Arctic Cotton

This is another one of my favorites – which I share with an excellent photographer i Kotzebue, Ak.

When Mom was a chil, it was used as stuffing in pillows. It lasted a year, but apparently the pillows became very thin towards spring.

Grandpa’s Skates

I spent a week in my cousin’s cottage which is in the tiny village where our mothers were born. Grandpa and Grandma farmed the land from 1927 until Grandpa died 30 years later, but the place had been in the family from 1916. It was Grandma’s adoptive parents who started breaking ground there. The place is still in the family and I really hope I’ll be there to celebrate when it’s been “ours” for a hundred years. The place is nothing fancy, it is a crofters legacy that is slowly being reclaimed by the bush, since it hasn’t been farmed during the last 50 years. No matter – it has a very special place in my heart, since I’ve lived there both as a newborn and as a teenager.

I found these when I was poking around in one of the sheds on the property. I don’t remember seeing them before – they may very well have been nesting in some box or other secluded place – or they weren’t significant enough for me to remember from when I was a teenager…

That’s my Grandpa’s name, Johan Oskar Abramsson. A very sweet man who fathered 10 children and would lie down on the kitchen sofa with Grandma for a nap after the midday meal – every day right until his death at 67. I have fond memories of them both – Grandpa loved children and had a light heart, Grandma had a darker personality – possibly because she suffered from epilepsy and was always aware that the seizures could come any time. My middle name Helena was also my Grandma’s name and if I pulled all of my hair back into a bun, I’d look a lot like her.

Homecoming Weekend

Thought I’d venture out for the merriments this evening… So I drove by the major venue where some (minor) talent is going to be performing in about half an hour… And saw way too many former students outside in different stages of intoxication.

Seemed like a better idea to take some pictures of fireweed… This from my neighbours down the road – the bricks were to become a fence, but somehow that never happened.

I so admire this “weed” that can survive under the most challenging circumstances. The colour is breathtaking (yes Jenn, I was thinking of you…) and it seems as if they need hardly any nourishment to prosper.

Iris

Beauty can be found in so many places. The other day a friend and I drove out to the place where my Grandmother’s family came from.

The old house is used as a cottage these days – by distant relatives of mine. No electricity, water from the lake and wood stove for cooking – at one time the harsh reality for everyone in these parts. Now it’s the things that makes cottage-living romantic.

0300

Sometimes it pays to get up in the middle of the night…

Loki did not however understand why I was oohing and aahing…

… he didn’t even get up!

Still No Luck

…with getting a functioning connection to the Net where I’m at. Instead of fretting over it, I’ve decided to lay back, soak up some sun, drink some wine and get back to regular posting once I’m back in town.

Charging Batteries

This was the view the other night…

Small wonder I’m only in town to get some supplies…

Loki is discovering the world in typical puppy fashion.

More to come

Am spending a few days in my “ancestral home” but can’t get my mobile internet to work… I will however get it fixed tomorrow, I think!

Asphalt, Tar and Exhaust

Can someone please explain to me why Bluebells seem to thrive close to roads?

I know people who have tried transplanting them to their gardens with absolutely no luck – but they will suddenly start growing in the hardpacked, poor soil in front of an abandonded house.

Skies

Isn’t it beautiful?

Instead of staying home to do laundry this afternoon, I took a trip to the top of our local ski mountain to enjoy the view.

The mountains furthest away still have snow on them.