious!


I drove to the grocery store in Gudhem on my way home too. I always goes there every Friday to buy what I need for the comming week. I like the place and it´s not especially expensive either. That is the only place I know of that sells seeds for the birds all year long. Otherwise it´s almost impossible to find that over here.


It seems to be a good year for Toadstools. I think this is what we call "Blushing Toadstool" (Amanita rubescens). It´s quite delicious and edible, at least most times. It can also be mixed up with other very deadly relatives so I never pick it.

The spots that most toadstools has can fall of in heavy rains, even on the red one.


The tick You wonder? Well it felt like I had gotten a small pimple on my buttock and it was barly I could see it, but I have a special tool to remove them so now I´m free from it. It can only have been there for a couple of hours, but it still feels rather creepy to find something living on You like that!


We have only two toxic Boletales in Sweden and none grows here. We have however two that can destroy all other food if they by misstake gets in to a dinner. Their taste is so strong it´s impossible to eat it :-) :-) This one is quite tasty though.
Some boletales are used as fake truffles in for example liver pate.

It has beenraining all morning and will continue like this for several days they say. But on the other hand, they told us we shouldn´t have rain now just a couple of days ago so who knows what weather we´ll get :-) Now it´s time for a cup of tea here by the open kitchen door. It´s raining like mad but the wind turns the rain away from the door so I´ll sit here and enjoy the sound :-)
Have a great day now!


I had to lay down on the ground to take this photo, the mushroom is really small. Just seconds after I noticed that I had placed myself just on top of an ants nest :-) :-)



32 comments:

Oldfool said...

I hate it when I stand on an ant hill and the try to carry me off one tiny bite at a time. Every bite festers.

Perovskia said...

lol..oh no! I hope you didn't get too many ants on you.

Awesome mushroom pics. Even the slimy ones :)

SpinMeAYarn said...

Aj, aj, aj!
first a tick then the ants!!!
ow, ow, ow....
sore....
lovely photos of the mushrooms though, i really liked them.
Iäve just been talking about Sweden to a group of 15 yr olds in a local youth club, they will be going to Sweden soon, to Mellerud actually, for a Youth club cultural visit,
so i've just been telling these kids that they might be taken out in the woods to pick berries or gather mushrooms, and then I come home and there are your pictures! Good timing!
Enjoy Gothenburg, we certainly did enjoy our visit there in July.
regards
liz in Ireland

ana_didi said...

Hello Christer ,
You get used to the bad. Everyday I got used to see your blog soon morning with my cup of coffee with milk. And when it has nothing seems to be missing something.
And when I got back now that I washed my tricycle, I sat here for a minute's rest and find out what you've been quite busy.
There should be nothing fun to have a tick in the buttocks, much less stay on top of an anthill ... But you write so funny it could I not stop laughing.
Just love mushrooms fried in butter. Especially shitake and shimeji are Japanese names I believe. At least I learned to eat and Japanese restaurants.
I liked that first beetle, I think I'll draw and embroider it :)
kisses and happy meeting tomorrow
Didi

Anonymous said...

Ouch! Ants nest. That must hurt. We had strong wind and rain yesterday too Christer and the wind blew the rain onto the porch and against the windows in front of my house. It was rather fun to watch but also a worry. The front door held up OK so no water made it into the house or in the foyer. Great lesson in shrooms today. I hardly ever see them here and if we do, they are poisonous. Have a fun train ride tomorrow. I love trains.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Oldfool!
These were quite calm though. Just bit me some but never sprayed me with ants acid. It´s the small things that We have to enjoy sometimes :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Perovskia!
It wasn´that bad. They let me go after a warning :-) :-)

Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Liz!
To Mellerud! I had a cottage not far from Mellerud for many years. A wonderful place for mushrooms and berries. I do hope they will like it!

I´m sure I will enjoy my old home town :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Didi!
I wouldn´t have written this if I didn´t think it was funny myself, so just keep on laughing :-) :-)

I do like shitake and shimeji. We can often buy it in the supermarket in Skara. So when we don´t have mushrooms in the forest I often buy these mushrooms there.

If You embroid that beetle please let me see the result!
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Z&M!
It wasn´t as bad as it could have been. They didn´t spray any ants acid, they only bit me :-)

We´ve had heavy rainfalls and thunder here today and it will most probably come more of both. I´m getting a bit tired of this now.

I love going by train :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

decareis said...

Hello Christer, already laughed a lot with her tick! heheheheh
Alias, you've made me laugh, one day is an appendix, another is a tick .....
And if not missing anything, you still have ants!
The superstitious on duty would say it was the "curse of Friday 13th! hehehehehehe
Have a nice day and a good trip!
Kisses

Susie på Stjärnarve... said...

