Gurgle?? Silence is golden??!!

Goodmorning!!

Yesterday was a most troublesome day, and confusing.

We went to town, that is, the somewhat larger town out west, to prepare me for the somewhat frightening eyesurgery the optician had councelled me to do. 
Slightly nervous we had lunch , did some shopping and up to the clinic. This was my first contact with the actual doctor and his nurses.  Eyecontrol wasn't especially good, I couldn't read anything !  They gave me those horrid drops that makes the pupil grow and ouch how stingy that was!!  
Right, the doctor greeted me, complete with surgeryhat, and examined me by throwing cascades of sunlight into my eyes and telling me to keep eyes wide open......
Eventually he sad that the cataract wasn't as bad as the optician had thought, he wanted me to get new glasses and wait a couple of years, if it didn't get worse more rapidly.
Alright, first I had a shock at the optician some weeks ago but I have come to terms with it, telling my friends about it and asking for moral support.
Now I had another shock and met my husband in the waitingroom with face filled with mixed emotions. So, back to the optician, select new frames, seeing my bankaccount shrink, and out in the painful sunlight. And no, I didn't select any coloured frames, my personality is far too reclusive...no actually, I haven't got the courage to be bold.
Still, I am a bit relieved, I did fear for that surgery. I should be ashamed really, for many people a surgery like that is beyond reach, but here it comes with the healthinsurance.

Back home, I had hoped that frustrating situation concerning the blog, was over! But no. Only those bloggers that have a commentarea demanding name/URL or captchas , are available to me . My blogname, Fairtrader, or FT ....., isn't valid anymore.  So, if you by any chance notice that there are no comments from me, Google has a thorn in its side for me! 
With any luck, this problem is gone with a Gurgle+ before I know it. Meanwhile,  I will drop in and take part of your interesting blogs and Perpetuas sermon, in complete silence.
Silence is golden.     But not on my blog!!!

The truth of the free of heart and mind are kept locked up in the vaults of darkness.

                         But that lock is not enough for those who seek, they will find a way. That lock can't
                       keep the truth , because life is in the truth, death lurks in the vault. And death is
                       defeated.

For the truth of life and death is still obvious to the eyes of those who live in the light. That brings hope. And hope is needed these days.

           Darkness can't win over Light, I wish we would dare to believe it!!

Its funny how things can look beautiful when in the light, that goes for people too!
Even greater when people are being lit up from inside, that is blessed!!

                         A blessed day to you all!!

The badhipdestructive???

Goodevening!!

Is it just me or have the lot of you changed the access to your blogs? I can't comment on anything, it seems that I now have to choose an ID and I never had to do that before.  None of the options seems to work for my part , I'm directed or rejected.
What am I suppose to do???
I want to keep my nice and interesting bloggerfriends and make my idle comments.

Please please, let me back in, I promise to be polite and behave like someone from the UK, not like the raging Viking you were telling us about, Mel!!

Live long and prosper, I come in peace,  please do not be alarmed!!

The horsechestnut is opening up, these spiky fruits are good for preaching actually.
Which reminds me of todays sermon in Prague, hope it went well Perpetua, I'll tune in!!!

Here we celebrated sunday mass this afternoon,  together with our rural dean who is actually a woman. This is very common in Sweden, we have woman bishops as well of course!

The birch is actually turning yellow, so autumn is approaching although temperature is still at 18 degrees celcius.

While I'm at it I might as well tell you that we had a large service in town today, sundaymass for our seven different parishes around here, with the focus on deacons and their work. We were about a hundred singers in the choir, plus 4 strings and the piano.  We sang Mozarts Clarinet concert, Alta Trinita Beata, Jesu bleibet, Ave verum corpus and a couple of swedish songs, new  ,with  week and soddy lyrics, not very much gospel in them!!
Nice to celebrate so many, and with such a great choir!!

Tomorrow I'll deal with the cataract in my eyes and go for some minor surgery, I'm quite nervous but it shouldn't be worse than the hip, should it???

Ever since King David struck a chord on his harp....music, music, music!!

Good evening!

I have told you before that I love the cinema. Some of you also know I have been singing with different churchchoirs for 35 years or so. Music was always present from my childhood days, mother was always humming and buzzing tunes from the radiogrammophone, Sinatra, Ella F, Elvis and so on. Grandmother had one of those old recordplayers with records from her youth like Mario Lanza and Jussi Bjorling. She actually dated Jussi once, think of that!!!

