August 16, 2005
Cows, Trees, Rain, a Running Dog, etc.
We spent our vacation this year at a lovely 18th-century farmhouse on a hillside in the southernmost part of the Swedish province of Halland, roughly 10km east of the seaside town of BÃ¥stad, and about as far south of the town of Laholm. The slopes around the house were home to a herd of dairy cattle…
A stream ran down the hillside between the house and an adjacent barn, & its burbling was audible from the window of the guest bedroom on its west side. North of the house there was a quiet grove of mature trees several acres in extent: nearest the dirt-road in front of the house, thickets impeded ones way, but, after struggling through for a minute or so, one gained entry into a beautiful wood, with open, spongy, leaf-littered ground between the trees.
We were joined there after a couple of days by my mother-in-law, and her travelling companion. In the second week, our good friends Mr T_____ and his girlfriend, came to stay with us for four days. Alas, it rained a lot while we we there, almost every day, and for the last three or four days the rain hardly stopped… If we’d had better weather, I would have taken more photographs—as it was, I succeeded in taking about four clear pictures the whole time we were there.
Still, I got some reading done, and finished five books during the two weeks. We watched DVDs, and played poker and roulette. We did brave the weather occasionally, to visit Lugnarohögen, a bronze-age burial-mound nearby, or to check out the splendid beach at Mellbystrand, whose miles of golden sand could be found all but deserted on a wet evening; or to go shopping in Båstad, or Ängelholm.
Of us all, our dog probably enjoyed himself the most, and seemed saddest of us to leave the old farmhouse behind. Upon his return to apartment-living after his two weeks in the country, he sulked and moped for a full day before recovering his usual happy-go-lucky demeanour.
Posted by misteraitch at August 16, 2005 05:36 PMThose are the cleanest cows I have ever seen. And that is one happy dog.
Posted by: joseph duemer on August 16, 2005 08:07 PMSometimes, vacations are meant to be like that...one stay within 4 walls, but else where...not his own house...
so tell us, which books did you finished reading?
i'm curious.
good you are back!!!
Posted by: Moon on August 17, 2005 03:57 AMA couple of years ago I spent my holidays in Sweden.System : house exchange. The sewedish are very generous: they offered their two houses ( a very nice wooden house in Gränna, close to the Vättern Lake and their gorgeous appartment in Stockholm), while we only had our house close to Brussels in the offer.Very nice & relaxed holidays.
This yerar we went visiting Bosnia Herzegovenia: http://www.bhtourism.ba/eng/
Just go there, extremily beatiful country, however with thousands of traces of the war left everywhere.
Sarajavo is and will prove to be a genuine jewel.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarajevo
i agree with moon. there is something particularly interesting about going somewhere new but not being able to busy yourself with sight seeing, or lots of activities, or bustle of any kind. just sitting in a new interior for a prolonged period brings to mind all manner of things you'd normally be too distracted to even ponder. it's a different kind of fun. imagining your life on a different path, imagining possibilities, experiencing the most boring thing, domesticity, in a new setting, etc. meditative in a way i guess. also: 5 books in 2 weeks would make anyone feel great. welcome back aitch.
Posted by: jmorrison on August 18, 2005 12:28 AMGee, it's been so long since I've seen cows so closely ! Terrific picture !
Vacation is for me experimenting time in a different - and not too expected - way. Nicely, if possible ! Hope yours were satisfactory in one way or another. You're a book-eater, 5 in two weeks !
Thanks for sharing, even more because Bergman's Saraband just got here and I went to see it last week and feel like learning swedish since then...
Felt sorry for the dog and its moping.
Posted by: Maridan' on August 18, 2005 05:40 AM