Usch, jag verkligen hatar fästingar och har t.o.m. väldigt svårt att ta bort dom från Penny. Men vi har det där superbra verktyget som ser ut son en penna och det har hitintills alltid fungerat. Men....hon får inte så många konstigt nog. I år har hon haft 3 små nymfer som kröp på henne och så fyra som har suttit fast. Tre tog jag bort, men den 4:e hittade min gubbe på golvet - gissa om den var stor!

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Andrea!
:-)
Friday the 13th is my lucky day, this happened on Thursday 12th :-)

I think it will be a nice day tomorrow :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Tjänare Susie!
Jag har inga problem med att plocka bort dem från andra :-) Men det är riktigt äckliga djur!

Jag har också en sådan penna och den är riktigt bra!
Ha det riktigt gott!
Christer.

Sharlene T. said...

What would your morning be without adventure and interesting anecdots... love the ants, and the tick... so sorry, but very funny... thanks for sharing...

Twitter: SolarChief

Livsnjutaren said...

Wery nice pictures;)

caryn said...

Hi Christer,
There are no mushrooms growing about here. I checked. I think it has been too dry this summer. The thistle got very tall and has gone to seed. The milkweed is still incubating but there are lots of pods on each plant. The black walnut is shedding a few leaves and the squirrels have pulled off some of the walnuts. Summer is passing.
Enjoy your tea by the rain door.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

The mushrooms would go wonderfully in an omelette which made me think of making one for breakfast on Sat. but then I don't have any, so it will have to be with peppers instead. Ticks are not my favorite insects :-(

Chris in the Emerald City said...

Ticks AND ants, OH MY! And did I read that correctly that you have ants there that spray acid? Oh to be a child in Sweden and have to worry about that nasty hogweed AND acid-spraying ants??? What's next?

That is funny about the lemon yellow slime mushroom being good to eat. If you see a Orange Roughy (fish) on a menu here, that actually means Slime Fish. I believe it was renamed for marketing purposes years ago.

Have a great trip! Thanks for sharing all the photos of the edibles! Byeeeeeeeeee....

Chris............

decareis said...

But 13 is a great number, number of renewal and beginning, and the best ...... before my birthday!
Therefore, I renew every year, despite adding one more year in my life, that life is always a new beginning.
And live life!!

Cindi Myers said...

Now I feel all itchy.
Thinking about that tick!
Eeewww!
Once at work I thought at first that my hair was brushing against the back of my neck, then I reached back and I said, "is there something on my neck?" and one of the girls said "didn't move! it's a tick!" AAAHHHH!!!
I was screaming hurry! hurry! and they got it off me and stuck it in a jar of alcohol. I'm still freaked thinking about it!
(lucky for THEM that it was my NECK! LOL!)

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Sharlene!
I do my best to make my dyas (and Yours) funnier :-) :-) :-)

Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Livsnjutaren!
Thank You :-)

It is ok to write in swedish here if You rather like that, many other does.
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Caryn!
Dry summers no mushrooms unfortunally.

I am a bit evious of Your Black walnut :-) Mine did die completely I´m afraid. But that just makes it more challanging to make it survive next time :-) :-)

I´ve seen some yellow leafs here now. A bit early I feel, they usually don´t come until after the first frost. As it looks now the first frost is far, far away.

Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Beatrice!
I didn´t bring any basket with me I´m afraid, otherwise I think I would have made creamed mushrooms and put it on some nice bread :-) :-)

But an omelette with peppers is quite ok too :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Chris!
Ants can´t sting like wasps can, so they bite and spray ants acid in the bite. Hurts like mad :-) But I think ants all over the world does that, it´s just that some are worse than others :-)

One would think that a mushroom with a name like that would be terrible, but it is just the contrary :-) I can understand why they changed name on that fish in restaurants :-) :-) :-)

Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Andrea!
Yes it is Your birthday today! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

But fridaybthe thirteenth is usually a good day otherwise to :-)

Have a really good birthday today!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Cindi!
It isbtruly nast animals ticks!!
Mostly I feel them walking on me because they always touches some hair. So this one must have come at night in my bed! I´m blaming my dogs :-) :-)

I found one on my scrotum once and the doctor that checked me out afterwards laughed all the time, he just couldn´t stop :-) :-) :-)

Have a great day now!
Christer.

Cindi Myers said...

OMG!!!!
I just sat down with my cup of coffee to check my blog emails!
You should post a HILARIOUS alert!
I spurted my coffee!!!!
You are too funny!!!!:-) :-) :-)
Hope you have a safe and insect free weekend- Cindi

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Cindi!
I live to amuse :-) :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Wsprsweetly Of Cottages said...

What a wonderful world we live in...something occurred to me this morning as I was waking up...about life...funny how things come to you in the early morning hours as it is just breaking day... :)
Mona

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Mona!
Early mornings the brain is cleaned after the night, unfortunally that moment is way to short :-) :-) :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.