My cousin on the other hand, the one I blew up modeltrains with, also had a very large passion for classical music and passed  that over to me.  By the time I turned 10 I had everything from Puccini to Mahalia Jackson on my hitlist. Elvis was King in our house, as well as Benny Goodman and Count Basie. Oh well, I listened to Abba and Sweet and such, and through the years I had a grand collection of records. Those were of course also the days of the taperecorder, waiting patiently by the radio to press the button in the exact moment to avoid the talking.

Please listen to one of our favourite Vloggers - John Cozart alias Paint. This boy I have shown you before , on my Harry Potter-post. If you like, you can also search the net for his thoughts on the presidential election - Politiclash.  But here he takes us on a journey through classical music in his own way!  Enjoy!

This is one of my favourites, although I very seldom listen to slow music. Ella rules!

When I grew up, we shared several things, we all followed the skistar Ingemar Stenmark on the tv-set. We watched Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe fight in the tenniscourt. We listen to Abba, standing in front of the mirror with a skippingrope as a mike. I also listened to Queen, ELO and that odd couple in Sparks. We enjoyed the fact that a swede, Bjorn Skifs got to the Billboard top with Hooked on a feeling. 

I bet you never heard this Queen-song and if you did, please sing along!!!

Yes, music was everywhere. In Sweden we only had one tv-channel for many years, two when I started school. In highschool, those with good economy could get themselves MTV!!! Like in the old days when only one or two had a radio or tv-set and the neighbours came to listen, we gathered at Mats house to watch "Thriller".

Still, through all this there was a shimmering light that was classical music,  luck would have it I found a man with similar taste in music, so we could go to concerts in the lovely theatre we had. My favourites where few, Beethoven was no1, Dvorak, Haydn and Prokofiev came close. 

Handel and Strauss was also good, Mozart followed up with the gigantic choir I was a part of, singing Missa Brevis in all kinds of tunes. 

Here you can listen to the march from The love of the three oranges by Prokofiev!! I find him most vigourating and exciting.

One thing you must listen to is the swedish master - Eric Ericson and his OD-choir.  Once in my life I have seen him live, old and very much alive he was!!! This short little piece was broadcasted several years after that, I think he has passed 90 here....

Speaking of choirs, you can't avoid Academy of St Martin in the Fields conducted by the brilliant sir Neville Merriner. Here is "Lacrymosa"

So what king David did was to sooth the mind of that poor bewildered Saul. Well, he wasn't king at the time and if he kept playing I don't know but he did dance!! Not many of those ancient kings have done any serious dancing. But it was to praise and celebrate in the temple.

God gave us music as well as chocolate. Music reaches the human heart like nothing else. Praise and worship through music can make the holy Spirit even more overwhelming. As I sang in the churchchoir, slowly approaching that which was holy, I got so touched by some of the songs that resistance was futile.  I have seen imprisoned sorrow burst out when music got its way through. 

I have seen stonehearted people turn to living and glowing persons .

If you enjoy music, feel free to comment !! I'd love to know some of your cherished pieces!

And now I will add just one more, my highly beloved John Williams!!

Here is the theme from "Schindlers list" performed by Itzhak Perlman.

It's nice to be rich!!!

Goodevening!

Bad moon rising?? No, a really ordinary moon with a bad mobile camera!!!

As I am trying to close the chapters of this day, I must ponder on the issue of wealth.
The theme for this sundays services is Rich before God.'
I never did have any money, we never had any money in our family. My mother and I lived in rather simple and somewhat scruffy apartments.  At the age of seven I experienced my first bathroom with running hot water in the taps. Luxury!!
Still I have learned through the years that money is a blessing and a curse and you really don't know when the coin flips and the odds are altered. 
Being rich is something entirely different than one imagines..
I have met people during my time in church, that has considered themselves rich and fortunate while living in a dump with nothing but burned out cigarettes and stenched wallpaper around them. The fortune lies within.
For some people it is the very vigorous memories of days past and people long gone, that keep them walking in the sun.  Being grateful is not a feeling that wins any awards today, being content is even more forgotten and scorned.
The other day I was making a housecall, a family that recently had been torn apart completely by death and months of pain and misery. It was a very sad meeting, but in the middle of the
disaster, looking at the house, in quite a bad shape, there was some shimmering light.
I could almost reach out and touch it. The smallest glimps of hope.

