Thursday, September 23, 2010



We had frost once again when I woke up yesterday morning. I didn´t need to look at the thermometer to know that, I heard it when my dogs ran across my garden. The car was covered in thick ice, so I started the engine and the back window heater at the same time. Normally I don´t start that one until I drive away, because I only have two cars that might drive behind me. After that I only have forest and bogs.


The night was almost free from clouds yesterday night. This time of year that means frost here.

The fog laid as a thick layer over the ground.




Suddenly I saw that there came out smoke from the door mirrors and thought that they were on fire! But my brain slowly started to work and I realized that there was no possible way for them to start burning at all. After owning the car for two years I now know that I have electric heated door mirrors :-) :-) :-) Normally it´s the first thing I scrape the ice from on my car in the morning, but yesterday I forgot that and since I didn´t know I had that I also didn´t know that they started to become warm when I started the back window heater either :-) :-) :-)




Now it looks like this on my favorite place. 

Here´s the place where all the big, old tree stumps stood. Those that had mosses, lichens, mushrooms, lingonberry plants and new small spruces on them. No more of those photos will be taken here.


We went out to my favorite place in the forest when I had come home and as I had suspected they had cut down most of the trees there. They had saved some trees in the end of the peninsula, just beside the bog and I guess they are supposed to spread the pine and spruce seeds that will become the new trees there. They can do like that instead of planting new trees by hand if they want to.


Most of the thick green moss was placed on this side. They might survive that the trees has fallen on them, but the sun will burn them down next summer because they love to live in the shade. No more shade here for a long time I´m afraid.

The way home. I wonder it they will cut down these trees next year or if they are allowed to stay for a longer time.

They have cut down trees to make a kind of road to the next place.

The island that most probably got "harvested" today. You can see some logs on the ground and they are placed in a small creek so that the forest machine can drive over without to much problems.


I could also see where the next place were, because they had cut down trees so the machine could drive there without problems. It´s another island in the bog, close to the "mainland" so to speak. I didn´t care to go there today. I´ll save that disappointment for another day.


But we still have places that looks like in these photos.




But we still have some old forest where the mushrooms, moss, lichens and animals still can live undisturbed. It´s one of my neighbors that owns that part of the forest and he has says he won´t cut that down because he also wants some old trees left. It´s in that part I take most of my mushroom photos. I haven´t photographed half of the mushroom varieties that grows there :-) It´s also a part that the wild hogs likes now days, so I usually makes some noise before we take our walks there, especially in the early mornings.


And I still have my neighbors part of the forest to walk in :-)

I think this is an old stone age tomb. We have loads of them in this county.




I got a package yesterday from Mona that writes the blog Wsprsweetly Of Cottages. It was a book with one of my absolute favorite stories, "The wind in the willows". It´s a story about The Mole, the Rat and their adventures. If You haven´t read it, try to find it! Even if it is a children's story I think most adults would love it :-) We have very few flee markets over here and I haven´t seen it in any book shop either. But Mona promised to keep an eye open and get it to me if she found it.  I love it! The book is filled with really good pictures on almost every side! Thanks Mona!


The wind in the willows by Kenneth Graham. Published 1908.

It´s filled with pictures like this.

I feel that it´s time for a cup of tea and then I´ll continue to reed my wonderful little book :-)
Have a great day now!


We all have our favorite places to sleep and this is one of Teodors. On the soil in a big flower pot :-) :-)

23 comments:

Kristina said...

Such a lovely place you live in! I like the photo of Teodor in the flower pot! My cats love to sleep in my flower pots on my front patio! Have a great day!

Kristina

decareis said...

Hello
It's always very sad to see trees in the ground. Squeeze the heart!
I love the Teodors
Good afternoon

Alen Trädgård said...

Fy katten för frost. Tur att vi fortfarande är förskonade, men det är ju något som vi tyvärr måste räkna med även här sedan:) Tråkigt när de skövlar i skogen. De gjorde de här också för några år sedan och jag stod faktiskt och grät, för det var så sorgligt att se "sin" skog förstöras. Tur att du har några orörda platser kvar. Ha det gott/Monne

Robin Larkspur said...

