Beautiful Swedish Winter Wonderland

 

This is so beautiful, I need to share....

It's like a fairy tale, we enjoyed these beautiful days so much.. . It's very nice winter weather. Daytime a lot of sun and a very blue sky and it keeps frosty. Nighttime it's clear, icy cold (minus 12 or more) and full moon. The only time in winter we can have a look outside. Mostly we look outside and see just nothing, just black. Like your eyes not working.

Now we really have to fire the wood stove to keep our livingroom warm enough in the evening time. Last week we have got a lot of snow. Even when it fells down, the nightly frost will cover trees again with a white paint. When you wake up in the morning, it starts a little bit clouded, but when Mother Sun arrives you can see the damp disappear. It creates a very mystic atmosphere. You can already feel the warmth of the sun, it doesn't feel really cold outside. If possible, I should buy a box to collect these days in. It gives lot of energy and makes me feel very happy. Probably because of the sun and the very blue sky. 

We have been outside and made an awful lot of pictures, all beauty's. We had a walk on the ice also but that felt a little triggy. The tick snow cover isolates the ice very well and harms the ice quality. It feels uncomfortable, though the ice will be tick enough anyway. It has been strong freezing for a longer time now. I cannot wait to share this very beautiful pictures with you, maybe you get some new energy too!

Maybe you also like this video? (oops... It doesn't always work that good on your handy)

Maybe you are interested why blue skies gives a lot of fresh and new energy to people. Some time ago I wrote an article about it: Winterblues remedies. 

Wintersleep in my Swedish Småland Forestgarden

It's like slow living on the countryside now... The winter atmosphere is magic. It's more light because of the snow and it's cold. We were very lucky, we had a very sunny days last week. It was -5 daytime but not cold at all. When you get one you need to enjoy it because it want be sunny in January that much. So we did and I like to share it with you!

One day we woke up with the old days flowers on the windows. What a beauty, so perfectly shaped. Just nature. 

All the plants in my garden are in a sort of wintersleep, like my Skimmia Kew Green. It is dropping it's leafs because of the cold. You can see it on the picture. It has been freezing -12. The plant drops down the moist back to the earth to stay alive and not freeze in peaces. It will recover when the frost is gone.  

That's the reason I decided to cover my Helleborus Orientalis (Julros) also. It can manage cold very well (but doesn't like it too cold and wet), but it's not necessary to cover it whole winter. It wil stay flowering next months anyway. 

I'm also enjoying the silhouettes of my (Miscanthus) grasses already though they are not that big yet, they are doing well. The rest of my plants? It is hard to believe but they hide away in the ground, waiting for spring. They need more hours of light (not even only sun) and higher temperatures (min 7 degrees) to come out again and start growing. I need to wait some weeks more. Time to make a planting wish list, a new garden planning and have a look for new seeds for next years. That's promising.....

Last year my big friends (deer and hair) had already been eating in my garden. This year it is a little better, or was it there was noting left....

Snowy Knutsday Småland Sweden

Lot's of snow, this is a good start of a new year. The real wintertime we have been longing for... Sometimes it's little cold, dark and snowy but much better as a lot of rain. I like to go outside, put my winterjacket on and just walk around beside of the lake and into the woods, making pictures and  looking for animals traces. We usually spot some fox, hare, deer and with some luck some moose traces. This week we saw a black woodpecker, not that often seen. We take care of the birds around our house and attract more and more species. 

Last celebrating days of the Christmas Time in Scandinavia. It was Epiphany (or The Twelfth Day after Christmas), on the 6th of Januari. In the The Netherlands we call it Three Kings Day. In both countries it's a day where you are free from work, no special celebrations as far as I know.

A week later it is Knutsday, or in Swedish Tsjugonde Knutsdagen (Formerly 20 days after Christmas, called efter King Knut). This is the day you finally put away your Christmas stuff, or throw out the Christmas Tree. In former days they called it: dancing Christmas out... Time to start the new year after lot of celebrations in the darkest days of the year. Let's go back to normal, if possible with the Corona virus traveling around. 

After al, it was that much snow as it was in 2018. Or if you want to know more about last years tjugonde-knutsdagen, Just take a look!