When I left the house, I had to pass the garage where various vehicles in various states of decay was lined up. In the garage three older boys was standing, all with baggy jeans and linens, caps, small beards, tatoos and all.  I went over to them, got a hug and in half an hour I left the garage with my head filled with the chatter and enthusiasm that only boys in love with their cars can upbring. They talked, wawed, bullied and mocked eachother. I was shown films and pictures from recent carexhibitions and races, some pictures taken from quite dangerous angles.
In between we talked about the cross, the church, the beliefs and unbeliefs.
When I walked back , I felt more rich than I ever had .
So when I look back to see the state of my wealth this far, the figures are no frontpage story.
I'll never get an account at Gringotts or any other bank for that matter. We couldn't even get a loan for the house we wanted, we're rich as far as liabilities are concerned.  But otherwise,
yes, I'm rich.
I just have to check the proper accounts, the once that lie within. Precious metals, bonds and real estates, diamonds and emeralds, piggy banks fatter than Jabba the Hut.  Nonono.
But within I treasure meetings, short rays of light, passing ships, moments of worship, lyrics that tore holes right through, people sharing life, flowers in bloom, sunsets, minutes that starts shimmering within hours of darkness. I treasure faith against the odds.

Not my picture, but I saw one of these hawks today!!! Yes!!

Treasures that can't be locked in, won't give interest, can't be stolen, doesn't need bank vaults, alarms or heavy armed guards. It's nice to be rich.  I could get used to it.  I just have to pray for that neccesary clear vision and total lack of ambition. 
I don't really need anything - but I'm given more than I can handle, that's life for you, the life of a very wealthy woman!! If you find yourself poor, look again!

                                        This beautiful rose was a gift from a friend, planted two years ago, this year it gave us only three roses!!!  

 A musicsheet is what pops out of my heart from time to time when I feel I must give something back . It doesn't correspond to my wealth, but it's mine to give!  

                   

    

Heaven or only sky???

Good evening!!!  Yes, tonight we are talking heavenly!

Melted snow on the lake in early spring or just wipped clouds?

Do you see that tiny little moon hanging in the treetops!!

Don't know why, there's no sun up in the sky, stormy weather!!!

I sneaked in two summerskies, this above from our county and below from Småland!

As autumn approaches we tend to decrease our pace a bit. Not yet though, the temperature is still summerhot and the beaches are filled with bathers and the woods are filled with mosquitos ( tell me about it)

I have , like many of my fellow bloggers, been looking at the sky a lot. People have done so since they noticed phenomena that had impact on them ( yes Mel, I learned a lot from that documentary).

The sky mirrors itself

The patterns and colours of the clouds stirs the imagination

In the bible, the heavens are somewhat obscure, more of an image, but when people talk to God they tend to look up, or climb mountains. Abraham counted stars. Jesus was taken up and away. The galileeans stood there watching the sky for a long time but where told there was nothing there to be found. However, Jesus is to return on the heavens, like the rising sun, so for certain we need to keep at least one eye up. Angels filled the sky at his birth, well, heaven just might be up there!!!
 Jules Vernes looked for the sky when he created science fiction,  people have been longing to fly for centuries, reach the stars, fly like birds. We celebrated the 50th anniversary of Star Trek just the other day!
Heaven or sky, there is such beauty to be found , especially this time of year!!!

Still so many softaired walks to take in the evening, watching the scenery!!

The treat of an Applesafari and other things, sorry, it wasn't ready before but now!!

Appletrees like to grow close to the sea, this is the view from the applefarm were we went for the safari. 

Older trees in row after row.

Very young and innocent plants on recently arrendated land.

Good evening!!!

So we went off to celebrate the husbands birthday (52). Going south, along the eastcoast to the Applecountry, down at a place called Österlen. We went to Kivik, the area is filled with traces of ancient times. We have amongst other things a stonesetting very similar to Stone Henge. 
Since appletrees are best settled close to water, this coast is the site for several large applefarms .

Well, I was going to put pictures here and was disturbed in the middle of everything, that is why this post was published in an very unfinished fashion. Now however, there will be order!

First of all, the road we travelled was chosen carefully, mostly because its beautiful. Amongst other things I hereby present you with -the meadows by Trolle-Ljungby !!! This is the wiew the countess has from her windows, nice isn't it?

The meadows across the lane.

The castle of the count and countess Trolle-Wachtmeister.

The private chapel

By the way, his birthday began with these homemade pastries, very special for us in Sweden, they are called vaccumcleaners and are normally green but I had some pink marcipan left so I used that. This was the shape of a very common vaccumer in swedish households in the sixties.

So, on we went, rolling rolling rolling. The weather has, as in the UK and many other places, been absolutely outstanding and very very hot for the season. So when we reached our destination by 9.30 in the morning, it was already rather warm. This ride was waiting for us

This tractorpulled carriage took us through the entire plantation with thousands of appletrees, the oldest more than 100 years old and the youngest barely born!



