sun is shining

Yesterday started quite cloudy and it wasn´t so hot in the morning. The plan for the day was to do some chores in the house when it was a bit cooler. I would empty and fill the dish washer, prepare lunch to take to the beach, vacuum and tidy up in general. Lasse was going to continue painting the entrance and all the outside wood. Typically divided into gender specific tasks? Yes

At 11 the sun came out and we took the dogs for a second walk, We were bringing the old dog to the beach but the other two needed to get out. Then we packed sun chairs, lunch, towels and dog in the car and went to lake Aspen which isn´t far away. The day turned out to be beautiful and we swam a lot. The lunch with pasta, meat and grilled veggies was wonderful.

In the afternoon Lasse continued painting and I unpacked beach gear and prepared dinner, watered the flower pots and beds outside. We are trying to get the house in order to sell it. Hopefully we will get a good price for it so we can move as soon as possible.

The plan for this day is about the same, work in the morning and beach midday. The day is supposed to be even better today. There is nasty weather coming in at the end of the week so you must make the best out of these wonderful summer days. It is just marvelous to do nothing important, have no plans and to do what you want when you want it. Soon enough the summer has ended and a new work year has started.

One thing is different compared to yesterday I am going to town to get the paint. I look forward to it because I have a good book I am listening to in the car.

I hope you day will be wonderful as well.

Åse

Wine harvest

In the end of September it is time to harvest the white grapes and then follows the red grapes. All in all it will take about 2-3 weeks. Since we don´t know anything about wine harvest the seller offered to help us out. Fairly good of him.

I don´t know if I will get time off to be there but it is also the time for signing, complete the buy. So it would be good if I could go there as well. Lasse will be there for about two weeks anyway. He will work and learn at the same time. Hopefully we can manage on our own next year. Maybe with the help of our neighbours.

The seller told us that they were normally around 15 people during the harvest. He pay for three and the rest are family, neighbours and friends if I understood everything correctly. The seller said that they harvest in the mornings and in the afternoon they drink and eat. When you think of it it seems quite inefficient. Why not work full days and have a big festa in the end?

We must learn Portuguese as soon as possible so we can get by, at least a bit. We are going to evening classes this autumn so you can least speak a few phrases.

God I am so excited.

Åse

Torpa Stenhus

Igår åkte vi iväg på morgonen för at besöka Torpa Stenhus och dess medelttidsmarknad. http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torpa_stenhus

Det är en av Sveriges bäst bevarade medeltidsborgar och härstammar från 1400-talet. Borgen ligger vackert belägen vid sjön Åsunden i Länghem.

Eftersom det var fint väder var där många människor som bar med sig picknickkorgar som de sedan satt i gröngräset och avnjöt.

Vi hade främst åkt dit för att träffa Anna-Lena och Håkan, våra goda vänner. Håkan är silversmed vid sidan om sitt ordinarie arbete som lärare och brukar åka runt på diverse marknader för att visa och sälja sina fina silversmycken.

Så här glad var Håkan

Den här ringbrynjan har Håkan gjort, dock ej i silver

fina tennsmycken

olika silverlänkar

är den riktig?

Givetvis var där en massa andra utställare och musikanter. Man kunde prova på medeltida aktiviteter och fika. Allt igenom en tevlig förmiddag.

Jag fick krama Anna-Lena hej då.

To bra or not to bra-that is the question

Swedish people always have had a quite natural approach to their bodies. When I grew up nobody with small tits wore bras. Only girls with large breasts or maybe those who did a lot of sports wore bras.

To swim in the nude has never been anything spectacular. Families used saunas together nude and not as you often see now with swim wear on. When we went to the beach all young (even some old women) sun bathed top less. Maybe that is how the famous, or infamous, Swedish sin was born. To look upon your body naturally.

Today you rarely see anybody top less on the beach. The last 10 years or so I have noticed a different attitude towards nudity. We seem to move in the wrong direction. We cover up  but are more sexualized than ever.

Famous Swedish sin?

 This is something I have thought about a lot since my daughter went to 5th grade and wanted nickers with g-string and I said no. .She was very upset and said that nearly all the other girls had them. When living in USA you could buy training bras for your small girls. I didn´t even know what it was. A training bra? Apparently not for exercising but the big question is. To train what?

A week or so ago a journalist wrote an article in one of our newspapers about her daughter in 3rd grade wanting a bra. Her daughter had claimed that nearly all girls had them. This woman was very upset and started a debate about what we are doing to our young girls. That debate is now spreading to Norway as well.
http://m.expressen.se/gt/kronikorer/frida-boisen/varfor-det-finns-ju-inga-brost-att-halla-i/


In Usa they has taking this bra-business a bit further. There you can buy a padded bra for your toddler. It is really sick.

