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måndag 24 juni 2013

Magical midsummers eve

A typical swedish midsummer is celebrated with friends and family, eating herring and dancing around a maypole, plus for some, lots of booze.
Instead of joining all the fuzz, we fled to the cottage and had am amazing weekend all by ourselves. 
It was the first midsummer at the cottage so slightly different flowers met  us.

After breakfast at midsummer eve we took a long walk up to a mountain nearby.  First stop was at the natural spring were we get our water to the cottage. See the hose in the corner? Natural springs like this are often holy places. I wonder if the vikings held ceremonies here. It's special because of the almost round shape.
Further by on the path we passed a fen. I had to go to it to see if I could find any cloudberry plants around it (for later picking). I found them and also cranberries in bloom (pic below), lots of them.
There were also so many orchids in bloom, that was amazing to see.

Something that makes the wet land so beautiful this time of year is the fen cotton. 

It looks like snowballs hovering over the ground. 
I saw the largest footprint of a moose, this one had been in a hurry because the two "spurs" at the back are usually not visible in a footprint on flat ground and next footprint was 1,5 meters away.
Hunting season begins in october so the moose was running for something else. This is a slaughter place for the hunters, I estimated the height to 4 meters.
After entering the end of the road we started to walk upwards. I passed a large stone that had broken pieces and tried to balance some of them.

This is the stunning view after some walking, and we had a good way left.
The vegetation was a bit sadly very thick at the top. The other side of the mountain has a 400 meter high steep. You can see some blue spots between the trees, that is small lakes. 


By the steep is a small metal box were visitors can write a note about their visits. Johan saw lots of relatives from the summer cottages. The first notes were from 1960.
Of course we left a note and started to walk down hill. When I passed these blocks I had to take a picture of that place, there must be trolls living there.
After a quick lunch, we walked to the lake for some bathing and washing ourselves.
The day ended with a dinner for two on the porch. After that we both were exhausted and went to bed as early as 9 pm, yeah, ha ha, right, like old people. It is weird but one get so tired when we stay there. I have no problem sleeping for 12 hours.

Midsummers day rained away and the mosquitos made it a hell being outdoors. It was the warm humid air that woke them. This was the view from the table were I sat writing letters, playing cards and on my android tablet.

21 kommentarer:

  1. No wonder you like to escape there - it's so beautiful. Especially that lake! And you have a sandy beach - what fun!

    The very first picture after your yellow boots ... we have that flower, too (we call them shooting stars). We even managed to grow some in our garden in the city and they did amazing this year. I think they might have to come with us to the country. There are a few wild ones out there but nowhere near as many as in your picture. Maybe the deer eat them. :o)

    SvaraRadera
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    1. You manage to comment before I finished the post! :) Is it the orchid that is called shooting stars? I wants a very wet meadow to grow in of a fen.
      That beach is such a treasure, and the spring and all the flowers on the meadow, and the deep old forest....

      Radera
    2. LOL, I see that now - sorry about that! The ones under the picture of the spring. The purple one with the long snout (for lack of a better way to put it).

      I actually had to look up the difference between a fen and a bog the other day, just to see what ours is. I think it's definitely a bog.

      There's just something about a forest isn't there, linnea-maria? When we were looking at buying land it was all so flat with no trees. It's really not the same without all the beautiful old trees. :o)

      Radera
    3. Isn't that the cranberries?
      Oh I'm lost in translation when it comes to the description whats the difference between a fen and a bog? Is fen more a moisty forest? If you say it is a bog, then it is a bog :)
      I'm glad that I live here, the land is not flat and everywhere you turn your head the horison is lined with blue mountains.
      Next time we bring our bikes to explore the surroundings further away

      Radera
    4. Haha - maybe they are cranberries! The ones we have in the garden never produce any berries though, just the purple flowers. But maybe in the wild they make cranberries!

      I think ours is a bog because it's only wet when the snow is melting or it rains. Probably yours is a fen because they also get water from underground, plus you have something growing called fen cotton! This is just what I read - it's not like I know this stuff or anything! ;o)

      P.S. The other day we were coming back to the city and my husband was following me in his truck. I braked for a gopher in the road, and he thought I saw something and that's why I was braking. He looked over and saw a moose at the edge of the road. Which I totally missed, I was so worried about hitting the gopher. He sees all the good stuff - great grey owls, moose, fox! Me - gophers and deer. :D

      Radera
  2. What a beautiful place! No wonder you like to go there so much.

    Is your cottage up higher than where you usually live? If so, the elevation could be what causes you to want to sleep when you are there. Whenever I visit my mom, who lives at a higher elevation than I do, I yawn the whole time!

    SvaraRadera
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    1. I can't say it's much higher up more like upstreams from where we live. But I guess it's the calm silence and the fresh air.

      Radera
  3. The flowers are so lovely! I would like to explore a place like this.

    SvaraRadera
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    1. I'm planning to do some kind of list of all the plants growing around the cottage. Some of the other cottage owners has brought lawnmowers and cutting their meadows to short grass. They miss a lot of things. In beginning of june there are glow worms glowing in our meadow, it's so beautiful!

      Radera
  4. Vilken vacker natur, och trevlig idé att lämna anteckningar vid speciella ställen i skogen! Här nere har vi inget sådant, eftersom du inte kan kasta en toffla utan att träffa någon :)

    SvaraRadera
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    1. Typiskt för utsiktsplatser kring gamla vandringsleder. Ja folk är så sugna på att kludda dit "jag var här" så våran stuga är också full med gammal graffiti sen början av 1900talet i allafall.

      Radera
  5. Den här kommentaren har tagits bort av skribenten.

    SvaraRadera
  6. Beautiful photographs. What an awesome landscape. I think I have to visit Sweden in the near future - I want to see a moose, too!

    SvaraRadera
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    1. Of course you have to visit Sweden :) We live in a real tourist nest ;). Not far from here are a moose park were you can see them a little closer. It's not very often I see them, they are busiest in early mornings.
      I would not like to hit one with a car because they are so heavy.

      Radera
  7. Such beautiful photos! Your countryside is absolutely heavenly! I'm not surprised you slept well with all that fresh, country air! :)

    SvaraRadera
  8. vilken mysig utflykt! Och roligt att lapparna har fått ligga kvar där :) Ni kanske måste vara med till Böls kyrka :)

    SvaraRadera
  9. Looks like a lovely getaway. Summer is short for us in northern latitudes. We have to enjoy it while we can. :)

    SvaraRadera
  10. What a great place :O Nature, beauty and gorgeous things to see, feel, smell. Love it!!! A perfect place to find some inner peace <3

    SvaraRadera
  11. Oh wow, such a beautiful place!

    SvaraRadera