So Maria, our guide, and Sven, the driver, told us all interesting things about apples, pruning, beehives, harvesting, caring, juicing....The meadows along the eastcoast are well suited for apples since the seawind keeps the frost off the plants. Wild appletrees are often found by the sea. She told us there was almost 350 species in Sweden only, who knows how many in the world!! This particular farm is well known, they manufacture apples in all shapes, juice, cider, wine, tee, marmelade, chutney....
Halfway we stopped for a cup of strong coffee and, off course, a hot applebun.
Twice we stopped also for applepicking that came with the ticket. It was really lovely seeing all these sweetsmelling and carefully pruned trees. We were about twenty persons on the ride, some already had great knowledge, some had none.

Gravensteiner, we had to pick some to save up for winter!

These little beauties are called Picheon or Pidgeon. They are far too expensive and rare to go on the common market, but sometimes you can get a bite. Sweet and almondlike they are told to be.

The first applecrushers where quite crude but effective.

Happy applepickers from 1935!

Some apples have trouble spelling their own sirnames!

Apples are actually more sensitive than eggs and have to be picked very carefully in bags like these, carried around the neck.

After some shopping we went to our hotel , left our bags and took our picnicbasket down to the harbour where hundreds of tourists where swimming, boating, fishing, eating, sunbathing, icecreaming or just walking around. It really is offseason but lo and behold, summer wasn't over!!

Chickensalad and a glass of rosé in the harbour with the smaller boats in view!!

For dessert we had some locally produced icecream, went for a walk and look what we found!

This was a real treat for us cineasts - a mowietheatre, very small but they even have live-events from the Met!

Tired and warm we arrived at the hotel, a small, family-owned with the entire interiour from the sixties!!


 A couple of hours good sleep and we were ready for a nice evening out. The air was still, the heat lingered on and food was good. Salmon and schrimps. And back "home" we turned on the tv-set and found this:

Anchors away???!!!

So it was a very nice final of a very nice and relaxing day!  Rule Britannia, God save the Queen and Jerusalem!!!
Safely anchored in the comfortable bed we fell asleep and woke up the next morning at sunrise, ready for a new day and sundaymass in this 12th centurychurch:

Wisdom or unwisdom?

Goodevening!

Before I go to sleep I wanted to share a thought or two.
The future is something constantly changing, as we see it.  We have a saying about time and worries that you probably heard: Yesterday has passed, tomorrow is still uncertain but today the Lord will help.
We live in turbulent times, all kinds of efforts are needed to cope with everything.  You need political skills to survive in politics, you need great knowledge to be able to argue on important issues, create new inventions or keep business going. You need wisdom and sincerety to lead people forward, to lead way, to comfort and find solutions, to solve problems and work people through conflicts and misunderstandings. You need faith and courage to protect the interests of the weak and voiceless, to see clear where everyone else fails.
Confident young people can take a safe grip of things when they get a chance, but they need to be taken seriously, they need to be given responsibility, they need a chance to take part of what the world needs and what society has to offer. The future is relying on them, but they need guidance.   What troubles me is that the world of today, especially the western world, is so
profoundly specified that there is no room for oddjobs, no room for wise people with low grades, no place for handy men.   We suffer from the constant progress and increasing stress and lack of resources.  Students can't get practise any longer. No place, no time, no idea.

Young people in my time had plenty of opportunities to get weeks of practise in all kinds of areas. Those were the open-arms-days. I had weeks of practise in all kinds of places, with
plenty to do, people to ask, chanses to make contact and create possibilities for future work.
The swedish school is suffering greatly, low grades are standard in some schools, a high percentage of students leave before exams, many postpones University studies, plenty of young students have no chance to get good practise and once out of school they won't get employment because the lack of practise. So tight are the schedule that very few have time for a student, so sophisticated are the routines that a teenager can't take part, so few simpler tasks are there that a young student could spend useful time learning a trade.
The world, and right now I only refer to my own country, needs doctors, nurses, teachers, ministers, carpenters, painters, electricians, you name it.  Young people start their education but sometimes have to drop out because of the lack of practise.
Wisdom and visions are good to have, knowledge needs to be combined. 
We need to give our young the tools they need, the time they need, the opportunity they need to get a good look at what might be their future occupation. We need to see clearly on what the world actually needs to hold hope alive. Hope, life, light and respect, wisdom and knowledge , heart and hand, all are needed.  We have to turn and pull the brakes for a while, progress is racing past us, we need to slow down and think things through.

Ho ho like an owl, might be Pigwidgeon??

The other day we met this abandoned young eared owl, he was awake and confused, abandoned by the grownups, not knowing how to deal with the situation. It made me think of what happends when we leave our children with nonsufficient knowledge and support, they will stay on their branch until someone knocks them down. That would be Unwisdom.