Your morning fog photos are lovely. In the photos of your dogs, they seem to be looking around, bewildered and wondering what happened to their forest. As a Wiccan, I feel the loss of your trees so deeply...it is a terrible thing to see the death of a forest. All of nature is sacred. I am glad though there are still places for you to walk, with your dogs, and your camera.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Kristina!
Yes, it is still very beautiful here even if they have cut down parts of the forest. If it gets cold enough this winter I´ll show You photos from when I walk on the bog too :-)

My other cat Bertil would never sleep in a pot :-) :-)

Have a great day too!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Andrea!
Yes it is, but I really can´t complain since I use wood and tree in many ways myself. But it is sad.

Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Tjänare Monne!
Jag ser frosten som hjälp mot flugor och mygg, så helt negativ är jag inte :-) :-) :-)

Visst är det sorgligt när de fäller träden, men jag använder ju själv delar av träd varje dag. Jag eldar med det, nästan hela huset är gjort av det, jag läser tidningar och en massa annat. Men det är inte roligt att se när träden fällts!

Ha det gott!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Robin!
To be honest, my dogs had a great time out there :-) Lots of new scents for them and lots of places to look in to beneath the logs.

I too feel a loss, but I can´t really complain. We Swedes have used wood for most thing we use in life. Most of our houses are built in wood, we heat up our houses, reads newspapers, buy milk in milk cartoons made of wood and so much more. It´s when it happens near by that we react. If it happens any where else we don´t think of it especially much to be honest. Sad really.

If we get it cold enough I´ll show photos from when I walk on the bog and visits islands out there where they are protected :-) It´s so beautiful out there :-)

Have a great day now!
Christer.

caryn said...

Hi Christer,
My favorite photo today is the one of dawn over the new garage. It almost looks like fire. Teodor in the pot is sweet. None of my cats slept in the plant pots but they did try to use them for other purposes.
The harvest doesn't look as bad as I pictured. Still it's sad to see the trees come down. I suppose if we didn't have a use for forest products, we wouldn't allow any forest at all. We'd put the land to other uses. That's they way humans seem to look at the world.
Time to make some ice tea because it's a little warm here. Have a great day.

Wsprsweetly Of Cottages said...

Christer, I am delighted that you like the book. I remember at one garage sale that had lots of childrens books in wonderful condition, I asked if she happened to have it as there were so many books! She said "No, and if I did I certainly would not sell it!" So when then little, though very thick, book showed up and was in great condition except a mark on one corner...I grabbed it...for a quarter!! I wish it had been perfect. I knew you wouldn't mind a tiny rub at the corner. :)
Thank you for menioning it. It was my pleasure to find it for you.
Enjoy your tea...and happy reading!
Mona

Wsprsweetly Of Cottages said...

About the tree's...(I thought it was two different posts.. :)
I saw that...and it made me sick! I don't understand that sort of thing at all. Not at all. I never have. I am a tree hugger and I don't care who knows it. I have already planted five tree's on Howards property in the two short years I have lived here...and have plans for one more. What a sad, sad, sight.
In Oregon and in Colorado...they cut the trees AWAY from the highways so people traveling through cannot see what they have done.
In Oregon, before Patrick died, we traveled to Oregon and visited the home of my childhood where I live with my parents and baby brother that died at age 2. The mountains in the distance used to be black with forest. Now...NOTHING! I won't go back. My baby brother is buried there...in Oregon. I am glad my father who was born there, cannot see what they have done to his mountains. He would have cried.
Take care, Christer. I am so sorry. So VERY sorry they did that to your favorite place.
Mona

jaz@octoberfarm said...

teodor is so funny! way to go mona! i love the wind in the willows. i also love all the mushroom and woods pictures. i am dreaming of your cool weather. we are back up in the 90's again. thanks for the stink bug info but nothing kills these things. the scientists are all studying them trying to find something to kill them. i have a very toxic poison that eventually kills them but it might get me first.