Goodbye 2020, can not wait for 2021

 

Just a little about the old year because it's not making sense to say to much about this year. The only thing I can say, I can not wait for the new year to come... 

What a year... 2020. What a beautiful dreams we had, a lot of great plans we all made... Old dreams 2020. Nothing came true. Most things got cancelled. Our lives stood still. We never expected it to be a year like this. We never believed it could be like this, it would ever happen... but it happened. It was very confrontating. To meet yourself. No one to  blame. Just deal with the things happening. Make the best out of it. Find out what is important for you. I learned to be happy with the small things (with the ones I love around me), go back to nature and my garden and just feel happy. Not only chasing money, buying more and losing your self. We need to respect Mother Nature much more, learn to live more in balance with Father Earth. Bye bye 2020!

Hello, welcome fresh and new 2021... New time for making new plans, new dreams and new memories, while Corona is still moving around. We need a little patience but there is hope and light in this year. We wish you all to stay safe, take care of yourself, give love to your nearest and dearest and the other ones around you. Belief it can happen, it will be better, never loose hope. We wish all the best to all of you, to be open to each other with lots of warmth and kindness. It doesn't cost anything to be kind and friendly and it can make your day. May all our dreams come true. Hope to meet you again...

For now... let's shoot away 2020 💥

God Jul och Gott Nyttår från Småland Sweden

Best Christmas wishes and a very very good new year filt with love for every one we know. We hope you can share the warmth, love and cosines with your dearest family or friends (not only with Christmas). It will be a very different Christmas then other years. Hope you try to be creative, to arrange something within the strict corona rules. Like we will do also. Think we will meet some people outdoor for a walk, or have a hot chocolate outside together, or maybe even have a grilling. Good luck!

But, when looking on the bright side, it's inspire to celebrate in another way you did for (too) many years. New traditions brings new energy too!

Christmas is coming soon

 

I think Christmas is coming soon...

I love the Christmas Atmosphere... the lights, the candles. The songs on the radio when you are driving a car in boring wet winter weather, hoping for some snow. Or the smelling in the kitchen when you are baking wintercookies (like the very Dutch Speculaas you normally eat with Sinterklaas). It's like taking a warm bath in cosines and warmth with a heart full of love. 

I have been working in my new created workshop. A place where I can create without any restrictions. I can leave all the mess when I want to anytime. The only thing, it's very cold inside. But when I'm working there I'm very happy. The only thing I need to make is a natural outdoor wreath. The one you see above, is made on a round wire, wired with steelwire. The one beneath is made on a strowwreath, it has more body, looks a little more massiv. Also OK when you want to have outside on a very big wall. This time I only used varietet Christmas greens, some (bought) moss and some whitewashed pine apples. So now my house i ready for Christmas... A little bit different from last year:  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. How did you prepare?

First Adventsday

 

It only takes 4 Sundays before it is Christmas Time. Last weeks we still have been busy outside but now it's time to prepare the inside to have it as cosy as possible together with the people you care about. We started to make some Christmas Decorations and most important to create some extra lights in and around the house. A lot of people have the tradition stairs, which we really don not like. We put some Christmas stars in the windows and burn some extra candles, it makes it already very cosy inside. You will need them the whole day this days, because it won't lighten enough outside. It feels very good to stay inside (except the daily very healthy walk outside of course). 

Below you see a very traditional Advent decoration, with the 4 candles. You have many styles, I prepared my own one with Christmas green. You start the fourth Sunday before Christmas (mostly around the first of December), every week you light one more candle. Just before Christmas you burn all the four candles. You see, we started with the first one today...

Do you want to know what we did some years ago at the same time? Just take a look. You're welcome for a sneak peak...

