Where is winter?

It's December already and outdoors the grass is still green. I'm beginning to wonder where the winter is, are we going to get any snow and cold weather. Well, I don't mind too much yet that it's this mild, it means that I can go by bike to work and do some additional digging in my garden. I have a huge lawn I want to change to flowerbeds so there are a lot more digging to do. The only problem is that the ground is so wet that the soil clings to the spade. I wonder if there are any teflon spades and if that would help?

My cats are also pleased with the mild weather, both likes to eat grass and as long as the weather is this mild they are able to find something edible grass. I downloaded some new pictures to my cat album, one of them shows the Bengal male eating grass. The photos are taken today, the grass is so green, it's difficult to remember that it's less than 20 days til Christmas.

It gets dark early now and one of the pleasures of taking an evening stroll this time of the year is to see all the Advent and Christmas stars and candle-holders people are putting in their windows and the decoration lights on patios and balconies, that makes the darkness a little more bearable. I have an Advent star in my living-room window, I had to hang it up high so that the cats wont reach it as they are always interested in new things.

Imported from Multiply, posted 2007??

Summer's end

I went for a walk with one of my cats, Big Boy, this evening at about 9 p.m. and it really hit me that summer has almost came to an end. The sun had set but the western sky still had the pinks and blues of the sunset and while we were walking the colours faded away and the sky got a darker blue colour. It felt a bit bitter-sweet to remember that just two months ago it got this dark after 11 p.m., the sun is already setting two hours earlier now. I love the long summer evenings (as I'm a nightowl I don't see that much of the early mornings, except when I end work at 2 a.m. and the sun is about to rise), I like being out until late in the evening in my garden and still have time to go for a walk with my cats while it's light.

I do like the autumn too and the darker evenings that are coming, to sit in the sofa and light candles and read or do some cross-stitch. In the summer I seldom have time to sit and chill in the evenings, there's always things to do in a garden and I prefer to be there in the evening when it's not as hot as during the day. I also like gardening in the autumn, it's the time to plan for the next summer, planting bulbs, perhaps make some new flowerbeds and prepare for the winter. I have two apple-trees, one larger and a smaller one, the larger is full of red apples while there's only a few on the smaller one, it hasn't reached it's full growth yet. The apples are beginning to mature but I think (judging from last year) it's still a month before it's time to pick apples, but some have already dropped and I think I will use them for an apple-pie.

Imported from Multiply, posted 2007?

Cats and computers

As it's raining (again) I decided to spend some time in front of the computer, checking the mail and doing some surfing. My two cats was sleeping peacefully, but then suddenly they noticed that I was sitting in front of the computer screen and decided to come and check what I was doing. The female did a quick check and found that it wasn't that interesting and went back to continue her nap. The male on the other hand kept walking in front of the screen so that I had to try to look around him, which isn't that easy as he is a large cat. Then he tried to lay down on the table but it wasn't that comfortable and he finally went to look for a better place for a catnap.
I've noticed quite often that the male comes for a walk in front of the screen when I', on the computer, I don't know if it's because he's curious or if he's a bit jealous that I'm into something he's not a part of.

Imported from Multiply, posted 2007?

Snow in the air

There were some snowflakes in the air earlier this evening when I was out with my cats. Even if we had a cold spell in the beginning of November since then the weather have been quite mild for this time of the year, but now it's beginning to feel that the winter is not too far away. My Big Boy (a Bengal cat) doesn't like the cold, he spends most of his time sleeping on a pillow in front of the radiator but he still wants his evening walks even if they get shorter and shorter. During the winter he just walks out of the door and when he feels how cold it is, he just wants to go back in again as quickly as possible. The Little Lady (an Ocicat) doesn't mind the cold that much, she likes longer walks and it has to be quite cold before she turns down a walkabout.

Imported from Multiply, posted 2005?

The Beginning

Every journey starts with a single step it's said, and every blog has also it's beginning. This is where I start my blog journey on the world wide web, and as with any journey one never knows where it will end.

Well, it not quite true that this is my first try at blogging, I do have a blog about my garden, or rather about my allotment garden. I just hope that this try doesn't end with the blog ending up in cyberspace, as what happened with the first entry in my garden blog, the site crashed the same evening I began blogging.

This blog will be about my cats, Dani and Ninni, my garden and what is happening there, books I read, music I listen to, crafts I make a try at and much more (at least that is what I aim for).

The first step on a new journey have began. As it has stopped raining it's time to leave the computer behind and take a stroll (and dig) in my garden.

Imported from Multiply, posted 2005?

