Pet-sitting

During the last week our neighbour has been on a holiday, so we have looked after her cat and her guinea pig and her cat. The dog was at her fathers place till yesterday, where it came home to her house, and we had promised to go for a long walk with him (his name i Toffee). the little guinea pig is SO sweet, and I love the little noises of calling for food. It amazes me, that she can eat two large carrots and lots of hay within a very short time - the carrots being much bigger than her little body. She really is cute and reminds me of my own two guinea pigs I had as a child :-)

Toffee is a golden retriever and the kindest dog-soul on earth. The girsl were crazy about walkning him in his line, and we had bought him some "dog-yummy" stuff for the trip. Taken into account that he was home alone, and we had never just walked into his house without his owner being there, I was a bit scared of his reactions. But he was happy and overwhelming joyfull, when he found out we were taking him for a walk. It´s just so thrilling to see the joy of a dog, being so grateful for a bite to eat and a walk in the territory. He lives close to a castle and a nice nature area, so it was a pleasure for all of us!

Aww, isn´t he just lovely? And so warm and faithfull :-))

Finally back home again with Toffe, the cat was waiting for its food. It´s such a strange cat, it doesn´t miaw like other cats, but gives out a sound like a grumpy "where have you been, where is my food, hurry up!" It´s absolutely adorable and with its own special catty-charm ;-)

Ufortunately, due to allergy, we can´t have furry friends inside the house, but do have three outdoor rabbits, that are very cute. But it was so special to "pet-sit" these animals, so we told our neighbour we would love to do it again another time. So quick to build a bond with these furry companions. And an endearment that will last forever ...

Summer holiday, last part..

Some of my best memories from childhood come from this little village in a part of Danmark called Mols (the bottom of the "nose" in Jutland). My grandmother lived here, and I used to spend part of my summerholidays with her. This summer I went for a daytrip with my own family to the village, and - believe it or not - the same atmosphere of peace and settlement still lives there, just like time has left the place alone and the wonderful nature too.

Isn´t it a beautiful view? The fields go right down to the ocean, and the sound of the wind in the fields - it´s so calming...

Cornflowers - like little fairies´ dresses :-)

Lavender, sharing its scent with us, and its awesome colour.

A "butterfly tree" so attractive to butterflies, many butterflies gather on each flower. The smell is very sweet.

I hope you, too, know of a special place, where peace and tranquility lives. Go to that place whenever you can. I believe that place, and what lives there, has an affair with you, as well as you have an affair with it. And if you haven´t found that place yet, I´ll happily share this place with you, so just let me know and I´ll send you the adress :-)

Summer holiday part One

We were lucky to borrow a sumer house in a part of Denmark called Djursland. As you can see it is very close to the sea, and the atmosphere is light and contained at the same time. Time for playing, walking, playing Monopoly - and just being alive and dwelling. No computers, no telephones - isn´t that what holiday is about, having space and peace to just be together and feel the deeper lives inside? Yes, for me it is :-)

My lovely husbond enjoying himself with a book - he simply loves reading.

VERY relaxed ... :-)

Blueberries we found near the beach - so juicy and healthy too, and perfect "dressing" with some icecream underneath ;-)

One of the beautiful sunsets, isn´t it just magical?
More pictures to follow soon, in case you want to see more danish landscapes.
Hope you´re enjoying summer too, and perhaps have had a wonderful holiday already, or maybe one to come soon :-D

Support for Norway ..

Yesterday was indeed one of the most awful days for hundreds of families in Norway; A norwegian man, a political extremist, had planted a bomb in a car in the middle of Oslo, the capital of Norway. It killed at least 7 people and damaged the government building and several buildings around. The man afterward went to a small island, where more than 500 youngsters were on a political summercamp. He was dressed in police clothes, and started shooting everyone, and at least 84 young people were killed ... so shocking, so terrible - no words can describe the horror..
So with this post I want to make a mark against violence, and send my support to the many relatives of those killed, and to Norway and the democracy which is a building stone in the country.
The picture above is from a place in Norway, that I have often visited. May the peace and strength and beauty from that place help to heal and balance the terror that came to take away. May God be with those in pain, and help them throught their worst days of nightmare.
.........................................

Strawberry fields ...

Forgot to give at title to the strawberry pictures, so here it comes :-)

Enjoying the abundance on this Strawberry field of Mother Earth, I´ll just let the pictures speak for themselves.
Going away on a holiday for a while, and wish all of you a wonderful summer ...

Stop, Oh yes wait a minute Mister Postman!

Ever since childhood I have loved writing letters!
when I was around 10 years old I had my first penfriend, and later on in life more followed. The letters at the time always started with the words  "Dear xx , I hope you are well, for so am I" followed by a description of what had happened in life lately.

