Poppy in my garden. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019
I love poppies. All kinds. These flowers are so beautiful. Some reappear every year, others just appear from nowhere. And they spread of themselves by seeds. You never know from year to year which ones you will get. Or where. But they are alway beautiful. And always welcome.
Pink poppy, Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019
Here are some pictures. All photos by Nini Tjäder and ©nini.tjader.2019
Cherry Blossom Time 2019. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019
It is Cherry Blossom Time presently. Once a year we all (or many of us) go to Kungsträdgården (Kungsan)( in Stockholm to watch and take pictures of the cherry blossoms there when they blossom as best. I’ve been there before for that, but missed it the last couple of years. This year weather was prefect. Sunny. Warm. Everyone was there. So were a lot of Japanese for some reason, and som buddist monks. Here are some pictures from this years bloom.
All this pinkness is overwhelming.
When I was done taking pictures I walk to the other end of Kungsan (Kungsträdgården) to have a short, nostalgic look at the tea-house where I spent lots of hours with friends during several summers when I was young. The tea-house under the elm-trees looks much the same as it did then. It even looks like they still have the same chairs as they did then. Uncomfortable ones…
The garden, 2019-02-16. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019
It is now officially the ugly season. The period between winter and spring. And the time for the pelargonias to wake up.
Snow is gone – hopefully we will not see any more snow this season.
Greenery hasn’t woke up yet. But it will the next couple of days as warmer weather has been promised.
It is still cold outdoors. One day it rains. The next it snows. The next it rains.
Or sudden frost and really cold nights that makes it next to impossible to walk outdoors on sidewalks and walkways. The green grass is about to wake up, but not really yet…
Gustav wounded. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019
Gustav, the neighbour cat, got wounded catching a fat rat. Gustav is fine now and healing fast. He caught the rat that for some time was stealing bird-food and even climbed the metalrod to get to the feeder. I’ve removed msot fo the bird-food since I saw him/her the first time. Bird with a tail in the feeder? No thanks.
Dead rat, 2019-02-19. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019
The rat is dead and went in to the common bin. Good riddance… Gustav killed it and brought into his mom and left it on her office floor… I am grateful that he doesn’t consider me being his mom so he has to bring me such gifts…
Mårbacka pelargonia. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019
With the increasing daylight, the few pelargonias that have survived the winter and the dark are waking up. Above is a cutting that came from the large Mårbacka pelargonia as it broke off from it when I moved it indoors in the autumn.
The mother plant of the Mårbacka pelargonia. Photo ©nini.tjader.2019
The motherplant has woken too. I need to cut it down soon and make more cuttings from it. It is growing high. Presently it is 65 cm high from earth up.
Bontrosai pelargonia. Photo: ©ninitjader.2019
The Bontrosai pelargonia – which originally, a year ago, was the top of Ulla’s Bontrosai – is ridiculously high, 75 cm from earth up. It too needs to be cut down, get a new pot, and get siblings. Any day now. I have waited for the daylight to increase.
The first springflower, a snowdrop appeared a week ago. I have seen the leafs of the crocus coming too, but so far no flowers. But soon.
I long for the real spring, warmth, more light, no frost…
Meanwhile when waiting for warmer weather I go 3 times a week to the gym. Above my gym group on February 4th 2019. Till in the middle with Anette our trainer had birthday that day.
And I knit (will return to more about that another day). Presently a multi-coloured cardigan from top to bottom. First sleeve almost don, second to follow.
I also visited the Sy- & Hantverksmässan, also called Syfestivalen, on Februari 15th with friend Ulla. I visit this fair whenever it occurs, which is twice a year. The above is what I got this time. The five balls of Opal yarn I won at a contest on the homepage of the fair. The six red skeins will become a simpla sweater when I am done with the cardigan above. This time from a Norwegian pattern that I bought on Ravelry. Looking forward to start it… I try not to knit more than one thing at the time and never start the next project until the one I am working on is done.
And meanwhile the jungle in the kitchenwindows is still there.
Across the road in the tree I see from my outside place and the livingroom the blackbirds sit daytime. I feed them during winter and have done so for several years. They always come back. They are fun to look at. I recently stopped feeding them as a mice had discovered their feed and I want to get rid of that. But the below are the visitors this winter. They normally were 6 in numbers but occasionally they were 13 at the same time.