Chris in the Emerald City said...

Christer,

My heart is breaking looking at all of the fallen trees. But the only constant is change, right? Love the mushroom photos - keep them coming! I also love love love The Wind in the Willows - there is also Badger and Toad in the book! (but that is not where the title of my blog comes from, but I like that it lines up here, too.) I would love to have a copy of the first edition with Pan in the reeds on the cover, but I supposed I will never have that kind of money to spend on expensive books. Cats are so peculiar!

Peace,
Chris.............

Oldfool said...

I have my dog-eared copy of "the Wind in the Willows" right here. It's illustrated by Earnest H. Shepard in 1961, It's filled with great little pen and ink drawings that I love. I have read it and reread it over the years. My first interest in this story came from seeing the Disney animated film in 1949 so you can see I have a long time relationship with this story.

Anonymous said...

Christer,
Are you having problems loading pictures today on Blogger? Mine won't upload at all. I can't find anyone to send an email to and the frames look sooo different. I think they made major changes overnight.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Caryn!
My favorite is the fourth photo where the fog is in different layers.

I think it is odd that he wants to sleep in that pot actually, since he has used it for other things :-) :-) :-) The plant almost died :-)

It does look much worse in some places, but I didn´t want to take photos of that. But now I know why they have taken down the trees. I´ll tell You all about it later today.

I think that You are right, if we didn´t need the tree for things we most certainly would have gotten rid of trees long ago :-) :-)

I have hot tea by my side, because it´s a bit cold here :-)

Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Mona!
I love that book :-) and I think that it is perfect that it has a marked corner, because it shows that some one else has loved this book! I think that all of us that knows this story well would say like that woman :-) I think of this story every time I go down to the creek :-)

It is sad about those trees, but now I have gotten some new information that I´ll tell You about in todays blog. I wish that I had a bigger garden because I too love to plant trees :-) But nothing can stop me from throwing seeds and kernels when I take my walks in the forest :-) :-)


Fortunately most people follows the laws here and replants the forest a year or so after cutting it down. So there´s never any empty spots for any longer time here. But I have seen places like You describe and that just breaks my heart!

Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Joyce!
I can still hear the music they played when they showed The wind in the willows on tv :-) I´m so happy I have that book now :-) Now I´ll continue to try to find it in swedish too.

The good thing with soap mixed with some alcohol is that it spreads all over the bug and suffocates it. They can´t become immune towards suffocating, but they can get immune towards poisson. But I understand that they are truly nasty bugs!

Good luck with the bugs!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Chris!
The same here, but today I got an explanation about why these trees were cut down. I´ll tell You in todays blog!

A first addition of winds in the willows must cost a fortune :-) I wouldn´t dare having it here at home :-) :-)

Yes, cats are peculiar :-) :-)

have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Oldfool!
It wonder if it is that version they showed on tv over here. Like You say, it is ink drawings. This is a story that I never get bored from :-)

I didn´t know that Disney had made an animated film with this story! Now I just have too see that one too :-)

Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Z&M!
I haven´t tried yet. I know Mona had huge problems just some weeks ago. I tell You later if I have problems!

The help forum on Blogger is mostly a joke! They have a site where one can ask questions to other users that have had problems. They are usually very kind and helpful if they know how to solve the problem.

I hope Your problems go away fast!
Christer.

SharleneT said...

Love the pix, today, Christer... Sorry about the trees but know that new forests will grow in their stead... It's just so sad when they are brought down... I worry more about the little forest dwellers and where they will go... Love Teodor's nesting place... Still have trouble with you getting so cold, so soon... Enjoy your tea!

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Sharlene!
It just feel so unnecessary to cut down these big old trees. Even if they want the "original" species to grow there here after, they could have brought down the older ones during a longer time instead of just cutting them down at once.


Our autumn can vary quite much from day to day. This night for example has been warmer than most summer nights. I´m really glad I decided not to have a fire in the stove last night :-) :-) :-)

Have a great day now!
Christer.