Photos and more

I finally found the computer cord to my camera and was able to publish a couple of photos in the Yahoo album on my page. I had put it in a safe place so that Dani, my cat, wouldn't carry it away and hide it as he likes to carry away things to his hiding place. Then I forgot where the cord was, but after some searching I found it and was able to download the photos from the camera and choose some of them for publishing. There are three categories, my cats, my garden and then some pictures of the cross stitch designs I've sewn. Cross stitching is my winter hobby, during the summer it's gardening time and as I can't (or want) to use gloves my hands are usually too rough for cross stitching, I don't want to ruin the yarn.

Now the gardening season is almost over, it's getting too cold to do much outdoors and what isn't done will have to wait until spring. It's time to begin stitching again, I'm stitching the design "Who's watching whom?" from Dimensions, when I saw it in a catalogue I just had to buy it as the cats look just like mine, spotted.

Imported from Multiply, posted 2007

May thoughts

We are still only in May and it's a Spring month, but there's already lots of early summer flowers in bloom and some are already past their prime. We didn't have much of a winter, we had some snow during February but not much and it wasn't that cold either. Spring began in early March and April was warm and sunny and many flowers and plants began to bloom 2-4 weeks earlier than usual. Now the bird-cherry tree outside my window has lost all of its flowers and the lilacs have already begun to look a bit faded. The lilacs are usually in full bloom when the school ends here in Sweden the first week of June and it's used for decorating then but this year I don't think there will be any flowers left.

I can just and just perceive the magpie nest in the bird-cherry tree but it seems as if they have been successful in hatching at least one, if not two, chicks this year and the chicks looks to be quite large already. The parents begun their nest-building quite early, there seemed to be some fighting over the ownership of the nest and my cats followed the debate with a great interest through the window.

I haven't been doing that much cross stitching, I've been knitting instead. I was hit by the knitting bug again and began knitting a cardigan in an alpacka yarn. The yarn is very soft and not itchy at all, but it's quite fine so it will take some time to get the cardigan finished. One thing with knitting compared with cross stitching is that it's easier to take a knitting with me when I'm go to my allotment garden to have something to do when I take a break from weeding. I use a frame when cross stitching and that makes it a bit more difficult to take with me (and the fine stitching treads gets caught in coarse gardening fingers as I find it difficult to work with gloves).

Imported from Multiply, posted May 2007

New Year's thoughts

There's just a few days left of 2006 and a brand new year will begin. I like the beginning of a new year as there's so much anticipation and excitement going on. What will the new year bring, what changes will it bring to me and to people around me and to the whole world? Will 2007 bring new beginnings or will it just continue in the steps of 2006?
I have to say that 2006 have on the whole been quite calm and peaceful for me, there haven't been any major changes or upsets for me. There were some worries about my mother's health but she's feeling better now and I'm thankful for that. My gardening have been quite successful this year, I got lots of tomatoes and I also got the first apples from the smaller tree in my garden. There's still much to do to get my garden the way I really want it, I want it to look like an old English cottage garden with lots of flowers and herbs so that's high on my "To Do"-list for 2007.
When it comes to the weather and climate I have to say that I'm beginning to worry a bit, it looks more like autumn or spring outside than winter as it should be. Last year we got snow this week here in my part of Sweden and it stayed until the end of March, it's not that common here. This year we have hardly had any frost at all, the weather is so mild that the grass is still growing and I've seen primulas in bloom. I can't say that I'm that fond of snow and cold weather but I do expect some kind of winter with snow and chilly weather here this time of the year.

Imported from Multiply, posted 2006

Autumn's gone and winter's here

The weather has changed suddenly, it shouldn't be such a surprise but this year it went a bit too quickly from autumn to winter for my taste. Last Thursday it was still autumn and I was able to gather what turned out to be the last ripe tomatoes from my garden. On Sunday I went for a walk in the Botanical Garden in Göteborg and enjoyed the sunshine and the late flowers. Then Monday came with a northern wind and snow, the storm didn't hit Göteborg that hard but in Stockholm the roads was blocked by stranded cars and the passagers had to sleep at the train station as the trains couldn't leave because of the snow and cold.

Well, now it's time to enjoy the winter as each season has it's own pleasures.  Now  it's time to stay indoors, to lit candles and cuddle up in the sofa drinking tea instead of working in the garden. I will have time to read or listen to the books I haven't had the time to read during the gardening season. I have a lot of unfinished crafts projects, cross stitch, knitting and sewing, it's time to make use of all the lovely fabrics that are piled up in the cupboard. There is also a time to make plans for the garden, to see what I want to change and remake for the next summer and to browse through garden magazines and books to get new ideas for the spring that isn't that far away.

Imported from Multiply, posted 2005?