When I was 21 I was at a Folk highschool in Sweden, where I met a girl from Iceland. We became close friends and I went to Iceland with her for the summer. Besides visiting her family and seing some of the amazing country (really!), we worked in a fish factory in a remote part of the iceland.
However, the summer came to an end, and we agreed to write to each other. And I tell you - for the next couple of years we were very regular costumers at the post office, where we sent packages and letter at least once or twice a month. And not short postcards or letters - an average letter would be 12 handwritten A4 pages..!

At that time I lived alone in a timy appartment far from my family. So when one of her letters came in the letterbox, my day was saved! I was kind of disappearing into an inner "cave" or sanctuary, where I felt nothing else existed, except from what she was telling me about. I would read the letter several times and in my mind already begin to concider what to write back.
Then, within a few days, I would sit down at my desk in the evening, light a candle, make a cup of tea, and sometimes make myself a small drink of Glenfiddich whiskey (bought on a trip home from Norway) and get ready to write her a letter back...Before I knew, hours would have passed, and it would be 1 or 2 o´clock at night...


(this letter is an old one from 1949 from google, so not one I have written)

A couple of years later I found a boyfriend, who lived in New Zealand, and the same kind of correspondance would start to take place with him. Only now I was even more impatiently wainting to get a letter, hoping he would send me some sweet words and tell me how much he missed me (isn´t that what everyone wants to hear?) ;-)

A funny thing is, that for some years I lost contact with those two friends, but have later "found" them again through the computer. So now we write notes on Facebook or write mails, but nothing will ever be quite as fulfilling for me as the time, when the letters were written by hand; It was literarely easier to see and feel from the handwriting which state and mood the person was in. It was easier to draw a real heart and smiley in stead of <3 and :-).  And the whole atmosphere with the candle, tea and drink are not - for me at least - so easily "reproduced" in front of a computer screen.

However - not to take the value away from the email writing. Because I doubt that I would find the time to write long handwritten letter - or that someone would care to do that to me -to the same extend  as before. But - at Christmas I will NOT compromise and write an email "christmas-card", and if I do, it´ll be supplemented with a handwritten letter or card - promise!! :-)))

Do you have any old or new penfriends, and do you prefer one type of correspondance to the other (mail versus email)?

Have a lovely and fulfilling weekend, and I hope "Mister Postman" comes by your letterbox soon ;-))


(letters found on google - wonder what messages are hidden behind those envolopes...)

Mother Nature

Totally inspired by todays post at Sunshines blog "suchlifeinthetropics.blogspot.com" I want to share a few photos taken by a fjord a couple of weeks ago. I´ll take more pictures during the summer, so I can give a better impression of flowers and nature in Denmark.

The first photo is to locate you in the area by the fjord, and one can see a little rosebush, where the roses later on turn into orange berries. I must admit I don´t know the names of the flowers on the following pictures, but their finesse, brightness and beauti caught me. Yes, the orange-red flower is called a poppy. Its flower leaves are so thin and fine, they look like what could be a perfect skirt for a flower fairy :-))

I´ll let the pictures speak for themselves, and by the way wish you a merry Midsummers Eve, which is tonight celebrated with bonfires all over Denmark.

A "cakey" weekend ...

sometimes life is hard and full of unfair dealings, where one just wants to escape and hide under the carpet. Part of our weekend was like that, when we were at a school concert saturday. None of the girls wanted to get out of bed, and particularely the oldest was not in the mood for playing in the school orchestra at all. In the concert break the Café was open, but when it was finally our turn, there was no more cake left!! SO - what to do? Well, I decided to make a layer cake myself when I came home, and so I did. It lifted the spirit of everyone, and if you want to get a bit of the taste as well, I can descripe what is in the cake:

500 gram fresh, sweet, juicy danish strawberries
1/4 liter whipped cream
a teaspoon of vanilla sugar
6 - 8 tablespoons Bailey Irishcream
10 macaroons or more (mixed with the Baileys Irishcream)
3 sponges

On the top: icing and strawberries

You simply mix the whipped cream with strawberries cut in thin slices and put it in between the sponges, and add the "Bailey macaroons" in between. Make it some hours beforehand, put it in the fridge, and voila!
We had 1/4 leftover for today, and it was even better after one night in the fridge, yummy :-)

After having consumed 3/4 of the cake (!), we opened and looked into the huge package, which our youngest daughter, Selma, had brought with her home from school. On the outside she had written "For mummy, For daddy, For Mie, For the worlds sweetest family". Inside it was an abundance of produce from a whole year in school: All homemade books, some of them with history, some with stories from the old testament, some of them with numbers and figures. But all of them with beautifull drawings and neatly written letters. SO much energy and love and concentration put into each single page - she was so so proud to share it with us!

So - yes, in the end the weekend turned out to be much brighter than it looked like saturday morning - all with the help of a sweet strawberry cake ;-))

Have a sweet and fulfilled week - and remember to find time for a cup of coffee and a sweet :-)