Time to say goodbye

Today it is time to say goodbye, with pain in our heart 😓💔.

Years ago we decided to enjoy life a little earlier as the government was planning for us. Because we also have to deal with Peters pain. Every single day. For some years now. We have also a difference in age. We were afraid there should never be "a later" to enjoy after work as a pensioner together. Now we know we did totally right. Last years we felt Peter health go down. Now we know the time has come we have to move back because of the healthcare Peter needs in his neighborhood. When we want to have some more years with quality. 

Do you know how it started in 2016? Have a quick look 😉 here. We found the perfect house, it felt like a warm blanket. We always felt save in this area. But at first we had a severe struggle with the Swedish bureaucratic system, actually we never got used to it. They had lots of procedures but mostly missing the goal. It's like we experience now before leaving. It is really a challenge to end your company per example. And it's mostly about nothing, no big issues but bad paper communication, keeping you busy for months.

We had to learn a lot and it wasn't always easy. A lot of things were very different on the countryside. We didn't know anything about your own water well or your own septic, having no collective facilities. You get more responsible for your own environment. All the waist you put in the ground or your toilet will end up in your drinking water. We became very much aware of that. 

I realized my garden dream. Being outside every day, sometimes also with very heavy jobs. I worked very hard for more then 5 years to create a garden to visit, without big money or machines. I also didn't need a gym anymore to keep in shape. I was totally in choc when -after some years working- the big machines came to make a new septic and totally ruined the front part of the garden. Later Corona disease came and we had to put all plans in the freezer again. But in these Corona years we were also very happy living in Sweden because we could live a quit normal life without too much restrictions.

Open garden and plant market

We kept on going. Finally in 2022 we opened our open garden, a small plant market and the garden cafe on the new build veranda. We joined the Swedish Open gardens several times and the local network. I loved to bake cakes and cookies every week. The gardening in all his facets, from watering, compost and moving weekly, it was my life. The plants were my children. I really loved to saw, make cuttings and grow new small plants. I could feel the energy flow in my body like never before.

We learned to live along with the seasons, with nature close to our doorstep. All sorts of animals. Being waked up by the cranes close to your sleeping windows very early in the morning. Or seeing them walking in our neighbors garden with their youngster. Watching special birds in the neighborhood like sea eagle, owl or a black woodpecker. Having breakfast ourselves while the squirrel is having one too very close to us.  

I will never forget the times I went out looking for Cantharelles, Or picking real Swedish blue berry's (not the American ones which are white inside) or Lingon (you will get it with traditional Swedish food). Or the days I made a short walk for a swim in the lake for the cooling down for  the day. Every year I picked 7-8 liters of black current berries and made my black current syrup. 

We met very nice neighbors, each on their own way. Some we helped with the mole rats in their lawn. With some of them we had a good connection, even without meeting that often. We know we could count on help when needed. With some of them we became good friends. We have had nice celebrations with Midsommar, a tapas dinner, a BBQ or just a nice evening outside. It is perfect to meet people who have the same style of living, in the same flow. So nice to live so close to nature. Only silence and bird whistling around you. To be outside from breakfast till late in the evening, it was a gift. We really had the happiest years last 10 years on the countryside in Sweden. Tack so mycket!

But now we have to leave and go back to the Netherlands because of Peters health. Maybe we can find some treatment nearby, having less pain which can make him feel more comfortable every day. It's better to have some family around us to help us and to have more healthcare near you. We knew this moment would come but is hurting very much anyway. It is very hard to say goodbye to your dream. We love the location, the house and the garden. It became our beloved home. We had are hobby's here. a way of living, gardening and traveling a lot. We were outside every day, working in the garden. We have been traveling around Sweden, Norway and Sweden as much as we could. Now we have to leave everything we love behind. Not knowing what will come.

 

Moving to the Netherlands means also moving to a nightmare on the housing market. We never expected it would be that hard when we left. When we knew before -what we know now- I'm sure we had made different choices. It is very difficult to find a (even) small suited payable place, but even more difficult with garden. Necessary for me to stay healthy. It's a basic for me because "some girls are just born with a garden in their soul". So we are very sad. We don not know how long it will take -we need to survive- to find a suiting house. So it's like loosing your home and safety too. 

For now we will enjoy our home and garden in Sweden as much as possible. When moving we hope to find a place for us where we can be happy again. Find a place we can call home again. We also hope I will not take too long. It gives a lot of stress, not very healthy. And we haven't got a lot of years left to build our future.

Thank you for reading my blogs all these years. It was a pleasure sharing our living and my gardening experiences with you. I really loved meeting you, being creative making new projects or talking about gardening. Or baking cakes and serving coffee. But you never know when or where, maybe we will meet again. We wish you lots of luck and good health for the future 💚.

Old winterpicture Lake Flyxen