Balcony Garden – Page 2

If we were having a fika (essentially Swedish for coffee and a conversation,) I would offer you a beverage of your choice; coffee from the french press, ice tea, or a smoothie. I’ve incorporated a new healthy habit into our summer routine, every evening I prepare breakfast smoothies for the next morning. Right now I’m having a smoothie with; baby spinach, avocado, banana, pear, pre-soaked chia seeds and almond milk. It’s really good, and there is an extra one for you in the fridge if you’d like to try. My daughter likes to prepare her own smoothie, something I encourage. She had mango, strawberry, banana, and almond milk this morning.

My breakfast smoothie with; baby spinach, avocado, banana, pear, pre-soaked chia seeds and almond milk.

Would you like to enjoy our beverages at the balcony? There is slightly more space there now. My plants were growing so much that I had to find new homes for some of them this week, they were taking over. I put an ad up on a local sale site, (sort of like craigslist.) It didn’t take long to sell the plants I wanted to sell. One lady that came over to purchase plants offered me to come to her house and take some cuttings from her blackcurrants, and gooseberry bushes. I am going to take her up on that. I’d like to have more perennials, and berry bushes are wonderful. There is still a lot of plants at my balcony, and soon it will be crowded again, but for now there is room for our feet. LOL. How is your week so far?

There are several lakes around where I live, and with the lakes comes a lot of seagulls. They are very loud, especially at night, during the day you only hear them occasionally, but at night they are really loud. I’ve been sleeping on a mattress in my daughters room several nights this week, because its slightly more quiet there (more in the middle of the house.) Whatever works, right? The loud seagulls is a very small matter, overall I am happy, relaxed, and enjoying my vacation immensely. My children are also enjoying their well deserved summer holidays, which makes me very happy. Both of them have worked really hard this past semester. My son had a birthday in June that we celebrated, and my daughter have a birthday later this month. I’ve spent some time this week planning things for her birthday.

Gullnäsgården, a very quaint lakeside cafe, with a beach.

What is the weather like in your area? This summer have offered even temperatures, it’s been between 73-77F most days for several weeks. It looks like today is going to be around 77F. The lakes have temperatures around 70F now, and it is very comfortable. We like to go swimming, and playing in the water. Yesterday we went to Gullnäsgården, the place you can see in the photos. It is a ten minute bike ride from our house, and a very nice place to relax at. The property belongs to one of the local churches. They allow people to spend time there, even if they don’t visit the cafe (it’s a very nice cafe and worthy of a visit,) or rent a cabin. I like that they don’t allow wild parties, making it appealing to visit with children even in the evening.

The menu, and part of the outdoor seating area at the cafe.

The beach area below the cafe. We enjoyed our ice creams on the beach before going for a swim.

Thank you for joining me for a fika today, and thank you Natalie for hosting the coffee share! We are going out to look for some blueberries this weekend, rumour says they start to become ripe, what are you up to?

Love,

Maria

I am so happy to be able to offer you some coffee, or tea again! My blogging break is over, and I am back with a new fresh blog; Green Dreams. In my first post on the blog earlier this week I explained how I picked the name.

Me in one of the comfortable chairs at the balcony this morning, right after getting my first haircut since the pandemic started.

Back to the coffee! What kind of beverage can I tempt you with? There’s hot coffee from the French press (I’m having some right now,) and there’s hot, or cold tea in any flavour you can imagine. If you’d rather have ice coffee I could probably manage that as well. If you where here, visiting me in my home in Sweden, I would offer you to step out on the balcony. It’s 75F and you can have your pick of a comfortable chair in the shade, or in the sun. Half of the balcony is shaded until mid afternoon. Are you comfortable now?

Cherry tomatoes on the way, at my balcony garden.

How have you been? Are you on vacation? I’m enjoying my third week of vacation, four more to come. It’s fantastic, not having to set an alarm, just spend the days any way I please. I have to say that time off was well needed, the past semester was very intense. So far on my vacation I’ve been sleeping, reading several books, riding my bike almost every day (I got a new mountainbike in May,) I’ve had several picnics in beautiful nature with my children, and of course I’ve spent some time tending to my balcony garden.

Large squash leaf. I’m trying to grow the squash vertically, in containers, to maximise my space.

We’ve already harvested some beans, and there’s more on the way.

Do you have any fun plans for the summer? We are having a staycation, but not as strict as last summer. Last summer we literally stayed within one hour of hour house, usually much closer, the whole summer. This summer we are exploring the region of Dalarna, our part of Sweden. Here’s a post I did about a little adventure we had on Wednesday. Dalarna is a rather big region with mountains, big forests, lakes, and farm land. There’s plenty of wildlife in the surrounding forests, such as; elk, deer, brown bear, wolf, wolverine, lynx, and eagle owls. There are some eagle owls that have their nest in the old copper mine here in Falun. They had three owlets (baby eagle owls) this spring, I’ve been looking at them with binoculars on a regular basis, it’s fascinating. When they were first hatched the owlets were super tiny little fluff balls, now they are starting to look like the predators they are (still a little fluffy.) There is a Facebook group where people post daily updates, photos and videos of the owlets, if you are intereted.

Thank you for having coffee with me today, and thank you Natalie for hosting the coffee share! Happy 4th of July weekend! Feel free to share my new blog on your social media, or with anyone that you feel would enjoy some Green Dreams 🙂

Love,

Maria

Category: Balcony Garden

Weekend Coffee Share – Swedish Fika