Today 2 of them were back again since I stopped feeding them. They have to find food elsewhere from now on. The blackbird restaurant is now closed for the season.
Parthenocissus in autumn colors. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
Autumn equinox has passed and it is getting darker and darker and darker… and colder and wetter too.
Plants and trees are starting to get their autumn colors. Beautiful, but I prefer summer…
Sunflower. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
The one and only sunflower that I kept is in full bloom. It is an odd kind with several flowers on the same stem. The birds planted it.
Autumnflowers. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
The flowers in the flowerbeds are starting to look a bit tired. Some bloom their best in the autumn, and others are on their last legs and almost dead. The red pelargonias along the fence of the patio are still alive, but they do look tired.
Echinacea. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
The echinacea is almost done for the season. This (above) is how they looked on September 24th, 2018. The seed-balls are hard, thorny ones until they are ready to let loose their seeds.
Vicious fly. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
Some vicious flies that bite have appeared like the one above (called “broms” in Swedish, unable to find the english name for it). There haven’t been much flies this warm and sunny summer but they have come now. Some days the air is full of the small ones, and in the afternoon the regular house-flies often sneak in if the door is open. As weather is getting colder, door isn’t open as much as it has been though.
Rudbeckia fulgida. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
The rudbeckia fulgida (above) has been in bloom for several weeks already. It is an autumnflower, but it started to bloom early this year. Fortunately it still blooms now after several weeks.
Japanese anemone. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
The double japanese anemone is taller than ever and have a lot more flowers than previous years. I had a regular one here as well, with simple flowers, but it has disappeared. My neighbours regular japanese anemone is still alive and in bloom though (below) in our joint flowerbed by the parking.
Japanese anemone. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
Orpine. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
The orpines (kärleksört in Swedish) is larger, redder and wider than ever. It has really loved the warm and sunny summer it seems. Soom years the flowers have almost not had time to bloom before the real autumn weather started. But this year …
The newest flowerbed. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
The newest orpine, which we moved from flowerbed one to the newly redone one, is alos in full bloom. And also large. That’s why we moved it to here (above) as it was a bit crowded in its original location.
Rhubarb in flowerbed two. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
The rhubarb, which didn’t like its location in the box, has finally been moved to flowerbed two. What was there is now in the redone flowerbed. We hope the rhubarb will like it better her. Not as much sun as in the previous location. Maybe better to be directly in the earth. We will see in spring how it works out. It has company of 2 tulipbulbs and one allium in this flowerbed. No point in putting anything else in here as long as we don’t know how the rhubarb will grow. Or not.
Oregano. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
In the box where the rhubarb used to live, there are now six plants of oregano. Five of them have lived in pots on my patio, and one in the other box. I have harvested these plants and am drying the oregano indoors now. The plants are in the box just over the winter and we will see how many of them survived. If they do, I will move them to elsewhere.
Giant verbena with bumblebee. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
I have one giant verbena which planted itself from last years verbenas. The bumblebees love it. This one hung there for a couple of hours before moving on. There are still some bumblebees around, but most of them have disappeared by now. Normally we have a lot of bumblebees around as we have the kind of flowers that they love.
Japanese forget-me-not. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
A new acquaintance in the garden is the Japanese forget-me-not. Sown by the birds. Asked in one of my FaceBook groups what it was and got the name Japanese forget-me-not. Very nice flower. Got two plants of them. Letting them bloom and spread as they want in the hope that they will reappear next year.
The garden, 24th September, 2018. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
The grass is green again after having been yellowish-brown the entire summer. As soon as the rains started again after a brake of several months, the grass came to life again. But now autumn is here and the garden is loosing its colors. The grapes are harvested (and eaten). We presently have one poppy there in the picture above.
Poppy, September 24th, 2018. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
This is probably the last of the big poppies for this season. A bit late in the season for insects to find it so there can be seeds.
Mushrooms in the grass. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
Talking about the grass… After the last heavy rain, suddenly the grass was full of these tiny mushrooms. They grow in the grass in a quite large area approximately where the roots of the former mirabelle tree once were. Yesterday I ran them over with the mover, but some still remain.
