100th post and Giveaway!

It's my 100th post

so in great blog tradition

I will have a giveaway.

My first post was in January 2007.
It's taken a while to get here!
Initially I had set up the blog to keep in touch with family and friends.

I thought it was a good way of showing them our new life here in Sweden.

Except I didn't tell anyone about it!

People asked us

'Why Sweden?'

This blog I suppose

aims to answer that question.

It's really a photo journal

of our day to day living.

I often wonder whether to publish a post

because each day is much like the one that went before.

We live in a forest,

Our nearest neighbour is 200 hundred yards up the track.

Some days we feel that we could be the last people on earth
because we haven't seen anyone for days,

literally.

When we sit outside on our terrace,

it is very quiet.

There is only the sound of the birds,

or sometimes the sound of the wind in the trees.

Hardly any aircraft travel overhead,

and traffic noise is only heard

occasionally.

Perhaps when the wind is blowing in the right, (wrong) direction.

Mike has told lots of our friends about my blog now.

And I know they call in to see what we're up to

or maybe it's just to see what the weather is up to in Sweden!

My daughter told me last week that she looks at my blog,

which I'm very pleased about.

I enjoy my trips into Blogworld.
I have made a lot of friends here.

Important when so far away from

family and friends at home.

So still without my camera

I will show what I have on offer for my giveaway.

I think I can manage with photos that I took before I dropped the camera.

I have been making some ATC's (artist trading cards),

from some felt I made last year,

which I embroidered.

I titled them

'English Garden in a Swedish Forest'.

I had some felt left so keeping the same size as an ATC

(two and a half inches by three and a half inches),

I have one to giveaway,

similiar to the ones shown here.

a heart,

you can just see one here

peeking out

but there's more in my side bar.

a hexagonal pincushion,

similiar to the one here, but smaller, and dottier.

some ribbons I bought-

one of a Dalarna horse,

and one blue and yellow (symbolising the Swedish flag).

All that that you need to do if you want to enter the giveaway
is to leave a comment here.
I will leave it open for a week,
until Monday 28th April 9am CET time

when I will pick one winner.

Please leave a link so I can contact you if I pick your name out of the hat.

Now I'll just go and find a hat!

Oh, and a Happy Birthday to my son.
Twenty three years old today!

Well that should be Sunday.

It has taken me that long to post this!

Best of luck!

Edited to add that the giveaway is international.

Falling

It's been a bit windy here over the weekend, and it's been blowing the leaves off the trees. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get any photos of the leaves being blown off the trees which was a shame as it was like snow when they fell.






This tree reminds me of a ballerina somehow. Perhaps because of it's upright posture and it's outstretched branches, as though it's twirling round. And in twirling round it's shaken all it's leaves loose.

This is taken from the same spot but looking towards the forest.

Brown grasses over by the barn.

I think I like this picture not only for the blue sky but for the difference in the colour of the two trees.

The leaves on the trees were n't the only things that were falling down. On Friday whilst out with the dogs for their first walk of the day I took a tumble. I had all 3 dogs on leads walking through the forest. Jewel had stopped for a moment and when she resumed her walk, she didn't carry on walking but launched herself off into the air and then lurched forward taking me with her. She does this from time to time, I think she just gets excited. Mike nicknames her exocet as she is like a missile when she does this. Only this time, being early in the morning and lost in my thoughts as to how I was going to spend the day, she took me by surprise. I was stood on a small rise and had further to fall. I landed on some soft peaty earth but my left hand was doubled up under me and quite painful. Jewel had broke free from my grasp and was stood a little way off looking a bit unsure, she'd probably got a shock at me falling over and yelling out. I gathered up the leads as best I could and hobbled back to the house. Fortunately we had not got far. Back at the house I nursed my wrist wrapping it in a cold compress and then used a towel as a bandage. Eventually the pain eased, but I was left unable to do very much for the rest of the day. So any plans I had been making were left undone. I spent the day feeling sorry for myself with just the dogs for company and no one else to help out. Just the smallest everyday things proved harder and slower to do. Still I was able to loose myself in Blogland.

However today I'm on the mend and I even managed to make a coffee cake with the help of my Robot Chef.

Well I needed a tasty treat!

I've even managed to use my left hand to help type this post, but not without some discomfort. Time to call a halt though. Tomorrow I will try to drive the car. I'm not sure how I will manage to change gear. But I need to be able to drive on Wednesday so I can go to the airport and collect my daughter, son and grandson who are coming to stay for a week. I'm looking forward to having them here.

Beach Daze

Took the title from my daughters Facebook page after spending a beautiful afternoon at the beach with my daughter, grandson and son.

The beach was quite busy, mainly with young people having fun, playing ball, swimming, surfing, throwing each other into the sea. We were a bit more sedate. My son was tempted to have a swim but didn't. My grandson was intent on digging holes. He's keen to give orders to others, giving out tools and telling us to dig. We dug.

He then collected water to fill the hole. Which of course was a never ending task as the water seeped away. But as the tide was coming in, the sea eventually did its duty and filled the hole with water and sand. A good learning exercise for my grandson.

My daughter took photos and between us we took 193! Digital photography is one of the great things of the modern age as I love taking photos.

So does my daughter.

Grandmother and Grandson taking a look at the sea.

My son has fond memories of days out on this beach when he was little.

I'm sure my grandson will too.

A pocketful of sand

Collected the children; son, daughter and grandson and chased the sun to a northern beach. We ran up and down sand dunes. It had got windy and cloudy and we were feeling the cold, so it was a good way to keep warm. It was a safe place for the 3 year old to learn what his body can do and triumph at reaching a high place on his own. It wasn't easy. On the way he collected a pocketful of sand, (unintentionally).

Eventually the wind and the clouds chased us away.

But not before my daughter had given me Iggy the Owl that she had made. I love the colours she has used and the details. She has been busy this week doing some hand sewing and has made a number of fun creatures and one impressive rocket. It's a shame I don't have photos of them all because they're all lovely and she did the patterns free hand. She has asked for a sewing machine for her birthday and wants me to show her how to sew before I go to Sweden. She wasn't really interested when she was younger if I remember rightly. So it's great that she's taking an interest now. I am in the process of finishing off a dress for her. It's years since I've done any dressmaking and I've quite enjoyed it, except that the material she chose was slippery and therefore not the easiest to work with.

I haven't seen them yet, but the cygnets have hatched! We've been waiting and wondering when they would appear. I'm looking forward to seeing them. I hope I get some good photos.