Mosiac Monday Little Red House - Saint Lucia

This post Little Red House - Saint Lucia was originally uploaded by Tyra Hallsénius Lindhe in the blog Tyra's Garden

This is from yesterdays walk through the little village Åkerby. What a wonderful winter day, the sun was shining and the snow was glittering and it was just a perfect Sunday afternoon. All the little red houses brightened up the otherwise fairly black and white landscape. This is where I have my little red cottage, my "summerhouse", Åkerby is a very old village, I don't know how old but I know that the Russians burnt most of it down in 1917 during the so called "rysshärjningarna" Russian ravages. The clocktower in Åkerby is from 1739 and my little red house is from 1901.

Today we celebrate The Day of Saint Lucia   (Saint Lucy's Day wikipedia) a lovely day in Advent. A day with filled with glorious music, lots of candlelights, saffron bread and of course Lucia.

Mosaic Monday - Little Red House

RED

Falu red or in Swedish we call it Faluröd is the name of the beautiful Swedish, deep red paint well known for its use on wooden cottages and barns. The paint originated from Falun in Dalarna ( copper mine) , Sweden. The traditional colour remains popular today due to it's effectiveness in preserving wood it is absolutely fantastic. Easy to paint and it doesn't smell.

The earliest evidence of its use dates from the 16th century. During the 17th century Falu red was commonly used on smaller wooden mansions, where it was intended to imitate buildings with brick facing. Except in bigger cities like Stockholm and Gothenburg, and in the extreme south of Sweden, wood was the dominating building material. In the Swedish cities and towns, buildings were often painted with the Falu red until the early 19th century, when the authorities began to oppose the paint. At this point in time more and more wooden buildings in urban areas were either painted in lighter colours (e.g. yellow, white) or sided with stucco. The number of buildings made of bricks (with stucco) also increased. However the Falu red saw a surge in popularity in the countryside during the 19th century, when also poorer farmers and crofters began to paint their houses. Falu red is still widely used in the Swedish countryside.
The actual colour may be different depending on how much the oxide is burnt, ranging from almost black to a bright, light red. Different tones of red have been popular at different times. Recently a mix giving a dark green colour, Falu Grön, has also been produced by mixing black and ochre.

The last fading beauty - Rose against the red wall on my cottage in Åkerby Village in the north of Uppland.

The paint consists of water, rye flour, linseed oil and residue from the copper mines of Falun which contain silicates iron oxides, copper compounds and zinc. The current recipe was finalized in the 1920s.

Pictures from the small village called Åkerby, this is where I am now when I'm writing this post. Åkerby bruk founded 1638

TYRA

Rainy Days ... I just love those.

RAINY DAYS.

I just love those lovely rainy summer days. I don´t have to water the garden, I can spend a hole day baking. In our summer house we have have an old iron stove that we heat with wood. In this iron stove oven you can make wonderful bread. This day we decided to make Focaccia al pomodoro on the savory side and on the sweet side Plum tart and White bread croissant with almond filling.

Oh, vad underbart ett efterlängtat sommar regn kan vara, man njuter med växterna. Tänk vad skönt det måste vara att på en ljummen dusch efter veckor med torka. Regnig dag betyder baka i Åkerby. Emilie och jag bestämde os för att göra en plommonpaj och mandelgifflar på den "söta sidan" och ett körsbärstomatbröd på den mer matiga sidan.

Focaccia al pomodoro. 350 g farina di frumento integrale, 15 g lieveto bi birra fresco, 300 g di pomodoro maturi, origano, alcune foglie di basilico, olio d ´oliva e finalmente sale.

Plum tart. 3.5 dl flour, 1 dl sugar, 125 g butter. Grounded almonds, sugar and a small amount of water for the filling and then some ripe plums. Bake it sloooowly.

Grusgång "in floribus".

Nu har är jag tillbaka från Åkerby igen, var uppe ett par dagar för att njuta av försommaren i norra Uppland. Vädret är inte på topp men jag fick gräset klippt och rensade lite rabatten. Grusgången rensar jag inte! och så här underbart blommar det i min grusgång! Lupinus polyphyllus & Aquilegia vulgaris L in perfect harmony.
Akleja, alium, prästkrage och lupin.
Digitalis, Dianthus barbatus L, Papaver, Aquilegia & Leucanthemum vulgare.

Have a wonderful day/ Tyra

The grass is always greener......

Yes, that may be so, but it is beyond any doubt more flower power in mine. I do need to cut the lawn today but the dilemma of the day is "Who is going to live and who is going to die" This is going to be worse than the French revolution. No, I will try to save my darlings and make a "lawn in bloom" to save the capsules with valuable seeds.....there is going to be a lot of paths and islands of flowers.

I wonder how many species of plants I have in my lawn. A wild guess would be 50-60 different species. Is there a wise biologist out there that would know? Please enlighten me.

Tyras Trädgård/Tyrs Garden, a little about a dilemma then it comes to cut the grass.

Gräset är alltid grönare på andra sidan staket.......jo men "gräset" är definitivt blommigare på min! Idag är det dags att klippa gräset. Dagens dilemma vem skall få leva vem skall bli arkebuserad? Det är värre än franska revolutionen. Vem kan sätta kniven på dessa fantastiska blommor, vilken mångfald. Här är prästkragarna Leukanthemum vulgare som jag vill skall blomma till midsommar.
Primula veris L. oh ljuvliga maj!
Fröställning av Scilla sibirica, visst vill vi ha mer Scilla, då får man inte klippa av fröställningarna.
Tusen små söta tusenskönor Bellis perennis L.
Vita , blekrosa och mörkrosa.
Så många gångar och öar av blomster blir det.
Om ni vill ha en perfekt gräsmatta kika in här, smaken är som baken! Jag säger bevare mej väl den vill jag inte ha, perfekt är tråkigt.
Länge leve mångfalden! Jag undrar hur många arter man har i en vildvuxen gräsmatta. Jag skulle gissa på ett 50-60 tal. Finns den någon biolog som kan svara?

Don´t be a stranger! Communicate.

En speciell liten hälsning till Eva my gardening friend and ma belle seour!

Have a nice day, TYRA