The larkspur is blooming for the second time. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
The larkspur suddenly re-started and is blooming for the second time this year.
Helenium Moerheim Beauty. Photo: ©nini.tjader.20118
The Helenium Moerheim Beauty has been in bloom the entire summer and restarted with new flowers a couple of times. I let the seeds fall off it in the hope that it should spread. So far it has only spread at the foot of the original plant and not from the seeds. I’ve had it for some years by now. I love these flowers. And so do the bumble-bees.
Honeysuckle. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
The two old honeysuckles (which started their life on the balcony of my previous flat) have got autumn-colors. At the same time they both also have flowers for the second time this year. That is not unusual. They usually bloom twice a year. I had a third honeysuckle, a yellow one, by the patio, but that one died in early summer after having had troubles for along time. So I cut it down. When all the leaves and plants are gone for the season I will look for it. It used to grow there behind the orpines… (picture below).
Greenery at the entrance from the garden, September 24th, 2018. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
Due to some strong winds and stormy weather lately I’ve just started to move the pelargonias and the figtrees indoors. How much of them I will keep I’ve not decided yet. It is time now to move them indoors. Nights have become colder. It was close to zero centigrades the night before yesterday.
Autumn equinox has passed (on Sunday last). Autumn is here. Soon there will be no greenery outside. The light is disappearing and the season is getting darker and darker. I much prefer summertime… I already long for next summer…
Plants. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
Birdbath in the garden. The second birdbath in the background. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
During this hot and sunny summer (not ended yet…) it became obvious that the birds and the bees and the bumblebees need water. They got thirsty, like we humans too. I’ve always had birdbaths in the garden for that reason. Occasionally I’ve seen a bird or two drink from them, but seldom bathing. Now I’ve got two (2) birdbaths. But almost no birds. Stopped feeding them in the middle of the summer. It got too expensive.
Birdbath. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
The green one above with the stone in it (an island for bees and bumblebees) I’ve had for a couple of years. Got via my neighbour from her ex-husbands sister who lives in a flat and don’t really needed it. Ceramics, glazed. A little bird on the edge of it.
Birdbath. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
The second birdbath, above, is of concrete. Got that recently from my newest next-door neighbour. He got it from the previous owner of his flat who left it in the garden when they moved on. As the current neighbour didn’t use it and tucked it away under a bush and a jumping-platform, I asked if he wanted to keep it or if I could have it. He gladly gave it up and I moved it to my garden instead.
Both sit on top of pieces of old tree-trunks to get them up somewhat from the ground.
Do the birds use them? Not what I’ve seen. But the cats do. They love drinking from them.
Important with birdbaths (or drinking stations for the cats) is to regularly change the water in them so it is fresh and free of drowned insects. The green one I take in over winter as I am afraid it otherwise will freeze and crack. The concrete one I don’t think I have to take in over winter. It is concrete. Should withstand cold weather and snow and ice. I’ll leave it there.
The grass got green again after we finally got some rain. Grass is recuperating fast.
Hot and dry. Garden in the eveninglight 2018-07-25. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
That grass needs some serious watering… but we are supposed to use the water sparingly. So shrubs and flowers and such get priority, not the grass. Don’t want it all to die in the hot and dry weather. So far I have managed to keep it alive, but the garden surely looks tired. The autumn flowers are in bloom now, about a month too early.
The country as a whole has had (and still has) wild-fires in several places. Very serious because of the dry weather. Grass and woods are extremely dry and there is little needed to start a fire.
You really do not want to sit in front of the computer writing blog-posts in this heat. It is about +32°C in my work corner… in the morning, all day long and in the evening. It makes it impossible to think or do something there.
On July 29th the rain finally came and we had something like 28 mm of rain in 24 hours. Since we have had some light showers now and then, but the temperature is still high both outdoors and indoors.
So what do you do when it is as hot as this?
Not much.
No gardening (except for a short while in the evening).
No cleaning indoors.
No ironing (except when you have no choice).
No cooking if you can avoid it.
Neighbour and I spend the afternoons in the garden under an umbrella in the shade. Knitting actually and having coffee and ice-cream and a lot of cold water to drink. That is slow enough not to get exhausted by the heat.
