My New Camera and a Ranunculus Bouquet

My new camera is a Canon EOS 60D, and I absolutely love it. It came with a 18-135 mm lens, which will more than do for now.

I don't know much about manual focus shooting, but I'm reading the books my husband gave me to learn it all (hopefully). There is a lot to learn, so I think this will take some time.

Fortunately, the camera comes with an array of automatic and semi automatic shooting modes that makes it easy to just dive in and get started taking pictures.

And it is sooooo much fun!!!

Ranunculus Bouquet

Bake-Sale Berry Pies

It's been raining for three days straight now. After way too many weeks of no rain at all, it was way over due. But my plan for this last week of summer before school starts was to go peach picking and raspberry picking. I had planned to maybe make some pies, some jam... oh, I don't know, just something fruity or berryish.

After a library visit last week, the kids had gotten really excited about a book called "What's new Cupcake?" and had begged me to make some of them.

So, rainy day as it was, and no berries at hand, we picked a cupcake recipe from the book called Bake-sale Pies, and made them.

The berries here are in the form of candy, m&m's to be exact.

We need a little practice with the frosting, and perhaps a piping bag tool would help too.

It sure was fun making these with the kids, but the desire to go pick some real fruit and berries still remains.

I think we might have one more day of wet blah weather, but maybe then, after that, we can visit some of the orchards around here.

Side note.

The man in the house peeked over my shoulder as I was writing this, shaking his head saying "No, no, no! That's not nature you're writing about." Perhaps not, but this is my blog, not his!

A Royal Wedding

I raised my Swedish flag today.

In honor of Crown Princess Victoria, who got married to her prince, Daniel Westling, today in Stockholm, Sweden.

I followed the wedding online, and it looked like a fairy-tail wedding.

Everything was beautiful.

The bouquet was an exquisite, all white, teardrop shaped creation.

Filled with lilies, bleeding heart, gardenia, cosmos, pelargonium, orchid, roses,

sweet peas, myrtle, wax flower, peonies, and.... lilly of the valley.

She's got good taste that girl. My bridal bouquet was all white too.

Well, almost white - it had some blue flowers in there too. But anyway...

My best wishes to the bride and groom!

Broken dreams?

Here is a greenhouse that I drive by occasionally.

I wonder what happened...

Not enough time? Too many weeds?

I cannot understand why I find it beautiful, when it's obvious...

... that it is not.

Or?

What's in a name?

The Pelargonium is commonly, and incorrectly, called a Geranium by us who speak English.

This habit of calling a plant by the wrong name traces way back to the 1700's, when a well known Swedish botanist, by the name Linneaus, grouped Geranium, Pelargoneum and Erodius as one genus - the Geranium. The three do share the characteristics of having a seed pod resembling that of a birds bill.

But, in terms of stamens and anthers, they are all different. So, French botanist Charles Léritier later separated them into different genera of the family Geraniaceae (derived from Geranium).

The three genus names were derived from the birds bill that their seed pod resembles.

In Greek;

pelargos=stork

geranos= crane

erodios= heron.

Pelargonium - storksbill

Geranium - cranesbill

Erodiums - heronsbill

Fascinating about these flowers is their nectar guides, located commonly on all petals, but sometimes only on the upper two petals. The nectar guides are the lines that guide towards the center of the flower. To see something amazing, click on naturfotograf.com to discover how the color-blind bee sees the flower. Their nectar guide looks a little different in infra red pictures.

If you have a problem with Japanese Beetles, you might find this research interesting that says that this plant leaves the beetle intoxicated for up to 18 hours after feeding on it.

I see a lot of Geraniums, I mean Pelargoniums, in my future for the summer. After reading the blog O so D, today, I got inspired to go out and hunt for some white ones. Just don't know what I should call them now.

Images from Wikipedia.org

Happy Walpurgis Eve!

Today, April 30th, is the eve of Valborg, or Walbpurgis Eve, in Sweden. A night I haven't celebrated since I moved to the United States. That's 15 years.

In short, it's an unofficial holiday where we light huge bonfires at dusk and sing songs to welcome the spring. To be honest, most Swedes have no clue as to where the tradition stems from, and we use this day as an excuse to light a big fire, and to eat, drink and be merry.

After all, most people are so excited to welcome spring after a long, dark winter. Who wouldn't be, right? Besides, all those twigs and branches lost to winters storms or snow now find a purpose.

Image from sv.wikipedia.org

One of my favorite songs that is sung on this evening is Vintern Rasat written in 1838 by Herman Sätherberg.

The song, it's original title Längtan till landet, (freely translated Longing to the country side) is so poetic and it gives me goose bumps every time I hear it. It has such a connection to the nature. I'll make an attempt to translate into English a little part of it to give you a feel for it.

"Yes, I'm coming! Greetings, happy winds,

out to the countryside, out to the birds,

tell, I love them, to birch and linden trees,

lakes and mountains, I want to see them again

see them again like in my childhood moments,

follow the brook's dance to a clear lake,

the blackbirds song in the pinewood groves

waterbirds play along bay and island."

Click here and you can hear the song and watch a bonfire being lit.

In My Blueberry House (click on her Google Translator) read how Sanna celebrates with her children who are in the scouts.

Happy Walpurgis Eve!

Sunshine on a rainy day

My birthday brought rain - lots of it.

My sister in law - she brought sunshine - enough to make up for all the rain that fell today.

Late morning, she knocked on the door, carrying a big tray in one hand and a beautiful gift bag in the other.

The tray was a seed starter with 5 different kinds of seeds already started for me. There was 5 tomato sweetie, 5 lemon-lime basil, 5 foxglove Excelsior hybrid, 5 dahlia victorian mix, and 5 giant white moon flower.

And in the bag, among several thoughtful little presents, was the thick magazine Easy Edible Garden. Filled with beautiful pictures, edible garden tips and mouthwatering recipes.

How perfect on a rainy day.

Thank you Susan!

A peak in to a Danish gardening blog

In 1994, Claus Dalby purchased a patrician house in Aarhus, Denmark. The garden contained very few plants and flowers, and Claus had no interest or experience in gardening. Then, in 1995, he met flower painter Anne. She had plenty of visions and plans for the garden. In the past 15 years, Claus has beautifully transformed his garden and written several gardening books, to which he is also the publisher, and now just recently opened his work and garden up to us, with his blog Mit Haveliv (my gardenlife). The site has a Google translator for us who don't speak Danish.

A longing

After two dark and rainy winter days here in Massachusetts, I have a longing for the opposite. This picture is from my visit to Sweden two summers ago, and totally out of place. But it is so nice to rest my eyes upon this field right now and dream away.