Grandma's Winter Cake

Longing for something heartwarming, spicy and sweet? This is the perfect (and very easy) recipe for wintertime, when the weather is grey, boring and it's getting dark early. You just need some a tasty cake with spices and whipped cream to warm you. I'm sure your grandmother would have made it for you when she had known it...👵

This ingredients you need:

• butter 
• breadcrumbs
• 3 dl flour
• 1 1/2 dl sugar
• 1 ts cinnamon
• 1 ts grinned cloves
• 1 ts grinned ginger
• 1 ts baking soda
• 100 g butter
• 1 dl unsweetened cream
• 1 dl milk
• 1/2 dl sugar syrup
• 2 tablespoons cranberry marmelade

How to make it:

• Put the oven on 175°C.
• Grease the form and put some breadcrumbs on the bottom of the form (1,5 liter)
• Mix al the dry ingredients in a bowl
• Melt the butter and mix it with all the wet ingredients.
• Put the wet and the dry ingredients together and stir it easily (by hand not mixing by machine) and put it in the form
• Bake the cake (low) in the oven in 40-45 minutes
• Start eating the warm cake... jummie 😋

Do you like sweet things? You need to try this one: Kanelbullen

Something to hope for

I'm so happy I have a lot of fantasy, creativity and interests. As a child I learned to use my fantasy and enjoy myself... Even now, when I have a lot of time for myself (because of Corona a lot of things closed down) I sometimes have too much ideas at the same time that I need to create some more focus. It's hard to imagine people get bored now because everything closed down. I know, for me it was more easy that time because I grow up in a smal village, for long time without any brothers and sisters and there was no internet, no mobile phone and no dvd in the car. I played outside in the garden or in the woods most of the time. When I was inside because of bad weather I started being creative. With writing, drawing, cooking, making lemonade, wine or cakes, designing houses, gardens or planning fantasy holidays. The only thing you need is some space, something you like and belief in your talents what ever they may be. Because when you like something very much you can loose yourself in it, you will forget the time and won't have time to get worried or bored. They will have to call you several times when dinner is ready....

This, when we have to step back because of the Corona pandemi in Europa (and lockdown everywhere), is a good moment to go back to basic again and find your talents, creativity and yourself again. Even in Sweden we have very serious rules now. But we live in Sweden in the woods, nobody around so we have a lot of space around the house and a very nice house to spend time in. We realise that's a very comfortable position, not everyone is in. We decided already we will start painting and decorate all around the house. When it's not possible to travel to our family in the Netherlands we will create a Christmas Home ourselves. We will prepare the garden outside as much as possible (depending on the weather), create new ideas or make plans on paper for next garden season. In between we bake our own bread and granola. And last but not least, we will go and sport a lot, inside gym and yoga and outside walking ans running. Because most important of all: be healthy (take good sleep, eat healthy and keep sporting no matter what weather).

I already started to paint some furniture I want to sell on the digital market next months. Last but not least, we want to make and finish a businessplan for our own small company for a open garden with small koffiecorner and plantmarket. In Sweden they call it "Trädgårdscafe" where you can have "Fika" (What's Fika) in spring and summertime and can visit a "växtloppis". We wanted to start it last year already, but then Corona came in between... and we stopped planning. We are not sure where it would go... and actually we still don't know. But let's hope it will be better one day...

Anyway, I will be busy next months. I hope, there will be one day finally, the world will be more normal again. I wish you the same. Good luck with finding your talents and creativity, it is worth it, because it will bring you lots of luck and satisfaction😍 

Autumn Colors & Halloween

Autumn Colors, now it's time to enjoy and fill your soul with the autumn colors and to harvest the year😄 - before winter starts. Last week I saw beautiful trees, with colorful leaves in strong orange and yellow... Like nature celebrating last days of the year. My eyes could really absorb the colors and it made me feel good. Untill this week I still had a lot of flowers in my Swedish garden (though a lot was eaten by the deer 😢).

Today I started collect some green and orange to make a nice arrangement for All Saints Day tomorrow and I felt the proces of rotting and melting away for wintertime already started. It was a big difference with some days before. It feels also a little like the end of the year... Days getting shorter and darker, weather getting more and more wet. That's not strange because because actually in northern countries, Gaelic and Nordic people lived with and from nature, with a Runic calendar (13th century) based on the sun. According this calendar it was the end of the year, the start of the winter. That's where Halloween (also called Samhain) comes from, the festival of darkness, based on the sun (solstice). Funny your still can find those names and celebrations today.

So the good thing is, only 1,5 month to go, then it will be lighter again and the days starting to be longer. Now it's time to go inside, inside your house, take some rest, think about last year (which has been very strange) about the good thing and the bad, for evaluation and make plans for the new year again....