It is just as hot in the nights even though it is slightly cooler outdoors then. But then there are the mosquitos… One would think that there are no mosquitos when it is as dry as it is, but there are. Plus other bugs and flying things. The last couple of days the air is also damp after the rain we had.
Temperature indoors and outdoors 2018-08-02. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
Even I, who love it being warm weather and sunny, am really fed up with this heat which you cannot escape.
Prognosis says it will get cooler and more normal temperatures next week. I’ll believe that when I see it.
Never have so many looked forward to rains, clouds and cooler weather…
Clouds 2018-08-02. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
Springtime, summer, garden. The garden in the evening 2018-05-08 at 20:05. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
Suddenly spring arrived. Fast. And then a weather that is more like high summer than spring. The light returned and so did warmth and sunshine. The garden explodes before your eyes and you can almost see how everything grows.
Alice and Gustav in the garden. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
We all, including the cats Alice and Gustav, enjoy the really early summer-weather out in the garden.
The garden May 9th 2018. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
Everything is growing.
Everything is in bloom.
Everything needs attention,
Who wants to be indoors in front of the computer writing blog-posts?
The garden in springtime. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
I’ve got myself a new sun-chair. Grey this time. The red one I’ve had for years I threw out in the autumn as it had done its time and was falling apart. This is the same model as the old one, just another color. Very comfortable. Have already used it a lot.
GardenMay 9th, 2018. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
I’ve got a new bow for the Engelmanns wine. Will look nice when the wine leaves come out. They are starting to, but you cannot really see it in thepicture from May 9th. What you CAN see though is that the plank around my outside place is no longer natural color, but black. The whole community now are getting black pigmented oil for the planks. Slowly we are all oiling them and they get black. I actually like it. Except that you see all the dust and all the seeds from plants on it and constantly have an urge to clean the plank… But the greenery comes out nicely against the black plank. Since I shot these pictures, both the balconies on the second floor have been oiled and are also black.
Gustav and Alice in the garden, Yin and Yang. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
The grass is getting greener every day… but, at places already getting brown as there has been no rain and really very warm weather.The hoze is out every evening for watering the plants and bushes, but I donät water the grass.
Colorful flowerbed, May 10th 2018. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
If I didn’t take photos all the time I would miss out on all the flowering and colorful flowerbeds and what is happening there. Flowers come and go and disappear really fast. The above flowerbed, shot at May 10th, looks nothing like this today…
Appleblossoms. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
The whole neighbourhood is perfumed by the scents of the flowering trees all around. Lovely.
Dandelions. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
It is also dandelion-season… as springtime and early summer always is. I hunt them in the grass wherever I see them and dig them u p. I don’t want them to spread.
Red currants flowers. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
The red currants on the commons are coming along fine, as are the black currants in our garden.
The striped neighbour cat. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
The striped neighbour cat from the other side of the house visits regularly. He also drinks from the birdbath… They all do.
By the birdfeeding. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
We have fenced in the flowerbed by the birdfeeding as the three cats liked to hide in or on the flowers, flattening them to the ground, when they waited for the birds to come… Intention of course to catch birds… Have put in lots of flowerseeds at the edge of this flowerbed. Waiting for them to come up. At least now the cats cannot lay on the flowers…
Springtime and summertime at the same time. This year the month of May is delivering and everything is getting green and flowering. It is a beautiful and lovely season.
Springtime in the garden. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
And Gustav is back sleeping in his high grass.
Gustav sleeping in the grass. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
Present carpet in livingroom. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
So, I finally got around to moving carpets and switching them between the bedroom and the livingroom. I thought about it for quite some time, but then when I fell on the large stone and hurt my chest, and after that got a severe cold with a cough… Couldn’t execute the switch for quite some time. Could just think about it. All is well now again and I did the switch about a week ago, all by myself. Had some help in the bedroom by neighbour in the end as it is tricky to move a carpet in under the bed at the same time as you lift the bed. Hard and sweaty work because it also included moving furniture in the livingroom (and moving it back again after the switch).