Bratz bras for three- to four-year-olds


I really hope we can keep this debate going, at home, in the press and in schools. What is this sexualization doing to our girls? Is it strange that more girls than ever diet and get breast implants? Please let the girls be girls. Soon enough they will meet the hard life and the judging. Please let them be girls as long as they can.

Greek Islands

Greek Islands
14 years ago me and my husband  went to Kalymnos, a Greek island close to Turkey, for the first time. It was a package tour and the only time I had ever been to Greece before was when I went to Rhodes when I was 18 or so. That time I cannot say that I saw anything of the uniqueness that was Rhodes. It could have been Spain or Turkey or anywhere. We only saw bars, the beaches and discos. We were up all night and slept on the beach in a sun lounge all day.

Climbing is popular on Kalymnos

So when we arrived in Kalymnos I wasn
´t prepared. I wasn´t prepared of the beauty, the people, the food or anything.

We arrived in the evening with a flight from Gothenburg and landed on the neighbouring island Kos, because Kalymnos didn´t have an airport at that time. They have one now but is only for domestic flights. Since it was a package tour we were picked up by a bus ( or taxi I can´t remember) and transferred to the small harbour Mastihari. There we had to wait for a while before we went on a small ferry that would take us the one hour journey to Kalymnos.

We arrived late and I remembered that the harbour was busy with people everywhere even if it was late. A small bus picked us up and we went through Pothia, the capital of Kalymnos.

I was amazed that all people seem to be out. Cars were driving viciously through the narrow streets. People sat in the bars and restaurants and it didn´t seem that there were so many tourists.

Lasse slept the whole way and I was left to myself. I stared at the theater outside and enjoyed every minute of it. When we had gone a bit further it was quieter and we went through an alley. The tree trunks were painted white and we passed a cemetery and there were lights glimmering on nearly all the graves. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

Vathy, Kalymnos

It was the start of our quite many trips to the Greek Islands. I think we went 2-3 times a year from then on. In the beginning we went to Kalymnos and Leros. Then we went further to Lipsi, Patmos, Ikaria, Fourni, Samos, Tilos, Serifos, Sifnos, Symi, Karpathos, Nisyros, Lefkada, Kefallonia and Rhodes But we nearly always went independent after that.

Kefalonia

The last island we fell in love with was Crete. We had avoided Crete since we thought it was spoiled with mass tourism. But Crete blew our minds totally. If you only avoided certain areas it was marvellous.

Now when we have bought a vineyard in Portugal it feels like we have abandoned  Greece. It will be hard to go there for us in the future. Greek islands will always have a piece of my heart.

Friends

Friends
You cannot do without good friends. I think I am surrounded by the best ones. My friends always support me, They do not always agree with me but they always stick by me even if I am wrong. They don´t judge, always want what is best and are always happy for me.

When we, Lasse and I, are about to make a new life for ourselves whether it will be soon or a bit later, some people tell us it is impossible. "You don´t know anything about wine making" they say. "It will never work" . Some even go behind our backs and talk to other people about our impossible future plans.

And....... so what.

Are you jealous?

My god at least let us try. What if we fail? What will happen?

NOTHING!!!!!
 So we will go back to Sweden again and start all over.

What hurts the most is that people who you thought would support and believe in you, don´t.

Well the heck with you. I stick with my friends. The ones that will always be by my side whatever will happen, whatever stupid ideas I might get.

You, my friends out there; I love you.

Åse

To return home from Portugal

This picture is the inner court yard in April. Now it is full of flowers and absolutely peaceful.

Now it has started to sink in. We have actually done it. We bought a vineyard in Portugal. It is only the down payment that has been paid and something can still go wrong. If we decide that we don´t want to buy it we will loose our down payment. If the sellers have second thoughts about selling they will have to return the down payment times two. I really hope that nothing will go wrong.

When we traveled around in the area we saw this ocre colour on very many farms and houses. Since the farm is painted in blue and white (and many other colours on windows and doors) we decided that we wanted to put our mark on it and change to this ocre which is so beautiful. So the farm will be white as it is today but with ocre details. I think it will be sunny and nice.

The pictures below are from the beautiful Laguna de Obidos and Foz de Arelho and Sao Martinho do Porto which is only 12 kilometers from the vineyard. The first picture is from April. The beach is uncrowded and so nice. The second picture is from June but the beaches are still fairly empty.

many houses were painted in ocre and white

Foz de Arelho April 2013

Sao Martinho do Porto in June

To leave this paradise wasn´t simple and at the moment I don´t know when I will be back. Maybe I can get some time off  from work during the wine harvest. Lasse will go anyway.

When we got home from Portugal we were so busy preparing for my birthday party that we didn´t really have time to think about the vineyard so much. Now there is an emptiness in both of us. It isn´t easy to get back to work knowing that the farm will empty this winter and we cannot be there yet. We just want to get started with our new lives.