Carpets in the livingroom. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
The beige carpet started its life in the kitchen. It drove me nuts there because it was really hard to move chairs out and in from the kitchentable with this carpet. I then moved it to the bedroom, under the bed, where it has been until now. Lately I realised that it would be much better in the livingroom. In preparation for a new sofa it was time to mover it again.
Livingroom carpets. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
The longhaird wool-carpet I had in the livingroom, I moved to the bedroom. I might not keep it there. It is nice underfoot when you get out of bed, but it needs cleaning.
carpet, rug, bedroom
This rug is much smaller than the one I moved to the livingroom.
The rug in the bedroom. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
Carpet in the bedroom. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018
And yes, I DO want a carpet under the bed, despite the dust that collects there. Small rugs at the side of a bed is an accident risk. You risk flying away on those smaller one if it moves on the floor. So a heavier carpet, firmly stuck under the bed is the thing. I might change to the blue one I have in storage though. This long-haired off-white wool-carpet looks dirtier here than it did in the livingroom… That will probably look worse when I switch to my all white bed-cover (which I first have to clean) as this carpet is not all white to begin with.
I am happy with the result in the livingroom though.
Hans Grosin. Picture borrowed from his FaceBook page.
Hans Grosin, called Hanseman in our youth, was born on January 1945 and died on November 13th 2017.
On Dec 22nd 2017 I read the morning-paper and found a memorial text about my old friend Hans Grosin. On further investigation (Google and the Internet) I found out that he passed away on November 13th 2017. A year and some days since our mutual friend Elge passed away. The memorial text (in Swedish) was about his professional life as a psychotherapist and his house on Gotland (Swedish island).
On our last communication (via FaceBook Messenger on October 14th, 2017) he said, among other things, that he was missing Elge. And that he got tired and had problems breathing just by sitting down. He mentioned his lack of fitness also sometime in the summer and I recommended him to get more exercise. I don’t know what caused his death, but apparently he had health problems.
Hans, Ninna and Elge, 1964. Photo: ©nini.tjader.1964
Hans and I were never very tight. At first he was the close friend of Elge, which then was my boyfriend, and then the boyfriend of Ninna, which then was my closest girl-friend and later became the girlfriend of Elge after she and Hans separated. Complicated to say the least. Hans and I had a very shortlived fling some time there when our respective boyfriend/girlfriend left us for each other. It didn’t last though, but we remained friends.
Elge and Hans, Februari 1963 on the beach in Israel. Photo: ©nini.tjader.1963
In January-February 1963, all four of us, Elge, Hans, Ninna and I, went to Israel. We went there by boat and we stayed at House Bankier outside Tel Aviv by the parents of our mutual friend Channa Bankier (who also was there). That house was our basis during the months we stayed in Israel. We went on to a kibbutz (Gvar’am in southern Israel), where we stayed for a couple of weeks, until we decided to leave the kibbutz and the work and hitchhike around in Israel and visit other friends who also were there at various kibbutzim at that specific time. We then split up in pairs. It was Elge and me, and Ninna and Hans.
Hans on the beach February 1963. Photo:©nini.tjader.1963
We returned to Sweden some time in the spring of 1963. By that time Ninna and Elge became a couple and Hans and I went different ways.
I’ve been in contact with Hans on and off over the years. Elge and Hans remained friends and had a business together for some time. I spoke with Hans around the time that Ninna died, and later tried to teach him how to use his computer (he was very un-technical) at his home, then again communicated on and off via FaceBook and around the time when Elge died. Actually FaceBook created more communication between us all the last couple of years.
Now he, Hans, too is gone, just like Ninna and Elge. Of us four only I remain. And then a few others of the friends from then. That feels strange. That is the nature of things though when you get older. One by one they disappear.
Gustav and the neighbours female cat. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017
Where I live I am surrounded by cats. There are four of them just in my building, all four on the ground floor. There is one dog in the building too, upstairs, Jerry a Jack Russell. We are three flats on the ground floor and three upstairs. I love cats and they normally love me too. So I don’t mind.
The female cat of my neighbour across the hall. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017
The neighbour across the hall has two striped cats. One female and one male. They are siblings, brother and sister. They are both extremely friendly and like being stroked and keep on befriending ones legs of you pat them.
The male cat of one of the neighbours just outside my outside place. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016
If you have the door open to the outside place, you have to watch up as both these cats really want to come in and are very curious and friendly. I don’t let them come into my flat. My flat is primarily Gustavs territory.
Gustav in one of his favourite chairs in my flat. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017
One of the neighbouring cats is Gustav, 12, who comes to visit me almost every day. He has his favourite places to sleep in in my place. Two chairs and the sofa. Gustav gets along fairly well with both the striped cats, which are much younger than him. Both like to follow along after Gustav when they are outside.
Alice and Gustav, spring 2016. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016
And there is Alice, my neighbours female cat that lives with Gustav. She is very shy. Took me a couple of years to become friends with her. Now she is fine with me and doesn’t run away when she sees me and she even come into my flat sometimes, if my neighbour goes to visit me, or if there is somebody in her home that she doesn’t like. She then sometime borrows one of the chairs where Gustav use to sleep.
Alice in Gustavs chair in my flat. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016
But beware of Alice if you are any of the other neighbouring cats… She doesn’t like competition and viciously chases other cats away. Particularly female cats. And she is no lapcat, like Gustav, and it is impossible to lift her up.
Alice at the gate to her outside place. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017
Alice and Gustav are normally friends and even sleep side by side. But sometimes they chase each other around the garden (or indoors in their own home) and run like crazy (like cats do sometimes). They are both skilled bird- & mouse-killers. That’s nature though. They do not give me gifts of dead mice and birds. They give them to their owner, my neighbour. Grateful for that…
Gustav and Alice in 2013 in a sunchair at their own outside place. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2013
Cats are fun and lovely to have around. Except for the four cats in my building, there are several others in the neighbourhood.
Neighbours male cat watching over the neighbourhood. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016
PS. I forgot the 2 small dogs that live in the ground-floor flat with own access from outside. They are small and cute and they watch you through their window beside their door when they are home alone and waiting for their owners. They are smaller than the cats in the house…
Neighbours doggies. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016
Part of the livingroom with he corner I plan to refurnish. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017
For some time now I’ve been planning a refurnishing of part of the livingroom. That is, moving some furniture around to new locations in the room.
Part of the livingroom. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017
This is the wall between the door to my outside place and the sliding door to the bedroom.
My plan is to move the low bookcase towards to sliding door to the bedroom, and all the rest to the wall to the right of the bedroom door.
Part of the livingroom. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017
This, above, is where the two high bookcases in the previous picture would go. The TV and the TV-bench would go to the previous wall, to the left of the low bookcase. The picture wall would move as well. The chair would go into this corner, in front of the higher book-cases. The pouff on the floor (with a red pillow on) would go elsewhere as well.
Part of the livingroom. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017
The width of the TV-bench is the same as the width of the two high book-cases in the first two images.
The CD-DVD-shelves would stay where they are and the bookcases in the right corner above would be put more straight toward the wall to the right. They are presently angled.
Part of the livingroom. Photo: nini.tjader.2017
All the cables for the TV etc. would have to be moved. There is an outlet for them just inside the bedroom, to the left. Only “problem” with that is that I would never be able to close the sliding door to the bedroom with that solution. But I never close that door anyways, so…
Part of the livingroom. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017
With this solution of the furnishing, the sofa would be towards the TV, and not like now, when you have to lay down in the sofa to watch TV. Nothing bad with that though… The new place for the TV would probably be better for watching TV (and not falling asleep on the sofa).
Part of the livingroom, my sofa. Photo: ©nini,tjader.2017
What I would do with the small round table beside the chair would still have to be decided.
Part of the livingroom. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017
That I haven’t started yet with the refurnish is all about how much work that is… I like to have it carefully planned in my head before I start moving around the furniture and cables. To move bookcases you need to empty them first. They are too heavy to move with content in them. AND I would be without TV and internet during the move of all the cables.
I will do this one day in the near future though. I’ll report with pictures when it is done.
Crocus with bee, 19th March 2017. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017
Oops! I didn’t mean to take this long a brake from blogging here… Time sometimes flies faster than you realise.
Meanwhile I was caught in between various activities. Spring finally has arrived and all the snow is gone. For the moment at least. It snowed this night again but snow is now gone again. That’s normal for the season.
Larvae Photo:©nini.tjader.2017
Both the bees and the larvae are waking up as well as the spring flowers. The soil has thawed (more or less) and spring-cleaning of the garden has begun. Too early yet to dig or plant anything, but soon…
Gustav asleep. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017
Gustav the cat, my neighbours male cat, turned 12 on the 20th of March. He still visits me almost daily if he finds the door to the garden open. May he yet last many years to come.
Garden-boots. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017
The bench against the warmest wall in the garden is in place again and the neighbour and I and the cats can sit there when weather allows and have coffee and just enjoy the sunshine.
Knitting. Photo: ©nini,tjader.2017
I have taken up knitting again and again enjoy it. Presently only re-using old yarns from old sweaters that have been unravelled. Had forgotten how much I used to enjoy knitting. And crocheting.
I am also presently participating in an Instagram photochallenge called #fotoutmaningmars2017. It is fun. We have one word or phrase a day during March to interpret with an image and post on Instagram. You do not have to participate every day, but it is a challenge to do so and I really enjoy it. My identity on Instagram is @ninitj. You can also see my latest postings on Instagram in the column to the right if you are interested.
Will be tomatoes? Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017
I’ve also been busy sowing all kinds of things. Despite that I said that I would not buy any seeds or sow any seeds again… I’ve usually no luck with sowing seeds.
But here I go again … The above will be (if it succeeds) tomatoes of 4 different kinds. Three different ones in the pink box, and another under the plastic. Those in the box is an experiment with seeds from sliced tomatoes from the grocery store. We will see…
White geraniums. Photo: ©nini,tjader.2017
Now is also the season to tend to your indoor plants and particularly the geraniums. I cut down my only remaining white geranium, which resulted into 8 cuttings, which I planted 2 in each pot. The mother-plant is now smaller and got new soil in a new pot. With a bit of luck I will get 5 healthy white geraniums to move outside when it gets warmer in a couple of months.
Fragranced geranium. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017
The fragranced geranium which I had as a cutting in a vase for a long time over winter, also survived being planted in its own pot a couple of weeks ago. Originally those cuttings were two, with lots of roots in the vase. One survived being planted, the other one died.
I’ve also knitted two pairs of socks.… That was what awakened my re-born interest in knitting. Then there was one pair of fingerless mittens. And one pillow-case.
Hand-knitted socks. Photo.: ©nini.tjader.2017
All is well. Spring is here. Summer-time starts on Sunday.
I will not have such a long brake in blogging again… unless I get extremely busy with other things. But I will always be back. That I promise.
Ylva Skarp “art” lightboxes by IKEA. Screendump from image at livethemma.ikea.se
IKEA just announced these lightboxes with “art” by Ylva Skarp on a foil attached to the lightboxes. Price SEK 1295/approximately USD 145. The product is called FLOALT. Ylva Skarp and her images are popular in certain interior design circles and you often find her images in featured interiors.
Personally I don’t call this “art” or “calligraphy” which some do. Personally I would never pay SEK 1295 to IKEA for a lightbox with her images. Would you? I’ve always found her imagery overrated.
Images and “art” by Karolina Palmer. Screenshot from Leva&Bo.
The above “art”-images are sold via Leva & Bo, a magazine from one of Swedens daily newspapers. They are posters and art-cards and even pillow-cases. They are created by Karolina Palmer. Apparently they are very popular? I fail to understand why… How can images like these be called “art”? They look like something your child (or your friends child) would have created. And mass-produced to sell via the magazine. I would never pay for them. Nor would I ever put them on my walls at home.
Of course taste differs between different people, but some things that are sold as art, really shouldn’t be called art…. In my opinion.
I actually love art and am a real image-nerd, but these ones? No, thanks.
Image from Instagram
Some time ago this image of this bookcase/room-divider appeared in my Instagram flow.
I immediately thought: Where did I see this bookcase/room-divider before?
Well… Ikea of course. Their bookcase called VALJE. Not the same of course, but very similar though the Ikea model has a backside, the above does not.
Similar? Yes. I would guess that the price is far from similar though…
Ikea VALJE. Image from Ikea.
Recent Comments